Government Operations Committee on March 10th, 2011

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

Furthermore, government advertising on tax cuts for all Canadians is critical not just to governments, but also to Canadians so they know they are entitled to those tax cuts. Did advertising in this area help a lot of Canadians save money?

[Anne Marie Smart]

It did. If you remember, in the last couple of years we've been in the midst of a pretty severe global recession. Part of the goal of the advertising around the economic action plan was to let people know, for example, that there were at least three tax credits available to help them through the recession. There was the home renovation tax credit, which was extremely popular. In fact, the recall rates when we tested post-campaign on that one were levels we hadn't seen before, around 70 or something. People wanted the information and they went.... All of our advertising is aimed at driving people to the website, where all of the information about what programs they can apply for and where is located. So people did that.

There was also the first-time home buyers' tax credit, which people took advantage of. Also, even around tax filing, Canada Revenue Agency did a bit of a campaign to remind people to apply for things like the credits under the home renovation tax credit.

So it did save them money. That's one of the reasons why the advertising was so important. It was the recession; we wanted to make sure that people had information about the services and benefits that were available to them, and thirdly, that they were able to easily access that information. So it was extremely important to do it.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

You mentioned the home renovation tax credit. I think that is a very good example. When that measure was put in place, no one knew about it, but thanks to Government of Canada ads promoting the tax credit, many people became aware of it and took advantage. In my riding, one out of two homes underwent some form of renovation, and the construction industry got a boost.

I will now hand the floor over to my colleague.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Monsieur Généreux.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

If I may, I will use the rest of my colleague's time.

I worked in advertising for many years, and I can say this: there are always two parties, the client and the supplier. And you need both of them in order to make a product. I would imagine you know firsthand that you have to work in partnership with the subcontractor on an advertising campaign. I want to pick up on what Ms. Bourgeois was saying about the content or message and the medium, and draw a distinction. The medium is Canada's corporate identity, which you must adhere to. That medium holds the message or content, which must be prepared, of course. Do you work on the message with the subcontractor? Do you work on the crux of the message to be conveyed? You are not necessarily the only ones who have a say in the product. I am not sure whether you know what I mean.

Take the H1N1 crisis for example. The end result of your ad campaign cannot be attributed solely to what you brought to the table, but also to what your supplier brought to the table.

[Anne Marie Smart]

That's very important. H1N1 is a good example. The campaigns, especially something that important, would all be what we call pre-tested. The department would make sure that there was a focus group of people with young children, another focus group of seniors, whatever. You would test the messaging.

You would do that for two reasons. One, you need to make sure that they understand the message. It's pretty direct to say “get vaccinated”, but you want to make sure that you're explaining it to people in such a way that they understand. Secondly, you're dispelling myths. If you remember, at the time of H1N1 there were a lot of misperceptions, myths, and fears around. When you're doing this pre-testing with your focus groups, you're making sure that they understand the message and that it's addressing the key things they need. Thirdly, you want to see if they're going to change behaviour. So in the example I was using, coughing or washing your hands frequently, you're testing to see whether they got that message. We consider it extremely important with major campaigns to do this, as you say, testing with a service group.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Mr. Généreux, you have 10 seconds.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

I will use that time to congratulate you. You did an excellent job during that campaign, in particular. Canadians did indeed change their behaviour. Even if we don't go as far as to say it saved lives—although I believe it did—we can say you did an outstanding job educating Canadians.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Monsieur Généreux.

MPs are all multi-taskers, and with the permission of colleagues, I'll preserve Mr. Martin's time and turn to Mr. Regan for five minutes, please.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

That's agreeable, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much.

Thank you to the witnesses as well.

Let me ask you, to start with, about the $4 million that's been set aside in the estimates for spending on advertising for the budget upcoming, which basically has to be spent between March 22, when the budget is delivered, and March 31, which of course is the fiscal year-end.

You're telling us that it hasn't been pre-tested at all, yet of course Government of Canada policy requires pre-testing of all major advertising campaigns. You can understand why it's a little hard to believe that there aren't advertisements in the can already for this. But if not, then when will you pre-test those ads if they aren't even going to be designed until after the budget is tabled?

I'll start with that.

[Anne Marie Smart]

As I mentioned, when we set aside the $4 million last year, no one knew the date of the federal budget, and we cannot begin anything, for whatever money or any campaign--and we know that there's only one week before the end of the fiscal year--until we know what's in the budget, and we won't know that until the day the budget is tabled.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

And there's no way that Cossette Communication, which I think you're telling us is the company that's responsible for that advertising campaign.... Is that who will be responsible for that campaign?

[Mark Perlman]

They're responsible for the media placement, not for the creative design of the ads.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Who is?

[Anne Marie Smart]

In this case it would be the Department of Finance.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

The department itself designs the ads? Does it film them?

[Anne Marie Smart]

Absolutely. All departments are responsible for their advertisment campaigns. Public Works or PCO don't know the proper messaging.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Let me rephrase that. Are you telling me that it's videoed or filmed, scripted, the actors are hired, etc., by the department?

[Anne Marie Smart]

Well, by the ad agency for the Department of Finance.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

That's what I'm asking. Who is the ad agency? I thought it was a clear question.

[Louise de Jourdan]

It's Ogilvy Montréal.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Ogilvy Montréal. So there's no way that Ogilvy Montréal would be pre-testing ads now.

[Anne Marie Smart]

I don't see how, personally.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

There's no way that they could have had directions from PMO, for example, on what to start pre-testing.

[Anne Marie Smart]

I'm not aware.