McDonald’s Canada is the presenting sponsor of a new communications app for a computer desktop that aggregates a user’s social media functions.

Created by Itibiti Systems, a division of Richmond Hill, ON.-based Intertainment Media, the free, downloadable Launch Pad page opens up when a computer is turned on to reveal a user’s Facebook, Twitter and MSN feeds. Users can also stream content from Citytv’s Breakfast Television, Splash celebrity news, movie trailers from Tribute.ca, and read automotive or tech reviews from Kelley Blue Book and AppJudgment.

All Itibiti products are brand- and revenue-driven, and the Launch Pad is no different, offering advertising opportunities in the form of big box and pre-roll ads, explains David Lucatch, CEO of Intertainment Media, but McDonald’s is the main sponsor of the application, a permanent buy arranged by OMD.

‘McDonald’s is individually carrying a percentage of the inventory, and then the other inventory is available for third-party advertisers that are not in competition with McDonald’s and their partners,’ Lucatch tells MiC. This inventory includes a big box ad to the right, branding throughout the app and links to McDonald’s social media properties like Twitter.

The Launch Pad is available at GetTheLaunchPad.ca and will be supported with a traditional and social media push from McDonald’s throughout the summer, Lucatch says.