The wait is over. Marketing has revealed its choices for 2011 Media Player, Marketer and Agency of the Year.
• Maple Leaf Foods, Marketer of the Year
• Sid Lee, Agency of the Year
• Rogers Media, Media Player of the Year
The Breakdown
As Chris Powell explains in his profile of Rogers, the company partnered with one of its biggest competitors – Bell Canada Enterprises – to buy a majority interest in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment in December. That mammoth deal in itself gives Rogers more audience access and opportunity with such Toronto sports assets as the Maple Leafs, Toronto F.C., the Raptors and Marlies.
But it’s just one of many big plays Rogers made this year (and, yes, Rogers does own Marketing, along with a slew of other trade and consumer magazines). It also introduced and revitalized several media brands across multiple channels such as Sportsnet magazine, the primetime series Canada’s Got Talent, the new specialty channel FX Canada, a rebranding of Setanta Sports Service as Sportsnet World, and a new Toronto-centric TV news service called CityNews Channel.
Maple Leaf Foods won its “of the year” accolade for the culmination of its recovery from the listeria tragedy of 2008. As Kristin Laird pointed out in her profile of the company, Maple Leaf climbed 30 spots to 56th place in the 2011 Marketing/Leger Corporate Reputation survey.
Maple Leaf rebounded thanks to a shift in marketing approach, several acquisitions, a focus on strengthening the internal marketing teams and – perhaps most importantly – product innovation based on deep understanding of changing consumer wants and needs. There was, for example, the introduction of the Schneiders Country Naturals line made with only recognizable ingredients like lemon juice, sea salt and vinegar; they are listed on the front of the package instead of the back. The related advertising campaign hit the mark, said Alan Middleton, assistant professor of marketing at York University’s Schulich School of Business. “The whole point about the style is its straightforward simplicity because that’s the right brand personality for something that doesn’t add ingredients or chemicals [in the processing]… The style matches the product proposition,” he said.
And, while they took the title of Agency of the Year the past two years, it’s clear why Sid Lee made it a three-peat in 2011. As David Brown wrote, Sid Lee produced a number of new and exciting campaigns for clients as varied as Adidas, Cirque du Soleil, CBC, Red Bull and Dom Perignon.
It also added Dell to its client list after pitching against 40 (!) other agencies. Subsequently, Sid Lee opened a shop in Austin, Texas. As Brown wrote, “The story of Sid Lee in 2011 was not about a good Canadian agency becoming great, but a great agency becoming world-class.”
To read all three in-depth profiles of our influential winners, pick up a copy of the Jan. 16 issue of Marketing or click here to visit the Best of 2011 website.
