The T-Mobile Sidekick is attacking its younger target audience with anime in its marketing. Ad Week takes a look at the efforts by Publicis to differentiate the popular Sidekick PDA from its staid cellular offerings. The centerpiece of the campaign is a character named Johnny Chase, who, as is wont these days, has his own website, JohnnyChase.com. According to AdWeek:
Chase is an ex-hacker who has been paid by the government never to touch a computer again. He is on the run from some "bad guys" and the feds, who are after him for violating their agreement. He uses his Sidekick to get himself and the people he cares about out of danger.
Wow, the Sidekick is so useful. Certainly in the campaign's favor is that Publicis Interactive got Ghost in the Shell director Itsuro Kawasaki to work on the seven three-and-a-half minute "webisodes," from which 30-second commercials were created. For you Catherine Zeta-Jones fans, don't worry, she appears in these ads in animated form on a billboard. But Gothamist did love how Publicis co-president and ECD Bob Moore explained CZJ's liimited role: "This is not a Catherine-type product right now, because it's not mainstream." That's right, Catherine is only available to annoy the mainstream. Well, so be it!
Learn more about the Sidekick by doing a search on Gizmodo.
