Social media campaign for ideaCity2010 – Live WebCast from the 3-day conference >>

Giant Step launches MemorialMatters.com >>

Giant Step launches Brazil FutGogo’s website in Portugese – special edition soccer team Gogo’s, just in time for the Fifa World Cup. The site is now working in 8 languages: English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, German, Hebrew, and Portugese

ITBusiness.ca – “Small firms look forward to Adobe CS5” >> “… Giant Step also uses Adobe Flash for adding animation and interactivity to Web pages. It also uses Adobe AIR, a tool for building rich Internet applications that run outside the browser on multiple operating systems. “These help us add interactivity to any design, such rich media content, animated content, video, and comic strip dialog bubbles,” said Katz. He said Giant Step used Adobe tools to create a special site targeted at the online community for children’s plastic toy Gogo Crazy Bones. The collectible character-based Crazy Bones were very popular with young children in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Last year, the manufacturers approached Giant Step to put a social media spin on the franchise. Giant Step developed a site that allowed fans to post their own Crazy Bones themed home videos, cartoon strips, photos and “mutations.” Within a year, the fledgling site developed a community of more than 100,000 fans. The site was also honoured for excellence in design, development and implementation at last year’s Interactive Media Awards event.”

Giant Step participates in panel discussion ‘The future of media in Canada’ at Centennial College: School of Communication, Media, and Design, as part of Fast Forward, a day of speakers and workshops

Gil Katz shares Giant Step’s Social Media expertise and experience in a panel discussion at the Digital Strategies Conference, a part of Canadian Music Week at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto. Social Media – Opportunities to Increase Revenue and Brand Loyalty by Engaging in Online Communities This panel of industry experts will discuss the future of social media, with a focus on consumer trends, marketing programs and content development. As a brand, marketer or content owner, how can social media improve your current marketing and customer acquisition initiatives? What is the opportunity for brands and marketers to target and reach potential consumers through social networks? How are social networks evolving to incorporate advertising programs and licensed content while addressing privacy and piracy concerns? This panel of experts will get under the hood and provide answers to the questions people are asking about the future of social media. Panelists Giovanni Gallucci, Social Media Ninja/Author/Speaker (USA) Kobi Gulerson, Senior Account Exec., MacLaren MRM (Canada) Gil Katz, Managing Partner, Giant Step (Canada) Jake Maas CFO & Head of Business Dev., LivingSocial (USA) Moderator: Sonny Mayugba, Bus. Dev. Director, Sacramento Press (USA)

March 10, 2010 Live@CMW: And You Thought You Knew Social Networking… Live coverage from Digital Strategies Conference, Canadian Music Week, Toronto Social Media – Opportunities to Increase Revenue and Brand Loyalty by Engaging in Online Communities Panelists: Giovanni Gallucci, Social Media Ninja/Author/Speaker (USA) Kobi Gulerson, Senior Account Exec., MacLaren MRM (Canada) Gil Katz, Managing Partner, Giant Step (Canada) Jake Maas, CFO & Head of Business Dev., LivingSocial (USA) Moderator: Sonny Mayugba, Bus. Dev. Director, Sacramento Press (USA) On the issue of awareness among buyers… Mayugba: vocabulary on ‘social media’ typically includes Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc., but often ends there.  But how about other networks? Galucci: Think overall picture, don’t only try to sell through Twitter, etc.  “There are plenty of ways to do direct sells, Twitter is not it,” also, MySpace is still a huge network for music, and a huge, huge site. And, skip the bleeding edge.  “What you need to know is where is everyone is right now,” which means YouTube, MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, etc. On building a community… Katz: Important to ‘build your own community’ and make it sticky, engaging. Galucci: contests work, especially when spread across the important channels like YouTube.  Cites a case study of a client using $100,000, and […]

Gil Katz participates as a judge in the 2010 ACE Regional Exposition in Toronto. ACE is a national charitable organization that is teaching and igniting young Canadians to create brighter futures for themselves and their communities. Working in partnership with business and higher education, ACE delivers experience-based programming that allows university and college students to move beyond the traditional path of post-secondary education. These students are challenged to address economic, social and environmental issues in their own entrepreneurial ventures and in their communities. ACE currently delivers two programs on over 50 university and college campuses across Canada with the involvement of over 1,700 student leaders and student entrepreneurs.  

Activision signs Pokemon’s rival – Activision is to release video games based on the Gogo’s Crazy Bones franchise after agreeing an exclusive licensing deal. Full article >