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History to air two war-themed series
History Television is airing two new series in January. Weapons that made Britain looks at the medieval technologies of war, from sword to lance and beyond. The series airs Tuesdays, beginning January 3 at 8 p.m. The six-part Auschwitz: Inside the Nazi State will air beginning January 27 at 8 p.m., just in time for the UN-designated International Day of Commemoration, honouring Holocaust victims.
Life Net nets two new shows in January
Life Network is keeping its viewers entertained for the winter with two new shows premiering in January. Rich Bride/Poor Bride follows brides on small- or large-budgets as they plan dream weddings. The show airs beginning Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 8 p.m. Next, Birth Days looks at the emotional turmoil on the way to becoming a parent. Birth Days airs weekly beginning Thursday, Jan. 12 at 9:30 p.m.
National Geographic airs two new in ’06
National Geographic is set to premiere Frontiers of Construction weekdays beginning Jan. 2 at 7 p.m. The hour-long series focuses on a single engineering feat, such as underwater construction or robotics. Then, on Saturdays at 5 p.m., beginning January 7, Is It Real?, makes its TV debut. The 10-parter looks at the paranormal world with both skeptics and believers making their case.
XBOX 360 gamer media
The XBOX 360 launched today, and the ramp up to the new console hitting the shelves at midnight entailed a fair bit of inventive media tactics, forcing the gamers out there to use their noggins and decode some fairly cryptic messages.
One of the big pre-launch gambits was the XBOX 360 Experience, a series of gaming lounges set up in vacant retail spaces in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Xbox Canada head of marketing, Jason Anderson, says they were purposefully mum about it for the first week, to let the gaming community discover it for themselves, in true game style. The company also adopted a wild posting media strategy to get the word out, with ads that emulated typical street pole fare — but with a twist. One used car ad seemed quite normal, except the car was crashed and xbox360.ca was a contact listed; some of the posters featured characters from games, in typical Lost– style formats, while a handyman-style ad touted Alien Firearm Repair. Anderson says the posters were so popular that the kids were barely waiting for the sign posters to step away from the pole.
Part of the promotional media weight behind the launch, for which Microsoft is spending ‘beer money,’ came from a suite of partners that were involved in all aspects of the pre- and post-endeavours – typically, co-consumption brands. A Pepsi and Doritos ‘Be the First To Play’ contest was a big piece of it, leveraging Much exposure and bringing XBOX 360 into the grocery space with contest standees and on-pack promos for a console-an-hour giveaway. This actually sparked gamer blogs plotting the best online entry strategy. MuchMusic was title sponsor of the launch.
Mocknews: the medium is the message, or is it? Virgin Mobile messes with readers + Mayor Da Vinci lays down the law
Advertisers are pushing the limits to get attention, and they’re getting in the news to do it. We’re not talking public relations. This is news hijacking – and innovative media buys/plans are key to this ‘gotcha’ phenom. Case in point? Virgin Mobile and TV drama DaVinci’s City Hall. True story: If you happened to pick up a copy of free daily, 24 Hours last week, you may have been struck by the headline that read: ‘Magical reindeer ate my phone.’ No, this isn’t a joke – it’s a tongue-in-cheek tactic employed by Virgin Mobile to nab readers’ attention.
The mock news bit is just the first of many holiday tactics up Virgin’s sleeve, says James Powell, sr. manager, brand and communications. Powell insists that readers of 24 Hours loved the stunt and the paper is now being inundated with requests from other brands to do the same. Building on the current reindeer-themed TV spots on rotation now and to push sales of the Virgin Mobile Hot Box, he says: ‘Keep your eyes peeled. Hundreds of reindeers [in various sizes] will be finding their way into the lives of Canadians in December.’ Creative for the campaign was done by Lowe Roche, with media buying managed by Wills & Co., both of Toronto.
Canada’s Next Top Model searches for brands
New Citytv reality series Canada’s Next Top Model is scouring the country for participants – and they’re looking for brands too. The new show is slated to air mid-May 2006 and is the Canuck version of the Tyra Banks-produced America’s Next Top Model. Roma Khanna, SVP of content at CHUM says brand integration is inevitable. ‘The show’s [content] is built around marketing integration as the challenges in modeling are made of situations where competitors are promoting make-up, for example. We’re hoping to find a sponsor that will seamlessly integrate into the show.’ Khanna says the net is aiming to sign a sponsor with multiple brands, much like the deal signed with Procter & Gamble for the MuchMusic VJ Search reality series.
Top TV advertisers: Eloda ad analysis
P&G once again proves the ad juggernaut, taking the top spot as top brand with the largest variety of TV ads for the second week of November this year and last. New to the top five in 2005 is Kraft (at number five), with last year’s number four, Pfizer, dropping off the list altogether. Check out others topping the charts, and which categories had the most new spots and new advertisers. 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
Telus cuts through holiday clutter with innovative OOH – and carrots
Telus Mobility is dangling carrots this holiday season. As part of its holiday campaign push, Montreal’s McGill subway station will be overrun with rabbits – all over columns, staircase ramps, walls, floors and on mega murals. ‘It will be a totally branded Telus environment,’ says Anne-Marie Laberge, director of communications at Telus Mobility. ‘There will even be rabbit holes [decals] on the floors.’ According to Laberge, a province-wide mall campaign beginning November 26 and running for a month will also feature Telus Oasis – a kiosk with reps handing out Telus-branded carrot bags and carrot juice complete with the tag line ‘Health. Happiness. Carrots.’ The objective of the campaign, created by Taxi in Toronto and Montreal, is to ‘cut through the clutter’ during the holiday season. Media was handled by The Media Experts in Montreal.
MINI’s media biz goes to The Media Company
MINI Canada has named Toronto-based The Media Company as its media AOR as of the new year. The Media Company has been MINI’s parent company, BMW Canada’s media planning and buying agency of record for the last two decades. MINI Canada’s media biz has been managed by Toronto-based Gaggi Media Communications for the last three years.
AOL Canada gets cozy with CBC in new third party ad deal
AOL Canada has inked an exclusive third party ad rep partnership with the CBC. The partnership will have AOL Canada working with CBC.ca for third party ad sales representation, search syndication and content integration. The deal will also have AOL as CBC’s exclusive partner for selling CBC.ca‘s online inventory, and will have the former act as non-exclusive sales representative for CBC.ca‘s custom inventory such as sponsorships, contests and unique ad units. AOL has also renewed an agreement with CBC.ca to provide the former’s site visitors with CBC content and video on AOL’s news and sports channels. The new partnership will help AOL Canada reach nearly 4.5 million online Canadians monthly.
Interactive phone kiosk makes its debut on campus
Centennial College has signed a deal with LynkMedia to install an interactive telephone kiosk on campus. The kiosk utilizes a touch screen that allows students to retrieve and send emails, access advertiser websites and, yes, even make free local phone calls. The system combines magazine, place-based and interactive media in one, says Liliane Vidicek, president of LynkMedia. ‘It’s a very interactive screen because students can email a product from an advertiser ‘s website to themselves.’ Vidicek says she’s currently in talks with other colleges and universities to install the kiosks, and is on the verge of signing major brands as advertisers. A similar kiosk was installed by LynkMedia at Vaughn Sports Village last week. Ad rates are approximately $300 for one month.
http://www.lynktel.info/media
Knorr on the hunt for The Next Great Chef
Toronto-based Knorr Foods has cooked up a new Canadian reality documentary series called The Next Great Chef. The show follows 20 wannabe chefs as they compete to win the title. Starting Friday, December 2 at 8 p.m. on Global, there will be 10 half-hour episodes and an hour-long season finale on Saturday, February 25. Edi Osghian, executive producer/director/writer at Next Entertainment says the show is offering sponsorship opps to brands next season. No airdate has been scheduled.
PunchMuch lets viewers play VJ
MuchMusic’s fully-automated, all-request channel/show PunchMuch will be added as a programming block on MuchMusic. The show, which bears the same name as the channel, will be available to Much viewers three times a week. PunchMuch on MuchMusic made its debut last night. The show/channel puts the video playlist in viewers’ hands wherein, using mobile phones, viewers can text in to vote for videos to be added on the show’s playlist while participating in live, on-screen SMS chat. PunchMuch airs Monday to Wednesday and on Saturday every week at 6 p.m. Of the interface screen on PunchMuch, Randy Mauskopf, senior manager, creative media solutions, CHUM Specialty says: ‘We’re working on various integration possibilities for brands [and] we’re looking at customized ad opps for advertisers.’
PMB Factoid
Canadians who drink port: English Canada, French Canada
