The U.S. mint recently launched a national ad campaign to announce the production of the Golden Dollar coin. Featuring a modernized George Washington as the spokesperson, the U.S. mint's ad campaign relies on the good looks of the founding father to promote the new addition to the nation's money supply.

The Washington spokes-character is composed of the likeness of Washington as he appears on the one Dollar Bill, animated onto the body of a thirty-something male urbanite. The commercials follow this clever character through a variety of everyday purchasing and social situations, while Washington explains that he's not upset because his picture wasn't selected for the coin.

Trendy phrases including "It's So Money" and the ad campaign's tagline, "Changing the Face Of Money" make the advertising spots memorable and draw the viewer in to find out exactly what is going on.

And what exactly is going on? Why is it that the US Mint has launched a massive advertising and publicity campaign to promote a new coin? It seems unnecessary to advertise money as there is only one source for US currency, and it would seem unlikely that the US Mint is in jeopardy of losing its position as the official source for US currency.

The creators respond by stating that that they hope the ad campaign will encourage people to spend the coin like regular money, instead of simply adding the new currency to coin collections like it's predecessor, The Susan B. Anthony.

Whereas public opinion will ultimately determine if the coin is successful, the likeable advertising campaign which includes print, radio, transit, Internet and two TV ads will certainly help its cause.

Although Washington doesn't make any mention of who appears on the new coin, it features the assumed likeness of Sacagawea a young Shoshone woman who assisted Lewis and Clark on their journey to the Pacific Ocean.

You can find the commercials by logging into the US Mint Web site at http://www.usmint.com/