SUMMER 2011
THE ALLIED PROPERTIES REIT TENANT MAGAZINE
Photo: Pulp and Fiber
QUEBEC CITY • MONTREAL • TORONTO • WINNIPEG • KITCHENER • CALGARY • VANCOUVER • VICTORIA
[PAGE 12]
ATMOSPHERE 1,000-year-old North African aesthetics meet contemporary lounging at Front Street East’s BerBer Lounge.
[ PAGE 22 ] THE RIGHT IDEA: How a small Montreal ad firm’s neat and nimble research process yields surprisingly accurate creative.
[ PAGE 16 ] From wayfinding to websites: Toronto’s Forge Media + Design
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• Visual arts highlights from 5 years of Luminato • Kobo launches eReader Touch • Revolutionary Wellington Condos
TORONTO
[TECHNOLOGY]
STAYING IN touch
Global e-reading leader Kobo grows steadily as it launches its latest generation touchscreen device – the first international e-reader.
Turn pages easily by tapping or swiping the screen. Equipped with the newest Pearl E Ink screen featuring a 16-level grey scale, the Kobo is designed to be highly responsive.
At 4.5 by 6.5 inches, this one is slightly smaller than the original and designed to fit in your pocket.
A single ‘home’ button eliminates control clutter so readers can focus on reading.
LIBERTY VILLAGE, TORONTO / – The Kobo team is having a good run of things. An operation that began in a few spare square feet of Indigo Books & Music’s offices on King Street West has had to move twice since those December 2009 days to accommodate its growth. Now in its third office (still in Allied space, but now up to 37,000 square feet in Liberty Village), the company is girding for more growth with the release of its newest eReader Touch Edition, which will also be available in French, German, Spanish and Italian so that readers can enjoy a localized user experience and local content. As founder Michael Serbinis noted in conversation with the Allied Chronicle last year, people upgrade their cell phones after a few years because technology changes. And, in the world of e-readers, things are changing just as rapidly. That’s why Kobo (an anagram for book) also puts an emphasis on its e-reading software. No matter what
the device, your library of e-books can travel with you. While you can read your Kobo books on android, iphone and pads, the company has moved to a next generation infrared touch screen to make the e-reading experience even more intuitive. Using the latest Pearl E Ink technology, this reader allows you to swipe to turn a page, highlight a phrase, look up a word, zoom into an image, bump up your font size or just quickly navigate through a book. Lacking the directional pad and four side buttons of it predecessor, the latest Kobo is designed to focus on reading. Named one of e-reading’s powerhouses by Time.com*, Kobo now has a catalogue of more than 2.3 million books, newspapers and magazines. It has customers in more than 100 countries, retailers in English speaking countries and this spring announced the launch of stores in Germany, Spain, Italy, France and the Netherlands.
*McCracken Harry, ‘Your Best eReader May Be No eReader,’ Jan. 20, 2011, Technologizer – Time.com
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kobobooks.com
WINNIPEG
When foundation work prompted a revamp of the basement storage area, architect tenants designed a tidy 2,000-square-foot gym.
[ H E A LT H ]
New gym for Winnipeg tenants: ‘Found’ space creates an opportunity for healthier living. EXCHANGE DISTRICT, WINNIPEG / – While the idea of supporting health and wellness in the workplace is, to Terry Cristall, common sense, sometimes going about it wasn’t all that straightforward. As CEO of Number 10 Architectural Group in Winnipeg, he and his partners have always encouraged an active lifestyle among the firm’s 84 employees, of which 60 work out of the Winnipeg office. They organized participation in team events like dragon boat races, hosted wellness themed barbecues, and even started bringing in an aerobics instructor for midday classes in space they were making available in their own offices. But it was this last initiative that truly demonstrated the need for an on-site gym facility. “We were getting 10 to 15 people doing aerobics in our office’s flex/project space. Not only was it getting crowded, there also wasn’t a decent space where we could clean up afterwards,” says Cristall whose 55-year-old firm specializes in commercial, hospitality, institutional, education and recreation design. When the foundation work that was being done in their building at 115 Bannatyne necessitated reworking the basement, Cristall and his team realized that a little bit of extra effort could carve out a tidy 2,000-square-foot gym space. With the consent and cooperation of Allied Properties REIT, they designed a new space, laying down a rubber sport floor and accommodating a good sized change room and two shower stalls. Now, the brightly lit subterranean space, with free weights, two stationary bikes and a treadmill is getting regular use from individuals training as it is from classes. And use is likely to increase in the winter when Winnipeg temps keep employees indoors. “This is great,” says Cristall. “We’ve always been conscious of promoting a healthy lifestyle and having space like this just makes it a better, healthier work environment.” As for those aerobics classes, they’re still on every day, and open to anyone in the building.
3 • SUMMER 2011
2007 Pulse Front: Relational Architecture 12 at Harbourfront Centre (Rafael Lozano-Hemmer) was, at the time, the world’s largest interactive light sculpture.
Pi Media
2008 saw Slow Dancing by David Michalek at the University of Toronto campus where large outdoor screens showed ultra-slow-motion photography of dancers (a five-second gesture took 10 minutes of screen time). 2009 was the year of the red balls with David Rokeby’s Longwave featured in Brookfield Place and Kurt Perschke’s RedBall Toronto popping up in seven unexpected locations throughout the city to highlight unnoticed architecture and prompt conversations. 2010 saw Ship O’ Fools (Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller), an actual ship people could enter, installed in Trinity Bellwoods Park, and based on the metaphor of the un-captained vessel full of aimless passengers absorbed in vanity and frivolity. 2011’s Sargasso by Philip Beesley examined how architecture could come alive, shifting and floating in Brookfield Place.
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2007
2011
All photos by Luminato unless otherwise noted.
2009
2010
[ C U LT U R E ]
THE ART OF IMPACT World theatre premieres and massive free concerts aside, most people know Toronto’s Luminato fest is happening because they keep running into art. QUEEN-RICHMOND CENTRE, TORONTO / – As 15-foot-high red rubber balls go, it was generally loved and sometimes challenged. That’s one of the things Robert VanderBerg remembers fondly from his third year as the producer of Luminato’s visual arts program. It has been a full five years since the city’s most encompassing arts festival, featuring theatre, dance, music, literature, food, fashion, film and visual arts came onto the scene. And while it has hosted a number of world premieres and draws spectacular, thought-provoking performances from around the globe, the visual arts program has always functioned to announce the festival’s presence. “Emphasis from day one was that the visual arts would be free, open to the public, new to the city and in spaces you didn’t expect to see art,” says VanderBerg, explaining that with the exception of Brookfield Place, which has been both a spectacular venue and an accommodating one, works are generally set up in new spaces every year. After its first year, Luminato began commissioning pieces for certain spaces. So while 2007’s Pulse Front: Relational Architecture 12, Mexican Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s interactive light sculpture at Harbourfront Centre, may have gone on to other cities in some other form (including Vancouver for the winter Olympics), most, such as this year’s Sargasso by Philip Beesley, which shifted and floated above Brookfield’s Place’s madding crowd, are dismantled at the end of the festivals’ 10-day run. All that remains then are the memories of hundreds of thousands who experienced these accidental encounters with art, and of course several thousand images posted on Facebook and the like.
Luminato marks its fifth year with the release of pictorial book “Luminato began as a dream,” said its co-founder David Pecaut, “a dream that each year Toronto would invite the world to join us in celebrating creativity.” Featuring more than 250 images from Luminato events and performances and written by acclaimed Toronto author David Macfarlane, the book celebrates the festival’s growth in five short years from a neat idea to a remarkable event that has drawn local, national, and international talent and showcased the work of both emerging and established artists. An original portraits section by celebrated photographer Nigel Dickson highlights the contributions of the people who make Luminato happen: volunteers, artists, and the festival supporters.
luminato.com
5 • SUMMER 2011
TORONTO
2008
[TECHNOLOGIE]
GFI Solutions : Des solutions multiples et un service hors pair Une des plus grandes firmes canadiennes de logiciels et de services met à profit une forte culture d’entreprise. Ces acquisitions lui ont également permis de développer sa clientèle à l’échelle internationale et de conquérir des marchés verticaux. Ainsi, en cinq ans, GFI Solutions a multiplié par cinq ses revenus et son personnel. Aujourd’hui, elle fournit des solutions d’affaires complètes pour des municipalités, des professionnels du tourisme, des entreprises de construction, de quincaillerie et de rénovation, des garderies, des cabinets de notaires et de comptables.
CITÉ MULTIMÉDIA, MONTRÉAL / – À la caisse d’un magasin de grande surface, en train d’acheter des fleurs pour son jardin, Gilles Létourneau se penche pour examiner de plus près le logiciel de gestion de la caisse enregistreuse. Remarquant son intérêt, la caissière explique que le programme est très efficace, mais que le service d’assistance technique l’est bien plus encore. Ce logiciel n’est que l’un des quelque 40 logiciels proposés par GFI Solutions, l’entreprise de Gilles Létourneau, qui emploie aujourd’hui près d’un millier de personnes. Il était plus que ravi d’entendre ce commentaire sur la qualité du service. « Nous avons des centaines de représentants du service à la clientèle. Le service est ce qu’il y a de plus important dans une entreprise comme la nôtre. S’il n’est pas à la hauteur, les clients en parlent entre eux », explique Gilles Létourneau depuis ses bureaux situés au 75 rue Queen à Montréal, où son entreprise occupe deux étages.
LES SOLUTIONS ERP LES PLUS DEMANDÉES SUR LE MARCHÉ Depuis sa fondation en 1988, GFI Solutions a réalisé d’importantes acquisitions et conclu plusieurs partenariats. Ses dernières acquisitions, activeMedia, Fortsum Solutions d’affaires (aujourd’hui GFI Solutions PME), Bell Solutions d’affaires (aujourd’hui GFI Solutions d’affaires) et Accovia, l’ont aidée à élargir sa mission et à atteindre son objectif : passer d’un fournisseur de services à fournisseur de produits et de services. alliedpropertiesreit.com • 6
Si GFI Solutions s’impose sur le marché depuis plus de 20 ans, il faut savoir que certaines de ses filiales sont en activité depuis plus longtemps encore. Son équipe se compose d’experts spécialisés dans quelques-unes des solutions ERP les plus demandées sur le marché : Sage Accpac, SAP Business One, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics AX et IFS. À ces experts s’ajoutent des spécialistes d’Acomba et d’Avantage qui connaissent sur le bout des doigts ces deux solutions de comptabilité utilisées par dizaines de milliers de PME du Québec.
UNE FORTE CULTURE D’ENTREPRISE Aujourd’hui, quelque 55 000 clients canadiens comptent sur les technologies de GFI Solutions pour le paiement des salaires, le traitement de transactions, le transport de marchandises et la gestion des innombrables éléments logistiques qui permettent à une économie de fonctionner. Mais la mise au point de ces solutions ne constitue que la moitié du travail, les services d’assistance technique étant le côté davantage public du mandat. Quoiqu’il en soit, la bonne marche de ces deux fonctions ensemble exige une forte culture d’entreprise. « Au Québec, il est difficile de trouver des candidats qualifiés et lorsqu’on les a trouvés, il faut les garder motivés et impliqués », poursuit Gilles Létourneau en expliquant que sa société organise des concours de « valeurs d’entreprise » qui permettent à des milliers d’employés de rédiger des témoignages sur la signification pour eux de certaines valeurs, à la fois dans leur vie professionnelle et personnelle. Par ailleurs, elle s’est dotée d’un programme de gestion de la contribution stimulant pour les employés. C’est ainsi que GFI Solutions invite les gens à « venir faire leur marque » et s’assure d’offrir une rémunération compétitive et des plans de développement personnalisés à ses employés.
gfisolutions.com
MONTRÉAL
One of the largest software and consulting firms in Canada, Montreal’s GFI Solutions fosters a culture of service. Gilles Létourneau was buying flowers for his garden at a Montreal big box hardware when he leaned over the counter to peek at the software running the cash register. Noticing his interest, the cashier said the system was good, but that the technical support was great.
CLIENTS TALK It’s just one of the forty-odd software products his 1,000-employee firm offers, this one built specifically for the hardware industry, but Létourneau was especially proud to hear the service comment. “We have hundreds of customer service representatives. Service is very important for an organization like ours and if you deliver bad service, clients will talk,” he says form his office at 75 Queen Street in Montreal where GFI Solutions occupies over two floors. SIGNIFICANT ACQUISITIONS Since 1988, GFI Solutions has been on a path marked by a series of significant acquisitions and partnerships. Its most recent acquisitions, ActiveMedia, Fortsum Business Solutions, Bell Business Solutions, and Accovia, have helped the company broaden its mission and complete the shift from being a services provider to being a products and services provider. The acquisitions have also helped it expand its client base internationally and conquer vertical markets so that over a five-year period, GFI Solutions has increased its annualized revenues and employee base fivefold. Now it provides business solutions for municipalities, travel professionals, the construction industry, hardware and renovation centres, daycares, notaries, and accountants.
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« Au Québec, il est difficile de trouver des candidats qualifiés et lorsqu’on les a trouvés, il faut les garder motivés et impliqués »
IN-DEMAND ERP SOLUTIONS Indeed, while the company itself has been making its mark for over 20 years, some of its subsidiaries have been on the scene for even longer. Its team brings together experts specializing in some of the most in-demand ERP solutions on the market: Sage Accpac, SAP Business One, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics AX, and IFS. And then there’s its Acomba and Avantage experts who know everything there is to know about the most popular accounting solutions used by Quebec SMBs.
– Gilles Létourneau, Président et chef de la direction
7 • SUMMER 2011
LEFT: Working with Nokia in the U.S., OneMethod helped launch the Nokia Astound, a competitor to the iPhone. BELOW: The Notebook, whose look was inspired by 1st generation Macs, began as a gift to clients, but is now available for sale.
ABOVE: Staff and guests enjoy a La Carnita ‘pop-up taco stand’ as OneMethod principals test an idea and indulge in a passion for cooking.
alliedpropertiesreit.com • 8
TORONTO
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“Not a lot of shops in the city combine the creative thinking of ad agencies with the technical influence of a development shop. We sit in the middle of that.” – Steve Miller, Creative Director
[MARKETING]
OneMethod’s Two Sides King West digital and design firm builds a collaborative environment where high concept meets technical development. KING WEST CENTRAL, TORONTO / – When creativity strikes, almost every surface at OneMethod’s second storey space at 445 King Street West has the potential for brainstorming or sketching out ideas. Steve Miller’s desk, for example, is a whiteboard, and so is every office door (one staffer, a graffiti artist, draws his ideas on a window). “It’s a very entrepreneurial place and we’re always trying new things,” says Miller, the digital and design firm’s creative director. “It changes almost weekly in terms of what we’re doing, what we’re interested in, what’s coming up next, and that keeps us fresh and makes this a great place to work,” he says, having recently completed a June move that saw his firm shift from another Allied building to this cozy, central spot on King Street West. OneMethod’s technical and creative staff works with social media, video production, mobile technology and interactive media to produce fun and highly effective marketing and advertising. In March, they completed a campaign for Canadian company Targetvacations.ca, a client for the past five years. “Business was picking up, so they wanted to raise their social awareness,” recalls Miller.
DRIVING SALES UP 45% The client, which operates much like itravel2000.com but on a smaller scale, didn’t have the budget for TV ads or billboards, but Miller’s creative team didn’t think that was necessary. Instead they launched a contest called “Where’s the Beach?” An app on the Target Vacations Facebook fan page featured a photo of an
anonymous beach, and a pull-down menu for guessing its location. “If you guessed right, you were entered to win a trip to a sunny destination,” Miller says. “Target Vacations gave away eight trips (donated by Sunquest and other sponsors) over four months.” From November 2010 to March 2011, Target Vacations went from 500 Facebook fans to 8,000. The campaign brought sales up to 45% more than the previous year, an 18% increase in profits.
CREATIVE MEETS TECH OneMethod also worked on a U.S. project this year launching the Nokia Astound, a competitor to the iPhone. The campaign included a video on T-Mobile’s and Nokia’s websites, a homepage takeover, in-store promotional materials and more. As for OneMethod’s work environment, Miller describes it as “flat”, that is, without much hierarchy. “And there’s very little suit-wearing,” he says. (Wearing jeans, a black shirt with rolled-up sleeves, and a pair of Converse, he was “dressed up” to meet with a client.) In traditional ad firms, an art director and copywriter travelled from shop to shop and worked on ads together. A more likely pair at OneMethod would be a designer and a tech person. Unlike other shops, many of which build banner ads, websites and so on, OneMethod focuses more on designing the concept, ideation and strategy. “Not a lot of shops in the city combine the creative thinking of ad agencies with the technical influence of a development shop,” Miller says. “We sit in the middle of that, which is what we like.”
onemethod.com
9 • SUMMER 2011
[RETAIL]
IN CONTROL
Where home electronics used to just be about stereos and TVs, Calgary’s Ban STEPHEN AVE, CALGARY / – If James Bond were staff arrive at your home, and when they have left and shopping for a system to manage his expensive gadgets locked up. and the security of his home and family, you’d likely find “When I was young and foolish,” he says, “while talking him at Bang & Olufsen Custom Home on Stephen to clients I would say things like, ’Wouldn’t it be cool if…’ Avenue in Calgary. The company’s exclusive retailer and the client often said ’Yeah? Can you make that happen?’ for the prairie provinces, this location serves well-heeled And often I didn’t know if we could, but we did it. And to clients from Victoria through to Niagara and into the US. this day we have yet to not make a client’s dream come to And most – including a lot of oil reality or turn down a project.” executives – want more than TVs Lane’s family has a history of and stereos. "To this day we have selling audio-visual equipment, but Maybe you’re finishing your winter the idea of integrating A/V with yet to not make a client’s getaway and you want your home to security, lighting and whole home dream come to reality be nice and warm when you walk in. control developed later when he Scot Lane, president of Bang & or turn down a project.” opened B&O Custom Home. Olufsen Custom Home can have his Set in a 10-year-old structure – Scot Lane, president, team design a system that lets you turn that was built on condition it reflect B&O Custom Home up your house’s heat from your iPhone the style of the historic buildings on while you’re still in Key West. Stephen Avenue mall, the space Or maybe you’re getting to the good part of a movie and includes a basement warehouse, a first floor B&O product the doorbell rings. No need to get up – an image on your showroom, and a second floor “Integration” area, displaying screen can display your security camera view of who’s at the the wonders of what can happen when you combine door. And what if you want to keep an eye on your house high-end design with advanced technology. This is where while on business in Hong Kong? Lane and his team will you’ll find a full-scale state-of-the-art home theater. make you a custom tool that alerts you when your cleaning
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alliedpropertiesreit.com • 10
CALGARY
ng & Olufsen Custom Home has come to specialize in truly unique solutions. Not that you can tell from outside. From street level the goings-on are fairly discreet until someone walks into the spacious first floor showroom. “And when they get to the second floor, they gasp,” Lane says. And while the larger-than-life spectacle of a home theatre display is always awe inducing, the future of home electronics is in some ways, much smaller. “It’s an “iWorld” out there,” says Lane, explaining that nowadays everyone wants to run their life with an iPad or iPhone. “While we can make our systems work on clients’ smartphones,” he says, “we won’t set up your i-whatever as the only control point of your whole home control system. Otherwise, when Apple changes its software it might wreak havoc with your ability to control your DVD collection, lighting or home security. So we always have at least one OEM controller that the clients can fall back on.” This work is so intricate that one missed wire can affect the whole system. A project can take six months to a year to complete, and Lane’s staff sometimes works long hours. “We’ll do whatever we have to because we’re passionate about it,” Lane says. “Anyone can go out and sell audio-visual equipment but because this is such a unique product line, if you’re not into it, you won’t get it. It’s a lot of fun.”
B & O Custom Home’s building was built 10 years ago on condition it respect the historic architecture around it.
bocustomhome.com 11 • SUMMER 2011
[RESTAURANT]
NORTH AFRICAN NIGHTS By Yvan Marston
Beber Lounge’s décor, all imported, earned a certificate of authenticity for representing Moroccan culture from the country’s consulate in Ottawa.
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TORONTO
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“The idea was always to create a space for laid-back fine dining.” – Angela Panigas, owner, BerBer Lounge
Tucked neatly below Front Street East’s Sultan’s Tent, BerBer Lounge’s hammered wrought iron entrance panels, handcrafted brass light fixtures, pillowed seating and live music blends 1,000-year-old aesthetics with contemporary lounging. ST. LAWRENCE MARKET AREA, TORONTO / – It’s easy to assume much of the décor that gives BerBer Lounge its classical North African feel was imported. But the fact is that it was all imported. Owner Angela Panigas and her husband made four separate trips to Morocco totaling 10 weeks during which they bought camel-skinned leather stools, handmade Berber carpets, and countless antique accessories. They also commissioned ornate hand-carved and -painted panels to complement the brass ceilings and brought a space plan to share with Moroccan lighting experts who would design the glass globes and brass fixtures that now infuse the subterranean space with the sense of a secret lair. Four shipping containers and two years later, BerBer Lounge sits poised and proud receiving a regular flow of Thursday, Friday and Saturday night diners and loungers. Initially perceived as an alternate to the reservations-only Sultan’s Tent upstairs, the Berber Lounge has become increasingly popular with the young professional crowd for its combination of authentic décor and serious lounge vibe. “The idea was always to create a space for laid-back fine dining,” says Panigas, who in her former life as a marketer worked with the original owners of Sultan’s Tent and eventually bought the business. BerBer Lounge is her second restaurant and operates a completely separate kitchen from the one upstairs, which serves French-Moroccan food. Rather, this one dishes Southern Mediterranean fare in full four-course style or sharing platters.
But it is a lounge, and the intricately-carved wood separators, ornate coffee tables and low-slung padded benches piled with textured pillows are all meant to give your meal an informal quality. “Like you’re sitting in your living room sharing a meal,” says Panigas. Like its Berber namesake, the menu wanders throughout the Mediterranean, drawing as much on France, Greece and Spain as it does on North Africa. Currently, Italy is dominating the four-course offering with a starter featuring bocconcini cheese marinated in chili, mint and lime skewered with seasoned sun-dried tomatoes, and followed by such mains as a prosciutto wrapped chicken supreme or a six-ounce filet of fresh Mahi Mahi, baked and topped with scallions and fresh basil. Surrounded by artisanal handmade luxuries collected from the winding alleys of the Moroccan Medinas, the lounge has played host to bridal showers, stags and stag-ettes, rehearsal dinners, and weddings, as well as to corporate functions and product launches. The DJ booth’s wireless microphone set up combined with the strategically-placed in-wall speakers and two 50-inch flat-panel televisions give business events polished audio-video presentation options in a unique setting. While the Berber Lounge is still building its reputation as a corporate events place, its vibe as an exotic, chilled-out space for a fine casual meal has grown steadily. “You know those nights where you are sitting at home thinking about ordering something in and eating in your living room? Well you can do that here,” says Panigas, adding that after 10:00, things are likely to get a little more interesting here than at home.
beberlounge.ca
13 • SUMMER 2011
[MARKETING]
La loi du plus grand nombre Sous le ton jeune et quelque peu irrévérencieux d’Écorce se cache une stratégie bien étudiée et un sens affûté des médias sociaux. Par Yvan Marston
A display at Écorce’s St. Laurent Blvd studio demonstrates the evolution of a branding project for the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma.
BLVD ST-LAURENT, MONTRÉAL / – « Nos meilleurs projets sont ceux dans lesquels on est impliqués dès le tout début », explique Karl-Frédéric Anctil, en frottant sa barbe de deux jours sous la chaleur exceptionnelle de ce jour de mai. Avec sa dizaine d’employés et son portefeuille rempli de projets de conception Web et de design graphique, notamment dans les domaines de l’événementiel, des médias sociaux et même de la conception de livres, Écorce, une agence de design créatif créée il y a six ans, est gérée par KarlFrédéric Anctil et Véronique Desrosiers, spécialiste de stratégie Web.
DE LA CONCEPTION À LA RÉALISATION FINALE Fière de son talent pour comprendre les besoins de ses clients et proposer des concepts créatifs qui y répondent, l’équipe d’Écorce réalise ses meilleures performances lorsqu’elle est impliquée dans ses projets dès le stade conceptuel. Quand le Cirque du Soleil cherchait de l’aide pour développer un projet de commerce électronique qui lui permettrait de s’associer avec des illustrateurs et des artistes
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de rue émergents afin de créer pour sa tournée des affiches à tirage limité, ses responsables se sont adressés à Écorce avec une idée : chaque œuvre originale sera inspirée par les spectacles et créée spécifiquement pour chaque ville de la tournée. Aujourd’hui, tout le monde peut acheter ces affiches reproduites en quantité limitée par le biais du site Safewalls.org, élaboré par Écorce dans le cadre d’un projet plus large de développement global de la marque. Chaque artiste ayant un réseau, l’emploi d’artistes locaux émergents apporte une connectivité régionale au projet. Cette approche qui s’appuie sur le rôle du réseau se retrouve aussi dans les stratégies Web d’Écorce.
CONSTRUIRE UN RÉSEAU Autre projet qui fut un grand succès, les Interwebs 2010, avait pour but d’entrer en relation avec des blogueurs et des humoristes de la scène montréalaise. L’idée était de demander à plusieurs blogueurs, suivis par l’équipe d’Écorce, de contribuer à une rétrospective de l’année 2010. Sous la forme d’un calendrier, le projet révélait à chaque jour de décembre une nouvelle chronique rédigée par un blogueur différent – meilleures vidéos de l’année, meilleures créations de logos, satires exclusives de vidéos virales – qui examinait l’année écoulée en fonction de son expertise.
Beneath Écorce’s young, irreverent tone lies thoughtful strategy and social media savvy. “The best projects are the ones we can get involved with from the very start,” says Karl-Frédéric Anctil rubbing the two-day stubble on his chin one unseasonably warm day in May. Outside, Montreal’s construction season has begun and from the sounds of it, not much is moving along St. Laurent Blvd. But here in this open concept sixth floor studio, filled with the whirr of desktop fans and the light buzz of work conversation, things are progressing nicely for this six-year-old agency. With a dozen employees and a plump portfolio of web and design projects that includes some very perceptive social media work, event organizing and even book design Écorce, whose management Anctil shares with web strategist Véronique Désrosiers is sticking to its roots as a niche creative.
Quarante des 68 recettes de ce livre conçu avec l'aide d'Écorce proviennent de blogeurs, ce qui donne 40 ambassadeurs de ce projet.
When Cirque du Soleil was looking for help developing an e-commerce project that would see it team up with emerging street artists and illustrators to create posters for its touring show, they approached Écorce with just an idea: Each original art poster would be inspired by touring shows and made specifically for the cities in which they were presenting. Now anyone can buy these limited edition prints through the Safewalls.org site designed by Écorce. Using emerging local artists allows a level regional connectivity as each of those artists has a network. It is a pattern that repeats itself in Écorce’s web strategies.
CRÉATIF PAR ESSENCE Quand une ancienne de l’équipe d’Écorce, devenue nutritionniste, a cherché à compiler un livre de recettes végétariennes pour les non-végétariens, ses anciens collègues ont non seulement conçu le livre, mais l’ont aussi aidée au niveau du contenu en demandant à des blogueurs de fournir des recettes. Sur la base du principe selon lequel « on peut apprécier des recettes végétariennes, sans être végétarien », on demandait aux blogueurs de partager recettes et anecdotes. Quarante des 68 recettes publiées proviennent de ces internautes. « Ce qui a donné 40 ambassadeurs de ce livre », explique Véronique Desrosiers, avant d’ajouter que sa publication avait créé une certaine fébrilité parmi les internautes depuis le mois de juillet 2010, huit mois avant sa parution au printemps dernier. Connue dans certains cercles pour ses compétences en design et dans d’autres pour son sens affûté des médias sociaux, Écorce se voit fondamentalement comme un atelier créatif. « Mais nous ne concevons rien dans le but d’être tape-à-l’œil », explique Karl-Frédéric Anctil. « Il y a toujours un objectif, une stratégie. L’écorce, c’est simplement la partie de l’arbre que l’on voit, mais ça prend le tronc et les racines pour l’alimenter. »
Interweb 2010 was project conceived to connect with bloggers and became an easy hit. The idea was to get bloggers the Écorce team followed to contribute to a review of 2010. Each day in December featured a new post by a different blogger – best videos of the year, top new logos, etc – each examining the past year in terms of their expertise. “A lot of bloggers were discovered because we were asking people from specific niches to contribute to this. So the audience from one blog would visit Interweb and view other blogs,” says Desrosiers, the firm’s social media strategist. Hoping to make it an annual project, Interweb served not only to raise Écorce’s profile, but to give it a level of credibility among bloggers. “A lot of agencies want bloggers to just talk about their stuff,” adds Anctil, “but we were asking bloggers to be involved directly in a part of the creative project. If they liked doing it, they’ll talk about it.”
ecorce.ca 15 • SUMMER 2011
MONTRÉAL
« Nombre de blogueurs sont sortis de l’ombre à cette occasion parce qu’on demandait à des gens ayant une expertise particulière de participer. Donc les lecteurs d’un blogue particulier se rendaient sur le site lesinterwebs.com et pouvaient y lire d’autres blogues », affirme Véronique Desrosiers, responsable de la stratégie pour les médias sociaux. Espérant en faire un événement annuel, Écorce, par le biais des Interwebs, a cherché non seulement à rehausser son profil, mais aussi à gagner une certaine crédibilité auprès des blogueurs. « Beaucoup d’agences demandent aux blogueurs de parler de leurs projets », ajoute Karl-Frédéric Anctil, « nous, nous leur avons demandé de participer directement à une partie du projet créatif et de s’amuser avec nous. Si ça leur plaisait, ils en parleraient à coup sûr. »
[DESIGN]
A DESIGNED EXPERIENCE
From wayfinding to websites, Toronto’s Forge Media + Design looks at its projects and its workplace in terms of user experience. By Micayla Jacobs
FINDING UNIQUE WAYS TO MAKE THINGS HAPPEN “Never settle for the status quo,” says Tschudin when describing the agency. Indeed, Forge is all about trying to find unique ways to make things happen, whether it is web design work for Apple Canada or an entire signage and wayfinding system for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg. They look to use unique materials, take advantage of landmark placement and use light in interesting ways. It is also very important to Tschudin and his co-founders to deliver the whole package. Forge has graphic design capabilities, as well as programmers and an environmental graphics team – therefore everything is taken care of, including installation. “It’s not just about specifying the materials needed, but presenting a complete package from A to Z,” he emphasizes.
LIBERTY VILLAGE, TORONTO / – Forge Media + Design has a thing for experience: the experience that is offered to the client, the experience that is realized by the consumer, and the experience that it creates for its employees. Firm principals Gregory Neely, Stüssy Tschudin and Laurence Roberts came together in 2005 as a small, traditional graphic design firm, but quickly grew to a team of 18 offering a broad range of services. In addition to website design and development, signage and wayfinding, corporate branding and print work, Forge has mastered the art of creating innovative media installations, including the design and development of digital content for touchscreens, kiosks and art installations. Despite this broad offering, Forge remains focused on the concept of shaping experiences, while ensuring that their employees love coming to work.
alliedpropertiesreit.com • 16
VYING TO BE TOP ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHICS FIRM That mentality has served them well as this growing shop has already won the Association of Retail Environments Award for lighting design and installation. A more than ‘nice-to-have’ award for a team vying to be the number one firm in environmental graphics in Canada. Tschudin attributes a lot of Forge’s success to the office culture that has been cultivated. The company’s HR philosophy says it all: Forge is all about “working together to boldly create functionally beautiful experiences, broaden horizons, inspire and open minds to new possibilities.” It is very important that the employees go into work every day happy to be there, because that is when the best work is done. To achieve this, team activities are a must, as is a communal foosball table for onsite stress relief. Based in Liberty Village and with a growing array of major clients, Forge is building a solid reputation for itself as a creative shop with a unique ability to fuse design, communication and technology to build comprehensive solutions with harmony, elegance and function.
Forgeinc.ca
TORONTO 17 • SUMMER 2011
[RESIDENTIAL]
Wellington Condo Features Flexibility
Easy-to-relocate walls and raised floor system allows owners with two units t KING WEST CENTRAL, TORONTO / – For most of us, city living is a matter of compromise. To be in to the core, you have to accept smaller living space. But then life changes and you look for something bigger, a starter home. Downtown living in North American cities, however, is increasingly unaffordable, so you widen your search. “What people are looking for is a place to grow, but really they want to live downtown. That’s our idea, is getting people into space that can grow with downtown,” explains Dermot Sweeny, a principal at Sweeny Sterling Finlayson &Co Architects Inc. and one of the minds behind 508 Wellington, a condominium project designed to provide the opportunity for a truly urban life.
alliedpropertiesreit.com • 18
With an entry level cost that is said to be much less than a quality home within 10 miles of the core, buyers can purchase more than one unit and use them in any number of ways. “You can get three units of space and have three independent suites – one to live in and two to rent, or you can combine two to make one big suite and rent the small one, or vice versa,” says Sweeny, explaining that it’s a good solution for people trying to build equity. If an owner is single, they might only need one of the suites. The rental income can help to pay for additional suites she can grow into. “If you have a family, take more space. When the kids leave, consolidate into smaller space,” says Sweeny.
TORONTO With an entry level cost that can be much less than a quality home within 10 miles of the core, buyers can purchase more than one unit and use them in any number of ways.
o expand or contract for any life stage. You couldn’t do this in most condominium buildings, but this one is different. It has no concrete shear walls and therefore no concrete demising walls. All the loads/slabs are carried on small simple concrete columns at the exterior and only a minimal number within the space. What’s more, most of the area in each unit is made of a modular reconfigurable raised floor system which is 10” above the concrete slab. This allows the builders and the future owners to reconfigure units without penetrating the slab or the suite below. Drains, taps and plumbing are all in the raised floor. Connection is easily made to strategically place plumbing risers – you could move your shower or move the kitchen with relative ease. The raised floor area is
only on the entry side of the suite so you step down into sunken living areas with 9’-0" ceilings. There are also some savings to be had in the initial purchase. Since base units are sold as small, i.e., one bedroom apartments, they fall below the 13% HST tax threshold to be paid on residences over the $400,000. This saves the purchaser of a large unit (i.e.: can buy 2 or more smaller ones and combine them) a great sum of money. “This project is a machine for living,” says Sweeny, explaining that its flexibility is designed to accommodate life changes. And the cost to transform a unit is estimated to be less than a third of the cost of a major home renovation.
thisisdowntown.ca
19 • SUMMER 2011
TOTUM TIPS
THE PORTABLE WORKOUT Totum’s sport strength specialist gets back to basics for a routine you can do almost anywhere. Travel workouts are never easy to schedule, that’s why Joanna Zdrojewska, a personal trainer at Totum Life Science on King advises her clients to use short intense sessions.“Don’t stress about getting a full workout in, just get up and do it,” she says. Three to four days off won’t hurt your progress, in fact, she says, if you are in a particularly demanding program, this can offer a bit of recovery, “but don’t let your nutrition lapse.” If you do go past five days, she explains, you will start to see a noticeable loss in training (e.g., you might not lift the same maximum you did the week before). Conditioning, as the term implies, is a temporary state: you have to build up to it and then you have to maintain it. Here are three exercises you can combine with a 20-minute run to stay active, wherever you happen to be.
PUSH UPS
SIT UPS
Zdrojewska
SQUAT
WHY: Because push ups engage muscle
WHY: Because ab crunches do nothing for
groups in the arms, chest, abdomen, hips and legs.
your core. Sit ups, however, work the whole core and a stronger core stabilizes the spine.
WHY: Because the squat uses almost every muscle in your body and burns a lot of calories.
1
1 1 2
2
2 3
HOW: 1. Start with your hands placed just wider than your shoulders (not too far forward). Your body should be taught and in a straight line from head to ankles. 2. Lower yourself until your chest almost touches the floor. 3. Do three sets of 10. NOTES: “Focus on good form rather than number of push ups,” says Zdrojewska, explaining that as you tire, your form devolves and you get less benefit from the exercise.
HOW: HOW: 1. Lying on the floor, knees bent 90 degrees and feet flat on the ground, keep your hands up near your head. 2. Tuck your chin in, contract your abs and roll steadily up until your chest almost touches your knees. 3. Start with three sets of 10. NOTES: If your feet are lifting off the ground, it means your hip flexors are tight and/or your core is weak, she says. This is how you make them stronger.
1. With your feet shoulder width apart, toes lined up and spine in neutral position, lower yourself by pushing your hips back as you sink down onto your heels. 2. Drive up through your heels to get back up. 3. Do three sets of 10 and if that’s too easy hold a weight in front of you. NOTES: “Keep your chest out and your weight back on your heels. A common mistake is to shift forward on onto your toes,” says Zdrojewska.
For videos on fitness, to read the Wellness Blog or to sign up for a FREE week at Totum Life Science on King Street West, visit Totum.ca
alliedpropertiesreit.com • 20
TORONTO
[ H E A LT H ]
SOUTHERN HEAT
Tula South’s newest studio offers Liberty Villagers hot yoga, pilates, and spa treatments in a brightly lit oasis of calm. LIBERTY VILLAGE, TORONTO / – The gentle strains of a sitar set to a contemporary beat imbue this downtown south west yoga studio’s greeting space with a calm furthered still by the steady rush of a ten-foot stainless steel water feature. Deep brown hardwood floors set against crisp white walls and exposed brick come together to form a modern aesthetic that is as clean as it is serene. “The idea for the lobby is: earth, water and fire,” explains Donna Wong, tracing a line with her slim finger from the decorative tree-patterned wallpaper, to the glistening water accent and over to the incendiary yellow and red hues of the sandblasted brick wall. A yoga practitioner for nine years and studio co-owner with Tula founder Isabel Lambert since the winter, Wong is keen to share all aspects of the lower level space at 47 Fraser just off Liberty Street that she describes as an urban oasis. “A lot of other places will just do yoga, but we look at overall wellness. We have a registered massage therapist, aesthetics, nutrition. It’s a really broad approach to offer services that will heal the body and nourish the soul.” The third Tula Yoga studio to crop up in Toronto in the last six years, the space’s central purpose revolves around a 1,200-square-foot ‘hot’ studio. Ceiling-mounted heating panels raise the bright room’s ambient temperature from 35 to 40 degrees Celsius. In this atmosphere, students run through yoga postures and breathing exercises in 45 to 75 minutes long sessions
described variously as Hot Hatha, Hot Power Flow, Hot Pilates, Fusion and Yin classes. The studio offers regular temperature Yoga and Pilates, as well as the popular Ballet Sculpt. For those who would like a more thorough and personalized workout the studio offers Pilates wall racks, chair and reformer equipment. The heat in a hot studio, explains Wong, helps to improve the body’s ability to stretch and can reduce injury. “But you have to get used to it,” she says, adding that it took her more than a couple of session before becoming a devotee. Founder Isabel Lambert says hot yoga also improves one’s mental focus, since the heat can distract at first, but working through it, you adjust. Clients also interested in detoxing their system tend to try hot yoga, in combination with other services offered at Tula. In fact, group cleansing workshops are held periodically at the location where a naturopathic doctor leads clients through educational sessions, diet analysis and even a field trip to learn healthy grocery shopping. “The studio’s offerings are kind of a broad spectrum, but really it’s just focused on overall health,” explains Lambert. A registered massage therapist is on site and spa treatments include everything from pedicures (for men as well) and manicures to body scrubs, sports massage, oxygen facials and scalp treatments.
tulahotyoga.com 21 • SUMMER 2011
[MARKETING]
CONCEPTS ÉCLAIRÉES Une petite agence de pub montréalaise met au point un processus d’étude de marché qui permet de Par Yvan Marston
David & Goliath Testing Successes PACKAGING KITCHEN GOODS With the new David & Goliath designed package, kitchenware maker Matfer had to order five times more packaging and renew the order every three months. Sales went up 50-fold.
NAMING STRUDEL Testing the name Divino for Casse-Noisette bakery’s strudels found that French speakers liked it, associating it with good pastry. English speakers though, immediately thought of wine. A new name, Délire, along with new packaging, generated an 80% increase in sales.
RAISING STUDENT ENROLLMENT When the University of Ottawa sought to rebrand itself, David & Goliath presented not only several logos but also statistics on the perception of each of them and their meaning to the general public, and won the creation of the logo and the advertising campaign. From 2002 to 2007, the number of students enrolled in undergraduate studies at the University of Ottawa rose by over 30%.
AVENUE ATLANTIC, MONTRÉAL / – Pour Bachir Saouaf, la recherche marketing peut être une tâche longue et laborieuse quand, avec son équipe, il sonde la relation entre le consommateur et l’annonceur à la recherche du chemin le plus direct vers le Saint Graal du marketing, soit connaître les besoins de son public cible. « Les études de marché traditionnelles ont toutes leur place. En fait, une grande partie de notre travail commence par-là », explique Bachir Saouaf, président de David & Goliath® Communications Marketing, une agence de douze personnes installée dans le quartier d’Outremont à Montréal. Depuis des bureaux, style loft, situés au cinquième étage, Bachir Saouaf et son épouse Carole Leduc, directrice de création, dirigent une agence de communication-marketing dont l’équipe complète comprend des rédacteurs, des designers graphiques, des programmeurs web et une photographe. Fondée il y a 14 ans, la firme vient tout juste de recevoir deux prix internationaux pour sa créativité dans le cadre des Summit International Awards (avec la participation d’agences de 22 pays). Et pourtant, ce qui préoccupe le plus Bachir Saouaf ces temps-ci, c’est la recherche marketing. Comment savoir si votre message est adapté à votre public? Qu’est-ce qui incite un consommateur à choisir votre produit plutôt que celui du concurrent? Quelle est la couleur idéale pour votre emballage?
alliedpropertiesreit.com • 22
MONTRÉAL
créer une image marketing précise et efficace. Tous ces détails sont d’une grande importance, mais ils sont trop souvent laissés à la discrétion du client ou du designer, en fonction de leur intuition, de leur préférence ou des impressions de leurs collègues de travail, raconte Bachir Saouaf. La méthode développée par David & Goliath®, le Test Driven Design™ est un processus qui cherche à répondre à toutes ces questions rapidement et objectivement dans le but de permettre une prise de décision éclairée. À titre d’exemple, lorsque l’Université d’Ottawa voulait modifier l’image de sa marque pour se positionner comme étant « l’université canadienne ». Elle cherchait également à augmenter le nombre de ses étudiants francophones. Plusieurs questions se posaient sur son logo : y ajoutonsnous une feuille d’érable? Comment le rendre bilingue sans répéter le nom dans les deux langues? Parmi les six agences qui se faisaient concurrence pour obtenir le contrat, David & Goliath® a établi, grâce à ses recherches, qu’un logo bilingue avec une feuille d’érable créerait la confusion avec une agence gouvernementale. L’équipe a alors testé plusieurs approches et présenté une alternative toute simple : « uOttawa ». Cette proposition s’est attiré 98 % des votes du comité. Par ailleurs, une étude de marché formelle indépendante, menée après le lancement du nouveau logo, a conduit aux mêmes résultats que ceux obtenus par l’équipe de Bachir Saouaf. Sans fournir tous les détails, Bachir Saouaf explique qu’il utilise de petits groupes tests permettant ainsi d’ajuster les concepts et de prendre des décisions éclairées basées sur des éléments concrets plutôt que sur une quelconque intuition. Par ailleurs, au fur et à mesure que l’équipe perfectionne sa méthode, elle renforce ses compétences dans l’étude des perceptions, motivations et intentions de divers publics cibles. Bien qu’il souhaite développer davantage cet aspect de son travail, Bachir Saouaf pense que son agence conservera une taille raisonnablement modeste. « On n’a pas besoin de devenir une grosse boîte. Les grandes choses s’accomplissent par l’excellence du travail », conclut-il.
david-goliath.com
A small Montreal advertising firm’s a neat and nimble research process for accurate creative. “Formal market research has its place. In fact, a lot of our process starts with market research,” says Bachir Saouaf, president of David & Goliath Marketing Communications, a 12-person shop in Montreal’s Outremount neighbourhood. From a fifth-floor loft-style space, he and his wife/ creative director Carole Leduc run a nimble creative services firm, complete with copywriters, web and print designers, programmers and a photographer. And while the 14-year-old agency is still fresh from accolades on print work that netted it two 2010 Summit International Awards, what concerns Saouaf most these days is research. How do you know if your message is right for your audience? What makes someone reach for your product over your competitor’s? What colour should your packaging be? Details such as these matter, but they are often left to be decided upon by a client’s intuition, a designer’s preference or the impressions of colleagues, he explains. Test Driven DesignTM is David & Goliath’s simple methodology that seeks to answer these questions quickly and objectively to make informed marketing decisions. When the University of Ottawa, for example, sought to rebrand itself as Canada’s university with an eye to increasing its francophone enrollment, it had several questions surrounding its logo design, things like: Do we include a maple leaf? How do we make it bilingual without repeating the name in both languages? As one of six agencies competing for the account, David & Goliath’s research found that a bilingual logo with a maple leaf would be confused with a government agency. They tested several approaches and finally presented a simple alternative: “uOttawa.” That won 98% of the committee votes. And formal market testing undertaken once the project was launched yielded the same results Saouaf’s team had come up with. Without giving away the details of his process, Saouaf says he uses small research segments combined with consistent fine tuning to help clients make their decisions based on facts rather than their own intuition. 23 • SUMMER 2011
INCOMING... Victoria Acquisition makes Bastion Square building Allied’s western-most address Compiled with sources from: bastionsquare.ca.
BASTION SQUARE, VICTORIA / – May saw the closing of Allied Properties REIT’s most western acquisition, 8-10 Bastion Square in this historic district of B.C.’s capital. The MacDonald Block, near Wharf Street, is a Class I office property with more than 32,000 square feet of leasable space, and occupied by tenants similar in character to those in other Allied buildings across Canada. Besides tourism, technology and food products, government administration and services contribute significantly to the city’s economy. Not surprisingly then, one of the tenants at 8-10 Bastion Square is the Auditor General of British Columbia. Built in 1863, only twenty years after the Hudson’s Bay Company founded a trading post on the site that eventually saw two fortified log towers, or bastions, 8-10 Bastion Square likely sprung up as a result of the Fraser River Gold Rush. In 1858, Victoria became a hub for supplies as some 25,000 miners flooded into the area. Many San Francisco businesses started branches here, and while the northeastern bastion still stood at the time, the street that ran beside it became Bastion Street, which led to the heart of town: Bastion Square.
The square was also the location of the police barracks and jail (near where the Maritime Museum now stands). During the 1860s, some 11 hangings took place in a fenced yard behind the jail where some of the bodies were also buried. In the late 1890s, this area became a legal and professional centre but the depression, First World War and Prohibition conspired to weaken the square’s economic base. Things were further aggravated by Vancouver’s growing prominence as the west coast’s principal port. From the late 1920s to the 60s, Bastion Square gradually took on a shabby appearance. But a forward-thinking city planner spearheaded its revitalization, closing streets to traffic and redeveloping derelict buildings under strict guidelines that sought adaptive reuse. Today, Bastion Square is most famous for its Thursday, Friday and Saturday open-air marketplace where tourists and residents meet area artisans offering a colourful array of locally designed and produced arts and crafts.
Bastion Square was the site of the local police barracks and jail in the 1860s, but today it is best known for its open-air market.
FSC LOGO HERE
www.alliedpropertiesreit.com alliedpropertiesreit.com • SUMMER 2011
Send your company info, events and story ideas to news@alliedpropertiesreit.com Editor: Yvan Marston • Design: Gravity Design Inc.