Terra Footwear (a division of Kodiak Group Holdings) was so impressed by what TV production company Peace Point Entertainment Group achieved in placing its products on the Outdoor Life Network series Ed’s Up! last season that it has engaged the production company to create a multi-platform, national, bilingual ad campaign based on the original product placement.
The inital effort by Toronto-based Peace Point – which produces TV series and documentaries for Food Network Canada, OLN, TVtropolis, Global TV and Science Channel USA – ‘went so well that I was interested to see how else they could help Terra with our marketing efforts in 2008,’ says Terra marketing manager Jason Redding.
The ‘Terra Works Here/Terra performe au travail’ campaign is aimed at males 18-45, and includes six 15-second TV spots, a companion website and an online contest. The cinema verité-style commercials will feature the Ed’s Up! crew clad in Terra footwear as they prepare to shoot a scene in real construction zones, abattoirs and hospitals in New York, New Orleans and Chicago. Each spot ends with the sound of the clapboard and the director shouting, ‘Action!’ The first three spots will air solely in English on The Score, and in French on RDS. An additional set of three will air this summer.
The campaign website reprises the commercials, but adds an interactive twist. By rolling over the footwear, website visitors access additional information on Terra products. In between each commercial, website visitors are invited to enter the ‘Live Like A Rock Star’ contest. To be eligible, they must submit their own 15-second entry illustrating Terra ‘on the job’ by May 30. Along with being published on the website and entered for the grand prize, the first 300 submissions get a free pair of men’s Terra Pulse shoes.
Website visitors are being invited to rate and comment on all video submissions until August 31. The creator of the highest-rated video will win a grand prize opportunity to live like a rock star, which includes a weekend stay in a top Toronto hotel, use of a luxury car for the weekend, dinner in a trendy restaurant and a swag bag.
‘This is our first entree into the creation and production of marketing campaigns,’ says Peace Point president/XP Les Tomlin. ‘Although unusual for us, it is a natural extension of the product placement relationships we’ve fostered with our television series over the past five years.’
Adds Lulu Vibert, Peace Point’s newly appointed director of sponsorship: ‘Successful companies are looking for new and original opportunities to help set their brands apart and no longer rely solely on conventional avenues.’
