• by Aaron Baar , November 1, 2010

In the world of "Seinfeld," shrinkage was portrayed as a negative (particularly for men). But Boost Mobile looks to turn that into a positive to promote its $50 Monthly Unlimited with Shrinkage plans, which reduces monthly fees for every six months of on-time payments.

The new ad campaign, from advertising agency 180LA in Irvine, Calif., depicts the troubles giants have in a normal-sized world. The spots, which begin airing on Monday, don't position Boost as having all of the answers, but the company can shrink the size of monthly cell phone payments.

"[Boost] really wanted to get the idea that your monthly payments will shrink over time," Ari Weiss, creative director 180LA, tells Marketing Daily. "As they started to get into it, they realized a lot of people had a negative connotation for shrinking, particularly when it came to a wireless plan. We wanted to find a way to refocus the conversation around shrinkage to be a positive conversation."

The first commercial in the campaign depicts an oversized grocery store manager "who wanted desperately to shrink," says a voiceover. "Because as it turns out, being a giant isn't all it's cracked up to be." As the poor man has trouble stocking shelves (knocking several over in a domino effect while just maneuvering between aisles), he's eyed suspiciously by customers. He is relieved to find the Monthly Unlimited Plan with Shrinkage, "While it didn't help him shrink, it did shrink his monthly payments," the voiceover says. A second commercial, airing later this month, depicts the plight of a giantess figure skater.

"The stuff that was resonating the most was giants that tend to be glorified, but the reality is that being that big would be a real pain," Weiss says. "It showed in a good way that being big isn't a good thing, and while these guys can't shrink, they can get the next best thing, which is shrinking their mobile business."

Boost introduced its Monthly Unlimited with Shrinkage plans last month. Under the plan, for every six months of on-time payments, a customer's bill does down by $5 to a minimum of $35.

"It's really a great way to reward customers for paying their bills on time," Caralene Robinson, director of brand and marketing communications for Boost, tells Marketing Daily. "One of the challenges of this nature is explaining it to people. We knew from an advertising perspective we had to capture consumer attention and get them to seek out more information about the plan."

The campaign will air on both broadcast and cable networks such as ABC, Fox, E!, Adult Swim, ESPN, A&E and BET. The company is casting a wide net in hopes of luring more people to no-contract wireless plans, she says.

"More and more, people are now considering no contract plans, because of the tough economic times," Robinson says. "We want to make sure we're already reaching our existing base and also attracting people who are considering switching to prepaid plans. That range of media really allows us to talk to customers and ability to do so."