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New Leaders and New Initiatives For Industry Associations

DigiBC [1]News that I’ve known about for a couple of weeks now can (and has been) finally be announced publicly – Howard Donaldson, a co-founder of the recently closed Propaganda Games and former Disney Interactive Studios VP of Howard Donaldson [2]Studio Operations will be taking over the President’s position at DigiBC [1].  Mr. Donaldson will be splitting his time between running DigiBC and participating in the CEOs in Residence program over at the Centre 4 Growth [3]. He is also the chair of the BC Interactive Task Force [4], the organization which spearheaded the implementation of the Interactive Tax Credits program in BC. It is my hope that under Mr. Donaldson’s leadership DigiBC will be able to move forward and become a strong force for the province’s interactive digital media, wireless and transmedia industries. Howard Donaldson will officially take over the President’s seat later this month.

IAB Canada [5]The Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada [5] has  announced two new initiatives designed to help Canadian marketing professionals keep up to date with recent research in Interactive advertising, plus gain access to the deep digital expertise that resides within IAB Canada’s own 250+ Member-companies.

The first Monday of each month, as part of the new “Faces Of IAB [6]” program, IAB Canada will release a thought-leading Research Report, White Paper, Advertiser Case-Study, How-To Checklist, etc. that has been developed by one of IAB Canada’s Member-companies.

Through the Faces of IAB program, the Canadian marketing community will now get one-week of free access to important or even proprietary information from IAB Canada Members, that otherwise, might only be presented to a select group of that Member’s contacts, and only in select cities across Canada.

April’s selected “Faces Of IAB” Research Report is Carat and Microsoft’s New Shopper Journeys [7], which details how consumers’ purchase paths in four key retail categories (apparel, quick-service restaurants, groceries and home electronics), have changed in response to a variety of economic pressures and digital developments in the past two years, and how offline, Online and in-store media play a role in shaping purchase decisions now.

The second Wednesday (popularly known as Hump Day) of each month, IAB Canada will release its Hump Day Bump Of Research, an outstanding Research Report culled from the hundreds of global industry resources and newsfeeds that IAB Canada reviews in order to provide Custom Digital Marketing Research consulting for its Members. The research will be available for download by the entire Canadian marketing community — again, for one week only — on the IABCanada.com [8] Homepage.

April’s selected “Hump Day Bump Of Research” Report is Delvinia and Environic Analytics “AskingCanadians™ Social Media PRIZMC2-Link,” which teams up PRIZMC2 (Environic Analytics widely-used segmentation system that assigns Canadians into 66 unique lifestyle types), with Delvinia’s annual AskingCanadians™ Social Media Survey — resulting in the first database that enables Canadian marketers to determine the Social Media behavior of all segments of Canadian society, and target products and messages to Canadian consumers based on a detailed understanding of their Social Media habits and lifestyles.

The following week, both forms of research will be brought back into the IABCanada Knowledge Centre [9], for access by IAB Canada Members-only.

“The goal of IABC Canada’s Faces Of IAB and Hump Day Bump of Research programs is simple,” says Paula Gignac, President, IAB Canada. “To provide time-stressed marketers with at least two pieces of credible and immediately-usable digital advertising research per month, that they don’t have to find or vet on their own; and to promote IAB Canada Members’ expertise in all things digital at the same time.”

“Trust and reliability are key attributes we look for when sourcing industry research,” says Karl Flanders, VP, Media Director, Saatchi & Saatchi. “IAB Canada has a proven track record of supplying us with leading-edge articles, facts and insights that help us help our clients, so we’re excited to know that we’ll be hearing about new Member and non-Member research finds in a more regular manner as a result of this programme. The initiative will also help the industry understand which IAB Canada Members or other global companies could be potential research partners in the future — a real “win-win” for everyone.”

mobile monday Toronto [10]Research In Motion will be the guest of honour at tonight’s MobileMonday Toronto [10], being held at at the MaRS facility. This marks the second time that RIM has taken the stage at MobileMonday Toronto to showcase upcoming initiatives for 2011 and beyond. In February 2009, RIM discussed the launch of BlackBerry World, and this time around, RIM will discuss the launch of important BlackBerry platform products such as the Playbook. Tyler Lessard, Vice President BlackBerry Global Alliances and Developer Relations, will take the stage to talk about the Playbook, ecosystems, and developer programs for business professionals and developers. Teams from RIM Developer Relations and Roger’s Catalyst will be on-hand with presentation booths to answer any questions for audience attendees during the networking portion of the event.

“This is the second time that Tyler has joined us to discuss the launch of a significant RIM product or service. An iconic Canadian company, RIM’s ever-popular BlackBerry device is a beloved high-tech business communication tool for countless users worldwide including President Obama. Always close to developer and business communities, it’s great to see RIM’s second-return to the MobileMonday Toronto community,” says Alexander S. Bosika and Jim Brown, co-founders of MobileMonday Toronto. “RIM also became a presenting sponsor of the MobileMonday Toronto @ MaRS annual series at the start of this year. Our community represents the intersection of intellectual and financial capital to help mobile innovation in Toronto and surrounding regions. We’re ecstatic to have RIM join the growing list of key sponsors which support our efforts to build MobileMonday Toronto into a key platform for mobile professionals to share knowledge, information and business contacts.”

Stingray Digital [11]Montreal-based Stingray Digital [11] announced today from MIPTV in Cannes that it has entered into an agreement to purchase Music Choice Europe Limited from a European private investment group for an undisclosed sum.

Music Choice Europe, founded in 1993 and based in London, England, offers over 70 different commercial-free music channels delivered to more than 10 million subscribers through television service operators in 17 countries across Europe and Africa. In addition to the professionally programmed linear music channels, Music Choice Europe also offers a multi-platform solution to operators including music videos on demand and a service delivered by broadband.

“This acquisition is a perfect strategic fit for Stingray” stated Eric Boyko, President and CEO of Stingray Digital. “We will immediately benefit from synergies between the two companies, but more importantly, Music Choice Europe’s presence in 17 different countries will allow us to expand more quickly into Europe and Africa with our other music services that we have developed for the North American market including The KARAOKE Channel and Concert TV” he added.

“Music Choice has been actively growing its subscriber base and geographic reach over the past several years”, said Mark Wilson, President of Music Choice Europe. “Now as part of the Stingray Digital group of companies, Music Choice will be able to continue its growth by providing a greater variety of music-related services to current and future customers,” he added.

Stingray Digital’s acquisition of Music Choice Europe will create a true global music broadcaster that serves a digital music service to more than 20 million subscribers in more than 30 countries across Europe, Africa, North America, South America, the Caribbean and beyond. Stingray Digital is an innovative broadcaster who invests heavily in research and development in order to remain at the cutting edge of technology required to deliver a compelling music service to customers around the world.

Stingray Digital owns and operates the Galaxie Music service which is available in all digital cable, IPTV and satellite television households in Canada and an increasing presence in the US, the Caribbean and other countries. Galaxie, Your Musical Universe, is more than 50 commercial-free music channels on TV and on authenticated broadband services, and soon on mobile devices.