Saatchi & Saatchi pocketed $36,000 for much-maligned NSW Govt Stoner Sloth campaign
The widely-panned Stoner Sloth campaign cost the NSW Government more than $350,000 and took up 268 hours of public servants’ time, according to figures obtained by the NSW Green Party.
According to the breakdown of figures creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi was paid $36,386 for the work, according to figures given to The Guardian by the Greens. The campaign portrayed stoned teenagers as giant sloths struggling to operate in social situations.
While launched at the end of November, the campaign made headlines in December after being picked up and widely parodied in social media, with The National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre distancing itself from the work, and NSW Premier Mike Baird describing it as “quite something” on Twitter.
So the agency was only paid $36,000, while market research was paid almost double this ($64,000) and media was paid a whopping $99,990. That’s triple the price of all that creative development, for some junior to post a bunch of online videos.
That’s the real crime here. Sounds like there wasn’t enough funds for a senior team to even look over this.
Would love to see an analysis of the enormous media value they gained from the campaign…. still talking about it now.
Maligned by who? People way to old for it and not being targeted.
This campaign (which is clearly getting noticed) is still being scrutinised. And yet the money spent on pointless and forgettable Fed Government ‘Innovation’ ads slides down the drain.
I’d love to see how many hours were used by Saatchi to earn $36K. It would have been a lot more than 268 hours. Without flexi time.
Creative agency does the work, earns nothing and cops flak. That’s not right. Creative is massively undervalued in this market.
The artist does the work; the gallery makes the money.
UM were paid $100k for doing what exactly?!?
Is there a zero missing here?
If not there should be
$36k is an absolute steal for something that has caught fire in social. Highlights the terrible state of the industry and how badly we have devalued the IP of our best thinkers
Stop stressing over this folks. Fire up a fatty, breath in, breath out, move on.