I Wonder What They'll Say About The Riders?

When the Toronto Argonauts drew up their advertising plans for the 2010 season, it didn't take them long to realize that they had little choice but to face the bitter truth.

They had to address the fact that this team had been pretty awful the two previous seasons. They had to face the fact that they were now owned by a guy who owns another team in an eight-member league.

Normally, these are things organizations try to sweep under the carpet or hide in the upstairs bedroom. The Argos decided to embrace them and the result has been a pretty edgy radio ad campaign that's making a bit of a splash.

Head coach Jim Barker, who's been the main pitchman, has talked about making a lot of changes because he had to.

In flogging Friday's game against their kissing cousins from B.C., the ad didn't dodge the rather embarrassing fact that Argonauts owner David Braley also owns the other team.

The ad refers to them as "co-workers" while noting that they'll still try to kick the bejeezus out of each other.

As for cheekiness, Barker noted in a previous ad that he couldn't avoid the obvious truths, which included the "facts" that the Hamilton Tiger-Cats "sucked" and the Calgary Stampeders played like a bunch of "Nancy schoolboys."

If the latter offended anyone, nobody's saying so. Needless to say, this is not an accident.

"You have to cut through a very cluttered advertising market," said Argo president Bob Nicholson. "The agency's intention was to do that and you have to be a little edgy at times to get noticed.

"The other prime objective is to tell people we're prepared to admit that we weren't very good last year. We can't hide from that, but we believe we're bringing a new intense team to the league this year."

Nicholson says the radio ads, produced by the Bensimon Byrne ad agency, aren't intended to offend or stir up the opposition.

"It's all done in fun," he said. "Most of the teams appreciate that." (For the record, the Stampeders did not respond to a request for comment.)

It is odd, however, to have the head coach as the main focus of the ads. But with so few recognizable names in Double Blue there was little choice.

"We needed to bring somebody who was identifiable with the club," said Nicholson, whose team is doing a lot more advertising than it did the past two seasons. "Until we developed and promoted more personalities with the club, Jim was a natural."

He's certainly game.

One ad extolling the virtues of quarterback Cleo Lemon ended with Barker waxing poetic about how much he liked saying Lemon's name and that it sounded like an elaborate touchdown celebration for your mouth. Sheesh.

Nicholson says the ads are about reviving the Argo brand and that he doesn't expect fans to flock to the ticket windows as a result.

"There was a definite intention to get our brand better exposed and be in the marketplace and let people know that we're here," he said. "We know that the advertising by itself won't necessarily put a lot of people in the seats, but it makes people more open to the message and to hear about the Argonauts and maybe take notice of them."

So far, that appears to be working. The obvious next step is to starting putting more bums in the seats at Rogers Centre. That will take more than a cheeky ad campaign.