Donnerstag
Aug032006
Agency.com creates Viral Marketing Boomerang
03.Aug.2006 | 12:05
Subway, the sandwich chain, is currently looking for a new interactive agency and Agency.com is trying to win the pitch for this account. Nothing special about this. Normal agency business, one might say. But Agency.com is trying something new here and that makes the whole thing very, very special - in a sad sense...
Subway wants the pitch participants to submit a 5 minute long video about the agency and the team. After Agency.com has finished their little piece, they obviously were so satisfied with it that they wanted everyone to see what they have created. So they posted it on Youtube - probably to show their potential new client, how much they are fimiliar with this whole viral consumer-generated-content-everyone-is-a-sender-now-thingy !?
Well, that could have been a great idea. Unfortunately what they have produced looks like one of the worst episodes of the "The Apprentice" mixed with the classic "Truth in Advertising" clip - sadly without any trace of irony. I am afraid, they are dead serious about this...
"If we roll, we roll big" ? Oh boy ! And that is just part 1 !! I guess, we all can't wait for part 2, right ?
While we are waiting for it, we should think about what we can learn from this little incident. Adrants has a good answer:
...except: if you want to see how to do viral marketing the right way, just take a look at the "unsolicited response" from Coudal Partners, a competitor of Agency.com. Brilliant.
Update:
Looks like this thing is really hitting the viral jackpot: 120 links on Technorati and counting. Remixes of the clip start to show up on Youtube. But then there is this site: www.whenwerollwerollbig.com. It was set up by Agency.com yesterday and it claims that they did everything on purpose. Just a grand plan to get the blogosphere buzzing about them. Well, maybe. But the domain was bought just yesterday - AFTER the clip was put up on Youtube and the beating began. So maybe it is only damage control ?
Who knows...
(via Rakeman)
Technorati Tags: subway, agency.com, youtube
Subway wants the pitch participants to submit a 5 minute long video about the agency and the team. After Agency.com has finished their little piece, they obviously were so satisfied with it that they wanted everyone to see what they have created. So they posted it on Youtube - probably to show their potential new client, how much they are fimiliar with this whole viral consumer-generated-content-everyone-is-a-sender-now-thingy !?
Well, that could have been a great idea. Unfortunately what they have produced looks like one of the worst episodes of the "The Apprentice" mixed with the classic "Truth in Advertising" clip - sadly without any trace of irony. I am afraid, they are dead serious about this...
"If we roll, we roll big" ? Oh boy ! And that is just part 1 !! I guess, we all can't wait for part 2, right ?
While we are waiting for it, we should think about what we can learn from this little incident. Adrants has a good answer:
Watch this video so you'll never do this to yourselves. Do not create a video where you publicly masturbate, backslap and attempt to hipify yourself with viral goodness in front of the industry all in the name of cool factor and winning new business. (...)Nothing to add...
Everyone in the industry needs to watch this. Not because it’s good but because it makes ad agency people look dumb and sound really stupid. It’s filled with mindless business blather, self-important ad speak, knuckle bangs, fashionably un-tucked shirts and way too many utterances of the word “dude.” It’s painful to watch.
...except: if you want to see how to do viral marketing the right way, just take a look at the "unsolicited response" from Coudal Partners, a competitor of Agency.com. Brilliant.
Update:
Looks like this thing is really hitting the viral jackpot: 120 links on Technorati and counting. Remixes of the clip start to show up on Youtube. But then there is this site: www.whenwerollwerollbig.com. It was set up by Agency.com yesterday and it claims that they did everything on purpose. Just a grand plan to get the blogosphere buzzing about them. Well, maybe. But the domain was bought just yesterday - AFTER the clip was put up on Youtube and the beating began. So maybe it is only damage control ?
Who knows...
(via Rakeman)
Technorati Tags: subway, agency.com, youtube
tagged Viral Stuff in Cluelesstrain, Viral Advertising
Viral Stuff in Cluelesstrain, Viral Advertising 
Reader Comments (2)
As we say in Holland:
Ze kunnen beter over je lul praten dan over je lul fietsen.
What means something like no matter how bad the press is, it's still attention. And this is a cheap way to get lots of attention.
In one year lots of people will remember the name Agency.com, but they won't remember why they now it.
I'm not sure whether the "Any news is good news" approach works in this case. Maybe the clients who don't grasp the viral thingy will forget the boomerang and negative feedback. But those who are into it, espec young creatives and young marketing execs will remember it and might view agency.com as a sort of dinosaur in the agency biz. Anyhow, this case is a great example that viral works, that it is almost not contollable, and that you better think before you seed or post.