Bell Media Partnering with Yellow Pages to support local merchants

Bell Media Mix has partnered with Yellow Pages to help encourage Canadians to support their neighbourhood merchants by purchasing locally on Saturday, Nov. 29, it was announced today. Shop The Neighbourhood, a local shopping movement, is a corporate social responsibility initiative of Yellow Pages and encourages Canadians to make a local purchase and take advantage of exclusive event day deals offered by the businesses in their neighbourhoods.

To spread the word and encourage Canadians to reflect on the importance of local businesses and drive them to Shop The Neighbourhood, Yellow Pages and Bell Media Mix have created an extensive multiplatform campaign deployed across the country in television, radio, out-of-home, and digital, leveraging Bell Media’s exceptional advertising reach. The campaign has been gaining momentum during the month of November with a phased rollout culminating on November 29, a special day when Canadians are encouraged to shop locally in their communities.

“Shop The Neighbourhood is an extension of Yellow Pages’ commitment to supporting small businesses and contributing to the creation of thriving neighbourhoods,” said André Leblanc, Director, Marketing Communications at Yellow Pages. “Bell Media’s unparalleled reach allows us to reach millions of Canadians and raise awareness on the importance of shopping locally.”

“With Bell Media’s sweeping portfolio, we have the ability to highlight local businesses within each market and leverage some of the most trusted voices in the communities we serve,” said Debbie Drutz, Vice-President, Bell Media Mix. “This partnership is perfectly aligned to our brands and is the largest multimedia partnership of its kind, touching all aspects of our portfolio. On November 29, we invite all Canadians to explore and shop their local neighbourhoods.”

To support the campaign, Bell Media’s CTV News stations in several Canadian markets have been airing throughout the month various content integrations showcasing local gems and interviewing consumers on why they believe it is important to shop locally. The most-watched Canadian daytime series The Social, The Marilyn Denis Show, and ETALK are also participating with hosts and personalities profiling their roots and neighbourhoods, while Bell Media brands Discovery, Bravo, Space, and The Comedy Network will broadcast closed captioning spots featuring the unique call to action.

Bell Media Radio will also contribute to the campaign by increasing awareness, with several stations including Toronto’s CHUM FM, NEWSTALK 1010 and Virgin Radio 999; Montréal’s Virgin Radio 96 and 107,3 Rouge fm; Vancouver’s The Beat 94.5, as well as Ottawa’s Majic 100.3, broadcasting creative spots featuring local merchants and live mentions on November 29.

Bell Media’s Astral Out-of-Home platform will also feature the campaign on transit shelters, street columns, and large-format digital faces throughout November in Toronto, Montréal, and Vancouver.

Finally, Bell Media’s broad reaching digital properties will be activated against the campaign with roadblock dominations taking place on November 29 across the company’s impressive network of more than 200 websites.

The promotional strategy behind the Shop The Neighbourhood campaign was coordinated by Bell Media Mix – a one-stop shop that enables clients to execute innovative and effective multimedia campaigns across Bell Media platforms – with creative produced by a combination of Bell Media services and departments, including the Bell Media Agency, Bell Media Radio and Television Brand Partnerships, and the Astral Out-of-Home studio.

Auto Ad Spend Growth Chart - Growing

Auto ad spending’s still growing, slowly, with new models and reboots likely to help in 2015. Radio’s automotive ad sales growth has slowed this year, and while the lure of digital may be partly to blame, just-released figures from Kantar Media project total car industry advertising in 2014 will have its slowest growth since the recession. The firm estimates auto advertising will increase just 1% this year with a current pacing pointing to a tally that will reach $16.25 billion. “Total measured ad spending has grown each year since 2010 and is on track to continue that streak in 2014,” Kantar Media chief revenue officer Jon Swallen said yesterday. But the post-recession marketing budgets are merely back to what the car industry spent in 2002. Still, it’s considerably better than the low point of $11.1 billion in 2009. “Since bottoming out, ad spending has increased more than 40%,” Swallen noted during a webinar. Manufacturers still spend the most, accounting for about 60 cents of every dollar spent, but regional associations and local dealers have been pumping more money into the marketplace. That’s good for radio since it’s where most of the industry’s auto ads originate. Some groups are experiencing just that. “Auto is an example of an improving trend on radio, up 4% in the quarter with the entire growth in auto coming from local,” Journal Communications president/ COO Andre Fernandez said two weeks ago when the company announced its quarterly earnings. The Kantar data shows car ad spending still tracks closely with car sales. “Post-recession consumer demand for new vehicles has improved sharply and the auto industry has followed suit with higher ad spending,” Swallen said. “The near-term sales forecast remains bullish and coupled with a large number of new model introductions and re-launches that manufacturers have scheduled, auto advertising appears to be on a healthy trajectory into 2015 and 2016,” Swallen said.

The auto jump ball: print dollars. Since coming out of the recession, Kantar Media says radio’s take of automotive advertising dollars has been fairly steady. At the same time internet display ads overtook radio, taking in more than $1.1 billion in 2013. Television remains the medium of choice, capturing10.5 billion last year. “That’s roughly two out of three dollars of automotive spending,” Kantar chief research officer Jon Swallen pointed out. But it’s newspapers and magazine dollars where radio sellers may find the most opportunity. “That media channel is losing share of budget,” Swallen said. “Auto spending on print media has tumbled — newspaper and magazine spending is down nearly 60% as compared to 2004.” While he sees more manufacturers and local dealers shifting dollars into digital, Swallen says there’s no data showing what the right media mix is. “There’s no one magic formula,” he said. “There are many different pathways to get to a successful outcome.”

Radio’s auto lane may be TV’s ‘traffic jam’ of ads. It’s not often that radio can position itself as the uncluttered option, but when it comes to auto advertising a new analysis by Kantar Media may help make the case. It analyzed all the local newscasts on more than 60 television stations in the top 10 markets during April. “The results were quite sobering,” chief research officer Jon Swallen said, pointing to the risky side of a decision by the car industry to put nearly two-thirds of its spending in one medium. The analysis showed 60% of TV auto ads during the local news air in a pod with multiple car commercials and a third were in pods with three or more ads. “On average there were 1.71 auto ads per pod in local news,” says Swallen, noting that means little or no separation between intra-category spots. Kantar doesn’t measure advertising effectiveness, but the suggestion is the competitive ad clutter is likely to diminish how well any given spot cuts through to consumers. Kantar also found some risks to online campaigns, particularly on social media. It found that although viral video can build a buzz that lasts longer that a typical broadcast commercial, an analysis showed that it can also serve to build interest in a competitor. When Ford released its aluminum body F-Series truck last January, its rival Chevy Silverado had a lot more chatter on social media too — even surpassing Ford at one point.

Do you know the age you should be targetting ? Marketing to Mothers

As marketers, we often define our female consumer target with the usual demographics: her age, her career orientation, household income.

But what if, instead of characterizing a female consumer by her own age, we considered the age of her children?

Statistics prove that motherhood in North America is not a one-age-fits-all milestone. Specifically, the age of mom when this life-changing event takes place differs by geography and is rising over time. Did you know:

• The mean age for a mother to birth her first child differs between the U.S. (25) and Canada (28)
  
• The percent of births to mothers over 30 years old varies substantially across Canada, from 36% in Saskatchewan to 56% in Ontario.
  
• The rate of births to mothers over 30 years old has risen about 250% since the ’70s.
  

And as mom’s age at childbirth varies across women, so too does the age of her children; and it should be no surprise that the age of her children has a substantial influence on her values, priorities, behaviours and brand loyalty drivers. In our latest research, Harbinger identified three specific consumer life stages, which reflect how the things a woman cares about evolve as her children pass milestones of their own: birth, starting school and fleeing “the nest.”

Some values, behaviours and loyalty drivers emerged consistently important across women; examples include the high priority of relationships and family, and the influence of value and efficacy on brand loyalty. But there are some significant differences.

Meet the “Pre-school Mom,” the “School Mom” and the “Zoomer Mom”:

Pre-school Mom

This life stage begins when a woman has her first child, and she remains here until all of her children have started full-time school (up to five years). Pre-School Moms in our study average 32 years old. The Pre-school Mom life is overwhelmingly consumed by her children, and personal priorities such as her career, health and fitness and her friends fall dramatically.

More than other moms, she seeks brands that make her life easier and make her feel good about herself; Pampers and LG are brands that only this mom group named among their top 25.

School Mom

This life stage starts once all of mom’s children reach school age (five years) and lasts until each has reached adulthood or independence (21 years). School Moms in our study average 42 years old.

When a woman transitions to School Mom, her time and attention shift away from her kids and spouse back toward herself and friends. This trend persists as her children mature, and though still important, raising children becomes an increasingly lower priority.

Her brand influencers are more likely to include alignment to her personal values and nostalgia, with Jif, Dawn, Lysol, Heinz and Clorox ranking higher among this mom group’s favourites.

Zoomer Mom

A mom becomes a Zoomer when her children reach adulthood and independence (21 years); she is also likely contemplating retirement. In our study, she averages 62 years old.

By the time she reaches this life stage, her priorities have shifted dramatically from growing her children and advancing her career to pursuing leisure and wellness.

An experienced consumer, she is least likely to be influenced by emotional drivers, such as feeling good about herself when purchasing or using a brand, or by recommendations. Olay, HP and Samsung are a few favourite brands that ranked higher with these moms.

So what does this mean to marketers?

Mom’s preferences, purchase behaviours and loyalty drivers vary by life stage – not her age alone.

By failing to consider family composition, marketers run the risk of generic programs and failing to build meaningful connections with distinct groups of moms.

If marketers broaden their target consumer definition to include life stage, brand decision-makers and agency partners will be much better positioned to design a compelling brand purpose and focused programs, which leverage the similarities and differences among moms.

So, the next time you ask her age, don’t forget to ask how old her kids are, too.

Wade McNeill Hour on the Edge

Corus Radio Toronto’s 102.1 the Edge announces the launch of The Wade MacNeil Show weeknights beginning Monday, November 3 from 6 p.m. to midnight. Listeners will get an exclusive backstage pass into the world of alternative rock from host, Wade MacNeil, as he draws upon his tour experiences and highlights the ins and outs of Canada’s underground music scene.
Along with regular guest interviews, listeners will hear unique features like Locals Only, Wade’s nod to the local music scene in Toronto and around the world, and Born Too Late, a nightly throw-back of songs from the late 70’s and 80’s that started it all and are featured regularly on the Edge’s Sunday afternoon series, Spirit of Radio Sundays.
Wade is no stranger to the spotlight. For 11 years, he was the guitarist for one of Canada’s most successful post-hardcore bands, Alexisonfire, and is currently the lead singer of U.K.-based band, Gallows. From clubs, arenas and amphitheatres across North America to Europe’s biggest rock festivals, Wade’s musical career has given him an encyclopedic knowledge on music and pop culture.
“As a musician, Wade brings a completely unique and personal perspective of the music industry to Edge listeners,” said Dave Farough, General Manager, Corus Radio Toronto. “We’re thrilled to have him join our on-air roster, engaging fans with stories from the road and sharing his take on new emerging artists.”