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.
Catwalk watches designers claw their way to the top
Life Network is entering the cutthroat world of fashion with a new British show, Project Catwalk. The program, hosted by Hugh Grant ex model Elizabeth Hurley, is the British version of the popular American show Project Runway. It gives 12 talented and hungry fashion designers a chance to show their stuff in the highly competitive industry. Competitors are given challenges and each week someone is eliminated. The final three remaining will show a women’s wear collection during London Fashion Week. The winning designer’s collection will be displayed in ELLE magazine. Meanwhile, in a parallel competition, 12 hopeful models battle it out with the winner wearing the victorious designer’s outfits in the ELLE feature. Project Catwalk will air Mondays at 10 p.m., beginning April 10.
Carney joins SavvyMom Media
SavvyMom Media, publisher of e-newsletter SavvyMom Today, has hired Mike Carney as director of ad sales. He will oversee integrated advertorial and email marketing opportunities at SavvyMom. Prior to this post, Carney was director of online media sales at Monster.ca and online specialist at globeandmail.com.
Events
March 7
Social Marketing: Tapping Into The Power Of Connected Customers
The National Club, Toronto
416.760.3344
www.aimscanada.com
The Association of Internet Marketing & Sales presents this breakfast seminar that asks questions like ‘What advertising practices deliver results in social (i.e. online) media? Is blogging right for my company?’
Brands join athletes in Torino for the Olympic games
Call it national pride or call it mass audience availability, but brands are doing what they can to take advantage of what they hope will be an engaged audience. For Rene Bertrand, executive director of media sales at CBC, it’s a good thing. ‘We have 15 sponsors this year. That’s a record for us.’ Last Olympic games netted 12 sponsors, he says.
‘Everyone’s really trying to leverage their involvement,’ Bertrand says citing Bell Canada as an example of one such sponsor. Bell Canada’s piece of the sponsorship pie is all about high interactivity. Exclusive CBC/Radio Canada content will be available to Bell Mobility customers. Hourly highlights will air 18 times daily in English and 13 times in French for MobiTV subscribers.
EMI spreads viral Morningwood for Valentine’s and heavies up on innovative print efforts to reach youth
EMI Music Canada wants music fans to wake up with Morningwood this Valentine’s Day. In a move to intro this new pop/punk band, the label will unleash a viral V-day card inviting folks to ‘Wake Up with Wood.’ The e-card is just one part of an awareness campaign, says Andres Mendoza, marketing director at the label. The e-card features full streaming video of the band’s single, ‘Nth Degree’ and an invitation to ‘give a friend some wood.’ Mendoza says the objective here is to drive folks to the band’s website at morningwoodrocks.com, and offline, to head to retail partner HMV, which will feature the CD at a low promo price point. Hard-copy V-day cards will also be inserted in Dose, while teams in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto will hit the streets spreading the wood. ‘The release is also supported by a new ‘Strut– approved initiative,’ says Mendoza of the promo’s other print partner. A sticker approved by the hip, entertainment/lifestyle magazine ‘will be on all Morningwood CDs and the band will perform at an upcoming Strut anniversary party.’ Ad buys in Vice round out the program. Deals were done direct.
