CBC is set to launch a major marketing push in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary — with some special attention on the moms and tween girls in the case of western family drama Heartland, which the net bets will reel in the female-skewing, heavy-viewing demo on Sunday nights.

The broadcaster’s ad campaign for Heartland, the Henry VIII drama The Tudors, the reality No Opportunity Wasted and the second season of comedy hit Little Mosque on the Prairie will include magazines, community newspapers, creative subway and streetcar domination — with some spillover into cinema to showcase the visuals of The Tudors, thanks to a deal with Cineplex Media that will kick off on Aug. 31 in all three cities. CBC worked with Toronto-based M2 Universal on the media buys.

CBC director of advertising and media Mary-Jo Osborn says the campaign ‘bundles’ the four shows because they share a core target demo that skews female.

‘The sum of the parts is greater than the individual. They’ll all have their individual plans as well, but it’s kind of the same demo that we’re going after,’ she says. ‘In the case of Heartland, we’re going after the tween girls, and in the case of The Tudors, it’s a little more general.’

Print components of the campaign will include ads on consecutive pages of nine magazines — Chatelaine, Lulu Magazine, Style at Home, Hello, Today’s Parent, Canadian Family, Wish, Canadian House & Home and Style & Living — as well as inserts into community newspapers. Online buys will also target moms and tween girls.

Subway domination in Toronto will include a total of 60 subway/streetcars, with about 15 cars per title, immersing commuters with imagery from each of the four shows. But for Heartland, Osborn says the media plan will include some specialized outdoor, such as wrapping a transit car, inside and out.

‘In the case of Heartland, we’re doing some specialized outdoor and going into Calgary a little more, because the show takes place in Calgary,’ says Osborn, adding that creative for that show will also target female horse lovers and that presentation will be very contemporary — ‘almost like a fashion magazine.’

The CBC will also allude to the best-selling books Heartland is based on (by English author Lauren Brooke) and serve to modernize the Sunday night family programming block.

‘Even though this is a Sunday family slot for us — because we’re back in that tradition of Road to Avonlea and all the great seven o’clock family series we’ve had — we really want to make sure it feels like that kind of programming, but we’ve contemporized it. The block leading into it, from 5-7 p.m., which is the ‘Disney-like slot,’ will be skewed to that audience too. We’re going to find ways to embed Heartland into that [programming].’

From Media in Canada