Strategy asked the top brass at media agencies across the country to give credit where it’s due and name their brightest young media minds. The winner will be selected by the strategy Media Agency of the Year jury and announced this fall. Here’s our second batch of contenders.
THE ONLINE ENTERTAINER
Alejandro Fischer, digital strategist, UM Canada
Claim to fame
Alejandro Fischer is a movie buff and an avid consumer of media, both of which serve him well as a digital strategist on the Sony business, and came in handy while taking the lead on the digital efforts surrounding the Canadian iteration of Sony’s “Make.Believe” campaign. It launched a new identity for the brand, introducing a unified brand message, “believe that anything you can imagine, you can make real,” which covers both its entertainment and electronic disciplines.
With a boutique budget, Fischer and his team focused on a niche, online target of early adopters, influencers and consumers of digital entertainment. The video-heavy campaign leveraged Sony’s robust presence in gaming, including online placements across the PlayStation network of websites, garnering over 1MM game impressions.
Fischer and his team also used city blogs, BlogTO and Vancouver-based Beyond Robson, to position Sony beside content on the “latest and greatest.” Custom sections profiling up-and-coming Toronto and Vancouver filmmakers aligned the brand with creativity, and Sony’s partnership with BlogTO led to a contest that enabled photographers to have their work exhibited at Contact, the world’s largest photography festival. It resulted in over 400 entries and 4,000 votes cast in the span of a month, and a dedicated exhibit.
Fischer used social media, including customized spaces on Facebook and YouTube, to build a community. Custom Sony video channels on Rogers On Demand Online and Break featured user-generated video content tying into the “Make.Believe” theme, and expandable video units and editorial coverage were leveraged on sites like IMAX movie pages, via Cineplex, CNET and Wired.
“Our goal was to position Sony as a multidisciplinary company,” says Fischer. “Our objective was to start a conversation, create engagement with our target, get their feedback and have them be brand evangelists.”
When developing campaigns for Sony Pictures movies, he draws on his film savvy to determine where and how to reach fans, something he did when promoting the film Legion. Horror, fantasy, sci-fi and comic book fans were among the go-to groups for the campaign, which touted the film’s effects and supernatural action via sites spanning sports, gaming and movies.
Trailers and film imagery were showcased through blogs, in-game, mobile and conversational media, and website takeovers featuring custom video content drove fans towards the release date. The effort resulted in a 55% increase on impressions delivered versus other movies of the genre with a similar budget.
Facts on Fischer
Fischer, 27, has moved around a lot. He was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, and moved to Vienna, Austria, where he completed high school. His next stop was Spain, where he attended film school, studying film history.
After graduating in 2005, he moved to Canada with his family and enrolled at Centennial College in the three-year creative advertising program, during which he participated in internships at the Television Bureau of Canada and UM Canada on the RBC business. Fischer started full-time at UM on the Sony account following his graduation from Centennial in 2008.
What was your favourite movie campaign?
“I think it was Legion, talking to horror fans, talking to a niche audience that has really specific media habits that span from mobile to gaming. You really need to make yourself relevant and go after that specific behaviour.”
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Razvan Luca, account executive, Mediacom
Dorothy Zarska, communications strategist, M2 Universal
