Boulet becomes Astral Media’s VP interactive media
François Boulet has become VP interactive media for Astral Media. His top priority will be the creation and management of interactive contents and platforms for the company’s various websites. Boulet’s career has included stints at Cossette, Canoe and Radio-Canada.
Maitland appointed national sales DR at Sympatico/MSN
After pioneering online efforts at MSN Canada, Al Maitland has been appointed Sympatico/MSN’s DR of national sales for Toronto and Western Canada. The media sales teams in both Toronto and Vancouver will report to him.
Canada Post leverages its own prospecting tool for new multi-merchant catalogue
If you’ve been thinking about ramping up your marketing efforts by getting into catalogues, but are afraid of the cost and risk, you may want to pay attention to the multi-merchant catalogue Canada Post will be testing this fall. It will be about 24 pages and feature double-page-spreads from 10-15 merchants, ranging from home and garden to apparel to travel. The only confirmed merchant as of today is Ottawa-based kitchen accessories retailer Ashton Green.
Marketers start their engines for NASCAR road show
When the NASCAR Experience Travelling Roadshow begins rolling through 19 Canadian cities for its second annual go-round today, the fan-friendly exhibition will bring with it nearly as many brand exposure opportunities as speedy cars.
Canadian marketers leveraging NASCAR’s popularity among 5.8 million Canadian fans, and the fact that it’s the number-one televised motor sport in Canada, include: Headz Gamez, which is bringing a life-size version of its NASCAR Racing board game that literally allows fans to become part of the action; Coca-Cola Canada’s Full Throttle, which is NASCAR’s official energy drink in Canada and will have a show car on display; and Lilydale Foods, which will have sampling of its poultry products as well as a show car. All three sponsors will have television media support through commercial inventory during NASCAR broadcasts on TSN and Rogers Sportsnet.
Harper Collins went deep and digital to reach readers
Haven’t yet heard of Londonstani, the sizzling new novel about British-born Asian gangstas in the mean streets of the U.K.? You will, thanks to the most innovative book campaign since Jack McClelland led a parade of chariots and gladiators down Yonge Street in a blizzard.
HarperCollins Canada is pulling out all the stops for Gautam Malkani’s buzzed-about debut novel, which just hit Maclean’s bestseller list and was described by a reviewer as ‘street-wise, blinged-out Sikh teenagers running riot in a London suburb.’
Soccer’s Over – Vaudeville’s back – BBM TV Top 30 for July 10-16, 2006
With the World Cup Finals finally ended, oodles of eyes turned back to watching erstwhile hopefuls dance and sing, as reflected in the top four choices during the week of July 10-16, 2006. For a list of the top 30 TV shows, according to BBM, please click the links below:
CRTC says ads can stay in VOD fare
Cogeco cable and Bell ExpressVu got the regulatory greenlight to air spots in some VOD fare, with strings attached. The ad must already have aired in a show broadcast by a Canadian programming service, and to offer the show on VOD they need approval from the first-window Canadian broadcaster, and cannot charge the consumer for the show.
Royal Canadian Mint tries grabertising
Who knew the stately Royal Canadian Mint would ever get jiggy enough to try a spot of grabertising? That’s what it’s doing in a new campaign to coax Canucks into getting their pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, loonies and toonies out of wherever they’re stashed and back into circulation.
Wielding the tagline ‘Change is good,’ the Mint has teamed with Coinstar, Inc. – supplier of those big, green machines that count coins at roughly the speed of light and spit out redeemable vouchers – for a seven-week promotion in the Toronto area. This includes a radio ad buy, in-store promotions, a media relations program and Web marketing (via mint.ca) in both English and French.
Thirty-second radio spots will run for four weeks, approximately 5,000 bag stuffers will be available at 135 GTA Dominion, A&P, Ultra Food & Drug and Barn Market stores. As well, 50 Grabertising-branded shopping carts will be in use at 89 of the stores.
‘Grabertising is an inexpensive way to target to consumers while they are just a few feet from (our) machines,’ says Pam Aung Thin, Coinstar’s VP communications. ‘It’s an innovative way to communicate with your customer, when and where it counts, for an average of 28 minutes.’
Lamar rewarded for helping Vancouver Transit buck the odds
While revenue for public transit advertising was taking a dive elsewhere, profits for TransLink (Greater Vancouver Transit Authority) have headed in the opposite direction – in part because of the initiatives of its long-time licensee, Lamar Transit Advertising. That’s why, after a seven-year partnership, TransLink recently awarded Lamar a ten-year renewal, with an extra option that could take the deal to 2020.
Byron Montgomery, Lamar’s VP and general manager, attributes his company’s successful track record mostly to ‘our innovative, state-of-the-art transit displays and our proposal for the 2010 Olympics period.’
Nielsen Media Research Spend Trend: Media properties
As the new TV season approaches, so does all the advertising promoting the fall lineups. TV properties – cablecos, networks, and conventional stations – are the biggest Q3 spenders of all the media properties. Combined, they have accounted for 59% to nearly 65% (2005) of the spending in the category for the past four years. Dailies attract more than 40% of the dollars each year, with OOH running a distant second.
(Note: Promotional spots on the network or in the media property being advertised are not counted but ads on another network or medium, including those owned by the same parent company, are part of the tally.)
Camilleri appointed CEO of True North
Richard C. Camilleri, former president of CanWest Mediaworks, has been appointed CEO of Toronto’s True North Corp. (TNC). While at CanWest, he was responsible for the company’s Canadian media operations including the Global Television Network and CanWest Publications (including the National Post and 10 major metro newspapers).
TNC frames its identity as ‘The Return On Ideas Company™’ and focuses on marketing services and sales channel support. The company intends to implement an organizational restructuring when it completes the acquisition of C3 Online Marketing, a deal that’s currently under review by the TSX.
Prior to his stint at CanWest Mediaworks, Camilleri was chairman and CEO of ARIUS3D Inc, a successful technology startup that developed and deployed proprietary 3D imaging technologies. In 1993, he became president of Sony Music Entertainment, and in 1997 became one of seven members of the Global Strategic Planning Committee for Sony Music Entertainment, during which he participated in a strategic plan to transform Sony Music’s global operations for the digital age.
Marketing community’s early response to BGM/CHUM deal is mixed
Ask Fred Forster what he thinks about Bell Globemedia swallowing up CHUM and you get an earful.
‘I think it’s bad for advertisers, bad for marketers, and ultimately it’s going to cost consumers because advertising prices will go up and get passed on. Nothing good can come of this,’ fumes the president of Toronto’s PhD.
Why exactly does Forster say he’s so ‘alarmed’? And why has he been getting calls from ‘very concerned’ clients ever since the surprise announcement last week?
‘Because our own quick analysis of the situation indicates that, if the CRTC approves this deal, then for adults 25-54, BGM will control 54% of conventional ratings in primetime in Toronto and 36% of total purchasable ratings,’ he explains. ‘And for total English Canada, it will be 51% of purchasable ratings in primetime.
Kraft Dinner to star with Strombo on tonight’s simulcast premiere of new music reality show
Canadian interest in getting brand exposure on yet another American Idol clone was iffy until last week’s surprise announcement that our own George Stroumboulopoulos had beat out many other candidates for host of The One: Making a Music Star – and that CBC would be simulcasting the ten-week series with ABC beginning July 18.
That’s when the phone started ringing off the desk of Jamie Michaels, director of customer marketing at the Ceeb.
‘With George winning the host spot and bringing a lot of excitement and credibility with him, the interest level among Canadian advertisers was definitely piqued,’ says Michaels. ‘And the evidence of that is that, within days, Kraft Canada came on board with Kraft Dinner.
‘It’s a full sponsorship including opening and closing billboards, promotional air time and media around that. The KD logo is already attached to promotional spots which began running on CBC on July 13, and it’s in our print material, including ads in some dailies.’
Kraft Canada sponsored the just-wrapped Hockeyville series as well as supporting Hockey Night in Canada for several years. The company’s interest in sponsoring The One, says Kraft’s director of media Sandra Cifersons, is that ‘A key consumer insight for Kraft Dinner is the importance of self-expression. And music is a natural vehicle for self-expression, making it synergistic with The One.’
Michaels says that CBC is currently ‘in discussions with some other sponsors and we should be able to release those names very soon.’
Produced by reality pioneer Endemol USA, The One will be broadcast to 23 countries and feature 11 contestants attending a music academy while competing for a major recording contract. As with American Idol and Canadian Idol, the contestant-eliminating results of viewers’ votes will air the following night.
A veteran music expert, Stroumboulopoulos was a producer and host of MuchMusic’s The Punk Show, The NewMusic, Loud and MuchNews before joining CBC 18 months ago. He will continue as host of The Hour when it moves to a late-night slot this fall. Whether he will have time to also host a Canuck version of the series, to be called The Canadian One, is still up in the air, along with timing of its debut.
What’s not in doubt, at least for fans of gorgeous George, is that he will make both Ben Mulroney and Ryan Seacrest look like yesterday’s news.
Race for radio ratings still heated – BBM July 17, 2006
by David Bray
David Bray is SVP of Toronto-based Hennessy & Bray Communications.
As summer sets in, the race for ratings shows no signs of cooling down, as demonstrated by BBM’s latest ratings.
Alliance Atlantis: 87 new series plus 77 returning for 2006/07 season
Alliance Atlantis’s 2006/07 slate has 87 new series and 77 returning shows including buzz-worthy U.S. imports such as HBO’s Deadwood, beginning September 4 on History Television, and Showtime’s Huff on Showcase. Nearly one-third of the new season across its roster of 13 specialties is made up of homegrown Canadian shows.
Returning favourites on Showcase include Rescue Me season three (August 29); Weeds season two (August 30), and The L Word season three (September 28).
