Peewee hockey coming to CBC
Montreal: The Tournament, a new mockumentary series for CBC, centers on a small town’s peewee hockey team and the obsessive hockey parents pushing their tiny champs towards an all-important novice tournament in Chateauguay, QC.
The $3.1-million series will kick off Jan. 3, 2005 with a one-hour pilot on CBC primetime followed by five half-hour episodes. The Tournament, currently shooting, brought An American in Canada creator Howard Busgang together with the creators of Just For Laughs to form a new Montreal production company, Adjacent 2 Entertainment.
Courtesy our sister publication Playback, November 8
Stick your ad on my butt
Wherever an advertisement or company logo can fit, The Canadian Professional Soccer League says they will entertain potential sponsors. In the world of professional soccer, advertisers have put their logos on everything from stadiums to socks, jerseys to shoes. Now, they are zeroing in on the butt. In the UK, a cash-strapped Leeds United is taking advantage of a new rule that allows advertising on the backside of shorts.
Closer to home, Stan Adamson, director of media and public relations at CPSL, says that while none of the teams in the CPSL have logos on their backside, they are interested in discussing individual team and league sponsorship. Companies such as JVC, Gatorade, and Subway currently sponsor individual teams. Adamson says that the CPSL has final approval about where and how logos appear on uniforms, but insists they are flexible. The CPSL is an 11-team league made up of teams in and around the GTA and runs from May to October.
http://www.cpsl.ca
Events
Staying Tuned 2005: Straight to the Heart of Audience Research conference will focus on the latest theories, practices and ideas on audience measurement. February 14, 2005; Westin Harbour Castle, Toronto; 416-445-9800. http://www.bbm.ca
The Ad Club Of Toronto’s Holiday Shmooze brings the opportunity to network before the holiday season hits. Thursday, November 18th (5:30 p.m.) at Shmooze Night Club (15 Mercer St.). Tickets must be pre-purchased ($25/each). For more information dspratt@redcatmedia.tv or http://www.adclubto.com.
It’s all about you baby!
If you were given information about a Web site that had your name embedded in the URL, wouldn’t you want to check it out as soon as possible? Toronto-based N5R is banking on that with their uniquely personalized new URL product – MySite. Talk about taking the whole ‘it’s all about me’ catchphrase to heart, if Roman Bodnarchuk, chairman and CEO of the digital online agency had his way, one-stop-shop Web sites would be out the door.
Diesel sweeps Cassies
For maximum efficiency, the Diesel table should have been situated on the Cassies stage. The Montreal ad agency won a third of the 18 awards handed out yesterday at Canada’s advertising effectiveness awards show held in Toronto and Montreal.
Food Network airs the goods on Ocean Spray Cranberry Cocktail
In the weeks leading up to the holiday season, the Food Network will host an innovative marketing program that alters viewer’s notions of Ocean Spray Cranberry Cocktail. Genesis Media created a multi-pronged campaign that combines traditional TV spots with 15-second vignettes designed to reinforce the brand by highlighting the versatility of cranberries. The vignettes were handpicked to air during programming with a focus on cooking and the holiday season. In addition to the vignettes and TV spots, the campaign employs five-second brand reminders, all of which prompt viewers to visit The Cranberry Corner, Ocean Spray’s microsite. At the microsite, Genesis tracks results in order to relay effective measurements to the client.
Online advertising revenues projected to climb
Online advertising continues to be a hotbed for growth as consumers warm to Internet shopping. A study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau expects online advertising revenue to reach almost $300 million this year. If the projection is correct it would mark a 68% increase from 2002. After surveying the top 40 online publishers, Ernst and Young and Faulkner Consulting collected the data. Growth has been attributed to the growing familiarity with the medium and research resulting in improvements in identifying and influencing key decision makers at important points during the purchase cycle.
http://www.iabcanada.com/
MuchMusic teams with Rogers Wireless to go mobile
MuchMusic goes mobiles when it teams with Rogers Wireless to launch ‘MuchPhone’ on November 9. Available from Rogers Wireless, the pay-as-you-go ‘MuchPhone’ enables young Canadians to personalize their phones with preloaded graphics, ring tones, games, special features, as well as exclusive content from MuchMusicEdition HQ. Interactive premium features include ‘MuchMixFactory,’ a program that allows readers to create their own ring tones and ‘Tune Tracker,’ a song identifying application. With this new partnership, MuchMusic and Rogers Wireless provide their customers with a product focused on their lifestyles.
Scream comes to Shaw digital customers
Corus and Shaw cable are giving their digital customers a chance to experience – Scream – their specialty channel that’s dedicated to thriller, suspense and horror productions. The channel, which includes film classics and cult classics in the ‘everything scary’ genre, will be adding Suspense Sundays (two suspense films) to the schedule.
All Shaw Digital customers will receive Scream for free until January 31, 2005.
http://www.screamtelevision.ca/
Sir John takes on TV
Elton John is sticking his toe into primetime waters, developing a series about a topic he knows well – a golden years rock god (apparently not him specifically, but more a montage of his pals, the Micks and Bowies of the world), which focuses on an entourage’s experiences catering to the whims of a celeb. Writing talent behind Sex & the City is working on the Spinal Tap-esque project, said to be for ABC. Whether it survives development and pilot hell or not, Elton is releasing a song written for the project, Him & Us, on his next album.
New CTV biopic tells tale of Canadian war crimes prosecutor
The Louise Arbour Story, a CTV original movie in production, chronicles the story of the chief war crimes prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia. Canadian Louise Arbour battles with world politics and heavy opposition to indict Slobodan Milosevic for crimes against humanity. A broadcast date is not yet available for the two-hour docu-drama, which wraps production in December.
The Club reality debuts on MuchMoreMusic
In the MuchMoreMusic exclusive reality series The Club, cameras expose the cutthroat business of running a nightclub and reveal its only rule ‘adapt or die.’ Debuting on November 10 at 9 p.m., the hour-long show allows viewers to experience the trials and tribulations of re-branding Ice, a premier Las Vegas club owned by Ed Williams. After a complete restoration, Williams hires hotshot Hollywood club promoter Allison Melnick to renovate the clubs attitude. Chaos ensues as Melnick rubs everyone at Ice the wrong way. MuchMoreMusic will air eight episodes and its target demographic is graduates of MuchMusic, the 24 to 34-year old crowd that attend clubs.
North Shore set to return to CH
New episodes of North Shore will return to CH Hamilton and CH Vancouver Island beginning Thursday, November 4 at 9 p.m.
People — Passages, Moves & News
The Institute of Communications and Advertising (ICA) has elected its new chair, Peter Shier; president of FCB Toronto along with Chris Jordan as vice-chair and Arthur Fleischmann as director of the executive committee. The ICA also brings on the following new board members: Robert Clarkson (Carlson Marketing Group Canada), Chris Keevill (Corporate Communications) and David Moore (Leo Burnett).
Corus Entertainment announced the promotion of Dolores Keating-Mallen to vice-president, creative director of Corus Television. Under her leadership, the on-air promotions team won over 140 domestic and international awards since Keating-Mallen joined the company in 1995. Keating-Mallen’s contributions to the YTV Keep It Weird campaign helped keep the station number one with children. She has also played strong roles in the re-branding of Movie central in Western Canada, the launch of Discovery Kids, and the re-launch of W Network in 2001. The appointment is effective immediately.
Rogers Media purges executive suite
In a company-wide statement this morning, Brian Segal, CEO of Toronto-based Rogers Publishing announced that the consumer publishing division would be downsized. Caught in the downsize are several key players – Paul Jones, SVP of News and Business and publisher of Maclean’s magazine; Donna Clark, SVP, Women’s Group; and MoneySense publisher Kathryn Swan.
