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Satellite radio jockeys for Canucks
With the imminent launch of satellite radio here, both Sirius Canada and direct competitor XM Canada are prepping their troops for battle. This week, in a move that coincides with their programming grid launch in Canada, XM in the U.S. plans to trump Sirius with, well, Donald Trump in its first product placement deal on tonight’s episode of The Apprentice.
On this side of the border, XM is trumpeting its programming lineup — Sirius unveiled theirs two weeks ago — and of note is the former’s announcement of an NHL channel, called Home Ice, that promises to broadcast 1,000 games per season. ‘Advertisers would be interested in this as it’s all original content. We’ve invested a lot in it and, for the beer brands for example, it makes sense,’ says XM’s VP of programming Ross Davies. The real winners in this war?
Chatelaine recipes unplugged
For busy cooks on the run, Chatelaine has launched a new service to make meal planning easier. The Chatelaine Wireless Recipe Alerts program delivers great dinner ideas as well as the lists of ingredient to create them, straight to cell phone screens. Kelly Granander, Chatelaine marketing associate, says although the service doesn’t carry any ad content right now, there will likely be opportunities for marketers to get involved in the future.
Consumers can find out more about the program at chatelaine.com/mobile or register by texting ‘recipe’ to 568568 on their cell phone. Three text-message alerts are sent out each week and users are charged 25 cents by their mobile service provider for every Recipe Alert they receive.
They put ads where? Branded rain falls in Japan
You’ll never look at precipitation the same way again. The folks at Japan’s NTT Cyber Solution labs have created projectors that display images of what looks like rain. Turn your hand up to catch the drops, and catch an ad instead, projected right in your palm.
http://www.ntt.co.jp
Blue Thunder to light up GTA
As part of the multi-million dollar, multi-year sponsorship Scotiabank and the CFL signed earlier this year, the two are working together to promote the Toronto Argos around the GTA this week with a branded, mobile fanzone. In light of the upcoming November 20 east championship game against the Montreal Alouettes, the Argos dance team, Blue Thunder, will be performing at Dundas Square and at the Scotia Plaza Concourse today. Talk about an uplifting Thursday. The single entitlement partnership with Scotiabank is the first for the CFL.
Nielsen Media Research Spend Trend: Telecommunications
Dailies are the category’s communications choice
Telecommunications is big business and although daily newspapers and TV get the largest pieces, all media get a healthy chunk of the spending. Total spending in the category increased significantly between 2001 and 2004 while the percentage allotted to each medium stayed fairly constant.
Kevin Smith to attend Degrassi again
Kevin Smith just can’t leave CTV’s Degrassi:The Next Generation. The indie director is back on the show along with Jason Mewes (Jay, Silent Bob’s sidekick from Clerks) in a two-part episode called ‘Lexicon of Love’ on Monday, Nov. 28 and Dec. 5 at 8:30 p.m. The story line has Smith and Mewes attending the Toronto premiere of their film.
Food net delivers parties, travel and food with two new series
Food Network is bringing high-roller parties and tasty travel eats to a TV set near you. Behind the Bash airs on Mondays at 9 p.m. starting January 2. The series shows viewers how to create the perfect, over-the-top party. Rachel Ray’s Tasty Travels makes its Canuck debut on Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 8:30 p.m. Travel guru Rachel Ray shares insider tips and travel secrets from around the world.
HGTV picks up four
Specialty net HGTV has picked up series from the U.S. and from across the pond. American buys include: My First Place, a show covering first-home design challenges, airing Mondays at 8:30 p.m. beginning Jan. 2; Small Space, Big Style, which addresses making the most of lesser spaces, begins airing on Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 7:30 p.m.; and Generation Renovation, which airs weekly beginning Thursday, Jan. 5 at 7:30 p.m. is about homeowners who renovate their older homes. All are half-hour shows. The British, hour-long How Not to Decorate, which originally aired on BBC Canada, makes its network premiere on Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 9 p.m.
National Geographic to air Mafia series
National Geographic is going Inside the Mafia. The four-part, hour-long series infiltrates mob land and weaves interviews with mobsters and law enforcement folks alike. Back-to-back episodes will air on Sunday, Dec. 4 at 6 p.m. and again, weekly, on Mondays at 8 p.m. beginning Dec. 5.
BBC Canada nets three in January
Imagine being able to ‘try out’ your new home before you buy it. For the house hunters in new half-hour series, To Buy or Not to Buy, it’s a reality. BBC Canada will air the series on Thursdays at 5 p.m., beginning Jan. 5. Also new to the net is half hour series I’m Alan Partridge about a radio guy working the graveyard shift. It airs beginning Tuesday, Jan. 17 at 9:40 p.m. Using questionable methods and tactics, the crime fighters of the murder prevention unit will have their techniques investigated in a one-hour series called Murder Prevention beginning Wednesday, Jan.18, at 10 p.m.
Space to show Shadow Hunter
The new 13 part half-hour doc series Shadow Hunter is set to air weekly on Space beginning Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 10 p.m. The show will investigate the mysteries of such phenomena as UFOs, witchcraft and communicating with the dead.
Fine Living series provides tips about survival and money
Specialty net Fine Living is hoping to help viewers with New Year’s resolutions with two new series. Living through a plane crash and then dodging jungle animals is one thing to survive, but dinner with the in-laws is an entirely different story. The half-hour series Survival Guide will use experts to teach the proper etiquette for dining out, attending wedding receptions and many more of life’s grueling events each Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5 p.m. beginning January 2. The new consumer education series Pocket the Difference teaches how to get the best quality products for the least amount of money. Premiering January 2, the half hour show will air Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 1:30 p.m.
Brand Canada deploys offbeat media
Canada is looking for some company and is inviting the rest of the world to drop by for a visit. The Canadian Tourism Commission’s (CTC) Brand Canada ad campaign, complete with tag line ‘Canada. Keep exploring,’ was unveiled in London, England yesterday. The mandate? To get on potential visitors’ radars through innovative media placement.
‘We want to get the message across in the course of their daily lives,’ explains Steve Wright, strategic planner at DDB Canada, the agency behind the campaign. ‘We want to get on people’s shopping lists.’
As such, bagel and bread bags, coffee sleeves, branded smart cars and, oh yes, even instructional diagrams on health clubs’ weight machines will be sporting the Brand Canada maple leaf in various European markets such as the U.K., France and Germany. Other campaign executions include superboards, public bus wraps and 3-D posters (depicting a stroll through Old Quebec City for example). All this in addition to traditional radio and print buys.
‘There’s no point in our providing ad number 22 in a block of 85 ads within a travel magazine. The point is to get outside of traditional travel media,’ says Wright.
