Is there anything that could make a cable company seem adorable in 60 seconds?
Comcast's new "Dream Big" campaign -- featuring a catchy jingle, guitar-strumming squirrels, bouncing astronauts, dancing penguins and other bubbly cartoon flourishes -- did for Advertising Age columnist Bob Garfield.
Garfield, you will recall, is the guy who became so incredibly cheesed off at Comcast that he created a Web site, ComcastMustDie.com, devoted to shaming the MSO into improving its customer service.
The grumpy media maven last week pronounced the initial Comcast "Dream Big" ad derivative but successful.
"Remember, this isn't a nice, eco-friendly hybrid they're jingling goofily about. It isn't ice cream or circuses or Day-Glo condoms," Garfield wrote in his column last week. "It's the freakin' cable company, which - after all the singing is done - you can't help feeling better about."
The campaign, which debuted March 2, was created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and includes TV, print, outdoor, radio and online elements. Comcast is not disclosing the ad spend for "Dream Big."
The TV ads feature ordinary-looking people in "Comcast Town" extolling the benefits of the MSO's services (high-speed Internet, HD, on-demand, sports, etc.) in a sort of monotone chant, ending with the spelling out of C-O-M-C-A-S-T.
The spots can be viewed at ComcastTown.com, which also offers downloads of the jingle's sheet music and lyrics. The music in the ads is an original composition created by a company called Stimmung and the lyrics were composed by Goodby copywriters. The spots were directed by Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes, who were nominated for an Academy Award this year for the animated short "This Way Up."
