Carlton ads show it’s possible for a client to kill a campaign twice
Remember the furore over the banned Carlton ads?
Suspicious types predicted they’d quickly leak onto the internet.
And sure enough, they are indeed now online, triggering more suspicion that the whole thing was a plan all along.
However, who looks to me like a brand new fumbling of the digital strategy to go on top of the earlier mess, at least proves the whole thing was a genuine cock-up.
Normally at this point, I’d embed the ad, or some of the ads, so you can see what I mean.
But Carlton has locked them onto its own non-embeddable microsite, called Any Excuse. I asked why. The answer: “We’re keen for people to view at our site as they can rate them and leave feedback.”
Now in the scheme of things, Mumbrella doesn’t matter, as we’re just trade press.
But it’s a strategy which will guarantee that the ads will never go properly viral, if that’s indeed what they want.
My prediction would be an initial surge of curious viewers (and the ads have already clocked up from 2000 to 6000 views each, albeit helped by each one playing unprompted on a loop).
But in a few days, I’m sure the numbers will plateau.
So why should they, as I’d argue, make the ads embeddable, whether on YouTube, Vimeo or whatever else?
First, bloggers boost views. If the ads can appear across the internet, then that’s what puts them into public consciousness.
For instance, check out this ad for Pedigree dog food, by TBWA Toronto:
(See how I was able to embed it?) It’s had 1.6m views in the last two weeks. According to Viral Video Chart it’s currently the most viewed online ad.
Why? Partly because it’s been blogged about. In 794 separate posts. Because it’s embeddable. (Well, make that 795 posts now.)
It’s also been commented on more than 2000 times and tweeted about 4000 times.
The Any Excuse website gives, by the way, a simple mechanism to give each ad a mark out of five. YouTube does precisely the same thing.
YouTube also captures comments more effectively and actually displays them, which this microsite does not.
But the second point about putting it on video sharing sites is because of what is becoming one of the most important factors online – discovery. Lock it on your own site, and there’s no danger of punters stumbling upon it on their own in the way that idle YouTube surfers do. You know, those young, hard-to-reach men who drink beer.
The last two days at Adtech have heard again and again about how digital strategy is now about going where the audience is. (Apart from Carlton) brands are busy closing their microsites and migrating their communities to places like Facebook.
As Mindshare’s Ciaran Norris put it yesterday:
“Microsites are like crisp packets on the pavement of the internet.”
I wish someone from Carlton had been there to hear it.
From here, it’s hard to tell what is motivating the new strategy.
It doesn’t seem to be about a marketing database exercise. Those who find the comment button (for which there’s no overt call to action) are not asked marketing opt-in questions when they supply their email, for instance.
It could simply be this was all that could be got past the boss. Better to get it out in some format, and take what the marketing team can get. Which doesn’t augur well for the brand, if those are the conditions the agency is working under. But perhaps it might elicit enough positive comment that it gives the senior management the confidence crutch they need to put it on TV.
The thing that I can never get my head around is what it must be like being a creative in a situation like this. You come up with a piece of work you really believe in, you put months into getting it made, then it gets killed at the last moment. Then it gets a second chance, and that’s handicapped by the client too.
How on earth do you motivate yourself to go on doing good work in that situation? Good on Clems for giving it a bash and getting it out in public in some format at least.
At least we now know that the ads, by the way, are pretty good. I’m not sure many members of the general public ever will though.
Tim Burrowes
I dunno, they seem kind of lame to me, I’m glad you didn’t embed them
User ID not verified.
I agree Tim. I see you’re now in the unpaid digital strategy business as well. I suggest this situation is the result of the TV agency putting the ads out there without much any digital thinking. By the way I like them.
User ID not verified.
The client was right both times.
User ID not verified.
I don’t think that hauling out the old ‘poor creatives’ and ‘stupid clients’ argument is that helpful.
It is a fact of life that great ideas often get killed or smothered in some way, and both clients and agencies need to work together in this context to try and get the best result.
I think this is what both parties have done in this instance. It just ain’t a perfect world.
User ID not verified.
Microsites might be like “crisps packets on the pavement of internet” but they are still one of the better ways digital agencies can make a quick buck so I’m sure they will continue to be recommended to clients who don’t know any better.
User ID not verified.
Hi Tim,
I can confirm the videos are only counted once and looping has no relevance.
Cheers
User ID not verified.
It made it on Gawker….http://gawker.com/5495812/testicles-desire-beer and it’s actually embedded in their article.
User ID not verified.
I think the client might have been right to can these…. not because they went too far…. but maybe cos they are a tad stupid, even for beer!
User ID not verified.
Hey Tim. Have you ever tried your hand at journalism? You know, asking a few questions, finding out the facts, getting facts straight etc?
Sure, it involves a bit more hard work than pontification and supposition, but it’ll make your articles so much more, um,what’s the word… right.
User ID not verified.
“Micro-sites are like crisp packets on the pavement of the internet”. Wuh? Give someone a platform and they feel compelled to invent spurious analogies. Aren’t most of the apps on facebook really just micro-sites? Just a thought.
User ID not verified.
Hi eek,
Feel free to point out exactly where my errors lie…
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Sorry Tim.
After re-reading the piece it is vaguely accurate. Which also makes it vaguely inaccurate. But since it’s an opinion piece, that’s vaguely acceptable I guess.
XXXX
eek
User ID not verified.
oh eek…look at you go…look at you go
User ID not verified.
Those spots are so stupid, they would never go viral anyway. I was too bored to get past the first 2. No wonder Carlton canned them after seeing them in post-production.
Perhaps the agency wanted to get the masses to support them so they can go back to the client and tell them they really did work. The non-embedded enironment of ‘Any Excuse’ at least limits where it goes.
The voting buttons were a sham. I accidently scrolled over the 5-beer mechanism and they wouldn’t ‘un-highlight’. In other words you thought it was perfect. Not!!!
P.S. Enjoyed the dog food piece.
User ID not verified.
They dont do too much fo me at all. They just feel lame, forced and unfunny.
I dont think this is brilliant creative work at all, dont even think this is good creative work. But i would love to see the creative brief and see just what they were trying to make of it.
User ID not verified.
I agree with Franksting: this campaign is lame. The jingle doesn’t have jangle and the attempt as humour doesn’t have – for want of a better description – a funny-bone. Nice try but it just doesn’t have the same impact as the brilliant Big Ads campaign.
User ID not verified.
Very strange concept for a campaign, I reckon it would have got slammed harder by all of us had it made it to broadcast. That pedigree dog food though…man, I’m salivating at the thought of them after seeing that ad. =)
User ID not verified.
These are bloody funny. Better than most tv I’ve seen in the last
12 months. Why the hell are these too offensive? To whom? Well done clems. Again.
User ID not verified.
The best part about this post is that I saw that dog ad. Brilliant!
For what it’s worth I like the idea in the ad and the execution is good. They connect with me as a “man” and beer drinker. They’re not great though as they dont withstanding repeated viewing.
The client was quoted in SMH today saying “Online it’s unable to offend anyone”. Strange comment.
User ID not verified.
I like these ads a lot. And I drink a fair bit of beer.
But I can see how ‘new management’ might not appreciate the ‘odd’ humour.
The question for me is not, “are they rude?”, but “are they ‘mainstream’ enough for the very mainstream Carlton Draught brand?”
User ID not verified.
The new ads are CRAP! does not relate to beer and/or their consumer.. unless they are trying to capture a different target market (maybe trying to get people to drink beer instead of sniffing petrol)
Tingle – Promoting Alcohol whilst driving, saying to me tht its ok to have one more last beer.. also, talking about his penis. makes no sense..
Bump – Driving & Alcohol (we all know the two doesnt mix)
At least someone with some common sense (the CEO of Carlton) realises how bad clems have stuffed up with the ad.. what a Joke!
User ID not verified.
The “tingle” ads appear to have been pulled from the anyexcuse.com.au website.
User ID not verified.
Update: The site appears to be in transition. None of the new ads are on the site at all now. Campaign killed for a 3rd time?
User ID not verified.
I love it when media people give their feedback on where a campaign is going and digital strategy. Like they know what they’re talking about. Since when had a media expert ever come up with a new media channel?
Facebook, Twitter, Youtube etc are all invented by nerds, not some corrupt suit getting kickbacks from media outlets for advertising with them.
User ID not verified.
At this late post, most of its all been said, but after just hunting down the ads online (not easy) it seems:
1. they are rather funny, and there is a good hint of man-truth in them (at least I get a feeling in my ‘goolies?’ when i go over a good hill in a car). How that relates to beer is a bit questionable…..
2. they were rigthly banned (either by client or by the governing bodies) for the link between alcohol and driving.
3. anyone who doesnt get happy when watching the dog ad probably needs professional help.
Stupid client and stupid clems for not seeing this prior to approving the scrpits. Particularly when the car, in most instances, seems rather incendental.
User ID not verified.
Thanks for the Pedigree ad – priceless.
User ID not verified.