THE Varsity
Vol. CXXXII, No. 17
University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880
Special Investigative REPORT
Bernarda Gospic/THe VArsity
Club withdraws from BlackBerry-sponsored scholarship Student raises concerns over privacy and marketing strategies of promotional company Campus Perks Sunnie Huang and Akihiko Tse VARSITY STAFF
Advertised as a scholarship opportunity, a contest launched by a company aimed at enhancing student life has one U of T group questioning its practices, citing misleading information and privacy concerns. Seher Shafiq, representative of student organization Pakistan Development Fund (PDF), was approached by Campus Perks via email last October to participate in its BlackBerry Messengers Challenge. She and her team dropped out of the semester-long contest five weeks later. Campus Perks, founded two years ago, is described by president Dave Wilkin in The Sudbury Star as “one of the largest youth experiential social media marketing agencies in Canada.” The Research In Motion-sponsored contest awards students $4,000 that would go toward charities or causes of their choice. To
win, participants from 16 universities nationwide must complete six challenges. Shafiq, a fourth-year student majoring in international relations and ethics, society, and law, was unaware that the challenges required contestants to wear BlackBerry shirts, pose with BlackBerry Messengers (BBM) signs and create BlackBerry cheers. “People started asking, ‘Is this even allowed?’ and I thought, ‘This is advertising, how did we not see this before?’” she said. Campus Perks is a subsidiary of marketing firm Redwood Strategic, which connects corporate sponsorships with student networks. Virgin Mobile, Loblaw’s, Domino’s Pizza and Microsoft are among Redwood Strategic’s clients. “Redwood Strategic is [their] other name, hidden from students and only given to corporations,” Shafiq said. Sabah Khan, PDF member and
30 January, 2012
Shafiq’s teammate, echoed her concerns. “We had very little say on how we wanted to do things,” she said. “It was just BlackBerry, BlackBerry, BlackBerry. It was a little overpowering.” The organizer marked contestants on their ability to create student life and social media buzz. The Varsity obtained copies of the contest rules for challenges two and five. Some of the judging criteria are the number of effective uses of program-specific hashtags on Twitter, such as #BlackBerry or #BBMessenger; the number of effective uses of online tagging, such as @BlackBerry or @CampusPerks; the ability to creatively incorporate BlackBerry as a sponsor of the event; and the ability to motivate BlackBerry users to use their smartphones during the event. Groups could earn bonus marks for challenge two by creating a “cool jingle for BlackBerry,” to “get your whole crew to thank BlackBer-
ry for providing this opportunity.” Other criteria include creative methods to distribute promotional items and to promote events outside of social media. “So the whole competition is pretty much how well you can advertise BlackBerry,” said Shafiq. Another reason for PDF’s departure from the contest was the privacy concerns that arose during one of the challenges. In challenge five, teams were given a kit containing five BlackBerry phones with SIM cards (one Bold and four Curves) and other promotional items like t-shirts, headbands, and lanyards. Shafiq said she was told to keep the Bold and distribute the remaining four Curves to her supporters. According to her, the smartphones came in sleeves instead of boxes and “all the pieces were mixed up.” Continued ON P3
That’s the ticket: Kicking OFF ELECTION SEASON see p3 UTSU responds to budget allegations see p7 a novel nightmare: colson whitehead speaks see p12 andrei yudin’s chemical concoctions see p16 three’s company: the blues’ forward line see p19