Buzz Canuck

The League of Kickass and F*^k Cancer - 7 Questions with Founder Yael Cohen

We're excited about our 23rd and most collaborative LOKBP event yet, happening in Vancouver this week. One of the big reasons why is the theme "Socializing for Social Good". We are teaming up with fresh upstart and refreshingly candid "F+ck Cancer" to collaborate on their future business needs.

I had a chance to chat with Yael Cohen, change agent and founder of F+ck Cancer last week and get the lowdown about what it's all about:

Buzz Canuck: I love coming across new causes or movements that feel fresh or different, when we were introduced to F*ck cancer weeks ago, it got me excited, what's it all about?

Yael Cohen: It started pretty simply. My mom got cancer and as she was going through treatment, we made up these shirts "F*ck Cancer". The reactions were unbelievable. She would walk around the block, and people were openly hugging and expressing support. What has developed here was very organic stretching from one personal experience to a global movement that gives patients the power to standup against cancer.

BC: Now that it is up and running, what's the bigger cause d'etre here?

YC: As much as we need funding for treatment, we really need to switch the focus of where the majority of our charity funds go. Simple early detection and prevention needs to get on everybody's agenda. Sure you're going to live your life  but it is becoming so much more easy to profile the risks and tackle cancer at a more treatable stage. We also want it easier for patients who have cancer or doctors that cover it to create a much better dialogue to know how best to tackle cancer together - too many bad experiences have happened to not tackle the questions a patient should ask when they get diagnosed. The reality is most of the money you raise currently goes to finding a cure, we would like to rebalance that.

BC: You've taken a cheeky page of French Connections (FCUK) and Ontario energy's (Flick off) book , by using the brazen F-word - why?

YC: First, I think we have to realize that unlike how more than a few charities and care staff work "it's the pat you on the head" approach and provide some empathy. The reality is that it sucks getting cancer. It can be violent in how it attacks your body and we're saying, you know what "it's alright to be angry", "it's alright to feel singled out". But we want to empower people to take back control of their cancer. The F-word is a very powerful word. People are ready for this now. I work in investor relations for a mining company and although I might not wear the T-shirt front and centre to work everyday, it's part of our conversation, let's be honest.

BC: Is there a danger people will feel that this is too negative or too politically incorrect?

YC: We are very careful to ensure people realize that F*ck cancer is all about taking smart measures to diagnose, prevent and fight cancer. We have developed cue cards and body maps that help people understand their risks. We are not all style, there is a lot of substance behind our message that is not getting through. If using a collections of words that gets more people to share their stories, we're alright with that.

BC: So what's next?

YC: I never knew what this would become. I work in investor relations and have a degree in political science at UBC and have no background in not-for-profit. Heck, we're using social media to spread the word and I just learned twitter 3 weeks ago.  But we've now produced 2,000 shirts and are encouraging people to send their pictures in wearing the T-shirt and telling their really powerful experiences. We also want to be an advocacy movement and are working at extending geographically to LA, NYC, UK, France, Spain, Australia and Germany. We're working with Cancer Schmancer to extend our message out. What we'd like everybody to do is just like our website tells "say it, share it ,wear it and do it".

BC: We are bringing our world to yours on Thurs, April 29th - what would you like to get from our League of Kickass business people audience?

YC: Hopefully we'll get some new outlooks, ways to get the message further out, a tagline and a call to action. We'd really also like to try to find out how we get university age people extending this important message to their parents and older audiences that are at elevated cancer risks. It should be fun, it will be interesting to see how people see what we're doing.

Walker's Crisps - User Generated Flavour Paradise

Who say's the UK and Ireland are "meat and potatoes" epicureans? Judging by their interest in exotically flavoured chips, the Brits and Irish are some of the more sophisticated discriminators of flavour quality in the world, certainly putting the "regular, BBQ and sour cream and onion" North American chip eater to shame.

One of UK's oldest and favourite chip brand Walkers Crisps has produced a great user-generated campaign that has attracted widespread UK interest (thanks James Cherkoff for the cross-Atlantic discovery).

From the brand that also has such cultish loved variants - Prawn Cocktail, Salmon & Thai, Lamb with Spices, Chilli Lemon and Sweet Cumberland Sausage - comes a contest inviting users to choose the frontier of 6 new flavours in exchange for 50,000 pounds and 1% of the flavour sales here (similar to Doritos Guru contest here in Canada).

Check these options out -
- Builder's Breakfast
- Cajun Squirrel
- Chilli & Chocolate
- Crispy Duck & Hoisin
- Onion Bhaji
- Fish & Chips

When a key brand objective is to strike an emotional chord with customers and get them involved in the design and product choice of the brand, it startles me that more publishers, beauty care companies, media companies, beer companies (remember Labatt X and Y from years ago), beverage companies and other variety-driven businesses don't adopt a similar tactics.

As opposed to just placing this promotion as some small retail promotion, Walkers has put this at the centre of their strategy, supporting it with a recognizable spokesperson and national ad campaign. This is truly where tradional can build grassroots and vice versa. For you footie lovers, here is former footballer Gary Lineker talking about the ten flavours that didn't make the cut and also the official "Do Us a Flavour" ad.

Agent Wildfire - Creating Fires for Holiday 2008 and 2009

Three weeks since by last post, shame on me...any blogger worth their salt knows that 3 per week is the absolute minimum to maintain the ADD-riddled world of social media attention.

My only excuse...we've been busy starting some fires for the holiday season and next year...for the listing of Wildfire developments and the occasional shameless self-promotion see below.

Beyond a number of new clients that have dropped in our lap the last couple of months and a few word of mouth programs and community launches - we are also looking at a number of new programs that will position us well as Canada's Word of Mouth Expert for 2009.  In no particular order:

- On the social media front, Agent Wildfire will be launching its own blog to deal with the news, announcements, job openings and events that are all about my company, leaving Buzz Canuck to be fancy-free to talk about all the word of mouth subjects under and above the radar

- on buzz media launches, we are planning one micro launch a quarter next year behind Canadian-specific influencer-driven marketing/media initiatives designed to get our clients noticed and talked about:

The Sisterhood of Influence - for connected, savvy Canadian women
Generation GO - for active people who live in the city
TrendCity - for tastemakers and trendspotters well ahead of the mainstream
Alpha Bartender Network - for urban ringleaders who serve up buzz

If you are an enthusiastic outgoing person in any of these areas, please let us know and we would love you to join our efforts in some capacity.

Give us a call, get the details by signing up for our Buzz Report or join our media/PR tour in October/November. Category-exclusive opportunities await.

We are relaunching our Agent Wildfire and Influencer sites to add more functionality and design appeal.

We are also going to be launching the beta of something called Influencers in The Know next month - a hybrid of influencer content and RSS aggregation of only the leading edge content on the web specifically designed for Canadians. We are interested in grassroots celebrities and influencers interested in sharing us their top 10 sites/blogs for the best edgy content - let us know.

We are hiring for a number of key full-time and freelance positions:
- Word of Mouth Program Leaders
- Editorial Interns
- Guest Bloggers
- Graphic Designers
- Web People
If you are to use Sarah Palin's words "mavericky" and Obama's words "say YES WE CAN to client opportunities" and McCain's words "want straight talk in marketing" and Biden's words...what does he say anyway?....send us your best attempt to get noticed and talked about through the stack of resumes - apologize in advance if we don't always get back quickly.

We are also hatching a League of Kickass Network event hopefully for November. I'm quite excited about this as we wrangle a name brand author and CEO to take the gloves off in debate . If you're a senior marketer, media, business executive or digital geek and you are suitably Kickass give us a shout and let's get you on the list.

We will be hosting a road trip across cities Marketing 2.0 for the Executive - a conversation-worthy, safe haven overview for executives willing to embrace this arena but not knowing where to go next.

We are about the finalize our white paper on "Word of Mouth Marketing 2009" - a check in on marketer attitudes and beahviours with WOM, launch our presentation and start our community-based white paper "It Takes a Community to Build a Brand".

I'll also personally be  participating in Marketing Week events and hosting a panel of 6 experts on social media...yikes...look forward to some dust ups, insight and some "keeping them honest" Anderson Cooper like moderating in that one.

And in other predictions - Obama wins by 7 pts, Harper gets in by a slim minority, Green Party breaks past 11% of popular vote, Red Sox win the Series again (yeah!), The TSE bottoms out at 8.500, Leafs win only 24 games this year and retail sales will drop 6% year over year at Christmas (bah humbug!).

So our silence here has not been without productive distraction...apologies to Buzz Canuck Nation - we'll try to let it happen again.

One Smart Hamster - The CMA Conference on Word of Mouth

Our resident online expert on our WOM committee Jay Moonah has taken a turn at doing word of mouth for the cause of word of mouth. Funny, funny stuff, have a peek and then jump to the signup. As chair of the conference for the second year in a row, I'm personally and professionally excited about the maturation of the word of mouth, social media, buzz and viral and community marketing industry in Canada.

The hamster doesn't lie, if you're at all interested in the peer-generated and progressive world of new marketing, innovation, communications and media and find yourself near Toronto on June 12th, this is the conference you don't want to miss.

The Friends of Big Rock Launches...Canada's Word of Mouth Discovery #18 - Big Rock Brewery

Like many things in Toronto, events and cool stuff that happen in other provinces seem quite distant and remote from our "New York of the North".

Thankfully, I don't always share the view that Toronto is the pivot point of Canadian-what's what and that's why I've been happy to have our company Agent Wildfire develop Calgary-based, Big Rock's community building effort in the East with a roster of winning word of mouth strategies and tactics.

Here's why we're excited to be leading the Eastern flank of the Big Rock brand:

The Brand - in an industry that seems to be dominated by the mass marketed and produced breweries, it's great to see an independent making a solid go of it, never mind the fact that Big Rock has been Canadian-owned since its debut in 1984

The Product - there's a sameness about most of the brands across the taps of my favourite bars - not so with Big Rock, their four key 4 brands available in Ontario have all something distinctive about them - Grasshopper (served with a lemon), Traditional Ale ("Trad" for people in the know), Warthog (a cult fave ) and Pale (the blonde ale alternative to lager). Each with their own taste and distinctive label and ritual and all brewed in strict adherence to Bavarian beer Purity Law the Reinheitsgebot. Consider taking your beer off its training wheels and grab a pint of Big Rock.

The Marketing - a well-recognized brand that still acts small. Their flagship event The Eddies is the social mecca of Calgarians (often called the Oscar Night of beers and frequently sold out in minutes), and provides a customer-created platform for passionate Big Rock fans to submit their best print and Tv ads. It's has been running for the last 14 years - far  longer than the term "user generated  content" becoming en vogue. Some of the creative output is brilliant . And now on May 14th, it's debuting here in Toronto too and you can still get some tickets.

The New Additions - much like Stella and Keith's before it, two brands that started in Toronto with a small hive of fervent advocates and fans, we want to create the same thing with Big Rock - start small and infect the same type of enthusiasm for the brand felt in Alberta now in our neck of the woods, so:

- we have created a genuine online community of Big Rock named "Friends of Big Rock" that will become the headquarters for all lcoal activity staffed by our talented Big Rock community manager Cara... join and rewards, fame and influence await!

- we have created 20 brand experience events in Toronto under The Eddies and Untapped music and sampling night labels

- we have webbed out our messaging and dialogue to the most popular 8 social networking sites at Facebook, My Space, flickr, Meetup, Stumble upon, Twitter, Digg and YouTube

- Big Rock has recently become the sponsor of the Junos and a supporter of fresh, canadian music though its community-based music site Untapped - additionally, our Untapped events will profile 16 of the best indie bands in Toronto in an attempt to annoint the best Untapped band in Toronto based on the will of our drinkers and music aficionados 

- we will be sponsoring two user-generated contests on top of the Eddies to create the next great big Rock coaster and T-shirt and allowing real beer fans to express their creative stylings   

- we have also developed a community blog and community fame wall that will tease out information, sneak previews, events, initiatives and member profiles  to a larger networked universe

When it comes to choosing a beer, we just simply think a good portion of people out East would much rather take a sip from the grassroots and not gulp from the mainstream.

So if you're with me on this one - join the cause for real beer, save Alberta's other precious natural resource (Big Rock beers) and meet us and some friends at our inaugural event tonight at C'est What 9pm. If I see you there and you mention "untapped" (I may be wearing a Flames jersey) , I'll dig into my trunk of goodies and reward the effort.

Canada's Word of Mouth Discovery #17 - Toronto Ice Race

A new popular sport is born! Toronto's Ice Race has actually been running for about a decade (formerly known as the Bloody Massacre) but i just stumbled upon it through Facebook and regretably missed its appearance at Dufferin Grove park in Toronto.

Watch the attached video, I'm impressed by the amount of angle these riders have going into each turn. Chalk it up to 750 screws embedded in each tire (yikes, don't get run over by one of these).

Not quite the production values of Red Bull's insane Crashed Ice held recently in Quebec city, but good grassroots fun and very buzzable news just the same. Here's the visual coverage from Reuters. No word on whether the winner Jim "Ice Bear" Cuz was blood or maple syrup doping or whether naked rider Tofu made an appearance.

Canada's Word of Mouth Discovery #16 - Yuzu Sushi Bar, Quebec City

A bigger paradox you will never see, a trend-aware sushi bar in the middle of Quebec City. Stumbled across Yuzu Sushi Bar through an inventive use of a buzz marketing vehicle (pictured at the left and posted by Langolier). 

An innovative menu, a stylish experience, an urban ambiance and a name dedicated to the Japanese fruit Yuzu - a small citrus fruit that is a cross between grapefruit and mandarin (bet you didn't know that - I am a sucker for the novelty of new fruits).

I love businesses that make it by going contrarian, given the fact they've been in business and still serving to long lines since 2002 and doing it  by fusing Quebecois taste, with Japanese sushi tradition and modern, ahead-of-the-curve twists (apparently the washroom is the height of raw sexiness), they've  achieved counter-culture success.

In this Quebec City's 400th anniversary, I say: Kampaii! Merci beaucoup! and/or Brilliant! - not too sure which of these the partners would rather hear.

Canada's Word of Mouth Discovery #15 - Bernard Lachance

Something very special, very insidious and very savvy is going on in Toronto this week. Relative unknown Bernard Lachance is hosting his own show at Massey Hall November 3, 2007. Haven't heard of him? Just wait...you will.

His music is a cross between Josh Groban (another weird word of mouth phenomenon and protege of David Foster - his fans are self-named Grobanites, kind of Like Deadheads or Phishheads) and Celine Dion. Perhaps a little bit too John Tesh for me, but recognizably a special talent (decide for yourself). 

What's important and different is the way he is promoting these shows. He is literally, as shown in the video,  using every word of mouth, buzz marketing and user generated content trick in the book to get noticed, talked about and to actually help pull off a better show...and it's working.

Bernard Lachance is a hustler of the best sort. For anybody who has been around the music business, they can likely appreciate the fact that the road for most musicians doesn't travel through Amercian Idol or Star Academie. So, for 30 year old Bernard, he's been promoting his own concerts and albums literally one customer at a time since 1994.

His first big break in 1994 - he went home to Montmagny (population 11,654) and sent a demo tape to every citizen in his hometown and was rewarded with a soldout show.

In 2001, he sold over 10,000 albums of his album without a record deal - using street and stage moxie to sell them one at a time.

What's been most impressive has been his ability to sell out entire concert bowls in Quebec and Montreal based on sheer grassroots determination. He rented out Bell Centre without a label promoting him and by himself charming the arena people to rent out the space on generous credit terms based on charisma and creative will power. Thankfully for all , their bet turned out for the best - major local press and a sellout ensued.

This month, his act comes to Toronto with a user-generated twist. He is recruiting amateur musical Torontians to his cause. 150 wannabe musical talents will take the stage with Bernard and sing back up choir to his show at legendary Massey Hall (if interested, get info here).  He did a similar enterprising thing with 700+ choirists in Montreal. By extending his own dream to others, ticket sales by all accounts are going briskly...what thrill-of-a-lifetime participant wouldn't ask their closest 8 friends to attend the show where they make perhaps their only professional musical appearance. Brilliant stuff.

How does he know how many tickets he's selling? Easy.  Bernard wears a T-shirt with a diagram of the concert bowl he is promoting. Ticket by ticket, demo by demo trial,  he checks them off with each sale making late night street intercepts.

For any entrepreneur faced with the challenges of not enough money,  not enough pedigree or not enough backers, Bernard Lachance is a breath of fresh air and inspiration.

Paradoxically, House of Blues-supported and Idol poster girl Kelly Clarkson will be arriving 4 days earlier at Massey, it will be interesting to see which show will generate more buzz and attendance. I for one will be rooting, maybe attending and perhaps even singing the praises for Bernard Lachance - the best feel good Quebecois musical talent to hit Toronto this side of  Rene Simard.

His album, While I Remember You available now on Amazon. Enjoy.

Canada's Word of Mouth Discovery #14 - Green Shag

"A good shag will always get you noticed".

And so it is the company motto of Green Shag Bespoke Clothiers in Toronto.

Green Shag is the double entendred, fun company name and the great grassroots approach to developing customized and personalized style for urban males.  It's also a story about a husband and wife team who started the business after living in Vancouver and realizing the poor options available to men  who wanted to exhibit a little more personal style and flash than Tommy Hilfiger or Polo. 

Strangely, my first encounter with Green Shag was heading into an elevator on the 17th floor of the newly renovated agency DDB Canada. In walked Victoria McPhedran - the ebullient co-founder of Green Shag - making house calls on some of her prized ad-men customers.   By the ground floor, her passion had won me over - she had infectious enthusiasm, a smart retail and wholesale idea for custom made-shirts and cufflinks and a tonne of talent  (her husband is a former creative ad guy  and makes up the design component of Green Shag).

Green Shag relies on the quite-introverted fashion mindset of otherwise powerful men. As a gender, we may have an affinity for  good stylish clothes but we're living in constant fear of making the next fashion crime (recall Seinfeld and the puffy shirt episode). Given her own background in the financial and ad worlds, I could see how Victoria is brilliant in bringing the fashion soul of blue-suited  men out. As I recall of our quick elevator ride (many months back now - sorry for the late post), she has a sense of personal style, an influential smile, a scary understanding of the male psyche and an ability to spot the personal comfortable fashion zone for the boardroom, party or bar (not white-shirted and not Jimmy Buffett-ed).

Because of fashion sense that stretches, some of Green Shag's first customers were women shopping for men and gay partners. The word of mouth has spread and built from there given the "spot that person" visible Green Shag fashion badging statement and the weight of strong grassroots media (love the hockey cufflinks and John Tonelli incident profiled in The Globe and Mail).

What rules is Green Shag using to spread the shagg-able word:

The Law of Word of Mouth #1 - Passion - there is a personalized charm for dealing with Victoria, you realize this is a women who has found her right calling and you're willing to be led along the fashion trail gladly

The Law of Word of Mouth #10  - Self-Expression - ask any alpha male and one of the highest forms of compliment is to be recognized for something they''ve done (or in this case worn) that is different and personal. By producing stuff that's well beyond Moore's or The Bay's rack and more unique than Harry Rosen's,  Green Shag enables those compliments to happen

The Law of Word of Mouth #14 - VIP Treatment/Customization - customized to your fit and to your sense of style, chances are you'll be wearing a one-of-a-kind, when you shop Green Shag

Law of Word of Mouth #18 - Visibility -  these aren't just quality made English and Italian cottons or simple bronzed-metal veneer, there is a sense of forward style that begs to be noticed with Green Shag's offerings

Law of Word of Mouth #26 - Innovative - Green Shag has carved out a fun and unique fashion area within the stoic wardrobes of grey and white collared men, most fashion shops aim for the "out there" edges, Green Shag converts and educates the rest of men to move to the left on the adoption curve    

Law of Word of Mouth #35 - Ritualistic -  called The Journey, frequently customers experience their first affair with customized tailoring with Green Shag  and it does have its own set of rituals and language

Green Shag has now moved into a new  pad called the Stordio- give them a call ahead and go on a XY fashion ride:

      401 Richmond Street West, Studio 215
Toronto, Ontario
By Appointment or by Chance
416.830.0156

Canada's Word of Mouth Discovery #13 - Crumpler

Perhaps I've been around the industry for too long but most marketing and promotion efforts are bland. I personally am exhausted of "2 for 1 deals", I can't stand "fat chance sweepstakes" and numbed by "scratch and win" as a futile activity. Then there's Crumpler.

Recently launched in Toronto in October, Crumpler is an 11 year old Melbourne, Australia-based company  whose specialty is messenger, computer and increasingly in Canada, camera bags. They were started up by 3 fun guys who were all bike messengers (one of whom was named Stu Crumpler) with an idea that morphed from the mashup of "beer, pizza and bags" and the freshest approach possible to marketing "we do what we like".

To put their Queen West retail location on the map, Crumpler launched a "Beer for Bags" (see supporting spindle wheel above). After conducting similar promotional activity in Australia, followed by New York last year, Crumpler brought its version of maverick marketing to Toronto  this past May. The barter concept was simple: "Collect beer, exchange for elegant bagwear".

- A case of Moosehead and 4 Fosters cans got you a Western Lawn bag
- A case of Steam Whistle landed you a small skivvy bag and what turned about to be the most popular
- A case of swingtop Grolsch furnished you with a Complete Seed bag

Inspired stuff. Based on arcane AGCO liquor regulations, Jason Wood, the head of Crumpler Canada suggested the beer had to end up in employee's fridges and presumably very happy livers (not a bad employee benefit plan).

The promotion was supported by the printing of 135,000 wheels that were handed out in-store and within Eye magazine.      

Instead of spending a relative fortune on a professional PR plan, Crumpler effectively shortcutted its way to buzz through the magic of barter.  Let's see what laws of word of mouth they tapped:

Law #5 -Altruism - the original inspiration for the promotion was a customer in Melbourne who couldn't afford a bag with money and so employees  devised a beer barter scheme that allowed  the customer to  eventually get his bag of choice, creating now a longstanding Aussie tradition

Law # 9 - Reciprocity - borrowing a page from the "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" -  Crumpler tapped into a very human and primitive motivation of doing something unconventional in return for getting something back

Law  #11 - Social Currency - by pushing the bounds of normal business transaction, Crumpler landed itself a tonne of free press, conversation and the flag-bearer of unconventional promotion through Metro, Globe & Mail and broadcast TV

Law #14 - Customization - give people options to participate - by offering 8 different bags for 8 different brands/quantity of beer, the choice of bags and beer created conversations among its prospects and became part of the sub-story (apparently employees liked  Steam Whistle the best)

Law #18 - Visibility - not only do the bags have a visible logo that stands out from the corporate issue Targus bags but the spindle wheel (pictured above) provided a unique promotional tool for getting the word out

Law #33 - Likability - from its counter-culture look on life, easy-going Aussie-inspired attitude and fun logo style, you want to like and support these guys, check out one blogger's enthusiasm for Crumpler

Cheers to Crumpler for a bit of relief from rolling up the rim and saving boxtops and a devilish Aussie word of mouth wink away from traditional marketing.