TAXI, a Toronto-based agency with five Canadian offices and one in New York, expanded last August with TAXI Content, a unit dedicated to extending the agency’s reach into all types of new media, from mobile to widgets.
Daniel Rabinowicz, president of TAXI Montreal since 2004, is president of TAXI Content, a two man operation that also includes Rich Muhlstock in New York. Rabinowicz has been integral in developing the TAXI office in Montreal and opening the New York office in 2004. Now he is at the helm of TAXI Content, the interactive arm of the agency that will work with a variety of new media forms to meet the challenges of brand advertising in the interactive world.
iSPOT: Many large agencies have interactive divisions, some work independently of the main shop and some are more collaborative. How will TAXI Content work?
Rabinowicz: TAXI has had interactives as part of the agency for quite some time. So TAXI Content is not just about things interactive and TAXI has always had a single profit center approach to its business model, so it’s the best way to have an integrated offering. Our extension of what we’re dong is really based on everything that’s been going on in the media world, understanding the fragmentation of the audience, the decline of TV and in parallel explosions of new forms of media. All of this is being fueled by dramatic changes in consumer media habits and behaviors. Consumers have shown they are more than willing to shift their media habits and consume new forms of media and engage with brands very actively across all kinds of new media platforms. That’s the good news for brands and we’re in the business of having brands make the most of consumer habit and behavior. So with those behaviors taking shape on those media platforms the key thing going on is a tremendous level of interactivity across all kinds of platforms, so we’re extending TAXI’s traditional story telling abilities into all of these new areas for content creation.
We’re building on some of the things TAXI had done. TAXI Montreal had done work for Versus and Pilsner and TAXI Content is intended to be the agency repository for different efforts that have happened in various offices. We were taking our traditional skills into online content and now opportunities are opening up in new areas. We want to help the agency master those new areas and create content in all of them.
iSPOT: How much experience do you have with broadband video advertising and how do you see TAXI Content using it?
Rabinowicz: We’ve done a fair bit of online video over the past few years for Rail Europe, Reversa and Dairy Farmers of Canada. Rail Europe was shot by Chokolat and in the other two cases we used commercial production houses. We’ve done video interactive and straight ahead long form video. The frequency of doing it is increasing going forward and it will become more varied based on specific client needs. In one case we’re working on a documentary that will be used in multiple forms, such as short form snack size video and longer form in other media. Another client asked about webisodes. For Reversa our goal was to choose a strategy to stand out and do something that would generate a lot of buzz for a small relatively unknown brand. We made 12 videos linked to different Reversa products. It generated impact well beyond the small ad budget the client had. We’ve done something for Dairy Farmers of Canada, “All you need is cheese,” that persuades women who are not adventurous with cheese to try different foods with cheese. The campaign has a TV component with musical spots with people singing about cheese. We did a microsite with videos that show other foods singing with cheese. I see a broad range of video applications emerging over the next while, in some cases it will be elaborate shoots and in some cases simple.
iSPOT: How will your work with Chokolat lead to more video?
Rabinowicz: Chokolat’s area of specialty is documentaries and TV shows so we’re developing a documentary for a U.S. client with Chokolat. We’re in discussion with another client on a TV show that Chokolat is involved in. As we get into webisodes for a client Chokolat will produce those. The videos for Reversa and the Dairy Farmers were done by production houses in Montreal and Toronto.
iSPOT: What other kinds of new media will you use at TAXI Content?
Rabinowicz: A good example is the first program we’re putting in market for Versus in New York. They’re a sports cable channel that broadcasts NHL games and playoffs and we’re doing a mobile program that allows Versus to engage consumers interactively. It offers a value add and in turn customers are engaging in the content. There are two aspects to the mobile campaign. First is an opt in program for viewers who provide zip codes and say they want alerts. The alerts come from Versus about games that will be broadcast on Versus, which is important because one of the marketing challenges is helping viewers know what channel the games are on because each cable system is different. Versus also sends overtime alerts. If a game goes into overtime, viewers get alerts. The second component is two screen interaction. During a broadcast, an announcer might ask who the best player is and viewers can text in messages. The idea is to be more interactive and allow viewers to communicate and get more involved with the product. It adds a level of engagement and builds strong audiences and viewer loyalty.
iSPOT: Is mobile part of a larger campaign for Versus?
Rabinowicz: It’s a Stanley Cup campaign that also includes TV spots shot by Tony Kaye, print, a microsite and online banners.
iSPOT: How will TAXI Content be staffed?
Rabinowicz: On every project, we’ll work with TAXI employees, including creatives, planners and account managers, who will all contribute to the development of the work. Part of what we do with mobile and Facebook apps, widgets and other new platforms is work with tech partners, so a big part of what we’re dong is reaching out to tech partners and developing relationships. We have 20 agreements in place and we’re meeting new potential partners every week. One example is Vibe on the Versus campaign, a mobile tech partner. We’re breaking a campaign for a fashion retail clients in Montreal in early April and we’re developing a Facebook application and we’re working with a third party tech partner. We work as producers with the partners so over time as the number of projects grows we expect to add more people with a combination of project management and production backgrounds to manage the campaigns. A lot will happen in Toronto and we’ll add staff in New York and Montreal.
iSPOT: The production side is most important?
Rabinowicz: We’re working with new media, which demands new skills and competencies that we have to integrate into the agency. We don’t have the skills currently so we’ll make hires in those areas.
iSPOT: How do you see the evolution of advertising with all the new forms of media?
Rabinowicz: One of the ways we spend our time is monitoring what’s going on with new media and new forms of applications and content being created. The only limit is people’s imagination so when you have a combination of tech experts and creatives cross fertilizing each other there’s constantly new things being created. So we think a key part of our job is monitoring what’s going on and seeing what others are coming up with so we’re not limited in any way for our clients. We’re also going to go after new clients who might not want traditional advertising but extensions with new applications that will improve their ability to market to their clients.
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