• by Karl Greenberg , February 12, 2009

MetroPCS, a new player in the national arena for wireless carriers, this week launches a Northeast ad campaign via Dallas-based independent The Richards Group. The effort touts MetroPCS, the U.S. market leader in unlimited, flat-rate wireless, for its $40 flat rate for unlimited calls and texting.

The new ad push coincides with the launch of MetroPCS' service in New York City and Greater Boston, which are the company's largest launches since its origin in 2002.

The effort centers on ironic ads featuring mythical creature couples--the Loch Ness monster, aliens, mermaids, unicorns and Medusa--conversing about the company's $40-a-month with no contract brand promise. In the ads, they play off the idea that MetroPCS' offer is so good it must be pretend, and one of the mythical creatures is skeptical.

In one spot, a mermaid and a unicorn are sharing a Jacuzzi. "So, I'm thinking of switching to the new MetroPCS service," says the fish girl. "What, the talk-all-you-want-for-$40 thing?" asks the incredulous unicorn. "You believe in that?" "Yeah," says the mermaid. "Why not?" "Ah, sounds a little far-fetched to me," replies the unicorn. Tag: "Unlimit yourself."

Brian Schadt, principal at The Richards Group, says the new ads were shot by Frank Todaro, who did the Super Bowl spots for FedEx, and got the nod because of his facility for creating fantastical creatures. The campaign has two launch spots airing in the Northeast this week, with more coming for a total of five that will run over the course of the year. The ads will begin running in other U.S. markets next week.

Schadt says because the MetroPCS coverage is basically national, "we are very close now to where it will be cost-effective for us to do national media buys. We just started buying media through the national [network] offices; we now call NBC and say we want to buy all markets. They put the packages together for us."

The company recently launched in Dallas, Detroit, Miami, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Philadelphia. "We have radio ads analogous to TV--a heavy outdoor schedule," says Schadt. The outdoor ads bear the brand's purple color scheme. Also, local-market guerrilla efforts have street teams handing out newspapers with coupons that are good at MetroPCS stores.

"The local markets are also doing sponsorships," he says. "We found that people were skeptical that they could get unlimited service to anywhere in the country for $40. We would have focus groups, and hear again and again that they were interested and it is extremely easy to get people to buy out of their contracts because they are frustrated with charges for texting, for extra minutes. People are looking."

The ads drive traffic to www.MetroPCS.com, at which consumers can sign up for the service and order a phone. But there are also MetroPCS-branded stores and licensed retailers in the company's target markets.