BBC goes undercover
The BBC will be premiering new reality series Spy in January. The new show will follow sixteen ordinary people who are there to be trained by MI:6, CIA and FBI agents. Participants will learn all of the tricks needed to become the next undercover sleuth. Spy will air weekly, premiering Friday, Jan. 6 at 8 p.m.
CTV preaches karma
CTV Travel will air a new show about the spiritual, cultural and historical highlights of exotic locales Peru, Malta, South Africa, Bali and Ireland. The six-part series, Karma Trekkers will premiere Monday, Jan. 16 at 8 p.m.
Showcase has a brush with death
Showcase will be premiering new series Afterlife in the new year. The hour-long, weekly show, about a psychic trying to reconnect people past and present, will begin airing on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 5 p.m.
Sarah Doyle zooms into Zoom as account exec
Zoom Media has named Sarah Doyle as account executive, based in Toronto. Doyle previously worked at The Strategic Couch and Mindshare, both in Toronto and at Mediaedge:CIA in London, England.
SitesMedia announces Cribari as national VP of sales
Daniela Cribari has been appointed as national VP of sales at Toronto-based OOH company SitesMedia. Cribari is a 10-year veteran of the advertising sector and specializes in OOH.
ZenithOptimedia forecasts steady ad growth
ZenithOptimedia is projecting steady year-over-year advertising growth in Canada for the next four years. The Internet is expected to experience the biggest jumps with double-digit growth between 20% and 14.2% each year from 2005 to 2008. Single-digit increases are in the cards for newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, cinema, and OOH/transport.
Taxi grabs gold – again – in strategy‘s Agency of the Year race
Taxi nabbed gold in strategy magazine’s Agency of the Year competition for the fourth year running – a first in the competition’s history. The award was announced at Toronto’s York Event Theatre last night. Five other agencies were also recognized including Vancouver-based Rethink, which emerged from last year’s honourable mention standing to claim silver, while BBDO, which has offices in both Toronto and Montreal, captured bronze.
Taxi’s gold win was based on the work it submitted for five clients: Reitmans, Telus, Viagra, The Worldwide Short Film Festival and Nike – most notable for its hockey campaign, which pushed OOH to rarely used 50- and 150-ft. heights, with athlete images hanging from a crane and on a floating billboard in Vancouver harbour.
DDB launches trend-forecasting system
DDB Worldwide and DDB Canada are launching SignBank, a system that looks globally at the unique trends of local consumers. DDB SignBank is already operational in DDB’s Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto offices. While the full 2006 release has not yet been disclosed, early trends have already been spotted in Canada. DDB SignBank predicts Canada will have more ‘self-determination and distinction.’ Examples cited to this effect include a stronger worldwide presence by Canadian musicians, actors and designers, in addition to the decision to stay out of the Iraqi war, plus our stance on gay marriage. Signbank also predicts that specialization will be a future trend for both the Canadian and U.S. markets in the fields of education and technology.
Fashion File and Lise Watier make winter beautiful through multi-platform partnership
Building on the relationship that began last winter, CBC’s Fashion File and cosmetics line Lise Watier have extended their partnership for a second season in a twelve-week multi-platform initiative ending December 24. New this year, according to Angela Ceppetelli, customer marketing manager at CBC, is the introduction of the cosmetics brand to Fashion File’s print partner, Fashion magazine. Advertorial appeared in the mag’s holiday issue and email blasts were sent to Fashion subscribers, inviting them to tune in to Fashion File. Like last year, CBC produced a series of 12 minute-long vignettes airing weekly in the style of a Fashion File segment disseminating beauty tips using Lise Watier products and driving traffic to fashionfile.com and lisewatier.com. Ceppetelli says the partnership has proven to be a great brand fit, with last year’s program affecting overall sales of Lise Watier product. CBC hopes to renew the partnership next year and is looking to add a contest element.
Notes from the media landscape: RFID tags spy on promo display effectiveness
Deerfield, Ill.-based Goliath Solutions has signed chain Walgreens and 15 packaged-goods brands carried within to roll out an RFID system that tracks, in real-time, promo displays throughout the chain’s stores. The Goliath system can see when, how long and where displays are placed in stores, allowing marketers to track promo results by store or geographical area.
http://www.goliathsolutions.com
Palm puts the bling on for online contest
Palm Canada and Bell Mobility have launched a promo targeting mobile-toting sports fans. An online viral campaign, called Hat Trick my Treo, is jumping on the hockey-is-back bandwagon. The contest, which gives away one Palm Treo smartphone for every goal scored by the winning team, urges folks to register online at hattrickmytreo.com prior to the games played by Canadian hockey teams on Dec.17, 23 and 31. Guess the winning team’s name prior to the match and folks will automatically be entered into a draw for the smartphone. An online viral component (which will be used for data capture and database creation) and word of mouth buzz are supporting the campaign. Each draw will also give away the Stanley Cup of smartphones — a Treo complete with hockey team bling. The deal was done direct.
BBM Media Snapshot: 3.4 million Canadians cross-country ski
The BBM Media Snapshot feature has moved to the Thursday edition of Media in Canada. Watch for it on alternating weeks.
· 3.4 million Canadians (13%) cross-country ski regularly or occasionally.
· The largest age group of skiers is 45 to 54 years old (22%), followed by 35 to 44 (20%) year-olds.
· Men and women are equally likely to cross-country ski
· Cross-country skiing is more popular in Quebec (17%) than the national average while ther Canadian regions match the national average.
· Cross-country skiers are very active in other outdoors activities:
o twice as likely to cycle than the average Canadian.
o two and a half times more likely to canoe or kayak.
o twice as likely to play racket sports.
o twice as likely to participate in adventure sports (e.g. sky diving etc.).
o three times more likely to sail.
· The top media choices for cross-country skiers by yesterday exposure are radio (86%), TV (83%), Internet (56%), and daily newspaper (53%).
· Their favourite radio formats by weekly reach are news/talk (44%), adult contemporary (32%), and classic rock (25%).
· Favourite TV programs by weekly reach are movies (69%), news/current affairs (63%) and documentaries (45%).
Source: BBM RTS Canada Fall ’04 / Spring ’04, individuals 12+
The preceding information is from BBM RTS, a syndicated consumer-media survey of over 60,000 Canadians, conducted twice a year by BBM Canada. For more information contact Craig Dorning of BBM Canada: cdorning@bbm.ca.
CMT preems new family show
CMT is rolling out a new series that falls somewhere between fact and fiction. The Wilkinsons takes the experiences of a musical family and recreates them to the extreme resulting in a fun look at life at home and on the road. The net compares the show to Fat Actress and Larry Sanders in its feel. The Wilkinsons premiers Wednesday, Jan. 4 at 10 p.m. with two back-to-back episodes. There are 10 eps in all.
The network’s demo is adults 25-54, but with the content and nature of The Wilkinsons it feels the series will also appeal to adults 18-49. Sponsorship opportunities are available and could include customized integrated promotional components, interactive components and if possible promotional opportunities with The Wilkinsons (depending on scheduling and availability.)
Bravo! for new series
A new improv comedy series comes to Bravo Saturdays at 11 p.m., beginning Jan. 7. Significant Others takes a humorous look at couples in and out of therapy. Bravo is also unveiling what it is touting as a new genre of unscripted comedy/reality series with Hidden Howie: The Private Life of a Public Nuisance. The six half hours are based on the life of comedian Howie Mandel and mix scenes inspired by his real life with practical jokes played on unsuspecting people. Howie will air Saturdays at 11:30 p.m., beginning Jan. 7. Meanwhile, Rez Blues, a 13-part performance series that showcases Native blues and comedy talent, premieres Tuesday, Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m. Target demo is 35-55.
Kings of Discovery
Discovery Channel welcomes a new six-part series on the mechanics of massive engineering projects. Kings of Construction explores such groundbreaking, 21st century construction projects as the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in Washington, D.C. It premieres Thursday, Jan. 12 at 9 p.m.
