Alliance Atlantis will launch a multi-media advertising campaign on Monday to coincide with the debut of its new specialty station, Slice. The station, which replaces Life Network and targets women 18-49, will broadcast U.S. programs such as The Real Housewives of Orange County, as well as original shows such as Uprooted and Outlaw In-Laws.
Gail Rivett, senior vice-president, marketing and publicity for Alliance Atlantis, says Slice will present women with light, “guilty pleasure” viewing. “We’ve talked to a lot of women and found that they wanted to have a bit of a laugh at themselves and not always be so earnest about their daily tribulations,” says Rivett. “That’s what the programming really embodies.”
That spirit, says Rivett, is embodied in the station’s “My Vice is Slice” marketing campaign, which includes television spots, print and transit ads, online marketing, out-of-home advertising in malls, grocery stores and women’s washrooms and a strong public relations push.
The television campaign is based on the tongue-in-cheek conceit that the launch of Slice will cause women to abandon existing vices, including chocolate, shopping and sex. In each spot, a fictional organization called the Coalition of Neglected Vices claims to have paid for the advertising.
The print and outdoor components of the campaign continue the playful theme and feature copy such as, “I watch Slice because my real-life friends are so boring. And, I hope, illiterate.”
Rivett says the cheeky creative gives women a sense of what to expect from Slice’s programming.
“There’s obviously the message in the creative that says let’s not kid ourselves that this is an earnest, weepy approach to high-minded issues. It’s about having a bit of a joke, a bit of fun,” she says. “There’s also the gossip element in the creative, where women are saying things about their friends and getting caught.”
Vancouver’s Rethink developed all creative for the campaign, while Proximity Interactive was responsible for the development of the Slice website. National Public Relations created the media relations strategy for the campaign, while Alliance Atlantis’ internal staff did the media buy and worked with Pattison Outdoor to use the latter’s new motion-changing creative in high-traffic shopping malls.
In addition, the company’s in-house creative team designed on-air promos that will appear on other Alliance Atlantis stations, as well as U.S. avails on channels such as CNN and A&E.
The campaign launches Monday with a press conference featuring reality television star Kelly Osbourne. Additional celebrity media tours are planned for Toronto and Calgary in the following weeks.
