The Calgary Stampede is returning to its rodeo roots in its advertising campaign for this year’s event.
The three-part campaign, which started with teasers at the beginning of June, and which kicks into high gear in the next two weeks leading up to the July 7-16 exhibition, uses traditional rodeo icons in a new way, explains Paul Rosenberg, the Stampede’s senior manager of sales and programming. “We have made big changes to our rodeo format this year, so we decided to take icons of the world of rodeo and the West and use them as a lens to look at the non-Western aspects of the Stampede.” For example, one treatment uses a cowboy’s lariat to imitate a midway rollercoaster, and blue jeans rivets are transformed into fairground mini-doughnuts.
This year’s campaign is the first in almost two decades created by an agency other than Highwood Communications, which lost the Stampede account last January to Young & Rubicam Calgary.
Phase one of the campaign kicked off with three outdoor billboards on major Calgary roads featuring enormous foam and fibreglass bull horns bursting through a sign with the tag line “Something big is happening.” The billboards got lots of attention, says Rosenberg, and the Stampede hopes to hang a set of the horns over the grandstand main entrance during the Stampede.
Phase two, or the “enticement stage,” consists of TV spots that are currently running. The final, intensive “value phase” of the campaign kicks off July 1 with outdoor, print and radio touting the entertainment and events available with a general admission ticket.
The advertising campaign is centred on Calgary, but there will be outdoor and radio promotions beginning July 1 in the province’s other four major cities: Edmonton, Red Deer, Lethbridge and Fort McMurray.
Rosenberg says that after 19 years with one agency, it “took a lot more time at the front end” to get the working relationship with Y&R running smoothly, but adds that the resulting campaign is “very positive.”
–Norma Ramage
Harper Collins takes authors from pens to podcasts
Harper Collins Canada is launching a new podcast series consisting of interviews with Canadian authors.
The twice-monthly series begins in mid-July and tentatively features scribes Gautam Malkani, Jon Evans, Sara Gruen, Lydia Millet, Dennis Bock and Rebecca Godfrey. Each writer will discuss his or her latest book with an as-yet-unnamed host.
Steve Osgoode, director, online marketing and new media, says the new series was inspired by podcasts Harper Collins did with author Jay Ingram, who also hosts The Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet program. “We had some success with that and since then it’s been top of mind,” he says. “This is a great way to introduce a number of different authors.”
Osgoode adds that the series is cost-effective and represents an evolving marketing strategy for Harper Collins Canada. “We’re trying to leverage multimedia outreach as much as we can because it’s an efficient way to reach readers,” he says. “It’s more of a challenge to do that through traditional advertising.”
The podcasts will be promoted through electronic newsletters sent to readers and book clubs, as well as a strong presence on Harper Collins Canada’s website and sites created for the authors and titles involved.
The series is co-ordinated by Sequentia Communications, Harper Collins Canada’s digital agency, with podcasts to be created by Foursevens Podcast Network.
–Matt Semansky
Maclean’s moves from Mondays to Thursdays
Beginning July 13, Maclean’s will hit newsstands and subscribers’ mailboxes every Thursday. The Canadian newsweekly has delivered copies on Mondays for the past 30 years, but will make the switch following its Canada Day issue.
“It’s a concept we’ve had in our minds since before the end of last year,” says Deborah Trepanier, associate publisher, general manager and vice-president, Maclean’s. “We took a look at our audience and our advertisers and we believe that increasing our speed to market will benefit both.”
According to Trepanier, the move to Thursdays is based on retail and readership trends. She says the magazine’s research indicates that retail activity increases late in the week, and believes that readers will have more time to spend with the publication on the weekend.
While appearing on Thursdays bucks North American newsweekly tradition, Trepanier says there is at least one good precedent. “The Economist is often out just before the weekend and it does very well on newsstands.”
In an editorial announcing the switch to readers, Maclean’s also suggests that by altering its production and distribution cycle to come out before weekend newspapers instead of after, it will contain more timely and relevant information.
The switch is an effort to further boost newsstand sales for Maclean’s. According to Trepanier, sales were up 36% in the first quarter of 2006 compared to the same period last year.
–Matt Semansky
Mini sculptures promote Vancouver’s big sculpture exhibition
Art is often controversial and a campaign to promote Vancouver’s first Sculpture Biennale should get a lot of people talking.
To promote the Vancouver Sculpture Biennale, an international sculpture exhibit, Rethink of Vancouver has produced more than 1,000 sculptures made of sheets of white plastic which will be posted at construction sites around the city starting Wednesday. The campaign’s theme is “art you can feel,” and the sculptures–that include a breast, a face and a heating element–are meant to be examined up close and personal.
“People shouldn’t feel intimidated by sculpture,” says Barry Mowatt, executive director of the event. “We want them to touch it and climb all over it. It’s truly participatory art.”
Chris Staples of Rethink says they’ve also designed shelves where people are encouraged to add objects and create a kind of evolving sculpture.
Staples says the plastic sculptures cost about $5 each to produce and each one is a numbered, limited edition that he expects will be taken home. “The shelf was a no-brainer because we wanted it to be participatory, we thought the breast would get attention and the face and the heating element just seemed like something you’d like to touch,” says Staples.
Staples says it took about two months to get all the technical specs right. “We went through dozens and dozens of mock-ups and tests and then we had to try and figure out how to affix them to the walls,” he says.
The 23 actual sculptures by artists from a dozen countries are placed around Vancouver and will stay until April 2007.
–Eve Lazarus
Rogers signs on as Caribana’s primary sponsor
Rogers Communications Inc.’s Omni Television multicultural network has signed on as the main sponsor of Toronto’s Caribana cultural festival.
The deal, worth more than $1 million, extends beyond Omni to the larger Rogers media empire. Much of the agreement takes the form of cash and in-kind advertising and marketing through Rogers radio stations, websites, Maclean’s magazine and even its major-league baseball team, the Toronto Blue Jays.
Rogers’ Omni station won out in a tendering competition with Citytv and the CTV Network for the broadcast rights to the festival.
“That is a big win by any measurement,” said Eddison Doyle, a former chief financial officer of Lucent Technologies who is acting as chief operating officer of Caribana. He said Rogers was selected because it was willing to extend its sponsorship agreement beyond the Omni broadcast deal.
“The pivot was really Omni,” said Doyle. “It started off with Omni, and then obviously it extended throughout the Rogers family.”
At Rogers, the various business units are hurriedly trying to capitalize on the linkup with the Caribana festival, which runs in Toronto during the civic long weekend in August. A major component will likely be the Rogers Wireless unit, which has long focused on ethnic marketing.
“We’re currently in talks with them as well in terms of leveraging the opportunity,” said Bobby Sahni, manager of multicultural marketing with Rogers Cable.
Caribana has been plagued by infighting among its organizers and the lack of financial accountability. The City of Toronto, a major financial backer of the annual event celebrating Caribbean culture, this year appointed a city-backed management group to run the festival.
–Paul Brent
Edmonton hopes yo-yo promo will attract tourists
City leaders in Edmonton have a promotional idea that comes with strings attached.
The city has budgeted $50,000 to hire 30 actors to hand out yo-yos in Washington, D.C. on Canada Day.
The promotion is part of Alberta Week in Washington, and the yo-yos are emblazoned with Edmonton logos and an economic development website address for the city.
City spokesperson Matthew Wispinski says the campaign is a fun way to promote Edmonton and connect with the average person attending the festival. About 10,000 of the yo-yos were manufactured, and the mayor’s office estimates the cost of the yo-yo promotion will likely be closer to $30,000.
But Scott Hennig of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation says people in Edmonton are going to be outraged.
Hennig says the only people the yo-yo promotion will appeal to are six-year-olds.
“If you’re looking for major business investment to come to Edmonton, it is doubtful these Washington business executives are going to be hanging out downtown playing with their Edmonton yo-yos,” he said.
The promotion coincides with the exhibition of Alberta’s culture and history at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which begins June 30.
Alberta Week is being attended by Premier Ralph Klein and Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel.
Mandel said Edmonton has to market itself better, which is why the city is participating in the Washington events, which included a reception hosted by the city Monday night at the Canadian embassy.
“We don’t like to spend money except on what’s best for taxpayers,” said Mandel.
The province is spending nearly $4 million to stage about 12 days of exhibits and activities. The city is spending about $200,000 to participate.
–Canadian Press
Outdoor Broadcast Network continues to expand its reach
The Outdoor Broadcast Network is partnering with Roadside Television Network to sell advertising space on video screens in Hamilton, Cambridge and Niagara Falls.
Roadside will continue to own the video boards and sell to local advertisers, with OBN offering the space to its national clients. According to OBN president Peter Irwin, the deal allows his company to expand its reach. Earlier this month Toronto-based OBNreached similar agreements with Bonnis Media in Vancouver and High Point Media in Edmonton.
“There’s been a great demand from advertisers for new markets,” says Irwin. “But there aren’t a lot of existing board operators. Roadside’s boards are high-quality and they’re in high-traffic areas.”
Irwin says the company expects to announce another new addition in Western Canada in the coming weeks while continuing to focus on cross-country growth.
–Matt Semansky
Franchisees take Subway to court over ad fund
Franchisees sued the Subway sandwich chain Monday, claiming that a new franchise agreement will threaten control of a US$500 million advertising trust fund.
The Subway Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust, acting on behalf of more than 10,000 franchisees worldwide, said the lawsuit, which was filed in Ansonia-Milford Superior Court (in Connecticut), seeks to prevent Subway from breaking terms of a trust agreement between the two parties. The lawsuit names Doctor’s Associates Inc., the franchisor of Subway restaurants.
At issue is a fund controlled by franchisees to advertise Subway sandwiches and other products.
In a statement, the advertising trust fund praised Subway founder Fred DeLuca for initially approving the trust fund arrangement. But it criticized Subway officials for what it says is a change in policy.
“As an entrepreneur himself, Fred recognized the importance of empowering the small-business owners of Subway franchises with control over advertising and marketing programs,” the trust said in a statement. “Unfortunately, for reasons that are not clear, Fred has now decided he wants to change this proven formula and unilaterally assume control–16 years after his original agreement with franchisees. At a time of record sales and growth, we do not know why Fred would want to do this now.”
Kevin Kane, a spokesperson for Subway, would not comment on the specifics of the dispute.
“We are still hopeful we can come to an amicable resolution,” he said.
The advertising trust says a new franchise agreement introduced by DeLuca April 1 allows Subway “at any time it chooses” to redirect franchisee advertising contributions away from the trust to a separate entity established by Subway.
Terms in the new franchise agreement conflict with the 1990 agreement that established the advertising trust, it said.
The trust is asking the court to bar Subway from including the new terms in its revised franchise agreement and require Subway to comply with commitments it made in the 1990 trust agreement.
Subway, which is privately held, reported sales of more than $9 billion in 2005. It operates 26,017 restaurants in 84 countries including Canada.
–Associated Press
Taxi NYC takes Film Lion
While Canadian ad shops brought home no Lions from the Film competition at Cannes last week, the U.S. office of a Canadian agency did.
Taxi NYC won a Bronze Lion in the Film competition for client Amp’d Mobile.
Taxi opened its New York outpost late in 2004 and while the official entry listed the win as one for the United States, Paul Lavoie, Taxi’s chair and chief creative officer said the Lion still represents a win for Canada.
–Marketing staff
Ones to Watch 2006: Call for nominations
Marketing is searching for the industry’s next creative and business leaders with our 5th annual Ones to Watch: Marketing’s Next Generation.
Ones to Watch encourages and celebrates the accomplishments of talented young professionals 30 and under working in all corners of the Canadian marketing and advertising industry. The men and women chosen as the 2006 Ones to Watch will have, in the eyes of the Marketing editorial team, demonstrated marketplace innovation, financial clout and influence or leadership.
The deadline for nominations is July 10. Ones to Watch: Marketing’s Next Generation will be announced in Marketing’s Sept. 11, 2006 issue.
Classified Advertisements: The
following are paid classified advertisements. For booking information please call
Jennifer Elias at 416-764-1575, or by email at classifieds@marketingmag.ca
Angry creative thinks he's too good to write employment ad.
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While we appreciate your interest, only candidates with the appropriate qualifications will be contacted.
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If interested in this opportunity, please apply on-line on the Careers section at www.mini.ca
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