Dolmio Pepper Hacker is a legitimate campaign argues Clemenger Sydney’s technology chief
One of the people behind the Dolmio Pepper Hacker device has said it was not just created to win awards, but admitted it is a “prototype” and will not be available for consumers to buy any time soon.
Yesterday Clemenger BBDO Sydney released a video showcasing the device, created for client Mars Foods, which it claims is able to power down TVs, shut off Wifi and mobile apps in an effort to end dinner time distractions.
Some Mumbrella commenters questioned the legitimacy of the campaign, and whether it broke Australian laws by blocking mobile phone signals.
Brendan Forster, head of creative technology at Clemenger BBDO, told Mumbrella it was a “brand campaign” based on the insight of bringing families together at meal times, and aimed to “build conversations on social networks”.
“It’s got some pretty good television coverage on The Project and the Today show so that debate has certainly started,” he said. “If that effectiveness of the campaign leads to recognition that’s a great thing for us and Dolmio and the conversations around the ideals the brand stands for.
“This is a brand premise that Dolmio sits behind, understanding how Dolmio can help families come together in the home and aid that family environment.
“Dolmio has always had this position and we think technology is potentially an inhibitor of that, and raising light to that issue through the Pepper Hacker social experiment is a good way to communicate that and the debate has already started.”
Forster was coy when asked if the agency expects to enter it into awards programs such as Cannes Lions, saying it depends on how the campaign continues to be received.
“The campaign just launched two days ago, we certainly have to monitor all the conversations going on around it and seeing whether or not it’s successful for the brand,” he said.
“But we certainly hope it is, and if it is it’s a great message we’d like to share with the world.”
How it works
The device is not an electromagnetic pulse, but rather has an effect similar to one by shutting down pre-programmed devices around the home when it is activated, Forster said. It was designed and implemented by Pollen.
It works by employing “a couple of different units that employ the technology to disable the TV, the Wifi and disable the mobile device,” Forster explained. “It’s actually a really innovative tech solution to come up with.”
The Pepper Hacker uses home automation elements to switch off anything that is plugged into the home automated switch, a device which controls certain elements around the home, for 30 minutes.
To shut down the mobile devices it uses a remote device management system which installs a profile on selected devices allowing commands or messages to be sent to it from the grinder.
“Think of it like as when you’re at an organisation – they install a profile on your phone so that they can back up information or allow authorised apps, we’ve used that in a really creative way,” said Forster.
When the Pepper Hacker is twisted an SMS command is sent to the devices on which the profile has been installed and removes all non-native apps such as Facebook and Twitter and games.
“It removes them for a period of 30 minutes but everything is re-installed after that 30 minutes,” he said. “We knew the rules around cell phone blocking and this is a really great solution that works in a home.”
This means the product is not able to be bought in a local supermarket, admitted Forster.
“At this time it’s a limited number of prototype devices that we’ve built just to basically experiment to see what happens when you remove tech from the family room,” he said.
The case study
According to Forster the experiment was “conducted within the houses of real Australian families who were unaware that anything was going to happen, only the mother of the household was in on the experiment.”
However, he admitted one Clemenger staff member was involved in the experiment.
“She asked to be a part of the experiment after hearing about the campaign, as technology affects her family’s ability to connect around the dinner table. Again, no one else in her family was aware the experiment was taking place.”
When quizzed on the comparison to an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) device, which short circuits electronic devices, Forster said the sensation is like an EMP but the technology used is not.
“Paul (Nagy, Clems Sydney ECD) said it was something like an EMP, it’s certainly not an EMP in terms of the technology but the sensation for the kids in the home is similar to that,” he said.
Pushed on if Dolmio and Clemenger BBDO Sydney was being disingenuous by presenting a more simplified device in the video Forster said “that’s part of the magic” of the campaign with the “mystery” part of what makes people watch it.
Asked what the experiment achieves for the brand, Forster said it ties into its “core premise” of bringing families together by generating a debate about the impact of technology on family life.
“The dinner table is one of those moments where the family should be together, and by using the Pepper Cracker in this way, hopefully it starts a bit of a debate about what technology is doing in the home. If Dolmio is part of that then that’s a great thing,” he said.
And on if the Pepper Hacker even cracks pepper, Forster said it was key to the design for the Pepper Hacker to do both.
“That was one of the key things of the design. It’s hollowed out. The chip is real, the batteries are real but we made sure there’s also pepper kernels in the pod so it does season as well as break down technology,” he said.
Miranda Ward
Why a pepper grinder and not salt?
None of the Dolmio recipes even call for seasoning. Which I thought was the purpose of a stir in sauce anyway… the convenience of seasoning and flavour in one jar?
Tech aside, me thinks the brand manager shot themselves in the foot with this one.
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So just to be clear – it absolutely and categorically cannot work in the situation shown…
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Watching Marketing people explain the technical details of a first-year IT project never gets old.
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Define scam….
My definition of scam is this.
Work that did not run.
Work that is not endorsed or known of by the clients.
Ultimately pepper grinder is a content video that taps into a clever insight that tech is taking over the family meal… it’s branded entertainment.
They showcase a prototype in the video but so what?….. isn’t the point that tech gets in the way of dinner time, the story is NOT that Dolmio are manufacturing clever pepper grinder?
If the client endorsed it. Fine.
If it actually ran ( yes on social / online counts ) Fine.
Is it created purely for the purpose of winning awards ? Who cares.
if it gets people interested in a brand because it’s been picked up on national TV – Great!
The word ‘scam’ is fast becoming shorthand for small minded jealousy.
It’s ok to have fun.
And no I don’t work for Clems they are rivals.
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Travis: They don’t mention all the extra hardware (nor the off-the-shelf and custom software) that you need, nor that all mobile devices need to be enrolled with AirWatch, but the effect would be pretty much as shown.
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wouldn’t it just be easier to ask them to turn off the devices?
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We actually turn off our TV, close all iPads and move iPhones from the dinner table. Costs nothing, instills respect.
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How my world works.. If I don’t win awards I won’t have a job. Or a bonus. Or a reputation. So I’ll use junior teams, proactive ideas, anything to get an award idea up. It perpetuates the myth that I’m successful. I’ll be an industry idol. It’s all about finding ways to inflate my own self worth. Just don’t look at the normal work a client pays me to do. I can’t win awards focused on briefs with commercial realities. Shit like that you just shovel out the door so you can get back to the award winning ideas in the bottom drawer.
Scam is creating work for the single purpose of winning awards.
Events, case study videos, peer reviews. This is theatre to mask the above intention.
If you do this, your only success is a well hidden fraud.
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Quite a nice solution tech wise (and totally feasible).
Nice work Bobby!
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Haven’t we seen a lot of brand activations this week!
And it’s Cannes deadline you say, Skippy?
What an amazing coincidence.
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Hey Mumbrella… It may have been missed in an edit but it might be worth mentioning that the solution was designed & implemented by Pollen. It seems to have been missed in the post.
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The problem still exists: Dolmios isn’t tasty enough to pull people away from their tech.
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I agree with @russty. its a branded video about families and mealtimes and because it features the gizmo it got the brand on the telly. job done.
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What Russty said… clever tech, driving conversation and branded content. Job done – trolls begone!
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Right you are Knotty – that has been added in now. Credit where it’s due.
Cheers,
Alex – editor, Mumbrella
Jeeze Mumbrella , what if the Russians get hold of this System Design?!
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Like aussie families use pepper grinders.
“Pass me th’ tomato sauce will yis mate, and the pepper grinder if ya don’t mind.”
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If it’s an experiment, when will the full results be published?
And how long would the “family bonding” effects last when the family find out that mum’s tricked them and the pepper grinder is the thing standing between them and Instagram?
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I much preferred the brand when it was based around the Dolmio Grin … rather than the Dolmio Chagrin.
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Branded content? Bollocks.
This is an old-school PR exercise with a couple of videos for media use, show reels, TED-esque talks and awards submissions.
And yes, the technology is barely relevant to the set up issue.
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I think we need to call out the Motor Shows at the same time… at least half of those concept cars never even make it to production! Scammers!
+1 for Russ’ comment. We should be celebrating an innovative idea like this. There are light years between this and scam
Sure it’s just a prototype, but that’s the point… proving an idea can be made real. It’s on brand, it got PR, nice work.
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You all need to get a life. Especially the CEO who has time to rubbish the work of others. Good luck.
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Where can I get one pleeeeease?
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Interesting work.
Shame I first saw it on this boring publication.
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This would be great on the train or the cinema
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If it deletes apps and you don’t have wifi, will it not re-install it or not and do you regain memory when it deletes, I don’t want to lose my really high high-score! I have no cloud or wifi regularly!
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This will be great to use in a middle of an office building
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I need one of these for my home were can I get it please
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Love the idea ,we let technology run our lives everyone has a device from a toddler to grownup
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where can I buy this
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I have are very bad family. All that do at the dinner table is play there phone. Can I buy one ?
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Hey all you haters, I’m sure it’ll be a branded content entry…doubt it will be entered into innovation etc if the cracker hacker magic was only for the experiments
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I would think its an awesome thing i would like to have one… but what about security. who says someone wont buy one to rob houses. Some people have no home phones to call for help. ablot can be done in 30 mins…..
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A shame it’s just a prototype!!! Why not starting a project in Kickstarter to develop it? I want a few for me and my friends and for every table at home!!!
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I want that one where I can buy it ?
cheers jody
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Where can I get one from and how much are they ? Cheers
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Where can I buy one
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Having worked on the Dolmio brand in the past, this idea clearly delivers on their brand purpose. I hope we see this rolled out across the whole campaign though. One ‘viral’ youtube video does not make a campaign…
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Wow, this is great. My brother could have used this for his teen daughters several years ago. Old School Mom had to actually remove devices from her children during a family reunion. Now my son could use this for his teens. What would be more awesome is throwing a picture of Mom and Dad when it goes off saying…..”Dude”
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I’d love to see this in a pepper shaker. WiFi jammers are not new and available at retail right now, but not in this design. Just Google “wifi jammers” to see current versions. This video is totally doable and believable if it were actually a prototype, not sure why there are “nay sayers” above.
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why roll it out? hasn’t it done the job of staring conversation around quality family time at the dinner table? well done dolmio it’s a nice viral video
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just curious what happens if someone goes on a plane with one of these??
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