Challenged to prove they were Toronto’s best dancer, media joined some of Toronto’s top bloggers to battle it out in a Dance Central 2 dance-off at Xbox 360 Central on 330 Queen Street West. The place was bumpin’ as the dancers took on all-new routines set to an unstoppable soundtrack featuring hot tracks from Usher, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, Bruno Mars, Daft Punk, and Montell Jordan.

Dance Central is all about learning real routines with full body choreography, and Dance Central 2′s completely redesigned Break it Down mode lets players get into the groove better than ever before, with practice sessions to focus on select moves and the power of Kinect’s voice commands to move your rehearsal along more quickly or slow it down. It even lets you record yourself dancing a move and compare your video with an onscreen dancer!

The coolest feature about the addictive new edition of Kinect’s #1 selling dance game? Friends can team up or choose a Dance Crew to go head-to-head in a fierce Dance Battle. Things get really interesting when the all new Free-4-All minigame appears, allowing players to quickly perform moves worth tons of points and jump ahead in score. Players can drop in or out at any point during a song, so the party never has to stop.

We must say we were quite impressed with everyone’s rhythm! Congrats to CityLine guest expert, Yummy Mummy’s Sarah Gunn (@lovelaughshop) who danced away with the highest score and Casie Stewart (@casiestewart) who tallied up a close second!

To see all the dance moves, check out this video.

Mark’s who? You might ask…

Over the past couple of years Mark’s has dropped the ‘Work Wearhouse’ from its name and begun a series of store renovations across the country. Why the change? Mark’s wants to better represent the variety of fashionable and innovative apparel that the brand offers up to Canadians for everyday living.

To get Canadians talking about the NEW Mark’s, the High Road team hung a clothesline in Calgary, grabbed Mark’s models to walk the runway in Toronto and took media on a behind-the-scenes tour of the newly renovated stores in Calgary.

Mark’s hosted an exclusive event on September 15 in Calgary to celebrate the recent reinventions of all 14 Calgary locations. Held at the flagship store, media were invited for a night of Mark’s festivities, which included a media styling challenge, a specially prepared Mark’s-tini cocktail and a tour of the stores latest innovations. Mark’s executives, including president Paul Wilson and vice-president of operations Wendy Bennison, were also on hand to talk with media about all recent changes at Mark’s and the vision for the brand.

During the event, media experienced several new features of the store including the highly anticipated walk-in freezer where customers can test out the Mark’s cold weather apparel like the T-Max vests. With over 15 media outlets in attendance, the event was a great success and gave Mark’s the opportunity to introduce the new Calgary stores in a fashionable and oh-so-fun way!

In Toronto, Mark’s brightened up Yonge and Dundas square on a cloudy September day by hosting three fashion shows featuring exclusive looks from the new fall/winter collection. Models walked the runway in Mark’s latest Perfect Fit underwear, Denver Hayes Soft lounge wear, yoga wear, business casual and winter looks, while host Lisa Rogers discussed the new innovative features and styles that define Mark’s clothing. Street teams stood at each corner of the square handing out 20 per cent off coupons for Mark’s in celebration of the newly renovated Eaton’s Centre location. The chance to win a $1,000 Mark’s fashion makeover got people stopping at the Mark’s tent and signing up for the contest while winning a free piece of T-Max socks in the process.

From outerwear to underwear the show had it all, and consumers flocked to the newly renovated Eaton’s Centre location to pick up the latest looks from Mark’s.

Finally, Mark’s returned home to Calgary on October 13 to set up a 150-ft. clothesline on Stephen Ave. with 350 pieces of FREE clothing up for grabs. The clothesline boasted a variety of Mark’s innovations including Perfectly Pressed shirts, T-Max vests and DH Soft sweaters for both men and women. Fashion host, BR Pirri was on hand to help Calgarians pull pieces of Mark’s clothing from the line to thank them for their loyalty and support of the Mark’s brand over the last 30 years. Within 35 minutes all of the clothing had been pulled from the line and Calgarians went home happy, with new clothing in hand.

Next up for Mark’s? Mark’s Winter Look book comes out just in time for the holiday season previewing styles for holiday parties, nights by the fireplace and outerwear to brave the Canadian winter. Stay tuned and happy shopping!

Put your skills to work for a fast-paced communications firm with a stellar reputation – a place where you can really make a difference. High Road Communications shapes integrated communications programs for the world`s leading brands, serving clients across North America from offices in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver and San Francisco.  

High Road has an immediate opportunity in our Toronto office location for a Manager, Digital Marketing to provide strategic consulting and hands-on integration of digital marketing plans into the marketing communications and public relations mix for our clients.  This net-new  position that has come about due to business growth.

The Manager, Digital Marketing will lead plan development to drive measurable ROI for clients.  The Manager, Digital Marketing will also work closely with traditional PR practitioners to ensure a holistic communications strategy.  A key component of this role will be to drive organic and external new business.

 Overview:

• An experienced professional with expertise in applying digital marketing solutions within a strategic communications framework.  Particular strengths in digital marketing include word-of-mouth/viral campaigns, content syndication, online advertising, lead- and traffic generation, blogger relations, social media and use of Web analytics.
• Part strategist, part hands-on tactician, capable of envisioning, leading or implementing as the situation requires.
• Excellent relationship skills; good listener; respects the expertise of others; ability to motivate and generate effective action from all levels of the organization. 
• A consummate team player who brings a passionate, positive, high-energy approach to client service and delivering results.
• Comfortable in the role of teacher, trainer, mentor – your enthusiasm for what you do is infectious.
•  The successful candidate should possess enough hands-on experience implementing digital marketing to translate terminology into a language that all can understand. He or she should enjoy training / teaching both account staff and clients.

 Responsibilities:

• Identify marketing problems, perform research, and analyze trends/results to determine strategic implications.
• Implement internal/external engagement models and processes around strategic planning.
• Develop, package and integrate digital marketing consulting and tactical services within the communications mix of several high-profile clients.
• Perform marketing analysis, including segmentation, social media, survey, market share, web behavioural analysis
• Collaborate on proposals and pitches; proactively identify new opportunities for client growth.
• Manage projects for on-time and on-budget completion.

 Qualifications:

• Seeking 5+ years of overall experience working with clients and developing business within a digital firm, PR agency, or advertising/marketing agency.  Agency experience is a must.
• In-depth knowledge of digital, social and mobile marketing communications strategy, analytics and user behaviour (segmented analytics and channel marketing).
• You’re a specialist in paid media (paid digital marketing space/advertising search engine and knowledge of paid content sponsorship), and you work very well weaving your channel expertise into integrated programming.
• Strong understanding of integrated advertising.
• Strong understanding of brands and branding as a discipline.
• An ability to envision and develop holistic, offline and online marketing communications strategy, weaving in digital strategies to drive ROI for clients.
• Proven track record of excellent client counseling, including strategic thinking, verbal and writing skills; you’re a natural at building relationships.
• A passionate and persuasive advocate of digital media.

 If you have the above qualifications, please submit your resume to Raman Uppal, Senior Human Resources Specialist at careers@highroad.com

 For more information on High Road Communications – please visit our Web site at www.highroad.com.