Web discount retailer Priceline confirmed Friday that it has tapped TV and movie actress Sarah Jessica Parker for voiceovers in its new television and radio campaign.
The announcement concludes several months of wondering who the Norwalk, Conn.-based firm would find to fill the shoes of William Shatner, the firm’s pitchman in the company’s “Troubadour” campaign in 2000.
In December, the company debuted a new TV spot featuring only a picture of Shatner. At the time, it denied rumors it was shopping to replace Shatner, who stirred up some controversy earlier in the year when he admitted that he had never actually used the company’s services.
Priceline also had been restructuring internally at the time of the holiday spot, cutting about 11 percent of its workforce earlier in December.
Now, in two animated TV ads unveiled by the company, Parker, star of HBO’s “Sex and the City”, describes an ideal vacation offered through Priceline’s name-your-own-price services. Radio spots featuring Parker are running as well.
Shatner’s contract isn’t up until late October, and Priceline wouldn’t comment on its advertising plans with the starship captain-turned-lounge crooner, with Parker, or beyond the spots now airing.
“She’s got a good voice, and conveys the excitement the product looks to put out,” said Priceline spokesman Brian Ek. “She certainly fits what we’re trying to do.”
While the earlier “Troubadour” campaign focused on building buzz around Priceline, the company’s new ads are aimed at promoting Priceline’s suite of services.
“The earlier spots focused on brand, and did great things in terms of building brand awareness,” Ek said. “These ads focus more on proposition and consumer benefits.”
Both campaigns were designed by Boston-based agency Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos.
