In recent years, there has been a significant migration of TV audiences to paid online platforms because they deliver their content without commercial breaks. Last September, when Toyota decided to get involved with Quebec’s top TV show, we could have buried our heads in the sand and made your traditional sponsorship activation. But we had a better idea.

For the season premiere of District 31, a successful television series on Radio-Canada, the Toyota Dealers Association of Quebec gave fans an extraordinary gift: no ads. With Bleublancrouge’s help, we created a range of televised spots and web banners spreading the good news. This redefined sponsorship model saw the light of day through a partnership with CBC and Radio-Canada Media Solutions, and gave viewers a whole six minutes of additional TV. For marketers, this proved to be a sizeable challenge, but we were able to take it on with a media tactic that changed the conversation about traditional television.