Canadian industry organizations are using the Banff World Media Festival as a launching pad for two marketing programs, one that will boost awareness of Canadian content to Canadians, while the other will aid producers to promote their products.

The heads of the Canada Media Fund, Telefilm Canada and the Canadian Media Production Association announced a national promotional strategy and brand called Eye on Canada or Vue Sur Le Canada (in French) at Banff on Monday.

The initiative is aimed at increasing awareness and appreciation of Canadian content and talent to Canadian audiences, primarily through a social media campaigns.

The rationale behind the plan is that Canadian films and television programs do well abroad and should also do well at home.

Some of the ideas that are a part of the program include a partnership between iThentic Canada, Telefilm and the CMF to create a library of Canadian programs that will be released to the public.

Other plans involve having a national, public “open-house” of the various film sets that are used in production, to promote local communities as filming locations, market films that are being shot and to promote the industry as a whole to the Canadian public.

Eye on Canada has its own brand and logo and social media strategy. The logo features an eye within a spinning circular film reel (pictured).

The Canadian Media Production Association said in a release, “The brand was created to conjure a unique perspective on Canada, offering audiences a birds-eye view of Canadian life and culture. The eye is the window to Canada’s television, film and digital media production. The logo was designed to be easily recognizable globally – using the iris of an eye to create a ‘C’ for Canada. The spokes of the iris radiate outwards, showing an interest to project out to audiences.”

Twitter hashtags #eyeoncanada, #vuesurlecanada have been created to build buzz about the Canadian television shows, feature films, webisodes and digital media Canadians love.

More than 30 industry organizations have joined the Eye on Canada promotional strategy including the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, the DGC, WGC, CFC, CBC, Rogers and Shaw Media.

Canadian producers will also have an opportunity to boost their marketing skillsets through a new CMPA program.

The CMPA is joining forces with Telefilm to launch a 22-week mentorship program, announced Tuesday, to help producers and their companies learn new and creative ways of marketing their projects.

The Telefilm Canada Marketing Mentorship Program will partner producers with junior to mid-level marketing professionals.

The trainee will earn at least $13, 000 as a stipend, which will be paid for by the participating production company ($6,600) and the Telefilm Marketing Mentorship Program ($6,600, paid in three installments to the mentor company to disburse).

There are only six spots available in the program.  The application deadline is September 15, 2013.  For more information, click here.

John Dippong, Telefilm’s Regional Director of Industry Promotion, said in a statement, “There really is no better way for producers to build their marketing and promotion skill-sets than on-the-job, creating and executing ideas to promote the company, its talent and its projects. Promoting our industry is central to Telefilm’s mandate, and these internships help ensure that the next generation of Canadian producers have the capacity to not only produce great content, but to market that content across the country and to the world.”