Meet Stan

The ING DIRECT news never stops! On top of all the THRiVE Chequing events, there’s Stan! Stan is the front man for THRiVE. In an animated short film, Stan takes you through the awesome features and amazing benefits of this new no-fee chequing account. A charming Saver who longs to only bank with ING DIRECT, Stan tries to convince his skeptical friends that branches are just a façade, what really matters are the savings.

Watch Stan on ING DIRECT’s Facebook  page and while you’re there, become a fan.

THRiVE Live at Berczy Park

What better way to celebrate ING DIRECT’s new chequing account THRiVE than with a synchronized swimming number. But not just any swimming, fountain swimming.

Berczy Park, 12:43 : a troop of dancers clad in orange bathing suits decorated with a THRiVE arrow and Your185.ca emerged from a dark van. Music started up, the girls took their place and the dance number kicked off. It was wild. The girls danced their heart out in the park’s fountain. A mix of synchronized swimming moves paired with jazz and modern dance lured the crowd closer. Kids were clapping. People were snapping photos. I personally couldn’t help but cheer. And as if the dance number wasn’t enough, the dancers handed out baggies of money – your bank fees. A crowd favourite no doubt.

And then it was done. The music came to an end as the dancers posed on the edge of the spraying fountain. The crowd cheered and applauded, Voila, our stunt was a huge success. The perfect way to end a day packed with amazing events. Big thanks to the dancers, crew and of course, ING DIRECT.

Stay tuned for videos of the Fountain Dance.

Operation THRiVE

A mere four weeks ago Operation THRiVE was set into action. Dashboard, GWP, Maverick and Response Innovations – ING DIRECT’s four media partners broke away to make magic. Today all the hard work paid off (in more ways than one).

When ING DIRECT announced to us that they were launching THRiVE Chequing we knew it had to be BIG. This online, no-fee daily chequing account that will allow Canadians to deposit, withdraw or transfer money for free, while earning interest is ING DIRECT’s biggest announcement since they came to Canada.

To make noise and get Canadians excited we devised a national campaign that spanned all media. And it all started with $185 – the average amount Canadians pay in bank fees (or did).

The campaign kicked off weeks ago with a very obscure website – your185.ca. We wanted to demonstrate what your annual fees look like. On this site, pages filled with 185 images (cupcakes, pigeons, sparkling diamonds) cycled through. After every fifth pattern came a simple message, “August 18. Take back your 185.” Designed to create buzz and build SEO, the site got people talking and wondering out loud on Facebook and Twitter.

Which takes us to today, August 18…

The day began with radio remotes broadcasting from ING DIRECT cafés in Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal. Listeners were driven to the cafés for a chance to “Win Big on the Spot”. Participants stood on large orange circles and were randomly chosen for prizes of up to $185.

Then, using street team videos, we captured Canadians passionate reactions to the outrageous fees they pay annually. Just to stir the pot!

Meanwhile, ING DIRECT Savers received an exclusive email from Peter Aceto, ING DIRECT’s CEO. In a sneak peak video, Peter shared the exciting news with Savers first.

Also, commuters in Toronto and Montreal came head-to-head with their annual bank fees. Giant pedestrian billboards covered in loonies, toonies, quarters, nickels and dimes hid an important message. As passersby pulled off the coins, the big news was revealed, “Stop being nickel and dimed. Meet THRiVE.”

At 12:00 Peter Aceto took to the podium at the Toronto Eaton Center to make the news public.

All roads led to Your185.ca. The hub for all of the day’s activities. You can see the money wall in action and watch Peter Aceto’s press conference live. A Twitter feed pulls in all of the online chatter, while the Flickr feed streams in images from the events. And most importantly you can learn about THRiVE and register for the preview.

What a great day! A huge success for our friends at ING DIRECT. But wait, the fun’s not over…

Dashboard Launches A “Mother” Of A Site

Recently we launched a brand new branded entertainment site for Fresh Baked Entertainment. We designed and developed the online home for their  new web show “MotherLoad”. We created an environment to house the show that creatively embodied what the show was about all the while providing advertising opportunities for the shows sponsors.

What we came up with was the “Organized Chaos” design that reflected the busy life of today’s mom. The site features feeds from Youtube and twitter as well as Erin’s blog. All of these elements allow the shows viewers to connect with the show on a deeper level.

In the backend we created a custom CMS that allows Fresh Baked to manage nearly every aspect of the website. From posting new episodes, updating the blog and even moderating comments on both the video and blog posts.

From start to finish this was a great project, we even got a sneak peak of the hilarity that viewers of the show can look forward to.

Be sure to check out the show here: www.motherloadtv.com

Join Hellmann’s Run For Real Food

What do Amy Longlegs, Margery Strides and Elvira Flash have in common? Well aside from being Canadian free-run hens, they’re also competing in Hellmann’s Run For Real Food. Coincidence? Not quite. Serendipitous? You bet.

What better way to launch Hellmann’s ½ the Fat now made with Canadian free-run eggs, then running free-run hens across the Internet. In the first race of it’s kind, users get to select their hen, suit her up and train her for the big day. From running on a farm-grade treadmill to yoga stretches, these hens sweat it up with hopes of winning free groceries for a year. And when they’re not working out, they’re posing on Facebook. With the photo-bombing tool, you can add your hen to all of your pics.

To date, 20,000 hens have entered the Run. Come June 23rd there’s going to be a lot of birds clucking around the Internet. Check Yahoo and MSN for all the action. Follow along from site to site as these ladies make history.

Drive in another dimension

It’s official, Dashboard’s been bitten by the 3-D bug, and who can blame us, it’s awesome. Driving off our success and knowledge from 3M Filtrete, comes a 3-D driving game for Ontario Toyota Parts & Service.

Every season Parts & Service send out super straightforward direct mail – coupons, postcards, the usual stuff. This year, we changed course and went for a more enhanced experience. Shall we say, a more stereoscopic experience.

The ride starts with direct mail. Printed in 3-D along with a pair of glasses, you’re driven to play on Toyota3D.ca. The game is a cruise through town in search of Parts & Service offers. As you perfect your skills, you come across hidden Easter eggs with exclusive deals, like spring detailing. Did we mention it’s in 3-D? You can customize your Prius, change the music on the radio, send to your friends and even post your times. It’s immersive in full dimension. And addictive!

Hold on to your 3-D glasses, who knows what we’ve got cooking!

They Put Their Money Where Their Mouth Is

Back in late 2009 I had a group of creatives and developers in our boardroom working on our annual digital planning deck for the Ontario Toyota Dealers Association.

As we poured through numerous ideas, different media and social media exercises our developers commented “for all of these ideas to work we need to rebuild their website”. The team went one further, “if the Dealers would agree on a new site build we could ensure a better user experience and an agile enough website to adapt with constant retail changes”.
Our client loved their existing site and their peers also frequently commented on how it was one of the industry’s best. Why would they want to spend the dollars necessary to rebuild a website when they had a strong property live and doing the job it was intended for?

Here was our “WHY” list:

• The site was 4 years old and designed for/developed completely in Flash
• Our “container” kept our on-screen working area very limited
• We felt users needed too many clicks to reach their desired content
• We could dramatically improve our SEO with better code and development practises
• We wanted to better utilize our new CMS tools and found that trying to synch new technologies to older sites posed their own new batch of problems
• On any given month our clients retail program could dramatically change from the last – we needed a site which would allow us be as agile as possible
• The site could no longer maintain our strategic digital vision for the client

Our creative & development teams took up the challenge in earnest. They put an action plan together that not only answered the “WHY’s” but created excellent wireframes, visuals and site architecture to support our case. Based on that work at the beginning of January the Dealers unanimously approved the site redesign. The presentation wasn’t just a slick song and dance to get the room raving, we moved slowly through the “WHY’s” – demonstrating how the new site could fulfill their tactical needs while growing and adapting to best practises in code and design.

We launched Phase 1 of that new site yesterday. Phase 2 is right around the corner

During the build I saw not only the internal teams at Dashboard take ownership and pride in this project but our client as well. I have seen large projects derail very quickly in the past, lose their primary focus and go off on wild tangents that leave clients and agencies frustrated. I’m proud to say we delivered Phase 1 on time and on budget but most of all I’m proud of the individuals who stepped up and delivered exactly what they set out to do.

They put their money where their mouth is.

H&R Block Gets Social for Tax Time

With the emergence of social media, H&R Block wanted to showcase their expertise and provide support in the social space beyond just Facebook and Twitter. For H&R Block it was about building a community, while raising brand awareness. The social media plan focused on delivering expertise, advocacy, innovative articles and resources directly to their target audience.

Dashboard, in partnership with Due North Communications and Calador Communications, launched H&R Block TaxTALK in early January just prior to Canadians actively seeking tax advice. We created a social media hub to house all the online activities providing a perfect forum for answering tax questions. Within the site, users can ask Tax Experts their questions, browse a multitude of FAQ questions and peruse through blogs and resources, such as podcasts and articles. Ultimately, users can share information and provide input on the content that H&R Block provides.

All areas of the site are managed through the back end content management system which allows non-technical editors the ability to update blog posts, answer questions posed by users and send the response by email, and add tax resources all from one easy to use system in both French and English.

This project had the whole shop excited from day one. A great client and great partners made this an easy build and something we could all get behind and relate to. Let’s face it, all of us have felt the stress of preparing taxes and often can’t find the answers we’re looking for. By creating a community and delivering on an expressed need of relevant and timely tax information on a personal level, Tax Talk is giant leap forward for H&R Block to tighten their relationship with their consumers. I can also honestly say everyone who has worked on this project has found some helpful bit of information regarding their own taxes.

Tax Talk has allowed H&R Block to listen to what clients are saying about the brand and showcase their authentic and real expertise from some of the best Tax pros in Canada. We believe this framework will successfully launch H&R Block into the social space and showcase to Canadians that H&R Block is there for you during this taxing time.

Atlantic Lottery Delivers Richer Moments Online

Congratulations to our partners at Atlantic Lottery Corporation who launched their new brand website, www.alc.ca, today!

ALC is a leading-edge gaming organization, headquartered in Moncton, New Brunswick.  They are driven by an incredibly strong, innovative interactive team, led by Bob Rybak, Michael Sandalis and Claire Seguin of the Digital Gaming Group (DiGG).

Early in 2009, ALC enlisted Dashboard’s assistance to develop a digital strategy demonstrating the revitalization of all of ALC’s online channels, including alc.ca, PlaySphere.ca and RedShores.ca, along with the enhancement of their loyalty and account management systems.   The “Digital 21” strategy will be rolled out over the next few years, along with the introduction of several new and exciting gaming platforms.

The launch of the redesigned and rebuilt alc.ca represents completion of their first major strategic milestone. Dashboard collaborated with Mike and Claire to complete the site design. HTML and back-end development was completed by New Brunswick-based T4G.

User experience was considered throughout the design and development phases, focusing on delivering key information, such as lotto jackpot alerts, winning numbers and key promotional messaging in a clear, concise, easy-to-navigate format.  Internal ALC brand teams were provided the opportunity to customize product pages with various cross-promotional banner advertisements in order to create a truly unique brand experience.

The new alc.ca showcases Atlantic Lottery’s commitment to delivering “Richer Moments” to Atlantic Canadians.  The brand messaging focuses both on the many exciting opportunities to win offered by Atlantic Lottery products and on the many ways in which Atlantic Lottery gives back to communities – with 100% of profits going back to the Atlantic Provinces.  Atlantic Lottery’s commitment to responsible gaming is also featured prominently throughout the site.

We look forward to more “Richer Moments” ahead with our terrific Atlantic Lottery partners.