Ad tracking and analysis expert Eloda, of Montreal, has appointed Feargal Connor to the post of director of business development of Eloda’s new competitive analysis service. Connor hails originally from Ireland where he worked in branding. Since coming here, he has been a marketing consultant.

A new study by Toronto-based sports and entertainment marketing company Octagon shows ‘team devotion’ is by far the most crucial factor for fans. The study, which segments fans into various types, has found that the difference in fan types suggests that different sponsorship activation strategies and communications may be necessary to engage the entire fan base. Marketers need to know which sub-category their target falls into in order to plan an effective campaign. For instance, beer companies that want to target young adults should focus on ‘tribal competitors,’ a sports fanatic type who is totally wrapped up in the game and is typically single, younger and have less disposable income. Sponsorship platforms that indulge the all-consuming nature of their passion and link them with like-minded fans will be well received.

The Passion Drivers Study has found that hockey is an opportunity to ‘talk and socialize’ with other fans, with ‘nostalgia’ for the history of the sport and people’s own memories of playing in their youth driving the third group’s overall love of the game. Octagon surveyed 1,200 people and used a proprietary ‘Passion Drivers’ methodology to delve deeper into the three fan types. Results showed team devotion is very important for each, however the way in which marketers would connect to each fan type varies significantly depending on other supporting factors. Over 46% of the hockey fans were classified as ‘loyal supporters.’ For these fans, sense of belonging, talk and socializing and nostalgia support the devotion they have for their favorite team. Nearly 40% are ‘family followers’ whose motivating Passion Driver factor is a love of the game. The smallest fan type at 14% is the ‘tribal competitors,’ who are totally wrapped up in the game.’

* 8 million Canadians (29%) watch home improvement shows on TV in an average week.
* 40% of them watched 3 or more hours of home improvement shows in an average week.
* Home improvement shows have slightly more female viewers (57%) versus (43%) for males.
* Home improvement show viewers have, on average, a personal yearly income of $43,400, slightly higher than the national average ($39,500).
* The top home improvements done during the last 2 years were: interior painting/wall paper (48%); landscaping or yard improvements (39%); and exterior painting/staining (28%).
* While Canadians spent on average $3,800 on home improvements in the past 2 years, home improvement home show viewers spent $4,500.
* The top media by yesterday’s exposure for home improvement show viewers are: TV (91%), radio (86%), Internet (61%), and daily papers (54%).

Source: BBM RTS Canada Fall ’04 / Spring ’05, 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.

Brett Manlove has been appointed SVP, broadcast sales and marketing at Toronto-based CanWest MediaWorks. Manlove was most recently VP of local sales, based in Vancouver. In his new post he will oversee all sales and marketing activities for the broadcast division. In other industry involvement, Manlove is president of the Broadcast Association of British Columbia, treasurer of the Television Bureau of Canada, and board member of the Advertising Standards Council of Canada.

Jennifer Hurlbut has been named VP, marketing and publicity, dramatic networks at Alliance Atlantis. She was previously at the helm of a marketing team at Kelloggs Canada, where her credits include the Special K ‘Keep it simple’ campaign and the All-Bran campaign with William Shatner.

Frequency of switching channels versus muting the sound; by gender

Canadian marketers, take note: It doesn’t matter who your target is, soccer will deliver. FIFA’s Robert Lampman says the sport cuts across all social-economic and age groups, according to the org’s research in 26 markets. Plus, soccer has both genders hooked; 37% of women worldwide typically tune into the World Cup tournament, which kicks off this year in Germany on June 9. Lampman was a principal author of the org’s new sponsorship program, which was brought in house three years ago. It’s been a well-choreographed play, enabling more efficient communications with partners and leading to more innovation, such as Coke’s 26-country trophy tour and McDonald’s campaign to select 22 German kids aged 6 to 12 to be player escorts. Between 1994 and 2006, the value of FIFA’s sponsorship deals has doubled to 1.1 billion Euros.