Dear me - where did that last month go?!
Anyway - it was my intention that after posting the original article to follow it up quite quickly with my thoughts on it as a marketing piece, then I looked around and it was Mid August. For anyone who can't be bothered to click through to that original post here's the video:
Matt commented: "I'm all
for a bit of stealth marketing and this is certainly entertaining but I
really don't think it pulls it off. A phone that has everything and
Nova Scotia.....I can't really see any kind of link that would make the
humour and the surprise reveal resonate in an effective way "
And I agree - it's indeed a clever and entertaining piece, and I agree that if you look deep there's no perceptible resonance between what's being sold and the execution. But my biggest frustration/disappointment with it as a marketing piece is more in the top level execution than the deeper resonance of message and brand, something more fundamental - and it's pretty much the same thing that was the biggest failing of the viral execution of what I still think is probably the best recruitment specific viral I've seen to date (seemingly a no show at any awards :( - the BS Recruitment Solutions piece from Zurich.
Here again we see the execution getting lost up its own channel of creativity. I mean you REALLY have to want to find out what this is about to work out where you need to click through to find out where this has really come from. I suggest that, even more these days than ever before (due to the wealth and richness of distraction available online), people are lightening quick to move. Quirky's good. Entertaining's great. But once I get that this isn't a proper phone (or a real Recruitment Consultancy) and have got the general p**s taking concept that may indeed be amusing enough to forward on (or blog about), I'd argue that there's nothing here that's engaging enough to encourage me to seek out and dig further to find out what's really behind this all. I can observe and move on without ever "getting" the real message.
It's wonderful to have a budget to be creative - but at the end of the day it's about the conversion. So whilst it might "spoil the impact" or "ruin the flow" I'd argue strongly that you either need to make it all the more engaging (and I mean actual engagement - not just viewing and clicking engagement) or else have a clear button much earlier on in the viral experience that screams "Of course there's no such phone - but there is a better place - find out more - go on, you know you want to!!!"
If you use up the viewers attention span with your creativity, if you satiate their curiosity through your wit and delivery before it's clear who you are and/or what you're selling, then to hell with how many times people pass it on or how slick it looks - YOU FAIL!
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