It will be as hard for Canadians to miss Ford's unique 2-minute TV commercial on Monday, November 1, as it will for the rest of the world, but the Canadian content in the global spot will be tougher to see.
Ford of Canada is part of a world-wide effort by the Detroit-based company to make itself known to consumers through a glossy, big-budget TV commercial using a specially-commissioned and supposedly uplifting song called Just Wave Hello.
In advertising industry parlance this kind of scheme is called a ''roadblock" (as in there's no getting around it), and the general consensus is that there's never been anything like it in the history of TV.
The spot is set to run at 9 p.m. around the world, but Ford of Canada spokesman John Arnone says that's difficult in a country with five timezones, so in this country the commercial will be tied to specific shows.
For example, Arnone says, viewers watching Ally McBeal on CTV will see the spot near the start of that show regardless of when it airs, and so will people watching The Nature of Things on the CBC, and VIP on City-TV, among other shows and other networks. Ford's commercial will also run on Global, ONTV and TSN in Toronto, as well as other stations across the country and on two websites -- www.ford.com and www.broadcast.com.
Everyone around the world will see and hear the same thing -- a 13-year-old soprano named Charlotte Church singing over scenes of various people in various countries doing such quotiden things as working, sightseeing, watching TV, arguing, dancing and saying hello or goodbye.