Changing TV consumption a good thing: pundits react to IBM global study
Anheuser-Busch is using this Super Bowl weekend as the launch pad of ‘The Bud Screen,’ a new direct-to-consumer channel that offers viewers ads, programming and branded content downloadable to computers and iPods. CBS just announced the availability of Survivor on CBS.com for $1.99 per download. This would seem to support the findings of an IBM study recently released, The End of Television As We Know It.
Global repackages its news
Global’s reintroducing its news, creating a new national and local ‘get ’em as they eat dinner’ news package. The new news, complete with a new logo, advertising and on-air presentation will be unveiled beginning Monday, Feb. 6. Across Canada, Global National with Kevin Newman will reside in the 5:30 p.m. slot (6:30 in the Maritimes), followed by a rebranded 6 p.m. local News Hour and News Final at 11 p.m. A 5 p.m. Early News show in the Calgary, Edmonton and BC markets will also air. ‘The rebrand is Global’s strategy to position the network as the television brand that Canadians turn to first,’ said Steve Wyatt, senior vice president of news and information for Global Television. ‘The strength and growth of our news programs allow us to aggressively compete with other networks especially in the crucial suppertime news hours.’
Pizza Pizza gets cheesy with Valentine’s Day-themed promos
Pizza Pizza’s getting cheesy just in time for Valentine’s Day. This week saw the launch of the pizza chain’s ‘Cheesiest Lines’ contest. Participants are invited to text in their cheesiest line to a short code to enter the national contest. Pat Finelli, VP of marketing says text submissions will be posted on the Pizza Pizza site so that participants can compare their cheesy lines with others. The cheesiest line scoops a two-night stay at the Niagara Falls Sheraton or a chance to win one of ten Italian Style deep-dish pizzas. Finelli says the text message component targets a younger demo, such as teens that are big into SMS. Toronto-based Impact Mobile is supporting the back-end.
To raise awareness of their high-end signature pizza line, while hoping to nab the upscale consumer, Pizza Pizza also launched a national promo last week, giving away three diamond rings and a trip for two to Paris. The Valentine’s Day promo is also the first time the chain is using gift cards as part of a CRM effort. Finelli says: ‘Some pizza promo deals come with a Valentine’s card. Inside it, is a gift card preloaded with $2. We draw folks to the website to register their gift card, and enter their info and this automatically enters them into the draw for the prizes.’ The chain is hoping to sell more than 75,000 pizzas throughout the campaign. Pizza Pizza’s Valentine’s Day contest runs through until February 19. The deals were done direct.
Canada.com hooks up with Lonely Planet
CanWest’s interactive property Canada.com has announced a partnership with Lonely Planet. The global guidebook brand will provide detailed info on more than 157 destinations around the world to Canada.com‘s nearly three million unique visitors per month. In exchange, Lonely Planet will have access to Canada.com‘s reach across the country. The new section will be featured under Canada.com‘s travel section.
OOH company blows up a billboard for Re/Max
Mississauga, ON-based OOH production company Off the Wall 3D has created an internally-lit hot air balloon billboard for Re/Max, located in downtown Toronto. ‘Cost is the innovation here,’ says account manager Chiara Iusso-Reid. ‘We use nylon and air to create the billboard and it’s one-tenth the cost of fiberglass.’ She says that a 30-foot, internally-lit beer bottle made with fiberglass would cost $75,000 to produce. Make it with nylon and air and production costs drop to approximately $6,000. Average production costs run approximately $1900, with illumination costing an extra $400. The deal with Re/Max was done direct.
http://www.offthewall3d.com
Cosmetics, electronics still a priority to moms: urbanmoms.ca study
A recent study by Canadian online community urbanmoms.ca is reminding marketers that moms don’t only think about diapers and formula. The survey, conducted in December polled more than 300 moms across Canada. Top-line findings include:
* 60% say that cosmetics, hair and skincare products are as just as important now as in their pre-baby days
* 90% polled says they have the same or increased interest in personal and home electronics
* 52% say their interest in fashion has not diminished
And when asked what prompts their buying behaviour, 63% of respondents say a recommendation from family, friends or colleagues is the ultimate influencer. Interestingly, only 13% claim ads are the source of influence. Jennifer Maier, founder of urbanmoms.ca says that based on findings, marketers ought to concentrate on non-traditional, grassroots efforts to reach this group.
Nielsen Media Research Spend Trend: Dental Products
TV flashes the pearly whites
TV is the overwhelming choice for marketers of dental products, putting the bite on 87.2% of the spending last year. This category has grown nicely since 2002 with tooth whitening products exhibiting the most significant increases in spending.
Space puts a hex on March
The Space Network is premiering Hex, a series that follows Cassie, a student who has great powers to fight evil. Hex begins Wednesday March 8 at 10 p.m.
BBC Kids yucks it up with The Young Ones
BBC Kids is airing The Young Ones, a half-hour comedy series about four very incompatible housemates attending Scumbag College in North London. Beginning April 9, The Young Ones will air at 9 p.m. every Sunday and targets kids 14+.
Layfield replaces Klymkiw as executive director, network programming at CBC
Kristine Layfield has been named executive director of network programming at CBC, replacing Slawko Klymkiw who departed last year for the Canadian Film Centre. Layfield brings nearly 20 years’ domestic and international experience in the broadcasting and TV verticals and was most recently SVP, lifestyle content at Alliance Atlantis. She will helm the overall programming strategy for CBC.
Lower Mainland Publishing signs Rutigliano
Mike Rutigliano has been signed as VP, ad sales for CanWest’s Lower Mainland Publishing Group. Most recently, Rutigliano was director of sales, classifieds for the Pacific Newspaper Group. He begins his new post on February 7.
PMB Factoid
Type of home heating: by community size
Quest for young adults drive newspaper evolution; pundit says Toronto is the market to watch
The chase for young adults is the biggest trend and the biggest challenge for newspapers across the Western world today, according to Earl Wilkinson, executive director of the Dallas, Texas-based International Newspaper Marketing Association (INMA). ‘The million-dollar question is how do you attract young adult readers in particular across a 24-hour day because with information ubiquity they are consuming media in smaller bites throughout the day?’ The idea he says is one information mill, one brand, but many platforms.
BC shopping mall hosts branded playground; looks to build more
A Cathay Pacific airplane landed in British Columbia’s Richmond Centre Mall last week, giving young shoppers a place to burn some steam. And according to Leslie Matheson, marketing director at Richmond Centre, the mall will be looking at adding more branded playgrounds targeting an older kid demo in the near future.
‘We’re looking at more of a computer and technology-based area, [rather] than an actual play area. But we’d still want to call it a children’s energy burning area. So we’re still trying to figure out something for children over five that would still stimulate them and be interesting to them,’ she says.
For the Cathay Pacific brand hookup, Matheson says an airplane playground was chosen because the mall is so close to the Vancouver International Airport — an employer of around 30,000 people in the area. ‘When we decided to go with the plane, we looked at companies that matched our brand and were after what we were going for,’ she says. As such, the mall chose Cathay Pacific for its family-focused, neighbourly brand attributes. Another reason for the Cathay Pacific choice, says Matheson, was because both the mall and airport have a high Asian demographic, at 45%. Richmond Centre has traffic counts of up to 12.5 million each year.
