Jesse Kohl
TalkingPets.ca gets users and their furry friends engaged
A dual platform campaign by Lowe Roche aims to put Nestlé brands at the centre of the UGC craze. Hey, next thing you know, your cat might be hogging the Internet connection.
TV Guide makes strategic move to web
TV listings and advertising opportunities may never be the same for the decades-old brand.
Sony pushes PS3 and opens access to PSP gamers
New ads are pumping PS3 launch and PlayStation Portable users get ‘more than just gaming.’
Association rolls out tempting stats on OOH impact
Out-of-home agency execs consider stats that show women ‘see’ more than men, Internet tops TV in exposure time, and OOH ads, more often that not, tend to get a second look
Discovery’s Star Racer attracts Mazda, Castrol and Edge Active Care
Brand integration is shifting into high gear for the Discovery Channel’s Star Racer as a major marketing campaign kicks off this week to promote the highly-sponsored series premiere on Oct. 24 (10 p.m. ET/PT).
Wonder brand goes back to schools for fitness positioning
Weston Bakeries hopes to get 700,000 kids running, jumping and dancing for the chance to appear on a loaf.
Programming Profile: TLN Telelatino
As new competitors enter the Spanish-language TV market in Canada, Telelatino repositions to address broader Latino aud – and targets English daytime share.
Poignant United Way campaign takes best of show at Extras
The Canadian Newspaper Association’s top honour went to a campaign that did something radical for the news environment – it used no words, and told a story using only compelling B&W images and a clever use of the charity’s logo.
Corus gets into the MMOG game
Corus Entertainment has inked a deal with Quebec-based Frima Studio to develop a network of massive multiplayer online games (MMOGs) for kids, code-named Constellation. MMOGs are a hot and sticky gaming phenom which allow players to explore a vast virtual universe where they can compete, chat, collect, create and customize characters and play mini-games. The MMOGs are set to launch later this year, with a mission to strengthen core Corus brands in the digital world.
The deal will provide marketers targeting kids aged 8-12 with ‘unique and integrated sponsorship opportunities,’ says Corus Entertainment president/CEO John Cassaday. ‘MMOGs are among the fastest growing segments in online games and, to date, nothing of this magnitude has been developed for kids in North America.’ Frima Studio, founded in 2003, has produced interactive content for the likes of Warner Bros., MegaBloks, Shockwave and SRC/CBC.
CAB president pushes policy-makers to ponder ‘Me Media’
Take a look at Pandora.com, where users can find their own ‘personal DJ.’ Type in a song or an artist and the website designs a radio station based on that initial hint of taste. ‘And after you do that, ask yourself if it makes any sense for the CRTC to continue to regulate commercial radio…’
That’s one of the big questions Canadian Association of Broadcasters president Glenn O’Farrell posed last week to the Broadcast Executives Society. Urging those attending to consider this and other stats and anecdotes, he painted a picture of what a regulated industry is up against in an increasingly unregulated world of fragmented content distribution. O’Farrell welcomed a government review of the television landscape, but served up cautionary warnings that, in order for Canadian content to thrive, policy-makers need to think long and hard about the ‘unprecedented challenges to the old order.’ In pursuit of today’s ‘audience of one,’ he said, broadcasters are forced to compete with one hand tied behind their backs.
More CGM: Canada.com lets users put their faves on the map
Users of the Toronto and Vancouver city guides on Canada.com can literally put their favourite places on the map – along with pics, video and opinions – as part of a Canada MediaWorks partnership with Platial, an Oregon-based company that’s currently building an interactive atlas with user-generated features.
Mario Alfano, senior VP for CanWest MediaWorks Interactive, tells Media in Canada that ‘in order for this to become a useful tool, it has to be populated. We’re letting the early adopters go in and make the content richer.’ Future branding and sponsorship opportunities could come in the form of sponsored weekly themes such as favourite pet shops or entertainment venues. Flags and tags could also be useful in generating superimposed maps targeting – for example, hikers, bikers or mothers in search of kid-friendly coffee shops. ‘There’s definitely an opportunity here for marketers to bring a lot of good will,’ says Alfano.
Platial CEO Di-Ann Eisnor says that results for what she calls ‘the citizen-driven experiments’ in the two cities will be reviewed within one month. ‘Obviously, if they’re positive, then we’d like to have a footprint wherever Canada.com is.’ Monthly site traffic averages 3.55 million unique visitors.
Flashlight Comics aims to take sponsors to school
Flashlight Comics, a free anthology of literacy-boosting comics by Ottawa’s IronLungFish Press, is aiming for a December launch into schools across Canada, and offering selected national and regional sponsors and advertisers ‘unprecedented distribution and unparalleled exposure,’ says owner and publisher Dave Whelen – who is presenting the opportunity to media buyers in Toronto this month.
Marketers involved with child-positive and healthy products, services and events (a list of criteria is posted on the publication’s website) will be offered the services of a core team of illustrators to help adapt spot ads into comic form.
Shooting for readership of 500,000 or more in the first issue, Whelen says he’s ‘about 10% there. We just signed on our 400th school.’ In Whelen’s perfect world, Canada’s 11,000 elementary schools (a potential total audience of 2.1 million) would receive Flashlight Comics six times a year.
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