Media offering package deals

In an effort to maximize their share of advertiser spending, Canadian media monoliths Rogers Media and The Globe and Mail are scrambling to offer clients and media buyers comprehensive, one-stop advertising services across their various properties.

The Globe, for instance, is offering deals that apply across the entire spectrum of Globe brands, including The Globe and Mail newspaper, Report on Business Magazine, job Web site Workopolis.com, and ROBTV, its 24-hour business news specialty channel.

To that end, the Globe recently appointed Shannon McPeak as its vice-president, corporate sales, with a mandate to integrate ad sales across all the Globe’s properties.

Sandy Muir, the Globe’s vice-president of advertising sales, says the process may not necessarily be consistent from client to client or agency to agency.

‘It’s not as easy as adding it all together and saying I’ll give you 10% off, because the audiences [for each property] are different and often clients buy different products for different strategic reasons,’ he says.

Having said that, Muir acknowledges the company needs ‘new processes and structures to be effective in the new media community – even if we don’t have a definitive vision of what the new media world might look like.’

The complexity of the resulting deals will likely mean bringing senior-level Globe representatives together with senior-level clients to work out the overall plan, Muir says.

For its part, Rogers Communications says it expects to have integrated sales capability by the fall. The company is planning to leverage its diverse media holdings, which include everything from cable television to Internet portal Excite.ca, to trade and consumer magazines to cellular communications.

While some bundling is already taking place, the diversity of Rogers media properties makes integration difficult, according to Frank Dimatteo, Rogers vice-president of marketing administration and logistics.

Rogers comprises different media silos, he explains, with separate profit centres, different computer systems and different sales representatives who are not familiar with the other publications and properties.

Dimatteo is looking at several different configurations but expects a separate sales entity – a Rogers team – will have to be formed in order to sell across media, while the individual divisions continue to retain their own reps.

Media buyers and planners say they’re anxious to see how Canada’s media giants intend to package their properties in order to create compelling advertising opportunities.

Sunni Boot, president of Optimedia Canada, says, by and large, they’ve failed to bundle their properties effectively.

‘They’re saying ‘We’ve got all these products, you’ve got the advertisers, let’s find a fit.’

‘It’s an execution waiting to land on a strategy versus saying ‘Of these products, these are of interest. Now let’s do a multi-media deal.”

Cannes Lions 2025: More Lions go to Rethink and Weber Shandwick

Strategy is on the ground in Cannes, bringing you the latest news, wins and conference highlights all week long. Catch all the coverage here.

Thursday’s batch of Silver and Bronze winners included the Creative Business Transformation, Creative Effectiveness, Creative Strategy, Luxury Lions, Brand Experience & Activation, Innovation and Creative Commerce Lions categories. Canadians were recognized with three Lions today: a Silver in Brand Experience & Activation, a Bronze in Creative Commerce and a Bronze in Creative Effectiveness. Rethink was awarded twice on Day 4, while Weber Shandwick rounded out the Canadian agency wins with one Lion. Below is a look at the work. Catch the Gold winners later this afternoon when they’re revealed at the gala in Cannes.

Creative Commerce (1 Silver)

1 SILVER: “U Up?” by Rethink for IKEA

IKEA’s “U Up?” campaign has legs, it turns out. The campaign is getting major love at Cannes. The IKEA work, created in collaboration with Rethink Toronto, added to its Cannes Lions tally with a Silver medal in Creative Commerce. That now makes five total Lions for the work, including two Golds on Wednesday night, for Direct and Socal & Creator. The campaign has been lauded by jurors for its dexterity, contextual timing and humour.

Creative Effectiveness (1 Bronze)

1 BRONZE: “Heinz Ketchup & Seemingly Ranch” by Rethink for Kraft Heinz 

Both Rethink and Kraft Heinz picked up another Lion, this one a Bronze in Creative Effectiveness for their collaboration on “Heinz Ketchup & Seemingly Ranch.” Not only did the work capture a culture moment spurred by Taylor Swift, but it also created a new product, “in under 24 hours,” to match. The latest two Lions makes 10 total wins for Rethink. Kraft Heinz and Rethink also picked up a rare Gold Lion for Media a day earlier.

Brand Experience & Activation (1 Bronze)

1 BRONZE: “Airbnb Icons” by Weber Shandwick for Airbnb

The Weber Shandwick work, “Airbnb Icons,” won Bronze on Thursday in Brand Experience & Activation after claiming a Bronze in Media Wednesday. Airbnb turned media brands into a destination, partnering with the likes of Marvel and Disney to offer travellers experiences like drifting off in the Up house or crashing at an X-Men mansion. The first 11 experiences rolled out mid-2024, and most of the experiences were free or under $100, with over 4,000 tickets sold by the end of the season.