W Net debuts new series
The W Network will be premiering a new line-up of series this winter. You Are What You Eat, explores food and its emotional connections. Premiering on Jan 1 with three back-to-back episodes at 4:30 p.m. and at 7 p.m., doc-style You Are What You Eat will be in normal rotation Monday to Thursday at 11:30 a.m. and at 4:30 p.m. Too Posh to Wash follows hosts Aggie MacKenzie and Kim Woodburn as they teach Canadians how to clean up and smell great. The new series will premiere Sunday, Jan 8 at 10 p.m.
Ladette to Lady turns heavy drinkers and crude talkers into upscale, graceful women. The six-week documentary series will send ‘ladettes’ to an etiquette boot camp. Ladette to Lady will premiere on Wednesday, Jan. 4 at 8 p.m.
The male version of that series comes via new series Groomed. The show takes scruffy men and ‘groom’ them for big events. The transformations assess style, including: hair, clothes and dance moves. Groomed will premiere Monday, Jan 23 at 10:30 p.m., with other eps debuting during W’s Wedding Week, beginning on Saturday, January 21.
In Maxed Out, financial coach Ayse Hogan will teach over-spenders the way with the dollar using unusual and visual techniques. Maxed Out premieres Tuesday, January 24 at 8 p.m., with other eps airing throughout the week.
Discovery Health launches makeover month with two new series
January is makeover month for Discovery Health and the net has been scrubbed and prepped to air new shows to kick off the new year. First out of the gate is reality series Plastic Surgery: Beverly Hills beginning Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 9 p.m. Watch as yet another plastic surgeon opens up a practice in L.A. Next up is
Dream Decoders, a series that helps participants understand what their dreams are trying to tell them. The show airs beginning Monday, Jan. 9 at 10 p.m.
CityTV premieres new series in January
Citytv will be airing the first season of the Gemini-nominated series Godiva’s in the new year. The show revolves around the lives of people working at the chic restaurant, Godiva’s, in Vancouver. Citytv will air the premiere on Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 10 p.m., with season two airing on Tuesday, February 14th at 10 p.m.
OLN to air Ewan McGregor special
The Outdoor Life Network’s Trips Money Can’t Buy puts Hollywood actor Ewan McGregor and survival expert Ray Mear on the hot spot. The two men and a team of others join a 10-day trek in search of the lost civilization — prehistoric people of the Mosquito Coast. The one-hour special premieres Tues., Jan. 10 at 8 p.m. on OLN.
Alliance Atlantis names new SVP of marketing and publicity
Sara Moore has been named SVP of marketing and publicity at Alliance Atlantis. In her new role, Moore, who was previously at Rogers Wireless, will oversee all marketing and publicity related to the broadcaster’s 13 specialty channels.
NFB appoints new director general, marketing and communications
Nathalie Courville has been appointed director general, marketing and communications for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). Courville’s primary mandate will be to strengthen the NFB brand with a focus on the management of communications and cultural marketing.
Event
Feb. 16
License to Thrill
Kool Haus, Toronto
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License to Thrill is an exhibition of 150+ award-winning magazine creative from around the world. Attendance is free.
PMB Factoid
Book store loyalty cards; by city
Global deploys offbeat media to pump new show
Global’s heating up winter with a big promo push for its mid-season entry, Canadian teen drama Falcon Beach — and the net’s deploying a slew of non-traditional tactics to nab attention. The 13-episode series about life in a beach town makes its TV debut on Thursday, Jan. 5 at 8 p.m. – directly competing with CTV’s The O.C.
Beginning December 26 for four weeks in Toronto, Global will be rolling out the Falcon Beach Bowl – a branded flatbed truck complete with a plexiglass frame housing sand, surf and bathing suit-clad models. Models wearing Speedo (a promo partner) will be sampling branded merchandise, handing out frisbees and hand warmers tagged with the ‘it’s hot’ theme. Joining in on the fun are the PixMen who will be spooling previews of the show, with music from Falcon Beach’s upcoming CD by artists Broken Social Scene and Kathleen Edwards. Montreal-based Gearwerx experiential marketing created the Bowl, which will be seen at various events including hockey games, near nightclubs and at university campuses.
Chinook Centre’s OOH ads dominate in Calgary
If you must break through, dominate. So goes the thinking behind the OOH mega-buy by Chinook Centre The Calgary-based shopping mall went shopping, securing 94 out of the 111 billboards (owned by Pattison and Viacom respectively) that line the busy Macleod Trail. Media buy and creative was handled by ad agency Highwood Communications. OOH executions included a fully functional advent calendar with each window unveiling a daily gift idea; billboard in trios consisting of gift ideas in clusters such as eggnog/elastic pants/treadmills and toys/batteries/earplugs and billboards with lit Christmas lights. The campaign, called Don’t Rush Christmas, highlights the shopping mall’s extended holiday hours. ‘There’s been huge buzz so far from consumers and advertisers alike,’ says Susan Beck, VP of media at Highwood Communications. ‘[It’s] mass reach within the client’s prime retail target area.’ Beck says that a media buy this extensive took loads of planning with initial talks beginning a year ago. Traditional print and radio ads rounded out the campaign.
Top TV advertisers: Eloda ad analysis
In the top three categories with the most new TV advertisers in the Canadian English market for Dec. 2 – 8 versus the same period last year, entertainment took a tumble from 27% in 2004 to 19% this year. For the top five brands with the largest variety of TV ads, the picture was completely different this year over last. In 2005 the top five spots were held (1 to 5) by Procter & Gamble, Bell Globemedia, Wyeth-Ayerst Canada, General Motors and Kimberly-Clark while in 2004, The Brick, Warner Bros Pictures, Sony Pictures, Dream Works Pictures and Sears held those slots. 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
There wasn’t much movement in the lineup of top radio advertisers last week. Telus and Ikea hung onto the number one and number two spots while Fido moved up a spot to number three and HomeShow Canada and Henry’s Camera stayed steady in the number five and number six spots. Sears Canada made more serious progress jumping from number 17 to number four. Check out others topping the radio charts by category and brand in the Toronto market for the week of Dec. 4 to Dec. 10.
http://www.mediamonitors.com
Adidas kicks into high gear with FIFA coverage
Adidas has announced its purchase of the exclusive rights to the 2006 FIFA World Cup TV coverage on Rogers Sportsnet, TSN and CTV. Brokered by Toronto based Carat Canada, Adidas is giving Canadians the chance to watch every second of World Cup action for the first time. Adidas commercials will air repeatedly from June 9 to July 9 during prime time games. The nets will air a total of 63 tournament games, including the final gold medal match on CTV.
Around the WWW: Mobile TV takes off in the U.S.
Looks like brands can’t wait ’til you get home to watch TV. Dutch-based Royal Philips Electronics is planning on bringing their TV-on-cellular chipset to North America sometime in 2006. Philips has partnered up with Canonsburg, Pennsylvania-based Crown Castle Mobile Media to provide content. While no content has yet been announced, the company hopes the chipset will do as well in North America as it does in Japan, where there are more commuters and greater penetration of the chipset already.
Automaker Jeep has announced it will be launching its own branded mobile phone channel. The channel will continuously loop four episodes of The Mudds, mobisodes about a family who drive a Jeep Commander. Half a million subscribers to the American carriers Cingular, Sprint and Alltel will have access to the Jeep content. Jeep will also run ads on 18 of the 24 available MobiTV cell phone channels.
Meanwhile, Kansas City, KS-based Sprint is offering the option to download full-length movies. MSpot will provide unlimited service for a monthly rate of $6.95 for Sprint users. The company will announce seven new movies a week, starting with its initial line-up including One-Eyed Jacks, Angel and the Badman and Night of the Living Dead.
