When I tell people I market Internet service, I can see their eyes glaze over. They picture speed charts, a price in a big font, and a stock photo of a family smiling at a laptop.

Fair enough. That’s what a lot of broadband advertising looks like, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. When you’re a national or new brand, making it immediately obvious what you’re selling is often the goal. A speed chart, a promotional price, and a clear call to action get the job done.

But rural broadband companies aren’t usually competing against the provider down the road. More often than not, they’re competing with household names that provide service across the nation with massive advertising budgets and decades of brand recognition.

For rural broadband providers, locals usually already know who you are. The challenge is getting them to choose you over a national name they see ads for every day. Simply reminding people that you offer Internet isn’t always enough. Sometimes you need to give them a reason to pay attention. You need something that makes them stop scrolling, point at the screen, and say, “What are they doing over there?”

That’s where creativity comes in.

The goal isn’t to be weird for the sake of being weird. It’s to create something memorable enough that people want to learn more. If your audience sees your ad and thinks, “It looks like they’re having fun,” you’ve already accomplished something important.

You’ve earned a few extra seconds of attention.

And in marketing, those few seconds are often where the magic happens.

In the last few months, I’ve written wanted posters, cast a dancing uncle, and told an entire Montana town not to let their tech go extinct. All for Internet providers.

Here’s what each one taught me.

The Cowboy: “Wanted: Slow Internet”

For Red River Communications, we didn’t just advertise faster Internet. We put slow Internet on the most wanted list.

The campaign leaned into a Wild West theme with wanted posters, outlaw-inspired creative, and messaging that treated buffering, lag, and dropped connections like fugitives on the run. Instead of leading with speeds and feeds, we gave customers a common enemy and invited them to help run it out of town.

The lesson: Give your audience a villain.

Nobody wakes up excited about “symmetrical gigabit speeds.” They do get frustrated when a movie buffers at the worst possible moment, or a video call freezes. When you put a face to the problem, the story becomes much easier to tell. Suddenly, the customer isn’t buying Internet. They’re defeating the outlaw that’s been making their life harder.

Campaign Spotlight:

The Uncle: “Be Like Unc”

For H&B Communications, we built a campaign around a guy everybody already knows.

You know the one. He’s got the best smoker in town, somehow knows everyone, gives questionable advice with absolute confidence, and always seems to know how to get a good deal. He doesn’t follow trends. He doesn’t care what’s popular. But he knows value when he sees it.

The campaign started with something unexpected: kids performing a trending dance while using the latest Internet slang and social media trends. Then we introduced Unc.

He had absolutely no idea what they were talking about.

The latest dance trend? Nope.

The newest slang? Not a chance.

But when it came to finding a better Internet deal, Unc knew what he was talking about.

We carried the concept across video, radio, direct mail, digital advertising, and social media. Instead of positioning H&B as the hero, we used a character to deliver a simple message: you don’t have to understand every trend to understand value.

The lesson: People connect with people.

Most customers won’t remember a list of Internet speeds or package names. They will remember Unc awkwardly dancing with a group of kids in H&B colors. The joke wasn’t that Unc was trying to be cool. It’s that he didn’t need to be.

Attention doesn’t always come from chasing trends. Sometimes it comes from acknowledging them, having a little fun with them, and then giving people a character they can remember.

Campaign Spotlight:

The Dinosaur: “Don’t Be a Dinosaur”

When Nemont brought fiber to Columbus, Montana, we had a challenge.

Many people weren’t unhappy with their current Internet connection. They were simply comfortable. And “comfortable” can be one of the hardest things to compete against.

So instead of focusing on what fiber was, we focused on what outdated Internet felt like.

The campaign became:

Don’t Be a Dinosaur. Evolve with Nemont Fiber.

We paired playful dinosaur-themed creative with a more grounded community promise:

Built for Columbus. Built to Last.

The dinosaurs grabbed attention. The community message built trust.

The lesson: Make the problem visual.

Nobody enjoys being told they’re behind the times. But most people will at least raise an eyebrow at a dinosaur skeleton with the spinning wheel of death sitting in its eye socket.

That image became the perfect metaphor for the campaign. It instantly communicated the frustration of outdated technology without requiring a long explanation. Everyone knows the feeling of staring at a loading screen and waiting. Pairing that experience with a dinosaur made the message intriguing.

We weren’t trying to make people feel bad about their current service. We were trying to make them stop scrolling. In a world full of nearly identical Internet ads, that kind of image creates just enough curiosity to make someone pause.

Once you’ve earned that moment of attention, the rest of the message becomes much easier to tell. The result was a campaign that felt less like a sales pitch and more like a conversation starter for the community.

Campaign Spotlight: