Aspirin ads were wrapped on the backs of buses all around the city of Toronto. The ads used brake lights to exaggerate the pain caused by headaches. When the buses braked, the lights lit up to highlight the throbbing pain. As Toronto is one of the worst cities for traffic, the message especially hit home for commuters stuck behind these buses.
Advertising Agency: BBDO, Toronto, Canada
From the Torontoist: SUBWAYTM Map Not a Joke After All? by Hamutal Dotan
Back in March, the TTC indicated that it would entertain proposals to sell naming rights to subway stations and subway lines. It was a small clause buried in a long document outlining the requirements for those seeking to bid on the TTC’s advertising contract, and we decided to have a bit of fun with it. On April 1, we published a map of what the TTC might look like with the stations renamed after potential corporate sponsors.
We had a great time putting the map (and corresponding platform mock-ups) together, and you, dear readers, seemed to enjoy discovering what your new transit system might look like.
Regrettably, it might turn out to be less of a joke than we intended. This week the City of Toronto also released a proposal that will be examined by the Executive Committee later this month; it calls for a new policy on naming rights for public spaces in Toronto, and would make it easier for a company to, say, purchase the naming rights for a playground. The Toronto Star asked mayoral brother and advisor Doug Ford (Ward 2, Etobicoke North) about this new approach to naming. Would he, for instance, be comfortable taking a subway to Spadina-McDonalds station?
His reply: “Whatever. If it brings in revenue, I honestly don’t believe anyone cares.”
The Torontoist put together some great mock ups of what stations might be called in the future….
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Sico splashes colour across Toronto transit from Marketer News by Kristin Laird
Quebec-based paint brand Sico is inviting Torontonians to add a little colour to their lives through a month-long out-of-home campaign that transforms the city’s dull and grey Bloor-Yonge subway station into an inspirational paint palette.
Bloor Station
Oversized, framed paint chips now line the subway station walls as part of the station domination that also includes branded turnstiles, posters and video shorts running on digital boards that use the tag line “Let’s Colour.”
The transit campaign coincides with the re-launch of Sico’s Cashmere paint brand, and lets commuters know that it’s available at 22 dealers across the greater Toronto area.
The paint industry is highly competitive, which is why it was important to launch something different from what other brands are doing, said Dominique Pépin, marketing manager for Sico Paints.
The subway station environment also makes it easy to demonstrate the power of colour. “With dull grey, a pop of colour here and there acts as a trigger… We want people to think, ‘Maybe I have something to paint,’ and we would like to be their paint partner,” she said.
For the next three Thursdays in May, Sico will hand out Gerber daisies in a variety of colours with a little card that invites commuters to visit the Sico Facebook page and download a $10 off coupon.
“That might bring them to consider the brand for their next purchase,” said Pépin.
Once the out-of-home campaign wraps at the end of the month, Sico will determine whether or not to launch it in other markets, said Pépin.
The effort is part of a larger initiative that includes a national television commercial that runs for the next seven weeks on television. It has also been posted to Sico’s Facebook page to help grow the brand outside of Quebec.
Palm Havas developed the creative and Mediacom handled the buy.
A new campaign launched yesterday by the Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada has the rumps of 151 TTC buses plastered with butts to raise awareness for colorectal cancer.
From POSTMEDIA: Christ meets Big Foot: more irreverent atheist ads to hit Canadian cities by Carmen Chai
The atheist group (Centre For Inquiry) behind last year’s controversial bus ads suggesting “there’s probably no God” is rolling out a provocative new set of posters on buses across the country that places Allah beside Big Foot and Christ beside psychics.
The new posters bear the slogan: “Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence” with “Allah, Big Foot, UFOs, Homeopathy, Zeus, Psychics, Christ” listed below.
They will hit Toronto streetcars in January, pending final approval from the Toronto Transit Commission, said Justin Trottier, national executive director of the Centre for Inquiry, an atheist organization. After the Toronto debut, the organization plans to post the ads to buses in Calgary, Vancouver, Ottawa, Saskatoon and Montreal.
