Labatt Breweries of Canada took Best of Show at the 9th annual Sponsorship Marketing Awards (SMAs), winning for a fan-based sponsorship program involving Budweiser and the Winnipeg Jets that exceeded business objectives. The SMAs, presented April 25th at the Sponsorship Marketing Council of Canada’s annual conference in Toronto, recognize companies that maximize their investments in sponsorship marketing by developing innovative strategies that drive results. Other big winners were BMO and Scotiabank, which each won two awards. Click here for the media release.

The ACA has filed a written intervention with the CRTC in support of the CBC’s application to amend the licences of Radio 2, Espace musique and their affiliated stations to permit national advertising. The move follows ACA’s long-standing position that all broadcasting should permit, and would benefit from, commercial advertising. (more…)

The ACA has thrown its support behind the CBC’s bid to add advertising to its two national music radio networks, CBC Radio 2 and Espace musique. (more…)

A majority of Canadians believe advertising offers them value, and agree that most advertising is acceptable, according to a consumer poll conducted for Advertising Standards Canada by The Gandalf Group. (more…)

Following five months of bargaining, ACTRA has reached terms of settlement with the Association of Canadian Advertisers and the Institute of Communication Agencies to renew the National Commercial Agreement, the industry standard collective agreement that governs the production of commercials in Canada. Click here for more information.

The ACA has released the results of a survey conducted earlier this year that asked Canadian marketers how they were allocating their marketing communications budgets across the increasingly varied MarCom channel options. A summary report, titled Marketing Communications Expenditure Survey 2010, has been issued to ACA members and survey respondents. Increasing reliance on the Internet accounts for the single major shift in activity, according to the 84 survey respondents. Over the three-year survey period, Internet will have gained 3.7 share points and increased ad revenue by 82%. For more survey results, click here.

In the Downturn Throwdown series, we challenge industry experts to convince us their medium is the best location for advertisers to put their dollars in tough times.

By Gary Belgrave, Radio Marketing Bureau

Posted July 4th, 2009

The reason that makes radio a great advertising medium in good economic times is the same reason to choose it in tough times: just like James Brown was ‘the hardest-working man in showbiz,’ radio is the hardest-working medium in advertising. (more…)

In the Downturn Throwdown series, we challenge industry experts to convince us their medium is the best location for advertisers to put their dollars in tough times.

By Theresa Treutler, Television Bureau of Canada

Posted June 1st, 2009

The supposed demise of TV and TV advertising is a hot topic, thanks to declines in traditional viewing, personal video recorders (PVRs) and growth in Internet usage. The real story is significantly different.

Canadians have increased their TV viewing four percent since 2004/05 overall, and by two to three percent in the coveted 18-49 demographic. Even the web-centric under-25 demographic watches about 20 hours of TV per week, second only to the Internet in time spent. (more…)

By Bob Reaume, ACA

Posted April 3rd, 2009

Not since the invention of Jiffy Pop popcorn has something changed TV viewing habits as much as the DVR. DVR stands for Digital Video Recorder, sometimes called a PVR, as in Personal Video Recorder, known generically as TiVo, or as we like to call it at the ACA, the CAM: Commercial Avoidance Machine (which is another story for another column at another time). (more…)

By Paul Hétu, ACA

Posted February 2nd, 2009

There’s been a lot of talk in Montreal about Portable People Meters (PPMs), the cell-phone-sized gadgets that can record radio station signals within hearing distance. Montreal is one of the first markets worldwide, along with Houston and Philadelphia, to adopt this as a radio audience measurement tool. However, other large markets such as New York, England and Australia have declined to use them for radio audiences. So the question is: are we pioneers or simply naïve?

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