DSA Online | New Media Updates

My recent trip to Regina in the middle of winter was an eye opening experience. Let me rephrase…it was an eye-freezing, lids can’t shut, tears falling as soon as you’re in the car experience. While I am quite aware that Sask/Manitoba winters are legend, my wimpy BC butt was sure that the threat of minus thirty weather was grossly exaggerated. I shook off their warnings, letting them know that I had lived in the country in Ontario for half of a decade. I had traveled to Edmonton the winter before during a snow storm and drove around the city in a car with limited heating. I had gone on Girl Guide trips up the mountains and had been snow camping several times. I was hardcore and I knew cold.

I stand corrected.

This past summer, when I traveled out to Regina & Saskatoon, I was impressed at how very green both cities were. I was glad that it wasn’t my first trip or I would have been convinced that Regina isn’t so different from Victoria or Calgary (if you can ignore those pesky mountains and that little ocean). Their unseasonably green and mild summer made for a very pleasant trip and I stayed out late all week walking around the city. Last year (2007), the summer was hot, dry and dusty and I received more than my fair share of head shakes from the locals when I decided to power walk about the city at high noon. Jump back another summer, and I found myself in Calgary. Again, this western-weenie took flack for my vegetarian diet and desire to recycle everything in sight. I had to head out a week prior to Stampede. I still regret it.

While I could never call myself a local in any other city than Vancouver, I won’t embarrass myself on the streets of any major Canadian city having been fortunate enough to visit most of them (Maritimes 2010???) and having gotten the chance to get my foreigner faux-pas out of the way. But, I am very aware that each province has it’s own quirks and anytime I have been too “big-city” to set aside my pride and ask for tips before coming to town, I have found myself overdressed or hanging out in my hotel room waiting to fly out again.

This reminds me of a media related story where ignoring your surroundings can create headaches, and, in this case, lose the business. A friend of mine was sitting in on a series of presentations with a client (in Sask) when a bunch of Torontonian creatives trying to pitch a commercial showing scenes from Toronto. The team presenting had never been to Regina and was convinced that all major cities in Canada were enough the same that photos of TO would suffice for their national campaign. The creatives were not awarded the business, nor were they invited back for any new pitches. My friend was sure that the team had no idea why they had lost and probably consoled themselves under the delusion that their stuff was too good for the Prairies anyways.

This story is just one of the guiding lights I use whenever I am planning media, be it traditional or online. If I spent my time asking myself “what would Toronto do” (which I have to admit, I have never done) it would show a gross ignorance both to my client and to our customer base. It’s ridiculous too, especially if you play fill-in-the-blanks.

What would ______________ do?

Insert Halifax, Vulcan, Prince George or Victoria. Go on, laugh. It’s brilliant. Planning a Saskatoon media plan with White Rock in mind is probably the funniest thought I have had all week. So why is it that so many local and regional advertisers are so focused on the big guys? The “nationals”? You would never consider going in a magazine with a north American reach (full US) to reach the greater Calgary area, so why are you considering portals that will not geo-target to your FSAs? I’m still pretty frustrated that I have yet to go to a single IAB Canada “Road-show” presentation where they haven’t cookie cut the same national slide show (right down to the freakin’ research) for each market to which they present. Tack this on to the fact that Alberta + Saskatchewan + Manitoba are bundled together with most online research anyways, and you’ve got a pretty vague presentation that isn’t really helpful to any agency looking to help local clients. HELLO?? Down here in front? So, I don’t work with Bell, Molson or Chrysler. Are you telling me my clients don’t count?

Planning media for western Canada presents many hurdles as both publishers and buyers are still caught in an antiquated mind set that wouldn’t work for any other media model. We’re blinded by “clicks” or “total uniques”, not caring if those clicking on their ads are their customers or not. With this in mind, here’s a list of things you should be asking your publisher when working on local campaigns.

• Does your reporting show where my ads are being delivered (by province)?
• If I am geotargeting, and you serve my ads outside of my defined area, do I still have to pay for these eyeballs? Will my affidavit show this?
• If I can’t get enough impressions through your site, why do *I* have to increase my targeting? Shouldn’t I be looking at another site with a higher composition of my customers?
• Why do you have such a high minimum purchase? I don’t want to buy the entire province.
• Why can I buy full province and major city centre, but not full province MINUS city centre?

Still not convinced? Play some more fill in the blanks.

• How many people in __OTTAWA___ are seeing my ad? Why am I PAYING for these impressions if I am trying to reach people in __EDMONTON___?