One mouse click and a sexy widget named MINDI moves right in and get friendly.

Is ad spending on digital poised to overtake a traditional media category?

Corus Entertainment has inked a deal with Quebec-based Frima Studio to develop a network of massive multiplayer online games (MMOGs) for kids, code-named Constellation. MMOGs are a hot and sticky gaming phenom which allow players to explore a vast virtual universe where they can compete, chat, collect, create and customize characters and play mini-games. The MMOGs are set to launch later this year, with a mission to strengthen core Corus brands in the digital world.

The deal will provide marketers targeting kids aged 8-12 with ‘unique and integrated sponsorship opportunities,’ says Corus Entertainment president/CEO John Cassaday. ‘MMOGs are among the fastest growing segments in online games and, to date, nothing of this magnitude has been developed for kids in North America.’ Frima Studio, founded in 2003, has produced interactive content for the likes of Warner Bros., MegaBloks, Shockwave and SRC/CBC.

Users of the Toronto and Vancouver city guides on Canada.com can literally put their favourite places on the map – along with pics, video and opinions – as part of a Canada MediaWorks partnership with Platial, an Oregon-based company that’s currently building an interactive atlas with user-generated features.

Mario Alfano, senior VP for CanWest MediaWorks Interactive, tells Media in Canada that ‘in order for this to become a useful tool, it has to be populated. We’re letting the early adopters go in and make the content richer.’ Future branding and sponsorship opportunities could come in the form of sponsored weekly themes such as favourite pet shops or entertainment venues. Flags and tags could also be useful in generating superimposed maps targeting – for example, hikers, bikers or mothers in search of kid-friendly coffee shops. ‘There’s definitely an opportunity here for marketers to bring a lot of good will,’ says Alfano.

Platial CEO Di-Ann Eisnor says that results for what she calls ‘the citizen-driven experiments’ in the two cities will be reviewed within one month. ‘Obviously, if they’re positive, then we’d like to have a footprint wherever Canada.com is.’ Monthly site traffic averages 3.55 million unique visitors.

Marketers and advertisers looking to engage parents who go online now have one more option in KiddingAroundToronto.com. Started as a hobby a year ago, the site has relaunched – making its approximately 600,000 monthly hits (about 12,000 unique monthly visitors in the Toronto/GTA) available to sponsors.

The one-stop shop offers banner-ad spots throughout its extensive directory of local products, services and events for babies, kids and parents. Other draws are an e-mag and newsletter, coupon options, contests and a parents’ chat zone. So far, says KAT director of operations Leslie Schneeweiss, top advertisers include Beaches Family Resorts and the Hummingbird Centre, but the doors are open for anyone looking to reach moms and pops.

This is the tenth installment of our ‘Rising Young Media Stars’ series, in which we profile the next gen media minds. Curious as to who these new thinkers were, and what they were thinking, strategy and Media in Canada canvassed the industry, asking media shops to single out their top innovative and strategic recruits. And we’re scouting for more of the same – so tell us about the hot talent in your shop.

Sarah Armstrong, media planner/buyer
Genesis Media, Toronto

Background: At Genesis for a year, after taking the advertising course at Toronto’s Sheridan College. Formerly managed a small family business in Oakville, Ont.

Claim to fame: Bringing creativity and value to big and small clients alike. To help Indigo Books target the teen market for the first time, Armstrong aligned the brand with Habbohotel. This entailed an Indigo-branded section of the virtual online hotspot and an Indigo contest. Another recent example is a radio campaign to help StarChoice recruit staff for offices in Canada. It targeted by time and mind-set with radio tags scheduled when people were on their way home from work. She worked with the client and station to write the script, positioning StarChoice as a place where people actually enjoy their work day. It was so successful that StarChoice had to ask the agency to stop running the ads.

After a year of ‘dishing advice to time-crunched mothers’ in Toronto, SavvyMom Today expanded into the Vancouver ‘mom market’ last week, says co-founder (with Minnow Hamilton) Sarah Morgenstern. Although the permission-based online newsletter launched without paid advertisers, she says that situation changed with the realization that SavvyMom Today is so ‘mom-fluential’ that over 62 percent of readers report purchasing an items they saw or learned about through the twice-weekly newsletter.

With 6,000 subscribers in the Toronto area and 1,000 already signed up in Vancouver, Morgenstern adds that high reader engagement has been achieved because ‘we’ve built the savvymom.ca brand and credibility on tried and tested solutions. Everything we endorse has been test-driven by our team members and ‘Savvy Scouts,’ who are busy mothers with a discerning eye for gimmick vs. the practical.’ The newsletter will launch in Ottawa on October 12, in Calgary at the beginning of December and in other Canadian cities in the near future.

www.savvymom.ca

This is the ninth installment of our ‘Rising Young Media Stars’ series, in which we profile the next gen media minds. Curious as to who these new thinkers were, and what they were thinking, strategy and Media in Canada canvassed the industry, asking media shops to single out their top innovative and strategic recruits. And we’re scouting for more of the same – so tell us about the hot talent in your shop.

Heather Loosemore
Media planner/buyer, Genesis Media, Toronto

Claim to fame: Bringing in banners, backgrounds and big boxes to create a high-impact, contest-driven campaign on wish.ca and betterthanbeer.com for Bacardi Breezers (a joint venture with john st.) ‘In downtown Toronto,’ she says, ‘you can’t miss the combination of wild postings and OOH, plus a viral online campaign to drive consumers to a unique URL to answer the question: ‘What is better than beer?’ This was for Bacardi MIXX and really spoke to the young, socially active male target. It was like taking that youtube feel that’s been so successful and putting it into a very unpredictable campaign.’

You know your brand is solid when people are willing to pay for virtual editions. Montreal-based Telus is the second company to set up a virtual store in the 18+ virtual world/social networking site Second Life, in which 600,000 global users create virtual identities and conduct ‘second lives.’ Within one week of its late August opening, Telus had sold 100 virtual phones.

Right now, the phones are just able to help make avatars look important by enabling ‘busy’ modes to let other players know when they’re occupied in the real world. Users are also able to download ringtones. Telus has set up its own virtual saleswoman, Sparkle Dale, to sell phones and collect consumer feedback. Telus is currently trying to figure out how to facilitate a common user request: to somehow let virtual phone calls translate into real-world phone calls.