Annoying but successful. Whither the beavers?

KEITH McARTHUR ,  Globe and Mail Update

Canada's most loved ad campaign is also one of the most hated.

Month after month, Bell Canada's ubiquitous Frank and Gordon ads — starring two comedic, animated beavers — rank near the top of Leger Marketing's monthly survey of least-liked ads.

But there are far more respondents — by a ratio of three to one — who cite the Bell beavers as their favourite campaign.

"It has held court [at the top of the most-loved list] longer than any previous series of ads," says Dave Scholz, a vice-president at Leger.

"We'll often see that as a campaign continues, the hated numbers start to rise. … We're not seeing that."

Despite the strong numbers, there are reasons to ask how much life the beavers have left.

For one thing, Bell marketing chief and beavers booster Jim Little left for another job. And hedge and pension funds, preparing to take parent BCE Inc. private, could slash Bell's marketing budget or change the ad campaign.

Bell's ad agency, Cossette Communication Group Inc., acknowledges there have been routine talks about when to fire the spokesbeavers.

"If it happens, it won't be taken lightly," said Gregor Angus, an executive vice-president at Cossette.

The beavers made their Quebec debut in late 2005, at a time when Bell Canada's senior officers were sharply divided over the right ad campaign for the telecom's future. For weeks, they'd been simultaneously running two campaigns, trying to find one that could carry the Bell brand in both English and French Canada.

A majority of executives were rooting for what was known internally as the "pixel" campaign, which showed off Bell technology through crude animation reminiscent of first-generation video games. The beavers — known in Quebec as Jules and Bertrand — were the dark horse.

Bell spends tens of millions of dollars on advertising each year, but its own research indicated that recent campaigns hadn't worked.

Early research on beavers (running in Quebec) and pixels (running in the rest of Canada) indicated that for both campaigns, consumers generally remembered that the ads were for Bell. But the beavers had a slight edge. So just before Christmas, Bell made the decision to dump all the "pixel" ads that had been prepared for the Olympic broadcast and focus exclusively on the beaver campaign, developed by Cossette.

"It was a pretty wild winter at Cossette to get that ready," Mr. Angus said.

Fourteen months after its national launch, the beaver campaign is still going strong.

The Bell ads are even winning over some converts in the advertising community.

Marlene Hore, creative director at ad agency Partners and Edell in Toronto, wrote a review of the campaign in The Globe and Mail in December of 2005. She said the campaign was derivative, and awarded it just one star out of four. But over time, she's warmed to the beavers.

"There are some executions out there that really make me smile. I've grudgingly grown to like it more," Ms. Hore says.

"On an awareness level, it works gangbusters. You see them, it's shorthand that says Bell. Do they sell? I have no idea."

Mr. Scholz at Leger points out that strong recall and likeability numbers are no guaranty that ads are selling products and services.

But Bell maintains the beaver campaign is translating into results. In three key growth areas — Internet, video and mobile phone service — the number of subscribers was up and churn rates (the percentage of lost customers) were down in 2006, compared with 2005.

With Mr. Little gone from Bell and an imminent ownership change at BCE, it's conceivable that the new marketing executives/owners might want to put their own stamp on Bell's marketing.

But Rick Seifeddine, Bell's senior vice-president of brand strategy, said as long as the beavers are doing their job, they should be secure.

It's possible, he said, the beaver campaign could remain in place at least until the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, which will give Bell a high profile in Western Canada.

"Right now they're doing a remarkable job, but you never say never in marketing. You change as you need to. Right now, there's absolutely no reason to change."

Hits and misses

National-liked

Ads most liked by Canadians in March

Bell 11.3%

Familprix 4.5%

Budweiser 4%

Capital One 3.9%

Nicoderm 2.9%

National-hated

Ads least liked by Canadians in March

Conservative Party 6.6%

Head-On 5.8%

Capital One 5.7%

Bell 4%

Pepto-Bismol 2.4%

Source: Leger Marketing