Circus Strategic Communications - Ontario Advertising Agency

6 Reasons Why Your Website should be Mobile Optimized

Posted On: February 17, 2012

According to Q3 2011 State of the Internet report, by 2014 mobile browsing will be more common than desktop browsing across the globe. Across all countries and demographics, mobile stats across all major categories have been growing consistently year over year.

What does this mean for your business, and your website?

1. Mobile is used differently than your full site

Cramming your full-sized site into a mobile template is not the answer. The key here is to optimize: look at the site from your customer’s perspective and figure out what the important information is that they need on a mobile device. In the case of a shopping mall, the store directory, mall specials, contact information and special events are the key points of interest for shoppers. Keep it simple and clean.

2. Mobile sites are a user-friendly version of your full site

If you’ve ever experienced a full sized website on a 3” smartphone screen you’ll understand the frustration of navigating something designed for a computer screen. Font’s become unreadable, and until you pinch and zoom, you scroll back and forth across the screen because you’re navigating with your … (Continued) Read More...

Posted In: Web

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5 Reasons Why Flipboard Rocks

Posted On: January 27, 2012

Have you ever felt completely over whelmed by the amount of content that is floating around the ‘internets’? If you have, then you’ve probably also been begging for some way to have all that information aggregated into a nice tidy package. Does this describe you? Flipboard for the iPad could be the solution to your problem and here are 5 reasons why:

1. Easy to digest content

Flipboard solves the problem of trying to consume all the content you read without having to sprint between websites. There is so much content to keep up with on the web that it’s hard to keep track of what you really want to read, view and share, and what you would rather ignore. Flipboard takes all that information and magically transforms into an easily digestible magazine style format that’s pleasing to interact with.

2. Everything you care about in one place

Think of Flipboard like a magazine that allows you to curate your own content. You’re in control of where it pulls information from and can customize it to your preferences. It aggregates all the content you read from blogs, Facebook, Twitter into … (Continued) Read More...

Posted In: Multimedia

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How Marketers are Making Dollars from Scents

Posted On: January 17, 2012

Have you ever wandered into a late night grocery store and wondered how the aroma of fresh baked bread still lingers, or walked through a mall and can smell the Abercrombie & Fitch from miles away. These are two examples of how retailers use scent to help trigger the brand in your mind’s eye.

Many retailers use aroma to enhance the shopping experience, increase brand recall and hope that it translates into dollars and cents. According to AromaSys, a scent marketing company “many businesses and individuals already use scent marketing – some do it unknowingly – such as the family looking to sell their house with the smell of home baking before prospective buyers arrive.” Almost anything can be enhanced using a custom scent. Here are a few examples we found:

Retail

Abercrombie & Fitch uses ceiling mounted diffusers to infuse their signature scent, Fierce, into the store environment. They also spray their signature scent on the clothing so it too smells like their signature cologne, even once the product is purchased and taken home.

Some shopping malls themselves even scent their corridors. Which scent is most effective in … (Continued) Read More...

Posted In: Advertising,Events,Marketing,Shopping,Technology

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Klout – Hip or Hype?

Posted On: January 3, 2012

Imagine a world where your popularity and influence was stamped on your forehead in a ranking from 1-100. Think it’s a crazy idea? If Klout has its way, this magic number will be tattooed onto your online persona.

Here is Klout’s description of their self-proclaimed online influence index rating.

“The Klout Score measures influence based on your ability to drive action. Every time you create content or engage, you influence others. The Klout Score uses data from social networks in order to measure how many people you influence, how much you influence them and the influence of your network.”

How it works

Sounds simple enough, but the real secret behind Klout is how they accurately measure this new tell-all stat.

Using their proprietary algorithm to measure your social presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and a whole whack of other platforms you might have never even heard of, Klout assigns you a score from 1-100. You probably won’t be surprised to hear that this ‘algorithm’ is super-duper secret.

To complicate things even further, the oracles at Klout can determine topics that you’re influential about. Meaning if you talk about Apple a … (Continued) Read More...

Posted In: Marketing,Social Media,Web

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Marketing Predictions for 2012

Posted On: December 27, 2011

As December comes to a close, it’s time again for us to try our hand at crystal ball gazing and make a few predictions for 2012. We’ve consulted with our team and scoured the web to showcase the top marketing trends we predict will be worth watching in 2012. Here they are in no particular order:

1. Social Media Gets Supersized

According to the Zodiac calendar, 2011 was the year of the rabbit, but in the marketing world it was the year of SOCIAL, and we’ve still got a long way to go. Twenty-twelve will bring more attention to the ROI (return on investment) of social, and an increased focus on the benefits of participating in social media. Companies need to have a presence where their customers are gathering online, because the conversation will happen with or without them and it’s probably best to be part of it. When customers grant you permission to share and dialogue with them in their social circles, there is a definite value – but this value varies from business to business.

As budgets shift towards digital, traditional media will need to adapt to be … (Continued) Read More...

Posted In: Marketing,Multimedia,Social Media,Technology,Web

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8 Reasons We LOVE Working at Circus!

Posted On: December 23, 2011

Circus Communications recently celebrated its 8th anniversary, and in 2011 we had another great year marked by exciting projects, great people and even better memories.

With another year behind us we can’t help but get nostalgic about what has kept our fast paced workplace so warm, friendly, and inspired. With this in mind, we went for a cruise around the office and asked our team, “What are your 8 favourite things about working at Circus?”

Circus 8th Anniversary Cake

1. Fun People

What makes any place a great place to work is ultimately the people, and at Circus we’re fortunate to have a lot of fantastic people. Coming to work means working with a family of dedicated professionals you can count on.

2. Innovation

We’re always looking for something new & exciting to play with. More often than not, this means getting creative with ideas old and new, and not being afraid to challenge standard practices in the industry. We’re always up for challenging the status quo to find the next big thing!

3.Interesting Projects

With new projects always on the go you never know exactly what you’re walking … (Continued) Read More...

Posted In: Our Team

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Google+ Welcomes Brands

Posted On: November 24, 2011

Brands have been waiting more than three months to get their hands on a Google+ brand page, and with little warning the opportunity arrived early this November. When Google+ launched, we predicted that the fate of brand pages “could change in a hurry.” Now that they are available the question becomes, what is their value to businesses?

The Google difference

At a glance, the business page is much like the standard Google+ profile. It’s clean, easy to navigate and customized with brand images. There is a large square profile picture which becomes the avatar for posting, and multiple profile pictures can be set, which can be flipped through when clicking on them. There’s also a set of 5 square images across the top, which remain static in position – so can be utilized like a banner.

A little known, but convenient feature we like is called ‘Direct Connect’. To locate a brand’s Google+ page, simply put a ‘+’ in front of it, such as +Pepsi, Google will directly link you to that brand’s Google+ page where you can follow them, without having to wade through a sea of Google search … (Continued) Read More...

Posted In: Google+,Social Media

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Zellers’ Festive Finale?

Posted On: November 7, 2011

Zellers has decided to get a little more social this Christmas with a new Social Media and viral video campaign produced by Toronto ad agency John St. fondly dubbed the Zellers Festive Finale.

It’s no secret that, “Zellers will begin closing the majority of its 273 locations across the country next year,” in a $1.8 billion buyout by the American super giant Target. So if Zellers knows they’re closing and customers know they’re closing, then why not have some fun with it right?

The campaign features a series of videos that asks shoppers for help with their Christmas sale, because the management team at Zellers has decided to leave a little early with the Target buyout on the horizon. Things have apparently gotten so relaxed that the “Executive Managing Director” even quietly admits to not having worn pants for a week.

While not wearing pants, he invites Facebook fans to help run Zellers’ last sale, whereby Fans can choose one of three coupons to feature, choose the playlist that will play in Zellers and try their hand at creating a radio commercial that could be aired at … (Continued) Read More...

Posted In: Advertising,Marketing,Social Media

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