Canadian Launch — June 23rd, 2008
Isabel Bader Theatre, Toronto
4:00 p.m.
Registration and Refreshments
4:20 p.m.
Opening Remarks
Tracey Jennings, Partner, Canadian Entertainment and Media Practice Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
4:30 p.m.
Key Industry Trends
Highlights of the key industry trends from PricewaterhouseCoopers' Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2008-2012.
John Simcoe, Partner, Entertainment and Media Practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Michael Paterson, Senior Manager, Entertainment and Media Practice, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
5:00 p.m.
Advertising Landscape
Engaging the audience in the multimedia future.
Fred Forster, President and Chief Pioneer, PHD Canada
5:20 p.m.
Break
5:30 p.m.
The Changing Entertainment Landscape — How does the industry adapt?
The panel, moderated by Jerry Brown, Director, Advisory Services, PricewaterhouseCoopers, will address how advertisers, agencies and media companies are responding to changing consumer behaviours and distribution channels.
Confirmed panelists include:
Michael Donovan, Chairman and CEO, DHX Media Ltd.
Doug Knight, President, St. Joseph Media Inc.
Bob Reaume, Vice President, Policy and Research, Association of Canadian Advertisers
Karen Thorne-Stone, President and CEO, Ontario Media Development Corporation
6:30 p.m.
Cocktail Reception
7:30 p.m.
Conclusion
Speaker Profiles
Michael Donovan, DHX Media Ltd.
Mr. Donovan is Chairman and CEO of DHX Media Ltd., a leading international producer and distributor of television programming and interactive content with an emphasis on children, family and youth markets. He co-founded Halifax Film in 2004, now a subsidiary of DHX Media, a corporate holding company he listed on the TSX and AIM exchanges in 2006. As well, he co-founded the Canadian production company Salter Street Films in 1983, which he listed on the TSX in 1998 and which was acquired by Alliance Atlantis Communications in 2001.
Mr. Donovan has more than 20 years of experience creating, financing, producing and marketing Canadian film and television programming. His work in the Canadian television and film industry has been recognized with numerous Gemini Awards, three International Emmy nominations, a Primetime Emmy nomination and an Academy Award for the feature documentary Bowling for Columbine.
Fred Forster, PHD Canada
Mr. Forster has worked in the media services business for more than 25 years in increasingly senior roles and became President of PHD Canada in 2002. PHD is among the country’s leading media management companies overseeing media strategy and investment for many of the Canada’s foremost advertisers including Unilever, Honda/Acura, Loblaw Companies, Hershey, Sony PlayStation, Home Hardware, Cirque du Soleil and Red Bull among others.
PHD is a recognized industry leader in media innovation and creativity. Over the past three years, PHD has garnered more than 30 Media Innovation Awards and recently captured Best of Show at the 2008 PrixMedia awards in Montreal for their work with the Milk Marketing Board.
Doug Knight, St. Joseph Media Inc.
Mr. Knight is the President of St. Joseph Media Inc. His career in publishing has spanned more than 30 years, including 20 years at The Financial Post, where as CEO he helped lead the leveraged buyout of the Toronto Sun Publishing Company in 1996. His team took the renamed Sun Media Corporation private and grew the company through merger and acquisition from 40 newspapers to 180 newspapers in just a year. In 1997, Sun Media re-emerged as a public company and was sold to Québecor in 1999 for close to $1 billion. In March 2000 Mr. Knight left Sun Media to work closely with private equity partners in New York, where in 2003 he co-founded the first Spanish language newspaper chain in the United States. He joined St. Joseph Media Inc. in 2005.
Bob Reaume, Association of Canadian Advertisers
Mr. Reaume is the vice president of policy and research at the Association of Canadian Advertisers. He oversees the research required to support the ACA's many projects, especially those related to media. His expertise is a valuable asset to the association in terms of presenting the advertiser's perspective on media issues before government and industry bodies.
Mr. Reaume's career in advertising began in media at Ronalds-Reynolds Advertising in Toronto. He subsequently assumed responsibility for media and research undertakings at Bristol-Myers Company and the Global Television Network. In addition to this corporate work and establishing his consultancy, Reaume & Associates, he also garnered extensive experience with industry associations. From 1988 to 1994, he was the ACA's vice president of marketing. He has also served as President of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Canada and the Canadian Outdoor Measurement Bureau.
Karen Thorne-Stone, Ontario Media Development Corporation
Ms. Thorne-Stone is the President and CEO of the Ontario Media Development Corporation. In this capacity, she is responsible for promoting growth and investment in the province’s entertainment and creative industries including film, television, interactive digital media, music, book and magazine publishing.
Previously Ms. Thorne-Stone was with the city of Toronto for more than 18 years and served in a variety of roles, including film commissioner and executive director of economic development. As film commissioner, Thorne-Stone supported successful negotiations for a new state-of-the-art film studio complex on Toronto’s waterfront, developed an innovative economic development strategy for the screen-based sector and worked with the OMDC on the development of new brand positioning and marketing materials to promote film and television production.
