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A new Astral Media “star” made his bow on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada this weekend.
“Little Gerry” a rough-edged puppet version of well-known Calgary radio personality Gerry Forbes was introduced in a spot promoting Astral’s CJAY 92.
The 30-second spot is set in CJAY’s boardroom where Forbes is told that local listeners “want more Gerry” and introduced to his pint-sized counterpart who tells him “Forbes, baby, I’ve got your back.”
The TV campaign, which will run on Shaw Cable network until May, was preceded by a teaser campaign on Forbes’ morning show, in which he gets mysterious phone calls from people demanding money for, among other things, limo rides, a wrecked hotel room and pants hemmed to a nine-inch inseam.
“Gerry Forbes is one of the funniest and edgiest radio personalities in Calgary,” said Stewart Meyers, operations manger for Astral Media. “We wanted a TV campaign to reflect that. The new character also allows for potential on-air antics.”
Larry Bannerman, president of Trigger, the local agency that created the campaign, said it is a unique approach to promoting a radio station that “gives us fertile territory that goes beyond advertising.” Little Gerry will be a regular on Forbes show and the CJAY website and on Facebook.
Trigger is also creating an exterior transit campaign for Astral’s second Calgary station VIBE 98.5.
Thanks to another new contract, Trigger will also be trying to increase the 70% of Albertans who recycle non-alcoholic beverage containers to 100%. The one-year educational campaign for the Alberta Beverage Container Recycling Corporation will include online, mass media and out-of-home advertising.
