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Race-based competition on Survivor: Cook Islands doesn’t faze many Canadian advertisers
Down south, the decision to divide contestants on Survivor: Cook Islands by race was followed by an advertiser walkout by Home Depot, Campbell Soup, P&G, Coca-Cola North America, Johnson & Johnson and even General Motors, which has sponsored the show for 12 seasons. But when the series’ 13th season premieres on Global tonight (8 p.m. ET/PT), few Canadian advertisers will be distinguished by their absence.
Says Helena Shelton, senior VP broadcasting operations for Toronto’s MBS, ‘We advised all our clients that the Survivor teams were going to be based on ethnic lines. Some pulled out, some did not, and some did but then changed their minds.’ As for the series’ Canadian broadcaster, Brett Manlove Sr., VP broadcast sales & marketing for CanWest MediaWorks, says ‘there has been a consistent flow of interest for the series from Canadian advertisers.’
In other Survivor news, Rogers and CBS Paramount International Television just inked a deal that will allow Rogers Personal TV customers to access the new season via VOD.
Second season of Footballers’ Wives premieres on BBC Canada
In yet another of this fall’s lively street campaigns for upcoming series, BBC Canada will send a team of what it terms ‘foxy British-costumed lassies’ tooling around downtown Toronto in a chauffeured Rolls Royce tomorrow and handing out ‘Frisky Friday’-branded breath mints and saucy hologramed promo cards. Footballers’ Wives, which predates Desperate Housewives and rivals it for saucy shenanigans, premieres on BBC Canada tomorrow night at 9 p.m. ET (6 x 50 min.)
Also included in the channel’s ‘Frisky Fridays’ are the North American premiere of Hotel Babylon (September 15, 10 p.m., 8 x 50) followed by Matchmaker (11 p.m., 39 x 30) and Sex Toys & Chocolate (11:30 p.m., 39 x 30).
Humble hullabaloo for season four premiere of Corner Gas
As befits a series that’s remained humble despite boffo domestic success, Corner Gas will get a coast-to-coast sendoff for its September 18 premiere on CTV – but on radio.
Most of Canada will wake up in Dog River, Saskatchewan, that day, when eight radio stations from across the country broadcast live from the series’ Regina set. The seven-hour radio marathon is the latest in a series of innovative marketing outreach campaigns by CTV that have contributed to Corner Gas becoming the number-one Canadian comedy series among domestic viewers. The radio gig will begin at 3 a.m. local time with C100 in Halifax and continue until 10 a.m., when Vancouver’s Jack FM wraps up its morning show – with the Corner Gas crew live on-air on additional radio stations from Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary and Edmonton.
Other elements of the campaign include listen-and-win contesting with the radio stations offering fans the chance to win a walk-on role during season five. The campaign is being supported by 30-second on-air promos on CTV in each local market driving viewers to tune in to the participating radio station for contest details. The initiative was created in-house at CTV.
PMB Factoid
Personally Drank Milk in Past 7 Days – Indexed by Occupation
Telus launches virtual store complete with virtual saleswoman
You know your brand is solid when people are willing to pay for virtual editions. Montreal-based Telus is the second company to set up a virtual store in the 18+ virtual world/social networking site Second Life, in which 600,000 global users create virtual identities and conduct ‘second lives.’ Within one week of its late August opening, Telus had sold 100 virtual phones.
Right now, the phones are just able to help make avatars look important by enabling ‘busy’ modes to let other players know when they’re occupied in the real world. Users are also able to download ringtones. Telus has set up its own virtual saleswoman, Sparkle Dale, to sell phones and collect consumer feedback. Telus is currently trying to figure out how to facilitate a common user request: to somehow let virtual phone calls translate into real-world phone calls.
ParentsCanada mag to offer abundant ad opps
Fully 70% of Canada’s eight million parents don’t currently read parenting magazines. That’s the consumer insight that prompted the venerable Family Communications publishing group to come up with a new concept for ParentsCanada magazine, which will debut in March with advertising opportunities for a broad range of brands.
Publisher Jane Bradley says her magazine will address the facts that ‘there is an under-served audience of once-upon-a-time singles who didn’t lose their edge when they became parents, and that the definition of ‘family’ is changing.’ Thus, with input from the publisher’s 1,700-member parent board of advisors, stories will include advice on raising children from experts including medical practitioner and editor Dr. Marla Shapiro, but also focus on the lifestyle of parents. With an initial circulation of 120,000 and a cover price of $4.95, the magazine will be published quarterly in 2007, graduating to six times a year and then monthly in the future.
‘Obviously, the core children’s products will be relevant advertisers in ParentsCanada,’ she explains. ‘But beyond that, parenting magazines have proven to be a successful vehicle to reach women – and therefore our magazine will appeal to any product and service that’s important to women, from cosmetics to financial to automotive.’ As well, a percentage of all advertising sales will go to children’s charities, with acknowledgement of advertisers’ contributions.
ZenithOptimedia: TV ad spend growing but not as quickly as in the ’90s
According to a just-released report by ZenithOptimedia, television advertising is now growing at 5.0% a year, compared to 6.3% a year in the 1990s in Canada, the US and Latin America. The combined market generated over US$140 billion in advertising expenditure and subscription revenues in 2005. That was about 20% more than the whole of Europe and Asia Pacific, with Canada and the US contributing 85% of the total.
According to the report, cable remains the most popular means of receiving pay-TV, but digital satellite is growing rapidly and attracting customers from cable. Cable operators are responding to this competition by upgrading their networks to offer better services. TV advertising expenditure has recovered considerably since the beginning of the decade. It increased at around 2.4% across the region in 2005, with all markets showing some growth. Competition from cable and satellite channels is keeping prices down, as is the rise of Internet advertising. The increase in popularity of PVRs is not proving to be a catastrophe for advertisers, but it is making audiences somewhat more difficult to reach. Pay-TV subscriptions are expected to account for almost 54% of commercial revenues by 2014.
Dearth of HD programming easing
Toronto-based production and broadcast company High Fidelity HDTV has launched two new channels – Rush HD and Equator HD – on Bell ExpressVu, adding to the two HD channels it premiered in March, Oasis HD and Treasure HD. Rush HD will focus on adrenaline-pumping adventures, while Equator HD will explore remote cultures, exotic geography and unique rituals and spectacles. Ad opps are currently available on all these channels except Oasis.
VRAK.TV gets license to advertise to viewers 2-17
A CRTC decision has upped VRAK.TV‘s target audience from 2 to 14-year-olds to 2 to 17-year-olds, and granted it a license to broadcast advertising content. Montreal-based Astral Media TVPlus plans to add up to 12 minutes of national advertising time per hour to VRAK’s grid.
TSN rolls out an interactive first for Canadian football
Getting into the game took on a new meaning for fans of Wendy’s CFL (named for the title sponsor) on Friday as TSN Interactive, sponsored by Molson, kicked-off its run of web-based interactivity with televised football in Canada. The interactive games are scheduled to run until October 27 and incorporate Molson branding elements into the new platform for audience engagement.
Fans can log in at www.tsn.ca to compete for prizes – such as fully-stocked beer fridges or neon Molson Canadian signs – by earning points for predicting plays, making calls, answering trivia, kicking field goals in online games, and wagering points with other users. TSN is trying to keep momentum after last year’s record-breaking CFL ratings. An average of 395,000 viewers per game tuned in to TSN’s CFL broadcasts in 2005, making it the most successful season in more than two decades for TSN, and topping the previous season high of 353,000 viewers per game in 2002. TSN President Phil King called the September 8 interactive launch ‘a major step forward in sports for combined online/broadcast technology in Canada.’
Chanel adds major bling & armed guards to its TIFF celebrity suite
Now in its sixth year of coifing, painting and outfitting celebs for their red carpet appearances at the Toronto International Film Festival – plus strutting its elegant stuff at exclusive events in its Bloor St. W. boutique – Chanel has managed to top its engagement and PR threshold this time around. ‘Fine jewelry worth well into the six figures’ was flown from Paris, Anny Kazanjian, XD public relations and fashion promotion, tells Media in Canada. And, say folks who’ve been to the suite, the bling is being watched over 24/7 by guards with sub-machine guns.
Auto companies reappear, The Brick tumbles – ELODA ad analysis for September 1-7, 2006
GM and Toyota showed up in the top 15 after absences and Walt Disney Pictures disappeared from it, while P&G stood pat in top spot. This info was gathered through Montreal-based ELODA’s online TV ad tracking, auditing and viewing services. All data supplied is based on the ELODA recording grid.
Telus and Princess Madge still on top – Media Monitors for the week of September 4-10, 2006
Check out others topping the radio charts by category and brand in the Toronto market for the week of September 4-10, 2006.
YTV dubs Saturday morning ‘Crunch’ time
YTV is offering youngsters a collection of items to make them feel invested in its Saturday morning ‘Crunch’ programming block, which premiered last week. Available from www.mycrunch.com are Crunch door knob hangers, freedom flyers, the official ‘Day 6’ rules and the block’s official manifesto. Included in the block are returning favourites Captain Flamingo, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly Odd Parents and Danny Phantom, plus newbies Viva Pinata, The Far Out Adventures of Team Galaxy and Shuriken School.
Canadian soccer fans expected to flock to expanded GOLTV offerings
GOLTV, Canada’s only 24-hour sports network dedicated exclusively to soccer, expects to add a lot more eyeballs thanks to the extension of its Spanish League broadcast rights. The live and exclusive rights will deliver all of ‘La Liga’s’ top teams – as well as leading soccer leagues from Italy, Brazil and most recently Germany, plus most of the South and Central American leagues.
The net is also competing for viewers with its ‘subscribe and win’ promotion called ‘Meet Pelé.’ Open to existing or new Rogers Personal TV customers who subscribe to GOLTV Canada or to Rogers Personal TV’s Sports Theme Pack, the contest offers chances to meet soccer icon Pelé at a ‘Living Legend’ event in Toronto on October 11.
www.goltv.ca
