Marketing News Canada: TalkShop, Black Friday Outcomes, and Sportsnet

Today we feature a round-up of some big events and recent industry happenings.

• Talk Shop Media Hires Former Global National Anchor, Robin Gill, as VP
• AfterPay releases 2021 Black Friday Statistics
• Sportsnet brings live Hockey Night in Canada action to Twitter via the new #PuckDrop
• Read more below!

Talk Shop Media Hires Former Global National Anchor, Robin Gill, as VP

Canadian PR and integrated communications agency, Talk Shop Media, is proud to announce the addition of media veteran Robin Gill to the firm’s leadership team.

Hailing from a 27-year media career, most recently serving as weekend anchor and British Columbia correspondent for Global National, Gill has reported on some of the most significant national and international stories in recent decades including the 2021 BC floods, the 2014 shootings on Parliament Hill, and the 2011 Stanley Cup Riot. Prior to Global National, Gill was a reporter and anchor for Global Toronto and appeared on several US stations including NBC and Fox.

“Robin is one of the most revered journalists in Canada and we could not be more thrilled to see her step into this role to strengthen our core offerings and provide strategic counsel from a critical media lens,” said Katie Stevens, Managing Partner at Talk Shop. “She joins a strong leadership team who has contributed to our accelerated growth this past year, with no plans to slow down in 2022.”

In addition to overseeing a portfolio of Talk Shop’s most significant clients, Gill will further bolster and evolve the agency’s media and spokesperson training practice, lending her acclaimed on-camera expertise and years of media experience. Additionally, she will focus on crisis communications, issues management, and corporate reputation building, providing a unique perspective rooted in her tenure in media.

Talk Shop has spent the past 10 years helping clients in the technology, lifestyle and real estate sectors meet business objectives through smart communications. Clients come to Talk Shop for PR, and stay for digital services offered, including organic and paid social media and SEM, and in-house creative.

AfterPay Releases 2021 Black Friday Statistics

Afterpay, a leader in “Buy Now, Pay Later” payments, just released consumer insights from this year’s highly-anticipated Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping weekend.

Key highlights below show demand for BNPL in Canada and other shopping trends:

• More Canadians are choosing BNPL with 124 per cent more shoppers choosing to shop on Afterpay for Black Friday and 94 percent more on Cyber Monday compared to last year.
• Basket size increased by 53 percent YoY on Black Friday and 67 percent on Cyber Monday.
• Fashion and beauty categories showed strong gains with increases of 529 percent and 139 percent, respectively.
• The number of Gen Z users, Afterpay’s primary user base, grew by 19 percent YoY on Black Friday. However, Gen X was Afterpay’s largest growing consumer segment by generation, increasing by 27 percent YoY on Cyber Monday compared to last year.
• Top purchased items were tights, mittens, belt bags, flannel tops, fluffy slippers and winter boots.

Sportsnet brings live Hockey Night in Canada action to Twitter via the new #PuckDrop

Starting on December 4th, hockey fans will be able to watch the first five minutes of Sportsnet’s first Hockey Night in Canada game time on Twitter, free of charge!

The five-minute broadcast will stream live from the @Sportsnet Twitter account and will be available to all Canadians who use the Twitter service. The complete game broadcast will be available on Sportsnet NOW Free - the latest content package within the new and enhanced SN NOW that provides weekly live events and original content at no charge - so viewers that watch the puck drop on Twitter can seamlessly follow the rest of the game on Canada’s premier sports streaming service.

As part of the experience, Canadians on Twitter will be able to like a promoted @Sportsnet Tweet to receive a push notification when a select number of NHL games go live on Twitter throughout the season! Sportsnet will also run pre-roll content promoting their new, reimagined Sportsnet NOW service in front of the live streams and ancillary highlights to create a fresh way of reaching Twitter audiences interested in watching live NHL hockey

Source: @sportsnet Twitter Account

Twitter Canada recently shared some new insights about the Canadian audience & what conversations look like on Twitter in 2021:

• The NHL is the most talked-about sports league on Twitter in Canada with 65% of Canadian hockey fans saying Twitter is the social media platform they use to follow sports
• Fans come to Twitter to get all their hockey news and rumours, 100% of the picks from the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft were announced on Twitter, and it’s where insiders go to break the latest trades and signings
• More subscribers are starting more streams and watching longer on Sportsnet NOW this year than ever before

With these points in mind, this new partnership allows Sportsnet to connect directly with #HockeyTwitter fans just as they are getting excited about puck drop, driving increased awareness and engagement for Sportsnet NOW with a passionate, social-savvy, digital-first audience, in real-time.

Compiled by Marketing News Canada editor, Emma Whiten