All 10 of Canwest’s dailies and Canada.com are going live with mobile-optimized versions today.
Available on iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry Bold and BlackBerry Storm smartphones, new features designed specifically for the mobile platform come with ad opps to reach the on-the-go audience. Sponsorship positions at the top of every page (exclusively on the mobile-optimized site), locally branded sites spanning city-specific or national programs and mobile-optimized pages tailored around ad messages are all part of the new offerings.
‘Mobile represents a key growth area for our organization as consumer adoption and device capabilities continue to expand rapidly,’ says Canwest digital media SVP/GM Graham Moysey in a recent release. ‘We are moving aggressively to cement a leading mobile position for our brands and content through the launch of these and other recent mobile initiatives.’
One brand spanning Canwest’s paper-digital divide is WestJet, whose ‘Fly Free’ promotion launches this Friday across Canada. A link to register in the contest will appear on the mobile website homepages of the Vancouver Sun, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Regina Leader-Post, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Ottawa Citizen and Montreal Gazette. iPhone users can register to play for a chance to win one of six WestJet Vacations travel prizes.
Other sponsors taking banner positions on their local newspaper mobile sites today include Thrifty Foods in Victoria, Carats Investments in Vancouver, Cork in Calgary, Mainline Motors Rosetown in Saskatoon, Cité Auto Plus in Montreal, Edmonton Oilers in Edmonton, Figure 8 (skate specialists) in Ottawa and Windsor Crossing in Windsor.
The launch of the mobile sites will be promoted via Canwest’s print and online network, including full page ads in newspapers across the country as well as online advertising across the Canada.com network of sites, which reaches over five million Canadians monthly, according to ComScore’s July data.
