• by Aaron Baar , March 9, 2010

Regional cable company Insight looks to highlight the speed of its new fiber optic network via a new marketing campaign that asserts the company is "The fiber of business."

In television ads airing in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio, the company stressed the speed at which business can get done via the company's new fiber optic network. In a series of close-ups, business professionals stress how they send big files. "I send gigabytes, terabytes, yadabytes," says a series of people. "So the network is crucial to my business." The executives then say they demand more from their communications provider. "Insight has launched one of the most advanced fiber networks in the world. So that no matter where local networks compete, it's up to the task," says a voiceover.

"Even though this [campaign has] a regional focus, what we learned is that the client list that these guys have is really impressive," Jeroen Bours, president of Darling Agency (which created the campaign), tells Marketing Daily. "There's a lot of universities and important and successful hospitals in the metro areas that rely on their network. It really is the fiber of their business."

Another spot shows health care workers asking for and sending pieces of information, x-rays, MRI scans, and medical records, intercut with a young girl in a hospital flipping through a book. As the doctors conclude that the test results are favorable and make their recommendations, a voiceover states: "Some of the most important decisions in medicine are made in hospitals that rely on advanced fiber network from Insight."

A third ad splits the screen into four boxes, representing different parts of the world connecting with each other over Internet video. "Good morning. This is Kentucky," says a pair in the upper left corner. Confusion reigns as a pair of Japanese businessmen accidentally call it "Kentuckyo." After an escalating attempt at clarification, the American pair settles the issue by saying they're from "Louisville." Matter settled, all of the businesspeople get down to work.

"The amount of business that is being done from a state like Kentucky is very impressive," Bours says. "It's just as international as a city like New York. The declaration spot literally came out of what these guys need. It's no less than another business or city or country in the world."

The commercials will run during local programming and local pods on broadcast and cable networks such as CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, FoxNews, ESPN, PBS, the Food Network and Discovery. Radio will follow in April, while print will run in local business journals and magazines.