Insectvertising

This particular insect adverting video has been doing the rounds on the Interweb over the last few days. Adverts attached to flies = flying messages. Why didn't anyone think of this amazingly brilliant idea earlier I hear you ask.

The ads attached to some string (or leash) are light enough for the insects to carry around and are virtually impossible to ignore. This guerrilla tactic could open up a whole new way for marketers to spread their messages, and incorporate a whole new medium into their ever expanding armory.

However, while everyone's been amazed, in awe and pleasantly surprised by these happenings, I couldn't help but stop to think, would I want my 'brand' name on the end of a fly? Using these flies as living commercial space, restricting them, containing them, preventing them from being able to fly, limiting them. Is that something I would want my brand associated with, or moreover, is that something you would like your brand associated with?

The first they may well be, unique and fresh, but sometimes, in certain situations there's reasons why no one else has gone down such a path, why no one has tried that particular approach. If anything I wouldn't be too surprised if it did more damage to a brand than good.

In all honesty I'm not an animal or insect activist, but nor am I willing to accept such ludicrous and utterly sh*t (pardon my French) techniques that can  pass as advertising.

The ad industry is built upon creativity, this is not it.

A good Ad?

Whats the best ad you've seen on the box over the last few months...? This time last year I could roll a list as long as my arm off in a matter of seconds, but today there just isn't the creativity, oomph and dynamism...or is there...

Well there is one that stands out, for it's uniqueness, dynamism, ability to generate wide spread interest, with gallons of creativiey and an 'oomph so powerful that it can be felt in the dark valleys of..well Liverpool St. station..yes you got it, it is the T-Mobile – Life's for Sharing campaign.

The T-Mobile campaign stands out more so than any other due to its ability to be fresh and dynamic and capture the imagination of not only their target market but a larger audience, while maintaining the core elements of a successful campaign. The 'Liverpool Street Station dance' showed how advertising and marketing can still push the boundaries in being creatively dynamic and generating interest on a huge scale due to its fresh and unique approach.

However, for me the most important factor of this campaign is how it infused that creativity and dynamism into a successful and connecting marketing 'idea' for T-Mobile. The campaign held the core values of sharing, enjoyment, people and emotion, together with this fresh, dynamic, inspiring idea to produce a campaign which connected to T-Mobile very successfully. Credit should also be giving to the creative edge of the campaign, as over night it became more than an 'advert', it transformed into an internet phenomena, and the talk on everyone's lips.

I believe this was a very successful campaign due to its ability in every way to be fresh, connecting and interactive, while constantly relating to the brand in question. Looking back at it, each element of the campaign worked immensely well with everything involved, from the wide spread interest generated, to the fusion of values and ideas, to the idea of sharing, down to the simplicity of the overall idea itself.

A campaign very precisely put together, and perfectly executed.