An attention-grabbing national campaign for the new 2008 Audi TT launched yesterday, created by Lowe Roche and media partners MSB and Wills & Co. The most unusual aspect of the multi-pronged campaign involves 40 giant TTs – six feet high and 15 feet long – placed at various locations around Toronto, including the financial district and alongside expressways, until May 18.

City domination includes video light displays projected onto buildings beside major arteries in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Farther afield, and for more elevated viewership, TT logos are being carved into the ground near Bowmanville, Ont. and eventually at other spots across the country.

The idea is to create word-of-mouth about the high-end sports car and drive visitors to its website, www.thenewaudiTT.ca. ‘We used a bunch of media, both traditional and non-traditional,’ MSB VP group account director Fiona McLaughlin tells MiC. ‘So it was really just making a big splash – not just raising awareness among upscale drivers, but getting into some non-traditional areas as well. It’s the combination of the broad awareness from the traditional media and then just sort of the buzz from the TTs around the city.’

‘I can’t stress how creative everyone has to be to reach every part of the target group,’ adds Lowe Roche CCO Geoffrey Roche. ‘The great thing about Jeff Wills at Wills & Co. is that he embraces that idea, and he’s able to pull this stuff off and get it done.’

The campaign’s more conventional aspects included ad buys in newspapers and business, consumer and automotive publications, as well as online ads on CBC.ca, Globe Auto online, ReportonBusiness.com and Yahoo! Another tactic is TSA ads in airports and an FSI delivered to targeted neighbourhoods in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. The campaign, dubbed Pure Design/Pure Power, runs through August.