There were some growing pains, certainly, and internal processes to set up. Even rivalries to put to bed. But nearly two years after Winnipeg-based CanWest set up its centralized sales offices in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, individual newspapers and media buyers alike are reporting they are seeing the benefits of converged buys.
In fact, many pubs believe they are the recipients of ads that might never have graced their newsprint otherwise. And better still, the new system hasn’t hindered their ability to nurture strong relationships at local and provincial levels.
‘To some extent we think we’ve been included in packages or integrated buys that we might not have but for the new process,’ says Brendan Hughes, VP advertising sales at the Calgary Herald, which boasts Future Shop, General Motors and Golf Town among its advertisers. ‘You never know for sure – it’s always hard to trace those dollars down and find out what was incremental and what was brand new.
‘Regardless, it has been very positive for us in Calgary because there’s a real need, in terms of the local market, to have relationships with both national and local accounts,’ he says of the centralized system, which has teams in the three offices dedicated to providing, and often initiating, targeted buys that encompass CanWest’s television, print and interactive assets, or combinations thereof, for clients across the country. Local sales staff, however, particularly at newspapers, continue to support their roster of clients on a regional basis.
Hughes says the formula has allowed him to build stronger relationships at all levels, and has provided him with the opportunity to educate and address the unique nuances of the Calgary market on a one-to-one basis with national and local advertisers, and especially with internal CanWest Media Sales teams.
‘Most retailers, for example, have access to local dollars as well, which becomes more of a tactical investment. It is often very difficult for someone at CanWest in Toronto to help a decision-maker in Toronto decide what would be best for the Calgary market. So we maintain relationships locally, as well as in other markets,’ he says.
Print media definitely has more unique customers and more unique marketplace issues that must be taken into consideration when developing marketing and advertising plans, says Dennis Skulsky, president and publisher of The Vancouver Sun, The Province and Pacific Newspaper Group. With television, for example, more national buys take place – it’s the same Friends whether you’re watching in Vancouver or Toronto, he says. He cites local print advertiser Sandy’s Furniture as a prime example of why newspapers, in particular, must continue to sustain their local base.
‘They are a big advertiser here and they only have locations in the lower [B.C.] mainland. We have to maintain that local presence and strength on the account side – you won’t make those kinds of sales from another marketplace,’ he says.
Kathy Shapka, VP media director at Palmer Jarvis DDB in Edmonton says the majority of her clients are from within the province so she currently deals with the integrated sales team in Edmonton for all their Alberta buys, particularly in broadcast. However, she says, when it comes to print buys, she does tend to deal directly with the individual publishers or sales reps as a matter of convenience.
‘Someone’s got to make the call – whether it’s the CanWest rep or me – to find out something local like a special feature or upcoming report. It’s much easier to call our contacts at the newspapers directly. And sometimes we simply don’t have the luxury of time to go through the central CanWest office.’
‘The print business is different,’ says Skulsky, who was also recently named GM of all of CanWest’s B.C. assets, including television, interactive and print. ‘Now [under the centralized system] we have the benefit of having the best of both worlds, and the ability to work together to offer, wherever possible, a whole inventory – without advertisers having to deal with a host of different people.’
CanWest Media Sales teams, in partnership with local sales reps, he continues, can and have successfully incorporated print into plans for advertisers who predominantly stick to broadcast. Drawing on print’s strengths – more immediacy and the ability to change a price point ‘tomorrow’ – the CanWest team recently ran successful print applications for McDonald’s featuring a full-page ad promoting a Big Mac sale.
‘It helped move their numbers more substantially than might have been the case had they only gone in one medium – likely television,’ adds Skulsky. ‘Those are new dollars that we might not have had. Those are the best wins – the ones that actually grow the business, not just move money around.’
And in the same way, local print advertisers are also now being encouraged to incorporate other CanWest properties like Canada.com or a local television station, says Jack Tomik, president of CanWest Media Sales, newspaper division, of Toronto. ‘Multi-platform sales and packages aren’t just for national advertisers,’ he says.
One of CanWest’s regional multi-platform programs, for example, is the ‘B.C. Shopping Spree,’ a retail campaign designed to generate store traffic and increased sales for participating retailers during slower sales months. It includes TV, newspapers, and online, and has been so successful that it is being adapted to other parts of the country.
In fact, over half of CanWest Media Sales’ integrated, multi-platform revenues this year, came from local markets and local and regional initiatives, says Tomik. Even in markets where there are no other complementary CanWest assets – including Windsor, Ont., Halifax and Winnipeg – integrated efforts have been developed to include Canada.com, for example. And in such markets, those types of initiatives are still spearheaded by the newspaper’s own sales staff with the help of the centralized offices’ experience in multi-platform markets, he says.
The biggest challenge until now within the integrated business teams as a whole, he says, has been understanding all the media. There was a time when reps of the various individual media assets passed one another and growled, he says. Now, they are actually interacting and working together on projects for specific clients and learning from each other.
‘It’s like dealing with a new product – it takes time to learn the mechanics of it. But the results are good – we are significantly over expectations as far as developing revenue,’ says Tomik. ‘The process has been very interesting.’
It can’t be easy taking people who have spent their entire careers selling one medium, and expecting them to broaden their expertise out, agrees Rick Sanderson, media director at TBWAVancouver.
‘But in the end it will be a healthy thing for everyone because it levels the playing field – we have to deal with all the various media, and it can only help their sales people if they have an appreciation of more than just one medium,’ he says, adding that he’s worked on a few converged sales pitches with CanWest.
While he says it’s ‘business as usual’ – he still generally deals directly with the newspapers as separate entities – the opportunity is there to incorporate other components to a particular buy.
‘Traditionally you’ve had a newspaper rep who’s selling against other newspapers. Now, they can sell against other media in general – which only broadens CanWest’s stake in the marketplace.’
