Teaser Ads on the Rise

Ads with no obvious backer seem to be on the rise. We've all heard about the clever Cloverfield teaser from last summer. It grabbed people's attention because they have no idea who is advertising to them. A campaign recently appeared on bus stops, subway stations, and transit vehicles in Canada (See example on left). The ads appeared to be promoting a medication called "Obay." This fictional product makes kids listen to their parents. There were many speculations about who was behind the ads. Some people thought the ads were a jab at parents who medicate their teenage kids to keep them under control. Others thought that the Church of Scientology was behind the ads. So who did it? A drug company? Anti-drug lobbyists? A church? The government? WRONG!

The ads were actually backed by Colleges Ontario, the advocate for the Ontario's 24 colleges of applied arts and technology. The goal of the campaign was to address the stereotype that universities are a better alternative than colleges. One of the reasons they decided to implement this campaign was because their research showed that parents favor university over college as the number one choice for their children by a 3–1 margin. According to Linda Franklin, President and CEO of Colleges Ontario, they hope to invite parents to "consider all that colleges have to offer."


Phase 2 of the campaign began last month. There are now large stickers over all of the ads that reveal who is behind the campaign. I think this was a great way to reveal that Colleges Ontario is behind the campaign. People who saw the ads initially may walk by again and see the new stickers over them. People who were wondering all of this time now have their question answered.

The campaign was created by Smith Roberts & Co. I think this is a really creative campaign to get people to think about something they probably wouldn't normally. The initial campaign grabbed a lot of attention, and even left many people appalled. The campaign worked because of its shock value. It also made people curious, which seems to be working with all of these mysterious campaigns. However, I have to wonder. People are shocked but do they really care to find out who was behind the ads? Will these ads really change people's opinions of colleges? Will enrollment in colleges increase? Only time will tell.

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