Getting our Right Brains Turned On at the OFF Conference

At BSL, we’re always hunting for the latest trends and techniques. We read blogs, subscribe to magazines, take part in training seminars — all in an effort to find the best, most creative solutions to meet our clients’ marketing and communication needs. 

Image: Infopresse via Flickr

As part of this quest for “what’s next,” BSL recently attended OFF, the first annual conference on the future of creativity and innovation in business, presented by Infopresse at the Society for Arts and Technology in Montreal. 

Here are some of our key takeaways from the daylong meeting of the minds:

First, according to INSEAD professor and Harvard Business Review author Hal Gregersen, it seems that only 33% of human creativity comes from our genes. For Gregersen, this means that anyone, in any profession, can learn to be creative in their own way under the right conditions. In other words,

“It is possible for creativity to be “forced” and fed. You just have to know how to think differently. And to think differently, you have to act differently. And to do that, you have to talk to people who are different from you. You have to be curious, observe and make connections that others don’t see.” 

Others, like Yannick Mallat, CEO of Ubisoft Montreal, believe that creativity is a much more complex and delicate thing to achieve, especially at the organizational level. “It cannot be simply integrated, it must be lived on an everyday basis. It is not implemented, but rather revealed,” said Mallat. And this starts with an organizational culture that embraces disruptive elements and makes breaking from the status quo a part of the daily routine. 

For many companies, the challenge with making a commitment to this kind of game-changing creativity is time — or the lack of it. For Francois Lacoursière, Senior Partner at Sid Lee, the solution is to "develop processes that favor speed and efficiency" for less creative tasks, like answering emails for example. If done diligently, this should free up more time to spend on what Lacoursière sees as the basis for innovation: non-linear work, collaboration, idea clashing and experimentation. 

Image: by Infopresse via Flickr

This organic, trial-and-error approach is also endorsed by Patrick Beauduin, Executive Director of radio at Radio-Canada (the French CBC). “The important thing is often not the results you get, but the path you take to get there,” explained Beauduin. “You have to tolerate error, and put your trust in it, because a failure can still be a success in the long run.” 

In the end, based on everything we heard at OFF, it seems that unlocking creativity and innovation, both at the individual and the organizational level, boils down to confidence. It requires a judgment-free environment where risk-taking is rewarded, where people actively listen to each other, and where a strong sense of trust and togetherness exists amongst team members. 

We hope that this information will get your creative juices flowing and inspire you to “run towards tension,” as Google Ideas Director Jared Cohen put it during his presentation. 

Maybe you can start by identifying one thing you can do differently — right now — to make creativity a bigger part of your work/ company/ life? 

We would love to hear what that would be. And to help you make it happen. 

For a video recap of the OFF Conference, visit: http://www.infopresse.tv/videos/off-2012

For a photostream of the event, visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/infopresse/off-2012

Getting marketers re-thinking at MARCOM

The MARCOM Professional Development Forum will take place at the Ottawa Convention Centre on May 15 and 16, 2012. BSL was proud to work in partnership with CEPSM, who produces the event, to develop the Forum’s theme design again this year.

Because this year’s event is all about doing things differently, BSL developed a bright, mind-opening concept centered on “Rewiring the Marketing Mind”. The concept communicates the reality that public sector marketers can no longer settle for what has been done in the past.

“At this year’s conference,we want to challenge participants to re-think marketing and communications initiatives, given our current environment. We want the theme to foster discussion around leveraging new technology, discovering new methods, and creating new frameworks for our work. BSL always does great strategic and creative work for us and this year is no exception.” Said Claire Mills, Vice-President, Professional Development for CEPSM.

MARCOM is the premiere educational forum for public and not-for-profit marketers and communicators. It is a great opportunity to discuss pressing issues and interests with subject matter experts. To learn more and register, click here.

Southeast Ontario Counties to Adopt New Branding Developed by BSL

Cornwall, Ontario – April 16, 2012 - The council for the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry have approved a logo design developed by BSL. “The Counties SDG” logo is comprised of a bold SDG acronym and bright colour strips representing each of the counties' 6 townships.

“The brand strategy we developed for the region leverages its many strengths, including accessibility and opportunity.” said Christina Flavell, Director of Marketing Strategy for BSL.

“The colour choices were inspired by the river, agricultural land and sky. They symbolize the pure nature, energy and vitality of the region, while the wave shapes represent strong, upward momentum and growth.” said Senior Designer and Associate Creative Director Peter Mulder, who designed the logo.

Looking for a fresh perspective, the SD&G Economic Development Working Group contracted BSL in the spring of 2011 to develop a unified brand strategy, name and design. The objective of the branding project was to increase awareness of the three counties and enhance positive perceptions among key external target audiences - particularly those focused on tourism and economic development.

With the name and logo design approved, BSL will now provide tag line recommendations, additional designs for specific marketing materials, templates and a brand strategy guidelines book, as part of the branding project.

Truth in Advertising: NAC Orchestra 2012-2013 Season Video

When we do work for the National Arts Centre Orchestra, we usually emphasize how amazing it is to experience live music. And with good reason — not only is it a key differentiator for the Orchestra, it has the added benefit of being absolutely true. There really is nothing quite like it.

In marketing terms, this is known as a slam-dunk.

But don’t take our word for it. To launch the 2012-13 Season, we created a video featuring testimonials from actual NAC Orchestra patrons. They speak passionately and in their own words about their love of and connection to live music. They use words like “chills” and “butterflies”, and phrases like “powerful moments” and “brought to tears” — and they mean them.

What’s so special about classical music? It’s timeless. It’s emotional. It’s cerebral. It’s personal. And it can be transformative. Subscriber Ann Ketchenson sums it up this way, “It’s music that was written to be live. And I guess it brings you to life, too… if you listen to it.”

Along with testimonials, the 3-minute bilingual video contains upcoming season highlights. It is also being used on the NAC website, and before each remaining 2011-12 concert to inspire, spark musical memories, and drive subscriptions.

Going the Extra Mile for Bon Appetit Ottawa

Think you’ll be hungry at 5:30pm on May 1st?

How about having food and drinks from some of the best restaurants in town? And a side of ‘doing some good for the world’ to go along with that?

Well, that’s exactly what Bon Appetit Ottawa has on the menu that evening — and we can’t think of anywhere else we’d rather be!




Bon Appetit Ottawa is the premier gourmet charitable event in the National Capital Region, providing a recipe for both hunger and poverty relief for 15 years.

To mark Bon Appetit’s 16th edition and its move to an amazing new venue, the team at Banfield-Seguin Ltd decided to spice things up a bit. We put together a blazing hot video to show the passing of the torch to the new CE Centre. We hope you’ll enjoy it!

Now, we need you to add the missing ingredient to make this year’s event a success: sharing. You do it with food; you can easily do it for this video.

The more people watch the Flambé of Hope video, the more people will buy tickets. The more people buy tickets, the more money will go to the charities that benefit from Bon Appetit. It’s as simple as that!

Our chefs have really gone the extra mile for Bon Appetit this year.

Can we count on you to do the same?

Share the video by clicking the social media icons below or by sending the following link by email to the people you care about: www.youtube.com/baoflambeofhope

To find out more about Bon Appetit Ottawa or to purchase your tickets, visit: www.bonappetitottawa.ca/tickets

Help Save a Life Today!

Every now and then – a very small project with a very big heart and purpose comes along!  BSL was really honoured to work together with the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa recently to help create the “Know What to Do – Preventing Youth Suicide” K-Card.  Quite simply – if you know of anyone that is experiencing any of these signs – this pocket-sized guide very clearly helps you know what to do next! 

For more information go to www.facebook.com/preventingsuicide

KNOW WHAT TO WATCH FOR:

• Changes in behaviours, friends or normal activities
• Changes in physical health and/or hygiene
• Low energy, poor concentration
• Declining school performance
• Increased absenteeism
• Marked personality change
• Increased risky behavior
• Prolonged negative mood or attitude
• Preoccupation with appearance and/or body image
• Comments about feeling worthless, helpless or hopeless
• Comments about suicide and/or dying

Copies of the guide can be ordered from the Ottawa Public Health Information Line at:
 613-580-6744  613-580-6744
TTY: 613-580-9656; Toll Free: 1-866-426-8885Monday to Friday from 9 am to 4 pm 



BSL's 'Exquisite Corpses': Way More Fun Than it Sounds

On January 25th, BSL inaugurated its new social committee at nearby Alpha Soul cafe in Ottawa's Hintonburg neighborhood. The committee kick-started its term with a spirited brainstorming session on everything from possible group outings to party plans for the upcoming retirement of a colleague.

A surreal experience
Among the many state-of-the-art idea generation tools that the team employed that evening was the always-fun 'exquisite corpse' game (also called 'picture consequence'). Invented by early Surrealists, the exquisite corpse is a collaborative method by which an image or text is assembled from parts made without any knowledge of the whole.

In our case, the goal was to create characters by having one person draw the head, another draw the body and another draw the legs. Because the sheet of paper was folded after each portion was finished, later participants had no way of knowing what had been drawn before them - which led to some... ahem... interesting results.

More madness than method
Judging by our illustrations, it is hard to tell how this was supposed to tie into planning staff events or how it can even be of any use at all to BSL. Actually, we're probably still very far from using this mad method on any of our clients' projects - unless some of you request it (hint, hint).

On the other hand, it was definitely a lot of fun to sharpen our creative chops on a non-work-related assignment. The democratic and mostly anonymous process removed all sense of competition and helped loosen the rigid thought barriers that we sometimes impose on ourselves. If nothing else, making exquisite corpses was a great team-bonding exercise that all of us would want to do again.

My advice is to go ahead and try the game with friends and/or colleagues (template available below). All we're asking is that you make sure to share whatever Frankenstein-like creatures you put together.

We don't want to be the only ones with weird corpses in our digital closet...

Organization 101 – Lesson 2: Managing Your Inflated Inbox

Being organized is a lot like getting in shape: most of us fantasize about it but very few actually make it happen. Luckily, it’s a skill that can be learned - by anyone, in any profession - and that usually shows results pretty quickly. My mother was an organized person, so I was fortunate to learn a few tricks that have served me well over the years.

In this article we tackle a big source of stress… The inflated email inbox!

As mentioned in my previous post, the key to organization is to be in control, aware and proactive. This is especially true if you are to keep emails from getting in the way of your other day-to-day responsibilities. Here are my 4 steps to success:

1. Write efficiently
Always try to be precise and to the point when answering emails - without sacrificing clarity or basic courtesy, of course. You can also save time by copy-and-pasting relevant parts of past messages. No one will notice, don’t worry…

2. Folders are your best friends
I personally create folders for everything: paper folders for hard copies, digital folders for soft copies. Everything gets its own place. Folders can even be used to separate work that needs to be done right away from less urgent projects.

3. Do it NOW!
Emails that stay in your inbox for more than a few days will often end up staying there for much longer. This then forces you to write an uncomfortable "I'm so sorry to get back to you so late" message (we’ve all been there).

My rule is: if an email is opened, it must then either be a) replied to, b) filed away, or c) deleted. And if I can’t act on one of them right away, I always make sure to keep it marked as “unread” – just to keep the pressure on...

4. Tomorrow is another day
Take some time at the end of each day to review and clean up your inbox. File every email into the appropriate folder, highlight the items you still need to address and delete the ones you don’t need anymore. If possible, I try not to leave the office without deciding which unanswered emails I will commit to taking care of the next day.

I hope this helps! Stay tuned for the third installment of Organization 101: Orderly Work Space = Productivity

BSL Live at CES 2012: What Happened in Vegas…

It’s not true what they say. Sometimes what happens in Vegas gets posted on YouTube shortly after. That was certainly the case when BSL joined high-profile clients Alcatel-Lucent and QNX at the Consumer Electronics Show in Nevada last week.

The CES is the largest show of it’s kind in the world. There were some truly spectacular things on display, and — with over 150,000 visitors — you can imagine things got pretty crazy!

ALU and the ng Connect program were there to show off some innovative new service concepts driven by broadband and cloud-based services — and to demonstrate how these can enhance consumer electronic devices and the end-user experience. Their impressive booth featured the Connected Service Vehicle, Gametime Media Table, and physical fitness solution called The Avatrainer.

BSL was there to produce daily Live at CES videos and to support ALU’s social media presence for the event. The videos take viewers behind the scenes to provide a dynamic insider’s view of the show.

Sean Cusson, our Motion Graphics Director, went beyond the call of duty with an intense production cycle that saw him shooting with host Jason Collins in the morning, editing and assembling footage during the day, and having final video produced and ready to push out the next morning. Rinse and repeat. Two videos in two days, with another on the way.

If that didn’t keep us busy enough, we also shot a video for QNX. The software company put one of its powerful, feature-rich real-time operating systems to work in an innovative partnership with Audi.

All in all, an action packed outing in the desert for us. We shot four videos and a heap of photos, met some amazing people, and did some great work that excited our clients. Have a look for yourself.

Cat’s Officially Out of the Bag: NAC Presents Launch Event

Some of Canada’s best-kept secrets are about to get exposed for all to see.

NAC Presents is an exciting new initiative showcasing some of the nation’s most vibrant, relevant and fresh performers. It gives emerging artists and established icons alike an opportunity to shine on the national stage.

On September 22nd, the NAC officially launched the all-Canadian performance series. The inaugural season features the likes of Rufus Wainwright, Jean Leloup, Gordon Lightfoot, Dala, Sarah Slean, Dan Hill, Sam Roberts Band, The Sadies, Sophie Milman, 7 doigts de la main, and many others.

In preparation for launch, BSL developed the season brochure, event signage and an energetic launch video. (The video’s paper animation was created by BSL’s very own emerging artist Megan Turnbull.)

So far, so good! Response to NAC Presents has been enthusiastic.

BSL continues to work with the NAC in marketing all individual performances.