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Working.com expanding into U.S., beefing up ad opps
Canada’s online job search and recruitment website, CanWest-owned working.com, is extending its locally focused services into American cities. This venture will produce a single point of access to over 100,000 job postings daily from more than 200 leading newspapers, magazines and related media sites across North America.
Current major advertisers on the site represent a wide range of industries with strong presence by the retail and health care sectors. Working.com is now a more attractive venue for virtually any industry seeking to recruit staff on either side of the border or to be seen by those who do.
New online gizmo helps women and advertisers look good
What’s being touted as the world’s first personal digital stylist has been launched by the Toronto-based portal publisher Soko Company. The free, initially for-women-only Stylegist.com allows users to choose and coordinate attractive outfits. They first create a personal virtual model by inputting a full-body image of themselves, then choose one generic item of clothing from the site’s 36,000 garments – after which the online gizmo produces numerous possible combinations and displays them on the user’s virtual model. The choices can then be saved for future use and shared with other Stylegist users.
On the advertising sales side, the company has built in a number of forward-looking ad solutions. Targeted text ads can appear when a particular garment is on screen, or advertisers can incorporate their products into the content. On top of this, banner inventory and sponsorships are available.
BBM Media Snapshot: Want to go whale watching?
* 1.8 million Canadians (7%) go whale watching regularly or occasionally.
* 41% of whale watchers are between the ages of 45 and 64.
* The average personal annual income of whale watchers is $44,800, higher than the national average of $38,500.
* When compared with the national average, whale watchers are 1.7 times more likely to read nature and ecology magazines, and almost 1.5 times more likely to read travel, tourism and outdoor recreation editions.
* The top three media for yesterday-exposure for whale watchers are TV (89%), radio (83%) and the Internet (61%).
Source: BBM RTS Canada Spring ’06, individuals 12+
The preceding information is from BBM RTS, a syndicated consumer-media survey of over 60,000 Canadians conducted twice a year by BBM Canada. For more information, contact Craig Dorning of BBM Canada: cdorning@bbm.ca.
TVtropolis to complement oldies with new series
Five new, Canadian-produced series – all focusing on television itself and aimed at a target audience of adults 25-54, primarily female – will premiere on TVtropolis this season, complementing encore shows Friends, Mad About You and The Wonder Years for the CanWest-owned net formerly known as Prime, which relaunched in June.
First up on September 18th for a week-day run of 65 episodes, at 12:30 and 7:30 p.m. ET/PT, with repeats on Saturdays at 11:30 p.m., is the half-hour game show Inside the Box. Host Sam Kalileh will question contestants about television trivia. Premiering the same day is Ad Persuasion (26 x 30 minutes, Mondays at 12, 7 and 11:30 p.m.; Saturdays at 6:30 p.m. ET/PT) – which takes a closer look at the world’s most inventive, seductive and bizarre TV commercials.
FANatical follows on September 19th (26 x 30 minutes, Tuesdays at 12, 7 and 11:30 p.m.; Saturdays at 7 p.m. ET/PT). The series shines a spotlight on the world’s most obsessive TV fans and the series they love. Premiering September 20th,
TVtropolis’ returning celeb-reality exclusive series are the second seasons of Breaking Bonaduce, Hogan Knows Best and My Fair Brady.
Country musicians finally get in on reality action
CMT Canada will premiere the first of six episodes of Plucked on October 2nd at 10 p.m. ET/PT, simulcasting it online and repeating the shows on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. and Saturdays at 6 p.m. The country music network is currently recruiting sponsors for the series itself and for the live finale – with arrangements to include product integration.
The cleverly named series takes six independent country artists who’ve each achieved regional and opening act-level success and transforms them into star material. Each episode follows the daily lives of a contender, after which they go to ‘music industry boot camp’ in Toronto, where such experts as Alan Frew (Glass Tiger), Ron Kitchener (RGK Entertainment Group) and Bonnie Fedrau (So Star Struck!) – give them guidance while they endure management consultations, style makeovers and the production of their own music videos.
CMT viewers will text message their votes for the winning act in a live, two-hour, in-studio special on November 13 at 9 p.m. ET. The winner gets $35,000 towards the making of their next music video.
Gilchrist to head Fuel’s BlueScience strategic planning division
Fuel Industries has hired interactive marketing veteran Brady Gilchrist as EVP of strategy and head of BlueScience – the Ottawa-based branded entertainment developer’s new creative strategy and research division. Gilchrist’s role will be to help clients navigate the branded content landscape. Previously, he founded Marshall Fenn Intermagic, one of Canada’s first online agencies, and developed and implemented online strategies for Motorola, Shell, Toyota Dealers, Covad, Cincinnati Bell, Ford and Acura. Most recently, he built the online practice at GJP Advertising as senior VP of digital. The BlueScience division is headquartered in Toronto.
Sekkat takes over interactive strategies at Transcontinental
Transcontinental Media, the fourth-largest print media group in Canada, has appointed Zouhaire Sekkat VP, digital media with responsibility for implementing an Internet strategy to leverage consumer and print brands and build deeper relationships with advertisers and digital users while disseminating content across multiple platforms. Prior to joining Transcontinental, he was VP, Internet and information systems at Trader Classified Media and, before that, he was a strategist with IBM France and IBM Belgium Luxembourg.
Since this March, Transcontinental Media has announced a number of developments in its digital strategy including a co-publishing agreement with AskMen.com‘s Canadian version; the acquisition of digital in-store display company Enixa TV; a new Web TV studio, and expanded newscast service for LesAffaires.com; a partnership with Pecunia, an industry-leading provider of webcast and video communication solutions over IP to corporations, governments and other organizations; and the launch of its classified ad site in Quebec, merkado.ca. It also has 23 online versions of its consumer magazines and 47 community newspaper websites across the country.
Bettam tapped as McCain’s new marketing VP
Colin P. Bettam has been named VP marketing with Florenceville, N.B.-based McCain Foods Canada, reporting to president/CEO Fred Schaeffer. Previously, Bettam was senior VP marketing and sales with XM Satellite Radio and, before that, he held marketing roles with AT&T, Purolator and Coors Canada.
PMB Factoid
Smoking Cessation Product Use: Indexed by Age
New Canadian women’s mag seeking non-traditional range of advertisers
BOBBi publisher Abbis Mahmoud, whose premiere issue hit newsstands last week, bills his new publication as ‘the first complete lifestyle and fashion magazine’ for Canadian women 17-34 – one whose differences from other such publications begins with the fact that its covers will always feature a man, the first being actor Matthew McConaughey.
With a cover price of $4.95, the magazine’s initial circulation is 76,000 (70% newsstand, 3,750 paid subscriptions). Toronto-based Mahmoud says his strategy is ‘strong editorial content’ and a maximum ratio of 40% ads, and that he is ‘welcoming fashion and beauty advertising, but also seeking advertisers who want to reach this demographic but haven’t traditionally advertised in women’s magazines – liquor and beer, motorcycle, gadgets, computers, video games, online gaming, dating.’ Advertisers in the inaugural issue include Calvin Klein, Rocawear, Schwarzkopf and Ocean Pacific.
Mahmoud plans to build on his successful track record as publisher of another Canadian magazine, Urban Male, with an aggressive marketing campaign that will begin in September with BOBBi billboards and radio advertising in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa, Vancouver and Halifax. Meanwhile, in a series of promotional stunts in these cities, ‘BOBBi boys’ will stand at the busiest intersections handing out free copies of the magazine. As well, launch parties across Canada will be staged with ‘special celebrity appearances.’
In the future, Mahmoud says his team will host large events throughout Canada on a regular basis to which ‘anywhere from 2,000 to 50,000 people’ per event will be invited. These, he says, ‘will be excellent opportunities for advertisers to market and sample to a captive audience in cool settings.’
Temporary pre-site: www.umm.ca/bobbi/coming-soon.html; permanent (to come): www.bobbimag.com
Rising young media star
This is the sixth installment of our ‘Rising Young Media Stars’ series, in which we profile the next gen media minds. Media pundits have been adamant that to succeed in the new mediaverse, agencies require new ways of thinking. Curious as to who these new thinkers were, and what they were thinking, strategy and Media in Canada canvassed the industry, asking media shops to single out their top innovative and strategic recruits. And we’re scouting for more of the same – so tell us about the hot talent in your shop.
Robyn Baldwin
Strategist, OMD Toronto
Claim to fame: After just three months in the industry, and at OMD, Robyn negotiated a creative, content-driven location buy for Wrigley Excel Extreme, which included wall murals and site-specific billboards in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. She cherry-picked optimum locations in terms of linking creative to what surrounded the boards. The Yonge and Dundas media tower in Toronto, for example, made use of the retail-centric placement with the line ‘More Intense than Chicks at a Shoe Sale.’
AltFinds: Mykaussie.com
MiC routinely explores beyond the main menu, sussing out alternative media options and finding niches where the fragmented masses are re-congregating. Enter Mykaussie.com, which includes Mykwebworld and MykwebTV – arguably the first-ever sports Internet TV show. The site may have been flying below the mainstream radar for several years, but it’s been no secret to football lovers around the world, or almost anyone who’s ever Googled NFL, football or cheerleaders.
Clocking about 2,000 visitors a day from a male-skewed audience primarily logging on from the U.S., Canada, Australia and Saudi Arabia, the site is the creation of Calgary-based ‘Myk Aussie’ (real name, Andrew Harrison), a transplanted bloke from Down Under who bills himself as the sports-comedy-media guy. Consequently, Mykwebworld is the ultimate fan site – chock-a-block with sports, news, columns and hours of three-to five-minute TV shows covering NFL, CFL and Aussie football, plus lots and lots of cheerleader interviews. There’s also some coverage of golf, snowboarding and skiing.
Advertisers have the option of buying regular online ads or spots built into three-to-five-minute Internet TV shows. To date, the site has been used successfully by a flock of online retailers of sports tickets and other companies targeting jocks. These include Pure Romo Nutrition, an energy-enhancing product from former NFL star linebacker Bill Romanowski, Sportsinteraction.com, Vividseats.com, tickco.com, buyselltix.com, gotickets.com, and a dating site for affluent singles called Millionairematch.com.
The former mechanical engineer and manager of a large Vancouver IT company, who immigrated to Canada in 1998, considers his site to be primarily an online TV station that serves advertisers well. ‘A sports bar in Calgary, for example, recently advertised in my Gaelic and Aussie Rules Football MykwebTV show. We included a tour of the bar and interviews with the barmaids, so the viewer was obliged to watch the commercial as they were watching the show,’ he explains. ‘There’s no zapping with MykwebTV and we have full-screen, amazing quality on both PCs and TVs.’
Student entrepreneurs launch ad-rich campus mag
With a goal of uniting all Toronto students through one non-campus-specific portal, two business students at York University’s Schulich School of Business in Toronto are launching Campus Life Magazine on September 4th with an initial print run of 30,000. Andrew Au is the publisher and Shaheen Yazdani is editor of the publication – the print version of which will be published quarterly, with a monthly web-based edition.
Yazdani says the opportunity of reaching the desirable 17-25 student demographic has already attracted such major advertisers as General Motors and their financing division GMAC, General Nutrition Centre (GNC), Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment, Toshiba, Redken, Sobe’s A-Rush and Heys International. She adds that the new magazine is also a natural fit for ‘consumer packaged goods, entertainment, alcoholic beverages, clothing brands, student travel and any other student-related products and services companies.’
Content will be written mostly by students for students and free distribution of the print edition will be through newsstand sales in campus locations across the GTA. For the second issue, distribution will be expanded to include other Ontario-based universities. The long-term goal is to boost circulation to 100,000, reaching all schools across Canada by 2008. The magazine’s debut will be animated during early September with the ‘Unite Tour,’ a series of parties hosted by MTV with live prize giveaways and performances by recording artist Jenna G. In time for the magazine’s second issue, a model search contest will be conducted.
Nothing to sneeze at
Timed for the annual ragweed onslaught, a dynamic marketing initiative from Schering Canada, makers of Claritin, has virtually transformed the tunnel leading to Toronto’s Yonge-Eglinton subway station into a grassy soccer field.
As well, six busy subway stations in the downtown area will feature soccer images in the branded subway initiative until late September. Both the creative and the media buys were done by Cossette.
Students get to sound off
Videotaping themselves dishing on everything from back-to-school blues to sizzling summer vacations, or texting in whatever’s top of mind, could win students prizes thanks to the ‘Hilroy Rant and Rave Contest.’ Concocted by MuchMusic, MusiquePlus and Genesis Media, the exclusive co-branded, multi-platform initiative is open to back-to-schoolers across Canada.
Video and text messages may be submitted until midnight ET Sunday, September 3rd. Entries can be viewed online and voting will decide who wins the grand prize – a trip for three to any concert in North America, along with having the winning video featured in a 30-second on-air spot on MuchMusic and MusiquePlus.
