As part of what senior vice-president Duncan Fulton described as a “complete re-engineering” of the nature of its media partnerships, Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC) today announced a new media, content and digital partnership with TSN that will see the Bell Media specialty channel produce branded content for the retailer’s various marketing channels.
The new multi-year, multi-million dollar partnership also includes extensive traditional marketing and advertising opportunities across the sports network.
The agreement calls for TSN to develop and produce original relevant content for CTC’s various marketing channels, as well as exclusive content to be distributed through TSN broadcasts and digital platforms including TSN.ca, TSN GO and its BarDown property.
The companies said the deal would bring to life CTC’s existing sports and athlete sponsorships, which include deals with the Ottawa Senators, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the National Hockey League.
The two companies said content would be distributed through traditional flyers, digital flyers, social media channels, online advertising, in-store traditional and digital displays and employee communications.
The deal also provides CTC with extensive access to TSN’s live event coverage, including the IIHF World Juniors, the Grey Cup, FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 and its slate of NHL games. CTC will also receive exposure during TSN’s nightly sports news show SportsCentre.
TSN’s French-language sister channel RDS will provide additional support, with CTC content integrated across the RDS, RDS2, RDS Info, RDS.ca and RDS GO platforms. The channel will also incorporate CTC content in its role as official broadcaster of the Montreal Canadiens.
Fulton said the deal addresses the retailer’s need to provide unique content across a wide range of channels, from social media to its in-store digital displays.
“We still deeply value access to television broadcasts that draw large audiences, but increasingly we’re facing the need to produce unique and relevant content for our many digital and mobile channels,” said Fulton.
TSN president Stewart Johnson called the new deal “one of the most strategic advertising partnerships” in TSN’s history. “There is also a natural cultural alignment between Canadian Tire’s and TSN’s executive teams,” he said in a release. “We all share the same deep commitment to encouraging kids to get into sports and the importance of lifelong healthy and active living.”
Johnston also said the deal creates a “powerful extension” for the TSN brand, reaching millions of CTC customers across a variety of platforms.
The deal encompasses all of the retail banners in the CTC family, including Canadian Tire, Mark’s, Sport Chek, Sports Experts, National Sports, Pro Hockey Life, Atmosphere, PartSource, Gas+, Canadian Tire Financial and the charity Jumpstart, which is committed to helping families with financial difficulties get their children into organized sports.
The partnership is being funded by what CTC called an “optimization and reallocation” of its existing marketing and advertising budgets.
