ImOn Communications' Super Bowl Ad Turns to Abbott and Costello for Inspiration

ImOn Communications, which provides telecommunications services for residents and businesses in Eastern Iowa, is set to air its first commercial during Super Bowl on February 12th.

Using TV, online video, social media and digital, the Fortnight Collective-created ad will launch regionally in Eastern Iowa during the Super Bowl and run over the next few months on broadcast TV, Facebook and YouTube. Fortnight was given the project in November and created 30 and 15-second videos.

In the longer version, titled 'Neighbor', a man and his son are interrupted by a doorbell. 'I'm on it', the man hollers, presumably to his wife. He opens the door to a new neighbor offering a pie. That man peeks inside and sees the TV screen. 'Wow, your internet seems really fast,' he remarks. 'What are you on?'

So begins a sketch reminiscent of Abbott and Costello's 1945 comedy routine, "Who's on First?," as the homeowner answers, "I'm on ImOn."

Lisa Rhatigan, vice president of customer experience at ImOn, says the ad positions the brand as "a refreshingly different kind of connected experience in markets where little advertising of the brand has been done before." 

ImOn was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It offers advanced broadband services, digital TV, high-speed Internet, and phone services in that city as well as in Marion, Hiawatha, Iowa City, Coralville, and Dubuque.

Eric Ungs, brand manager at ImOn, says the ad is meant to "cut through the noise in the competitive Eastern Iowa internet provider market to get more attention, and build ImOn brand name recognition."