In 10 years of being Digital Giants, we are proud of our many accomplishments. It was difficult to only choose 10 but these stick out in our minds because of what was accomplished. We are always doing our best to better serve our clients and positively impact our community. These accomplishments were a team effort and would not have been possible without the participation and support of so many people. We hope that our top 10 list can inspire you as well!
These are outlined in no particular order and are not chronological.
1. Digital Marketing in Canada Research Report
In 2013, we partnered with Vireo Research to test our assumptions and conduct a cross Canada Digital Marketing Survey.
For the last few years, there has been no shortage of research to show that Canada is one of the most socially connected and digitally engaged nations in the world. So you would likely assume that Canadian companies are all over social media and seizing every opportunity to engage with both B2B and B2C consumers. But we wanted some hard data to prove this, so Vireo Research and Digital Giants teamed up to do a cross Canada survey. We went out to 340 Canadian senior-level marketing professionals to test the “state of the digital nation” in Canada.
It turns out our assumptions were wrong. Canadian companies are not keeping up with socially connected consumers. In fact, only one-third (36%) of Canadian companies have embraced social media and only one-fifth (20%) have a digital marketing strategy or take advantage of digital optimized content marketing.
This research was conducted among 340 Canadian professionals, including senior decision-makers from both B2B and B2C companies and helped many people and organizations to understand more about the changing landscape of B2C and B2B digital marketing in Canada. To learn more, you can download the full report and infographic.
2. SXSW Event
In 2015 we attended this fantastic event where driverless cars, wearable technology and medical devices, 3-D printing, robotics, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things were explored during the five-day conference in Austin, Texas.
With more than 35 concurrent sessions and presentations taking place every hour over five days, SXSW is one of the largest digital and social events of the year. We participated in a variety of sessions to gain insights into the trends that are redefining how individuals and organizations interact, communicate and do business.
3. Acquired Brilliant Staff and Partners
Since our inception, we’ve had the privilege of working with 100s of clients locally, nationally and internationally across many sectors, including charities, different levels of government in Canada, the US government, financial services, private equity, mining, home improvement and home builders, generic pharmaceuticals, consumer products and electronics, professional services, and many more.
We owe our success to past and present staff, clients, and partners who have all contributed to where we are now. Together, we have produced good work and made it a fun journey. Thus, acquiring brilliant staff and partners with no doubt was essential for our success.
4. YMCA Calgary Childcare Project
Together Digital Giants and gShift worked with the YMCA Calgary to promote the opening of two new childcare centres: the Quarry Park Child Development Centre and the brand new Remington YMCA Child Development Centre.
The launch of the enrolment strategy has enabled the Calgary YMCA to see an increase in brand awareness and qualified leads for its new centres. Furthermore, their pageview increased by 31%, and website traffic by 10%.
5. CPHI Worldwide Conference
At Digital Giants, we’re pretty passionate about connecting online and building a web presence. But we also know that the handshake isn’t dead, and that’s why we again attended the global pharma conference, CPHI Worldwide.
Why is a digital marketing company going to a pharma tradeshow? It’s pretty simple: we were on a mission to make more companies in the pharma space “digital giants,” just as we’ve done with our roster of other clients, such as Aurena Laboratories.
This event gave us many insights and we connected with many incredible people in the pharmacy area.
6. 2019 Traffic & Conversions Summit
We attended the 10th annual Traffic & Conversions Summit (T&C) in San Diego in 2019. It was a three-day event with 108 sessions, 80 speakers, and more than 6000 marketers.
Traffic & Conversion Summit is 3 full days of actionable, proven, strategic content from experts (and a few celebrities) that have been in your shoes and have turned their businesses into juggernauts. It was a fantastic experience with many learnings to attend this event.
7. YMCA Award
In 2016, we got an Award-Winning Digital and Media Engagement Campaign by the North American YMCA Developers Organization (NAYDO). The YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka worked with Digital Giants to leverage #GivingTuesday for the launch of its community campaign.
#GivingTuesday is a movement that has become a global phenomenon. Started in 2012 by a United Nations foundation based in the U.S. and coming to Canada in 2013, #GivingTuesday is a day marked for giving and volunteering, taking place each year following Black Friday and Cyber Monday (U.S.).
Digital Giants recommended empowering a small select group of Social Media Instigators as a way to build a foundation for future campaigns. By leveraging peer-to-peer networks and appeals, the campaign not only sparked conversations and shares, it helped kick start year-end appeals.
8. Barrie Film Festival Sponsorships
Digital Giants always supported local and cultural events. In previous years, we sponsored the Barrie Film Festival, and this year, in 2022, we did it again.
The Barrie Film Festival is a not-for-profit organization that provides film fans with unique experiences through year-round programming.
We think it is essential to support culture and help create initiatives in the community to engage people and create art in many forms.
9. Kaycan Rankings
Kaycan (leader in vinyl siding) came to Digital Giants when they discovered they did not show up in search results for their products within their largest market. When people searched for Kaycan’s products online, they would find Kaycan’s vendors or competitors instead.
With our work, Kaycan’s average position on Google for their product pages is 7th, and their rankings increased by 93 positions overall. Furthermore, Google search traffic from users in the US increased 49%, and Goal completion/conversions increased 54%.
10. Sierra Leone
In 2014, according to the Sierra Leone government, Internet penetration was at seven percent, with mobile penetration at 40 percent. The country leapt from the PC age directly to the mobile age.
The growth in mobile and Internet access is changing the way organizations are marketing in Sierra Leone and also leading to new development opportunities for the country’s severely impoverished population. Sierra Leone is Africa’s poorest country, despite having one of the fastest-growing economies globally.
While Digital Giant’s CEO was in Sierra Leone, he led a digital marketing and web presence workshop with the YMCA of Sierra Leone (YSL). As part of the workshop, we discussed how YSL could build on a member-driven marketing campaign that Digital Giants had developed with the YMCA of Simcoe/Muskoka called MyY.ca. The campaign provided a platform for members and others to share the impact of the YMCA on their lives.
With the YSL, we brainstormed how they could adopt this web-based campaign to the mobile platform with more of a focus on pictures and using text messaging and WhatsApp to communicate directly with members.
Conclusion
In 10 years, Digital Giants has proven that major things could be reached with hard-working, amazing people and making connections. We are proud of what we accomplished, and in the following years, we want to do more. We believe that we can generate a positive impact on our community and our stakeholders.