Welcome to the future. As the 20th century winds down to its exciting conclusion, advances in technology are leading to the development of whole new forms of out-of-home advertising, and giving some traditional forms a face-lift. But do these changes really…

Got an indie movie to promote? A new CD by the alt-rock flavour of the month? A hip-hop concert? Then wild postings are the out-of-home vehicle for you. That, anyway, has been the traditional view of this medium. While record labels,…

BC Gas isn’t the first veteran player in the provincial energy sector forced to build a new brand identity in the face of oncoming deregulation. Onetime sister organization BC Hydro has been at it for more than a year now. The…

We’ve seen it happen before. An industry begins to move toward deregulation, and suddenly an established player faces the prospect of competition from young, agile and hungry rivals. There are two courses of action. You can stand there, paralyzed, until the…

Call it the CNN complex. For much of its 10-year existence, CBC Newsworld has lived in the shadow of its big-name American counterpart. Whenever a big news story breaks, Canadians will naturally flip channels until they get some live, on-the-scene coverage…

Who says education can’t be entertaining? Certainly not CHUM. Indeed, as the driving force behind Canadian Learning Television, a new educational specialty channel set to launch in September, this Toronto-based broadcaster plans to apply the very same tricks of the trade…

It is possible – just – that there are people in this country who feel they don’t already get enough Hollywood news. Now, those souls can breathe easily: Star! is coming to the rescue. A CHUM-backed specialty channel scheduled to launch…

What does a Maud Lewis tea cozy have in common with a Monet-inspired deck of cards? Both, obviously, are unusual examples of art in everyday life. More to the point, both represent recent attempts by Canadian art museums – the Art…

It’s not that often that a recent graduate is able to dust off a school project and make it work in the real world. But that’s exactly what David Sher, now publisher of Business Sense, a new quarterly publication that targets…

It’s not easy entering a crowded category – but it helps if you’ve got the Tasmanian Devil on your side. Taz, that whirling cartoon dervish, is one of several Warner Bros. Looney Tunes characters now appearing on boxes of Sweet Mornings,…

Great. Just what the world needs – another brand of makeup. So one might think. But marketers with Toronto-based Shoppers Drug Mart are convinced that Quo, the company’s new private-label makeup line, fills a very real gap in the marketplace. According…

It’s not cancer; it’s allergies. That, in simple terms, is the reasoning behind the irreverent tone that Schering Canada has brought to its ‘Don’t drowse and drive campaign’ for the antihistamine Claritin. Many of the brands in the antihistamine category now…

When it comes to creating new and different vehicles for advertisers, it can be argued that out-of-home is the last bastion of true innovation. In recent years, the medium has seen a proliferation of non-traditional products. Here, Wendy Cuthbert takes a…

Who would have thought that frozen fish could have so much impact? The image of an icy fish fillet floating in the waters off Hampton Beach is one of several that Montreal-based agency LG2 has used in its successful outdoor campaign…

Quick: When was the last time you visited a bookstore that just sold books? If you live in any of Canada’s major markets, then chances are your most recent trip in search of the Oprah-approved novel of the month also involved…