This Monday I’ll have the pleasure of presenting our case study around Polar Ice Vodka to the Direct Sellers Association of Canada.

The conference is taking place in Quebec City at the Hotel Frontenac.  Although the venue is among the most beautiful in the city, apparently the interweb is unreliable in the basement… which means i’ll be creating a “plan b” for the website demo in case it doesn’t work.

Although I don’t speak until the afternoon, I’m going to hang out the whole day as the list of speakers looks very interesting. You can get more info on the conference & speaker list here.

• 3 reasons why iAd will change mobile advertising as we know it http://shar.es/mk5h8 ->
• Report: RIM to take on Apple with new touchscreen, software and tablet. Game on! ->
• Samsung to launch tablet in Q3 – looks like the category that nobody really needs is going to become something everybody wants ->
• BSTREET launches new digital platform for the Toronto Entertainment District BIA http://shar.es/myIt3 ->
• iphone 4 will be available in Canada unlocked! http://tinyurl.com/2fkjjx9 ->
• brand sites are not dead – consumers trust them as much as consumer opinion sites: http://tinyurl.com/2wtkn6o ->
• Join me at iphone, ipod, and ipad (ip3) forum – and receive a 20% discount on registration http://shar.es/miXnE ->
• ARPU is dead? I wonder if Canadian carriers would agree: http://tinyurl.com/29bdcs9 ->

Next week the G20 will transform Toronto, but if you have a chance come join me at Interactive Ontario’s ip3 forum on June 21st at the Toronto Hilton.

The all day conference will explore the business and technical impact and industry transformation the iphone, ipad, and ipod are having on the mobile and interactive industry.

I’ll be presenting BSTREET’s POV on Wap vs. App as it relates to these platforms and will actively participate in the panel discussion around the topic.

Here are details on the panel i’m participating in:

If you register with promo code “G20″ you’ll get a 20% discount on the registration fee.

For a full list of speakers, click here.

We’re really excited about our latest digital platform we just launched for the Toronto Entertainment District BIA.

We won this business a few months ago through a competitive pitch process and this week the final two pieces went live. This is a true 360 digital campaign that syndicates content and experience across multiple channels while being supported by a robust digital media plan.

In summary we have now launched:

• New Drupal CMS templates & overall better user experience for the primary website at http://www.torontoed.com. We’ve incorporated Google maps (with street view), an enhanced events section and created a full microsite for the Toronto ED BIA Master Plan which was previously only available as an 82 page PDF file.
• A new mobile website that creates a mobile specific experience (for consumers on the go) while leveraging functionality and content from the primary website. The site works great on all mobile devices with a mobile browser and feels like an App – although it is not. To access the mobile site, go to http://www.torontoed.com on your mobile device
• A new facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/TorontoED) that will feature community initiatives and updates. This is where the BIA will engage people for input, feedback and comment on things such as the upcoming John Street Initiative.  We’ve also leveraged the events database from the website to stream events automatically into a dedicated tab
• A digital media campaign that will see advertorials, content, and placements across Toronto.com, BlogTo.com, the Weather Network and others online, on mobile and on facebook

• HP bought Palm for the OS – not the hardware.. has no plans to get into smartphone biz.. http://tinyurl.com/27q8aql ->
• Standards aren’t add-ons to the web. They are the web – Steve Jobs on why HTML 5 will rule the web: http://tinyurl.com/32o3n6r ->
• Mastercard releases iphone and ipad App to send money – available only in U.S. right now http://tinyurl.com/2aztvll ->
• Another sign the end of the universe is near – farmville for iphone announced at #WDDC ->
• Apple re-invents mobile ads with user experience emphasis. brands have already committed $60m to second half of this year for iAds ->
• Apple expects to dominate 48% of second half of 2010 mobile advertising market after only 8 weeks of selling ->
• Android users click on mobile ads at a higher rate than iphone – what does that say about Android users? http://tinyurl.com/24vbn3q ->
• social media best & worst practices: http://tinyurl.com/brzgrh ->

Much like the introduction of the iphone in 2007 defined the smartphone, the introduction of the iAd platform from Apple will likely re-define mobile advertising as we’ve known it.

In short, Steve Jobs explained that iAd’s app ads will achieve the right balance between being interactive and emotional. He used the analogy that advertisements from the TV are emotional while flash ads on websites are interactive.

Here are three reasons why I believe iAds could really work for brands:

1. Users choose the site not the Ad – so by keeping the Ad experience self-contained within the existing page, Apple ensure a better user experience over most other types of mobile Ads.  This means brands and advertisers who are putting more and more of a premium on engagement vs. impressions will be satisfied
2. Speaking of experience, the level of interactivity possible through this platform looks impressive. It’s like building a full microsite flash experience – but without the flash or the need to build a stand-alone site.
3. Brands who do not yet want to commit to building a full mobile website or application to support a campaign no longer need to – you can do data collection (like for a contest) right within the iAd.  Having said that, engaging consumers through an iAd is only going to increase demand & expectations that there will be a mobile friendly experience accessible too.

One thing holding me back from fully embracing this platform is the reach potential of iAds in Canada. Although we will almost certainly run a test budget against the platform when it launches this summer, it cannot replace the established mobile networks overnight – especially as iphone’s market share is still only about 20% in Canada.

With that said, since iAd is built entirely on HTML 5, this platform can be extended to the mobile web which will instantly make your interactive iAd’s accessible to a much broader audience – even those on other smartphones!

Want to see more? Check out the demo below:

After a weekend of debauchery in Las Vegas I was looking forward to catching up on the season finale of Lost on our flight home. Armed with a knapsack of electronic toys and my credit card, i figured the 5 or so hour flight be less painful than usual.

It took me the better part of 20 minutes to register and sign-up for an account on my iPad  – but that was ok by me as i still had plenty of time to watch my 2 hour episode. Thanks to the ABC iPad App i could watch Lost in all its glory. I loaded up the App and unfortunately I was denied service – i was a victim of geo-fencing. I guess the App doesn’t yet recognize the IP address from the US Airways service.

Undeterred, I went to the CTV website as that’s where i usually turn to when my Bell IP TV service fails to record an episode – which is at least twice a month. The site loaded quickly, but there was one problem – with flash not supported on the iPad, i couldn’t watch or stream the episode. Dah.

I finished my second beer and reached for my laptop. After logging in again to the wifi service i went back to the CTV website only for it to geo-fence block me. Double Dah.  Going to the ABC website worked this time and i was able to start the episode. Strange that both devices working on the same wifi service had opposite outcomes!

At this point I was a full hour into my flight and was ready to go. There was only one problem – the wifi connection was painfully slow – around 290kps for uploading and 936kps for downloading (according to my speed test App on my iPad) – or WAY too slow to watch streaming video.

Three hours into my flight I had managed to watch all of 10 minutes of my 2 hour episode and finally decided to give up on the whole experience and seek out another beer instead.

The connection is fast enough if all you are doing is checking email & browsing the web, but streaming audio or video seems slower & worse than dial-up used to be.

This was my first experience having the interweb on a flight and I’ll take the slow connection for email and basic browsing over having nothing at all, but for $12.95 USD I was expecting much better value.

I guess I’ll have to wait until I get home tonight to find out what happened in the series finale -  I’m hoping that the sequel to my airline wifi experience will be just as good.

A while back I earned my Starbucks badge on foursquare for checking into 5 different locations.

Excited about the badge I was then quickly disappointed that it actually meant nothing and there was no reward for my loyalty.

With a recent update to the App installed, I noticed that there was now a “special offer” button under Starbucks this morning when I went to check-in.  In order to unlock the special, you need to be the mayor. Despite fierce competition from other BSTREET-ers, I’ve been able to defend this mayorship and redeemed my special today – even though the Barrista had no idea what foursquare was or whether or not my coupon was even real as there was no promotional code on it.

The timing for this real reward for my loyalty to Starbucks is timely considering McDonalds is about to roll out their own location based service using the new facebook location API.

Although I applaud Starbucks for adding a real incentive, I think it’s still a miss not to offer those with the badge something too.

What used to be true in business is now becoming true on the social webs if you believe the recent digital hype around geo-based social media platforms such as foursquare and Gowalla.

It’s about location, location, location (not) !

I’ve been an active participant / early adopter on foursquare and Gowalla for the last several months and what is really obvious is that Geo-based social media is the first digital channel that could effectively redefine loyalty programs and truly tie retail, trade and both ATL & BTL initiatives together. It’s practically a digital marketer’s wet dream.

It’s also become obvious to me that location (through GPS or otherwise) is actually not the reason for the hype and early success of these platforms, nor will it be the reason it doesn’t fizzle out in 3 months.

If it was only about location to create social interactions, Latitude from Google would have taken off two years ago and not become known as the stalker app.

From my perspective, having people “check in” or let their location become visible to others through these platforms is merely the mechanism or enabler to the gaming part of these platforms.

At the end of the day, the foursquare platform is a more fun and intuitive game to play than the Gowalla game of stamping passports and picking up & dropping off weird items around town. This is also why having twitter report on location will have zero impact on these platforms as twitter is a live search engine – not a social network or a game.

Foursquare is seeing 50% monthly growth right now because the game is fun and unlike other silly games that have taken over the social media world (i.e. farmville or mafia wars on facebook) it has some real life context and rewards – like free food and drink for being the “mayor” of a location or checking into a location a set number of times. Gowalla’s success can also be tied back to real rewards and context.

Of course these new platforms are also mobile based and we all know by now that mobile web is being used primarily by consumers for social media. Did you know that traffic to facebook mobile in Canada is now about the same as online access?  Knowing that, it’s hard to believe that facebook hasn’t enabled their Apps to work on mobile yet – although for those of us already sick of the farmville and mafia wars fbook spam on our walls, this is still a good thing.

Just as gaming apps are the most popular downloads on smartphones, the geo-social media wars are really about who has the best game and who can keep it going the longest before being picked up by  Google, Yahoo, facebook, or Microsoft.

• Here are my 10 iPad observations 6 days after purchasing one http://shar.es/mvrAM
• Copies of other presentations from the recent CMA Mobile marketing event: http://tinyurl.com/y2xwov5
• Mobile Entertainment reports Flash 10.1 player for Android, BlackBerry and Palm webOS platforms coming this summer or fall
• Next version iphone found in the wild & dissected by gizmodo: http://tinyurl.com/yyjkhar
• 10 iPad observations 6 days after purchasing one http://shar.es/mv47n
• @davefleet – apple is like the new microsoft. they reel you in but it takes 3-4 versions to get it right. in reply to davefleet
• Lego finds actual use for augmented reality: http://tinyurl.com/y6nf9y8 (via shawn andrews)
• the formula for facebook ads – content + paid (duh!): http://tinyurl.com/y52cynj
• new bluetooth standard with revolutionize everything from watches to pocket calculators: http://tinyurl.com/y3l6yn8
• teens now use SMS to communicate more than any other medium. 1/3 txt 100 msgs a day or more: http://tinyurl.com/y3gj9c3
• Most presentations from recent CMA Conference in Halifax available here: http://tinyurl.com/y4ufxuf
• The interweb as we know it all started with mosaic – 17 years ago today: http://tinyurl.com/2afqqhx
• finally ipad printing problems solved! http://tinyurl.com/y6wjop4
• location based mobile ads are apparently working – users are receptive to them: http://tinyurl.com/29an884
• 10 Free iPhone Apps to Help You Go Green for Earth Day: http://tinyurl.com/2emby95
• web 2.0, then social media, and now share media (primarily geo-based mobile social media) rules the day?
• http://mashable.com/2010/04/23/lufthansa-iphone-loser-free-beer/