Screen Magazine - Index

Screen Magazine - Screen Magazine: Vol. 29, Issue 15 - Index

Vapor Helps Struggling (And Fictional) Musician Ron Ronn For New Telus Campaign
By C.J. Arellano
Heard of Ron Ronn? He’s a struggling musician and
“Canadian Idol” reject with an endearing hipster-quirky
man-softie personality, a Joe Schmo’s mop-top of orange
hair and a strange lucky-charm penchant for dolphins. He’s
also entirely fictional.
This summer, Telus Mobility – one of Canada’s leading
telecommunications companies – in conjunction with
“Canadian Idol” has launched its “Ron Ronn” campaign
to promote the new Smartphone. Music company Vapor
(Toronto) has helped Telus (along with brand development
company Taxi, Toronto) to craft the campaign that the
company hopes will draw hip, young consumers to the new
phone. “It’s the story of a charming loser from ‘Canadian
Idol’ who doesn’t make it onto the show,” Vapor Music
director of marketing and sales Lindsey Bates explains.
“There are ten 30-second spots for TV. One spot airs each
week of the 10-week season.”
The campaign is currently in its third week, so three spots
have aired so far on Canadian television. The first spot
involves Ron Ronn introducing himself to us. He vows to
make it big with his acoustic guitar, Telus Smartphone and
taciturn manager Mueller (a lanky long-haired dude with
sad eyes) at his side. The second spot shows Ron Ronn sitting
on a playground swing and singing an indie-folksy song
about gravity. He asks Mueller to look up gigs on Google
via their dependable Smartphone. The third spot involves
a trippy dream sequence: Ron Ronn floats through a sea of
mouths yelling platitudes of negativity at him. Fortunately,
his ringing Smartphone wakes him from his nightmare. He’s
received a text from Mueller: he’s landed a gig! What will
become of Ron Ronn? Stay tuned…
While the 30- second spots continue to unfurl on Canadian
television, viewers captivated by his charming personality
can up their dosage of Ron Ronn by visiting Telus’s website
dedicated to the fictional spokesman. There, web-surfers
are treated to a cartoon version of Ron Ronn, who acts as
host and tour guide through a rainbow-colored, pencildrawn
town.
Users can engage in various activities such as having Ron
Ronn “write” you a song based on your name, favorite
color and animal. You can also hear Ron Ronn sing about
why he loves his Smartphone in little 10-second, one-lyric
sound bites. For example, if you click on “Calendar,” Ron
Ronn croons this contemplative diddy: “Is it Monday or
�����������
Halloween? Let me check my calendar. It’s Tuesday.”
“We were approached by Taxi Toronto to pitch our musical
ideas after a creative brief with the team on the job. We
were competing with another company,” Bates says.
“Joey Serlin (Vapor Composer/Partner/Director) wrote a
track within hours of taking the brief and convinced the team
that Vapor was the music house for the gig. It’s no surprise
Joey nailed it,” Bates beams. “Prior to joining Vapor he was
the lead songwriter and guitarist for Winnipeg-based band
The Watchmen. They were one of the most commercially
successful Canadian alt-rock groups of the early 1990s.”
Bates points to the aspects of the campaign that Vapor
was involved in: “Vapor mixed and sound designed all 10
broadcast spots and handled all the audio components
for the site.”
She also addresses to two odd but apt inspirations for the
whole campaign. The HBO series “Flight of the Conchords”
– which chronicles two similarly struggling and oddball
musicians – was a musical reference for Vapor. YouTube
addicts will be charmed by Vapor’s other inspiration: “The
goal is to grow this guy’s popularity to cult classic proportions.
Think Tay Zonday’s ‘Chocolate Rain’ success,” says Bates.
//telus.ronronn.com
//www.vapormusic.com