Scottish anti-independence ad goes "bad" viral #PatronisingBTlady

Last one. This is too funny. @_Pandy storyboards #PatronisingBTLady ad. @robertflorence pic.twitter.com/Oq4IsIqSVs
— James Lees (@jamesvsburger) August 26, 2014

You might wonder what they were thinking.

The "no" movement in the Scottish independence referendum, Better Together, recently released this video ad featuring a woman soliloquizing at home after sending off her husband and kids:



Almost immediately, a backlash began. Under the hashtag #PatronisingBTlady, an explosion of memes started circulating to criticize the gendered clichés around a stay-at-home housewife who finds politics confusing:

Perfect summary of the new @UK_Together campaign video. Targeted at woman - but so patronising? #PatronisingBTLady pic.twitter.com/FePthazKYB
— Greg indyref (@YesIndyref) August 26, 2014

MISSING: Brow-beaten male, late 30s-early 40s, last seen in Co-op buying "Ricicles"... #indyref #PatronisingBTLady pic.twitter.com/uEUIp6nZ4s
— Oisean (@OssiansDream) September 1, 2014

Better Together's new ad sees ridicule and #PatronisingBTLady meme backlash on Twitter http://t.co/UIZHIv16M0 pic.twitter.com/1J8njhFIXw
— The Drum (@TheDrum) August 27, 2014

I had to… #PatronisingBTLady pic.twitter.com/oCOEimOgHU
— CakeQuestEdin (@CakeQuestEdin) August 26, 2014

The viral activity has since spilled over into mainstream media in the UK. However, the people behind the campaign defend it:

Despite the fact the film has created a vociferous internet response punctuated by a series of caustic retaliatory memes, campaign director Blair McDougall has defended the piece’s cinematic integrity. McDougall suggests the piece is flavored with social realism. 

The ad uses words“taken verbatim from conversations on doorstops with undecided women voters,”and from the“opinion of women in dozens of focus groups around the country,”he claimed. While the ad has heightened the campaign’s profile considerably, the precise nature of publicity it has garnered may not be warmly welcomed.

Certainly, there are individual women in Scotland who resemble the stereotype. But does that mean it's something that should be reinforced in a national advertising campaign?

Scottish social anthropologist (and "Yes" man) weighed in with a meme of his own:

#patronisingBTlady #indyref pic.twitter.com/shpcb5vt8O
— Michael Swann (@notarealswan) August 26, 2014

But the real question is whether this ad will sway any voters. And moreover, which way will it sway them?

Is Miley's ode to MDMA the best anti-drug PSA ever?

"Molly" is the powdered or crystal form of MDMA, a more potent form of ecstasy.

Effects include...

Increased feelings of intimacy:

Derealization:

Depersonalization:

Altered perceptions:

Positive basic mood:

Anxiety:

Loss of thought or body control:

Hallucinations:

And thought disorder:

In other words, kids, "Just Say No".

Stills via Vice.

Mocking the pretentious fashion "film"

There's been a trend, lately, for fashion brands to use the freedom of social media to give in to every excess in their advertising. As a result, their online ads have grown into excruciatingly pretentious fashion "films" featuring models living fantasy lives.

Vena Cava's budget label, Viva Vena has opted to satirize this trend with this film by Matthew Frost, featuring Lizzy Caplan:



Tip via Slate.

Happy Birthday, David Bowie, you glorious weirdo

Via DavidBowie.com

David Bowie is 66 years old today. And, after almost a decade of reclusive retirement, he's throwing a surprise party for his fans.

Why am I writing about this on my advertising blog? Bowie has always been a keen self-marketer, and this is no exception. He played the gay angle masterfully to get publicity at a key point in his career, then continued to push music, fashion, media and technology throughout the 70s and early 80s. Then he had a slump, but re-emerged as a more mature and mellow musician comfortable with his past. And he kept doing neat things. I'm a huge fan.

He was an early music video pioneer, because he understood the importance of image in selling late-century pop. He would go on to blow people's minds with an image that threatened to overcome the artist. Many years later,  in 1996, according to his own site he was the first major act to officially release a song via internet download, "Telling Lies". (The new single is available on iTunes.) In 2004, he was on a roll, with a great new album, Reality, and a huge world tour. But then he suddenly succumbed to serious cardiovascular disease, requiring emergency heart surgery. The tour ended, and Bowie went into retirement. He started working on his back catalogue.

If there's one thing David Bowie excels at, it's getting people talking about him while remaining an unpredictable enigma. In 1973, he broke up his best band, the Spiders from Mars, on stage with zero notice (even to its members). The next year, he changed musical styles mid-tour, becoming a disco dude. Then it was on to German-style techno. Until his deliberate commercial sell-out with Let's Dance (and a couple of flaccid follow-ups) nobody knew what to expect next.

Now, he has suddenly emerged from several years of retirement with a brand new album and a song/video teaser. (Watch it here)

I just finished reading Neil Young's autobiography, and in it he laments how artists have no privacy to develop their ideas without them being leaked to and analyzed on social media. Bowie, who has never been a social presence outside his owned digital channels, somehow managed to record an entire album in absolute secrecy, shoot a video, and simply announce it to the world on his 66th birthday. It's a guarantee that he will dominate mainstream and social media for the day.

I have to admit, the first song is kind of a downer. And Bowie is finally starting to show his age. But the video is as weird-ass as you could hope for. And even the album cover — a minimalist recycle of the "Heroes" art from 1977 — is surprising. It almost looks like a joke.

The cover was designed by London graphic design studio Barnbrook. In his blog, Jonathan Barnbrook addresses its weirdness:

...we know it is only an album cover with a white square on it but often in design it can be a long journey to get at something quite simple which works and that simplicity can work on many levels – often the most simple ideas can be the most radical. We understand that many would have preferred a nice new picture of Bowie but we believed that would be far less interesting and not acknowledge many of the things we have tried to discuss by doing this design. Finally we would like to give David Bowie great credit, he simply did what he always does which is to go with a radical idea and that takes courage and intelligence. That is why we love his music and love working for him.

Although I'm not surprised Bowie has no plans to tour, I'm disappointed. The last time we saw him live, in 2004, my son was in the early stages of forming in his mom's womb. Now he's a fan, too. But this is David Bowie's show. We're just along for the ride.

"Crisis," as personified by an emo girl

Although a little derivative of Allstate's sardonic "Mayhem" campaign, this haunting campaign for British Red Cross is nonetheless intriguing.



Perhaps it's the performance that makes it effective. Crisis personified by a unexpectedly wicked young woman and her wolf companion has such an eerie effect.

The take-away, that anything can happen to anyone, is similar to that of the insurance ads. But in this case, the client is asking you for money to help strangers as well.

Ad by Leagas Delaney. Via Osocio

The sweetest little zombie you ever will see #fdadfriday

Illegal Advertising shared this weird European video:



This ad about an abandoned sugar cube man trying to get home is really cute, at first.

But then I totally thought he was going to get molested by that trucker.

Oh, phew! He's just enslaved so that he can be slowly consumed.

Hooray! He's home again!

Tomb sweet tomb?

Odd.

F'd Ad Fridays: Is "Facebook Official" a joke or what?

Everything about this video screams "parody".

The opening.

The hair.

The androgyny. (And the hair.)

The cheesy moves. (And the hair!)

The token diversity. (And my God! The hair!!!)

The dance moves.

The product placements.

And the Rebecca Black league dancing.

When Adland's Dabitch first shared it, I assumed it was a joke. Then I hoped it was one. Then I prayed.

Then I read this article on Perez Hilton:

Is this a joke? This has to be joke.

TELL US THAT THIS IS JOKE!

It's been a long time since the world has had a talented, relevant, five-piece boy band thrusted into their face, and perhaps with good reason. There's some much to live up to - NKOTB, BSB, NSYNC - how could any newbie group every dream of competing. Maybe with a little help from a former boy band member…

Lance Bass would like to introduce you to his new boy band, Heart2Heart. Their first single, Facebook Official, hit the web this week, and it's getting a lot of attention … because people are trying to figure it out!

What is this? Is it a parody? An homage to 2Gether, perhaps? Or has Lance fallen into RB-Rebbecca Black territory? You know, like, he's completely serious with this - the video, the costumes, the horrifying lyrics - and people will jump on board only because the enjoy the sheer ridiculousness of it!

Nobody can tell if ex-'N Syncer Bass is serious or not. Everyone from Queerty to Business Insider is speculating. And that's kind of brilliant.

See more at the band web site 

The dirtiest word you can say in advertising

It's "formula".

We all do it, on occasion. But it's not to be talked about. It's a dirty secret that there are a number of "best practices" for creating a moderately (but not phenomenally) successful ad in any medium, but don't call it a formula!



Oh, shit.

Stock photos, and footage, have always been with us. But I have always been turned off by the content that tries to hard to dictate the concept. What the hell are WE here for, anyway?

But that's the whole point of Kelly Mason Productions' ad templates.

"While working with Getty Images, we noticed something interesting: customers would often buy multiple stock shots and piece them together to create their own, commercials. This gave us the idea for our commercial templates; we saw a market niche that was not being filled. So we decided to create pre-made, high quality commercials and sell them to advertisers at a highly competitive price. We want to give everyone the chance to have professional video content on their website. Our commercial templates allow this by drastically reducing the cost of creating powerful and engaging creative content."

Powerful, engaging, and.. generic? Look, I get it. There are many advertisers out there who believe that they just need to get good-looking branded content "out there" to keep up with the competition.

But here's the problem: just because your brand is superimposed on it, that doesn't mean it's your brand.

There is a reason big advertisers don't used canned content for anything but low-level tactical campaigns. Custom creative isn't just some guy coming up with a bunch of fluff; when done right, it's the result of a disciplined process that starts with your business objectives and builds around it.

Watching a bunch of artsy footage of twin women in a shower (clothed) while someone covers vintage David Bowie might look like something that will get you views, but then what? What impression has it left? How is your story being told?

I'm not worried about being put out of a job by this stuff, because smart clients will always want to be unique. But it still bugs me, because I believe it will result in someone wasting money that they could have put into a more honest engagement strategy.

Jennifer Aniston's Sex Tape

You wish! No, this is just another example of advertising's postmodern period:



Yeah, it's trying too hard. But does its self-awareness of the fact that it's trying to hard to "go viral" give it an ironic edge? I doubt it. But at least Double Rainbow Guy will be able to buy Cheetos to calm his munchies this week.

And this guy? He gets to brag that his genitals were in contact with Jennifer Aniston

The thing is, Aniston is a pretty awful comedic actress. She really lucked out in getting on board with Friends, and she somehow became a tabloid favourite through her real-life romantic dramas. Now she's simply famous for being famous (and beautiful). So smartwater will get their money's worth out of the endorsement whether people like the video or not, simply because it's today's must-see gimmick.

And as far as I know, there still isn't a sex tape. The closest she came to scandal was when she sued Perez Hilton over a leaked topless pic and her lawyers redacted her breasts.

(Link via Agency Spy)

Burundi Monday 4: T.I.A.

According to Acart Videographer Christopher Redmond, this TLA* means "This Is Africa". It's an expression the foreigners at the Burundi Film Center use when confronted by extreme culture shock.

And that's what they're getting, now that the new crop of Burundian home-grown films is in production.

The BFC was established to develop media and filmmaking skills in post-conflict Burundi, so that the people of this nation few in the west have heard of can show their stories to the world.

Those stories can get a little brutal.

For example, in a film about a man who is down on his luck and ends up working at a slaughterhouse, the most practical thing to do was use a real set and bloody ex-cow props, even though it attracted scavengers:

Then, while filming in a marketplace, a vodka company representative decided to give out free samples, an action that in a place like Kigali can end up in bloodshed. Christopher tried to distract the crowds from the shoot by telling them they were extras in some fake second unit work. This gave them time to finish the shot and GTFO.

TIA indeed!

You can follow Christopher's international development work at BFC in his blog on Citizenshift.


(*old tech. industry joke: "TLA" is a three letter acronym for "Three Letter Acronym")

Burundi Monday 4: Moving Pictures

Well, I'm back from a week in the wilds of Northern Ontario, and eager to re-enter the blogosphere.

This being the first day of the working week, and Acart Videographer Christopher Redmond still teaching film in Africa, it's time for another Burundi Monday.

Today, I'd like to share some still images from the field, captured by Artistic Director Bridget Redmond. (She and Christopher are married.) The pictures are lifted directly from the BFC blog, and give us a foretaste of some of the cool stories we're sure to hear on Christoper's return.

That's Mr. Redmond, eating local.

This is lunch.

This is inside.

This is outside.

And this is a wall.

Pretty wild stuff. You can see more pics, and follow Christopher and company as they begin shooting a new series of Burundian stories, at the BFC site.

Roll out the biru

This visually stunning new video campaign for Sapporo Beer, created by Dentsu Canada, manages to cram just about every traditional Japanese stereotype into two minutes and three seconds:



Marketing Magazine says that this video was developed to "tell the story of the brand's history and how it's brewed."



So if you like your beer fired by dragons, bowed to by Geishas, and — well... I have no idea how giant sumo wrestlers fit into the brewing process — then Sapporo is just the pint for you!

I'm just surprised they didn't manage to work Pikachu in there somewhere.

For reference, here's a domestic Japanese Sapporo spot:

Ad Hacks

People have probably been messing with ads since ads first appeared. Whether it's drawing a moustache (or worse) on the fashion model, adding social commentary to the copy, or re-editing TV spots, people just seem to love to repurpose creative and media placements to their own ends.

One of the best-known trends in this phenomenon is culturejamming, a term used by the people of Adbusters and Greenpeace to describe simple changes made to ads or logos that reveal their true nature:




You get the idea.

But in today's electronic media, jamming opportunities can be much more dramatic, such as when people break into electronic billboards.



So it was only inevitable that someone would find a way to access the giant video billboards going up in major cities all over the world.

And it came to pass, last Friday, that late-night traffic in Moscow came to a standstill as a 9 x 6 metre video billboard near the Kremlin suddenly started screening hard core pornography.



As amusing as this is, it kind of seems like a missed opportunity to make a really grand statement. People got out of their cars and videotaped the incident, and it's still making the news rounds three days later.

The billboard company owner accuses the hackers of "hooliganism". I just think they displayed a lack of imagination.

A Very Acart Christmas

If you're a client or partner of Acart Communications, you probably received our official Christmas e-card.

This is not it:



I wanted to let Change Marketing readers meet some of the people I'm fortunate enough to work with every day. They're a varied group, hailing from the four corners of the world, and they all celebrate the holidays in distinctive ways. But what unites us all is our love of the Christmas season.

I wanted this vid to be as real as possible, so I just brought my camera in on Monday and started walking around the office asking people the first Christmas-related question that popped into my mind. The result is a mosaic of real personalities, from Craig's head shake to Al's homespun tales of childhood in Friuli. A little amateur editing, and it's ready to go.

The cast, in order of appearance are:

Me (Intro)
Cindy, Production Artist (First Acart Xmas)
Mike, Controller (Lots of Xmas Ties)
Kevin, Media Planner/Buyer (Musical Tie)
Marco, Developer (Stocking)
Kate, Developer (Xmas Sweater)
Kerry, Art Director (Carol)
Kevin again
Colin, Production Designer (Xmas in the UK)
Julia, Amanda and Christine, Account Executives (Bestest BFFs)
Craig, Account Supervisor
Lynn, Production Manager (Best Age)
Christopher, Copywriter (Letter to Santa)
Leslie, Designer (First Xmas Memories)
Russel, Proposal Coordinator (Best Xmas Gift)
Sarah, Designer (What The Kids Asked For)
Jason, Manager of Digital Media (I Dunno)
Bernie, Receptionist (Xmas for Teens)
Mimi, Account Executive (Engaged Xmas)
Lara, Account Executive (Xmas on the Beach)
Chris, Senior Accountant (Réveillon)
Nat, Media Planner/Buyer (Xmas in NB)
Josee, Senior Production Artist (Xmas in Mauritius)
Javier, Art Director (Mexican/Belgian Xmas)
John, Senior Creative Director (Meat)
Vernon, Associate Creative Director (Hot Pot)
Linda, Director Finance and Admin. (Someone Else Cooking)
Perry, Art Director (Taking it Easy)
John, VP Client Services (Beverage)
Al, President (Fill Your Boots)
James, PC Tech (True Meaning of Xmas)
Me again
Al again

I didn't get everyone, due to illness, vacation and (to be honest) camera shyness. Some notable absences are Gill (Account Director) and Sue (Director of Consumer Marketing). But you get the idea.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone. Change Marketing will return on January 4, 2010.