In a team-by-team analysis of how Ontario University Athletics football is shaping up this year, the Hamilton Spectator said the York Lions (formerly the Yeomen) are expected to be the league’s most improved squad. “A steady climb up the standings, a good defence and special teams unit and an improving offence appear to be the keys,” said the paper on Aug. 29. It noted that J.P. Marchello, “a good athlete with a fine arm,” will lead the Lions, adding: “Most of York’s big boys are back on defence, which spells trouble for the rest of the league. The key is whether the offence will stay on the field long enough to keep the defence fresh.” The Spectator concluded: “If the Lions can move the ball effectively, the club could knock off a couple of the league’s big boys.”
Is social marketing just ‘sexy packaging’?
York marketing expert Alan Middleton was underwhelmed by the foray of advertising agency JWT Canada into what’s known as “social marketing” – selling ideas such as environmental awareness or healthier lifestyles. In an Aug. 29 Globe and Mail story, Middleton, a professor in York’s Schulich School of Business, described the move as part of a trend at major global ad agencies to set up specialist units to “tap into extra dollars.” The advertising agency is really after business from corporations and governments because non-profit groups – such as the United Way – can often get advertising done for free by certain agencies, Middleton said. He argued that JWT Canada’s social marketing unit is a “bit of contemporary sexy packaging” to re-position the firm in a competitive market. There is really no need for a special unit because “the skills to do social marketing in the broad sense are exactly the same communication skills required to sell an idea, a charity or a promotion or a brand.”