Notes from the media landscape: AOL gets Punk’d over
First it was uber-producer Mark Burnett. Now, Ashton Kutcher? America Online (AOL) announced this week that Kutcher’s production company Katalyst Films has been signed to create ‘disruptive’ online characters to infiltrate AOL’s instant messaging community. Katalyst is the prodco that brought Punk’d and
Nielsen Media Research Spend Trend: Valentine’s Day plays out on TV
Marketers of traditional Valentines Day tokens of love – greeting cards, chocolates, flowers, and lingerie – have been putting about 63% of their media dollars into TV for the past three years, although in 2002 it spent 71.9% of that spend on TV.
Teletoon picks up politically incorrect animated series
The Boondocks, a politically incorrect series about two young black kids from inner-city Chicago living in a mostly-white suburb, debuts on Teletoon tomorrow night. The animated show that’s one part Fresh Prince of Bel Air and one part South Park, looks at hip-hop culture through a political lens and is voiced by Regina King (from Ray) and John Witherspoon (of Friday fame). The show will air on Fridays at 10:30 p.m., targeting 18+.
TBWAVancouver adds media vet Wirtz as media director
TBWAVancouver has announced the addition of Susan Wirtz as media director. Prior to joining TBWAVancouver, Wirtz was at the helm of her own media planning and buying firm. She has also held roles at Baker Lovick (then BBDO) working on accounts such as: A&W Food Services, Pacific Newspaper Group, BC Hydro and Telus.
Sweetspot.ca signs Nash
Sweetspot.ca, publisher of the Sweet Nothing lifestyle e-newsletter has signed Lisa Nash as director of sales and business development. Nash’s prior stints include publisher at Playback and associate publisher at strategy (Both titles are owned by MIC parent, Brunico Communications.)
PMB Factoid
Camping; by age
AeroTV debuts at Montreal airport
Astral Media Outdoor unveiled a new 80-screen TV network yesterday at Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport and advertisers already onboard include GM, Jamieson Laboratories, Mont Tremblant Resort and Groupe Promutuel.
The closed circuit network will feature exclusive English content from Global, with RDI supplying French material. Other content partners include Musique Plus/Musimax and Juste Pour Rire. ‘The network will be branded AeroTV,’ says Astral COO and EVP Luc Sabbatini. ‘These are brand new LCD screens installed in the departure lounge. And they have sound. This is a really good [opportunity] for advertisers because people usually wait for one or two hours at the airport so it’s a captive group.’ He adds that travelers are typically high-income, a group sought after by marketers.
The content, which consists of news, sports, fashion, business and humour segments, is packaged as an hour-long loop with 12 minutes of commercial air time. News from both Global and RDI will be updated up to eight times daily. Sabbatini says the network will feature six advertisers per month at most. When asked about sponsorship opps where brands can ‘own’ certain segments, he says: ‘We’re not there yet, [but] the network will evolve and we have the flexibility to do that.’ Ad rates on the network are approximately $19,000 gross for a month-long rotation at four times per hour. The airport’s departure lounge sees five million travelers per year.
Top TV advertisers: Eloda ad analysis
In the race for the most new TV adverts for the week of Feb.3-9, 44% went to the entertainment category. Over the same time a year ago however, categories automotive products, schools and correspondence courses, and utilities were at a dead heat, with each stealing 33% of the pie. 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
Top radio advertisers: Media Monitors ad analysis
CTV has yet another reason to brag. The net topped the charts in the race for the most ads on rotation in the Toronto market last week. Meanwhile, retailer Sears Canada took silver. And perhaps just in time for Valentine’s Day, the restaurant category held the top spot with 44 new advertisers tracked last week. TV and alcohol took the number two and three spots, respectively. Check out others topping the radio charts by category and brand in the Toronto market for the week of Feb 5-11.
Quebec-based company looks to make a splash with inflatable OOH
Châteauguay, Québec-based Splash Creation is looking to inflate its entry into the world of OOH. Splash Creation uses an inflatable nylon banner available in various sizes and colours to, well, make a splash. The banners are strapped onto the backs of team members who come equipped with a small engine propeller that moves them forward while keeping the banner aloft, says president Bruno Leduc. The company is now shopping the concept to beer brands and the like. Banners run approximately $2500 including production costs. Daily labour is extra.
http://www.splashcreation.com/anglais/mot_fr.htm
Impact of VOD and PVRs on TV viewing very small in the near term: Nielsen
According to a study of VOD (video-on-demand) viewing in the U.S., consumers aren’t into time shifting – at least yet. And, in fact, they actually spend more time staring at the tube than digital and basic cable subscribers. The study, from Nielsen Media Research and cableco Comcast surveyed 180 VOD households in the Philadelphia area between June and August last year, and combined Nielsen’s local people meter data with data from the cable operator. The study found that VOD viewing has little effect on live TV viewing, while households that do use VOD services watch 9% more minutes of TV than other digital cable viewers and 38% more than basic cable subscribers. Those aged 18 to 34 watched 37% of all of the VOD minutes and 20% of traditional TV minutes. Children aged 2 to 11 watched 19% of the VOD minutes and 9% of the traditional TV minutes. What held their interest most? According to the study, free content such as short videos and music videos were the most viewed VOD material while shows on ad-free subscription nets such as HBO were the most watched VOD programming.
In another joint venture, Nielsen and Comcast will begin testing a VOD measurement system in the U.S. during the first quarter of this year. And last month in the U.S. Nielsen Media Research also began incorporating PVR viewing into its National People Meter reporting. It has found any declines in program ratings to be very slight and suggests the effect of PVRs on viewing in 2006 will be minimal.
Meanwhile in Canada, though Nielsen Media Research Canada currently captures VOD viewing and is able to discern that people are watching, as well as determine their demographic profile, the research firm is unable to determine what the content of the VOD is at this point. Nielsen makes VOD viewing information available to Canadian clients as a custom analysis product. The Markham, Ont.-based firm also says that due to low penetration of the devices, there currently aren’t enough PVR households in the household panel sample to justify wide deployment of its PVR measurement technologies. The company estimates that Canadian PVR penetration is behind that of the U.S. by about 1% to 2%. The good news is that this lag time gives the Canadian market the luxury of benefiting from the lessons learned in the U.S. Nielsen Media has already deployed PVR measurement technology on a small test panel in Canada and is currently collecting viewing data for testing purposes.
Comedy Net revamps its website as part of CRM effort; searches for brand sponsors
The Comedy Net relaunched its website, thecomedynetwork.ca, late last week and the results thus far are anything but a gas. According to communications manager Margaret Sirotich, the site has registered more than 2000 members in the last four days. The just-signed members, known on thecomedynetwork.ca as ‘First Class J.E.R.K.s,’ will receive contest alerts and be eligible for free swag. The new CRM effort aims to ‘determine our core audience and understand who the viewer is, while increasing interactivity,’ says Sirotich. The new site also boasts ‘Time Wasters,’ an area for blogs, videos and games. There’s content online that can’t be found anywhere else,’ she adds, citing six Canadian comedy shorts downloadable only from the site. Sirotich also says: ‘At present, we have sponsorship opportunities for on-line contests. Future marketing opportunities are in development.’
Lancôme uses SMS to reach new target
Montreal-based Lancôme, a division of L’Oréal Canada, has launched a national mobile marketing campaign to reach younger consumers in large urban centres. The beauty products brand is working with indoor advertising and event marketing specialist NewAd and tech connectivity supplier Lipso, both of Montreal, to integrate mobile messaging into its marketing strategy and launch its new line of eye makeup, Color Design. Consumers are asked to text message to a specific short code and get a dedicated 1-800 call centre number to book an eye makeup design appointment, at select The Bay counters in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. Geared at 18-35s, respondents also receive a full-size Color Design eye shadow worth $19.
Ron Duerksen, group manager, Lancôme Makeup, says the company wanted to reach consumers in a way that’s useful and easy for them and, he notes: ‘We want to have a fun aspect to the brand.’ There is also a team of young women who hand out postcards in office towers near The Bay stores to drive traffic. Duerksen describes it as ‘people-to-people marketing.’ An indoor advertising campaign in NewAd’s Resto-Bar network supports the mobile messaging campaign by inviting people to text message COLOR (for English) or DESIGN (for French) to get the same beauty counter treat. Says Duerksen: ‘We wanted to reach the young consumer in their environment.’ Since the promotion is still underway, Duerksen says it’s too early to reveal results.
Discovery Civilization to debut new criminal investigation series
Discovery Civilization’s new series Guilty or Innocent? is set to premiere on Friday, March 10 at 9 p.m. The hour-long, six-part weekly series profiles highly disputed legal cases through re-enactments and expert testimonies.
