Design Edge Canada Website of the Year - Canadian Business Press
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16 June 2010
Taxi wants you to evolve with Hotmail.ca
MONTREAL—Taxi’s Montreal office has created the online advertising for Microsoft’s new site, Hotmail.ca. The challenge with the project, says Jean-Francois Houle, Taxi creative director, web and design, was finding some insight to get visitors to use the new site.

Taxi's campaign for Hotmail.ca shows the evolution of a user
Taxi's campaign for Hotmail.ca shows the evolution of a user

“Many people didn’t know that Hotmail.ca didn’t exist before now. That was the main issue we had to overcome with the client,” says Houle. “We decided the new site is a blank slate for email, an opportunity to get your real name into your Hotmail address.”

The campaign, which focuses on evolving and changing, is targeted at 25- to 35-year-old young professionals starting a career who haven’t changed their email addresses since they started high school. Fonts used in the campaign are Myriad Pro and Helvetica Neue, which work with the web banners to reflect the change Hotmail.ca is trying to project. Contact: Taxi.ca, Hotmail.ca

— Val Maloney
1. Cave-admen
16 June 2010 at 6:26 PM
why is taxi always working on dead tech brands? ... no one uses the yellow pages or hotmail anymore. who will their next client be? netscape?

sugarcoating outdated business ideas does not help their diminishing agency profile. they used to claim that they were better than the big agencies because they were 'boutique', but now that they are bigger it seems they will take on anything. i do not think their creative is as great as it was in their glory days. my opinion.

"Taxi wants you to evolve with Netscape"
2. Ben
17 June 2010 at 10:50 AM
Taxi needs to evolve with their advertising concepts... they are not as 'creative' as they think they are... most of the campaigns I see from them these days are predictable and cliche. I think their client and their art directors are the only ones paying any attention.
3. Sandra
17 June 2010 at 10:56 AM
“Many people didn’t know that Hotmail.ca didn’t exist before now."

- so because Taxi posted ads online, people will go there now?

I am always amazed that the ad agencies that were born in a time when we had to watch tv commercials have not realized that the world has changed ... it's a world wide web ...and no one pays any attention to online advertising campaigns.
4. Kent
20 June 2010 at 10:12 PM
who cares what Taxi or Microsoft wants? NOOOBOOODY! ...both the agency and their client have become irrelevant over the last few years. the fact that they think they are still evolving in any form is astonishing.
5. Relevant
30 June 2010 at 2:37 PM
Wow! I am reading all that, and I'm just wondering one thing: What have you done in your creative life?

Instead of free bitching, bring some solutions or other ways of seeing a campaign.

Non-constructive comments are worthless. Be relevant bitching people.
6. Scott
2 July 2010 at 11:54 AM
My guess is that the people bitching above applied for jobs at Taxi and simply weren't creative enough to cut it. That, or they work for the competition, most of whom create dull, dysfunctional messages that are so disconnected from their client's needs that they fail. (No, I don't work for Taxi, but I did work in the ad industry years ago, and do recognize good work when I see it) I love the new ads - they are playful, creative, and actually make a point. Taxi has done a great job and my guess is there are a lot of people using hotmail.ca who would not have otherwise.
7. Lorraine
26 July 2010 at 2:57 PM
Finally, some positivity and thoughtful comments! Thank you Relevant and Scott.

I've been subscribing to Design Edge since it's inception and have been noticing a terrible pattern in these online blog postings. WE ARE CONSTANTLY CUTTING EACH OTHER'S WORK UP. And online for all (creators, clients, colleges) to read. How do irrelevant, uneducated comments contribute to our professional credibility? Aren't we all working towards one common goal? To create thoughtful, sustainable creative that works for our clients and their audience? We all "see" differently and should respect our creative differences. After all, these differences are what makes creative CREATIVE and inspires us daily.

Relating to this specific posting, I am Hotmail's target market for this campaign: 30 and have been using hotmail since I was 16. I did not know that hotmail.CA existed. This ad is totally relevant and is a clear creative approach that makes me think about creating a new more mature email address. As always Taxi, a job well done!

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