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Buying all the commercial air time available during a particularly attractive broadcast has been done, and lengthy sponsored event relationships are well known.

But for an advertiser to put its stamp on an entire day, as Smith & Nephew did for its still new Nivea Visage Optimale skin cream, is a never-before-tried tactic.

This new advertising approach – the company ‘sponsored’ St. Valentine’s Day Feb. 14 and International Women’s Day March 8 – came about when s&n sought to give its new Optimale cumulative care cream brand a ‘slight twist in personality’ through sponsorship, says Rod Macivor, consultant, tv sponsorship, at cbc-tv.

At the time s&n wanted to advertise, cbc didn’t have any appropriate shows, Macivor says, so the idea was floated that s&n appear to sponsor particular days.

The network took s&n’s creative, a 30-sec. spot from Nivea’s u.s. creative shop, New York-based tbwa, cut it down to 15 seconds of product images, and did a very ‘soft peddle-type sell,’ says Macivor.

cbc aired 11 15-sec. spots leading up to and during Valentine’s Day and 10 15-sec. spots leading up to and during International Women’s Day.

The 15-sec. spots showed a background of bubbling water with a pot of Optimale centred on it.

The female voiceovers were sentimental or flirtatious for Valentine’s Day, and more serious for International Women’s Day. The latter spots quoted early Canadian feminist Nellie McClung, and u.n. Secretary General Boutros Boutros Galli.

Another women’s day spot noted when Canada got its first female doctor.

All the spots’ voiceovers reminded viewers of the connection between Nivea Optimale and the specific day.

Jill Appelbaum, account planning supervisor at Publicite MBS, Smith & Nephew’s media planning agency, says sponsoring Valentine’s Day and International Women’s Day was the company’s way of saying thanks to Nivea loyalists.

Nivea has been sold in Canada since the mid 1940s.

The spots weren’t brand sell, Appelbaum continues, or hard sell of any kind, but could be considered informational and a way for Optimale to stand out from the clutter.

Nivea has savvy customers, says Appelbaum, and its advertising has to ‘go beyond pushing another bottle of lotion.’

Louise Baillargeon, broadcast director at Publicite MBS, says more and more these days advertisers are demanding added value, and Nivea being the only brand taking possession of these days provides that added value.

Barbara Trueman Grant, category manager, skin care, at s&n in Montreal, says the concept for the two days was developed by cbc and Publicite MBS and provided a unique opportunity for the company to communicate with its consumers about Optimale.

The idea was to generate trial and create awareness for the new skin product, says Trueman Grant, and the fit between Optimale and the advertising was very good, showing that Nivea, like women, has come a long way.

The target of the advertising was women aged 25 to 49, says Trueman Grant.

Macivor says he has found a lot of advertisers are looking to make a splash in the marketplace with their products.

But broadcast advertising has become cluttered and a lot of items – in Macivor’s mind at least – have become ‘parity products.’

It’s tough to tell one from another so advertisers have to set themselves apart from the competition by trying new things, he says.

‘We were looking for things for them to sponsor to run over the period from just before Valentine’s Day to the early part of March,’ says Macivor.

‘So they actually became bookend sponsorships. It became fairly effective for them from that standpoint. It gave them a presence over a lengthy period of time, more so than would have happened [if s&n] had sponsored a half-hour show, for instance.’

Macivor says the Optimale case is unique. He says he’s never seen anyone in the tv market try to take ownership of certain days the same way other advertisers have claimed certain events as their own.

‘Now we’re talking about sponsorship as a brand sell, which is very different from anything that has happened in the past. [Optimale’s advertising] has been done in a fairly subtle fashion so it wasn’t `Here are the benefits of this product, buy me.’ It was, `We care about the same issues you do, target market,” says Macivor.

The national English tv for Optimale was a ‘women’s grp buy,’ says Baillargeon.

It wasn’t expensive and Publicite MBS stayed within its client’s budget, she adds.

Among the programs used were the public affairs show, the fifth estate. The French strategy for Optimale was quite different. s&n sponsored the movie Indochine starring Catherine Deneuve.

As for further attempts of this nature, Baillargeon and Appelbaum say they will push for something the same or similar for next year.

And as for learning on the job, Trueman Grant says s&n could have done a better job of informing its salesforce and the trade about what it was doing.

For his part, Macivor says he advises his clients not to have preconceived ideas about sponsorships and value-added promotions.

In Canada, Nivea is third in dollar volume in the total face care category, says Trueman Grant, and second in tonnage sold.

Oil of Olay is number one by both of those measurements.

Last year, Trueman Grant continues, the total face care market in Canada in drug stores and food stores with pharmacies was worth $160 million.

Appelbaum and Trueman Grant both say it is too soon to gauge the results.