Barclaycard follows waterslides ad with rollercoaster TV commercial

Barclaycard has gone from waterslides to rollercoasters with the launch of a TV campaign that uses the CGI special effects technology employed to send Tobey Maguire swooping between skyscrapers in the Spider-Man movies. The ad, which is set to the track More Than a Feeling from rock band Boston , features a happy-go-lucky Barclaycard user who travels work hassle-free by rollercoaster. During the trip the commuter uses Barclaycard's contactless payment card. Created by ad agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty, the new commercial uses a real rollercoaster and 40 feet of track, along with CGI effects. Barclaycard's upbeat campaign is aiming to help counter the tarnished image of the financial services sector and breaks on TV during ITV1's Dancing on Ice on Sunday night. The ad is the follow-up to the "Waterslide" TV campaign that debuted in 2008 . Paul Troy, the head of advertising and content at Barclaycard, said that the campaign was the most technically advanced the card company had produced. "I think it was quite brave when the financial meltdown happened to keep with the style of creative we have," added Troy. "It feels anti-recessionary even if it wasn't designed to be." Troy said that a free iPhone application for "Rollercoaster" will launch in May. The app launched last year for the TV ad "Waterslide" has been downloaded 8.5m times to date, with 250,000 downloaded on Christmas Day alone, he added. He added that Barclaycard was already looking to shoot its next ad, which will break in March, but it will be for a different product and would use a different creative theme. "We are not going to do a sequel of a sequel," said Troy. In the past the credit card brand has used celebrities including Rowan Atkinson and Alan Whicker. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".