New way to pitch for new business? (UPDATED)

A rogue Molson Canadian ad aired over the weekend in Toronto and Montreal, Canada.

Apparently it was a part of a pitch by Toronto agency Vaughn Whelan & Partners. The ad was just one part of the pitch campaign, which also included emails and directing people key to the Molson pitch to Project Hijack.

On the web site you'll find the ad, along with a letter stating the idea behind the premise - "The goal is to literally hijack the pitch process so that our little agency can get our big idea on the table."

Talk about a different approach to pitching to a client.

Shame that the ad isn't all that fantastic. It doesn't seem like there was a very big budgt to shoot the spot- my guess is that they reserved some of their funds to be able to buy air time. Which doesn't make much sense- since they sent out targeted emails to people involved in the pitch.

So far there's no news about how Molson feels regarding ads they have not approved, which use their logo/trademarks, on the air.

UPDATE- 10/14: Molson Inc. has responded to the unauthorized ad.
Molson's chief marketing officer and their lawyers have asked that the agency stop their broadcasting of unauthorized spots on TV and over the internet.

"It's concerning to us on a number of levels," Molson spokesman David Jones said yesterday. "I don't think anybody wants anybody representing your product or brand to a potential audience that you have no say over. It's not something we would encourage anybody to do."

"The whole project had one function. To get me an hour in their boardroom -- which is not going to happen, I think," Mr. Whelan said yesterday.

"All I've done is what every other agency does. I've made a speculative piece of work and instead of showing it in a boardroom or in the confines of a focus group, I've put it out for public opinion," said Whelan.

Mr. Jones said Molson is concerned about more than just an abuse of trademarks. The other issue is that breweries routinely submit their ads to Advertising Standards Canada to make sure that they abide by the federal Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Act and by rules of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.