Category: Uncategorized

Montréal, Québec – July 16, 2024 – Normandin Beaudry, a leader in actuarial and total rewards consulting services, is pleased to announce the appointment of Sonia Gélinas as the organization’s newest partner with the Pension team. An experienced actuary with a proven track record in consulting to large plans under Québec’s municipal and university regulation, Ms. Gélinas is set to elevate Normandin Beaudry’s service offerings.

Éric Montminy, President of Normandin Beaudry, said: “Sonia is highly regarded in pension plan consulting and has an in-depth knowledge of administrative and funding rules making her expertise unparalleled in our industry. Her addition confirms Normandin Beaudry as the go-to firm for pension plan consulting in the municipal sector in Québec, further supporting the company’s position as a leading actuarial and total rewards consulting firm across Canada.”

Sonia Gélinas has been an industry leader with nearly 30 years of experience and is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and the Canadian Institute of Actuaries. She is recognized for her ability to resolve complex issues. Her knowledge, experience, and solutions-oriented mindset will provide Normandin Beaudry clients and partners unparalleled expertise and support.

“I am thrilled to join Normandin Beaudry’s Pension consultants as Partner and work alongside a great team with extensive municipal expertise. For over three decades the organization has been a pioneer in relentlessly innovating actuarial and total rewards consulting across Canada, and I am committed to upholding and advancing their values of excellence, collegiality, respect and initiative, which are perfectly aligned with my own,” said Sonia Gélinas, FSA, FCIA, Partner, Pension at Normandin Beaudry.

About Normandin Beaudry

Founded in 1992, Normandin Beaudry is a leader in actuarial and total rewards consulting services. From its offices in Montreal, Toronto, and Québec City, over 350 employees serve clients across Canada in eight areas of expertise: Pension and Savings, Pension Plan Administration, Investment Consulting, Group Benefits, Compensation, Health, Performance, and Communication. In 2023, Normandin Beaudry expanded its consulting reach with a new global joint venture, joining MBWL International as an equal and independent partner.

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Media Contact:

Zenergy Communications

media@zenergycom.com

Group of Industry Pioneers set to Deliver Cutting-Edge Solutions Across the Globe Through Aggressive Expansion into new Verticals

Toronto, Ontario — July 16, 2024 — Merrco Payments (Merrco), a leader in e-commerce and point of sale payment solutions for licensed and regulated industries in Canada, is pleased to announce its new management team led by Joel Leonoff. The group of pioneers who founded Optimal Payments (later re-named Paysafe Group) are eager to return to the payment processing industry following the privatization of the business in 2017 for US$3.9B and its subsequent IPO in 2021 for US$9B. With decades of experience revolutionizing global e-commerce and payment processing, they are set to embark on a new venture with their strategic investment in Merrco rebranded as KORT Payments, which is well-capitalized and positioned for exponential growth.

“Merrco has tremendous market potential, and we are excited to build upon its strong foundation. To reflect this next chapter, the parent company is being rebranded as KORT Payments (KORT), which will focus on exploring strategic M&A opportunities and expediting growth into various verticals and new geographies,” said Joel Leonoff, Chairman and CEO of KORT.  Leonoff added, “The Merrco brand and its suite of specialized products remain a critical part of the KORT family and with our additional resources we will continue to invest and grow in licensed and regulated industries.”

With its robust enterprise-grade platform, KORT will offer omni-channel integrated and e-commerce payment solutions and will focus on building out the appropriate products and technology platforms with a focus on the US and European markets to support its aggressive growth plans.

KORT’s new management team, boasting over 200 years of collective experience in global e-commerce and payment processing, is well-equipped to lead the company’s transformative journey. With a history of leveraging technology and building tailored offerings that exceed customer expectations, they are poised to elevate KORT to new heights globally. To expedite the process, they have already begun tapping into their vast network of technology partners, salespeople, independent sales organizations (ISOs), bank partners, resellers, and brokers. The company’s client-centric, solution-oriented approach is also attracting top talent and new partners, setting the stage for accelerated growth.

About KORT Payments

Founded in 2016, Merrco Payments (Merrco) is a leader in e-commerce and point of sale payment solutions for licensed and regulated industries in Canada. Merrco simplifies and secures payment transactions, utilizing advanced security protocols to safeguard sensitive data and ensure compliance with industry regulations. Its solutions are compatible with a wide range of existing systems, ensuring a streamlined payment processing experience. Merrco offers an array of payment options tailored to meet the unique needs of regulated industries, enabling clients to focus on business growth. In 2024, Merrco’s parent company was rebranded as KORT Payments, and is focused on strategic M&A and expanding the company’s reach to further innovate and grow in the global e-commerce and payment processing market.

For more information about KORT Payments, please visit www.kortpayments.com.

For more information about Merrco Payments, please visit www.merrco.com.

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Media Contact:

Zenergy Communications

media@zenergycom.com

In today’s digital landscape, where over 5 billion users are active on social media, leveraging the power of social listening can significantly enhance your marketing efforts. Social listening – monitoring and analyzing public conversations across social media channels – provides invaluable data for companies. By understanding how people feel and think about your business and its sector, you can tailor your strategies to maximize growth. Delve into the top strategies and select tips for using social listening to maximize business growth.

Zenergy’s Top Seven Effective Social Listening Strategies

1. Pinpoint Prospects. Tracking keywords and hashtags relevant to your brand allows you to discover users in your target audience who may not yet be aware of your business. By identifying these potential customers, you can engage with them, offer insights, and guide them to your products or services. This proactive approach helps you develop leads and expand your customer base.
   Tip: Use advanced social listening tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, or Brandwatch to segment these prospects based on their interests and engagement patterns, creating more personalized interactions.
2. Follow Competitors. Monitoring your competitors’ platforms, hashtags, and product names can reveal users who are dissatisfied with their service. By understanding customers’ pain points, you can tailor your offerings to meet these needs and attract this audience to your brand. This strategy not only helps in gaining new customers but also provides insights into market gaps that your business can fill.
   Tip: Analyze competitors’ successful campaigns and strategies to identify best practices and areas where you can differentiate your brand.
3. Get to Know Your Audiences’ Lingo. Understanding the language and common phrases your audience uses is crucial for effective communication. By analyzing social media conversations, you can adjust your messaging to better resonate with your target audience. This alignment enhances the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns and strengthens customer relationships.
   Tip: Create a glossary of the common terms and expressions that your audience frequently uses to guarantee relatable and consistent communication across all platforms.
4. Detect Misspellings and Users Who Don’t Tag. Engage with users who don’t tag you by simply tracking the keywords directly related to your company like its name, products, and services.

Tip: Remember to include common misspellings to identify those users who are talking about your business but that you would have missed otherwise.

5. Identify Industry
6. Find Customer Feedback. Social listening helps you locate reviews, complaints, and endorsements by tracking positive and negative keywords related to your brand. This can be done using social listening tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social or Brandwatch which offer keyword monitoring features. Addressing public feedback promptly allows you to mitigate issues and showcase your commitment to customer satisfaction. Positive feedback can be leveraged as testimonials, enhancing your brand’s reputation.
   Tip: Analyze feedback patterns regularly to find areas for improvement and repeat concerns by gathering metrics and themes from feedback.
7. Keep Tabs on Industry News and Trends. Keeping tabs on industry news and trends is crucial for maintaining relevant and timely content. By leveraging social listening tools, you can monitor conversations among industry leaders, major publications, and your audience. This allows you to track trending topics and incorporate them into your marketing strategy, keeping your audience engaged and positioning your brand as a thought leader.

Tip: Host live webinars or sessions on trending topics to interact with your audience and showcase your expertise in current trends.

By executing these strategies, you can develop deeper insights into your audience, target leads, improve customer satisfaction, stay ahead of industry trends, and make a meaningful difference to your marketing campaigns.

Talk, listen, learn, and grow – with the power of social listening.

Stay tuned for more insights, tips, and trends from the marketing world.

Regardless of your industry or profession, you may be familiar with the term Search Engine Optimization (SEO) however, as is the case with all digital resources, it is forever changing and so should your related strategies. Here are our top seven SEO tips to help you positively transform your website’s performance and visibility.

1. Speed Optimization: The speed at which your website loads crucial for both user experience and SEO rankings. Removing unused code from your website can significantly enhance its performance. Test thoroughly to maintain functionality while improving load times and providing a smoother user experience.
   
   
2. Craft Quality Content: Create unique, valuable content that aligns with your audience’s search intent. Focus on readability and user-friendliness. Write precise meta descriptions and title tags, use clear language, and structure content with headings, bullet points, and short paragraphs.
   
   
3. Keyword Research: Use relevant keywords strategically in titles, meta descriptions, headers, and content. Conduct thorough keyword research to identify high-volume, relevant keywords. Focus on commercial intent keywords (keywords from prospective customers) for better leads while analyzing competitor keywords and top search results to match search intent.
   
   
4. Link Building and Earning Backlinks: Rather than purchasing backlinks (links that point from other sites to yours), focus on earning them from websites that your customers are already reading. Use customized and compelling outreach emails to explain the value of your content and why it deserves a link. Google considers certain backlinks from reputable sites as ‘votes of confidence’. Use descriptive anchor text and relevant internal and external links to enhance SEO.
   
   
5. Monitoring and Tracking: Track band and non-brand clicks and impressions to understand user behavior. Use tools like Google Analytics to monitor page performance and measure conversions. Analyze data to refine your strategy and improve engagement.
   
   
6. Optimize Your Images: Choose the right file format, compress images, provide alt text and enable lazy loading to improve load times and visibility in image searches. Use various visual content types, like images, GIFs, and videos, to increase dwell time on your site.
   
   
7. Work with an Agency: Partner with an agency that understands your business needs and offers customized strategies. A good agency aligns SEO with your broader marketing objectives for sustained success.

SEO is a dynamic and integral part of digital marketing that requires continuous adaptation; implementing these SEO strategies can drive organic traffic to your websites and have a significant impact on your overall business goals.

If you don’t know where to start or want to ensure you leverage these strategies as effectively as possible, send us an email today to learn how we can drive meaningful growth for your business with SEO.

Stay updated with the latest insights, tips, and trends in digital marketing for continued success.

In 2022, Zenergy transformed Leav’s vision of revolutionizing retail through smart technology into a rewarding reality. Leav’s innovative app allows in-store shoppers to select and check out products independently, enhancing their shopping experience. It automates low-value tasks for retailers, enabling staff to focus on sales and customer service.

Selected as Leav’s Agency of Record for public relations, Zenergy supported the launch of the start-up’s first commercial installation by providing strategic consulting, media and public relations, and content development to amplify Leav’s market presence and message.

Zenergy’s strategic media outreach led to extensive coverage in both English and French, spanning TV, radio, digital and print platforms. This comprehensive approach resonated with diverse B2B, B2C, and industry audiences, reaching nearly 60 million people and counting. This significantly enhanced Leav’s market presence and was instrumental in securing additional funding.

The success of our collaboration with Leav demonstrates Zenergy’s commitment to impactful storytelling and strategic communication. By effectively conveying Leav’s innovative approach, we highlighted the company’s role as a frontrunner in retail technology. This partnership boosted Leav’s position in the retail technology space while highlighting Zenergy’s capability to deliver impactful PR campaigns that drive business success.

Services:

• Strategic Consulting
• Media + Public Relations
• Content Development

Project Impact Summary:

Target Markets: B2B, B2C, Technology, Retail, Media

Services Provided: Strategic Consulting, Media/Public Relations, Content Development

Results: Extensive coverage in English and French reaching nearly 60 million people

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital communications, social media has become one of the most valuable tools to help businesses grow and connect with their target audience. However, many have yet to even scrape the surface of its potential.

That’s where we come in.

Social Bootcamp isn’t just another training program; it’s a tailored solution crafted to empower your employees with the knowledge and skills needed to leverage social media effectively. Whether they’re novices navigating the basics or seasoned professionals seeking advanced sales strategies, our program helps to build confidence among participants and amplify your company’s messaging.

Customizable Training for Lasting Impact

One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to social media training. That’s why our program is fully customizable based on participant aptitude and company objectives, ensuring that each participant receives relevant and practical guidance. From platform-specific techniques to overarching strategies, we equip your team with the tools they need to succeed.

A Solution for Employee Engagement

Employee disengagement is an increasingly costly reality for businesses worldwide. In an era where remote work is the new reality, fostering a sense of community and connection is paramount. By empowering employees to become brand ambassadors through their online presence, companies can enhance both internal morale and external perception, fostering a community that transcends physical boundaries.

Harnessing the Power of Unified Messaging

In the realm of social media, consistency is key. Our program focuses on more than just the individual profiles; it instills a cohesive approach to messaging across the entire organization. By aligning employee interactions with corporate values and guidelines, we ensure that every post and comment reflects positively on your brand.

Amplifying Your Reach

Did you know that employee reach on social media can surpass corporate reach by as much as 561%? It’s a staggering statistic that underscores the potential impact of a well-trained team. Our program empowers employees to become active participants in amplifying your company’s message, driving engagement, and ultimately, conversions.

Next Steps

In a digital landscape where social media reigns supreme, staying ahead of the curve isn’t just advantageous—it’s essential. Our Social Bootcamp program offers a comprehensive solution for businesses seeking to harness the power of social media to drive growth, engage employees, and amplify their message. Join us in unlocking the full potential of social media and propel your company towards success.

Contact us to get started.

Iconic Festival Couches to Host Tribute to Fellini and Thirty Premieres

TORONTO (May 29, 2024) – Prepare for an extraordinary cinematic journey as the Lavazza IncluCity Festival, organized by ICFF, returns to the Distillery Historic District from June 27th to July 21st, 2024. This year’s festival offers 25 days of multicultural films, concerts, and unique events, promising an unforgettable celebration of global cinema.

The festival honors cinematic icons with a special tribute to Federico Fellini. The “Fellini Forever: A Journey into Fellini’s Studio” will showcase never-before-seen pieces from Fellini’s most famous films, including “The Voice of the Moon,” “La Dolce Vita,” and “Fellini’s Casanova.” The exhibit’s Grand Opening at the Distillery culminates with the Canadian Premiere of “Finally Dawn” by Saverio Costanzo, featuring Lily James, Joe Keery, and Willem Dafoe, on June 27th.

The festival proudly presents the highly anticipated Special Screening of “Space Cadet” by Liz W. Garcia, starring Emma Roberts. From the cobblestone streets of the Distillery District, audiences will be transported to the far reaches of space, and across the globe with epic tales and captivating premieres from over 15 countries, including the International Premiere of “Alles Fifty Fifty” (Germany), the North American Premiere of “Jorge of Capadócia” (Brazil), and the Canadian Premiere of “The War Machine” (Italy).

In memory of the late Norman Jewison, the festival presents a retrospective titled “Jewison’s Compass: Navigating Humanity Through Cinema.” This tribute features classics like “In the Heat of the Night” and “Moonstruck,” celebrating Jewison’s legacy in elevating Canadian storytelling to global prominence.

Inclusivity remains at the heart of the festival with the “Breaking Barriers” section, focusing on diversity and disability. Premieres such as “The Shadow of the Sun” (Venezuela) and “A Little Something Extra” (France) showcase stories that celebrate diverse voices and experiences.

Artistic Director Cristiano de Florentiis announces a unique sustainability initiative, integrating 500-year-old wood from the Distillery District into the festival’s structures. “We’re blending heritage with innovation, creating a sustainable and impact-free environment that enhances both the site and the festival,” says de Florentiis.

The “Dark Side” program returns with a lineup of horror and thriller films, curated by Chris Alexander, author and film journalist. The program kicks off with an “In Conversation” event on June 28th, led by Academy Award-winning producer Miles Dale, followed by the special presentation of Guillermo Del toro’s “The Shape of Water”. Expect spine-tingling premieres like “Home Education” (UK, Italy) and “Breathing In” (South Africa), and “Spirit in the Blood” (Canada).

The 2024 festival edition proudly prepares to award Rocco Papaleo the ICFF Lifetime Achievement Award. Papaleo will present his acclaimed films, including “Basilicata Coast to Coast” and “A Small Southern Enterprise,” celebrating his contributions to Italian and international cinema.

Beyond the screen, the Lavazza IncluCity Festival is ready to transform the Distillery District into a multicultural village. Enjoy culinary delights, drink tastings, and over 30 free concerts featuring artists from the Ivory Coast, Italy, and Indigenous musicians, making every visit a celebration of global cultures.

Thanks to: The Distillery District, CIBC, Delta, Aluminum Pergola, Cityzen, Campari, Barilla, CastlepointNuma, GreatGulf, HamiltonSwatch, Empire, Christie®, RAI, CHIN and BlogTO.

The tickets and full lineup are available at https://icff.ca.

Follow us: @icffcanada

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For more information:  ICFF: Donatella Zanon, Communications Coordinator, media@icff.ca

About ICFF: Inaugurated as a grassroots non-profit film festival in 2012, ICFF has developed into a multidisciplinary and multicultural organization that embraces all facets of the arts. ICFF has grown to celebrate over 20 different local communities through premieres and special events, attracting 57,000+ attendees at its summer initiative.

Investor perception audits can serve as an invaluable tool for understanding stakeholder perspectives. The results of these audits offer crucial insights for companies looking to navigate the complex world of capital markets while providing a holistic view of how they are perceived. Businesses can then make informed decisions for their Investor Relations (IR) strategies by leveraging knowledge gained from perception audits. A well-designed and executed audit provides an accurate understanding of how a company is viewed by key stakeholders and those learnings can lead to improving IR programs.

To conduct an effective investor perception audit, a company must first identify their target audience, including past, current, and potential investors/shareholders, analysts, market commentators, and other stakeholders whose opinions can influence the market. Then a comprehensive survey covering the company’s core strategy, financial performance, IR effectiveness, and specific trending topics should be developed. In order to ensure transparency and obtain valuable insights from the results, it’s crucial to employ an independent third-party agency.

Here are Five Key Benefits of Conducting a Perception Audit:

Strategic Alignment: This will help to illuminate how well investors understand and align with your company’s core strategy and business model, highlighting areas for improvement and offering validation of your business’ current and future direction.

Valuation Insights: Discover direct feedback on your company’s valuation, providing a roadmap for addressing any misalignments.

IR & ESG Strategy Enhancement: Detailed feedback on your IR efforts can pinpoint what’s working and what isn’t, helping Investor Relation Officers (IROs) tailor communications and engagement strategies with shareholders, address concerns proactively, and improve a company’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) narrative.

Peer Benchmarking: By comparing your company against peers, perception audits offer valuable context and insights, revealing potential areas for emulation or differentiation.

Facilitate Internal Discussions: The findings serve as a catalyst for meaningful conversations among your IR team, executive team, Board, and agency partners, driving strategic decisions and improvements.

With a clear understanding of investor perceptions, IR strategies can be refined to help IROs communicate more effectively with shareholders including important matters such as ESG.

Talk, listen, learn, and grow – with the power of perception. Stay tuned for more insights, updates, and strategic perspectives from the Zenergy team. Feel free to reach out to us directly for your IR and perception audit needs.