Author Archives: jeffbutler
Eating Well Corporate – Writer/Director
This video had a dual purpose of introducing the new line of Eating Well frozen entrees to US supermarket buyers as well as demonstrating the innovative nature of the company, Bellisio Foods, to potential investors. It combines set up interviews with company representatives as well as ‘man-on-the-street’ reactions to the new product and focus group […]
Branding lessons from Santa Claus
I had the most extraordinary experience the other day. I accompanied Santa Claus on a visit through Toronto’s hip West Queen West neighbourhood, singing and playing Christmas songs on the guitar behind him as he handed out candy canes and had his photo taken with shoppers and passersby. Witnessing the instant effect Santa has on people […]
Branding Lessons from Santa
I had the most extraordinary experience the other day. I accompanied Santa Claus on a visit through Toronto’s hip West Queen West neighbourhood, singing and playing Christmas songs on the guitar behind him as he handed out candy canes and had his photo taken with shoppers and passersby. Witnessing the instant effect Santa has on people […]
Canadian wins in CBRE Urban Photography Awards
The real estate/consulting firm CBRE has an annual urban photography contest every year with entries and awards from all over the world. Canadian Christopher Martin won for the Americas division. I’ve posted a couple more pics and here is the link to the full Winners Gallery on the CBRE site as well as Christopher Martin’s site
A beautiful ad for breast cancer awareness
Riverside Interactive
Christies Getting Game Ready – Story Editor
I was hired by B Street Communications as Story Editor on this web extension of their very successful Get Game Ready promotion for Christie’s products. The television commercials featured NHL stars Dustin Brown, Alex Burrows and Domenic Moore and this footage was culled and assembled from the shots used in the commercials as well as […]
Power Workers Union
These commercials were done for the Power Workers’ Union of Ontario to get the personal stories of the people of Kenora who would be most affected by the closing of the local mill due to power costs. I interviewed families in Kenora, the Mayor and workers at the mill to get very human, very touching […]
The softening of a cheese brand
Georgian Bay Land Trust Radio – Writer/Director
Simple is almost always best. But oftentimes not easy to achieve. This is one of those campaigns where nearly everyone who has heard it has liked it and remembered it immediately. It actually came to me at the last minute because the other concepts I was working on were getting complicated. I was thinking of […]
Another important element of the Tim Horton’s/Enbridge debate
Amidst all the hubbub and furor over Tim Hortons being threatened with a boycott if they didn’t stop airing an Enbridge ad in their stores and then being boycotted because they stopped airing the Enbridge ad in their stores there seems to be an important bit not reported. While it is reported simply as being […]
Yes, BellMedia, I think scolding people will work
Last week the new President of BellMedia, Mary Ann Turcke, decided to launch her public awareness in spectacular fashion in her first speech – to the Canadian Telecom Summit – by suggesting that what would stop Canadians from using false addresses etc. to access and enjoy the much bigger selection of content on Netflix USA […]
Apple, Spotify (and Pandora and Rdio) and CDs
I spent 5 years (from 2007 – 2012) trying to cobble together financing to launch a national TV channel in Canada of independent/emerging music and met a lot of smart people with a lot of smart, well informed thoughts about the future of music distribution and sales. This was in a world caught between CDs […]
Thinking outside the box…and inside the kettle
‘Let’s think outside the box here’ is one of the trite cliches trotted out every now and then to encourage the incubation of fresh ideas, products, services and ways of approaching challenges. A laudable sentiment, for sure, but unfortunately a lot of the ‘out of the box’ thinking that is supposed to arise from these ‘brainstorming […]
Without a clock, how will kids know where to put their hands when they drive?
Years ago (and the subject will give you some indication of just how many years ago), I read a very well thought out theory hypothesizing that digital clocks with their disconnected numbers replacing of analogue clocks with their little hands and big hands would give people growing up with them a new and different concept […]
The problem with internet advertising: 2
Target’s fail and the Canadian psyche
Traversing media. Will people go from one screen to another?
Like many Canadians – 19 million of us to be exact – I watched some or all of the World Junior Hockey Championships on television. As with all televised sporting events, the World Juniors had its sponsors and those sponsors put together advertising to capitalize on the occasion and the audience. What intrigued me about the […]
Electrical Contractors Association of Ontario – Director
This is my latest video featuring real people talking about real life. This was done for the Electrical Contractors Association of Ontario (ECAO) for a program they have to train electricians in the special requirements for installing and inspecting fire alarms (which are, like so many other things, surprisingly intricate these days!) With Christian Byrne […]
Cover Me: Writer/Producer
The difference between Brand and Branding
The past couple of weeks I’ve been helping out a couple of friends and relatives launching businesses and in chatting with them, the subject of ‘branding’ came up. Everyone told them they needed ‘branding’ ‘What’s your branding?’ ‘Have you done your branding?’ ‘Who’s doing your branding?’ ‘You have to have good branding.’ Of all the […]
Michelina’s Advertising Results: Writer/Director
I created and executed all of the advertising for Michelina’s frozen entrees in Canada, propelling it from a never-heard-of-it value proposition to the number one brand in the country within two years. In addition to writing the Canadian advertising, I wrote and directed this corporate video that tells the story of the success of […]
The new mantra: IWWIWWIWI
Reflections on how small the world is becoming.
Mobile software start-up I co-founded raises $2M in Series A financing
For the past four years I have been part of retailcommon.com, a software company that has gone through a variety of evolutions – or ‘pivots‘ as they’re called in the software start-up business. I was integral to developing the software concept, designing the User Interface and analyzing and helping to guide the unique selling position. […]
Isn’t it not ironic
The two basic questions to ask before developing an ad
The Cellphone, the Landline and the Skype
Foster’s Garden Party: Writer
When Foster’s Lager was launched in Canada, the decision was made to write Canadian versions of the very popular and effective British campaign with Aussie Paul Hogan poking fun at the snooty British ‘toffs’. I was asked to be the writer on the Canadian campaign in conjunction with Art Director Derek Chapman and we […]
The problem with internet advertising
I heard a very smart person on the CBC today chatting about big data and what advertisers know about us, and how they use it. I am not about to jump into the fray about the ethics or morality of how social networks and websites and advertisers gather and use information about current and potential […]
A very cool advertising format
I saw a very cool advertising format on television yesterday, on yesTV of all channels. I hadn’t heard of yestv and after a little Googling I was surprised to find out that it is the former Crossroads Television – let’s just call it the Christian Channel – that is owned by Crossroads Christian Communications, and […]
Right to Play: Story Editor/Writer
Johann Koss is the founder of Right To Play, a charity which uses sport to bring the semblance of normal life to refuge camps, war-torn and other third world communities. As writer of the CTV documentary ‘A Team for Peace’ I worked with Johann and he asked me to help him develop this presentation video. […]
Women’s College Hospital: Director
One of a series of three commercials done for the Women’s College Hospital using the words of the real doctors to position it as a leader in new medical philosophies and methodology. I also directed the corporate presentation, a 5-minute video that included interviews and scripted portions by the President of the hospital […]
Medic Alert: Writer/Director
Three commercials for MedicAlert bracelets. Shot with a Canon D500 in studio. These are unscripted interviews with real people, shot and cut together to tell the story of the value of a MedicAlert bracelet. The first response phone woman was shot against green screen with a photograph keyed in later. The ambulance scene is shot […]
Michelinas: Writer/Director
Georgian Bay Land Trust: Writer/Web Consultant
The Georgian Bay Land Trust is one of about 5 organizations that are known within the ‘Georgian Bay community’ for caring about the state of the environment along the eastern shore – Honey Harbour to Britt. The problem is that no one is exactly sure what each of the organizations does. Are the involved in […]
A Team For Peace: Documentary: Writer
I was writer of this hour long documentary that ran on CTV and on television outlets in Netherlands, Norway and Israel. I came in during the first edit and participated in structuring the story with the Director and Editor, writing the narration and helping direct the performance by RH Thomson. ( He doesn’t need […]
Blue Jays: Writer
Take This House and Sell It: TV Show: Writer
This TV show took a different scenario each episode in which a house that had been sitting on the market for longer than the sellers had wished was redone for selling and a team of designers, carpenters, painters, reupholsterers or landscapers and other home specialists as appropriate came in to do the work. I […]
Cold Springs: Writer/Director
I have done dozens of Corporate projects. This video extols the virtues of Cold Springs Farm in Thamesford, Ontario, which was a leader in the raising of turkeys, so much so that one of their main sources of profit was selling breeding eggs to countries as far afield as Mexico and…yes…Turkey. I wrote the […]
