Bouncing off the insight that hordes of men feel horribly pressured at this time of year to come up with desirable gifts for significant others, a Dentsu Canada team crafted a series of hilarious, Rick Mercer-calibre rants and posted them on YouTube plus a slew of other sites.

After The Media Company brought in hard data showing that online video is the best way to reach the brand’s bulls-eye target group, Nokia decided to launch its new, full-bells-and-whistles device with exactly that, plus a contest.

The number of minutes spent online by Canadians in September, one of the highest measuring months for Internet usage, grew by several billion in 2006, compared to last year.

‘Are you ready to challenge a friend to a game of wits? To the victor – a chalice of Stella Artois.’ Of course, users can only click ‘Yes.’ The second phase of digital experiences is live at StellaArtois.com.

Redux Media expects to be at the forefront of viral marketing placements in Canada, thanks to inking a deal with San Francisco’s Tickle Grapevine.

Once again, People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals has lived up to its reputation for concocting effective guerilla campaigns on a shoestring. This time out, they’re placing looking-for-love ads in the personals column of a free website. Sample: ‘Attractive, fun-loving brunette seeks long-term relationship’ – with the brunette actually being a pit bull.

Even when women are their key demo, few consumer packaged goods companies aim advergames at the distaff side. But Ottawa’s Fuel Industries – jumping on a recent Neilsen study identifying fully 64% of gamers as female – has created an interactive animated mystery to specifically appeal to women while touting Johnson & Johnson’s Reach toothbrushes.

It’s a classic idea: run a contest, sign on a few celebrities, all in the name of a good cause. But can the largest HIV/AIDS fundraiser in Canada get people interested in sharing their stories on YouTube? With months before the media campaign begins, this PR component aims to create a catalogue of user-generated content in time for the gala.

Now les Québécois, as well as other French-speaking show-offs, have their own sites for posting le bon, le brute and … l’ugly – and advertisers are already along for the ride.

CBC.ca is the latest media site to offer pre-roll video ads within its online program and news clips. And just one of the Ceeb’s shows has already racked up more than 400,000 hits in a single month.