// INVESTMENT & ADVISORY

Bent Branded

A Branded Entertainment production that represents the best of four disciplines that are required to build brand value in today’s ever fragmented media environment.

• MEDIA
• CREATIVE
• PRODUCTION
• DISTRIBUTION

We’re building a new avenue for brand advocates and advertisers who are looking to engage audiences in meaningful and unique ways. The founding partners are; Cue Digital Media, Alibi Entertainment & Hercules Media Group.

Bent uses the resources from each of its three partners in developing Branded Entertainment and its massive national distribution network, making this company uniquely positioned to be agile and efficient in serving the needs of brands across TV, online display, mobile, tablet, video and social channels.

We understand the journey for brands looking to impact audiences in this highly competitive video landscape. With the right story and the best targeted media we can help our agencies and brand partners to build immersive and powerful relationships with their audiences in addition to developing unique strategies to monetize their efforts.

Bent has the pedigree and passion for weaving and leveraging brands into entertaining stories, on all video-based platforms.
www.bentbranded.com

Blue Ant Media

Is a media company that creates and distributes content internationally in categories that span lifestyle, travel, music, nature, and documentary. Blue Ant Media owns and operates 11 media brands including:

• Cottage Life
• Travel+Escape
• Smithsonian Channel Canada
• Oasis
• AUX

We create and distribute content ranging from music to travel, style to nature, engaging fans across television, digital, magazines and live events. WE CONNECT PEOPLE TO THEIR PASSIONS THROUGH GREAT CONTENT.
www.blueantmedia.ca

iYellow Wine Group

An online, social network and experiential company with a wine community of close to 10,000 members who love wine. Membership is free and members receive invites to wine events, wine tours and wine school classes all year around. iYellow is a place where you can taste wines from all over the world, learn about the wines you love and meet other wine lovers! The wine club plans regular events, tours and wine school classes to attend a la carte. Their website has lots of resources through blogs, videos and photos so you can learn on your own.
www.iyellowwineclub.com

Cue Digital Media

Is one of Canada’s largest online Sports and Entertainment Media companies selling online integrated advertising opportunities, branded entertainment, sponsorships and partnerships to major agencies and Fortune 100 brands. Cue exclusively represents select, established, premium online sports and entertainment properties in Canada reaching 22 Million Unique Visitors and 6.2 Million Canadian Males 18-49.

In a world where short-format video content and the social web dominate what online users spend time with, no one is better equipped to help Canadian brands take advantage and drive video content engagement, to ultimately tell their brand stories in a way digital consumers are more receptive to with proven brand lift, retention, purchase intent and ROI.
www.cuedigitalmedia.com

Giftagram

A mobile gifting app that curates best-in-class local services, products and experiences you can send as gifts to your friends. Giftagram is a mobile platform that you can send awesome gifts via email or text with no address required. Giftagram helps users select the best gifts for each occasion and make it easy to send in three clicks. For local retailers and national brands, Giftagram offers a marketplace and turn-key distribution channel alongside other best in class brands and user experience. All you need to do is download the app and set up an account, then browse through the library of gifts, choose the gift(s) you’d like to send and the recipients, then checkout. The sender gets notified that you’ve bought them a gift and they provide the shipping address for the gift to be sent to and they’ll receive their gift in 2-3 business days. Brilliant!
www.giftagram.com

Influicity

Is an ad-tech early stage business, matching online influencers with brands. Influicity empowers advertisers with technology to search, select, measure and collaborate with influencers on YouTube and across the social media universe. Our industry-first marketplace and platform accelerate the development and deployment of campaigns reaching viewers globally. Showcase your product, tell the brand story, and drive sales with speed, scale, and simplicity.

Hercules Media Group became an investor of Influicity in September 2013 and plays a key role in the business as an executive advisor on their Leadership Team.

Working with dozens of Fortune 500 businesses, the company offers an industry-leading marketplace and platform that makes it easy for influencer content to take shape. This includes sourcing influencers, producing & approving content, multi-channel distribution across digital (social/web) and television broadcast, analytics and optimization. Influicity pays particular attention to scale, ensuring that the influencer system works on a global level, regardless of how large the budget. For this reason, Influicity has become a trusted partner of top brands, ad agencies, and publishers across North America.
www.influicity.com

Canadian Growth Investments

Canadian Growth Investments invests in technology oriented startup companies. We look for entrepreneurs who have a passion for their business, a significant market opportunity, a unique and hard-to-duplicate technology, and a business model that works to serve the target market. We use our investment expertise and resources to help our portfolio companies become powerful forces in their markets.

By providing financial resources as well as management and technical expertise, we work closely with our chosen partners to develop a business strategy, improve sales/marketing capabilities, and increase revenue and margin growth. We believe in enhancement, not replacement, and we work with founding management to create a strong model of leadership. Transparency and trust are at the core of our investment relationships.
www.cdngrowth.com

Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema is a historic, century-old cinema located in Toronto’s vibrant Annex neighbourhood. Operated and programmed by Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, the venue is a year-round home for first-run Canadian and international documentaries, as well as special documentary presentations and showcases, including the popular Doc Soup screening series. Continuing its longstanding role as a community cinema, it also hosts many of the city’s independent film festivals and offers audiences some repertory and specialized fiction film programming.

The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema is proud to be part of the Bloor St. Culture Corridor, which launched in April 2014. The corridor runs approximately one mile (1.6 km) along Bloor Street from Bathurst Street to Bay Street, and is home to a dozen permanent world‐class arts organizations presenting professional arts and cultural events for the public year‐round in destination venues.
www.bloorcinema.com

Casacom

CASACOM is much more than a PR firm, we elevate public relations to the next level. To us, public relations provides a powerful strategic advantage for our clients, leveraging their full potential to achieve strong, structured, and sustainable growth. We have a reputation for excellence, numerous awards and distinctions, and ambitious programs whether in corporate communications, public affairs, or marketing communications, we’ve firmly established ourselves as a leader in the industry. Our headquarters is located in Montreal, with offices in Toronto and permanent collaborators in Vancouver and Paris. Although we are an independent firm, we have access to a global perspective and like-minded professionals through our membership in the Worldcom PR Group, the largest partnership of independently owned public relations firms.
www.casacom.ca

Fortuity Search Group

Fortuity embodies the next phase of Executive Search. Our cutting-edge search methodologies allow us to present our clients highly qualified candidates with a track record of success, proven cultural fit, and exceptional leadership attributes. Our exclusive on-boarding tool allows both clients and candidates to give themselves the best possible opportunity to be successful. Fortuity has developed an industry-leading search process, the new gold standard in executive search.

We have a razor sharp capability in identifying the most relevant candidate, perfectly matching them to the particular leadership, performance and cultural expectations of the client. Often this results in a significant business contribution for both the client organization and success for the placed executive candidate.
www.fortuitysearchgroup.com