Tricky Opinion – Bell’s New Advertising Campaign

A few years ago, Bell
introduced two beavers named Frank and Gordon to help promote one of Canada’s
oldest companies. Some people hated them while others loved them. Whatever side
you were on you had to admit that it just made sense. The beaver is our national
animal so there were no better mascots to promote such a well known Canadian
company. Now more than two years after they’re debut they have been put to
sleep to make space for a new advertising campaign. But what is the deal with
this new campaign? Is it more effective than they’re previous one?
A few weeks ago I was in the car with some friends when I
saw a billboard advertising the new Samsung Instinct cell phone (on a side
note: that phone is uber sexy). The tagline on the billboard in black font was
“Apple Biter” with the er in blue. My
first impression was that Bell
really hit the mark with this clever ad, why not go head on with Rogers
and the iPhone. But why was the er blue,
what the heck does that have to do with Bell?
Well, after watching a lot of these er ads and doing a lot of research I came up with this conclusion, it means…
absolutely nothing!
That’s right, there is no connection between er and Bell. Some have said that it
could be that if you add er to Bell
it would make Beller, which might considered a person who uses Bell’s
services. Or another one is that Beller is very close to the word better which
could be another shot at the competition. But in the end it is just a way they
connect all they’re ads, it has no meaning other than that. Than why would Bell
do such a stupid thing? Because as stupid as it is, it’s brilliant. Type er and Bell into Google and just see how
many blogs pop up with people ranting about it. I’ve heard people on the street
trying to make a connection out of the ads. Bell
has created buzz about they’re brand and that is exactly what they need. Rogers
has been real successful with the iPhone so Bell
has now got people talking about Bell.
And with the invasion of American phone companies coming into our market soon Bell
wants all eyes on them.
As brilliant as these ads are on a buzz level, it is hard to
measure if it will result in more sales. Sure I like what they have done, but
it doesn’t mean I would switch to a Bell
phone if I was with a different company. It depends what they’re motives were
for this new campaign. Was it clearly for buzz purposes only or do they plan to
get a bunch of whole new customers? I can’t answer that question, but I will
say that this is a way to start to compete with Rogers
who is dominating the cell phone market.
This campaign is one of the reasons why I got into
marketing. Marketers (at least in the field of advertising) can be creative and
can express a message to consumers in unique ways. Sure, you can have a totally
unique idea, but if it didn’t fulfill the company’s goals, it doesn’t matter. So
who knows if this is what Bell
wanted, at least I’m pretty sure it can’t hurt them. I’ll miss you Frank and
Gordon, but for now this campaign is just plain bett-er.

– Tricky Out