MTS Allstream of Manitoba kicked off its 100th anniversary celebrations yesterday with a six-page supplement in the Winnipeg Free Press and a special anniversary website at ConnectingCanadians.ca.
The newspaper supplement, which talks about the history of the telecom company, also sold ads to business partners such as Microsoft, Scotiabank, and its agency of record, Cossette Communication-Marketing of Vancouver.
Cossette created a 60-second television spot especially for the anniversary. The ad, posted on ConnectingCanadians.ca and YouTube, recreates the first TV spot starring Mortimer the bison—which Cossette created for MTS in 1999—but in a silent-movie style.
Then, instead of writing the usual “happy anniversary” message for the supplement, Cossette created a letter to MTS pretending the new ad is actually an original piece of film from 1908, and that a former employee had found the film and stolen the idea for Mortimer. “What we thought was a fresh new take on MTS turns out to be simply a rerun of an old one.” Cossette then invited everyone to view Morty’s original debut at the MTS site or on YouTube.
Noemie Bessette, account supervisor at Cossette says the hope is that ad will go viral. “The bison platform is pretty big in Manitoba—people actually look for the next creative,” she says.
MTS is also holding a number of events around its anniversary, and plans to run print and a television ad and put banner ads on some MTS buildings, says Bessette.
