Claim to fame

At Mediaedge:cia, So works with some pretty big names in the marketing world: Wyeth Consumer Healthcare Canada, Colgate-Palmolive, Sony Ericsson and Xerox.

One of his recent campaigns for Wyeth’s Robax Platinum back pain caplets links the brand with gardening, one of the most popular pastimes for Canadians, on Canoe’s Home & Garden website.

So worked with Canoe to create advertorial for a section on the site focusing on how to garden without straining your back. Traditional and transitional ad units for Robax Platinum have been placed throughout homeandgarden.canoe.ca, while an interactive ad featuring the iconic Robax wooden puppet demonstrates back and neck exercises. Another ad takes viewsers to backrelief.ca for more tips and info about alternative, medical and surgical treatment options – while the advertorial content on a dedicated Robax page contains sections on fitness, equipment and techniques.

Background

So has a degree in economics and math from the University of Toronto, which he says aids in quantitative and qualitative analysis, as well as his ability to give clients a wider perspective on their business. His first job was in the financial industry, but he was attracted to media and the chance to be more creative than crunching numbers. He was at M2 Universal as a media buying assistant for 18 months before moving to media planning at Bensimon Byrne for just under a year. He’s been with Mediaedge:cia for about nine months.

POV:

Which brand, other than your own clients, would you most want to work on?

The iPhone launch would be fantastic. It’s the challenge of the media planner to go out there and look for unique opportunities, and use traditional media in a way that hasn’t been used before, to create that buzz.

What would you love to build into a plan, but haven’t been able to yet?

I would love to do a 52-week online buy. It hasn’t happened because there’s still concern about ROI so clients are not willing to commit to a full 52 weeks.

Are clients missing opportunities due to caution?

Oh, definitely. Again it goes back to looking at online. With TV and print they feel safe because they know they are gaining excellent GRPs. But how effective are those GRPs? How much are those GRPs really working for you?

Brands have to look at the overall strategy to see how they can effectively reach the consumer – and actively engage, versus passively engage them – so people have the opportunity to interact with a brand versus just seeing the brand.