BBC Kids picks up four
BBC Kids has added four shows to its programming sked in late December. Hour-long comedy series The Mighty Boosh Marathon makes its Canadian premiere on Saturday, Dec. 24 at 9 p.m. The show targets teens 12-17. Six-part, half-hour doc series Serious Desert begins airing at 3 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 26. The show follows kids trekking across a desert in Namibia. Like Survivor for the younger set, Serious Jungle begins airing on Saturday, Dec. 31 at 1 p.m. The kids’ reality show follows eight kids as they try to survive the rainforests of Borneo. Both shows are half-hours and are aimed at kids 6-12. Finally, animated half-hour series Arthur airs weekdays at 12 p.m. beginning January 2.
Showcase promotes Fulford
Rachel Fulford has been promoted to director, original production for Showcase. Fulford, who has been with the net since 1999, was most recently production executive on original series Trailer Park Boys.
PMB Factoid
European car in household; by occupation
Branchez-vous launches two French-language video portals
After 10 years as an independent French-language portal, Branchez-vous has unveiled its second generation, two video portals – branchez-vous.tv and BV2.tv.
Marketers can also take advantage of the video capabilities of the portals with live action or animated ads to reach French-speaking, predominately male demos ranging from 15 to 49 years of age.
Patrick Pierra, president and CEO, says the sites can accommodate 30-second video ads but recommends 10- to 15-second spots, animated or live action, in either Windows Media or Flash. The standard big box ad can also be animated or used interactively to click through to a separate site. It is a leave-behind ad that stays on the page before, during, and after the selected video is viewed.
SIRIUS launches 100 new channels
SIRIUS Canada has announced a launch of 100 new channels as part of its satellite radio service – with 60 channels remaining commercial-free. The company boasts to be the only satellite radio provider to hold 10 Canuck music and info stations in both official languages. SIRIUS will also feature specialty channels for women, kids and families. Subscription rates start at $14.99 per month with the service coming available soon at Future Shop, Canadian Tire and other stores.
Internet and wireless fuel telecom growth
Canada’s telecommunications industry experienced a 4.7% year-over-year increase in revenues in 2004 for a total of $33.3 billion. Most of the growth can be attributed to Internet and wireless services, according to the CRTC Telecom Report 2005 released earlier this week. More than 98% of Canadian households have telephone service with the local wireline market making up the biggest piece of the telecom pie (29% of revenues). On the traditional side of the business, the long distance market declined by 6.0% between 2003 ($5.9 billion in revenues) and 2004 ($5.6 billion) although the total number of long distance minutes increased by 6.0%.
The Internet is one of the fastest growing segments with 59% of households having an Internet subscription. Broadband access is now available to approximately 89% of Canadian households and 46% of those households actually subscribe to high-speed Internet services. Wireless, the other strong segment, increased 12.9% over the previous year to a total of 15 million subscribers in 2004. Wireless revenues jumped 17.6% from $8 billion to $9.5 billion.
The consumer survey portion of the report, based on 2005 data collected on behalf of the CRTC by Decima Research, reported:
* 64% of Canadians believe they have benefited from the availability of competition in the telecom industry.
* 70% of households with wireless service say the ability to keep their wireless telephone number was important when switching between service providers.
* 52% of households spend more than $75 per month on telecom services.
They put ads where?
Well, anywhere they want to, actually. A new tactic in the DDB Crime Stopper campaign involves street teams sticking removable decals in windows throughout high-crime areas in Toronto. Meanwhile, Dentsu Canada’s campaign has ads going to the dogs with the release of Canada’s first ‘doggie eye view’ billboards for Toronto-based tony pet boutique Dogfather & Co.
In DDB’s Cash for Guns campaign, the creative team is hoping that consumers will steal the ads, which resemble gunshot holes in the glass, thereby recruiting roving media planners – spreading word-of-decal, if you will. The decals, supplied by Toronto-based Clockwork Productions, are part of an extension of the campaign originally launched in October. Media was handled by OMD Canada.
Over at Dentsu, the Toronto-only campaign for Dogfather & Co. uses dog’s eye view billboards — posted two feet off the ground — aimed at chic, urban canines and their owners. Toronto-based Wilcox Signs manufactured the signs. ‘The idea came about by our looking at the target audience. For our client, it’s the dogs. So we created signs for dogs that will be put up at doggie parks within a five-mile radius of Dogfather & Co. For the owners there, they’ll see the signs and think, ‘what’s my dog looking at? What’s he peeing on?’ [The pet industry] is a billion-dollar business.’
Irish chocolate brand debuts at the Bay
Irish luxury chocolate brand Lily O’Brien’s is heading to Canada and making its debut exclusively at Bay stores nationally. Beginning today, founder and chocolate creator Mary Ann O’Brien is heading to Toronto in a branded promo vehicle to sample her wares in an awareness campaign designed by The Brainstorm Group. A wrapped British-style taxi from Showbiz Marketing will take the entrepreneur throughout the city where she will sample chocolates from her line at various Bay stores today and tomorrow. ‘There will be street sampling out of the cab,’ says media director Ed Weiss. ‘[The cab] will act as the transport promo vehicle for the brand and we’ll also be doing some guerrilla marketing with it over the two days.’ O’Brien is also scheduled to appear on Breakfast Television in a segment tomorrow showing viewers the art of chocolate making. In a consumer radio promo, winners of a brand-sponsored trip for two to Ireland will be announced by O’Brien on EZRock. A branded store window is also scheduled to appear at the Toronto Bay store located on Queen Street in December.
Cineplex forms new in-house media division
Toronto-based Cineplex Entertainment has announced a new internal division called Cineplex Media. The division combines Cineplex’s CineMarketing sales division and Famous Players Media, bringing together the FP Media editorial, creative, production and sales teams under one division. Famous Players produces in-theatre titles Famous Magazine, Le Magazine Famous Quebec and Famous Kids. The creation of this new division allows advertisers to have a single point of contact across Cineplex’s theatre circuits. Cineplex Media is also expanding its digital pre-show ad network, which was launched earlier this year for its Cineplex Odeon and Galaxy brand cinemas in the GTA. ‘The new ad network allows us to do more targeted campaigns for advertisers,’ explains Pat Marshall, VP of communications and investor relations at Cineplex Entertainment. ‘So instead of just a 30-second spot, [advertisers] can own a segment of a show that looks like Entertainment Tonight.’ The network will be expanded across Canada and will include Famous Players, Cineplex Odeon and Galaxy brands. Roll-out is underway now, says Marshall.
Nielsen Media Research Spend Trend: Smoking/Anti-smoking products
Category spending plummets but stays with TV
The tobacco ad ban has decimated spending in this category over the past four years, leaving marketers of anti-smoking products alone on the field. TV has grabbed 44.6% to 89.3% of the spending but the amount of dollars from 2002 to 2004 is but a mere fraction of its previous glory.
CBC goes high-def on Saturday nights; heads east for Hockey Day in Canada
CBC launches its HDTV broadcast of Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC) beginning Saturday, Nov. 5. Pre-game show Saturday Night will be broadcast in HD, along with the 7 p.m. hockey game and Don Cherry’s intermission segment Coach’s Corner. The first game of HNIC will be broadcast in HD throughout the 2005/2006 season.
The net has also announced that the town of Stephenville, Newfoundland will play host to the sixth annual broadcast of Hockey Day in Canada — with Tim Horton’s as sponsor. The live 13.5-hour broadcast will begin at 12 noon EST on Saturday, Jan. 7 and will be hosted rinkside at the Stephenville Dome by Ron Maclean and Don Cherry. Hockey Day in Canada will air an all-Canuck team triple-header. In between the games, the hosts will look at hockey across different communities across the country. CBC’s executive director of media sales, René Bertrand, has confirmed that sponsorship opportunities are still available. According to the net, in 2004, the broadcast averaged 273,000 between 12-2 p.m. and 420,000 viewers from 5-6:30 p.m.
BBC Canada to air three in December
BBC Canada has added three new series for December. According to Bex begins its weekly half-hour airing on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 9 p.m. The comedy series follows a young secretary as she tries to figure out the male species. Beginning Saturday, Dec. 3 at 9 p.m., the hour-long How Not to Decorate makes its debut. Interior and property experts seek out U.K. homes most in need of their expertise. Finally, Conviction, an hour-long drama series about two detective siblings investigating a murder, airs beginning weekly beginning Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 10 p.m.
CanWest’s broadcast marketing group names three new publicists
Sandra Puglielli has left CHUM to join CanWest MediaWorks. Puglielli has been named the new director of publicity (TV and radio) for the net. She held the same title for CHUM’s music and youth channels over the last nine years.
Also new to the publicity team is Yvonne Chiang. Chiang is the new publicist for Global News out of Vancouver and was formerly at Vancouver-based PR firm Wilcox Group. Dan Kenning is the new publicist for CanWest’s specialty networks based in Winnipeg. He was formerly a creative writer for Rogers Broadcasting.
Virgin gets naughty with Vice for the holidays
Virgin Mobile wants Canadian Vice readers to wrap it up. As part of its holiday promotions and just in time for the launch of the mobile brand’s Hot Box, (an all-in-one mobile starter kit complete with its newest phone offering), Virgin Mobile is including ‘super hot holiday’ wrapping paper with the December issue of youth mag Vice. The Virgin Mobile Miracle promo also names cinema chain Famous Players as a partner, with street teams giving out the ‘re-gifting’ paper and other swag at theatres across the country during the month of December.
‘The objective here is to build on the launch of our Hot Box,’ explains James Powell, Senior Manager, Brand and Communications at Virgin Mobile. ‘The theme is ‘have a super hot holiday.’ We’re really playing off Vice readers’ intelligence and [in the future] we’re waiting on more opportunities to work closer together.’
