M&C Saatchi uses social media to build Qantas Socceroos World Cup campaign
M&C Saatchi’s digital arm, Mark, has launched a multi-pronged social media campaign aimed at helping Qantas make the most of its sponorship of the Socceroos in the run up to the 2010 World Cup.
As well as offering fans the chance to win a 10 day tour with the team, the agency has created a Socceroos Journey to 2010 team blog, Twitter feed and Qantas YouTube channel. The strategy is based around maximising the brand’s naming rights for the Qantas Socceroos which does not extend into a major stadium presence.
The YouTube site currently features an M&C-created ad designed to build patriotic fervour as the team gets closer to qualification:
Personally I think that is the worst attempt I’ve seen at an online play this year, a very weak effort from M&C… is that all they could come up with, what put a toe in each camp of an idea and package it up to the unsuspecting client all in the name of keeping abreast of social media?
Just read the ‘channel comments’ on the designated YouTube page and I think you will agree with me that something just isn’t right….
Shame on you M&C Saatchi for selling Qantas up the garden path and shame on you Qantas for listening to such a lack lustre operation with obviously no hint of an idea when it comes to all things digital….
We are told that M&C Saatchi is founded on the principle of Brutal Simplicity… sadly plainly obvious at the execution of this campaign.
Not long ago there was a fair amount of commentary on a blog posted by a fellow digital veteran on ‘why Interactive agencies need to stop being advertising agencies’. We are reminded again that this issue needs to be looked at from both perspectives, or next week we might hear M&C Saatchi have pitched Qantas the idea of monitoring (and manipulating) the social network activity of their disgruntled ex employees who no doubt are already venting their spleen…
LOL!
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the twitter feed is huge lost opportunity. By leveraging off the popularity of some of the team they could of had a Harry Kewell, Lucas Neil or Timmy Cahil individual stream . All it would take is a junior cop writer at M+C with an interest in football to ghost write and it would make for a much more interesting and engaging twitter content
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Strong words, Rob. But perhaps something of a rush to judgement for a project in its first few days ahead of an event that doesn’t happen til 2010?
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
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OK if that was iteration v1, I wait with baited breath….
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Pretty sure this is a Zenith thing part of content deal with 442. BTW that YouTube channel has been going since the beijing olympics.. hopefully the channels pick up a bit by 2010
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let go of it!
the TV spot is awesome. its sells the emotion of the game so well and integrates the qantas support message too boot [no pun intended]. shame the airline’s service is bollocks! ever caught a melbourne sydney flight that’s been on time in the last 24 months? ol mate Dixon fixed ’em right up the clacker!
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I assume all of you commenting on here are involved in the industry, yeah? Im not. Im an environmental science student from Brisbane (woo!) I just followed a link to this from twitter (so I guess it works in that respect). And, to put it bluntly, that ad – sucked. I would go so far as to say it is the worst Qantas ad I have ever seen in my short life (22 years). What happend to the childrens choir? They get me all misty-eyed everytime. Some lame attempt at creating a chanting soccer crowd isnt going to do it. That whole scarf around Australia bit…lame….And probably the worst bit was the actual images of the game. Were they from the olympic games? Nobody in the soccer world (other than the Africans) really cares about the olympic soccer. And that winning shot, was that even a winning shot? The more I look at it, it looks like just some field play where the player making the slide has knocked the ball away…
In summary…that was a shit ad.
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