Can W.E.

It's oh so clever. The sloganeers must have been up until the wee hours of the night thinking up this one. It's a real teaser. It will have people talking at the water cooler for the next week or so.

I'm sure you have seen the billboards sprouting up around town with the expression "Can W.E" and the website http://www.canwe.ca/ One that I saw was right beside a Greenlink billboard

If you go to that website all that you see is the following:

Do you feel the excitement in the air? Obviously something big is supposed to happen in 9 days or so. Who can the owner be? What's it all about? Which major organization is the sponsor?

Now I have no inside information on this so far but it would look to be something involving Windsor Essex considering the initials. It looks like a feel-good campaign designed to get everybody in the region all excited about all the great things that we can do together like:

• CAN W.E. create high-paying jobs or
• CAN W.E. expand our automotive R&D or
• CAN W.E. be the major border crossing in North America etc etc.

You get the picture I hope. A whole bunch of questions designed to be answered with a loud "YES" as the W.E.'s are strapped to our collective chests.

The owner of the website or at least the representative of the owner is said to be:

Registrant Name Hargreaves Mandal Inc.
Registrar DomainsAtCost Corp.
Renewal Date 2009/03/06
Date approved 2008/03/06
Last changed 2008/03/06

Administrative Contact
Name Paul Hargreaves
Job Title
Postal Address Hargreaves Mandal Stewart 1539 Erie Street East Windsor ON N9A 4A3 Canada

I believe that the firm or an affiliate does work for the Windsor Essex Development Commission, perhaps being their Agency of Record. Do you think it may have something to do with them? You know W.E., Windsor Essex. Get it. Clever eh!

Well CANWE is a question so we need an answer, something positive for branding. I would not be surprised to see a new website come out subsequently, say like

http://www.windsoressexcan.ca/

What a play on words! Windsor Essex Can as the "positive" answer to the questions and Windsor Essex Canada as a memorable address for all of the investors who will come flocking here. Sheer genius.

Interestingly, that domain was registered to:

Domain windsoressexcan.ca
Registrant Name Hargreaves Mandal Inc.
Registrar DomainsAtCost Corp.
Renewal Date 2009/03/03
Date approved 2008/03/03
Last changed 2008/03/03

Administrative Contact
Name Paul Hargreaves
Postal Address Hargreaves Mandal Stewart 1539 Erie Street East Windsor ON N9A 4A3 Canada

If it really is WEDC, I wonder if Matt Fischer was involved in helping with the campaign. If so, those termination damages just keep on getting higher if he helped plan an effective campaign. If not, then why not? Was the Commission looking to fire him by early March (the date of the domain registration) and was the VW remark the convenient excuse?

One other thought. How does the WEDC branding fit in with Windsor's branding strategy? Are they complementary I hope so or were they undertaken separately?

How about this for Windsor's new domain http://www.wincan.ca/ or http://www.windsorcan.ca/

You are most welcome Mayor. My fee is only $10,000! Hurry while the registrations are still available. Careful or the Chicken Suit might get them first like this example: http://www.windsorcitycouncil.com/

If I told you what other one is owned, someone would have a real bird.