CTV’s marketing department knows everyone likes to look their best – so to promote the upcoming third season of Canada’s Next Top Model, they provided makeovers for staff of their media agencies and advertisers last fall.
‘We took photos of them and sent them off saying that they were ‘Canada’s Next Top Model,” says Mary Kreuk, VP marketing at CTV, about the presentation to woo agencies in Toronto like MediaEDGE, ZenithOptimedia and The Media Company.
‘We wanted to make a splash, given it was now with CTV versus the previous broadcasters [CHUM Limited]. We wanted to show that we were operating differently and getting their involvement right from the get-go.’
CNTM, produced by Temple Street Productions and hosted by Jay Manuel of America’s Next Top Model, will launch with a few changes. For the first time, the show is on a nationwide casting tour, allowing hopefuls to try out in malls in five major Canadian cities. As evidence of CTV’s greater promotional reach, executive producer Sheila Hockin says they’ve already had double the number of applications this year – even in Quebec, which they had not penetrated before.
They are also working with a new modeling agency, Toronto-based Elmer Olsen Model Management. Fashion Magazine is a returning partner, as are veteran sponsors Procter and Gamble with three beauty brands (Cover Girl, Olay, and Nice n’ Easy) and LG Electronics, for its second year.
‘What we’re working on right now is to try and get more integrated content,’ Kreuk tells MiC. A way of doing this is making the photo shoots and challenges revolve around a product – so if they are working with a jewelry company, for instance, the contestants can model a necklace in a photo shoot.
‘We need products to work with to show the girls what it’s like if you’re working as a professional model,’ says Hockin. ‘They just go seamlessly into the show.’
The show’s target demographic is 18- to 34-year-old women. It will be based in Toronto, and Fashion Television’s Jeanne Beker has been confirmed as a returning judge.
