The National Basketball Association (NBA) brings on Dan MacKenzie as director of marketing, in the league’s Toronto office. He will oversee the sales and service of the NBA’s Canadian marketing partners, and manage the relationship with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. MacKenzie re-joins the NBA after spending a year at TSN, where he was responsible for the daily marketing activities for TSN, NHL Network and ESPN Classic Canada.

With a more than 400 industry professionals attending from Canada, eastern U.S. and Europe, the first Montreal Game Summit should prove to be a prime opportunity to mingle with game publishers and suss out any ad opps. November 3-4, Mount-Royal Center, Montreal. http://www.montrealgamesummit.com
CARF presents the breakfast seminar Product Placement: The cure-all for commercial avoidance with guest speaker Cristel Russell, professor of marketing at San Diego State University. Russell will present her research on measuring the effectiveness of product placements and the factors that influence effectiveness. Oct. 26; 8:30-11 a.m., The Red Room, CTV Masonic Temple. (905) 940-7086.

ZenithOptimedia of Toronto is making news around the world as recent co-winner of The Nestle Group global media business estimated at more than $1.5 billion U.S. The agency, which is a unit of France-based Publicis Groupe, splits the account with WPP-owned Group M of London, England.

Television (Conventional Broadcast) – 4.5 out of 5
Buyers say that conventional avails are typical of previous fall periods with heavy but manageable demand, although Edmonton avails are currently in tight supply. The Quebec, Ontario, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver markets have been very active this fall, according to media execs surveyed by Media in Canada.

The Montreal-based marketing agency Draft Quebec and the media planning and placement agency Initiative Canada, two members of the Interpublic Group of Companies, announced the creation of their new brand – Draft Initiative Quebec.
The new brand, which will be housed in the Draft Quebec Montreal location and will now be one of the largest media planning and placement agencies in Canada, will integrate the employees along with their research and analysis tools to offer the Quebec market a broader range of services.

Mobile entertainment and communications are ripe for rapid growth during the next three years, as Canadians adopt new technologies like wireless home networks, wireless laptop PCs and enhanced smartphones, says a Toronto-based research group. This comes from a key finding of Fast Forward, an independent research series by the Solutions Research Group, which found that more than four million Canadians (12 years old and up) make up this new trend-setting ‘mobile class.’
This new class has two groups of nearly equal size – the techno-savvy 12 to 24 year olds who grew up with the Internet, and the urban professionals 25 to 49, who place a high value on mobility because of their work and lifestyles. The study also found significant growth in the size of this emerging group, which has grown 50% between 2003 and 2004 and is expected to double by 2007.