MTS has focused almost all of its branding efforts on Cindy Klassen, the speed-skating phenom who captured five medals, including one gold, at last winter's Turin Olympics. Even though she now trains fulltime at the National Training Centre in Calgary, she proudly calls Manitoba's capital, Winnipeg, home.

"I would describe her competitive desire as Mount St. Helens on fire," Kurtas says. "But off the ice, Cindy is one of the more genuine and likeable people you're ever going to meet. She's not arrogant, and her values system and our brand match up very closely." He notes parallels between MTS's 2004 jump to the national stage with the acquisition of Allstream Inc. and Klassen taking her performance to the next level at Turin.

Kurtas adds that Klassen's obvious speed on the oval is a good fit for a company that prides itself on the lightning quickness of the wires and cables in its network. Canada's most successful Olympian will not, however, be "getting down in the muck" to sell MTS products.

"We want her to rise above being a salesperson for us," he says. "We want to preserve our brand image—and certainly not diminish hers in any way—by relegating her to a pitch person. She's recognized for her Olympic medals and we'll utilize those types of images to evoke associations with our services."

Brian Sharwood, Toronto-based principal analyst at the SeaBoard Group, a telecommunications consulting company, says the "buy local" pitch has been executed countless times. One of the best examples is in the book-retail sector, with Indigo Books & Music appealing to its Canadian customers to support it over US competitors such as Amazon.com.

"[MTS and SaskTel] are trying to differentiate themselves on a local level," Sharwood says. "By localizing they stand a better chance of getting market share. The brand comes off as being a local brand."

He adds, "They're saying, 'This is your province, this company supports you. If you support [a non-local competitor] then you're supporting people elsewhere to whom we don't relate.' "

Sharwood admits it's difficult to find something that appeals to everybody in a particular market. Another telco, Sprint Canada (acquired by Rogers Communications in 2005), used actress Candice Bergen as their spokesperson in the late 1990s at the same time as she was promoting its US-based sister company.

"A lot of Canadians didn't like the fact they used her," he says. "They thought [the campaign] was too far-reaching. She had no connection to Canada."

Semko admits that when The Northern Pikes first hit the Canadian charts in the late 1980s, they received plenty of lucrative offers to use their music in promotional vehicles—but the quartet felt they would have been selling out.

"Would it have really made that big a difference? I don't think so," he says. "It would have put a little more dough in our pockets and we could have got a little more exposure. You just don't want to put yourself in a position where you're having somebody question your morals. It's not like SaskTel is a drug company or selling cigarettes."

Semko says if the artist agrees with the concept and a company wants to offer payment in exchange for using his music, he doesn't have a problem with it.

"It can be a pretty difficult business we're in, but everything is good and everything will be better," he says with a laugh, "if you have a SaskTel cell phone."    

[6-Nov-2006]