
Tremblay steps in as integration supervisor at Zoom Media
Éliane Tremblay has been promoted to media integration supervisor at Montreal-based Zoom Media. In her new role, Tremblay will develop innovative ad solutions across the company’s various networks. Tremblay has been with Zoom as an account exec for the last five years. She has previously worked at Cossette Quebec and CHIK-FM.

Event
September 20-22
35th Annual INMA Europe Conference
Princess Sofia Hotel, Barcelona, Spain
http://www.inma.org/2006-barcelona.cfm
This two-day conference hosts newspaper execs as they confront the new world of consumerism and technology while exploring the newspapers’ role in it. Program highlights include: the newspaper structure of the future and N24: The case of a successful online newspaper.

***News Flash*** CHUM announces its plans for fall
CHUM’s got something for everyone in the fall, offering a mix of newly-acquired American properties, Canadian productions and returning favourites.
New to the net for fall are:
· Betty the Ugly, a Salma Hayek-produced series from ABC about a plain gal’s adventures in the world of fashion publishing;
· CBS’ Jericho chronicles the drama of residents in a small town plunged into chaos after witnessing a nuclear mushroom cloud;
· American Idol‘s Mr. Nasty, Simon Cowell, is behind the FOX property, Duets, which pairs singers with non-singers;
· Seasons one and two of the HBO hit, Entourage, a show about young hotshots in Hollywood;
· ABC’s Men in Trees stars Anne Heche as a relationship coach with a failed relationship;
· TV personality and chef Rachael Ray will host the new, daily Rachael Ray
The net’s midseason pickups include the CW’s Hidden Palms about a 15-year-old striving to unearth the secrets of his neighbours. CBS’ 3 Lbs., starring Stanley Tucci, follows a brain surgeon’s experience with his own neurological problem. Finally, in mid-season Canuck programming, there’s Terminal City which stars Ally McBeal‘s Gil Bellows. The show follows the life of a woman diagnosed with cancer.
Returning series include: Everybody Hates Chris, America’s Next Top Model, 7th Heaven, Supernatural, Smallville, Supernanny, Battlestar Galactica, Monk, The Bachelor, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Jimmy Kimmel, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Tonight Show and America’s Funniest Home Videos.
MuchMusic properties for fall are The Grinder, a series of music video-inspired pranks and Music is my Life, a show that features folks’ life soundtracks. Meanwhile, MuchMoreMusic will air Back in Love, a series that reveals Hollywood celeb secrets. Jumping the Couch chronicles a pop idol’s fame and subsequent decline.
New Canadian programs for Space include The Triangle, Motel Man and Ice Planet (in pre-production). The first series stars Eric Stoltz and chronicles the adventures of specialist hired to analyze the Bermuda Triangle. Motel Man is about a homicide detective who stumbles into a bizarre motel room. And finally, Ice Planet follows a spacecraft crew who crash into a planet of ice.

MindShare: Clutter on the rise on US TV; Canucks won’t stand for it
Clutter is a growing problem on U.S. TV but now cable is as big – if not bigger – offender than conventional according to the 2006 Clutter Watch study recently released by MindShare USA. The study reports that commercial minutes during prime time on conventional networks rose by 2% in 2005 over 2004 while cable nets increased by nearly 5%. MTV jammed 2.5 more non-program minutes into each prime-time hour for a total of 16 minutes, 13 seconds.
While MindShare Canada has no new Canadian data on TV clutter, Jake Norman, the agency’s managing director/director of Insights, says some of its current work highlights some interesting facts related to clutter – including that Canadians watch less television than their U.S. counterparts and are less tolerant of clutter.

New luxury magazine to launch in the fall; searches for event brand sponsors
Avant magazine is set to make its debut in late September and is in search of luxury brands as partners. The new quarterly mag with a planned circulation of 150,000 will be distributed as an insert to high personal net worth (greater than 100k in annual personal incomes) subscribers of the National Post. Avant will explore trends in business, politics, arts and culture, travel and fashion. Mississauga, Ont.-based Exclusive Style Times Company, the publisher of Avant, is a two-year-old company that once published EST magazine, a regional, and similarly controlled circulation pub. EST has since been rebranded as Avant.
GM Jeffery Clarke says his company is searching for luxury brands in the categories of automotive, apparel, jewelry, cosmetics and alcohol for branded events tied to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the National Ballet of Canada. Plans are in place for Avant-branded wine receptions in waiting areas and lounges of Roy Thompson Hall and the Four Seasons Centre during certain performances in the fall and winter season. Sponsors will have the opportunity to display signage or showcase products via sampling. A full-page ad in Avant runs $17,960.

Canadian history series searching for co-promo partners
Production has begun on the new CTV Travel Channel series Exhibit Eh! A look at the myths and mysteries of Canadian history, the 10×30 series will be shot in HD in 36 locales across the country over the next two months. A broadcast date hasn’t been announced. According to unit publicist Jessie Kergan, the prodco (Big Red Barn Entertainment) has organized cross promotions with Beaver and Kayak magazines and is trying to work similar deals with websites like Historica.ca. Another partner is Enterprise Car Rentals. Slots are still open. The prodco is particularly interested in inking deals with food, beverage and hotel brands.
http://www.brbmg.com.
jessiek@brbmg.com.

Family Channel unleashes its annual Summer Chill tour with brands in tow
Family Channel may not run ads on the air, but it always provides a vehicle for its brand partners via its annual Summer Chill tour. This year’s tour (its fourth) has the net partnering with Laurentien, Kernels, Kisko Freezies and Mattel. The branded vehicle will take games and fun to parks and recreation venues countrywide beginning July 1. On-site give-aways include giant Kisko freezies and Ice Pop-Its plus markers from Laurentien, says Jodi Brown, consumer marketing manager at the net. Kids 8-14 will also get to try out the new Mattel Shield Blasters. Popcorn chain Kernels will be sponsoring two contests. The first is via a postcard giveaway used as a way to win a prize pack online. The second Psychedelic Summer contest entails forced viewing where kids watch for a coloured lava lamp to appear on screen during every Psychedelic Summer movie to win a $1000 shopping spree and a $100 Kernels gift card. Toronto-based TrojanOne is handling the promotion.

April showing the same consistency as last year in specialty: BBM Commercial tracking grids for Toronto March 28, 2005 – April 30, 2006
How are the specialty stations performing in Toronto? April 2006 is showing consistency in a year-over-year comparison with April 2005. Please click the link below to see trending in specialty stations in Toronto.

Reitmans, Sears and the Bay are top of mind with Canuck women shoppers: Brand Audit study
Toronto-based stats measurement firm Corbin Partners unveiled top-line findings from its Brand Audit survey yesterday and Reitmans, Sears and the Bay appeared ‘most familiar’ to Canadian women shoppers. Highlights include:
* Winners and the Gap are identified as the most familiar women’s brands
* 50% of respondents claim Wal-Mart is the ‘best price’ retailer among national mass-market brands
* On the other hand, 35% feel that clothing at the Bay is expensive
* Old Navy is perceived as being the most in style and trendy
* Winners is perceived as having the most variety in styles and sizes
The Brand Audit survey polled more than 300 women ages 18-65 nationally.
http://www.corbinpartners.com

BBM Media Snapshot: Which Canadians are likely to enjoy World Cup this summer?
* 2.3 million Canadians (8%) attend live soccer games either occasionally or regularly.
* Teens 12 to 17 are 1.7 times more likely to attend soccer games than the average Canadian.
* 44% of soccer attendees are female.
* 57% of soccer game attendees never play soccer.
* Compared to the national average, soccer spectators are two times more likely to speak Italian and 1.8 times more likely to speak Spanish.
* In terms of yesterday exposure, the top media of soccer game attendees are TV (89%), radio (81%), and Internet (64%).
* Discovery Channel (35%), A+E (28%), and TSN (28%) are their top specialty channels. It is also notable that soccer spectators are 2.7 times more likely to watch Telelatino, when compared to the national average.
* The top radio formats among soccer game attendees are news/talk (18%), adult contemporary (13%), and mainstream top 40/CHR (12%).
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.

CBC’s summer sked includes four new series, two short-run soaps
CBC has unveiled its summer programming roster. Four new series are on tap including Hustle, What It’s Like being Alone, 11 Cameras and Northern Town. Hustle is an hour-long drama about a gang of con artists in London. The series will debut on Wednesday, June 21 at 9 p.m. The stop-motion half-hour animation series What it’s Like Being Alone starts its 13 week run on Monday, June 26 at 9:30 p.m. The half-hour 11 Cameras is a 22-ep look at human relationships in the digital age. 11 Cameras will air twice a week on Wednesdays and Thursdays, beginning June 28 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 18 at 8:30 p.m. marks the premiere of the six-part, half-hour series, Northern Town. The comedy follows a Yukon-based man’s quest to find a meteorite that has crashed to earth.
Also on the net’s slate are two half-hour daytime soaps. North/South premieres on Tuesday, July 4 at 2:30 p.m. The series is set in the construction industry of Halifax and continues its run on July 5-6 and July 11-13. 49th & Main is a drama around a new medical practice in Vancouver. It takes over the 2:30 p.m. slot from July 18-20 and continues on July 25-27.

Vision recreates Eden in new series
Vision’s new gardening series, Recreating Eden makes its debut on Monday, July 3 at 9 p.m. The half-hour series paints portraits of avid gardeners and their green works of art.

Ricki jumps back in the lake
Ricki Lake returned to television yesterday in the primetime offering Gameshow Marathon. The one-hour limited series preemed Wednesday May 31 and Thursday June 1 at 8 p.m. on CTV. It continues the following week at the same times before settling into its regular timeslot on Thursdays at 8 p.m., beginning June 15 for its remaining three shows. Celebs like actor Leslie Nielsen (Airplane) and Trading Spaces host Paige Davis compete in a championship series of classic game shows such as Let’s Make a Deal and Press Your Luck building to one winner crowned at the end of the series.

Event
Oct. 3
The 2nd Annual Media in Canada Forum
89 Chestnut Avenue, Toronto
416.408.2300 x313.
www.mediaincanada/forum/2006/
U.K.-based Alan Rutherford, global media director for Unilever, headlines The 2nd Annual Media in Canada Forum: Getting to Engagement. Rutherford, the man behind high-engagement brands such as Dove and Axe, will speak of the art and science of getting to engagement.

PMB Factoid
Security system in the home; by city
http://www.pmb.ca