Patti Summerfield

Casting for a better Net
A shift from media planning to channel planning has caused some marketers to cut advertising for conventional TV. But where are they putting the cash?

Media innovator Peter Swain departs MBS
Media buying pioneer shares his past successes – and offers advice for the future – as he steps down from the company he built

Waiting for CHUM
Regional buyers wait for CHUM to spruce up A-Channels as Radio-Canada makes a play for Montreal

Fall spend forecast
The perennial top spenders are government, automotive, and food, but lately entertainment, technology/telecom, and healthcare/pharmaceutical advertisers have joined the ranks. With multinationals like Procter & Gamble looking to redistribute media spending and cut back on TV, these newcomers will become more and more important to broadcasters as traditional categories finetune their media mix. Still, don’t look for new categories to jump into conventional this season. You will, however, see some trying specialty TV for the first time.

‘No sex please, we’re American’
The flap about Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction and the full-frontal attack on broadcast indecency it spawned is a clear illustration of how divergent attitudes and values are north and south of the border. These differences were top-of-mind for Canadian television programmers during the recent L.A. shopathon.

Canucks prefer amateur athlete sponsors
Official Olympic sponsors come second, but they’re still most closely linked to Canada’s Olympic team

Canada likely to follow U.S. PVR measurement guidelines
BBM has already adopted seven-day cutoff for time-shifted viewing

Interview with…international media guru Jack Myers
From mass to targeted: digital relationships and TV

State of Specialty: queen of non-appointment TV
Study shows 45% of Canadians watching more specialty; cited as first stop when viewers don’t know what to watch

PMB re-weighting sets off high-income explosion
Buyers beware: Magazine readership jumps against $100,000-plus households may not be what they seem

Market Meter
A cross-country compendium of media-buying activity levels

Agency execs now less trusted than lawyers
Almost 40% of Canadians say trust in agencies has decreased due to scandal

Exposed: thirty seconds with a marketing maven – Monique Raymond
Milk is one of those ubiquitous food products that’s so much a part of life that innovation isn’t something that most consumers look for.

Almost half of Canadians cutting carbs
One in five has purchased a carb-reduced product – likely to increase as more products hit the market

Bronze: MacLaren MRM
Swift, silent and deadly is the best way to describe MacLaren MRM. Perhaps not as high-profile as other agencies in the direct industry, MRM seems to work most successfully in a stealthy sort of way with the clients of its mother agency, Toronto-based MacLaren McCann.