TheBuzz Erika Engle

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CDW finds Hawaii quite suitable for its TV ads

IF the letters CDW only mean collision damage waiver to you, keep reading. Illinois-based CDW Corp. and its advertising agency, JWT Chicago, went through the agonizing process of leaving Chicago in December to shoot four TV commercials on Oahu -- in order to make you familiar, or more familiar, with who CDW is and what it does.

The commercial is set on an island, so the production was going to require "consistent weather" in a "place that is relatively pristine," said Mark Gambill, vice president of marketing for CDW.

Somehow, as the weather grew colder in the Windy City, Hawaii came to their minds.

The weather here was indeed cooperative, except for one cloudy day that had no impact on the production schedule.

Local film industry professionals were hired to crew the shoot, that had the CDW-JWT team here for about six days.

In Hawaii, in December.

As with the TV show "Lost," the commercial is not specifically set in Hawaii, but you can see our sea, sand and sky in the commercials.

The first features a guy, presumably stranded -- with a chimp as a companion -- who throws oceanward a bottled request for help.

HELP arrives in a box from CDW. Full of office equipment. Oh, and a cell phone.

The second spot shows that much more help has come from CDW as the industrious castaway, having set up a small office, talks with support personnel about additional needs, all of which the company can accommodate.

Which is the whole point of the commercial. The most loathsome words to upper echelons of CDW management are, "I didn't know you did that," Gambill said.

Even many people who do know that CDW sells computer hardware and office equipment don't realize, for example, that the company offers support services as well.

Which is the point of the campaign.

The first two TV spots began their nationwide run yesterday on cable channels during prime time. Conveniently, the spots are also on CDW's Web site.

The other two of the four will be unveiled beginning March 12, also on national channels.