:: adgruntie :: Amp'd wants you to try not to die

+ Last night I saw one of the spots promoting Amp'd Mobile. Strange concept. I'm half surprised that it actually got produced to be honest. The ads come from TAXI in New York. Apparently the idea behind the concept is that Amp'd won't be available until sometime next year and they want people to hold off on phone service renewals until that time. Seems to be asking a bit much though for a service that no one knows much about. The NYTimes wrote up a piece on Wednesday about the campaign.

Playing on the death-defying theme, the Amp'd Mobile ads depict people engaging in risky behavior like skydiving or standing outside during a tornado.

The ads will run in magazines and on cable channels like Blender, FHM, Comedy Central, MTV, ESPN and Spike that typically attract a younger audience.

The guerrilla marketing portion of Taxi's campaign has plans for chalk art drawings of gaping holes on sidewalks in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles adorned with the "Try not to die" slogan.

If the campaign seems morbid, the agency is not worried. "It's going to polarize a few people who don't like it, but I think that's the point," said Paul Lavoie, chairman and chief creative officer at Taxi.

Granted it is a bit of a teaser campaign as the real ad push won't begin until December or later. I'll be curious to see where they go from here though when the campaign really begings. "Now that you're not dead, buy our phone service". ;)