Toronto’s Westin Harbour Castle will be a hub of activity April 5 to 7 as leading Canadian television producers, programmers, broadcasters, and public relations folk gather in Toronto for the 24th annual CanPro.

CanPro 97 will host over 400 television executives from the Atlantic to the Pacific, traveling to Toronto to take part in a creatively enlightening three days of seminars, workshops and discussions of the major issues concerning Canadian tv promotions in today’s highly competitive environment.

According to David Hamilton, director of national promotions for CanWest Global and communications/media relations co-chair of CanPro 97, in the context of the multichannel universe, program promotions are increasingly becoming a more relevant determining factor in the success or failure of television programs. Broadcasters are now putting promotions under a microscope to determine whether or not they are using every vehicle at their disposal to drive viewership, he says.

‘For example, CanWest Global’s The X-Files promotion has played a key role in making it one of the most watched programs in Canada, while it places approximately 20th in the United States,’ says Hamilton. ‘Broadcasters are consistently monitoring their own air as well as that of their competitors to maintain their promotional edge.’

Mary Powers, director of communications and promotions for Citytv, makes the same point, adding that the density of services on the dial is only a piece of the clutter through which promotions strategies have to cut.

‘Our whole broadcasting environment has become more and more complicated,’ says Powers. ‘Whether it’s Canadian or other programming, you just have to be more specific as to your message because the viewer is being bombarded by so many things that unless you target your viewer very carefully, they aren’t going to hear your message.’

With the American entertainment machines upping the ante on their promotions budgets, achieving profile for Canadian programs has become increasingly difficult, although the crtc decision, made a few years ago, which allows broadcasters to promote Canadian properties without airtime coming out of commercial inventory, has resulted in increased promotional activity within the country. Under the ruling, stations can run over and above 12 minutes of commercial content an hour as long as they are promoting Canadian programming.

Jeff Eisler, director of programming and creative services at wic’s Calgary affiliate Channel 7, attributes part of the growing interest in Canadian-produced shows to this decision.

‘There has definitely been a change in viewership for locally produced shows,’ say Eisler. ‘Most stations are now promoting their news and the shows they produce in the local market a lot more.’

Hamilton adds that promoting Canadian programs is becoming easier now that many productions are of such high caliber that they are attracting a larger audience base. ‘Promotions are the key to the success of such Canadian programs as Traders, Madison and Two.’

Involved with CanPro for many years, Powers feels it is a great place for television’s top people from a variety of different stations to put their heads together and compare notes.

While several American and international organizations allow opportunities for networking and idea sharing, CanPro is special in that it is strictly for Canadians.

For the third year in a row, Powers and Peter Whittington will lead a workshop called ’30 Seconds Around the World’ in which they will examine the best and most interesting promotional spots from around the globe, looking at how geography and culture can affect creativity and style.

While last year’s workshop concentrated mainly on Asian promotions, this year Powers is coming armed from Promax Barcelona with what she says are some absolutely fantastic, fresh, creative spots, perhaps some of the best she has ever seen, from the u.k., France and Germany.

The underlying premise of this particular workshop is to look at programming issues from a different perspective and examine how different cultures view the same things differently.

‘We look at a movie in a certain way but sometimes it is interesting to take a look at the same movie package and see how the Italians or the Germans deal with it,’ explains Powers. ‘In some markets, for example, where violence is a little more readily accepted, it’s interesting to see what they do with a product.’

Looking forward to the creatively driven three days, Powers sees CanPro as more than just a networking and idea-sharing weekend; it’s also an opportunity for attendees to catch up on the latest news and socialize in a laid-back, friendly atmosphere.

‘I’m on the board for Promax in the States and there are around 5,000 people at the conventions. You never see anyone,’ says Powers. ‘Since the numbers for CanPro are smaller, there is more of an intimate feeling to it.’

Although CanPro remains smaller than other industry forums of its kind, like the broadcasting world itself, it has grown and evolved since the ’70s to include those from the new specialty channel services.

‘We have to grow with the times and change since broadcasting as a whole has changed. I think that we have to always evaluate what we are doing and try different things,’ says Jerry MacLeod, vp of operations for bbs Saskatchewan, gm of cftc-tv and CanPro chairman.

‘We have to look at ourselves as all being television and anything having to do with that is what we support,’ he says. ‘We are all trying to produce programs for that big hungry monster we call television.’

Traditionally a program festival that went into the smaller markets like Saskatoon or Winnipeg, 1997 is the first year that CanPro is hitting a major city.

MacLeod explains that ‘the idea was originally to get out to the smaller markets in terms of the actual event and not get swallowed up by the larger cities, but, why shouldn’t we give the bigger cities like Montreal, Vancouver or Toronto a try?’

MacLeod hopes that by holding CanPro in Toronto it will provide an opportunity for those who could never think about getting away to the smaller cities a chance to participate in the weekend’s events.

Also, in the past CanPro has been hosted by one or two local tv stations from the market in which the event was taking place, using chairs and resources from those particular markets. This year things are slightly different.

For this year’s festival, CanPro has amalgamated and formed an alliance with the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, which will in effect be the people and the force behind the event.

Adding specialty channels to its roster and relocating to a big bustling city, CanPro has undergone many drastic changes since its small beginning 24 years ago, and while growth and change are key elements to the success and prosperity of creative promotions, one thing that won’t change is that CanPro will remain a Canadian forum.

‘People want to come back home, you come back to your own programs and your own stories, and I think it’s important that we keep that kind of identity,’ says MacLeod.

‘When you consider Canadian broadcasters we really have an awful lot of fragmentation coming in from the u.s. With all the direct-to-home coming on the competition is there, you have to get your share and we have to show that we are able to do that. The Canadian industry has to come together.’