Canada Post has its sights set on enhancing the digital side of its business, launching a multiplatform campaign promoting its ePost online bill consolidation portal across the country.

This digital push comes on the heels of Canada Post reporting a $253 million pre-tax loss for 2011, the first for the Crown corp in 16 years. It’s also the next step following the launch of a separate digital division at Canada Post last summer, Kerry Munro, group president, digital delivery network, Canada Post, tells MiC.

The campaign, with media by Cossette Montreal and creative from Cossette Toronto features national print, radio, OOH, online and direct mail components and is aimed at establishing a “digital Canada” the same way Canada Post feels it developed the physical one through its printed mail services, says Michael Seaton, director, digital marketing and trade at Canada Post.

Canada Post is going one level deeper with a targeted social media campaign in Kitchener-Waterloo, ON, because of the community’s digitally connected nature, says Seaton. The Crown corp is reaching out to “today’s digital youth” and asking them to go online and vote for which schools in the area should win digital smart boards. The six schools with the most votes will each win a board.

Seaton says there is no set end date for the program promoting ePost, noting it will end when “every Canadian has two to five bills registered.” Currently there are 7.5 million consumers subscribed to the online service, which is about half of the 15 million Canadian addresses that get mail.

“We feel that ePost needs to be on a continuum of constant communication, so the messaging will continue,” he says.