Toronto-based Cineplex is the largest motion picture exhibitor in Canada with 130 theatres and 1,347 screens.

The digital assignment encompasses Cineplex’s burgeoning online operations, which includes the Cineplex Store, online ticketing and emerging technologies.

“Cloud AdAgents impressed us with the depth and quality of their thinking,” said Susan Mandryk, Senior Vice-President, Customer Strategies at Cineplex. “Based on their open-source business model, they were able to turn on a dime and assemble a top-notch team of thinkers who understood our objectives and were ready to hit the road on our business.”

Founded by President Peter Coish with backing from Toronto-based The Hive, Cloud AdAgents is a new kind of agency with a small physical footprint and a large presence online. The company maintains a core group of permanent employees who tap into the global advertising “cloud” to hire top independent ad professionals on a project-by-project basis.

“We’re thrilled that Cineplex Entertainment has selected us as its digital advertising partner,” said Peter. “To win the account, we had to demonstrate that our unique way of operating could meet their internal needs and move their business forward – and we succeeded. It was our first new business pitch , and we’re thrilled that our model has so quickly proven itself against the traditional ad agency structure.”

“In some ways, the pairing of Cloud AdAgents and Cineplex is a storybook matchup,” added Cloud AdAgents Managing Director Sabaa Quao. “We’re a company that is pushing the boundaries of what it means to do business over the Internet, and Cineplex recognizes that the future of marketing movies is online.  As client and agency, we share a similar progressive view of where business overall is going.”

In addition to Cineplex Entertainment, Cloud serves a number of other clients in Canada and two international clients in overseas markets.

For more information, please contact:

Pat Marshall
Vice President Communications and Investor Relations
Cineplex Entertainment
416 323 6648
pat.marshall@cineplex.com

Georgia Sourtzis
Manager, Communications
Cineplex Entertainment
416 323-6728
georgia.sourtzis@cineplex.com

The big news: Facebook is finally lifting its prohibition on lotteries from promoting themselves on Facebook. At the same time, they announced two important “enhancements” to manage the age and geographic location of viewers of lottery-run Facebook Pages and ads. In doing so, Facebook has blown away two of the most significant impediments for lotteries to using Facebook.

First, let me recap the changes:

• Lottery commissions can now advertise on Facebook.  Ads must be “age-gated”, meaning access is limited to at least 18 and older depending on local law, and “geo-gated”, meaning the ads will only be seen in the region that controls the lottery commission.  For example, the Atlantic Lottery Corporation must restrict ads for its local products to Facebook users in the Maritimes and Newfoundland.
• Lottery commissions can now establish Facebook Pages and create content on those Pages without review by Facebook.  Pages must be age and geo-gated.
• Lottery commissions can now market contests and sweepstakes on Facebook. Pages must be age and geo-gated. The prizes for these promotions cannot be gambling products, such as lottery tickets.

Another important change relates to the “organic impressions” generated by a Facebook ad. If a person takes an action (watches a video, RSVPs, becomes a “Fan” of the sponsor), their response — and the accompanying ad message — is broadcast to everyone connected to that user on Facebook. These secondary impressions are akin to word-of-mouth advertising, and are free to the advertiser. With the announcement, Facebook is committing to age and geo-gating these impressions as well.

Now that Facebook has laid out the welcome mat, will lottery commissions step up? We think there are several important questions any lottery marketer must ask themselves as they contemplate a move on Facebook:

• Are your products “social enough” for Facebook? When it comes to social media, not all products are created equal. Some, like sports betting games, are inherently social which means Facebook users little encouragement to engage with them. But most lottery products need to work a lot harder to engage Facebook users. We encourage our clients to evaluate the “socialness” of each product in their portfolio on the basis of three factors – entertainment, educational and emotional value.
• Do you have something interesting to say? Broadcasting jackpots and winners does not make for particularly engaging content in social media. Nor does repeatedly asking users what they would do with this week’s Powerball payout.  Engagement on Facebook demands a thoughtful, substantive content to spark lively and self-sustaining conversations.
• Have you considered the organizational implications of social media like Facebook?   Social media is not a short-term marketing campaign; it’s a long-term commitment that will potentially touch everyone, from customer service reps all the way up to the minister’s office.  So you need to plan accordingly.

One last consideration:  How will social media influence your product design? In this era, smart marketers are designing features into their products which make them inherently more social, and ideally suited to social media like Facebook.

Peter Coish is president of Cloud AdAgents, a digital and social media communications agency based in Toronto. Peter can be reached at 647-291-5567 or at pcoish@CloudAdAgents.com.