French Connection U.K. is getting into the local Canadian music scene with a pilot project in Toronto stores. The Canadian subsidiary gets 100% of its advertising from its U.K. headquarters, so giving four Toronto bands regular airplay in stores was a way to give the British brand a local spin.

‘It’s an opportunity for us to be more connected to our consumers’ interests and tastes,’ says French Connection Canada director Elizabeth Hardy. ‘We’re an international brand, so it’s an opportunity for customers to connect with the brand on a national level, and to make the brand more local.’

The four bands – Oil Can Boyd, The Coast, Magneta Lane and Everlea – also have their CDs on sale in stores. The pilot is currently running in five stores in the GTA, and Hardy says she’s monitoring its success by the sales of the CDs as well as from more informal qualitative feedback from staff and consumers.

So far, sales have been ‘fair,’ says Charmain Emerson of Toronto-based Building Blocks Communications, who developed the project. ‘Because the music is in tune with what we normally play in stores, customers aren’t caught off-guard…but people are curious and are making the effort to ask. What’s refreshing is that it’s Canadian [music].’

Emerson added that she expects the CDs – about 100 per store – to sell out by the time the program ends in April.