In the next five months, two international events will take place which could help drag commercial production out of its current state of malaise: the Winter Olympics and the World Cup of soccer.

Late last year, a report by Zenith Optimedia predicted the two sporting events could have a positive impact on ad spending that in Canada is expected to increase 3.9% in 2002, versus 2.5% in 2001.

Both events are big-time showcases for advertisers. What other events find men and women who normally don’t give a rat’s toches about penalty kicks or the bobsled suddenly mesmerized en masse by the minutia of what is unfolding on their television screens.

Only the spectacle of top-flight competition has such power.

While most Olympic spots are in the can and ready to premier at appointed times throughout the Games this month, the effects on commercial production could stretch well beyond.

Add to this the major ad splash around the Super Bowl and the NHL Playoffs, and it’s easy to see how the flow of ad dollars could have a kind of slingshot effect, projecting the industry into the latter part of 2002 when many economic analysts predict the real up-turn will begin.

On both sides of the border the expectations are high. In early January, Sumner Redstone, chairman of Viacom – whose properties include MTV, CBS, Nickelodeon and Paramount – said he expects the media giant to post double-digit growth in 2002 thanks to ‘firming’ advertising rates and strong advertising volumes connected with the Winter Olympics and U.S. congressional elections.

Meanwhile, U.S. Olympic broadcaster NBC expects to meet its goal of $720 million in advertising revenues, the highest amount for any Olympic Games, according to Reuters.

Here at home, national advertisers are ponying up the big bucks to catch Gord and Edna in their rapturous frenzy as Allison Forsyth negotiates the giant slalom at break-neck speeds.

Indeed, suddenly there’s money being spent where a short time ago none was to be found. Will it last? Who knows? But for a commercial production industry that has hit more brick walls than Elvis Stojko’s gold-medal dreams, these classic events provide much-needed hope.

Among the national players looking to make a mark this winter, you will find Kellogg pushing its Vector Bars; Wayne Gretzky beneath the Golden Arches; Molson Canadian riding the coattails of the Canadian Men’s Olympic Hockey Team; and the Dairy Farmers of Canada doing their talking cows schtick. Add to that, official Canadian Olympic Association sponsors DaimlerChrysler, General Mills, Bell Canada, Labatt Breweries of Canada and Royal Bank Financial Group and you have just about all the blue-chip advertisers in on the action.

It’s been awhile since we wrote about big-budget spots. Ever since Sept. 11, there doesn’t seem to have been much to talk about other than how the ad market is teetering.

Hopefully the next time we publish, one month from now, there will be more big-budget productions and some good news on the horizon.