Reader discretion is advised.

The purpose of this post is to expose the wretched and rancid state of a specific Metro Transit bus shelter in Halifax. This is no ordinary transit shelter; This is the main bus stop at one of the most important intersections in the city.

The corner of Spring Garden Road and Barrington Street is the core of downtown Halifax. As the nearest bus stop to two 5-Star downtown hotels (the Sheraton Four Points and the Marriott Courtyard), it is located where tourists walk up from the Waterfront to take pictures of the Saint Mary’s Basilica on their route to shopping, food, and entertainment.

It is located where workers and business people conduct their affairs in and around one of the largest business towers in Halifax (the Maritime/Aliant Building). It is located where residents from all corners of the city permeate back and forth between retail shopping and restaurants located on both streets. There is one enclosed bus shelter that services this bus stop, with 21 different bus routes aptly servicing it throughout the day.

So behold! Here is Metro Transit’s bus shelter servicing this premium intersection of the only two main streets in downtown Halifax.

(Click to enlarge. If you dare.)

I take the bus daily in this corner of the city. Five days a week at approximately 8:30 AM, I am faced with the same dilemma. Do I stand outside and battle the infamous 50km mini-hurricanes of what is known as the ‘windiest spot in Halifax’? Or do I suppress my gagging and take refuge in this urine-infested, garbage-ridden cesspool of municipal neglect?

When it is raining or snowing, it is common for transit passengers on this corner to compete for the ‘sweet spot‘ in this shelter.  That spot near the door that allows you to hide half your body inside from the harshness of the weather, while giving you the access to quickly stick your head out for precious gasps of fresh air.  We all give each other half-knowing looks to acknowledge the mutual discomfort from the stench of urine and organic decay of garbage that has been left there since last summer.

An older gentleman has secured the sweet spot today, but tomorrow I am going to wake up five minutes early and beat him to it.

Given the importance of this intersection, you would think that the city would pay extra attention to it and make sure that it reflects the best face Halifax can offer. After all, if tourists, shoppers, and business people are not really the ‘crowd’ the city should care about in the downtown district, then who exactly should we bother giving a good experience to in the heart of the business, shopping, and entertainment district?

Yet, it would seem that the universe of municipal priorities rotates differently in Halifax, specifically when it comes to Transit services.

So, this is a call out to:

• Metro Transit
• City Council (in particular our incumbent downtown councilor)
• Downtown Halifax Business Commission (DHBC)

Can you come up with a permanent solution to this embarrassment already? What is it going to take to put up and maintain a proper bus shelter in this sensitive intersection?

I realize that this is the city’s job, but the DHBC has a lot at stake here, so I’m not sure why they’re holding themselves hostage to the general mediocrity of our municipal services, Metro Transit, and city council. A small donation collected from downtown businesses can fund a fantastic structure worthy of this location and its significance. It can be a shelter that’s a joy to use and look at.

Perhaps even a bus shelter with (gasp!) a wall map of the downtown district and nearby attractions? Or (double gasp!) an electronic screen displaying bus departure and arrival information? Slap some sponsor advertising on it and Bob’s your uncle. Anything is better than the current status-quo!

(Click to enlarge photo)

Paul MacKinnon, Executive Director of the DHBC, unveils new campaign at Extreme's head office in downtown Halifax

I say the initiative is unique because, unlike previous initiatives, this one seems to target a demographic that had previously been largely ignored by city and provincial initiatives. It is also unique in its abandonment of cliche imagery that is normally associated with such campaigns (lobsters, waterfront, Citadel Hill, etc.).

The poster below is one of four executions revealed at the campaign launch, along with a new website at www.downtownhalifax.ca. Unfortunately, I only took a picture of this one. I’ll post the rest as soon as I am able to get my hands on them (hear that, Extreme?)

Account Director: Geoff Wills
Creative Director: Cliff Thompson
Account Planner: Martin Delaney
Account Supervisor: Allison Garber
Designer: Amy Boehmer
Art Director: Tyson Hynes
Copywriter: Trevor Millett
Project Manager: Karen Bell

During the campaign launch event at Extreme’s downtown headquarters, I asked the Account Director of the campaign and he confirmed that the departure from using common imagery was deliberate. The DHBC and Extreme group seemed to be on the same page in regards to what attracts the demographic they are targeting, and what imagery is seen as ineffective.

The campaign direction is interesting to me, as it reflects several conversations I have had recently with friends and colleagues that loathed the lack of an ‘after-work’ dynamic in the downtown. In other cities, the after-work crowd is a key soruce of business to shops, restaurants, and bars, resulting in an active downtown core throughout the business week.

Extreme Group is a local ad agency with offices in Halifax and Toronto. The agency received 13 awards in the 2008 ICE Awards, a prestegious annual advertising awards gala to recognize the Atlantic region’s best advertising and design.

CBC.ca reported yesterday (Feb 2, 2009) that Halifax Metro Transit has refused to allow Humanist Canada to place ads on Halifax buses that said “You Can Be Good Without God”.

CBC reported that Halifax bus transit spokesperson, Lori Patterson, said “the transit authority would reconsider its position if Humanist Canada toned down its message.”

The story has garnered close to 300 comments in less than 24 hours. A similar campaign launched in England late last year sparked an important debate across the UK. The controversy led to 326 complaints from the public to the UK Advertising Standards Authority, which issued a precedent-setting decision in favor of the campaign and closed the case (see ruling here).

This story is obviously of major interest to the public. So why the silent treatment from Halifax newspapers?

If local residents relied on local newspapers, they would have no idea that this debate is taking place, and would have no opportunity to express their opinions about how the transit authority, a publicly funded body, should deal with issues of freedom of speech and religion that are a given right to all tax payers in Halifax who contribute to subsidize the transit authority.

The media needs to ask the tough questions. Would the transit authority allow an ad to be placed on Halifax buses that advertise a ‘Three Wisemen’ or ‘Baby Jesus’ Christmas play at the local church? What if the local Muslim association wanted to run an ad to announce the opening of their new mosque and library and inviting all interested people to join them for an opening ceremony? What about free speech?

Where do we draw the line as to what is appropriate to say, and who gets to decide what a ‘toned down’ religious statement is? Lori Patterson of Metro Transit?

The answer is that unless there are clear bylaws (that were voted on by representatives of the people in this city) against allowing religiously-affiliated advertising in publicly owned facilities and services, then separation of church and state remains the defacto rule.

If Metro Transit was a private company, then they can decide to run whatever ads they want on their buses and no one but their shareholders (and the advertising authorities) can say anything. But the transit authority is publicly funded, and therefore it must conduct itself in the best interest of the public, following the established bylaws, and removing personal opinions and religious affiliations/preferences when determining what is appropriate to be shown on the buses to the public.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms lists that “Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms”:

• freedom of conscience and religion;

• freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;

• freedom of peaceful assembly; and

• freedom of association.

Are we going to see the appropriate attention and debate take place regarding this issue? Will our understanding of applied freedoms be enhanced by this event? This is a call to the Chronicle Herald and other media outlets in Halifax. Please give this issue the attention it deserves. (Edit: The Chronicle Herald published the story a couple of hours after this blog was posted).

These are always interesting events, one of (if not the only) event where you can get to meet the who’s who of Halifax’s tech-savvy innovative minds. Here we have the bloggers, the advertising creatives, the software gurus, and the entrepreneur dreamers congregating in one location for a bevvy and a chat. They share information, exchange cards, and discuss ways for project collaborations. It’s a relaxed atmosphere, and one that encourages innovation and social collaboration.

One such innovation came from a couple of Halifax developers that I met today (@coryschop and @JessyO), who just today launched a new Twitter application called “Tweepler”. They were featured on TechCrunch.com, one of the most popular technology review blogs out there.

The review can be found here. You can click here to visit and try Tweepler, or click on their logo below.

Halifax is full of young, innovative entrepreneurs. Can you imagine the possibilities if the city actually focused on nurturing these initiatives and providing our local talent with the resources they need to grow and florish?

For those who don’t know, the Ice Awards is an awards show that celebrates creative advertising and marketing made in Atlantic Canada (‘ICE’ stands for Innovation, Creativity, and Enterprise). To see the winning ads, you can visit the ICE website or click on the TV below.

Halifax-based agencies Extreme and Colour, and Newfoundland-based Target took home the majority of awards.

One thing I noticed while mingling with the local advertising crowd is their common use of Twitter. Now, while I pride myself for having above-average knowledge of social marketing and interaction tools, I must confess that I never really adopted the micro messaging site, or really understood why people use it. For Arabic users, a similar site called WatWet.com offers the same service.

In comes the ‘In Plain English’ series from the folks at CommonCraft.com, a service by a young couple based in Seattle who specialize in ‘explanations’. They produce short fun tutorial and training clips to explain, in plain English, whatever you want them to explain. An excellent substitute to boring corporate training videos that make you want to take a toothpick to your eyes for all the bad 80′s style cinematography you just had to endure.

So, if you are like me and you just don’t get what eveyrone is ‘Twittering’ about, here is Twitter – In Plain English.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o

That’s where the features of the Pomegranate Phone start to draw skepticism from people. But the features that follow leave no doubt that this is a gag-ad. The ad showcases the phone as a personal shaver and mobile personal coffee brewer.

Thus begins Nova Scotia’s latest, slickest, and most expensive endeavour into using new media and social networking to pass the message of the ‘Come To Life‘ campaign to their unsuspecting target market. The viral campaign peddles this ‘it does everything’ phone with all the might that a $300K advertising budget can provide. Yet it seems that the jury is still out on the effectiveness of this campaign.

Visit the website by clicking the image below. Or see the videos below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq2A6bi_sDE

The campaign was produced by Bristol Group, Egg Films/Hatch, and Breathe Media.

• Art Director: Dan Couto
• Copy writer/creative director: Albert Ianni
• Production Manager: Collette Snow
• Designers: Andrew Grantham, Michael Gatto
• Internal Programmer: Melissa Castle
• External programmers/designers: Breathe Media
• Production/Post: Egg Films/Hatch Post
• Actors/Models: Christopher Killam, Lita Lewellen, John Beale, Laura Bleasdale, Andrea Wilson, Pasha, ?Others?

Synopsis:

The impossible-made-possible features of this phone are not so far fetched. In early 2007, I reviewed a new product by an Israel-based technology company that produced a pocket projector device not unlike the built-in fantasy projector showcased for the Pom. The Explay Nano Projector is effectively the world’s smallest consumer projector and was planned to launch to market in 2008. The company was working on providing the technology as OEM for cell phone and camera manufacturers to incorporate into future devices. Click picture below to visit their website.

Similarly, the voice translation function currently exists, though the technology is not fit for seamless speech recognition yet (only phrase by phrase). Devices combining voice recognition and translation software are a dime a dozen. A simple speech-to-speech voice recognition translator can be bought from Ectaco for a little under $400 CDN. The software itself is available for installation on smart phones.

Last but not least, a hybrid musical instrument phone was recently launched by Japan’s Kddi in collaboration with Yamaha. See my review of this technology here. It can be played as a harmonica, trumpet, flute, and various other instruments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-76oq_AHHg

The campaign can be said to have three components:

• The medium
• The message
• The actual product it peddles.

The Medium:

A great viral campaign by Bristol, Hatch, and Breathe. World class, really. It achieves the desired effect of getting people to pass around the url to give their friends and colleagues a quick chuckle. The campaign was implemented in Boston, Toronto, Calgary, and Ottawa. On Tuesday of last week, 200 pomegranates (the fruit, not the phone) containing the url (pomegranatephone.com) were passed around to people by street teams in Boston, Ottawa, and Toronto during their morning commute.

Yet, there appears to be a disconnect from the Pom site and the site containing the client’s message. It’s as if two different companies were hired, one for the flashy viral campaign, and another for the Come To Life mini-site.

The Message:

Here is where it gets tricky. Critics of this campaign point to how the message is hard to locate in this viral. Even when you do get to the mini-site containing the video clips that are meant to pitch Nova Scotia to the target market, there appears to be a disconnect between the demographic target of the videos and the demographic target of the Pom’s viral.

The Pom’s viral appeals to a tech-savvy younger demographic that spends a lot of time on the internet and enjoys passing around virals. Other demographics that spend a lot of time on the internet and pass around junk mail and viral videos are employees, stay at home parents, and teenagers without much to do.

Yet, Bristol notes that the key demographic they are after is “influencers and business leaders in key markets”, a group that usually stays on top of trends and the latest in technology.

Bristol is correct in that influencers and business leaders stay on top of technology and trends. However, perhaps a fatal flaw here is that the Pom phone is neither a new technology nor a trend, so it would be of little interest to business leaders to visit the site or forward to their contacts. It is just a gag site, and we have already established who is attracted to gag sites. Leaders and influencers are too busy leading and influencing to spend time checking out gag sites.

So, ultimately, the main visitors that ended up on the site were teenagers from around the world, and expat young professionals who out-migrated from Nova Scotia seeking opportunities in other Canadian or international cities. They clicked, they chuckled, some sent it to their friends.

Some followed the viral into the Nova Scotia Come To Life message, and were disappointed. The video testimonials mainly showcase entrepreneurs, doctors, and enterprises. No representative age group was showcased doing the things these expats fled the province to do elsewhere. This brings us to the third and final component of this campaign.

The product:

Regardless of how flashy the packaging is, the sale ultimately relies on the product itself. Does the product deliver as advertised? Is it reliable? Ultimately, the expat demographic left Nova Scotia for a reason. They are aware of the challenges, and are in touch with the motherland enough to know if these challenges have been overcome by the province/city or not.

So, you want people to ‘Come To Life’ in Nova Scotia? Many believe all Nova Scotia has to do is actually provide the product they are peddling, not just market a false image with pretty packaging and slick marketing. What if HRM City Council actually spent time implementing this fantastic 5-year Economic Strategy they came up with in 2005?

I will leave you with this MSN conversation between me and one such expat that might shed light on what I mean (look! He is using technology too!)

Jeff Lohnes graduated from Saint Mary’s University with an excellent record in student leadership and community involvement. Shortly after, he left for Toronto, where he currently works for the National Speakers Bureau as a Youth Market specialist.

I dropped by my travel agent yesterday to purchase tickets for upcoming business/personal trips in December. He is a local business owner who operates a fairly successful office in Halifax that would be identified as a ‘small business’. We casually chatted about our various states of affairs, and I mentioned the launch of my airport advertising venture as I wondered if the target market would be of interest to travel agencies.

He declined the offer to advertise, siting low budgets and unfamiliarity with the return from advertising on Kick Media’s newly installed LCD screens inside airport limousines and taxis. When I asked him where does he currently advertise, he mentioned that he runs a regular spot on the Sunday Herald in Halifax. I further asked if the spot has been producing the results he expected. He said ‘Oh yes, it’s been good!’. Then, after a moment of silence, he said ‘actually, it hasn’t been turning up much business lately, now that I think about it’. It costs $150 for a month’s worth of advertising with Kick Media. Running a recurrent spots in in a local newspaper can cost upwards of $1000 per month. I guess we are creatures of habit after all.

The competition between new and old media for advertising dollars is beginning to heat up in Halifax. As consumers become desensitized to the barrage of advertising they encounter in traditional media like TV and newspapers, advertisers are noticing lower returns on their advertising investments. Over time, consumers learned how to block off the ads. They change channels during commercials, or gloss over the ad boxes in the paper as they zoom in on the news content. This hurts the small business owner who can’t afford to purchase the full-page spread or the cost of producing an exceptionally attractive TV ad.

Ken Rutkowski, The L.A. host of daily Internet and radio talk show “World Tech Round-Up” (which draws a whopping 186,000 listeners in 40 countries), believes new media will emerge as the winner because the customer is essentially the advertiser. (NSBusinessJournal)

Ask a member of the so-called old media, such as a newspaper, what their product is and they’ll inevitably answer “content,” he said. Ask a new media company and they will say it’s the audience. “Advertisers – they could care less about content,” Rutkowski told the crowd. They want the viewer, the web surfer, the listener, the reader.