There is still more than a month remaining before Canadians go to the polls, but TLN is inviting viewers to cast a vote for their favourite personalities in a TV and online campaign promoting its new fall line-up.
Created in-house by two long-time TLN staffers, production director Antonella Brundo and creative producer Alejandra Gonzalez, the campaign consists of a series of videos promoting seven network personalities, including TV chefs Lidia Bastianich and David Rocco, as well as its Mucho Movies programming block.
Each 30-second video mocks the extravagant campaign promises made by politicians. A vote for Bastianich, for example, means olive oil direct from the faucet and the conversion of streets to gondola canals, while a spot featuring Let’s Make a Deal host Wayne Brady promises to offer voters what’s behind curtain number one and make all senators wear silly costumes (both of which are among the game show’s signature elements).
Viewers who fill out and submit an online ballot at a dedicated microsite are taken to a page featuring videos of TLN’s new fall series.
“It might be the best [campaign] we’ve produced in the 18 years I’ve been here; it’s very of the moment and brilliantly produced,” said TLN president Aldo Di Felice. “It’s a great showcase for our creative people and our shows and personalities. A lot of TV shows these days are big on personalities.”
In addition to running on TLN and TLNTV.com, the videos will also appear as a series of pre-roll videos. The new videos also showcase the specialty service’s new brand identity, which was developed in partnership with Loopmedia and introduced earlier this year.
The broadcaster also worked with internet marketing experts SearchKings Canada on the campaign.
While TLN’s advertising revenues have remained relatively stagnant – national airtime sales grew 2.3% to $4.9 million in 2014, according to CRTC documents, while local sales fell 6.7% to $2.5 million – Di Felice said the channel has maintained positive revenue growth (a 4.4% increase, to $16.3 million last year) by diversifying its revenue streams.
He pointed to expanded distribution agreements for its all-Italian digital service Mediaset Italia, as well as the 2014 launch of the all-Spanish digital service Univision Canada, an increased focus on events (such as Toronto’s annual Salsa on St. Clair) and Canadian production as key factors in the company’s revenue growth.
“We’ve had to multiply the number of channels we’re operating, and we’ve had to multiply the number of revenue sources…but because of that we’ve been able to increase our revenues,” he said. “Those revenue sources have more than made up for any dip in [advertising].”
Di Felice said parent company Telelatino Network’s strength in catering to the Spanish and Italian communities have partly insulated its services from the challenges currently faced by channels in the crowded English TV market.
“We’ve faced a similar challenge to every other broadcaster, but the advantage we have is that although we sell a lot of English-language advertising, we are the dominant player on the Spanish and Italian side,” he said. “Those are markets we started with and that we still control.”
