Call it political serendipity. When it became clear that the leading Republican candidate in the upcoming US election just happened to be named McCain, a eureka light bulb flashed on in the Lisle, Illinois, office of McCain Foods USA – the American HQ of Florenceville, NB-HQ’d McCain Foods Canada.
‘We were looking at how to make our ad dollars work harder for us with breakthrough advertising,’ Frank Finn, SVP commercial operations for McCain Foods USA, told Advertising Age yesterday. So, together with its Chicago-based AOR, Schafer Condon Carter, he says, a decision was made to base a campaign on ‘Why McCain should be in the White House.’
Breaking this Friday, Aug. 29, and continuing until election day in November, an amusing, US-only initiative will liven up the political scene down south. It will kick off with print ads in USA Today and migrate to online. Front and centre will be a horn-rimmed spokespotato, and taglines will include: ‘McCain goes to war over oil’ (referring to the absence of trans-fat oils in McCain products), and ‘McCain brings ‘smiles’ to millions’ (referencing the kid-aimed smiley-face spuds).
