Advertising and communications agency Colour has announced the launch of a new practice that will focus on Social Media, looking to “to get clients involved in the online conversations already happening, as well as start new ones that will lead to a closer connection to their customers.” The company has offices in Halifax, Moncton and St. John’s and has a client roster which includes company’s such as Dairy Farmers of Canada, City of Moncton, Exxon Mobil Canada and Nova Scotia Tourism.
“Whether or not you’re aware of it, people are talking about you. And, more often than not, they’re doing it online,†said Carman Pirie, principal at Colour and the lead on the new practice. “Whether it’s in personal blogs, networking sites like Facebook, user-generated sites like Wikipedia, video sharing sites such as YouTube or simply through comments placed on news aggregate sites like Digg, there are conversations being had that could seriously impact your organization. More than ever, it’s important to not only be aware of those conversations but to also contribute to them.â€
The new practice area also represent a change in their business model, but as well a change in the agency’s approach to the “traditional press release.” They are now embracing what has been termed as the “Social Media Press Release” which was first coined by US-based Shift Communications. Colour followed and has added social media tools such as del.icio.us, Facebook and Digg, as well the company has announced a strategic partnership with New Brunswick-based Radian6 who recently received a round of financing for their social media monitoring tool.
This isn’t the first company in Canada to launch a social media practice in 2007, and much to their credit they have also provided some details about existing clients that have this new service to. The first is Office Interiors and an online campaign at lovethewayyouwork.ca; and also the Killam Properties’ Landlord Lou (landlordlou.ca) campaign which included a combination of guerrilla marketing that involved a scavenger hunt of Killam Properties’ branded plungers in exchange for free rent, the website also included humorous video clips, and online social marketing through Facebook.
