CBC/Radio-Canada is turning ho-ho-ho into dough-dough-dough, announcing a record eight new content marketing partnerships for its slate of holiday programming.
The public broadcaster boasts more holiday-themed programming than any of its competitors, with 60 holiday titles (including encores) airing across its English and French services between Nov. 30 and Jan. 1
Including Radio-Canada’s hugely popular New Year’s Eve show The Bye Bye, CBC/Radio-Canada claims to reach 90% of Canadians during the holiday season.
Its 2015 programming slate includes a holiday episode of Dragons’ Den, one-off specials like Rufus and Martha Wainwright’s Noël Nights, and popular holiday movies including Scrooged, Frosty the Snowman and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
The partners span multiple advertising categories, with clients including Walmart, Coca-Cola Canada, Spinbrush, Sunwing, Carstar Collision and Glass Service, Metro, Familiprix and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Canada.
Their marketing programs range from custom billboards and contextualized lower thirds to program sponsorships and a digital presence on the CBC/Radio-Canada holiday sites. Standard brand spots will complement the custom initiatives.
Melina Corvaglia, associate director of content marketing, scripted and acquisitions at CBC in Toronto, said the program was designed to complement ads running in standard commercial pods.
“[This approach] is becoming more and more prevalent,” said Corvaglia. “The partners we have are all very savvy, with strong creative that runs at this time of year, and they’re looking for unique ways to extend those campaigns beyond the commercial real estate and into the content space. It’s a platform that lends itself to many different opportunities.”
Walmart
CBC & Radio-Canada Media Solutions worked with Mindshare Canada and J. Walter Thompson to position the retailer as a one-stop shop for holiday gifting. The program includes custom billboards and contextual lower-third creative related to specific scenes.
For example, a lower third ad reading “Looking for the perfect gift?” appeared during a related scene in the Will Ferrell movie Elf, guiding viewers to Walmart and Walmart.ca.
The retail giant is also sponsoring CBC/Radio-Canada’s “Holiday like you mean it” holiday guide, as well as the “seasonal favourites” holiday stream on CBC Music and ICI Musique.
Coca-Cola Canada
CBC worked with the cola company’s media agency UM and creative agency Sid Lee to develop a lower-third campaign that promotes custom holiday cheer messages relating to specific scenes in movies like Home Alone.
The initiative is tailored to Coca-Cola’s holiday message of encouraging people to make small, selfless gestures aimed at making people around them happier during the holidays.
Spinbrush
Working with Spinbrush’s agency partners Maxus and KBS, CBC created a program aligning the brand with holidays scenes where characters are smiling, such as the “smiling’s my favourite” scene in Elf. The initiative is aimed at making the battery-powered toothbrush a top-of-mind choice for a stocking stuffers.
Sunwing
The travel brand is sponsoring holiday titles with custom billboards and lower thirds, with the goal of reaching families at their most relaxed and enjoying quality time together. The goal is to position Sunwing as a preferred vacation provider, while highlighting the company’s array of family-oriented resorts across the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America.
Carstar Collision & Glass Service
The company is running customized billboards in several holiday programs on CBC.
Métro, Familiprix, Coca-Cola and FCA Canada
All four companies have signed on as official partners for Radio-Canada’s annual New Year’s Eve extravaganza The Bye Bye, a “year in review” sketch show that reaches close to 4 million viewers.
Familiprix will be launching its new ad campaign developed by Alfred Communications, while FCA Canada will be announcing the winner of its holiday contest.
