That is spot on Kamal imo. And no, I personally didn't kill the video. I guess we should all expect quite a bit more of this sort of thing. Albeit in a somewhat circumlocutious way ...If they're [the New Marketeers] smart.
K -----Original Message----- From: Stoddard, Kamal [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 14 February 2008 16:06 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Toby Frith Cc: Todd Sines; 313; Mann, Ravinder; M Ng; Frank Glazer; Cyclone Wehner; Carlos de Brito Subject: RE: (313) Theo Parrish in Adidas AdverT >I wouldn't say I love Adidas, but I do find this sort of advertising more >acceptable for some >hypocritical reason. I don't think it's hypocritical at all. I've seen the spread of viral+branded content online as advertising and I like it or a few reasons. For a start, to do it correctly (as I feel adidas has), the advertisers have to be rather involved/knowledgeable Re: the lifestyle and content that they want to co-op. this was previously not true in the industry as the demographics and categories that were accepted as gospel were previously determined by a rather academic process of long range observation. This is why they so frequently went for the lowest common denominator adverts and you feel stupid watching them. I should say, I don't have an intrinsic issue with someone trying to get me to like what they make (unless they insult my intelligence by lying or being pushy with the "buy it right now" stuff). This kind of marketing angle is not meant to sell you things by telling you just how awesome it is and it generally skirts the whole issue of competition (none of the "adidas is better than 70% of blah, blah") it's meant to make you feel closer to the company by them taking the first step and supporting some of the things that you care about. This has two benefits. Besides the obvious benefit of artists getting money and not having to sacrifice their integrity (for that kind of pressure would be counterproductive), you also end up getting money flowing out to the smaller guys that specialize in the kind of media creation they need. To put it simply, the money flow: old guard = company-> internal marketing dept-> research firm -> wack commercial actors new guard = company-> guerrilla/viral marketing consultants -> independent media creation professionals-> people you actually know and care about. In my opinion, this is a good thing and I'd much rather have a company try to convince me that they're my friend and send some money to prove it, than just a bunch of "low, low prices!" crap that's just insulting. I mean, everyone knew it was an advert before they clicked. Did anyone get annoyed and kill the video because you felt you were being sold something? That's what's important to me. K mwnb
