Entertainment and alcohol are tops with the French – Eloda ad analysis for April 28-May 4, 2006
Last week, English Canada had entertainment as the top category. This week, it’s public service at 25%. Atonement perhaps? The French are making up for lost time with the entertainment category trumping all things at 33%, with alcohol and building products equal at 11% apiece. Check out others topping the charts, and which brands had the most new spots. This info was gathered through Montreal-based ELODA’s online TV ad tracking, auditing and viewing services. All data supplied is based on the ELODA recording grid.
http://www.eloda.com
MI3 ad spots hit the top 10: Top radio ads – Media Monitors for May 1-7, 2006
Paramount Canada’s Wonderland is once again paramount this week in the race for brands with the most radio ads in rotation in Toronto. New to the charts are the spots touting Mission: Impossible 3, which leapt up from number 183 to number six. Other new brands to the top 10 include: Altamira Financial (at number three), Dairy Farmers of Canada (at number five), luxury auto brand Infiniti and ING Direct. Check out others topping the radio charts by category and brand in the Toronto market for the week of May 1-7, 2006.
http://www.mediamonitors.com
Yahoo! bulks up search advertising
Yahoo! plans to start a country-by-country roll-out of its redesigned search advertising platform this fall. The new platform includes a campaign management app that allows marketers to launch search advertising campaigns across the Yahoo! network much more quickly and make management of those campaigns easier.
Features include an intuitive control panel, enhanced geographic targeting, fast ad activation, ad testing, visible quality index, share of clicks forecasting, and goal-based optimization.
Future versions will include additional distribution options and targeting based on factors such as demographic information or online behaviour.
YTV pushes Pandalian on-air, online and on-demand
YTV will be launching Nelvana’s new fantasy cartoon Pandalian on-air, online and on-demand this summer. The move is part of a plan to give Canadian kids the content they want, when they want it and on the platforms they want it. As things get going, Corus, owner of Nelvana and YTV, says it will add further creative such as interactive games, downloads, personality quizzes and themed clips. Following the adventures of Toby, a panda who has been chosen to save his doughnut-shaped planet from an evil king, the series pans out over 26 x 30 episodes. Toby bumbles into action beginning June 7 as YTV debuts an interactive Pandalian webpage offering a sneak peek episode and promotional clip. YTV will air a promotional spot to support the sneak peak as the ep debuts simultaneously on VOD. Then the show will begin in its regular YTV slot Wednesday, July 5 at 3:30 p.m. From June 7 til July 5, Pandalian will be promoted with on-air spots and on YTV.com. After the launch, the webpage will start ‘Next Week’ trailers of upcoming episodes that will also air on VOD.
Frank Duyvelshoff, director, business development at Corus, says ‘We are presenting multiplatform integrated sponsorship packages to clients that we believe fit well with the Pandalian brand. While not confirmed, we anticipate that we will secure a charter sponsor for this integrated, interactive program. The sponsor will receive on-air and on-line support and will receive broadband streaming of Corus Entertainment-developed Flash creative. The sponsor will gain not only a significant level of support, but they will share in pioneering new ways to connect with our respective audiences through this innovative program.’ The demographic is kids six to nine and no media agency is involved.
GOLTV’s dual-platform series, The Contenders, searches for sponsors
Soccer net GOLTV Canada unleashed a new series entitled The Contenders last week in a bid to fan the soccer flames in anticipation of Germany 2006. The six-parter debuted on Thursday, airing weekly at 8 p.m. The Contenders highlights teams’ trek to the qualifiers with insight from soccer experts Paul James and Jim Brennan. Fifteen-minute webisodes are also on offer on goltv.ca for those who just can’t get enough of The Contenders. Chris Doyle, VP, marketing at Toronto-based Insight Sports says, ‘[The webisodes] gives people access to material they just wouldn’t otherwise see. It’s essentially more content that would otherwise be on the cutting room floor.’ He says that the webisodes are supported via ads running during the on-air component. Six more webisodes are in production, and these will be rolled out online on a weekly basis. Doyle adds that sponsor opportunities are available both online and on-air. The series and its accompanying webisodes target M18-34.
Vision unveils times for new series
Vision TV is rolling out two new shows. We’ll see 39 episodes of Healthy Home, at 30 minutes each. The series highlights innovative ideas for making your home a healthier place, such as solar-powered radiant floor heating and the art of creating homemade herbal salves. Healthy Home will air Tuesdays at 10, beginning May 16. Meanwhile, in a six-part series, Gospel Challenge follows choir leaders bringing together aspiring gospel vocalists in Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. They will have just six days to prepare for a televised performance. The show airs in one-hour eps Wednesdays at 8 p.m. and 12 a.m., beginning May 31.
Discovery uncovers the bad guys
In a new series, War Detectives, The Discovery Civilization Channel chronicles some of the more heinous acts of war committed against civilians in the last century. The four-part series looks at a specific conflict each episode and the investigation of the people who were involved in the war atrocities. The series begins June 4 and airs Sundays at 8 p.m.
Eloda names director of business development
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.
Showcase launches phase two of its ‘thanks’ campaign – and targets the media buyer
Showcase knows a good thing when it sees one and is building on its successful ‘Thanks, Showcase’ campaign because of it. New this time around is the ability for consumers to share cheeky ads via downloads on showcase.ca beginning next week, an expanded national campaign including new markets such as Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Hamilton and Halifax (in addition to Toronto and Vancouver) – and even a campaign directly targeted to the media buyer.
Treehouse brings up a new generation of VOD consumers via digi-download service for preschoolers
Following the lead of our neighbours to the south, Corus will be offering downloads of shows under its Treehouse brand – and has plans to do the same for its W, CMT and YTV brands as well. TreehouseDirect.com, a virtual storefront for families and caregivers to purchase single episodes, bundles or full seasons of preschool-demo shows, is slated to go live late this summer. Shows on offer will include Max & Ruby, Babar and Miss Spider among others. Net spokesperson Amanda Burgess says Corus is considering sponsorship for the content downloads. She adds that Treehouse Direct will be promoted on the home page of the Treehousetv.com site, in addition to on-air billboards, via e-newsletters and online promos. Corus has plans to diversify its online store with music, games and consumer products in the near future.
Prime to restyle as TVtropolis
Prime is no more – or at least it won’t be as of June 1. Instead its owners, CanWest MediaWorks and Rogers Media, are replacing it with Tvtropolis, which will blend a bit of the old with a lot of new energy. Ten- to 15-year-old classics such as Seinfeld, Ellen, Grace Under Fire and Beverly Hills 90210 will be joined by Canadian premieres of such VH1 celeb-reality stateside hits as Hogan Knows Best, Celebrity Fit Club, My Fair Brady and Breaking Bonaduce. These shows explore the ‘real’ lives of TV’s most familiar faces and, says Tim Kist, director of marketing for Global Television Specialty Networks, are exempt from the age parameters imposed by the net’s CRTC licence. Though Global is touting TVtropolis as a whole new brand, Kist says the target demo of 25-54s, skewing slightly female, will remain the same. This raises the question: 90210? Seems like a younger skew.
But think about it, Kist says. The teen soap first ran 15 years ago making it now not only old enough to appear on TVtropolis (which also has CRTC regulations of running shows 10-15 years old) but the original fans of Brandon and Brenda are now 15 years older, fall into the target demo and look back fondly on their first visits to Beverly Hills High. Kist says Prime was rebranded because Global was taking a good look at all its properties and decided that although Prime had done well for both viewers and advertisers over its first 10 years, it was time to bump it up a notch. And they figured why go with a pallid revamp when they could produce a vibrant new brand altogether? He hints that plans are in the works for some innovative ad ventures but at this point we’ll just have to stay tuned.
Restaurants are golden in Toronto and Montreal: BBM Commercial Tracking grids for September 2005 to February 2006
Restaurants are tops with both the French and the English, according to BBM Canada charts tracking commercials by category. See the top 20 by category for the first six months of the broadcast year in a comparison between Montreal and Toronto.
Team devotion tops hockey fans study: Octagon
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.’
Notes from the media landscape: Disney tests interactive ads on viewers of ABC site VOD
Disney is conducting a test of interactive online ads when folks download TV shows on abc.com. Each online episode of Alias or Lost among others will begin with a sponsor ad message. An interactive ad from that brand will then be aired during each 30-second commercial break. This model moves away from the standard TV one where one break consists of many different ads from varying brands. To move on to the next segment, viewers must click through interactive games or coupons and the like embedded within the ad. For those not so easily engage-able, an option to click out of the ads and return to the show after the half-minute is also available. Folks at Disney say the test is to determine viewer’s online behaviour.
When asked for comment on the Disney test, Cynthia Fleming, EVP at Carat Toronto said: ‘Consumers are not likely to be open to spending time with interactive TV spots when they are watching their favourite drama. If advertisers want to reach people in the online space with an interactive ad, just place [one] online.’ She adds that findings from the test will likely be ‘very limited given the small numbers actively downloading programming.’ Brands signed for the abc.com test include Ford, General Electric and Unilever among others.
