The CBC and Toronto's e-Radio Inc. have successfully tested a technology that uses FM radio signals to turn on appliances like dishwashers and dryers. This is being done with the CBC/Radio-Canada whose coverage allows them to reach 99% of the Canadian population. The technology uses a small microchip receiver installed in home smart appliances that can receive FM signals.

This is a Canadian developed technology which enables consumers to take advantage of energy savings possible when these smart appliances are run during off hours when electricity rates are lower. Theoretically a smart appliance could be programmed to run automatically during these energy-saving times of day which could save money for consumers in the long run.

e-Radio states that they specialize in secure one way data delivery of data which would consist of text messages or commands that can be delivered to residential smart grid devices. e-Radio also has the ability to also deliver real-time information like news and weather using their technology. So in a few years time if you forget to turn on the dryer maybe it will be able to turn itself on or you can do it remotely making it one less thing to worry about.

Read more about this unique partnership on digitalhome.ca.

Industry Minister Tony Clement has given Globalive under the Wind Mobile brand the go ahead to start operations immediately. The holdup was based on control with the government stating that with the company’s voting shares controlled by Canadians and with some 80% of their Directors being Canadian they did not violate the foreign ownership regulations. The face of the Canadian wireless industry has officially changed with this decision as a new national mobile carrier can begin operating.

This decision reverses the ruling set by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission who had previously ruled that because foreigners held two-thirds of Globalive’s equity and would be the primary source of technical expertise as well as provided access to an established trademark they didn’t meet the test of Canadian ownership.

This decision by the Federal government restores the previous decision by Industry Canada. This conflict in the interpretation of the foreign ownership regulations has come to highlight how two different branches of government can come to two completely different conclusions.

Globalive will be testing their network in Calgary and Toronto where they will launch the network first with an emphasis on the major metropolitan areas in Canada where they can reach between 15 and 18 million Canadians.

This is a good day for Canadians that want new choices in mobile making it a more competitive environment which will lead to lower costs for the consumer over time. A press conference is scheduled by Globalive for 11:00am EST in Toronto where Globalive will discuss the ruling and what the future holds now that the roadblocks have finally been removed.

Arlene Dickinson the CEO of Venture Communications is one of the dragon's on CBC's Dragon's Den. She spoke at the Canadian InnovationExchange about her apporach to  has a background in marketing and took the time out of her busy schedule to impart some of the lessons she has learned in her time competing in the business world. So here is her top 10 with some commentary from my side of the street. Drum roll please:

1. Never fall in love with a deal - There is always another around the corner and you risk losing the ability to see the situation clearly which can backfire.

2. Never fall in love with an idea - If you are too much in love with the idea you can become blinded to the issues that if you address will make it an idea that sings or one that falls flat.  

3. Understand what it takes to bring it to market - She says you need enough information to make a decision but that doesn't take 100% of the information it may only take 70%. This is about doing the research and be realistic about your plans and goals.

4. Speak the simple truth - KISS in other words keep it simple stupid, fancy language doesn't work when you are pitching your ideas to vc's, a few angels or even your family and friends since they are not experts speak in a way they can connect to.

5. Don't let someone else tell your story - In marketing you never want the competition to tell your story, then you are letting them define you instead of you defining yourself. You want to control your narrative.

6. Do let someone else bring credibility to your story - Make sure you have a 3rd party to back up your claims, it gives your story more weight and believability than if is possible without.

7. Listen - Most people say they listen but you really, be an active listener and use what is said in your responses, it will make what you say have that much more impactful.

8. Confidence not arrogance - If you can’t sound like you believe in it then why will anyone else.

9. Create a compelling package - This is self explanatory but make it something they want to buy or if it is something that is not a physical product where the value is apparent and for me as an ad guy taps the emotion in all of us.

10. Reserve the right to get smarter – We can never know enough so be a lifelong student, because the only time you should stop is when you are dead.

So those were her rules and I can see them being useful in starting your own business and pitching the ideas, concepts and businesses.

Remco Solid State Lighting, Mark Matthews, President & CEO, has been highlighted as one of Canada’s Top 20 most innovative companies for its energy-efficient LED lighting technology. The Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) honours innovative Canadian firms that are breaking new ground in their fields. On December 2nd, Remco and 19 other firms will take part in a jam-packed day full of people, ideas and knowledge to help them seek to expand the boundaries of their business.

Remco was founded in 2003, and their LED lighting solution is scalable to all lighting applications. For example, street lighting where this technology would use half as much energy as traditional street lights to provide quality affordable illumination, long lifespan, unparalleled efficiency, and a environmentally responsible product that delivers a better lighting with significant energy and maintenance cost savings. There is no mercury or hazardous gases in Remco’s LED Street Light which lasts for 50,000 hours.

Remco has a competitive technology advantage to directly replace the required street lighting with energy savings. The initial target markets are municipalities. Remco’s technology is a breakthrough in high power energy-efficient LED lighting, something that could help in these times of greater environmental awareness and cost-cutting. A field test of the technology was successfully conducted at Camp Borden demonstrating the superiority of Remco’s technology compared to others.

Mark Matthews had this to say: “Our patented power efficient LED driver technology provides superior optimal LED lighting efficacies to directly replace street lighting with energy savings. Remco’s LED lighting technology will revolutionize the way streets and highways are illuminated”.  

The Canadian Innovation Exchange offers Mark Matthews and all the other firms a chance to obtain insight into current trends, potential investors, banks, law firms and government officials.

Remco has spent the past six years researching and developing their patented technology and solid state illumination. They represent the leading edge in the industry. They are currently looking for investors, partners and capital to secure their goal to save energy, provide a better quality environmentally friendly light, and make a contribution to the reduction of CO2 in the atmosphere.

I got the chance to talk to one of the headliners in the Creative Genius roundtable at CMA’s Marketing Week Rob Tarry a Partner and Associate Creative Director at Rethink Communications in Vancouver, British Columbia.

I asked beyond the work he brought what was his favourite piece he saw at the panel. It was a 600 meter projection installation on a series of grain silos by Sid Lee on the St Lawrence River called the image mill in Quebec City first done for their 400^th anniversary. The sheer technical marvel of it and the fact that it earned a home in the 2008 Guinness book of world records made it a showstopper to everyone who could see it.

The focus of the panel was on the need for creatives and media to work collaboratively. The work that Rethink showed off at the panel tended to be for rather small, local clients. Rob found that smaller clients “were more likely to say yes because they were only on the scale of Vancouver or maybe BC wide” as opposed to trying to convince a large firm to do this type of thing nationwide which would be incredibly expensive.

Rob said that when you as a viewer just get an idea, where they are coming from, the point they are trying to make and you get it so well that you are ready to anticipate what comes next and you are looking for it. When you can let yourself go and anticipate where you are being taken that is what a good idea is all about.

I asked where is great work being done he said that it used to be that when he got started in advertising 10 to 12 years ago everyone had euro envy because they were the ones doing innovative, edgy fun things but it is different today “everywhere is Europe, everything is without borders and if it is a good idea it can play anywhere.”

He says that it is to the point now where you can’t tell where an ad is made for now it is just good or bad. In the old days it could feel that the strategy for “a campaign came down from the mountain top” whereas today it is definitely more collaborative at the better shows where it is much more collaborative at the beginning with the client, creatives and account people working together.

Rob said that he wants twitter to become something more than retweeting other people’s hilarity and for more home grown hilarity. To Rob the Internet in general is where your judgement and opinion can be spread far and wide with the click of a button and if you make a misstep you can get crucified. It is the nature of the internet according to him that forces people to become more polarizing than they might be normally. The internet in general tends to inflate both positive and negative opinions artificially.

Those that do blog and tweet know that in order to get noticed they have to get more and more extreme and even if they don’t feel that way they do it to get noticed by the masses online. Instead of bringing people together it can be unnecessarily combative jut to get noticed and even then the notoriety is fleeting.

Looking back on Marketing Week I found that even though each day had a different focus day one on digital day 2 on media they tended to blur into each other. Rob says while the Internet is infinitely capable is the audience willing to do these things? That is not something that cannot be assumed because like he said in the round table people can be lazy.

That is why small simple ideas like the camera in a banner ad that followed your mouse (was one of his examples to check it out click here) as it moved on screen could be successful. Whereas more elaborate ideas like mafia wars that require more effort may require more time and effort than most are willing to spend.

There is a segment of the population that are joiners and the Internet is inspiring more people to be joiners. Rob said as we all know that early it was thought that people wanted to be in these neatly trimmed walled gardens to then the Wild West where people would “be awash in a sea of data and didn’t know who to trust.”

To today where he feels we are in a happy middle ground where the Internet has found its biggest success. Where things are still vaguely familiar but you can go back to facebook and it is pulling things in from all over. People online don’t want people telling them where to go they want to aggregate it themselves.

What does Rob like creatively is when you have given people something to get where you have left a trail of breadcrumbs and they start following them and they want to know where it leads and “you’re having some fun, you’re playing a game, telling a story, you have a premise, you have action and it comes to a conclusion and people are interested enough to find out where the story goes that to me is a lot of fun.”

The challenge today is that there are no limits; no parameters at least before with a 30 second TV spot you have to be brief today the shackles are off. His thought echoes through the minds of marketers and advertisers as there are more and more channels to deal with which is one reason why collaboration between media and creatives will continue to be important and more abundant.

A great idea can travel and that is what everyone in the room at the panel is in search of, something that can stand tall and be heard. Marketers need to anticipate trends in the digital space and look for ideas that can travel because no matter the platform be it traditional or new media it will be the idea that will get people to pay attention.

I just wanted to thank Rob from Rethink Communications for taking the time to talk with me at Marketing Week about creativity and the Internet.