Promotion

The Canada Media Fund (CMF) implemented several strategies to communicate information to its stakeholders as well as promote the Canadian television and digital media industry by reaching out to new audiences.

The CMF partnered with 65 industry events and contributed to an additional 44 industry events in Canada and internationally. This resulted in 105 speaking opportunities before targeted audiences of industry professionals, government representatives and business leaders. 

The CMF hosted its third annual Showcase in Ottawa to promote and familiarize parliamentarians and government officials with the organization’s funded content and efforts towards the advancement of the Canadian content industry. The event brought together approximately 350 guests, including audiovisual industry leaders, the on- and off-screen talent behind several Canadian productions, members of the public service, and key parliamentarians – most notably the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism, The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez.

Partnerships and speaking opportunities aligned with the CMF’s objectives of promoting Canadian content, featuring Canada as a partner of choice for coproductions, disseminating industry intelligence and leveraging CMF funding by securing matching fund programs with other countries. 

The CMF’s engagement at international events such as MIPTV, MIPCOM, MIPJunior (Cannes), CannesNEXT, Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Bogota Audiovisual Market, Los Cabos International Film Festival, CoPro 20 (Tel Aviv), Kidscreen (Miami), MediaCon (Dublin), Content London, DISCOP (Johannesburg), MICA (Mexico), World VR Forum (Switzerland), and Sheffield Documentary Film Festival among others  fostered opportunities to promote Canadian content, position Canada as a coproduction partner of choice, and develop coproduction agreements with select funding agencies in other markets. 

Promotional work continued on Encore+, the CMF’s YouTube channel for iconic Canadian films and television programs. As at March 31, 2019, Encore+ had achieved over 40K subscribers and 7 million views, of which close to 60% are from outside Canada. Discussions were undertaken with Google Canada, industry partners, service providers, rights’ holders, as well as Canada’s film and television producers, unions and guilds, to ensure the project’s longevity.

The CMF, in partnership with key industry organizations, the broadcast sector, major film studios and others in the entertainment sector, launched MADE | NOUS, a national branding effort and promotional campaign of Canadian content and talent. The impactful, consumer-oriented marketing campaign to raise awareness, interest and pride in Canadian talent and content launched from the Oscars red carpet. Marketing assets include spots featuring top Canadian talent, as well as extensive national paid, earned and owned media assets. 

The results of the first in-market phase of the MADE | NOUS campaign include:

• Reaching 31% national awareness for the newly created brand, with post-campaign research

results showing significant impact on consumer perception of Canadian content

• 72.2M impressions - 23+ M earned - generated by paid media, digital, social and PR
• Secured Karine Vanasse (bilingual) and Amanda Brugel (English language) as press ambassadors
• Coverage with ambassadors included: Breakfast Television, CTV Your Morning, The Social, eTalk,
• ET Canada, CBC q, Radio-Canada and a full hour of The Richard Crouse Show dedicated to MADE | NOUS
• Negotiated 3:1 media value to paid investment ratio with Canadian broadcasters, theatres, right-holders
• Bell partnership led to Academy Award Red Carpet broadcast integration and two brand spots (:30 and :60)
• Built relationships with American and Canadian studios, production companies to secure licence-free content rights
• Recruited top Canadian talent - Christopher Plummer, Karine Vanasse, Jacob Tremblay – to contribute to the commercial
• Built online social community of 6700+ strong in one month, with majority on Instagram
• Highly positive sentiment and feedback generated on social media: 70% positive - 1% negative - 29% neutral