Alberta-based agt, Canada’s third-largest provincial telephone company, is bracing itself for long-distance deregulation to hit early next year.

AGT is using the leverage it has over the competition, that it is allowed to sell more than long-distance service, in a new campaign launched last month that positions it as a full-service company offering more value.

Three 60-second tv spots and a newspaper ad run through to Christmas with the theme-line, ‘We go further than long distance.’

The spots focus on either business or personal needs, with images of people using the products and services to the accompaniment of background music that throbs like a heartbeat.

Each begins with a receiver being replaced on an old-style phone with the voiceover, ‘It’s not just about long-distance anymore.’

One shows a man canoeing across a mountain lake while his personal voice-mail records business calls.

In another, a grandmother guides her grandson through a difficult piano passage over the phone.

The production team includes Ward Russell, the cinematographer who filmed Days of Thunder and The Last Boy Scout; Canadian film director Rob Turner; and Richard Clark, an editor with Rye Films in Hollywood.

The campaign comes from McKim Baker Lovick/BBDO of Calgary, with credit to Gord Smith, creative director; Charles Blackwell, writer; and Ken Wentz, art director.

Make yourself at home

ikea Canada’s fall tv campaign, launched last week, carries through with the same look and theme-line, ‘Make yourself at home,’ established in the retailer’s summer series.

The eight 15-second spots take a humorous and pun-filled approach to products such as fabric, bedding, picture frames, frying pans, tv stands, and lamps.

For example, as a woman sitting on a well-sprung old sofa is catapulted into the air by an errant spring, the title card reads, ‘Spring for a new sofa.’

The next shot is of a new sofa from Ikea and the theme-line, ‘Ikea. Make yourself at home.’

The campaign comes from Geoffrey B. Roche & Partners, Toronto.

Credits go to Geoffrey Roche, creative director; Scott Dube, art director; Ian MacKellar and Brant Mau, writers; and Francois Sauve, writer for the French-language campaign.

Moderation in Quebec

educ’alcool, a not-for-profit group representing Quebec’s beverage alcohol industry, has launched a six-month moderate consumption campaign centred around the theme, ‘La moderation a bien meilleur gout’ (‘Moderation tastes so much better.’)

Five billboard executions unveiled at the beginning of the month will be in place for six months, with magazine ads in December, January and February.

Posters will appear January through March via the Zoom network, a Quebec-wide chain of poster locations in the washrooms of bars and restaurants.

The campaign comes from Communications bleu blanc rouge of Montreal.

Credits go to Richard Constantineau, creative director; Claire Papillon and Helene Lussier, art directors; and Iris Castonguay, production.

Taking a stand

the city of Vaughan, near Toronto, is opposed to being chosen as the next dump site for Metro Toronto and made that clear in a series of four ads placed sequentially in The Toronto Star on Oct. 14, the same day the Interim Waste Authority was meeting with the Ontario government about the issue.

With the theme, ‘O.B.I.F. Our Backyard Is Full,’ the city outlined its point of view with copy and headlines that included, ‘Let us tell you ’bout the birds and the bees and the trucks and the stench,’ and, ‘They said it would never leak.’

The campaign was a joint venture of Toronto firms Paton Marketing Resources and Neray MarCom, with creative credits to Michel Neray.

Correction:

The Family Channel commercials referred to in the Nov.1 issue of this column, were not paid spots but rather on-air promotions to subscribers.