FQ adds men’s edition to roster
FQ Magazine, the large-format, saddle-stitch fashion book, will be adding a men’s edition in October 2005 in addition to its four regular issues. Publisher Shelagh Tarleton describes this yet-to-be-named magazine as an extension of the FQ brand aimed at the male reader. ‘The FQ men’s edition is more about a psychographic than a demographic, aimed at a guy who has taste and above-average income,’ she says.
Tarleton forsees that the same advertising base that supports FQ will likely advertise in the men’s edition, including cosmetic, fragrance, skincare, automotive, beverage alcohol, retail and fashion. The FQ men’s edition will be the same distribution pattern as FQ, going out to 185,000 readers, including all home subscribers of the Globe and Mail and newsstand readers. FQ is also planning an online magazine and several events with its parent company, Kontent Publishing, in the new year.
New incarnation for Filles
After 25 years, Filles d’aujourd’hui is being relaunched as Filles Clin d’Oeil, in January. Owner Les Publications TVA, wishing to differentiate it from its counterpart, Cool, is redefining the mag’s target and image. Filles will shoot for readers 14-24, the group in between the targets of Cool and Clin d’Oeil.
In terms of content, beauty and society coverage will be beefed up and a decorating section will be introduced.
Up-start phone directory has Yellow Pages seeing Red
SuperPages Canada, Canada’s second-largest phone directory, will be closing down its operations in Ontario and Quebec resulting in approximately 200 job cuts. The shut-down of the eastern Canada branch of the company has been reported as being a direct result of the company’s inability to make a significant dent on Yellow Pages’ stranglehold on the region. Speculation is that Yellow Pages will purchase the eastern Canada division of Super Pages.
Meanwhile, Red Toronto touts itself as the solution for small and big businesses alike looking for a way to break from Yellow Pages’ Wal-Martian rule of the phone directory business. Red Toronto offers a single price for advertising across its assorted media outlets (print, on-line, and URL links). Red Toronto also has an affiliated Web site, http://www.redto.com which currently has 80,000 listed companies. Since its launch in July, has seen its viewership increase 30% each month and currently boasts close to 30,000 hits each week.
Discovery Communications to expand HD services across the globe
Discovery Communications will extend the availability of its Discovery HD Theater into markets outside of the United States. Discovery HD Theater is currently one of the most widely distributed HD networks in the United States and the U.S. network, which offers HD programming from the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, will be the model for the implementation into other countries.
The international version of the networks will be offered as both stand-alone channels and as programming blocks depending on the broadcast region. The company plans to offer the network worldwide, focusing on already strong HDTV markets including Canada, Germany, Korea, Mexico, China, Japan, and the UK.
Dzine launches online
With a mandate to ‘provide worldwide exposure for the global community of broadcast designers as well as a platform for facilitating idea sharing and industry-wide discussion,’ online magazine Dzine.tv launches on Jan. 10. Produced in conjunction with Promax & BDA, the Dzine.tv site will feature recent broadcast design projects submitted by designers and broadcasters around the world.
http://www.dzine.tv
Casper beware! New ghost-hunting series hits Space next month
The Girly Ghosthunters, a half-hour doc series about a group of four real-life paranormal researchers, premiers on Space Friday, Jan. 14 at 9:30 p.m. Each 30-minute episode follows the girls as they ‘road trip’ to explore the world of the supernatural in various haunted locations across Ontario. The series is produced entirely in Canada and the four stars of the show are based in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. The show will target Space’s traditional demo of 25-54.
Search for a new sans-prison-record Martha Stewart begins next month
Wickedly Perfect, CBS’s new elimination-style reality series, will have its Canadian premiere on Sunday, Jan. 9 on Global. Perfect, which stars former Good Morning America host Joan Lunden, hopes to discover the next lifestyle television personality by putting the show’s twelve contestants through a grueling gauntlet of cooking, sewing, crafts and floral arranging assignments. The last person standing will win six appearances on The Early Show, an opportunity for a lifestyle-oriented TV show and a publishing deal.
Real-life emotional situation trivialized in new Fox reality show
On the heels of such popular Maury Povich episodes as, ‘I’ve Been Here Three Times With Seven Men! Find My Baby’s Father’ and ‘I’m Positive One Of These Six Men Is My Baby’s Father’ comes the newest Fox reality show, Who’s Your Daddy? The program will air as a 90-minute special on Monday, Jan. 3, though seven additional episodes have already been ordered.
The first show will focus on an adopted woman who, in front of a live studio audience, will try to guess the identity of her father out of a panel of eight men. If the woman selects her father after a series of Q&A and three elimination rounds she will win $100,000, but if she chooses wrong, the phony father will take home the cash prize. The surprising popularity of paternity suit-based programming has caught on almost everywhere (except in the NBA) and in just three weeks the genre will finally make its debut in primetime. There has been no announcement yet as to whether the show has reached a deal with a Canadian distributor.
New specialty channel adds some flava to the Catholic Church
Anyone who thought that The Da Vinci Code changed the public perception of the Catholic church hasn’t see anything yet. Salt & Light Television, the resurrected (pardon the pun) Inner Peace Television Network, was launched nationally last week. It has already featured programming such as pop-music videos with rapping priests and Cooking with Saints, which is hosted by Grano restaurant’s chef Roberto Martella and is filmed on a stained-glass-window-covered set.
The station will operate on a $1.5 million annual budget which will come entirely from a charitable foundation established by the Gagliano family and Gagliano-owned St. Joseph Corporation until advertisers can step in to help lighten the load. According to the network, Salt & Light has no intention of airing traditional commercials during its broadcasts but instead it will provide sponsorship opps for entire programs similar to what has been done for Cooking with Saints. The specialty station is currently offering a free preview.
BBM Media Snapshot: Internet dating
-19% of Canadians using Internet dating are married
– 695,000 Canadians have used Internet dating in the past year
– 42% of those using Internet dating are 25 to 34 years old
– Males and females are pretty evenly represented – 55% male versus 45% female
-19% of Internet daters are actually married or living common law
– Of the married Internet daters more are male (57%), but females are not far behind (43%)
– Internet dating continues to grow in Canada and is up by 150,000 new daters since last year (Fall 2003)
– In terms of yesterday exposure, the top four media for reaching Internet daters are: radio (90%), TV (86%), Internet (82%) and daily papers (46%).
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.
ComBase Market Focus: Nova Scotia (Province)
– 68% of adults report reading any edition of a community newspaper in Nova Scotia; 70% of women and 66% of men report the same
-53% of adults report reading any edition of a daily newspaper; only 57% of women and 48% of men report the same
– 88% of those who exclusively read any edition of a community newspaper and not a daily, own their own homes
Source: ComBase 2003-2004 Study
ComBase, the Community Newspaper Database, is a syndicated consumer-media survey of more than 400 Canadian markets that provides consistent and accurate, market-by-market information to assist in the buying and selling of community newspaper advertising space.
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.
http://www.combase.ca
Canada Post’s new Fetch: for the privacy-conscious
In a time when it appears every time you turn the corner your tombstone information is nabbed for marketing purposes, Canada Post’s new killer app Fetch may be the answer for both the privacy-conscious consumer and marketers alike.
Launching in January in Calgary, Fetch is based on the idea of a trusted third party – Canada Post – acting as an intermediary between consumer and brand. What does that mean exactly? Essentially when you look at a billboard, TV or Web ad and it’s tagged with Fetch plus a keyword (e.g. a BMW ad and the keyword car), consumers who opt into the initiative can text, phone or go on the Web to request more info on that specific product.
Influential bloggers integrate ads
In a bold move, Vancouver-based Marqui Management Systems has hired a team of bloggers to hawk the company’s services. Marqui, whose clients include the David Suzuki Foundation, makes Web-based text editing software.
In the ‘Blogosphere Program,’ a team of heavily read, influential technology bloggers will insert the company’s logo and at least one mention per week (with a link to the company’s Web site) into their blogs. For their efforts, the bloggers will receive $800 a month. An additional $50 is paid with each qualified sales lead.
Coca-Cola takes over Dundas Square
Coca-Cola is celebrating the holidays at Dundas Square in Toronto with the Square’s first ever synchronized holiday advertising display. Every night at 5:30, a 15-second version of Coke’s ‘Real Holidays’ campaign will run on five digital boards in the square.
The TV spot ‘Real Holidays’ is an adaptation of a commercial from Argentina. Originally shown last year, Coca-Cola adapted the storyline for the Canadian market to represent how Canadians feel and what they do during the holidays. The Dundas Square creative was adapted by Cossette and will run for the rest of the year.
Boyce named Playback person of the year
Media in Canada sister publication Playback has chosen Susanne Boyce as its 2004 Person of the Year. As CTV’s president of programming, Boyce has led her network to a banner year, with the station holding the rights to 13 of the country’s top 20 shows. From homegrown hits like Canadian Idol and Corner Gas to prescient acquisitions such as Lost and Desperate Housewives, CTV had the Midas touch this year, and at the network the lion’s share of the credit goes to Boyce. The Playback Year In Review issue profiling Boyce’s accomplishments hits newstands Jan. 3.
