Nova Scotia Come to life Pomegranate Phone Campaign On 2008 Best of Lists

NOTE: A social media release on the campaign is available at http://www.gov.ns.ca/cmns/pom-news.asp .

The Pomegranate NS08, Nova Scotia's fictional multi-tasking smart phone, has made several "best of" lists for marketing and advertising campaigns of 2008.

Pomegranate, a viral campaign for the province of Nova Scotia, was one of Marketing Magazine's picks for the year's best campaigns and hailed as "the best Internet spoof" and "most popular post" by several blog writers.

"The goal for the campaign is to grab people's attention and show them something they wouldn't necessarily expect of Nova Scotia," said Stacey Jones-Oxner, communications advisor for Nova Scotia "Come to life."

"It was designed to get people talking about the province as a creative, innovative place -- the perfect place to invest, work, live and do business."

The phone has been dubbed the "iPhone killer" by bloggers world-wide, Twittered by Digg founder Kevin Rose, and the Pomegranate website has logged more than 560,000 visits from more than 190 countries.

"North America has caught mobile mania, so the timing was impeccable for the 'launch' of this fake wunderphone," noted Marketing Magazine's editorial team. "I'm convinced that smart, culture-savvy people were behind the project -- people who were able to play with expectations to create gold."

"Since there is so much buzz about the newest smart phones, we thought that was a good device to use," said Ms. Jones-Oxner. "This is especially true when you consider that the people who are interested in the latest technology are exactly the people we're trying to reach."

The "ultimate all-in-one device" does much of what you'd expect in a smart phone: photos, GPS capabilities and music. It also has some more groundbreaking features (projecting movies and voice translation) as well as some down-right unconventional components. In fact, it can make you a cup of coffee, provide personal grooming, and morph into a harmonica for those times when (according to the website) "the day is starting to drag."

The campaign's interactive website, www.pomegranatephone.com, leads people through the phone's increasingly off-the-wall features with a series of videos promoting the "product." When you click "release date" or "I've seen enough," you get the punch line.

The message is: "Someday you'll be able to get everything you want in one device. Today you can get everything you want in one place." The site then transitions to a website focused on Nova Scotia, featuring information on the province's lifestyle, business, education and culture, as well as vignettes of local entrepreneurs.

The top five countries visiting www.pomegranatephone.com are: 1) United States, 2) Canada, 3) Germany, 4) Italy and 5) the United Kingdom.

The blogosphere is touting the phone as one of the most in-demand fake products on the market. Comments have included:

• The phone will be the last one I ever buy;
• I know it's fake but I still want one; and
• Cool Christmas Gift 2008

Other commentators have focused on the campaign itself. "The campaign is a brilliant use of social media," says Luis Carranza, digital strategist and writer of the Adcentered blog. "This little piece of viral can travel the globe ... It is a conversation starter."

The campaign was kick-started through e-mails from "Come to life" partners, various business and other leaders with a connection to Nova Scotia, encouraging their contacts to check out the website. Pomegranates with the URL were also passed out in the key markets of Ottawa, Toronto and Boston.

At least one Nova Scotian company, Ross Screenprint of Antigonish, has received a new business lead as a result of the site.

"The campaign has clearly caught on," said owner Daniel Ross. "In fact, I got a business lead after one person saw our company's feature on the Nova Scotia portion of the Pomegrantephone website."

The campaign, launched earlier this fall, was conceived by the provincial government's Nova Scotia "Come to life" initiative and Bristol, and developed in conjunction with Breathe Media and Egg Films.

Some of the reviews the campaign received include:

• "Nova Scotia is positioned as a progressive place in a progressive way. Ideally, to attract progressive people." -- Luis Carranza, a digital strategist for a London-based ad agency

• "The Pomegranate NS08 – so good, you'll want to move to Nova Scotia." –- Mobile Computer Magazine, UK

• "The far-fetched concept isn't the brainchild of any cellphone manufacturers ...The Pomegranate phone is part of a $300,000 ad campaign put together by Nova Scotia. Yes, that Nova Scotia, the small province in southeastern Canada. Now, the real question is how long until I can actually play the harmonica solo from "Blowin' in the Wind" on my cellphone?" -- Mark Milian, L.A. Times

Nova Scotia "Come to life" is a public-private sector initiative. Working together, government and private-sector partners are marketing Nova Scotia as an excellent place in which to live, work, invest, learn, play, and visit. The goal is to enhance investment, trade and economic development opportunities in the province.