In a strategy whose stated aim is promoting civic engagement, CBC is hooking up with Facebook to ask Canadians to share their visions for the future of the country. The pubcaster launched The Great Canadian Wish List group last Friday, and already more than 1,000 people have joined up at the microsite cbc.ca/wish. The initiative is also backed by youth organization Student Vote.

Building up to Canada Day, Facebook users can get in on the action by posting, reviewing and/or discussing their wishes for a better country. Users must rally behind each idea and persuade other group members to back their wishes.

CBC will track patterns, trends and discussion, and journalists will interact with Facebook users to generate stories for broadcast on CBC TV, radio and cbc.ca/wish. The most popular ideas will be compiled into a feature for CBC's Canada Day coverage.

Facebook's user base in Canada is now approaching the three million mark.

A new Evian campaign, created by Toronto-based Sharpe Blackmore Euro RSCG and featuring scantily-clad models against a backdrop of the French Alps, launches across North America this week. The print and OOH campaign represents the first time the agency's work for Evian has been picked up for use in the US.

Ron Tite, VP/CD at Sharpe Blackmore, tells MiC the picture of the Alps plus the tagline, "The most important body of water is your own. Fill with care," effectively delivers the message that the Alpine origin of Evian is what makes it different from other bottled waters.

The ads will appear in Canada on billboards in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver later this month, and in issues of Toronto Life, Vancouver Magazine, Food and Drink, Flow, Flare, Canadian House and Home and other publications starting in June. South of the border, the creative will be deployed in taxis, bus wraps and billboards in New York, Miami and L.A. Media buys were done by Cossette in Canada and Mediavest in the US.

Promoting its spiffy redesign snagged the top spot on the radio charts for the Toronto Star. Meanwhile, Hyundai zoomed from #55 to #2, Rogers jumped from #189 to #6 and Rona came in from its lonely spot at #36 to enjoy #8 status. Check out who else topped the charts by category and brand in the Toronto market for the week of May 21-27, 2007.

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