Teksavvy is starting to look like the new kid on the ISP block, judging by the brand overhaul featured in a new ad campaign. But Tina Furlan, director of marketing, Teksavvy, tells MiC that inside, the internet service provider is exactly the same, it’s just finally bringing some colour to its offerings.

Ontario-based Teksavvy’s branding has taken on a whole new life because “historically, we’ve had very bland marketing [and] it really didn’t do us any justice,” says Furlan of the brand’s previous black and white creative that held simple, straightforward copy detailing its services. “So this time we decided we would take an edgier approach.”

The ISP is seeking consumers attention with an Ontario and Quebec print and outdoor campaign that has six new characters (for example: a lifeguard, a schoolteacher and sci-fi geek) pointing out Teksavvy’s value propositions. These include, but are not limited to, providing customers with its services without them having to sign a contract with the company, as well as its 300-gigabyte data package, she says.

The ads show images of each character with a social media speech bubble making such statements as, “We take on the big guys, so you don’t have to” with its new tagline of “We’re different. In a good way.” All of the media was handled in-house with the brand working alongside Milestone Integrated Marketing and West Side Studios on the creative.

“The majority of our clients are 25- to 35-years-old and 80% male,” Furlan notes. “That being said, I think this campaign has us seeing a bit of a turn. We’re getting an older demographic, as well as younger students interested.”

Not forgetting how it has garnered most of its clientele over the years (through word-of-mouth) the brand plans to eventually lighten the load on paid media and shift to a broader social media strategy before the start of the Christmas holiday season.

“There wasn’t much need for us to spend a huge deal of money on outside media,” says Furlan, adding that the characters will eventually each have a Twitter handle to chat with consumers about its services and contests in their own voice. “There is a whole viral aspect to it,” she adds. “It is less about being on television and more about having a campaign that people are talking about.”

Teksavvy currently has a subscriber base of 180,000 Canadian consumers, up from 125,000 this time last year, according to Furlan. Month-over-month sales in August, when the campaign first launched, were up 29.5%, compared to the 16% increase in sales from July to August last year.