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Marketers of the Year<br />
Gamechanger<br />
From third place to fi rst in two years, Ron Bertram has led<br />
Nintendo of Canada’s high-scoring comeback<br />
There were skeptics who considered Nintendo’s<br />
global directive, unveiled in late 2005, to go after<br />
families and adults over 45 unusual, even risky,<br />
and too far from the typical, well-tread video game<br />
target of 12- to 24-year-old males.<br />
But as the old adage goes, with risk comes<br />
reward. And in the case of Nintendo of Canada’s<br />
GM Ron Bertram, impressive rewards. “Ron has<br />
led Nintendo of Canada through a remarkable<br />
turnaround,” says John Azevedo, Nintendo of<br />
Canada’s senior marketing manager. “It required<br />
a very clear vision of the future, and involved<br />
considerable risk. He deserves much of the credit<br />
for the success we are enjoying now.”<br />
“Ron has a fi nely tuned sense of cutting<br />
through the noise to get to the relevant insights,”<br />
says Pierre-Paul Trépanier, who worked with<br />
Bertram for four years at Nintendo of Canada<br />
and is now consumer marketing director at<br />
Millennials Conference Canada is focused on digital entertainment trends and<br />
strategies and consumer marketing for Gen Y, born between 1982 and 2000.<br />
Participants will learn:<br />
• What makes this generation tick?<br />
• How do you deliver the right message?<br />
• How do you design a product or service<br />
that will enhance and empower their<br />
lifestyles as well as allow self-expression?<br />
• How do you monetize new viral<br />
economies like MySpace, Second Life &<br />
YouTube?<br />
• What new business models are emerging<br />
for consumer-generated media?<br />
Fairmont Royal York, Imperial Room<br />
8:00 AM to 6:30 PM<br />
www.millennialsconference.com/canada<br />
Nintendo’s California offi ce. “He gets internal and<br />
external teams aligned in understanding them,<br />
transforming them into strategy and executing<br />
with excellence.”<br />
The numbers prove it. “Two Christmases ago,<br />
everyone was writing Nintendo off as a bit player<br />
in the video game industry,” says Bertram from<br />
Nintendo’s Vancouver-based HQ. “We were in third<br />
place. Over the past two years, especially last year,<br />
we’ve turned that around. Now we’re the market<br />
leader in a business that has almost doubled in<br />
size in two years.” That equates to profi ts that have<br />
jumped to $500 million from under $250 million<br />
over fi scal 2007.<br />
Under Bertram’s leadership, Canada now boasts<br />
higher market share than the U.S., and one of the<br />
highest market shares in the world. The portable<br />
console Nintendo DS was the most popular video<br />
game system, console or portable, in the country<br />
Millennials<br />
born between 1982 and 2000,<br />
by the year 2010, speakers<br />
will outnumber both<br />
Baby Boomers<br />
and Gen-Xers<br />
and will be<br />
the most significant<br />
consumer sector<br />
for the<br />
media & entertainment<br />
industries.<br />
"the most relevant and timely conference of the year"<br />
Team size: 8<br />
Years at Nintendo: 17<br />
Professional highlight of the year: “The<br />
most unusual thing we did was get our<br />
products, like Brain Age 1 and 2, out of<br />
the video game section and into the<br />
pharmacy section at Wal-Mart [and<br />
other big-box stores]. The whole idea is,<br />
‘You train your body, train your brain.’”<br />
Marketing style in three words:<br />
“Focused. Aggressive. Risky.”<br />
Brad Schwartz<br />
SVP & GM<br />
Music & Youth Services<br />
CTV Inc.<br />
Paula Gignac<br />
President<br />
Interactive Advertising<br />
Bureau of Canada<br />
Alan Klepfisz<br />
CEO & Chairman<br />
Qtrax & Brilliant Technologies<br />
Dave Jaworski<br />
CEO, Passalong Networks<br />
Nina Guralnick<br />
President<br />
Live Earth<br />
David Neale<br />
VP, Enhanced Services<br />
Telus<br />
Paul Cormack<br />
Consumer Mktg Manager,<br />
Family + Playhouse Disney,<br />
Astral Television Networks<br />
Trevor Madigan<br />
Head of Entertainment<br />
& Communities, NA Nokia<br />
Linda Bracken<br />
Station Manager<br />
Triple J<br />
Australia<br />
Gary Schwartz<br />
CEO & President<br />
Impact Mobile<br />
Geoff Stevens<br />
Chief Operating Officer,<br />
Championship Gaming Series<br />
Laura Baehr<br />
VP Marketing<br />
Kids Television,<br />
Corus Entertainment<br />
The Life and Times of the Digital Generation