MTV puts online presence into Overdrive
In conjunction with last week’s airing of The MTV Movie Awards, MTV has been pushing new creative to brand its website MTV Overdrive (mtv.ca) as the place for all things MTV and music.
The concept of the spots is that two eyes and two ears aren’t enough to appreciate MTV Overdrive, which includes full-length MTV programs as well as exclusive live performances, interviews, news and over 10,000 music videos. One of the ads has a guy walking down the street with a hundred eyes and ears attached to him like Dr. Octopus, while the other spot has the same guy watching a music video on his computer by the new ‘it’ band Gnarls Barkley. Unique to the Canadian online world, MTV Overdrive has already exceeded two million streams in just 10 weeks and has clocked over 13.5 million ad impressions with nearly half of that coming in the month of May alone.
Hotels.ca and Tim Hortons make up huge ground – Top radio ads: Media Monitors for June 12-18, 2006
After spending time in the cellar of the race for brands with the most ads on rotation in Toronto, Hotels.ca and Tim Hortons have climbed into the Top 10. Meanwhile, Sears Canada managed to hold on to the first place spot yet again. Check out others topping the radio charts by category and brand in the Toronto market for the week of June 12-18, 2006.
http://www.mediamonitors.com
BBC Canada plays dirty with Footballers Wives; plus gets Bleak
Even before Posh Spice hooked up with Becks, the goal of many a British woman was to wed a soccer star. This new eight-part series, which begins airing Aug. 6 at 9 p.m., follows the beautiful ladies who scored with players of the Premier League team Earls Park. But of course, money and fame isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be.
Meanwhile, the net has also picked up Bleak House, based on a Charles Dickens novel. Gillian Anderson stars as the mysterious Lady Dedlock, who holds a secret that, as is often the way, if found out would destroy lives. The eight part series begins airing Aug. 2. Both programs are geared at adults 25-54.
Sympatico/MSN names new manager-ad sales
Sabrina Segal is a recent hire at Sympatico/MSN. The new manager-ad sales was formerly an account manager with the Canoe Network, and has also worked at Excite Canada, the National Post Online and Indigo online.
Jack joins CHUM as affiliate account and training manager
Beate Jack joins Toronto-based CHUM Television as affiliate account and training manager, where she will be responsible for specialty affiliate sales and account management for independent and mid-size distributors. Jack joins the net from Pemorex Media/The Weather Network, where she was an account executive for commercial services.
Vision Media takes ads to the streets… and walls
Working in conjunction with Guerrilla Outdoor Media, Vancouver-based Vision Media has developed a new ad product that’s two parts Angela Bower and one part Tony Micelli (of Who’s the Boss fame). Dubbed Vision STREETWASH, the technique uses large stencils of ads to ‘clean’ an OOH campaign into a dirty wall or street covered with grime or graffiti. Tapping into Vancouver’s largely eco-friendly consumer base, the company has been targeting both environmentally conscious clients as well as traditional products to use the waste-free concept. While Vision STREETWASH is currently found only on Canada’s west coast, the company will also soon be invading the Toronto and Montreal markets. Prices for the service range from $400 for a single application to up to $30,000 for 100 applications. Production costs are extra.
http://www.visionmediaco.com
FlashTech lights up OOH for RBC
Toronto-based FlashTech Canada is once again lighting up Toronto billboards. Ten Pattison Outdoor billboards hawking RBC’s Avion credit card product will be dressed in the company’s electroluminescent technology. The appropriately named ‘No Blackouts’ campaign, created by BBDO with media buys by M2 Universal, will run for two months. Past FlashTech clients include Rogers Wireless and Gino’s Pizza. Production rates range from $2000 to $8000 depending on the amount of illumination.
http://www.flashtech.ca
Vintage Hotels brings wine country comfort to downtown T.O.
Vintage Hotels rolled out its new wine country tourism campaign last Friday throughout Toronto. Helped by Dentsu Canada, the VH team invaded the downtown core clad in Vintage Hotel robes, covered from knee-to-toe in freshly stomped grape juice as part of an awareness campaign. The campaign, which includes magazine, OOH, direct mail and POP advertises the new special rates for the company’s three Niagara-on-the-Lake hotels and its affiliation with Toyota and Canada Tourism’s ‘Get Going Canada’.
Vintage Hotels (formerly Vintage Inns Collection) also recently unveiled its new branding and marketing strategy. The three hotels under the Vintage Hotels umbrella, The Prince Of Wales, The Pillar & Post, and Queen’s Landing all have new logos to better embody the company’s new mission statement, ‘exceptional individuals delivering exceptional experiences.’
Lynk Media signs Rogers Sportsnet
Lynk Media of Toronto has signed a deal with Rogers Sportsnet, delivering sports news to enthusiasts all over the GTA at the touch of a button. The Toronto-based company supplies interactive telephone kiosks set up in colleges and sports facilities – a key demo for the sportscaster. The kiosks provide a rotating ad page and the functionality for the ad to link to the brand’s Website. The kiosks also offer free local calls and the ability for folks to check and retrieve their emails. Liliane Vidicek, president of Lynk Media, says there are currently six kiosks in place with another five slated for September. Advertisers have included Monster.ca, and local retailers The Toronto Hockey Repair and Weg’s Sports Bar. Ad rates range from $200 to $1200, depending on the number of kiosk locations and duration.
Montreal Franco PPM data showing consistency: BBM Commercial Tracking grids for April 25, 2005 – May 28, 2006
Montreal Franco PPM data for May 2006 is showing the same consistency as last year in BBM’s Commercial Tracking grids. Please click below to see GRP trending by week.
They put ads where? Savvy couple signs sponsor brands for baseball stadium wedding
A radio station sales manager and a marketing consultant married their marketing savvy with their desire to have a large wedding on a pro baseball field, signing sponsors 1-800-Flowers, Diageo’s Smirnoff brand, and local cake shop, Grandma’s Secrets among others. On July 8, the couple will be married in front of 500 guests and 8000 baseball enthusiasts behind home plate after a Brooklyn Cyclones game. Sponsors will get in-game promotions, such as a bouquet toss from 1-800-Flowers.com, as well as stadium signage and jumbotron ads. Spirits giant Diageo used their ‘clearly original’ tagline for the Smirnoff brand, creating a signature drink for the clearly original couple. A wedding cake shaped like a baseball field is on order from Grandma’s Secrets and the Wedding Plaza will be providing clothing for the bridal party. The brands involved seem to be getting their money’s worth; buzz has built so much that The New York Times has already done a story in their Wedding section.
Notes from the media landscape: Cover Girl gets between the sheets in teen novel product placement
Cover Girl will be appearing in a teen novel publishing in September. A sentence in the book will mention the brand’s Lipslicks line. A lipstick colour, even. In the no-money product placement deal, Cover Girl’s parent, Procter & Gamble, will promote the novel entitled Cathy’s Book: If Found Call (650) 266-8233 on its beinggirl.com site for young gals.
BBM Media Snapshot: Canadian men love their gas barbeques
* Two million male Canadians (7%) purchased a gas barbeque within the past two years.
* Although 70% of male purchasers are between 25 to 54 years old, males 60 to 64 years old are 1.6 times more likely to buy gas barbeques, when compared to the national average.
* Personal yearly income of males who purchased a gas barbeque during the past two years is $52,800, higher than the national average of $39,000.
* They are two times more likely to have a BlackBerry or a similar wireless device.
* Males who purchased a gas barbeque within the past two years are 2.3 times more likely to use a discount broker for investment and 1.8 times more likely to use an insurance company, when compared to the national averages.
* They are 1.8 times more likely to have visited a physiotherapist during the past six months, compared to the national average.
* The top three media for yesterday exposure for males who purchased a gas barbeque during the past two years are: TV (89%), radio (87%) and Internet (62%).
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.
APTN unveils three new series
APTN is debuting a new half-hour animated series, Bro Town, this fall targeting the 18-34 demo. Airing Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. beginning this October, Bro Town, follows the shenanigans of five raunchy Auckland schoolboys, and has already garnered critical acclaim as New Zealand’s first primetime animated show. Totally politically incorrect, the show is being dubbed as the Kiwi South Park, and judging from the glut of fart, poop, and racial jokes in the early episodes, it’s on its way to living up to the title.
Also hitting the APTN airwaves this October is The Link, a weekday, half-hour afternoon program targeting the 12-17 demo. The show, which airs at 4:30 p.m., will feature music videos, game reviews and home videos shot by Aboriginal kids from across Canada. The show will also follow host Matt Bernard as he travels throughout Canada to discover his Metis roots.
At Banff this week, APTN commissioned six half-hour episodes of Hank Williams First Nation – the Series, a Canadian production based on the award-winning feature of the same name. Veteran series writer Larry Mollin of Beverly Hills 90210 fame is signed on as story editor.
TVtropolis goes Inside the Box with new game show
Beginning this September, new-look TVtropolis will be adding a game show to its line-up of small screen classics. Produced by Toronto’s Lone Eagle Entertainment, Inside The Box, will pit three contestants against each other competing against the clock to identify memorable shows, actors and characters from TV’s yesteryears. The 26 half-hour episodes will begin airing September 18th at 7:30 p.m. and targets the 25-54s.
