At Touché!, we are proud to support local media and reject Meta's recent approach to the new Bill C-18. Over the years, we've been among the leaders in Quebec and Canada in advancing the cause of local media with our clients.
We firmly believe in the importance of a diversity of voices and in the value of local media. They play an essential role in maintaining an informed, balanced and democratic society, and they deserve our ongoing support.
That's why we believe that media agencies and advertisers have a key role to play in this situation. As major players in the industry, we have the power and responsibility to take a stand on this issue and take concrete action.
By working hand in hand with our clients, we aim to assess the importance of the issue, and the willingness of each of them to align their advertising investments with these convictions. In this way, Touché! is there to respond to the needs and socially-driven initiatives of its clients.
We demonstrated a few years ago with our client VIA Rail Canada that the business and media performance of a campaign can be equivalent, or even increased, by rebalancing the proportion of advertising dollars invested in Canadian media compared to international media. (For more details: https://www.touchemedia.com/en/news/touche-and-via-rail-canada-redesign-their-media-buying-strategy/)
In conclusion, Touché! endorse the A2C and CMDC Canadian Media Manifesto's objective of devoting 25% of digital advertising investment to support Canadian media and local press initiatives. These investments will provide additional funding to Canadian news publications, beyond what they would receive under Bill C-18.
We recognize that this is a complex issue. Please don't hesitate to contact us for an in-depth discussion. We're passionate about the subject and look forward to engage with all industry players.
For more information:
A2C: https://a2c.quebec/en/resources/mouvement-media-d-ici
CMDC: https://www.cmdc.ca/cmm
Image : Camilo Jimenez