Da Vinci Code movie seeks advertiser involvement
Vancouver-based PropStar Product Placements is currently involved in several movie projects that are looking for products/client involvement. Two of the films are The Da Vinci Code and Basic Instinct 2.
The films are designed to appeal to a mass audience and should provide wide exposure to the products placed. PropStar is particularly interested in striking deals with technology and cellphone companies.
BBM Canada Commercial Television Tracking Service
Please click on the attached link to view GRP Trending by week and month for the Total Restaurant category in the Toronto market covering the broadcast months of March 2004 to February 2005 inclusive.
PrideVision gets spinoff
April 7 is the transformation date for gay diginet PrideVision. At that time, PrideVision will expand its hard core gay adult content to 24/7 and relaunch its lifestyle schedule on spinoff net OUTtv. The category 1 lifestyle channel will be included at no extra cost with other digital channels in bundles, theme packages or à la carte. Because of the package distribution, OUTtv is expected to increase reach from 20,000 subscribers to about 700,000 over the next few months. The audience is expected to be not only the GLBT community but also a young, hip and straight mostly female demographic, said Bill Craig, the new president of both OUTtv and PrideVision, in a release.
Pridevision/OUTtv was purchased last year from Headline Media Group by a private consortium of Canadian gay businesses, including Pink Triangle Press, which publishes the GLBT community newspaper Xtra in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver (total circ.: 175,000.)
‘There are terrific synergies that the combination of OUTtv and Pink Triangle Press (PTP) can potentially bring to clients that want access to the highly-coveted gay and lesbian market,’ notes Andrew Chang, PTP’s chief operating officer. ‘It will now be easier for marketers to assemble multimedia ad buys that could include our Xtra gay community newspapers across the country, the OUTtv network and the Xtra and OUTtv Web sites.’
Corus calls for country choristers
Corus Entertainment is giving aspiring country singers a chance to shine in its second annual country music talent competition, beginning April 2 when its radio stations The New Country 95.3 (Hamilton), CISN Country (Edmonton), KG Country (Red Deer, Alta.) and Country 105 (Calgary) hold auditions. The eight-week contest sends local winners to the third annual Canada Day jam at Sunnyside Park in Toronto. The winner also receives a free recording session, a CMT Canada-produced video and their song featured on Max Trax’s CMT digital music channel and http://www.maxtrax.com.
There are currently no national sponsorships in the works but participating stations are open to proposals in their local markets.
Capvertising: Vitran hopes it’s captivating
Mississauga, Ont.-based Landmark Sport Group announced yesterday that PGA Tour player David Hearn has signed with Vitran Corporation to wear the company’s logo on his golf cap for the rest of the 2005 golf season.
The first-year player is ‘a great Canadian golf prospect…[with] the motivation and skill necessary to be a champion, and we could not have selected a better spokesperson for our company,’ says Vitran president and CEO Rick Gaetz. The Toronto-based firm provides freight services and logistics solutions.
Nielsen Media Research Spend Trend: Apparel Manufacturers and Retailers
Clothing and footwear manufacturers and retailers had spread their ad budgets pretty evenly across TV, out-of-home and dailies until 2003 when total spending soared about 83% above the previous year. TV accounted for 50% of the spending that year with department store clothing, leisure and loungewear, and jeans contributing to the surge. In 2004, numbers returned to levels consistent with the previous two years and once again TV (31.7%), dailies (27.8%), and OOH (27.5%) received more equal pieces of the pie.
ComBase Market Focus: Chilliwack, B.C.
Adults in Chilliwack are very strong community newspaper readers:
* 89% report reading any community newspaper (weekday or weekend) compared to 50% who report reading any daily newspapers (weekday or weekend).
* 44% are exclusive community newspaper readers and only read the community paper and not the daily newspaper.
* These exclusive community newspaper readers tend to be women between the ages of 25 and 34 who are 8% more likely to be married or living with a partner and homeowners.
And when it comes to other media in Chilliwack:
* 29% of adults admit they didn’t listen to any radio yesterday.
* 7% report listening to non-commercial CBC stations.
* 45% of adults report watching less than 9.5 hours of television (or less than an hour and a half a day) in the past week.
Source: ComBase 2003-2004 Study
ComBase, the Community Newspaper Database, is a syndicated consumer-media survey of more than 400 Canadian markets that provides market-by-market information. It is an initiative of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and its nearly 700 members across the country. For more information, contact Kelly Levson, senior project manager, kellylevson@combase.ca.
New show for Jamie Oliver
Women’s favourite British dish, chef Jamie Oliver, has a new show set to air on Food Network Canada in June. The yummy souperstar has set himself the task of providing healthy lunches for 20,000 school children in one of London’s most ‘demanding’ areas. If he succeeds in changing the kids’ eating habits, he will create a blueprint for school dinners across Britain.
The four eps of Jamie’s School Dinners will air Saturdays at 10 p.m., beginning June 4. The Food Net is looking for an aud of adults 25-54.
Trauma abounds on Discovery Health in May
Hot on the heals of April’s ‘Healthy Makeover Month,’ the Discovery Health Channel looks to May with two Canadian premieres planned.
Situation Critical will air Wednesdays beginning May 4 at 9 p.m. This 13-part, hour-long series will bring viewers into Toronto hospitals as the professionals deal with various trauma cases. The Critical Hour: Shock Trauma follows at 10 p.m. on Wednesdays beginning May 4. The show follows a chief of trauma surgery in Baltimore over 12 episodes. Females 25-54 are the target aud for both shows.
May will also showcase various specials like Super Surgery, where a woman is relieved of a 160 lb. tumour and Miracle Steps, which follows victims recovering from spinal injuries.
City gets animated
Citytv is rolling out a new season of Hey Joel. This hour-long animated comedy follows the adventures of an annoying host of a three-minute rock star interview show on VH1.
Geared to a 14+ audience, the show debuts April 14 and will continue Thursdays at 8 p.m.
Starcom names Lewis
Jennifer Lewis has joined Toronto-based Starcom MediaVest Group as strategy manager, working on the Buena Vista account where she will oversee all planning requirements. Lewis comes from Foote Cone & Belding, where she worked on such accounts as Coors Canada and the Government of Ontario. She has 10 years’ experience in the business.
Event
March 30
Online Contests and Promotions Breakfast
Presented by AIMS Canada, highlights include Peter McGoey, president of M Marketing Services demonstrating how the power of strategic alliance supported by integrated marketing led to a win/win situation for customers, online merchants and Visa Canada.
The National Club, Toronto
416-203-3656
http://www.aimscanada.com
PMB Factoid
Quebec index for bird watching: 118
Why media audits are a good thing:
Media In Canada caught up (via email) with U.K media auditing pioneer Stephen White, founder of EMM, London, Eng., who will speak at the CMDC conference in Toronto next month on a panel entitled ‘The Auditors and the Audited.’ We asked him to flesh out his take on why audits are crucial to the conference’s topic: ‘Managing Risk and Accountability.’
White, who set up his media auditing firm, EMM (Effective Media Management),over a decade ago to evaluate, benchmark, and monitor advertisers’ media investments, believes that as media becomes more complex, ‘there is absolutely no chance that agencies [should be] involved in ‘marking their own homework.
‘Independent evaluation and scrutiny is demanded by advertisers,’ he says, ‘and from that standpoint there can be no role for the agencies other than delivering great results.’
BBM Top 20
For a list of the top 20 TV shows for the week of March 14 to March 20, according to BBM, click the links below:
National Top 20
Ontario Top 20
Quebec Top 20
Toronto Top 20
Vancouver Top 20
