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February 2008 - Strategy Magazine
Upfront

Play with your ads

by Carey Toane
page 10

Scary Girl got some new siblings for Christmas. MTV Canada has successfully monetized its advertising, bringing three of its popular animated Fauna characters to life as collectible toys. Devised by toy designer Nathan Jurevicius of Scary Girl fame, the characters were originally conceived for a series of MTV Canada station IDs that launched in August. The characters pulled in so many emails and calls that MTV ultimately tapped into the current trend of high-end, limited-edition toys, releasing 500 Fauna for sale in December.

"Advertisers expect us to be finding things first, so they can make meaningful connections to their audience," says Brad Schwartz, SVP/GM, music and youth services, CTV, and the inspiration for Fauna character Darb (an anagram for Brad).

The toys, which are available from mtv.ca for $90 Cdn, are also sold in specialty stores in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Korea - the San Francisco shop Super7 is selling the set of three for $225 U.S. Schwartz says he expects the toys to sell out soon, and there are no plans to extend the series.

The animated spots were picked up by MTV stations in Poland and the U.K., and have been on rotation in Times Square for two months. It's not the first time Canadian creative has been used by MTV in other countries, but this has attracted more attention than any other, Schwartz says. "We like to say, 'Canada to the world!'"

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