Nova Scotia Web Ad Is Viral Hit

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MELISSA BLOCK, host:

Move over, iPhone. We are now officially in love with the Pomegranate.

(Soundbite of Web advertisement)

Unidentified Man #1: Welcome to the Pomegranate, the one device that puts more things in the palm of your hand than you ever thought possible.

BLOCK: This interactive Web ad shows a really cute, pear-shaped, bright magenta smartphone. It promises to go where no phone has gone before - and how.

(Soundbite of Web advertisement)

Unidentified Man #1: The Pomegranate's built-in projector can play anything in vivid, widescreen format. Simply point the screen, and it projects.

BLOCK: But that's nothing.

(Soundbite of Web advertisement)

Unidentified Man #1: Would you like to see another feature?

BLOCK: Oh, yeah. How about the global voice translator? Just talk into the front of the Pomegranate, and the language of your choice comes out from the speaker in the rear.

(Soundbite of Web advertisement)

Unidentified Man #2: Do you want to split some garlic fingers?

Unidentified Man #3: (Foreign language spoken)

Unidentified Man #2: You betcha.

BLOCK: And the Pomegranate smartphone doubles as a coffeemaker.

(Soundbite of Web advertisement)

Unidentified Man #1: A fresh cup of coffee from your smartphone. Yes, it's finally possible. Just insert one of our single brew packets, and the Pomegranate takes it from there. Choose a flavor.

BLOCK: Hazelnut, French vanilla. You brew it right there in your phone -unless, of course, you're using the phone as a razor. The Pomegranate does that, too.

(Soundbite of Web advertisement)

Unidentified Man #1: If you're really in a rush, you can even talk and shave at the same time.

BLOCK: Well, the creative brain behind the Pomegranate smartphone ad campaign is Albert Ianni. He joins us from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Welcome to the program.

Mr. ALBERT IANNI (Creative Director, Pomegranate Ad Campaign): Hi. Thank you.

BLOCK: And congratulations on this great achievement.

Mr. IANNI: Oh, thank you.

BLOCK: You know, we have to burst the bubble for all those people right now who are salivating over the Pomegranate, wondering when and where they can get one. We have a little announcement here.

(Soundbite of Web advertisement)

Unidentified Man #1: Having everything you want in a phone may be a stretch, but a place that has everything definitely exists.

BLOCK: Okay, Mr. Ianni, that place is?

Mr. IANNI: Nova Scotia. When you follow through, obviously, the Web site, you get to learn a lot about Nova Scotia, both from a lifestyle standpoint, a business standpoint, the various opportunities that exist here, and like it's jest - maybe you can't get everything in a phone, but there's certainly a lot you can get right here in one place.

BLOCK: And this is a really roundabout way to get people to that end point. I mean, you have a lot of fun getting there, but in the end, there you are, Nova Scotia.

Mr. IANNI: Yeah. Well, I mean, we had a lot of fun, obviously, trying to tap into, you know, a high level of interest that already exists in the area of smartphones. Everybody wants to know what's next. So, obviously, we're trying to - the team here looked at that and said, here's an area that we can tap into and have some fun with, and, you know, get some attention, basically.

BLOCK: And the idea is, you know, come to Nova Scotia, set up a life here. It's a great place to live, a great place to work?

Mr. IANNI: Well, I mean, part of this campaign - I mean, it's not doing that directly, per se. It's certainly affecting, hopefully, the perception so that people know what to think of when they think of Nova Scotia. Otherwise, you know, who knows what opinion you might have?

BLOCK: Who knows?

Mr. IANNI: Yeah.

BLOCK: Were you fiddling around for a while? Were you thinking, maybe it's the persimmon, maybe it's the pineapple?

Mr. IANNI: You know, oddly enough, we kind of hit - you know, when we started talking about fruit, that one just came up almost right away because it was, you know, just ridiculous enough, yet plausible enough that it seemed to work, you know, even just the name and just the nature of that fruit. It's a little off the beaten track.

BLOCK: I think this might be just one more bit of evidence, Mr. Ianni, that Canada is way cooler than we are.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Mr. IANNI: Well - and I assume you're not referring temperature-wise.

(Soundbite of laughter)

BLOCK: Well, no. But that, too. But I guess what this means is that there's really no hope for my all-time favorite Pomegranate function.

Mr. IANNI: Which is?

BLOCK: Which is this…

(Soundbite of Web advertisement)

Unidentified Man #1: Just when the day is starting to drag, break out the Pomegranate harmonica.

BLOCK: So, Mr. Ianni, I'm going to have to wait for that, huh?

Mr. IANNI: Well, I mean, certainly you'd think of all the features, that's one that could be possible. I mean, why couldn't you put a harmonica on a smartphone?

BLOCK: I bet somebody's working on it right now.

Mr. IANNI: Yeah. Who knows?

(Soundbite of laughter)

BLOCK: Well, Albert Ianni, thanks so much for talking with us about the Pomegranate smartphone and the campaign for Nova Scotia.

Mr. IANNI: Oh, thank you very much for having me on.

(Soundbite of Web advertisement)

Unidentified Man #1: No other phone in the world plays like the Pomegranate.

(Soundbite of music)

BLOCK: You're listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News.

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