Le magazine des locataires du Fonds de placement immobilier Allied Properties

Q U É B E C C I T Y • M O N T R É A L • T O R O N TO • W I N N I P E G • K I T C H E N E R • C A L G A R Y • V A N C O U V E R • V I C T O R I A

PRINTEMPS

2011

Aerokom: Spécialistes du marketing dans l’aérospatiale

PLUS Ubisoft Vancouver • Silver Jeans Co. • Garderie à la Cité Multimédia

Shelly Purdy:Torontodesignerstarts with a ring

16

10

Yuzu à Québecs’aggrandit20

ARCADE ET ACTION

Le Studio Berzerk : un loft qui déborded’idées de jeux électroniques

14

MON

TRÉAL

Cité Multimédia child care facilityscheduled for summer openingJust in time for the warm weather, parents working at the Cité Multimédia will be able to sign up their youngones for a spot at the child care opening this Summer at 111 Duke Street.

Operated by Kids & Company, a national daycare firmwith more than 30 centres across Canada (in Ontario,Quebec, Nova Scotia, Alberta and B.C.), the new locationwill feature large, bright, cheerful playrooms filled withage-appropriate equipment and materials and staffed by ECE and ECA-qualified teachers.

Also part of its offering is the company’s back-up child care program where parents can access last minutecare for their child whenever they need it.

The 111 Duke Street site will be Kids & Company’ssecond Montreal location, and will have spaces for asmany as 60 children from infant up to 12 years.

Avec l’arrivée des beaux jours, les parentsqui travaillent à la Cité Multimédiaauront aussi le plaisir d’accueillir unegarderie pour leurs enfants. Géré par Kids & Company, fournisseur deservices de garderie comptant plus de 30 centres au Canada (Ontario, Québec,Nouvelle-Écosse, Alberta et C.-B.),l’établissement offrira de grandes salles de jeux lumineuses et remplies

d’équipements pour tous les âges. Les enfants seront encadrés par des professionnels de la petite enfance qualifiés.

L’espace intérieur a été conçu pour favoriser l’apprentissage de lalangue, des bases de lecture, des arts, de la musique, des mouvements et de la socialisation. Le site bénéficie également, comme tous les centres gérés par Kids & Company, d’un terrain de jeux extérieur.

LA GARDE DES ENFANTS : UN IMPORTANT FACTEUR DE STRESSLes problèmes de garde d’enfants sont un des premiers facteurs de stress de la vie moderne.

C’est pourquoi certaines entreprises comme CIBC, CBC, Deloitte,l’Université McGill, Telus et RBC se sont alliées à Kids & Company.Celle-ci offre aux employés la garantie d’une place de garderie dans les six mois qui suivent l’inscription de l’enfant et ne facture pas de frais supplémentaires en cas de retard des parents en fin de journée.C’est ce que la fondatrice du groupe Victoria Sopik appelle « les soins familiaux flexibles ».

LA GARDERIE DE DÉPANNAGE Autre atout : en cas d’imprévu, Kids & Company propose une garderie de dépannage à laquelle lesparents ont accès quand ils veulent.

« Nous offrons aux parents la tranquillité d’esprit de savoir qu’ils sont à l’abri de tout problème si leur gardienne est malade ou si leur organisation habituelle fait défaut », explique Victoria Sopik, également mère de huit enfants. Ce programmeest également très apprécié par les parents d’enfantsd’âge scolaire les jours de perfectionnement personnel des enseignants ou durant les vacances.

Le centre , qui sera situé au 111 rue Duke, est le deuxième à Montréal. Ilcomptera 60 places pour des enfantsâgés de la naissance à l2 ans. Le premier centre a ouvert ses portes en2008 et se trouve au 1100 boulevardRené Lévesque Ouest.

Pour en savoir plus, veuillez consulter le site à l’adresse www.kidsandcompany.ca ou communiquer avec Debbie au 514-876-0009.

al l iedpropert iesre i t .com • 2

CITÉ MULTIMÉDIA : ouverture d’une garderie dès cet été.

Above: A typical Kids & Company play area.

TORONTO / - With the recent acquisition of its first Vancouver building,Allied Properties REIT is now housing three of gaming giant Ubisoft’s four Canadian studios. Until the announcement last summer that Torontohad attracted a fourth Ubisoft studio, Canada only had three of the videogame developer’s 24 in-house production locations.

Founded in the mid-’80s by five French brothers, Ubisoft is now one of the largest entertainment software developers and publishers in theworld with annual revenues of close to a billion euros. It has the secondlargest development force in the world, employing some 6,400 people,about 5,350 of whom are dedicated to production.

Rather than outsource and create partnerships with smaller existingfirms, which is a more common approach, Ubisoft bet on the use of internal development from the start. With major studios in Romania,China and Canada, and smaller ones in 13 other countries, each teamworks to develop specific projects in their entirety, cranking out betweenthree to four titles a year each.

The Montreal studio was Ubisoft’s first in Canada and the abundance of talent and technical know-how saw it yield one the company’s top-selling games of all time: Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, which sold some 22 million units.

The 2,000 employees who work out of the Montreal space now make it one of the largest single development studios in the world, producing top titles like the Prince of Persia and Assassin’s Creed franchises.

The second largest Ubisoft studio in the world is in Quebec City. Its 300 employees put out around two to four projects a year and haveworked on Prince of Persia, Battle of Giants and collaborated on Assassin’sCreed Brotherhood with Montreal, Singapore and Annecy (France).

As for Vancouver, its 100 employees have laid claim to successes such as Pure Futbol and Academy of Champions.

ubi.com

Allied Properties REIT Vancouver Acquisition Adds a Third Ubisoft Studio to National Portfolio

3 • SPRING 2011

Un troisième studio Ubisoft s’ajouteau portefeuille d’AlliedTORONTO / - Grâce à l’acquisition de son premier édifice àVancouver, Allied Properties REIT abrite maintenant troisdes quatre studios canadiens de Ubisoft, le géant du jeuélectronique. Jusqu’à l’été dernier lorsque Ubisoft aannoncé que Toronto allait accueillir son quatrième studiocanadien, le Canada ne comptait que trois des 24 studiosde production interne du concepteur de jeux vidéo.

Le studio de Montréal est le premier de Ubisoft às’être implanté au Canada et grâce à ses prodigieusescompétences et à son savoir-faire technique, il est à l’origine d’un des jeux Ubisoft les plus populaires de tous les temps : Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, vendu àquelque 22 millions d’unités.

Les 2 000 employés des bureaux de Montréal font dece studio de développement un des plus grands du monde,produisant des titres comme Prince of Persia et Assassin’sCreed. Le deuxième studio de Ubisoft par la taille estinstallé à Québec. Ses 300 employés réalisent deux à quatre projets par an et ont participé à la création dePrince of Persia et Battle of Giants. Ils ont aussi travaillé à la conception d’Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood en collaboration avec Montréal, Singapour et Annecy (France).

Quant aux 100 personnes de Vancouver, elles sont une partie du succès de Pure Futbol et Academy of Champions.

Vancouver Quebec City Montreal

• Boul. Saint-Laurent in Montreal • 2000 employees • Works on Prince of Persia and

Assassin’s Creed franchises

• Cambie St. in Vancouver • 100 employees • Worked on Pure Futbol and

Academy of Champions.

• Boul. Charest Est in Québec City • 300 employees • Worked on Prince of Persia, Battle of Giants andcollaborated on Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood

al l iedpropert iesre i t .com • 4

With a selection based on bean growing seasons and weekly roasting sessions,Toronto’s Sense Appeal brings some truly fresh brew to King West Central.By Yvan Marston

THE COFFEE LAB[R E T A I L ]

5 • SPRING 2011

TORONTO

KING WEST CENTRAL, TORONTO / - Coffee geeksrejoice: you have a new king. Peter Adamo has taken hissommelier’s palette and keen interest in the science of roasting coffee beans to build his very own “lab.” Some,however, might know it simply as Sense Appeal. It’s an airycorner of 96 Spadina’s lobby manned by enthusiastic baristashappily steaming and pressing brews (no drip coffee here)for a public that extends well beyond the building tenants.

When it opened in November, Sense Appeal, a partnershipbetween Adamo and Robert Rota, saw line ups thanks to asuccessful social media campaign and free coffee giveaways.

This early February morning also proves busy becauseSense Appeal’s Facebook page has just hit a milestone of 300likes. At every 100, on its way to reaching “a bajillion,” the500-square-foot shop lodged in what was formerly a barbershop gives away free americanos all day. But what’s interestingabout this free coffee is that it is good. Really good.

COFFEE BY TERROIR Two and half years ago, Adamo was asommelier at Hockley Valley Resort north of Toronto whenthe chef asked him to pair the right coffee with a dessert.

“I really had no idea about coffee, so I contacted theGreen Beanery [one of the largest coffee and coffee equip-ment retailers in Canada] to learn more,” says Adamo, in abaritone you’d expect from his tall and lanky frame. Hebegan learning about the growing regions and bean stylesand how geography, geology and climate all come to bear on this, the world’s second most traded commodity.

“Wine is an agricultural product defined by its terroir, so maybe I can apply some of my understanding of this to coffee,” reasoned Adamo. He travelled to Central andSouth America as well Australia. He learned about the varietals farmers were planting based on soil types and built a network of independent growers.

Much like a market fresh menu, the great white sheetshanging from the 19-foot ceilings at Sense Appeal change as different bean types become available. Fresh beans can be warehoused for five months at the most but once they are roasted, they come straight to the “lab” and form theweek’s selection.

“Flavours take time to develop usually over the course of a week depending on the way the coffee was processed,” saysAdamo who typically roasts several varieties off site everyweek. Sense Appeal actually began as a commercial supplierof high quality roasted coffee, supplying many of the city’sfive-star establishments.

SCIENCE OF THE ROAST Adamo began roasting over a yearago. Properly obsessed with trying to perfect his home roastingtechnique, he was in traffic one day when he spotted aflatbed truck carrying a Diedrich IR12, a refrigerator-sizedcommercial roaster. He decided to follow it and when heconnected with the owner, a deal was struck and Adamo setabout learning the intricacies of commercial roasting.

“The process of roasting is based in science. It’s a matterof controlling and manipulating variables,” explains Adamowho contacted a geneticist friend for tips and even sourced a research paper on volatilities in coffee roasting.

Months of trial and error, and careful documentationusing scientific methodology (hence the periodic tableinspired coffee names and packaging), led to a handful of reliable roast profiles that would form the CS, B, HNand S beans.

As for the space itself, the millwork is finished withroughhewn, 100-year-old Ontario barnwood, and the tallceiling and expansive windows keep the bar area from feeling too compact. Indeed, it’s a great place for cupping aquick shot of espresso, but any lingering is best done in thelobby space of 96 Spadina where the café also has severaltables and chairs spread over two levels.

senseappeal.com

For every 100 new likes on Sense Appeal’s Facebook page, the500-square-foot shop lodged in what was formerly a barber shopgives away free americanos all day.

““The process of roastingis based in science. It’s a matter of controlling andmanipulating variables.”

– Peter Adamo

AVE DU PARC, MONTREAL / - There areboxes stacked three high and racks of women’sand men’s tops lined up in front of the 10-foot-high factory windows in the loft space this teamof six has easily outgrown.

Giovanna De Capua sits partially obscuredbehind a rolling rack of samples destined for atrade show in Las Vegas next week. She is on thephone, patiently scheduling time for her Internetprovider to set up the network in the new spaceat 6300 Parc Ave that she and her designers willmove into next week.

Growth has been brisk for this Silver Jeans Co.design office that was established in Montrealonly two years ago as part of Winnipeg-basedSilver Jeans Co. plan to expand its offerings frommid luxury jeans to a more complete collectionthat includes tops.

“The Schmata industry is really big inMontreal, this is where you are going to get thetalent,” says De Capua, who in the last 15 yearshas worked for a number of other brands,including Dex, Groggy and Jack & Jones.

In April of 2009, De Capua was approachedby Silver Jeans Co. president Michael Silver tomanage the design studio for the company’s tops.

CHANGING MARKET Recognized as an innovator,Silver and design director Allan Kemp establishedthe Silver Jeans Co brand in 1991 with the releaseof a unisex pant with a 24" leg opening called the “Big Guy”.

That was in the early 1990s, when Levis’ dominance over the jeans market began to wane as designer brands such as Parasuco andHollywood Jeans gained a foothold. Ringing in at the $100 price point, Silver Jeans came tobe known as a reliable mid-luxury brand and afavourite among women for its attention to fit.

The vast sourcing capabilities of Silver JeansCo.’s parent company Western Glove Worksallows the brand to offer premium Europeandenims milled specifically for the brand, such as

al l iedpropert iesre i t .com • 6

COMPLETE COLLECTIONHaving covered bottoms, Silver Jeans Co. opens a Montreal design studio to focus exclusively on men’s and women’s tops.By Yvan Marston

[ F A S H I O N ]

7 • SPRING 2011

MONTRÉAL

Le studio montréalais de Silver Jeans Co., se consacreexclusivement à la création dehauts masculins et fémininsAV. DU PARC, MONTRÉAL / - Il y a deux ans, Silver JeansCo., société de jeans basée à Winnipeg, a ouvert un studio à Montréal dans l’idée d’élargir sa collection. En plus de ses jeans de catégorie « luxe intermédiaire », elle souhaitaitproposer une gamme de vêtements plus complète, com-prenant notamment des hauts. Ces deux premières annéesont été marquées par une croissance très rapide.

« À Montréal, l’industrie du vêtement est très importanteet c’est un puits de talent », explique Giovanna De Capua,qui ces 15 dernières années a travaillé pour différentesmarques – Dex, Groggy et Jack & Jones.

C’est en avril 2009 que Giovanna De Capua a été contactée par le président de Silver Jeans Co., MichaelSilver, pour diriger le studio de Montréal.

« Les créateurs peuvent imaginer un vêtement trèschouette, mais se vendra-t-il? », demande-t-elle en ajoutantque son rôle est de faire le lien entre ce que l’équipe crée et ce que les acheteurs ou les commerçants auront enviede commander.

Son équipe dessine quatre collections par an. Celles deprintemps et d’automne sont les principales, elles peuventcompter jusqu’à 60 articles. Les collections d’été et devacances sont plus restreintes et ont pour but d’ajouter unetouche de fraîcheur aux stocks existants en agrémentant la collection de quelques nouveautés.

PRE-WASHED JEANS were first marketed in the 1970s when a Cartersville,Georgia, jeans salesman named Hal Burgesshad a flood in the hotel room where he wasstoring his jeans.

He rented the hotel pool for the day to washthe flooded jeans and when they shrunk, Haldecided to market them as ’pre-washed’jeans, selling them two sizes smaller than they were initially labeled.

Italian Candiani or Australian Brad Mills, at an extremelycompetitive price point. And that has made Silver Jeans afavorite among North American retailers like Nordstrom,Macy’s, The Buckle and over 500 specialty stores nationwide.

TOP CHALLENGE Silver’s demographic tends towardsyoung adults and it seeks to provide a more complete collection by designing tops. But tops are difficult, explains De Capua.

“Designers can come up with something really cool, but will it sell?” she asks, explaining that her role is tobridge the gap between what is designed and what the buyers / retailers will want to order.

Her team works on four collections of a year. The majorcollections are Spring and Fall and these can encompass asmany as 60 pieces. The two smaller collections are the highSummer and holiday releases. These are meant to freshenup stock, peppering existing retail with a few new looks.

Currently, the Silver Jeans collections are designedaround its marketing concept of The Family: a group of friends that form a surrogate family and in which potential buyers may recognize aspects of themselves and their lifestyles.

SILVER BUYER Silver Jeans buyers, explains De Capua, aretypically 15 to 40 years old with the bulk of the buyers intheir 20s. And the brand does particularly well in Albertaand B.C. as well as in smaller urban markets in Ontario.

Recognized for its fit and quality of finish, Silver jeanstend to appeal to its female buyers through its price pointas a mid-priced luxury brand.

The tops market, however, is less brand-driven andmuch more competitive, explains De Capua. “A womanwill buy one pair of jeans and four tops, for example. And she’ll spend $200 on the jeans and $20 on the top.”

In the end, it’s a strategy game, she says. An experiencedteam uses market research to make educated guesses as towhat is the right combination of quality and price.

“For women, it’s always going to be about fit, style and price point, in that order.”

silverjeans.com

Giovanna De Capua (third from right) and the Silver Jeans Co.Montreal design team.

EXCHANGE DISTRICT, WINNIPEG / - Where theAssiniboine and Red Rivers meet, a sheltered bowl, formedby a three-meter-deep depression in the ground, pays tributeto 7,000 years of culture and tradition. Eight sculptural steelarmatures surround the bowl, each reaching skyward todefine precise sightlines for visitors to view specific stars.

This is the Oodena Celebration Circle. It is part of TheForks, a gathering place for thousands of years and easily oneof the most important historical places in Western Canada.The Forks receives hundreds of thousands of visitors everyyear, and while much of it celebrates heritage, the Circlereaches deep into the notion of spirituality and place.

“Cultures have been coming to this place since glaciation.[The Circle] looks at what it means to find a place on thisearth that builds on shared experiences of wonder andengagement with our surroundings,” says Glen Manning, theprincipal in charge of urban design with Hilderman ThomasFrank Cram Landscape Architecture and Planning (HTFC).

CULTURAL LANDSCAPES It would be easy to see this as mainlyan aboriginal site, but HTFC founder and firm principalGarry Hilderman thought of the Circle as a reflection of allthe cultures that have congregated here over millennia.

“The trick,” explains another firm principal, MonicaGiesbrecht, who specializes in education, healthcare and recreation design, “was to do all this in a way that was elegant and that would be compatible with a broadcross-section of spiritual beliefs.”

To that end, the site is imbued with a reverence for thenatural elements of earth, fire, water and sky. That’s one ofHTFC’s true strengths, explains Manning, understandingand interpreting a place’s cultural landscape.

REGIONAL EXPERTISE Forty years ago, Hilderman was a one-man firm working from his attic sorting out the complexities of a master plan for Whiteshell Provincial Park,which covers 2,792 square kilometers of the province’s eastborder. Still recognized as a leader in regional-scale landscapearchitecture and planning, HTFC now occupies 6,000square feet over two floors at 115 Bannatyne Ave East in the Exchange District.

Some 30 people fill the space and collaborate in areas such as historic site restoration and interpretation, urbandesign and revitalization, waterfront planning and FirstNations projects.

al l iedpropert iesre i t .com • 8

After 40 years of weaving together cultural interpretation, geography and firm has become the region’s own force of nature.By Yvan Marston

LAND POWER[L A N D S C A P E A R C H I T E C T U R E ]

“We mainly practice in Manitoba and NorthwesternOntario, where we developed an expertise in prairie and borealforest landscapes,” says Manning, adding that in terms of staffand projects, HTFC is the largest pure landscape and planning firm in the region.

WINNING WORKPLACE With some years counting as many as 180 projects on the boards, HTFC has a breadth and depthof experience that is atypical. It is often called upon for itsexpertise in recreation planning, regional land use and eventreaty land entitlement work.

“Our collaborative approach, in some ways came from ourwork with aboriginal groups,” explains Manning. HTFC’smethod was not to charge into a remote community with big ideas and lofty plans, he says. Instead, it engaged in a collaborative process.

“Rather than being product oriented, we are process oriented,”adds Giesbrecht. “You can’t just jump to solutions. They justwon’t be successful unless you work with the community.”

That collaborative spirit is also how it functions internally. In fact, its workplace culture helped the firm win top honoursfor outstanding small business from the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce last year.

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS Expanded over two floors andconnected by an internal staircase, HTFC is a hive of activity as current projects continue to develop and shape the regionthat lies beyond these walls. Near The Forks, Upper Fort Garry,a historical site being reclaimed from a Petro Canada station, a parking lot and a curling club, is to be re-imagined as a heritage park and interpretive centre. Also at The Forks,Giesbrecht is working on the Variety Heritage Adventure Park.

Then there’s the Centennial Concert Hall’s SteinkopfGardens, whose stepped courtyard is being re-interpreted to improve its accessibility. Still more regional jobs, like revitalizing Kenora’s waterfront, and planning work for northern communities such as York Factory First Nation will change how these communities use their resources.

The firm is also engaged in preparing a management plan to protect the outstanding natural and cultural values of a34,500-square-kilometer tract of boreal forest and waterwaysbridging the Manitoba and Ontario borders. Known asPimachiowin Aki (the land that brings life) it has been nominated a World Heritage Site.

htfc.mb.ca

9 • SPRING 2011

WINNIPEG

urban design, this Winnipeg landscape architecture

TOP HONOURS Garry Hilderman had a busyNovember. Fresh from the Manitoba Chambers of CommerceBusiness Awards, where Hilderman Thomas Frank Cramtook top honours for outstanding small business of the year,he was off to Rideau Hall in Ottawa to receive the Order ofCanada for his 40 years of working to create and developManitoba parks, historical sites and environmental projects– both as a landscape architect and volunteer. And inFebruary, the Canadian Society of Landscape Architectsbestowed the firm with its National Honour (the top award)for their work on the Red River Floodway.

The Oodena Celebration Circle at theForks celebrates the space’s power as agathering place for thousands of years.

ATLANTIC AVE., MONTREAL / - Regional and business jet sales may be temperamental and defence budgets tightening, but planes still have to fly and they need parts to do that. Despite theheadline grabbing attention of thebig makers like Bombardier andBoeing, much of Canada’s aerospaceindustry is comprised of parts andservices firms. And it is growing.

“It’s an extremely specialized industry,” says Mélanie Hébert. “One company, for example, distributes parts around the world for one type of helicopter.”

Hébert has become something of aspecialist herself, using her masters inintercultural communications and her business backgroundto provide marketing services to a handful of fast-growingparts distributors.

“It’s an industry that is absolutely fascinating and somewhatunderserviced when it comes to communications and marketing,” says Hébert, whose company Aerokom provides

a range of services, from writing and design to public relations andevent management.

What began as a one-person consultancy three years ago has nowbecome a six-person shop servicing an industry that generates some $23 billion in annual revenuesthrough its global reach, according tothe Aerospace Industries Associationof Canada.

“What makes it so interesting is that the client relationships are

international – you have to know what is going on every-where,” she says, adding that travel is no small part of theattraction she has to the industry.

al l iedpropert iesre i t .com • 10

AIR SUPPORTAIR SUPPORT

Fledgling Montreal communications firm finds its niche supporting Quebec’s growing aerospace industry. By Yvan Marston

The Canadian aerospace industryemploys more than 80,000Canadians and since 1990, industrysales have more than doubled,reaching $23.6 billion in 2008.

– Source: Aerospace IndustriesAssociation of Canada

[ M A R K E T I N G ]

Une jeune agence de communication montréalaisetrouve un créneau dansl’aérospatiale au Québec Si les ventes d’avions sont par nature incertaines et les budgetsde défense en baisse, une chose est sûre : on ne peut se passerdes avions et ils ont besoin de pièces détachées.

« C’est une industrie extrêmement spécialisée », expliqueMélanie Hébert. « Par exemple, c’est une seule entreprise qui distribue dans le monde les pièces d’un hélicoptère particulier.»

Mélanie Hébert s’est elle-même spécialisée en mettant à profit samaîtrise en communication interculturelle et son expérience enentreprise pour proposer des services de marketing – rédaction et conception, relations publiques, gestion d’événements – à certains distributeurs de pièces détachées en pleine croissance.

Il y a trois ans, elle était seule dans son agence de conseil, qui compte aujourd’hui six personnes et s’emploie à servir uneindustrie générant, selon l’Association des industries aérospatialesdu Canada, quelque 23 milliards de dollars de revenus annuels.

C’est grâce à un emploi au gouvernement qu’elle s’est découvert un intérêt pour le conseil et qu’elle a donc créé ZoneInterkom, une agence spécialisée dans le marketing destiné auxdomaines de la conception industrielle, des ressources humaines(secteur technologique) et des agences gouvernementales. Par la suite, un de ses contrats l’a conduite à recréer le site Web deRockland, une firme québécoise de logistique et de service dans le secteur de l’aérospatiale. C’est ainsi qu’est née Aerokom.

L’année dernière, la fusion avec MHD a fait passer le nombred’employés de 7 à 100 personnes, une équipe chargée de s’occuper entre autres de la flotte des Hercules C-130 de l’arméede l’air néo-zélandaise.

« Le rôle d’Aerokom est aussi de mettre en place des réseauxde communication, par exemple par le biais de repas d’affaires ou de salons professionnels, le but étant de trouver le lieu adéquatet de donner les bons outils à nos clients », affirme MélanieHébert, qui a récemment participé à des missions commercialesen Haïti et au Mexique avec la Chambre de commerce de Québec.

Plus de la moitié des 400 entreprises aérospatiales canadien -nes étant installées au Québec, le siège social d’Aerokom, au 400 rue Atlantic à Montréal, est très bien situé pour élargir sesactivités dans un secteur classé au cinquième rang mondial etconsidéré comme un des plus grands acteurs dans le domaine de recherche et développement au Canada.

Prior to opening a retail art gallery/framing business inMontreal a few years before this endeavour, Hébert spentfive years living and travelling throughout Europe, Asia,Australia, and Israel. But her retail operation was a littletoo stationary for the energetic blonde whose quick smile and affable manner made her a natural in the world of communications.

A short stint of government employment sparked herinterest in consulting and she formed Zone Interkom to work on marketing challenges for industrial design, tech human resources and government agencies. But one fateful job led to a web site redesign for Rockland, aQuebec-based aerospace logistics support and servicesfirm, and Aerokom was born.

A merger last year with MHD saw Rockland grow from seven people to over 100 with major contracts such as supporting the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s fleet of C-130 Hercules aircraft.

“Aerokom’s role is also to establish channels for commu-nication, whether that’s an embassy dinner or whether it is a trade show, it is about finding the right venues andgiving clients the right tools,” say Hébert, who has takenpart in trade missions to Haiti and Mexico with theChambre de Commerce de Québec.

With more than half of Canada’s 400 aerospace companies located in Quebec, Aerokom’s Montreal headquarters at 400 Atlantic are well situated to furtherserve an industry ranked fifth among its global peers and considered one of the largest contributors to Canadian R&D activities.

Aerokom.ca

11 • SPRING 2011

MONTRÉAL

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13 • SPRING 2011

SIXTH AVE. SW, CALGARY / - One hundred years after it opened as a dining and dancing hall, the lower level space of the Lougheed building once again pulses with the rhythm of an energized Saturday night.

Under the oak corniced ceilings and atop the original terrazzo floors, as many as 350 patrons, ranging in age from 25 to 50, take in this underground scene. And Witold Twardowski couldn’t be more pleased.

“This is working the way we hoped. It’s a destination,”says the mind behind some of Calgary’s other destinations,including The Ranche, Cilantro, Teatro and Mescalero.

“This” is Sociale Bar & Grille, and it is in fact a jointeffort that has Twardowski partnering with Elizabeth Panonko and Eron Forseth to revitalize the space that the city once knew as Cronn’s Rathskellar (German forrestaurant in the basement of a city hall), and more recently as the Penguin Pub below Monty’s Deli.

‘HITTING ALL FOUR NOTES’ Now the8,000-square-foot space, spread over two levels – a 1,200-square-foot tapas bar on the street level mezzanine and a 6,800-square-foot dining space for 140 downbelow – is finding its place as a ‘serious barwith serious food. Seriously,’ as Twardowski puts it.

“If you can get a lunch crowd, happy hour, dinner andthen the late night, you’re hitting it on all four notes,” he says, explaining that he was attracted to the project and the space because of its “juicy” background.

When it opened in 1912, Cronn’s Rathskellar was known as a place to Tango, still something of a risqué dance at the time. It was a downtown hotspot that closedthree years after opening when its German owners wereforced out one dramatic night during World War I.

HISTORIC FABRIC Soldiers had threatened to demolish theestablishment unless the German name was removed from theelectric sign outside. Before matters could escalate, the buildingsuperintendent cut the power to the lights and locked thedoor. Though the Cronns were not heard from again, thename persisted for some years before the place became thecity’s first jazz club in the 1920s. Then it languished for a time before the Loughheed building was restored in 1998.

Further work on Sociale’s space was completed for its recentopening, but not without significant challenges.

“Mainly it was getting the infrastructure to work within thespace without disturbing the historic fabric,” says Twardowski,explaining that the electrical and ventilation all had to be

brought up to modern standards.

NEW MED CUISINE Interior firmHribar Design wasn’t trying todo 1911 when it conceptualizedthe space, he says, and while therestored ceiling and floors offeran aura of days gone by, thethree white marble bars, backlitwith frosted glass, work as lightboxes to introduce a modern aesthetic into the mix.

A D.J. upstairs usually featuresa conga or sax player and downstairs is a mix of danceablebeats. As for food, chef Kenny Kaechle calls his menu newold world and sets about rethinking a Mediterranean styleof cuisine with entrees like a Chorizo crusted wild salmon,BBQ pork flatbread, and tapas like beet and apple saladand Merguez sausage and meatballs.

“It’s a corporate bar, but not bar food. There’s no chickenwings and nachos here,” says Twardowski.

socialecalgary.com

SOCIAL LIFEA former 1912 Tango cellar in Calgary is reanimated and reinventedinto a ‘serious’ lunch spot, corporate bar and nightclub. By Yvan Marston

CALGARY

““If you can get a lunchcrowd, happy hour, dinner and then the latenight, you’re hitting iton all four notes”

– WitoldTwardowski

[ R E S T A U R A N T ]

al l iedpropert iesre i t .com • 14

GAMING ATTICHigh atop a Quebec City neighbourhood sits a loft full of 80s retro gaming ideas and a team dedicated to bringing these concepts to life. Welcome to Berzerk Studio. By Yvan Marston

NOUVO ST-ROCH, QUEBEC CITY / - In the Internet’smultichannel universe, content creation is a good place to be.Just ask Simon Lachance and his cohorts who foundedBerzerk Studio, a small independent game developer.

Based in Quebec City’s technology hub in Nouvo St. Roch,Berzerk specializes in the creation of Flash games, that is,interactive media created for online and mobile devices usingAdobe-owned Flash software. And in two years, the trio hasbecome one of the top earning independent Flash gamingdevelopers in the world.

ADDICTIVE AND FREE Easily accessible, often addictive and usually free, Flash games range from simple 2D puzzlesto stylized 3D multi-player first-person shooters, and there are tens of thousands of them available with developers releasing new ones all the time.

It takes Berzerk’s six-person team about three months tomove a game from concept to completion. “But our record

was three weeks,” adds Lachance who likens independentgame development to being a musician.

“You can make your own music, or you can be a studiomusician,” he says, explaining that in Flash game development,revenues are derived usually in one of two ways. Either youdevelop a game you think people will want to play and thensell it to a gaming site that makes its money from ads, or youwork for a client developing a game around a product as partof a viral marketing strategy.

The latter is called ‘servicing’ and it is what Lachance,Etienne Jean and Marc-Antoine Jean (no relation) were doingbefore they founded Berzerk.

“We preferred to make our own original stuff than to work for hire. We wanted to work without any limits or constraints,” says Lachance.

PLAYING THE MARKET Of course they have to design what the market demands, but having become a top-selling

[ E N T E R T A I N M E N T ]

15 • SPRING 2011

developer in a marketplace with 6,000 registered developers, they appear to have an intuitive understandingof what that is.

On average, a Berzerk game gets played 8 to 12 milliontimes and their wares have been translated into Japanese,Spanish and Russian. Indeed, it’s a global marketplace and from the confines of its cozy Quebec City studio,Berzerk can sell a single title some 20 times to clients ithas never met. Most of the transactions work through a gaming industry site called Flashgame License, a marketplace where independent developers can meet buyers.

With a solid reputation for developing games thatattract attention, Berzerk is moving into the mobile marketplace having already developed an iPhone app.

Building for the Android and Windows mobile market isnext on the list, and they are trying to build their games sothat they can ultimately be imported into gaming consoleslike PS3 and Xbox, should the opportunity arise.

berzerkstudio.com

LE MONDE DU JEULe Studio Berzerk : un loft de St-Roch qui déborde d’idéesde jeux électroniques

Parmi les multiples créneauxqu’offre l’univers d’Internet, celuide la création de contenu est unbon filon. Pour s’en convaincre, il suffit d’en parler à SimonLachance et aux deux associésavec lesquels il a fondé BerzerkStudio, un petit créateur de jeuxindépendant.

Basée au sein du pôle technologique de Nouvo St-Roch àQuébec, Berzerk se spécialise dans la création de jeux flash, médiainteractifs accessibles en ligne ou sur le réseau de téléphoniemobile et utilisant le logiciel Adobe Flash. En deux ans, cetteéquipe à trois têtes est devenue un des premiers développeurs de jeux flash indépendants au monde.

ADDICTIFS ET GRATUITS Facilement accessibles, souventaddictifs et gratuits, les jeux Flash sont divers et variés dans leur niveau de sophistication et ils sont surtout très nombreux : il en existe des dizaines de milliers et de nouveaux sont créés continuellement.

Pour créer un jeu du début à la fin, les six personnes del’équipe de Berzerk nécessitent environ trois mois. « Mais notrerecord est de trois semaines », explique Simon Lachance enajoutant qu’il existe dans leur secteur deux manières de fonctionner.Soit on développe un jeu et on le vend à un site de jeux en lignequi tire ses revenus d’annonces publicitaires, soit on travaille pourun client dans le but de créer un jeu autour d’un produit dans lecadre d’une stratégie de marketing viral.

C’est cette deuxième option qui était la spécialité de SimonLachance, Étienne Jean et Marc-Antoine Jean (pas de lien de parenté) avant qu’ils ne fondent Berzerk.

« On a préféré développer nos propres créations originalesplutôt que de travailler pour un client. On voulait travailler sanslimites ni contraintes », affirme Simon Lachance.

UN MARCHÉ VRAIMENT MONDIAL Bien entendu, il fautcréer des jeux en fonction des demandes du marché. Mais ça,l’équipe de Berzerk semble savoir le faire intuitivement. En moyenneles jeux Berzerk sont utilisés chacun de 8 à 12 millions fois. Ils sont également traduits en japonais, en espagnol et en russe.

Forte de la popularité de ses créations, Berzerk vient de selancer sur le marché de la téléphonie mobile. Elle proposed’ailleurs déjà une application iPhone. Prochaine étape : des jeuxpour le marché mobile de Windows et Android qui pourraientéventuellement être importés sur des consoles de jeux comme la PS3 et l’Xbox.

BERZERK’S TOP 3 DOWNLOADED GAMES

BERZERK BALLWind up and smack ageek through Berzerkland to earn moneyand level up.

GUNBOTYou’re a robot with agun and a beetle for asister. Find an artifactand blast everythingthat moves for points.

TRAP MASTERAs the dungeon’s monster master, useyour fireballs and fangsto keep the treasurehunters from the doomchest.

QUÉBEC

al l iedpropert iesre i t .com • 16

DIAMOND MINDKnown best for her jewel-encrusted bridal designs and ‘achievement’ rings, Toronto goldsmith Shelly Purdy combines whimsy and skill to bring authenticity to her work.By Yvan Marston

KING WEST CENTRAL, TORONTO / For a lot of people, a ring can be the start of something, but for ShellyPurdy, it’s the start of everything. To her, a precious metalband is blank canvas.

“Most of my collections start with a ring. I love sculpting,carving this wax [form to make a ring] by hand,” she saysfrom her Spadina studio with a enthusiasm that is hard to ignore.

In 2007, this successful Toronto-based jewelry designer re-organized her small retail business into a one-woman enterprise when she found herself doing more administrationand sales and less actual goldsmithing.

MORE PERSONABLE SERVICE Known mainly for her bridal designs and ‘achievement’ rings (stackable rings women buy themselves to mark life events), Purdy had achance to re-assess how she was doing business and wanted to move forward pushing two agendas: one that saw her hone her craft and the other that saw her give more personable service.

And you’ll find both on her Facebook page. Here, severalimages of her work and frequent posts have allowed her toconnect with buyers from Israel, England, Switzerland andacross Canada.

And if you want to know how she made something, justask her. She’s always online, and is prone to flights of fancy,like sending one customer updates on a ring project using aSpiderman action figurine as a prop.

“I have a crazy brain. It was a late night,” she says, shakingher shoulder-length blond hair with a self-deprecating laugh.

But the client loved it and the touch of personality thatcomes from working directly with this craftsperson gave theentire transaction authenticity. And authenticity is whatPurdy is selling.

She learned her craft at nearby George Brown College, graduating in 1987 and moving through a succession of apprenticeships over the next three years until she developed her own animal series that she sold to Birks. When the national jewelry chain folded only months later, she continued to sell to retailers eventually chosing to re-examine her business.

SECOND-STOREY RETAIL It was time to go at it alone. As a second-storey retailer, she began to make a name for herself as a talented designer of engagement rings and caught the eye of the nascent Canadian diamond industry.

Until the 1990s, finding diamonds in Canada was just anotion. But when the Ekati diamond mine in the NorthwestTerritories opened the door, Purdy was among the designerscourted to use its diamonds. Coincidentally, Purdy had beenreading the non-fiction account of how the Ekati diamondfind came to be. Before she could even finish the book, shefound herself on a plane to tour the open pit mine.

WHAT SUITS HER CLIENTS She worked with Ekati usingCanadian diamonds in her collections for a long time, andwhile she stills uses mostly Canadian stones, she works withwhat best suits her client.

Canada is now the third largest producer of diamonds inthe world and with the infrastructure to process those stonesin Ontario and the Northwest Territories, it has the capacityto rival diamond buying destinations like Belgium and Israel,according to Mining Weekly.

With access to a larger market, Purdy sees herself in a positionto further serve her clients. Trust she says, is a big issue whenpeople are buying jewelry. There’s not a lot of markup on largediamond work, so the price is the price, she explains.

“I’ll tell you the truth based on what I know because I want you to be awesomely pleased and to tell all your friends.That’s how I do business.”

shellypurdy.com

[ J E W E L R Y ]

Above: Shelly Purdy’s recently launched royal collection features engagementrings with crown settings inspired by tiaras; and for men, gold and sterling bands featuring regal lions or the monarchy's fleur de lys. Above right: Gothicletter cufflinks; and bull terrier rings from her early collection.

17 • SPRING 2011

TORONTO

al l iedpropert iesre i t .com • 18

AVENUE ATLANTIC, MONTRÉAL / - ExactoCommunications, firme montréalaise spécialisée en marketing et en relations publiques, offre un vaste éventail d’expertises dans l’exécution de chacun de ses mandats.Cependant, son réel succès réside dans la qualité du serviceoffert aux clients.

Lorsque Benoît Allaire et sa sœur Marie-Josée ont embauchéleur personnel pour leur nouvelle agence de communicationsintégrées à Montréal, ils étaient certains d’une chose : ilsvoulaient des serveurs!

« Pas tout à fait, explique Marie-Josée, qui évolue dans l’industrie des relations publiques depuis plus de 15 ans. Que ce soit de l’expérience en restauration ou de n’importe quel autre type, c’est l’exercice de servir directement une personne qui donne de la valeur ajoutée. » Sur les 12 employés de la firme tous possèdent dans leur parcours professionnel de l’expérience dans l’industrie du service.

EXPEDITION MARKETING Pas facile la vie d’un spécialiste dumarketing de nos jours admet Benoit Allaire. Les entreprises disposent plus que jamais de différents moyens pour faire passer leur message. Pour lui, Exacto devient en ce sens, une sorte deguide pour le client.

« Toutefois pour que les gens suivent le guide, ils doivent lui faire totalement confiance, une confiance qui ne s’acquiertqu’en proposant une stratégie solide, une exécution parfaite et un service irréprochable », explique-t-il.

Dix ans auparavant alors à l’emploi de Bombardier, Benoit

brûlait d’impatience de retourner à ses anciennes amours : l’entreprenariat. Dans les années 90, il créa une entreprise devêtements d’expédition, Paradox (vendue depuis). C’est là qu’il s’est découvert une passion, non pas pour le vêtement, mais pour la stratégie de marque et toutes les tactiques qui lui sont dédiées.

DUO FRÈRE ET SŒUR « Nos carrières se sont souvententremêlées », explique Marie-Josée. Spécialisée en commu-n ication de produits de consommation, Marie-Josée a évolué au sein de plusieurs entreprises dont le Ritz-Carlton, le Conseilcanadien de la fourrure et Edelman Relations publiques.

Lorsque Benoit s’est lancé dans l’aventure Exacto, Marie-Joséeest vite devenue sa référence en relations publiques. Par la forcedes choses, leur association leur a alors paru toute naturelle.C’est donc en 2004 qu’ils ont joint leurs forces respectives.

« Ce que je voulais créer était une sorte de coffre à outils pour nos clients. Notre spécialité, c’est la stratégie. Donc, que nos clients viennent nous voir pour nos compétencesInternet, événementielles ou graphiques ou pour nos services de relations publiques, ils auront de toute façon accès à la totalité de ces compétences », explique Benoit.

Exacto, qui compte parmi ses clients Reebok, Permacon,Bombardier, Wines of Chile et Wines of South Africa, s’est vite sentie à l’étroit dans ses premiers bureaux du 6300 avenuedu Parc. En novembre dernier, l’entreprise a emménagé dans des bureaux plus spacieux à la même adresse et au même étage.

Exacto.ca

Suivez le guide!Par Yvan Marston

[ M A R K E T I N G ]

19 • SPRING 2011

GUIDE SERVICEAt the heart of this Montreal marketingfirms success lies a simple truth aboutthe value of good service.

When Benoit Allaire and his sisterMarie-Josée were hiring staff fortheir new Montreal-based, fullservice communications agency,they were certain of one thing:they wanted waiters.

Well not exactly, explainsMarie-Josée. Tall, blue-eyed andblond, she has been plying thepublic relations trade for morethan 15 years and knows all too well the value of responsive service.

“It could be restaurant experience or whatever, it is the exercise of serving someone directly that holds tremendous learning value,” she says, adding that all 12 staffers at the seven-year-old strategic marketing and communications firmExacto have some grassroots service experience in their work background.

EXPEDITION MARKETING Life is complicated for a marketer these days, saysBenoit, there are more ways to move your message than ever before and he seesExacto as a kind of guide.

“But to get people to follow you, you need them to trust you, and trust comesfrom providing good strategy, flawless execution and excellent service,” he says.

Ten years ago, Benoit sat behind a desk at Bombardier longing to get back to hisentrepreneurial roots. In the 1990s he ran an expedition clothing company calledParadox (it was since sold) where he discovered a passion not for clothing designbut for developing brand strategies and all the tactics that go with it.

At that time, Marie-Josée was working for the Canadian fur council, Benoit’scompany was sourcing wolverine fur to trim parka hoods because of its ability toshed frost. Following an expedition, she organized a press conference to raise the profile of her brother’s brand.

BROTHER-SISTER TEAM “Our careers often intertwined,” says Marie-Joséewhose experience includes work for Ritz-Carlton and for Edelman Montreal as aconsumer brand specialist.

When Benoit set out on his own again to form Exacto, he often sought his sister’scouncil. Working with her seemed a natural fit, so the two joined forces in 2004.

“What I wanted to create was a sort of toolbox for clients. We are based onstrategy. So whether you come to work with us for our web, event, print, or PR skills, you will essentially have access to that 360-degree thinking,” says Benoit.

Servicing clients like Reebok, Permacon, Bombardier, Wines of Chile and Winesof South Africa, Exacto quickly outgrew the space it had taken up at 6300 Ave du Parc and moved to larger quarters on the same floor with a complement of 10 staff in November last year.

The growth, explains Marie-Josée, was a function of responding to client needs.

“We wanted to stay true to our promise of service,” she says.

Benoit

Marie-Josée

MONTRÉAL

al l iedpropert iesre i t .com • PRINTEMPS 2011

QUÉBEC

www.alliedpropertiesreit.comAvez-vous une histoire à raconter? Écrivez-nous au news@alliedpropertiesreit.com

Rédacteur en chef: Yvan Marston • Graphisme: Gravity Design Inc.

NOUVO ST-ROCH, QUEBEC / - Yuzu est un des restaurants préférésdu quartier. Depuis son ouverture en 2002, les gens d’affaires s’y ruentle midi. Et grâce à son décor à la fois sobre et branché, le restaurant peutaussi facilement plaire à ceux qui veulent passer une soirée en tête-à-têteà déguster des cocktails accompagnés d’une délicate assiette de sashimi.

Mais l’heure est au changement. Au printemps, Yuzu souhaite briserles traditions en se présentant sous un angle un peu nouveau, celui du resto-club.

« Nous avons toujours su créer une ambiance « lounge », mais aujourd’hui nous souhaitons offrir une ambiance confortable, propice àla consommation et où les gens désirent poursuivre leur fin de soirée.L’objectif est simple : être LA destination restaurant qui offre uneambiance de club », explique Steve Morency, président de Gestion Yuzu.

Pour lui, les sushis resteront à l’honneur et un nouveau menu verra le jour où la qualité et la variété seront au rendez-vous, bref un menu quiconviendra à tous. Mais tout sera dorénavant servis dans un lieu rénovéet agrandi qui accueillera 115 personnes assises au lieu des 70 actuelles.

C’est vers 21 h 30 que Yuzu prendra une ambiance « club ». Leslumières se tamiseront progressivement, un DJ se mettra aux platines et des projections ajouteront à l’ambiance visuelle.

En fait, avant même que les banquettes VIP soient terminées, l’équipe de Yuzu commence petit à petit à introduire une ambiance « club » à ses soirées.

« Nous souhaitons faire participer nos clients à cette transition, enespérant qu’ils trouveront ce changement intéressant. Nous produironsainsi un effet de bouche à oreille qui sera notre meilleure publicité »,conclut Steve Morency.

yuzu.ca

St. Roch’s newest resto-clubAs it is, Yuzu has become something of a neighbourhoodfavourite. Since it opened in 2002, it has been a busy business lunch spot whose stylish and sober décortransitions easily to evening seatings where intimatetête-à-têtes can linger into the night over cucumber andbasil martinis and plates of Tasmanian trout sashimi.

But change is in the air and this Spring, Yuzu expectsto expand its footprint and its attitude by re-introducingitself as a resto-club.

“We have always had success creating a loungeambiance in the restaurant, but now we want Yuzu to be a place where people can really finish an evening,”says Steve Morency, president of Gestion Yuzu.

At about 9:30, Yuzu’s vibe will move to more of aclub atmosphere. Lighting will dim progressively, the live DJ will take to the turntable and artistic projectionswill add areas of visual interest throughout the space.

“We want to engage our current clients in the transition and word of mouth is the best way to marketthis,” says Morency.

YUZU se transforme pour devenir le nouveauresto-bar de Nouvo St-Roch

FSC LOGO HERE