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The direct advertising strategy implemented by various health and sports clubs in Canada increased their membership. The success story of these clubs is depicted.

The showcase of 4th annual Marketing Awards for strategic and executional excellence in Canadian media is presented.

Paul Alofs and Barry Kuntz, two high profile executives, emphasizes on the importance of customer relationship management. Alofs is working as chief executive officer of non-profitable Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation, Barry Kuntz is the director of corporations marketing and marketing services at General Motors of Canada.

Too often, people squander this type of opportunity by succumbing to financial planning's most tenacious enemy - instant gratification. It's always easy to give into `wants' and rationalize them as [...]

Video Airtime Inc., a company based in Toronto, Ontario, have started recruiting companies in Canada to put advertisements on rental videos. The move is part of Video Airtime's effort to persuade the US movie industry involving the practicability of advertising on rental video. Canadian firms that tested rental video advertising include Molson Breweries, which placed its series of 'monkey' ads for Molson Canadian on Jackie Brown tapes, and Honda Acura, which placed its ad at the start of 1997's Goodwill Hunting.

PMB Quebec has made a major effort to integrate its product data in the new report with its main annual study. PMB Quebec measured 12 dailies in seven Quebec markets and Ottawa. Both studies have the same category breakdown: heavy, medium, light. The Quebec study now includes a measurement of newspaper sections being read. The first section features generic reports, such as international news, and the second section presents descriptions of each sections. Another change is a new procedure of transmitting data. Users can now retrieve data from the main or the Quebec study using a key word search.

Southam Inc.'s National Post will be ready for publication on Oct. 27, 1998, as its national advertising campaign comes to the final stages. The campaign included outdoor ads that started on Sep. 21, 1998, and a trade campaign began on Sep. 25, 1998. There will also be TV ads in major markets beginning Oct. 5, 1998, and on Oct. 12, 1998, Toronto radio ads will be launched. The publication, which is implementing a subscription drive mailout to around 150,000 Financial Post readers, is also planning to use on-line banner ads to promote the new daily.

Southam Inc. has assigned Maureen Cavan for the joint management of the Saturday Night and The Financial Post Magazine publications. Cavan, the publisher and chief operating officer of Saturday Night Magazine Limited, said that the still-unnamed division should be fully-organized in 1999. Cavan has a positive outlook as to the consolidation of the two titles, along with their advertising initiatives, considering that they share type of readers. Aside from her still untitled position in the consumer magazine division, Cavan will still work as publisher of Saturday Night.

Canadian magazine publishing companies are expected to register creditable financial performances in the fourth quarter of 1998. Publishing firms in the region have expressed optimism that the fourth quarter will reflect the same market sentiments seen in the past three quarters of the fiscal year. The magazine publishing industry is likewise poised to achieve considerable growth in the long term, according to analysts. Industry observers, however, have expressed concern over the possible adverse effects of these more than favorable forecasts and encouraged publishers to enhance their marketing efforts.

Toronto, Canada-based Today's Parent Group, which publishes child and parent magazines, will introduce the quarterly Today's Grandparent in January 1999. The new magazine, with circulation of 200,000, will target 50 to 70-year-olds Canadians who have grandchildren from newborns to 12-year-olds. Today's Grandparent will be featured during Seniors Days promotions of Shoppers Drug Mart stores. The new magazine, which will have Cheryl Weaver as publisher, will also be distributed in doctors' offices.

More Group Canada Inc., now part of the world's largest outdoor company, has won the contract for out-of-home advertising in Terminals 1 and 2 at Lester B. Pearson Int'l Airport in Toronto. Terminal 3 is held by competitor Urban Outdoor TransAd. More plans to solicit new business from the private sector, but will probably do best winning business from municipal contracts that are due to expire. More was purchased by San Antonio, Texas,-based Clear Channel Communications last summer.

Overall demand for radio is up in Canada due partly to the high cost and unavailability of television time. Most of the advertisers that are buying radio time are banks, insurance companies and department stores, such as Eaton's and The Bay. In major Canadian markets such as Calgary and Edmonton, advertisers have to book radio several weeks in advance. The demand is expected to continue right through the fall season of 1998. Meanwhile, outdoor advertising is also buoyant specifically in Alberta, Shapka, Calgary and Edmonton where the medium is sold out. Magazines are also looking up for the fall season.

CBC Radio is an attractive advertising medium with its affluent demographics, but the Canadian radio broadcaster has a no-advertising policy. Many media buyers have expressed interest in buying air time on selected programs such as Vancouver's Early Edition local morning show and Saturday's Basic Black with Arthur Black. The network's audience is almost twice as likely to have a university diploma as the general population and has very high incomes, said media buyer Maureen Beston quoting receint BBM Bureau of Measurement ratings figures.

MuchMoreMusic, a music channel, is preparing for a 3.5-million household introduction on Sep. 30, 1998, after carriage deals with cable and satellite operators in early August 1998. MuchMoreMusic is the adult contemporary music channel from CHUM Television in Toronto, Ontario. The channel will be offered by Canada's biggest cable operator, Rogers Cablesystems in Toronto, Ontario, Videotron Communications Ltd. in Edmonton, Alberta, and members of the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance. An official says advertiser interest in the channel is high, especially with the continued increase in households covered which now stands at 3.5 million.

Look Communications started marketing its digital multipoint distribution system in the greater Toronto, Canada, area on Aug. 4, 1998, via community papers, mall kiosks and the like. The marketing campaign, with Bos of Toronto as ad agency, will also include a major newspaper push in mid-September 1998, with Hamilton, Canada, Burlington, Canada, and the Niagara Peninsula area scheduled for October 1998. Look, which says it is not competing with conventional cable, will go after the 'fringe rural' market, urban households and commercial clients such as hotels.

Conrad Black's daily newspaper still has no official name but it reportedly has an ad campaign on the works. According to sources, the campaign for what many are calling the National Post, will probably start on the first or second week of September 1998 using radio, outdoor and some television or backlit billboards in Toronto. Black exchanged the Hamilton Spectator, the Kitchener-Waterloo Record, the Guelph Mercury and the Cambridge Reporter, for the Financial Post and $150 million in cash. Advertisers of the former Financial Post will reportedly get the same environment in the new daily, and maybe more ad space.

Rogers Community TV in Toronto, Canada, touted as the nation's largest cable provider, is seeking sponsors for its high-profile shows such as 'The Money Line,' 'Toronto Living,' movie program 'Reel to Reel,' teen show 'Buzz,' and St. Mike's Majors Ontario Hockey League broadcasts. The cable provider has reportedly secured the Bank of Montreal as sponsor for one-hour program, 'The Money Line.' The bank will get opening and closing billboards of up to 15 seconds and voiceovers acknowledging its sponsorships. The changes in CRTC regulation in January 1998 prompted the sponsorship hunt as funding for community channels have been eliminated.

Eyremont Media is launching a new magazine dubbed Planning for Profits in Canada in different phases. The West Vancouver, BC-based company is owned by publisher Terry Tremaine. Tremaine is targetting the growing personal finance and retirement planning industry with his publication. Planning for Profits is intended for readers who are 35 to 55 years old. Fifty percent of that audience is male while the other half is female. Tremaine will release the magazine in one city at a time since the personal finance industry cannot support the viability of a national monthly magazine. Tremaine noted that the baby boomer generation is currently planning for retirement but lacks adequate information.

TSN, a sports broadcasting entity, plans to use the electronic data interchange network it became part of to charge airtime from McKim Media Group. Electronic Space & Time president Brain Pearman indicated that media buyers use up 75% of time on paper documents. Eventually, invoices and electronic buys from clients will be sent via electronic means. McKim president Ann Boden noted that electronic data systems will allow media buyers to consider new ways of doing their job. Electronic data interchange will reap C$340,000 in savings for an agency within five years, based on 1995 research.

Interwood Marketing and Northern Response (International) are marketing companies in Canada that are subtly establishing themselves in the direct response television industry. Northern Response (International) acts as direct marketing agent in nations like Australia, Italy, Brazil, the Philippines, Japan, and Russia. Northern Response business development manager Don Cameron admitted that his division relies on different direct response television-based licensing agreements to operate in 33 nations.

Marketers are hesitant to send material to young consumers in Canada. One factor behind this attitude is the ethical stand of marketers. Another is that marketers are simply confused about the situation due to the lack of data. But Wolf Direct senior vice-president, managing director, Janet Stanek stated that the direct marketing approach is perfect for children due to the geographic setup of Canada. Nintendo proved that it can be done. The video game manufacturer sent special-occasion cards to 600,000 children in Canada along with a discount coupon. This technique improved the company's image with the children.

The Globe and Mail, a national newspaper based in Canada, is being relaunched on July 9, 1998, after undergoing a complete redesign, revealed vice-president of advertising sales Sandy Muir. Muir noted that the redesign is expected to enhance the publication's image. This will also secure additional advertisers since their ads will be in a better setting, stated Muir. The Globe will also be attempting to secure more potential new advertisers by offering new editorial content, stressed Muir. The publication will be posting new companies on one page everyday, said Editor-in-chief William Thorsell.

Canada Trust, a financial services provider, intends to adopt the use of the MaXis software in their media buying efforts. The firm has expressed optimism that the new software will allow it to improve efficiency in the field of media buying, according to Jim Torrance, assistant vice president of advertising for the financial services company. Torrance also maintains that the MaXis software will greatly enhance Canada Trust's corporate image. The software, produced and marketed by the Media Company/MBS, has the capability to compare and contrast various programs and rank them according to their efficiency.

WTN, a Winnipeg, Canada-based specialty channel, has launched a total marketing makeover to provide advertisers a much better information for what the service is about. The company is adopting a tagline: 'It's time for women,' synchronizes with the channel's approach as a 'domain' rather than a niche broadcaster. Aside from a $2-million consumer advertising push, WTN will spend more for national radio and trade advertising as well as women's magazines. WTN also hired three new sales representatives and a full-time researcher.

Media industry players believe that the popularity of TV and its generally national rather than local focus have played on radio's strengths. Media Company/MBS Broadcast Supervisor John Capozzi credits the difficulty facing advertisers to find a local voice on TV to the combined pretax profit increase of the radio industry. The pretax profit of the industry was up to C$51.8 million in 1997 from C$8.6 million in 1996. Meanwhile, Sound Source Networks General Manager and Vice President Jean-Marie Heimrath said lack of inventory in TV is prodding advertisers to look elsewhere such as radio. Heimrath also said radio, often seen as a retail medium, is benefitting from the good performance of retail.

Radio station owners and media professionals believe that the impending ownership shakeup for the Canadian radio industry, which will place many stations under few owners, will not result in high ad rates. Toronto, Canada, Radio Station President Maureen Bulley even believes that the shakeup will effect economies of scale that will not justify any rate hikes. Meanwhile, radio station operators remain vague about the shakeup, saying they are dancing or are under a courtship-like ritual that precedes any business deal.

Mediacom and Pattison Outdoor, two of the biggest outdoor advertising companies, offer bonus deals and as much as 60% in rate discounts to secure a bigger share of markets such as Toronto, Canada. Mediacom saw its lead over Pattison in terms of national market share decline in March 1998, as Pattison increased its market share to 42.2% compared to Mediacom's 44.9%. The price war between the two Toronto, Ontario-based outdoor agencies, however, was criticized by Urban Outdoor Trans Ad's vice president John Baird, who asserted that outdoor agencies must instead search for means to expand their media-spending market share.

TV Ontario, a Toronto-based broadcaster, is among the educational broadcasters that offer potential to advertisers because of their much better-off, much better-educated viewers. The high-quality audience distinction makes educational broadcasters different from other broadcasters in British Columbia and more appealing to advertisers. TVO, meanwhile, imposes several restrictions when it comes to advertising. It cannot sell commercial minutes nor any sponsor's message containing a call to action or the price of a product or service. However, the broadcaster can guarantee advertisers a special niche.

Efforts undertaken by various out-of-home companies to determine the effectiveness of outdoor advertising are discussed.

Benefits of merger of BMB Canada and Neilson Media Research to provide weekly TV data with the possible bottlenecks are discussed.

The event marketing strategy and evaluating its effectiveness on desired results is discussed.

Increasing number of online newspaper readers and its effects on conventional newspaper industry are analyzed.