Canada Latest Economic Updates January GDP: +0.1% from December March Unemployment Rate: 7.2% (vs. 7.6% Mar’11) February Inflation Rate: +2.6% (from +2.5% in January) January Retail Sales: +0.5% (0% change in December) Canadian Auto Sales Auto sales in the first 3 months increased 8.4% over a year ago. North American nameplates recorded a moderate 2.4% increase while import nameplates surged by 13.7%.

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Week of April 9, 2012

Corporate Apple/Dividends Apple has announced that it will dive into its warchest of $97.6 billion in cash to return about $45 billion to shareholders over the next three years in the form of dividends and $10 billion in stock buybacks. The dividend of $2.65 per share starts in July. Late co-founder Steve Jobs had resisted dividends during his tenure. Kraft/Mondelez International Kraft has named its new global snacks company Mondelez International: monde is derived from the Latin word for “world” and “delez” as an expression of “delicious.” The North American grocery business will continue to carry the name Kraft Foods Group. Best Buy/CEO Resigned Best Buy Co-CEO Brian Dunn has resigned from the consumer electronics retailer during an investigation into allegations of personal misconduct, the company has been struggling to rebound amid growing competition and changing shopping habits.

Year GM/Ford/Chrysler/Nameplates Import Nameplates Total

Jan-Mar 2012 160,422 201,537 361,959

Jan-Mar 2011 156,720 177,280 334,000

- +2.4% +13.7% +8.4%

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Global Bertelsmann Rumors are circulating that family owned German media conglomerate Bertelsmann is contemplating an initial public offering or other major stake sale as part of a broader strategic repositioning. Earthquakes Largest earthquakes in the world since 1900, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, as reported by USA Today:

Earthquake Year Rating

Chile 1960 9.5

Prince William Sound/Alaska 1964 9.2

Sumatra-Andaman, Indonesia 2004 9.1

Kamchatka, Russia 1952 9.0

Northeast Honshu, Japan 2011 9.0

Asia/Credit Cards The chart below delineates the number of credit cards per 100 people in 2010, in Asian countries, according to Lafferty Group’s World Cards Intelligence, as reported by USA Today:

Country Cards

Japan 293.0

South Korea 276.2

Hong Kong 222.3

Singapore 169.8

Taiwan 149.6

Australia 81.4

New Zealand 76.2

Malaysia 41.6

Thailand 26.5

China 20.7

Philippines 12.6

Indonesia 7.6

India 2.1

Pakistan 1.8

Vietnam 0.7

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B2B McCain/Sobey Two of the biggest Atlantic Canada business families have joined forces to form a private equity company that will focus on investing in small and medium sized companies across the country, with a focus on old economy businesses such as manufacturing and distribution companies, and will avoid technology and science-based enterprises. Loblaw/Zellers In anticipation of the pending arrival of U.S. retailer Target, Loblaw has agreed to buy the majority of Zellers’ prescription files for a reported $35 million. Target plans to operate pharmacies in most of its 135 stores with the first store being scheduled to open in March 2013. Amazon/Kiva Systems Amazon.com has acquired Kiva Systems, a maker of robots that service warehouses, for $775 million in cash.

Mobile Bar Codes Leading U.S. industries with ads featuring 2D barcodes in 2011, as presented by eMarketer:

Industry % of total

Retail 21.9%

Technology 13.6%

Financial Services 6.7%

Cosmetics & Personal Care 6.3%

Food & Beverage 5.0%

Apparel 4.0%

Automotive 3.8%

Publishing & Communications 3.4%

Telecom 3.4%

Healthcare Services 3.0%

Square/Pay With Mobile Card Case payer application Square has renamed itself Pay with Square, which is utilized by 75,000 merchants. Last week rival payment business service PayPal unveiled a mobile payment device to compete with Square.

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Retail Samsung Stores The Korean electronics giant Samsung is reported to be in the market to open a number of own branded retail outlets in Canada later in the year. The plan follows the footsteps of rivals Sony and Apple, both with retail operations that create a more direct relationship with consumers. Cross-border Shopping/Exemption Limits In the latest Federal budget, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced that the exemption limits for travellers returning to Canada will increase. Starting June 1, returning travelers who have been outside of Canada for more than 24 hours but less than 48 hours will be able to bring back $200 worth of tax-exempt goods, an increase from the previous $50. For those out of the country for more than 48 hours, the exemption will be increased from $400 to $800. Best Buy In the U.S., consumer electronics retailer Best Buy has announced that it would close 50 big box stores this year and make the following modifications to its strategy: •  Create hundreds of small stores to focus on mobile •  Remodel stores to feature a broader array of tablets and smart phones as

well as emphasize in store services such as tech support •  Expand loyalty program to offer frequent customers free expedited

shipping and a 60 day price match guarantee

Fast Food Starbucks/Energy Drink/Evolution Fresh Starbucks has unveiled plans to roll out a new line of “natural” energy drinks, Starbucks Refreshers, which will be sold at groceries, convenience stores and Starbucks locations. The secret formula will contain fruity, carbonation that’s high in antioxidants made from unroasted, green coffee extract for the energy boost – 40 to 55 milligrams of caffeine – without the coffee taste. Flavours include Raspberry, Pomegranate, Strawberry. Additionally Starbucks, the world’s biggest coffee chain, has opened up its first retail store in Bellevue, Washington – dubbed Evolution Fresh – that will be centered on the juice bottle via squeezed juices. Note: the health and wellness market generates $50 billion globally in sales.

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Research ABC/Nielsen/Tablets In the U.S., Nielsen and ABC have pacted to create a panel – 200 opt-in people downloading a special meter – which will measure reach, duration, frequency and page views of their iPad apps and web usage. The opt-in Nielsen iPad panel will aggregate and measure video consumption, app usage and other activity over the course of a year. CBS/Packaged Goods Ratings CBS in the U.S. has unveiled plans to utilize packaged goods specific ratings for the upcoming upfronts which the network hopes will encourage marketers in 20 categories to buy based on how heavily audiences consume products rather than just traditional viewership measures. Measurement will be based upon research conducted with Catalina Marketing that integrates actual TV viewing from digital set top devices with actual consumer product purchasing from grocery store scanner data. Ipsos/Innerscope/emoTV Media researcher Ipsos has teamed up with neuromarketing researcher Innerscope for emoTV, a new system measuring both the conscious and unconscious responses of the audiences of TV shows. The output is a combination of unconscious biometric measurement, national survey data and “biometrically informed” focus groups. Nielsen/Cross Platform Campaign Ratings In the U.S., Nielsen has introduced a new system, dubbed Cross Platform Campaign Ratings, which will combine Nielsen’s existing TV ratings, which measure the reach and frequency of ads on TV, with Nielsen’s new online campaign ratings, which apply the same measurements to the web.

Technology Google/Tablet Rumors are circulating that Google plans to ratchet up its competition with Apple’s iPad by marketing an Android tablet carrying its brand that will be produced by a number of manufacturers.

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Online Facebook/Instagram Facebook has purchased the 2-year-old photo-sharing application developer for $1 billion. This is Facebook’s largest ever acquisition. For more information and analysis of this major corporate takeover, follow this link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/tech-news/facebook-to-buy-instagram-for-1-billion/article2396082/

Gaming Zynga/OMGPOP Online social gamer Zynga has acquired OMGPOP, the company founded in 2006 that produces Draw Something, a game that more than 35 million people downloaded since it was released seven weeks ago. The game allows players to draw images on their mobile phones based on selected words and their friends guess what they are. Acquisition cost is estimated in the $200 million - $250 million range.

Broadcast Fox/Touch

News Corp. in the U.S. has decided to stage a worldwide premiere of its new drama series, Touch, starring Kiefer Sutherland. Typically TV shows have their debuts in the U.S. first and arrive in other countries later.

Movies Ticket Sales The worldwide movie ticket sales rose 3% for 2011 to $32.6 billion. In the U.S. and Canada, receipts fell 4% to $10.2 billion. Movie studios released 45 movies in 3-D last year, 19 more than in 2010.

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Sports Formula One/Winners The countries whose drivers have won the most in Formula One, based on the number of races per win, according to The Wall Street Journal:

Country Races Wins Races/Wins

Argentina 362 38 9.53

Germany 1,720 124 13.87

Canada 270 17 15.88

Austria 675 41 16.46

Australia 677 41 16.51

Spain 447 27 16.56

Finland 731 44 16.61

U.K. 3,760 220 17.09

Brazil 1,783 101 17.65

Colombia 125 7 17.86

NFL/New Orleans Saints/Bounty Program The NFL has suspended New Orleans Coach Sean Payton for a year without pay ($7.5 million) for his role in a bounty program (2009-2011) that promised money to players if they injured opponents and knocked them out of games. Former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams – who hatched the pay for performance scheme – was also suspended (indefinitely) as was Saints general manager Mickey Loomis for the first eight regular season games next season and assistant head coach Joe Vitt (6 game suspension). Also, the franchise was fined $500,000. Los Angeles Dodgers Major League Baseball franchise Los Angeles Dodgers has been sold for $2.15 billion, the largest price paid for a sports franchise, nearly three times the MLB record of $845 million for the Chicago Cubs in 2008, to an ownership group led by NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson, Peter Guber (CEO/Chairman Mandalay Entertainment) and former Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals president Stan Kasten.

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Place Eye Contacts/Advertising Advertisingonmyeyes.com has come up with a unique eye catching advertising proposition: placing marketer’s logos on removable contact lenses that are worn on one’s eyes. Location opportunities: pupil, iris, sclera on one eye or both eyes.

Publishing Google/Adweek/New York Daily News/Paywall Google is partnering with Adweek and the New York Daily News, among others, to force readers to participate in online surveys before they can read articles. How it works: unless the reader answers survey questions, they can see a portion of the article but can’t get through the free paywall to see it entirely. Google will pay the publishers five cents for each survey response from money paid to it by advertisers who contracted Google to run the questions.

Music MOG/Beats Electronics Beats Electronics, the headset manufacturer founded by rapper Dr. Dre and now majority owned by HTC, has acquired online music service MOG. Which claims 500,000 subscribers paying $5 to $10 monthly.

Video Netflix DVD and streaming video service Netflix has announced that it has another originally produced series in its docket – a 13 episode commitment for horror-suspense drama Hemlock Grove, which will be a monster-themed murder mystery set in a Pennsylvania steel town, from filmmaker Eli Roth (Inglorious Basterds, Hostel, Cabin Fever). Other originals on the slate: Lilyhammer, House of Cards, Arrested Development and Orange is the New Black.

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Personalities Beyoncé/The Puppy Beyoncé, a Dachshund and Chihuahua canine mix, weighed 1 ounce at birth and is vying for the title of World’s Smallest Dog. Larry/Mr. Quaker Oats

The rosy cheeked, white haired man smiling out at you from the Quaker Oatmeal box is getting a redo: a haircut, weight loss and a five year age reduction. The 135 year brand, Quaker Oats, is trying to reinvigorate the brand. First stop Larry, as he is referred to on the inside.

Muppets/Hollywood Walk of Fame Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy and Fozzie were on hand as the Muppets received their very own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Muppets’ star is the 2,466th one on the Walk of Fame and is located in front of the historic El Capitan Theatre.

Image source: ibtimes.co.uk

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Image source: movieline.com