Life is about to become a Slice for Alliance Atlantis Communications. The Toronto-based broadcaster plans to relaunch its charter specialty channel, Life Network, as Slice in March 2007.
The new channel, described as “fun, irreverent, and unapologetic,” by Gail Rivett, Alliance Atlantis’s senior vice-president of marketing and communications, will target women 18-49, with women in their 30s comprising its core audience. The Slice format, adds Rivett, is something “that has not been seen anywhere on the lifestyle television landscape in Canada. It’s something (women) have been waiting for.”
Slice will debut with a handful of U.S. programs, including Real Housewives of Orange County and Beauty and the Geek. These will be augmented by 13 new original series, including the reality-type shows Outlaw In-Laws, UpRooted and an as-yet unnamed series hosted by former Breakfast Television Toronto co-host Liza Fromer.
Alliance Atlantis says these homegrown productions will provide ample product integration and product placement opportunities for advertisers, who will be able to access programs at the development level. “We’re not talking about just inserting products here and there just to make it look like everything else,” says Errol Da-Ré, executive VP of sales. “We’re talking about true product integration in a lot of original content-which a lot of channels can’t do. I think it’s an under-served market right now, and one (advertisers) are really looking to exploit.”
He predicts the revamped schedule will appeal to clients in marketing segments like beauty, fashion, retail, automotive (a category Da-Ré says is “going after women like never before”) and packaged goods.
Media buyers say it’s no real surprise that Alliance Atlantis has decided to snuff out Life. “It’s lost its relevance in the marketplace,” says Valerie McMorran, senior VP, investment director for Starcom MediaVest Group in Toronto. “As buyers, we saw the average quarter-hour numbers deteriorating over time.”
Life’s advertising revenues were $17.7 million in 2005, up 7.9% from $16.4 million in 2004 and more than double its 2001 total, according to CRTC statistics. However, its subscriber revenues have declined each year since 2001, including an 8.6% decline to $14.8 million in 2005 from $16.2 million in 2004.
McMorran says SMG-whose clients include Old Navy, Lenscrafters and Diageo-was using Life for its packaged goods and family-oriented products because of its “safe content” but that Life’s broad model didn’t provide for tailored marketing solutions. “The whole idea of placement now is being very specific and relevant to the brand,” says McMorran.
Da-Ré says the overhaul of Life will make people forget about the channel, which currently boasts in excess of six million subscribers. “It’s not like we’re keeping the name the same and just changing some programs; we’re changing the entire channel,” he says.
The name Slice was selected from a list of more than 1,400 contenders conceived during a series of brainstorming sessions at Alliance Atlantis. Focus group testing and an online survey of 1,500 women determined that the name conveyed traits such as fun, youthful, kitschy, non-traditional and energetic, says Rivett. The name is also intended to conjure up the notion of a guilty indulgence, she adds.
Alliance Atlantis has appointed hot Vancouver agency Rethink to oversee the rebranding effort. “We’ve always admired Rethink’s work,” says Rivett. “It’s very different, thought-provoking, funny and irreverent. We decided that they were absolutely the right fit for this project.” Rethink partners Chris Staples and Ian Grais earned accolades for their work for Seattle-based channel KVOS in their former roles as creative directors for Palmer Jarvis DDB Vancouver (now DDB Vancouver).
A current trade campaign featuring the tag “My Vice is Slice” debuted in trade magazines (including Marketing) and online. Da-Ré is also hosting a blog at errolda-blog.com. The blog marks the first time an Alliance Atlantis executive has used the digital medium to promote the broadcaster’s portfolio of channels.
The consumer marketing campaign, expected to utilize traditional elements like TV and outdoor but also tactics such as guerrilla marketing, will debut in February. In addition, Alliance Atlantis has enlisted Strategic Objectives to oversee PR for the new channel, while The Strategic Counsel conducted a comprehensive research program that provided consumer insight into the channel’s development.
