We all know communities across Canada love hockey, but the World Fishing Network (WFN) wants to highlight an often-forgotten favourite pastime with the launch of a new contest called WFN’s Ultimate Fishing Town.
The 24-hour fishing channel, which is owned by Insight Sports with media offices in Toronto and Denver, Colorado, is for the first time targeting Canadian communities with a contest offering a chance to win $25,000 towards fishing-related causes, and to have a 30-minute feature show about fishing in that community air on WFN. There is also over $7,500 in secondary prizes to be won.
‘It’s one of those pastimes that a community tends to rally around,’ says Shauna Gosevitz, senior director, marketing, at Insight Sports Ltd. ‘We want to make sure that people know that fishing is just as big as golf and tennis combined. It’s a huge participatory sport and we wanted to showcase some of the fantastic fishing spots across Canada, those hidden gems,’ Gosevitz tells MiC.
Towns can be nominated online, and anyone can support that nom by uploading additional stories, photos and videos to the site until Aug. 2. Then, a public voting round will determine which six towns (two as chosen by voters and four wild-card towns selected by WFN) will make it to the final round.
WFN will then produce a 30-minute show about that town, which Gosevitz says is still open to sponsorships including brand integration.
‘If they wanted to provide an additional product to the winning town, or if they have some sort of service that they want to provide, they can be featured within that 30-minute show as well,’ she says.
WFN will be promoting the contest through 30-second TV spots, print ads in Sun Media-owned newspapers like the Toronto Sun and 24 Hours, and an online campaign, all handled internally. TV providers like Cogeco and Rogers are also supporting the contest with additional online and on-air inventory, and a free preview of WFN from July 1 to Aug. 24.
WFN is available in about 5 million households in Canada, and its core demographic is 75% male, aged 25 to 54, who consider themselves experienced or avid anglers.
