Talk about engaging your audience. It’s a big night on Sunday, Oct. 30 for French-speaking Quebec. Not only is it the night of the Pontiac-sponsored ADISQ gala (a music gala a la the Grammys airing on Radio-Canada), but it’s also the climax point for the automaker’s ‘crève l’écran’ promo. Twenty-five cars will be given away during the broadcast as part of a multi-level awareness program. How to tell if you’re a winner? By placing a Quebecor-supplied, colour-coded decoder on your TV screen to read an instant win message. Pontiac distributed 1.5 million promo bags with decoders throughout the province beginning yesterday in what they claim is the first promo of its kind there. The street teams were strategically dispatched to areas where the company’s research has found to have a high concentration of non-Pontiac owners.
‘Pontiac is a sponsor of the ADISQ and they wanted to generate awareness around the 2006 models,’ explains Isabelle Adam, account executive at Blitz Direct, Data & Promotion, the agency behind the gig. ‘The gala usually generates 900,000 viewers on average in Quebec.’
As part of the promo, TV spots were produced by Radio-Canada inviting folks to tune in to the show and hang on to their decoder. Radio teasers are also currently in circulation, drawing traffic to a microsite at www.25pontiacs.com. Visitors can also sign up online for a chance to win gift certificates from entertainment ticketing company, Admission.
‘We’re also planning to do a phone survey after the promotion closes [on Sunday] to gauge effectiveness,’ says Adam. Media buys were handled by Cossette Media with Blitz at the creative helm. The promo targets adults 18-44.
