A Different Approach to Cell Phone Advertising

You can't deny it - Droga 5 has done some great stuff in the last few years.

A collegue of mine just flipped me a link to this spot from Australia:



I really like the "hit them hard" strategy of this spot. The tone of the voice at the end brings some good humour to the spot in contrast to the first 70 seconds of good, old fashioned heartwarmingness.

The spot captures the feeling that a lot of people have about their cell phone provider: hate.

Long contracts, legal, 'too good to be true plans' and add-on pricing has done this to telcos everywhere. Some are better than others, no doubt, but Droga 5's work doesn't let any of them leave untarnished.

When you check out the microsite, you can watch some good comic videos about the services and also explore what Net10 is, how it works and - most importantly - how your current cell phone comany is evil.

I really enjoyed the site experience - it's simple, the tools at utility that's practical (not just how much I would save but stores that are close to me and even a tool to help find someone to take over my current contract).

A good campaign from start to finish. And one that doesn't pull any punches.

I Know Times are Tough But...

In the last two days, we've seen some examples of marking and ad people going to the streets and the web to show companies how great they would be. While I completely sympathize with anyone who has recently been laid off due to the current economic circumstances, some of the tactics that have been going on take things a bit far.

For example, last week in Toronto a guy stood on a street corner with a megaphone, telling anyone who passed by that he was a qualified marketer looking for a respectable company to work for. I assume that he used this tactic to 'generate buzz' about himself but a quick Twitter search shows that nothing really registered.

While I applaud out of the box thinking, I don't know if I could see a managing partner or creative director approaching this guy and give him an interview on the street. Maybe you'd quickly pass him a card and tell him to get in touch later, but the situation (and mega phone) don't really create a comfortable environment for the director of HR to come and chat with you.

In another attempt, Shawn Norman Stewart created this video - called "Dear Droga 5: Please Hire Me!" and sent it to the agency:



The spirit of the guy is clear - he desperately wants a job at a top shop. But are these guys looking for desperation, or potential? It takes someone who is super-keen and ambitions to succeed in the ad world and for creatives, it also takes a ton of talent. This might get him in the door (which I'm sure was his goal) but he's going to quickly have to prove that he can do more than low-quality videos to make it at Droga 5.

Again...the effort is there. But are the days of cold calling the CD or walking into a few dozen lobby's with your CV over?

What do you think? Good idea or useless stunt?

The Links

Some great stuff you may have missed over the last few weeks:

• Seth Godin explains the power of a New York city panhandler
• Like random Japanese TV shows? How about one with a Helicopter opening a beer bottle?
• Great list of 20 iPhone apps that you need to have
• Ford is trying to be more social - by bribing Americans everywhere.
• Advergirl puts together her list of 10 authentic brands (Montreal is one of them)
• Adnews released their Digital Agencies of the Year (yes...Razorfish is top again)
• Think that your cell phone bill is too high? Let new start-up Validas tell you what you should be paying (for a small fee, of course)
• Now THIS IS SWEET. YouTube: Remixed.
• Read Perez Hilton? The #1 site that gives him most of his traffic? (Hint: it's NOT Google)

And my final (non-link) is a video you should check out:

Vanilla Ice Does Virgin

Virgin Australia has launched a new campaign called "Right Music Wrongs." The campaign, created by the Droga5 crew, focuses on artists (like Vanilla Ice) apologizing for the music, culture and news they created back in the day.



A small microsite has been created which allows users to upload artists who the think are guilty of Music Wrongs and there are already a few dozen there.

For a simple site, it's got a nice look and a straightforward approach. Virgin stands for music and this is a nice campaign from a brand perspective. But if they are trying to raise awareness for a new concert series or product, it falls a bit short.

Via Adverblog.