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Rogers releases viral to promo Cup
Talk about getting the most out of your brand. Rogers has released a viral email campaign called Picture Yourself a Pro to create buzz around the Rogers Cup. On Tuesday, Aug. 16, an e-mail from someone you know will have hit your inbox with a subject line that reads: ‘I’m on the cover of this month’s Maclean’s!’ Open the e-mail and you will see a Maclean’s cover with a shot of tennis great Andre Agassi and your pal on it. A button will lead you to yet another screen, complete with animation and an invitation to ‘place your image here.’ It then allows you to upload an image of yourself on the cover of either Chatelaine or Maclean’s (both Rogers titles, of course) to send to friends. Event sponsors Sony Ericsson and Adidas logos appear on either cover.
‘This creative viral campaign is to create buzz around the Rogers Cup event,’ confirms Heather Armstrong, SVP, communications. ‘As a secondary objective, it enables us to collect names of people who are interested in receiving information and offers from Rogers via e-mail. When [the viral message] works, users will pass it on to other users and it could create an exponential growth in the messages’ reach and visibility.’
The campaign, created by Toronto-based agency Mindblossom, runs until Aug. 21.
http://www.pictureyourselfapro.com/
BBM Media Snapshot: Canadians travelling to Europe
* 2.2 million Canadians (8%) travelled to Europe during the last two years.
* Canadians over 60 years of age have the highest incidence (1.4 times more than the national average) of European travel.
* Females (56%) travelled slightly more than males (44%) during the last two years.
* The average personal yearly income if those travelling to Europe is $40,200. The Canadian average is $31,000.
* The U.K. was visited by 41% of travellers, France by 30%, and Italy by 18%. 26% went to other countries.
* The average cost of their last vacations was $3,100 (two times more than the national average).
* 37% (2.3 times more than the national average) are members of Aeroplan; 17% (2.1 times more than the national average) are members of other airline frequent flyer program.
* In terms of yesterday exposure, the top three media for Canadians who travelled to Europe during the last two years are: radio (85%), TV (84%) and Internet (63%).
* Their favourite radio formats are: news/talk (1.6 times the national average), adult contemporary and classical/fine arts (2.5 times more than the national average).
* The top Internet activities for these travellers is to access current news (1.2 times national average), read online newspapers (1.4 times the national average), and purchase products or services (1.3 times the national average).
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.
Star! shines light on fall programming slate
Star!’s fall season begins Tuesday, Sept. 6. New series will unspool as follows:
Star! Daily preems Sept. 6 at 6:30 p.m., bringing viewers entertainment news from the HQ of Star!, MuchMusic and FashionTelevision.
Big Hollywood Countdown debuts Friday, Sept. 16 at 7:30 p.m. It’s a half-hour counting down Hollywood’s biggest, best, worst and weirdest.
Host Joel McHale stirs The Soup Saturdays, beginning Sept. 17 at 6:30 p.m. The show looks at the week’s celeb news with a soupçon of goofy reality clips stirred in.
And what would a channel be without a reality series? In Fight for Fame, Star! follows five young actor wannabes as they compete to be signed by a major Hollywood talent agency. The show airs Thursdays at 9 p.m., beginning Sept. 22.
In Party @ The Palms, Jenny McCarthy invites viewers to a sexy party at Las Vegas’s wild hot spot, the Palms Casino Hotel. The crew catches those already doing strange things and, if they’re not, dream up challenges (sometimes clothing optional) to get the party going. The fun starts Sunday, Sept. 25 at 11 p.m.
Star!’s demographic is adults 18-49 and 25-54, skewing slightly higher towards females.
Three nets team for live soccer coverage
In a joint initiative, Rogers Sportsnet, TSN and CTV are banding together to provide complete coverage of soccer’s 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany. Sportsnet acquired the Canadian broadcast rights last November and under an English-language sub-licensing arrangement, Sportsnet and TSN will cover all the tournament matches live up to the final which will be broadcast on CTV on July 9/06.
This marks the first time all tournament matches will be televised live in Canada, according to a Sportsnet release. The channel and TSN will air encores of the matches in prime time, and will also televise pre- and post-game shows for each match. The nets say the event has ‘huge mass audience appeal.’ The FIFA World Cup, which begins June 9/06, will see 32 national teams competing in 12 German cities, culminating in Berlin, the host city for the final match on July 9.
Bravo touts authors, bathroom opera singers
Specialty channel Bravo has pulled back the (shower) curtains on two new shows for fall. Literature Alive is a 13-part doc series profiling Canadian-Caribbean writers and shows the Caribbean fiction thread that runs from the 1960s through to hip-hop. The show preems Oct. 6 and will air Thursdays at 8 p.m.
On a lighter note, Bathroom Divas: So You Wanna Be…An Opera Star! gives amateur sings from across the spectrum and the country the chance to become the ‘bathroom diva.’ In this six-part series, six candidates are chosen for intensive training with one winning an opportunity to perform live on-stage. Let the warbling begin Saturday, Jan. 7, time TBA.
Event
Sept 21
Internet Day
Toronto
www.adclubto.com
The Advertising Club of Toronto presents keynote Angus Reid, president of Angus Reid Consulting and CEO of Vision Critical. The half-day also includes an examination of how marketers can make a bigger impact online and stay ahead of the changing consumer.
Broadband advertising in its infancy in Canada
Advertisers are doing everything they can to get themselves noticed and with a high concentration of broadband penetration in Canada, it’s no surprise that broadband ads – the newest and (it seems) latest media frontier — are appearing wherever they can. Log on to any news site and you’ll see video to complement content. In the U.S., this was the second year for a broadband upfront market, signaling yet another up-and-coming player in the race to net eyeballs.
In Canada, the vehicle is just starting to catch fire. Among the few examples up and running, ZenithOptimedia has just this week launched a campaign for Pizza Pops that invites users to send a pizza splat to friends. Within the ad is the ability to track how many people type in an e-mail address, how many screensavers are downloaded and more.
MusicBuzz launches on Rogers mobiles
Toronto-based Quickplay Media has released an application that will run on Rogers mobile phones. The infotainment app, called MusicBuzz, is downloadable on select phones for audiophiles on the go. ‘This is a way for someone to personalize their user experience,’ explains Mark Farmer, marketing director at Quickplay. ‘They can get the latest music news and concert listings. And this is updated daily.’ The company is working with Nielsen Soundscan and Chart Attack for its content – some of which is also created in-house. Farmer adds that opportunities exist for large consumer brands to ‘own’ a content channel within MusicBuzz. The application, rife with dropdown menus and features such as ‘Top 10 ring tones’ plus a download-them-here feature is aimed at youth 14-21.
www.rogers.com/musicbuzz
They put ads where? Water coolers get the Dove treatment
In the tight competition for audience, water cooler talk is proving as yet another medium for your message. The folks at Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.-based AquaCell Technologies have outfitted 1,300 of their patented self-filling water coolers as in-store billboards. Duane Reade (in the New York metro area only) and Rite Aid drugstores all over the U.S. are sporting these as in-store POP for Dove. The result? Free water for the drugstore consumer and, according to a release, a 34% sales lift in sales of Dove in stores with coolers installed. Free of charge to the retailer, the coolers’ ownership is retained by AquaCell and revenue is generated through the sale of ads on the bottle label. Karen Laustsen, president/COO of AquaCell Technologies, says: ‘AquaCell expects at some point, [to] expand in Canada, as some of the retailers we are negotiating with have stores in Canada.’
City unveils timeslots for fall TV
Citytv’s purchase of Monday Night Football bears fruit with a special edition airing live on Thursday, Sept. 8. Air times are 8 p.m. ET in Toronto (in HD); 5 p.m. PT in Vancouver; 6 p.m. MT in Calgary and Edmonton and 7 p.m. CT in Winnipeg, all simulcast with ABC. The regular Monday night timeslot begins Sept. 12 at 9 p.m. in Toronto; 6 p.m. in Vancouver; 7 p.m. in Calgary and Edmonton and 8 p.m. in Winnipeg.
In other Citytv news, Wanted premiers Tuesday, Sept. 13. The West Wing‘s Gary Cole stars as the head of a covert criminal apprehension squad. The show airs at 10 p.m. ET/PT/MT in Toronto (in HD), Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton and at 9 p.m. CT in Winnipeg.
Two young men hunt down evil paranormal forces while they search for their father in Supernatural, premiering Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 9 p.m. ET/PT/MT Toronto (in HD), Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton and 8 p.m. CT in Winnipeg (simulcast With The WB.)
The darling of the upfronts, Everybody Hates Chris unspools Thursday, Sept. 22. Comedian Chris Rock’s boyhood experiences come to life 8 p.m. ET/PT/MT on Citytv Toronto (in HD), Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton and 7 p.m. CT on Citytv Winnipeg.
Touched by an Amy Grant, a.k.a. Three Wishes, in which real people have their dreams come true, premiers Friday, Sept. 23 8 p.m. ET/PT/MT in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton and 9 p.m. CT in Winnipeg.
Hot Properties’ real estate sex kittens come out to play Friday, Sept. 16 at 10:30 p.m. MT in Calgary and Edmonton and 8:30 p.m. CT in Winnipeg.
Meanwhile long-in-the-tooth Don Johnson is, oddly enough, Just Legal on Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 9 p.m. MT in Calgary and Edmonton. He and a young legal beagle protégé crusade for the wronged in L.A.
Space updates fall log
Space: The Imagination Station now has air dates and times for its new shows. The Sentinel, about a detective with heightened powers, will air Tuesdays at 10 p.m., beginning Sept. 6. 5ive Days to Midnight, a five-part miniseries about a professor who has to solve his own murder, will air Saturdays at 8 p.m. (repeating Sundays at 6 p.m.), beginning Sept. 10.
The 5th Quadrant parodies TV shows about the paranormal and will air Sundays at 8:30 a.m., beginning Sept. 11. Supernatural, Citytv’s show about ghostbusting brothers will also be seen on Space – here Fridays at 10 p.m., beginning Sept. 16 and repeating Saturdays at 5 p.m.
Sundays at 9:30 a.m., beginning Oct. 16 bring the spooky adventures of Vampire High, about bloodsucking teens at a boarding school that’s more than it seems by the light of day.
And finally the popular Stargate franchise extends to Stargate Atlantis Sundays at 8 p.m., beginning Jan. 22. The spin-off follows a scientific and military team investigating the secrets of Atlantis.
BBC Kids to air teen drama
The Brits’ answer to The O.C. hits net BBC Kids Mondays to Fridays beginning Aug. 29 at 10 p.m. The hour-long Hollyoaks will chronicle teen angst from across the pond. A popular adolescent soap in the U.K., the program attracted an average of 5 million sets of eye weekly. This is the North American premiere of the show. It targets 12-17s.
ReGenesis to launch Aug. 29
Global has revealed that the launch date for the much-anticipated biotech drama series ReGenesis will be Monday Aug. 29. The series originally enjoyed a successful release on pay services The Movie Network and Movie Central. It will be broadcast in HDTV.
ReGenesis will air in Ontario/Quebec/British Columbia at 10 p.m.; in Manitoba/Saskatchewan at 9 p.m. and in the Maritimes/Alberta at 8 p.m. (See MIC Feb. 8/05.)
Yummy Yumi for YTV
As part of its Sneaky Phreaky Peaky on Monday, Sept. 5, kid specialty YTV plans to air a special episode of its new series Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi at 4 p.m. Based on the popular Japanese pop duo Puffy AmiYumi, the show follows the wacky animated adventures of the real-life pop stars as they travel from gig to gig. In this ep, they meet their number one fan who seems okay until she starts to follow them everywhere they go. Regular airtime is Saturdays at 10:30 a.m.
