It's that special time of year - post-Cannes, pre-Fall TV - when things are in transition, and theories of where the industry is headed abound as folks wind down a bit in advance of a new cycle of freneticism.

As our cover suggests, specialty channels are faring well right now, both financially (thanks to dual revenue streams) and in terms of audience and ad market share gains. According to BBM statistics, total TV viewing in Canada from Sept. 2008 to May 2009 was 37% specialty and 55% conventional. Back when they launched, this outcome was by no means assured, and I believe a lot of credit is due to the power of branding. These are channels which had to rely on attitude and environment to establish a coherent identity in their niches, rather than the sheer draw of must-see prime-time drama.

And it's paid off as a strategy. The recently released StatsCan Television Broadcasting Report for 2008 found specialty television led the sector with revenues of $2.3 billion in 2008, ousting conventional from the top spot, according to stats for the fiscal year ending Aug. 31 (before the downturn of late 2008). Specialty revenues were up by 6.5% thanks to a rise in both subscription revenues (5.4%) and advertising revenues (8.1%). In an interview for our Fall TV report this issue, M2 Universal president Sara Hill said migration of ad dollars to specialty is due both to the rise in share of tuning for specialty and the ease of sponsorship integration. "Some advertisers now use a mix of 100% specialty," says Hill.

Specialty has also been able to research and respond to very specific demo tastes, which ultimately led Corus to transform Scream to a broader (and more female-friendly) Dusk channel (see p. 22).

That focus on the consumer's needs to create a unique and consistent environment, and 24/7 delivery and refinement of that experience, is also what's resonating for non-TV brands now.

I went to Cannes expecting to see the future of advertising revealed and to experience that "aha!" moment when all the marketing theories, media trends and audience issues neatly wrap themselves up into a handy dandy solution that makes sense of it all. What I found was some really big ideas that were truly unique to the brand challenge, and as a result, so well activated across channels that many juries claimed them for their own discipline. Like Tourism Queensland's "Best Job in the World" campaign, which won both the PR and Cyber Grand Prix, as well as Gold in Media and two PR Lions.

It seems the best advertising in the world transcends categories and defies labelling - and flows out into the universe in many forms to ultimately be adopted by its audience. For instance, with a small budget, Cumminsnitro, Brisbane, created the "Best Job in the World" contest, ostensibly to find a new island caretaker. The "Job Listing" ads triggered a groundswell of interest in the dream position, attracting video applications from all over the world, and ongoing global coverage of the contest garnered millions of free PR impressions from major media.