Toronto-based Porter Airlines has extended its media plan into the realm of animated television with a series of commercials staring the brand’s raccoon mascot, Mr. Porter.

The three spots, ‘Toronto,’ ‘Business’ and ‘Service,’ began airing in 30- and 15-second versions on March 7 in Ontario and Quebec on networks including CTV, CBC, Global, A-Channel, CP24 and BNN. Porter handled the media buying and planning internally and the creative was done by Winkreative in London, UK, the air carrier’s agency partner since 2006. The target audience for the brand spots is the airline’s broad passenger base as well as potential customers.

‘[The spots] are quite timeless in the messaging,’ says Elizabeth Margles, Porter Airlines’ VP of marketing and communications. ‘They’re about service, they’re about proximity and they’re about our amenities and none of those things are going away. We’ll keep on looking for ways to expand the campaign.’

The marketing push comes just under two months before Air Canada begins operating flights out of Porter’s home at Toronto’s Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport on May 1.

To date, the company’s advertising has included radio, print, social media and digital, including its website FlyPorter.com, which Margles says is due for an overhaul in the coming months. In addition to allowing passengers to look up and book flights, the website will eventually include the kind of lifestyle articles and travel information found in its in-flight magazine, re:porter.

‘It’s a matter of making that site more information rich so that people can look for the same kind of information they get in re:porter magazine and get it when they’re on the go at their ease,’ she says. ‘So if they’re going to Chicago for whatever reason, they can search where to sleep, where to eat and where to stay.’

View all three ads via Porter’s YouTube page.