Brilliant! – Wind Mobile blows its horn with viral vids

Wireless upstart Wind Mobile, the newest entrant into Canada’s national mobile phone market, is building some online buzz before its imminent launch care of three recently-released viral videos.

‘These were done to till the soil,’ says Chris Robbins, chief commercial officer at Wind Mobile. ‘Before we launch, we’re trying to keep the conversation going about what’s wrong with the current market, the current competition and what’s happening in wireless.’

Developed by creative AOR, Toronto-based Clean Sheet Communications, the ads depict fees being applied to everyday situations where it would be preposterous to do so. One video, for example, features a toll booth that charges pedestrians to use a sidewalk. The viral spots, found on YouTube and Wind’s website, were designed to highlight the issues Canadians have with the current state of wireless service in Canada based on their feedback on Wirelesssoapbox.com and Windmobile.ca.

Wind plans to launch during the Christmas season in Toronto and Calgary. Promotional activities surrounding the brand’s official intro will include a significant investment in digital, accounting for 25% of the total media buy. The remainder will be focused in traditional channels, primarily OOH, cinema and print.

Wind recently announced the addition of five new agency partners: Toronto-based AmoebaCorp is responsible for the brand’s visual identity; Halifax-based Breakhouse has been enlisted to design retail POS; Narrative Advocacy in Toronto is taking care of PR; Trapeze Media in Toronto is looking after Windmobile.ca and all things digital; and Starcom MediaVest is handling media buys.