There’s nary a prostitute around Calgary’s Inglewood neighbourhood anymore, as a couple of rednecks discover in a new TV spot by agency Push.

The two TV ads seek to undo Inglewood’s less than tony reputation as a haven for drug dealers and streetwalkers, says Calgary-based Push art director Jason Sweet.

Sweet says the locale has been getting better over the last few years, with high-end antique stores and restaurants entering the fray, but a perception of seediness still lingers. As a result, businesses from the area, under the banner of Inglewood Biz, banded together to enhance the neighbourhood’s standing through an advertising campaign.

The goal, says Sweet, is to increase traffic to Inglewood and ultimately create a destination-style place.

The spots don’t skirt the issue – in fact, they directly address Inglewood’s colourful past by using some of the characters who may once have frolicked there.

‘We put it out there in the open, for a bit of a laugh,’ says Sweet.

One spot, for example, shows a scruffy guy entertaining some ladies at his home. He suggests to them that for a real night of fun, they should head over to Inglewood.

The women are disgusted that their host doesn’t realize the neighbourhood has been remodelled as a place of cafés and galleries, saying sarcastically, ‘How old are you?’

The spot ends with the tagline: ‘Today’s Inglewood. It’s not what you’d expect.’ The spots will begin airing locally in mid-June and may also run as cinema spots.

Check out the spots in the Strategy Screening Room:

http://www.strategymag.com/screeningroom/20030529/rockstar.html

http://www.strategymag.com/screeningroom/20030529/outoftowners.html

Client: Inglewood Biz

Agency: Push

Copywriter: Andy Shortt

Art Director: Jason Sweet

Project Co-ordinator: Jocelyne Verwiere

Production Company: White Iron Productions

Director: Michael Little

Producer: Michael Herringer, Barbara Walker