Whitepages ‘Flappy Man’ tells businesses ‘you don’t need gimmicks to get found’

Sensis directory business Whitepages has launched a new social campaign built around the adventures of “Flappy Man” and his struggles to find work, after his employer lays him off.

The campaign, created by creative The Royals, is centred around how “businesses don’t need gimmicks to get found”, a discovery which sees Flappy Man laid off, and promotes the Whitepages’s online profile product.

In a series of online videos, Flappy Man is left to search for employment with the inflatable character forced to attempt to learn how to pour beers in a pub and in another ad left homeless, with viewers invited to help him find a job online. 

#FlappyMan had his first job trial! Reckon he’s got what it takes to work at Holliava in Richmond, Victoria?https://t.co/kXFHSLZ939

— White Pages (@Whitepages_au) April 15, 2016

The campaign appears to be mainly on social with microsite flappyman.com inviting businesses to offer Flappy Man a job in return for the chance to win a $10,000 advertising package.

#FlappyMan is desperate. Click here to offer him a job for a chance to win a $10k ad package https://t.co/GqXnFw7kWM pic.twitter.com/VxarkLcIUd

— White Pages (@Whitepages_au) April 8, 2016

The Royals’ website celebrates the campaign noting: “we featured ‘Flappy Man’ (notoriously, the most gimmicky of advertising gimmicks going around) to help us bring the idea to life in a range of social films that will continue to explore his plight as a rejected form of advertising.”

Nic Christensen

Nic Christensen worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2016, in roles including deputy editor and media & technology editor. He is former media writer for The Australian and has also worked as a reporter for The Daily Telegraph and senior producer for Radio 2GB.

topics Flappy Man Sensis The Royals Whitepages

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Comments: 3

Billy C 24 Apr 16

Surely this ad is from 1994?

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Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm-Flailing Tubeman! 26 Apr 16

I think the business is from/in 1994 @ Billy C. Just tried to look up Mumbrella on Whitepages website. Zero matches. Suggest Google.

The ad is kind of nice though.

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Drunk at 10am 26 Apr 16

My unsolicited advice. I’m feeling a bit critical this morning.

I like the ad. It’s cute. Doesn’t need the voiceover. It’s seems really tacked on. Better filmmaking skills could have fixed that.

And a microsite, really? Surely this should be a social media driven campaign? Especially as it’s asking for user generated content.

That’s all. I feel a bit better. Might go and yell at some junior copywriters working on a Coles catalogue.

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