ComEd’s got a new advertising campaign. Just don’t expect warm and fuzzy shots of workers climbing a pole to get your lights turned back on.
ComEd is taking a road not well traveled when it comes to utility advertising: off-beat humor.
The result, a breakthrough, is a strikingly different winter TV campaign from what viewers have become accustomed to from ComEd. It’s also the first handiwork from two of Leo Burnett’s highly touted creatives from the West Coast. The creatives were brought in as part of a much-ballyhooed, but little seen, renaissance at the agency.
In a spot that will air this weekend and then break into rotation Dec. 2, Burnett executive creative directors Josh Denberg and Paul Hirsch take us to a non-descript factory where plastic snowmen are made.
Filmed in black and white, we see hundreds of snowmen moving along a conveyor belt as they are being assembled. Throughout the spot, three different (non-smiling) workers sing the holiday favorite, “Winter Wonderland.” The fact that it’s a ComEd commercial isn’t revealed until the end, when a worker plugs in a snowman to test it. Then the screen reads: “Proud sponsor of big, plastic snowmen everywhere.”
The TV work is in addition to an extensive outdoor campaign that tries to entice customers to check out various lighting displays around the city. “The bobsledding snowmen at 17331 S. Osceola Ave. Brought to you by ComEd.”
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Though the line appears to be borrowed from Burnett’s earlier work on the U.S. Postal Service, the creative is still a stark departure for ComEd, which hasn’t been known for its cutting-edge creative. Rather, it is known for the cliched worker-fixing-the-powerline-during-a-rainstorm spot.
“It’s not about subtlety. It’s about conveying a truth about the brand,” said Hirsch, who with Denberg has done award-winning work on such brands as Nike and Discover Card. “We’re not trying to hide the message.”
The campaign will run through the winter. The pair will work on a new campaign for the summer and fall.
Merc to Draft? Look for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to name a new advertising and promotion agency as early as next week following a review for its $6 million account. As noted here, DraftWorldwide is expected to be named the new agency after a creative shootout that included Element 79 Partners and Young & Rubicam in Chicago.
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