Corus solicits new forms of radio advertising

Corus Radio sees a future in non-traditional advertising and has formed a separate company, Splice Interactive Media, to provide custom advertising for clients. With 1.9 million unique monthly visits to its web sites and a listener database in excess of 600,000 radio listeners, Corus Radio Toronto general manager J.J. Johnston says the results so far have been more than encouraging. Splice, which was formed two months ago, has signed beer brewer Molson as a podcast sponsor and car maker Ford Motor Company to support a contest that includes podcasting, while drink maker Fruitopia is paying to have its name on the playlist section of Toronto radio station 102.7 The Edge’s Internet site. Ford sponsored The Edge’s contest to win a ride in a Ford with on-air personality Todd Shapiro, who appears on The Dean Blundell Morning Show. Listeners who entered the contest online had the chance to drive around Toronto in a Ford, with the segment being videoed and clips made available on web. Audio from the ride with Shapiro is broadcast live on the radio station. "The contest winners are educated about the vehicle and its attributes . is also very funny so it drives page views like crazy and other activity," says Johnston. "Our listeners are mostly 18-34 males and Ford is after the edgy younger listener." Molson’s deal has the beer company’s name attached to Corus’s podcasts, called In Concert with Molson Canadian: The Ongoing History of New Music. The podcasts feature interviews and narratives on great rock stars. Johnston says this type of branding is the way to go with podcasting. "You have to be careful with podcasting, and you really have to stay away from 30-second commercial messages," he notes, as listeners can easily fast forward. Fruitopia’s logo is found on The Edge’s web site, where listeners can create their own play list on a B-stream, check out other people’s play lists, and vote for their favourite. The play list that gets the most votes is played on the radio. Johnston says that the Internet sites of all of Corus’ radio stations across the country are permission-based, and users have to register for a log-on name. More than 600,000 people have registered and are now in Corus’ database, so that individuals who fall within specific demographic parameters can be sectioned out for companies looking to target their advertising. He adds that advertisers’ interest in opportunities other than the traditional radio spot is picking up. " is what I would say is better than burgeoning. It’s been a slow climb over five years…but in the last year or year and a half, it’s really started to build," he states. "Molson has a huge interactive department now. Most of the agencies have interactive departments. The clients and customers out there get it." Johnston notes though that Corus is the only broadcaster he knows of that has created a standalone company to work with customers to foster new advertising opportunities.

Corus solicits new forms of radio advertising

Broadcast | November 18, 2005

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