‘Clients have a tough time talking to youth through traditional mediums,’ says Wally El-Tawashy. Enter Publicis Toronto and its latest division, FFWD (fast forward). Focused on youth and how to reach them, El-Tawashy, who ran Toronto-based youth marketing agency Blackraine Entertainment for four years and orchestrated successful youth-centric campaigns for Guinness and Adidas, will now try to do the same for the agency’s clients as director of youth marketing.
This effort joins Publicis Sports Integrated, which opened in January. ‘Our motivations for both are simple,’ says Serge Rancourt, president and COO, to explain the highly specific divisions. ‘As strategic and creative business partners we need to always be a relevant conduit between our clients’ brands and their target. And if it means building another competency, we will do it in a heartbeat.’
Today, marketers need it. Badly, according to El-Tawashy. He says the current state of the marketplace, with once gloriously powerful entertainment congloms in the financial doldrums, is an indication of what happens to companies that have waited to change. He also points to the languishing record industry, which is now trying to apply a more customized model to its marketing.
‘Where once it was all about mass production and mass marketing, now it’s a new era of customization,’ says El-Tawashy. ‘As the cost of broadcast media continues to rise and ratings continue to fragment, the industry is struggling to adapt.’
He says future success requires embracing new technology and mediums in order to stay relevant. ‘[At FFWD] we are taking the lead to help clients navigate in the new era of customized marketing or non-traditional marketing which means video game placement, cellphones, video-on demand, podvertising, etc. In some cases we’re creating and developing new mediums to customize client objectives.’
But stripping away clients’ preconceived ideas is often the first challenge. Take video games: He says women are the fastest growing demographic, while many marketers continue to think it’s the exclusive domain of teenage boys.
El-Tawashy wouldn’t say who some of FFWD’s clients are but did say that work will be visible sometime this summer.
