• by Aaron Baar , July 29, 2013

Of all the dialects in the United States, Boston’s is probably one of the most distinctive, but getting it wrong can really grate on one’s ears. Luckily, Dish is here to help this summer with a new campaign encouraging people the right way to “Tack Bahstin.”

Modeled after the characters featured in the company’s advertising (who proclaim their love of Dish and it’s “Hoppa” DVR features), the company has set up an online-heavy effort that includes a dedicated website, TalkBoston.com. 

“This is an incredible opportunity to engage with consumers across all of our media platforms,” James Moorhead, Dish’s chief marketing officer, tells Marketing Daily. “[Our] top-of-mind awareness has been driven by our ‘Boston guys’ campaign. These characters have made our product open and accessible and have made the technology [behind it] really accessible.”

The website includes a a Boston-English pronunciation guide (featuring the commercial characters saying words like “awfa (offer)”, “bahgan (bargain)” and “fadaze (for days);” a timed test to decipher words spelled in Boston-ese and a Twitter translator that turns typical tweets into Boston-ese. 

In addition to the games, the campaign features videos following students as they learn to speak the dialect and videos of Boston celebrities (including New England Patriot Vince Wilfork and former Boston Celtic Paul Pierce) learning the dialect. 

“They clearly had fun doing it, and that was important for us,” Moorhead says. “It’s a great way to have them engaged and having fun.”

The goal is to increase engagement and buzz for the brand during the summer months, and to tout its offer of an iPad 2 for new customers who sign up for the company’s DVR-plus-Hopper service.

“I’m not sure there’s a better offer out there, and we thought this was a good way to promote that,” Moorhead says. “This is all going to come down to how much people engage with [the campaign elements.]”