Yeah so do we. So much so, we built an entire agency designed to help brands start to un-suck their content in a hurry. Enter: ruckus!

We built ruckus to work with brands to find and tell their story through rich, compelling and relevant social content – tracking the value of that content with deep social analytics. From the outset we challenged ourselves to push farther, to create a unique agency model and offering, and distinguish ourselves across the board from everyone else. To unsettle the status quo. To make a ruckus.

So we did.

We looked at what passed for compelling social content these days. We found lots of examples of people leaning into “real time” marketing and failing . We saw a lot of misguided brands relying on their tag lines or repurposing their ad creative in a tweet, again – without much luck.

Time and time again we found social tactics pulled from the same playbook. Relying on gimmicks and trends to interrupt people’s experience and force their way into the conversation.

So we threw out the playbook and made our own.

Our goal was straightforward: Evolve the way we tell stories for a digital age. The equation: Be visual, be timely and – overall – be captivating.

We’ve created a foundation around the essential elements for being successful in social conversations.

1. Borrowing from our APEX PR heritage, we get people talking – having a conversation around your brand. We create a lasting and tangible story fans can immerse themselves in and craft along with you.
2. Social is all about big, beautiful visuals to tell your story in a memorable and engaging way. So we’ve built an agency to create gorgeous visuals to accompany the narrative.
3. We’re digital natives who quickly identify the right real-time opportunities to crank up the volume on your story and get people talking.

All of this comes together to form the evolution of story telling and ensure your story is heard clearly. A story that your fans will feel, live and experience with you.

We are ruckus and we’re here to un-suck your content.

Posted by
Gary Edgar
on 03/10/2014

Dispatches from Austin – Day 2 & 3

Our SXSW stretched through the weekend as Day 2 and 3 covered off a number of fascinating topics ranging from loyalty programs to the new sharing economy and how audiences are shaping events through social media.

Saturday’s first panel was Beyond Likes (featuring Jordan Roth CEO of Culturalist), talking about the implications social media audiences have on cultural and current events. How are Twitter audiences shaping live television? As more and more people tune it together for shared experiences watching shows like Scandal and The Oscars, are they actually responsible for bringing back the idea of appointment television?

Then came the rain – but this didn’t dissuade us from seeing some amazing sessions from astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson and entrepreneur Mark Cuban. Both drew massive crowds and delivered amazing, informative talks.

Sunday brought better weather and even more great sessions. First up was Loyalty is Dead – a conversation about the current state of loyalty marketing programs (buy 10 coffees, get the 11th free) and posed the question are these programs truly building loyalty? The general consensus being that true loyalty is based around an emotional connections and consumers motivations aren’t about chasing that free coffee. They’re loyalty is shaped through how they’re treated and the desire by the brand to engage with them.

After a weighty presentation by Stephen Wolfram (Wolfram Alpha) around computation, we checked out a panel on The Economy of Sharing – looking at a new emerging economy where platforms like Etsy, HomeAway and ThredUP are facilitating platforms to help connect people and empower them to become sellers.

We capped the day with some great BBQ and Monday’s weather is clear and warm. Only two days left in Austin but still lots of great stuff to come. Stay tuned and follow the conference @madearuckus.

Posted by
Gary Edgar
on 10/03/2014

Social content agency ruckus digital was recently chosen as a partner for Questrade. The financial services firm was founded in 1999 with a clear mission: help Canadians achieve financial independence by providing them with the best investment products, trading technology and client services.

Since its inception, Questrade has been known for doing things differently from others in the space.

“We’re excited to be working with ruckus digital to help us through our most recent phase of growth,” says Lynn Suderman, director of communications at Questrade. “For us it was the match with Questrade’s personality – one that stands out – that made ruckus digital a natural choice.”

As part of the relationship, ruckus built a comprehensive public relations program for Questrade including social and digital content as well as earned media, for the launch of Portfolio IQ™ an ultra low-cost wealth management service run by Questrade Wealth Management.

“At ruckus, we believe everyone has a story to tell – including your brand. Stories are what shape and define us,” says Gary Edgar, director of digital at ruckus digital. “We built ruckus to work with brands, like Questrade, to find and tell their story through rich, compelling and relevant social content – tracking the value of that content with deep social analytics.”

The Portfolio IQ story is that while typically someone would need $250 to 500 thousand of investable assets just to be taken seriously, Questrade democratized investing by only needing a dollar to open an account and $2000 to get a customized portfolio.

The campaign includes sports broadcaster Cabbie Richards who ambushes an individual acting as a financial advisor (AKA as F.A.) to try to get respect for his own money in three videos focusing on

• Accessibility – you don’t have to be wealthy to invest
• Ultra-low cost – get customized portfolios without being gouged on fees
• Convenience and attention – Portfolio IQ manages your money so you don’t have to

Other versions of the videos will appear in commercial spots including one during the 2014 Grey Cup. 

Questrade, Inc. has been ranked by Investor Economics as the fastest-growing online brokerage for the past two years. Questrade Financial Group Inc. is also the proud recipient of a Best Managed Company award – three years in a row – and recently received first place ranking with Dalbar for direct and full-service brokerages (combined). President and CEO Edward Kholodenko was also recently recognized as Entrepreneur of the Year (Ontario) in the services category. Questrade Wealth Management Inc. provides managed accounts through Portfolio IQ. Questrade, Inc. and Questrade Wealth Management Inc. are wholly owned subsidiaries of Questrade Financial Group Inc.

For more information:

Diane Bégin, account director

ruckus digital

416.934.2116

diane@wemadearuckus.com

Posted by
Diane Bégin
on 28/11/2014

As with the whole conference Monday’s sessions really mixed insights and entertainment on topics such as content generation, digital place-based ads and the convergence of science and art.

Our first session featured Birchbox’ Molly Chen and Outbrain’s Jeff Pyatt talking about not only the importance of content but tips and tricks to draw readers in.

Chen runs Birchbox’ content development, a company that values content so much their first hire was an editor (they’ve since added 18 people to their editorial team). Creating content for their consumers – who she also calls readers – isn’t just about profiling the brand, but also delivering informative and timely posts their audience loves. She broke down the “secret sauce” Birchbox uses including a checklist that every post has to meet before going live – an always-needed call to action.

Outbrain’s Pyatt then talked about how brands are using their platform to take quality content and amplify it to even more readers. Outbrain’s premise is simple – deliver relevant content to readers who are already consuming content. He also touched on ways to not only distribute content but also convert readers with a strong call to action.

Next up was a panel looking at digital place-based marketing and how brands are taking their out-of-home marketing game to a whole new level. We looked at companies like Heineken’s brilliant Dropped campaign and Coke’s curated social content as key examples of how digital display ads can create true stop-and-stare moments for people and include them in the experience.

The second half of the day was a panel discussion on Millennials featuring Mashable’s Pete Cashmore, Cosmo editor Joanne Coles and MSL CEO Olivier Fleurot.  While an almost exhausted discussion at this point, it was nonetheless interesting to see companies like Mashable and MSL struggle with similar generational complexities.

Lastly we caught Mythbuster’s Adam Savage talk on the convergence on Art and Science and people’s misconceptions that the two are in any way related. As a (self-professed) creative person, it was fascinating (and a little gratifying) to look at the creative process as a scientific one.

One day left but still lots of great sessions to come including gamification, disrupting television and talks with former Twitter founder Biz Stone and social media icon, George Takei. Oh Myyyy.

Posted by
Gary Edgar
on 11/03/2014