Showcase family preps for May
Showcase and its digital offshoots Diva and Action are prepping to air their May offerings. On Showcase itself, Queer as Folk, the barrier-breaking gay-themed soap, is returning for its fifth and final season May 23. The show will run Mondays at 10 p.m. Highlights will include guest appearances by Cyndi Lauper and Rosie O’Donnell.
The action on Action includes the Get Out of Jail Festival running the week of May 22 at 9 p.m. Fare includes such gems as Cool Hand Luke on Thursday May 26. Meanwhile, sassy sister station Diva is serving up the Love on the Run Festival the weekend of May 28-29 with chick flicks like Witness with hunky Harrison Ford on Sunday at 11 p.m.
Event
April 20
Spotlight on Specialty: Beyond the Numbers
Four Seasons Hotel, Toronto
416.967.4067
Alliance Atlantis Communications, in partnership with strategy magazine and Media in Canada, presents this second annual event designed to provide up-to-date info and research about Canadian specialty TV viewing. Highlights include Peter Sealey, former CMO at Coke and former president of marketing and distribution for Columbia Pictures, talking about the best use of TV advertising dollars, and discussing philosophies underlying brand loyalty and consumers’ emotional connection to brands.
PMB Factoid
6% of Canadians belong to a coffee shop customer reward program. Females are 21% more likely to belong.
Mobile search engines: the new killer app?
MSN is adding a little razzle-dazzle to the search engine scene. The tech giant launched its own search engine on Feb. 1, and has invested US$100 million in developing superior search algorithms to provide more relevant results and grow a loyal user base. Marketers already on board with keyword buys include Dell, Lavalife and LLBean.
Competitors aren’t standing by idly, either – Google and Yahoo both recently introduced desktop search tools, and AOL launched a local search service at the end of February.
The heated competition means the race to offer the latest technology is speeding up, and mobile search could be the next big thing. While insiders say discussion about m-search is still premature, two U.S. companies, Medio Systems and Fast Search & Transfer ASA, are already developing related applications to sell to telcom carriers.
Mitsubishi picks BBDO Canada
Following the announcement earlier this month that Mitsubishi Motors North America had chosen BBDO as AOR in the U.S. comes the news that Mitsubishi Motor Sales Canada has given BBDO Canada its business here. Andrew Gray, the car maker’s national marketing manager, cited consistency across media platforms and geographies as key and felt BBDO Canada understands that challenge.
As the lead agency in Canada, BBDO will handle media planning and buying as well as advertising, direct marketing, interactive and retail components. The account will be run out of the Toronto office, while tapping BBDO Montreal and Proximity Canada too.
Capital C gets a Dose
Toronto-based Capital C has been named the marketing communications launch agency for Dose, the new free daily magazine, online service (dose.ca), and wireless portal (See Media in Canada, Feb. 24/05.) The brand targeting ‘urban, intelligent and fun’ 18-34s will launch Monday, April 4, 2005 in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa. The program will include guerrilla marketing, viral campaigns, media relations beginning this week as well as a national launch event on April 7.
The publication is a product of CanWest MediaWorks, a division of CanWest Global Communications. Media planning and buying are being handled internally. Dose‘s creative agency is Rethink, of Vancouver.
http://www.capitalc.net/main.swf
http://www.dose.ca
http://www.canwest.com
Rouge finds its Voix
Section Rouge Media has acquired La Voix du Village, a monthly fashion, decorating and real estate book aimed at the Quebec gay and lesbian community. The free two-year-old pub has a 30,000 distribution. It was previously owned by Prestige Media. The deal was set at $252,000. President and founder of La Voix, Sylvain Sourdif, will remain as publisher.
Section Rouge Media is a newspaper and magazine publishing company founded in 2001 by journalist Richard Desmarais and attorney Jean-Pierre Rancourt. It has 32 pubs in its stable. Desmarais says he hopes the acquisition will aid his company’s advance into the English-Canadian market.
BBM Media Snapshot: Charitable donations of $100+
* 7.2 million Canadians (27%) donated $100 or more to charity in the past year.
* There is an equal split between men and women who donated $100+ in the past year to charities.
* 32% of the people living in the Prairie region donated more than $100 to charities in the past year, which is the highest regional score compared to the national average of 27%. Ontario comes in second at 31%, with B.C. at 29%. The rest of the regions are below average.
* The top three age groups to donate $100+ to charities in the past year were 65+ (25%), 45 to 54 (22%), and 35 to 44 (18%).
* The average personal yearly income of a Canadian who donated more than $100 in the past year is almost $42,000. This is significantly higher than the national average of $30,000.
* 45% of retired people made charitable donations of $100+ in the past year.
* 25% of charitable donations of $100+ were made by people who do not have an RRSP.
* The top three media for yesterday exposure for people who donated more than $100 to charities in the past year were television (87%), radio (86%) and daily newspaper (63%).
* The top three television program genres watched in an average week by people who donated $100+ to charities in the past year are news/current affairs (71%), movies (62%), and documentaries (47%).
Source: BBM RTS Canada Fall ’03 / Spring ’04
The preceding information is from BBM RTS, a syndicated consumer-media survey of over 55,000 Canadians, conducted twice a year by BBM Canada. For more information contact Craig Dorning of BBM Canada: cdorning@bbm.ca.
Global to air The Masters
Global will cover The 2005 Masters golf tournament live from Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. Coverage begins with the third-round coverage on Saturday, April 9 at 3:30 p.m. and continues with final-round coverage on Sunday, April 10 at 2:30 p.m. Canadian contenders include Stephen Ames and Mike Weir, winner of the 2003 Masters.
Golf is known for its upscale audience, skewing male and The Masters should prove no exception.
Series aids small businesses
For people looking for some business advice that isn’t immediately followed by ‘you’re fired,’ The Life Network may have the answer.
In Good Company premiers Tuesday, May 24 at 1:30 a.m. and strives to offer advice to four different small businesses after a successful entrepreneur evaluates them. The four-part series is geared towards the 25-54 demographic and will air weekly for a half-hour on Tuesdays. The companies will receive invaluable advice on how to bring their business to the top.
Each week a different business will be featured, including a publisher, a restaurant, an estate agency and an events management company.
Making It Big
The Life Network is going to take people on a ride that they won’t soon forget on Making It Big, where they give three up-and-comers a chance to…make it big.
Airing Sundays at 10 p.m. beginning April 17, Making It Big will bring three people together to compete against each other for the opportunity of a lifetime, a chance to meet the biggest of the big wheels in their industry. The program will focus on a different profession in each of its six hour-long episodes.
YTV unveils more anime shows
Anime continues to attract youth viewers, and YTV, Canada’s number one youth network, knows it. This April, YTV is rolling out two new programs, .hack//Sign and Battle B’Daman.
.hack//Sign will premier on Friday, April 1 at 10:30 p.m. and continue as part of Bionix, YTV’s Friday night of action and anime. And Battle B’Daman will become a staple in YTV’s Saturday mornings starting April 23 at 7:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
This new wave of anime is followed closely by the Canadian television premiere of Inuyasha: Affections Touching Across Time, a movie based on the popular anime programs.
Food Net gets into the reno game
With home renovation coming to the forefront of reality programming, Food Network Canada has your kitchen covered.
A 36-episode series, Kitchen Equipped premiers Monday, April 4 at 2 p.m. and will continue to unspool afternoons from Monday through Saturday. The program will showcase in-studio kitchen renovations and feature hot new accessories – everything to do with your kitchen.
Hosted by Stacy McLennan and industrial designer Jay Purvis, the show will target 25-54s.
Météomédia puts out call for GM
Weather expert Pelmorex is seeking a new general manager for its MétéoMédia division. The chosen candidate will assume financial and operational leadership of MétéoMédia.
PMB Factoid
50% of Canadians participate in a customer reward program. Gas Station: 17%, Airlines: 15%, Grocery Stores: 14%.
