Check out Lee Hopkins’ blog post on his latest podcast with fellow communications consultant Allen Jenkins.
This is worth checking out for two videos, both of which turn out ultimately to be really cheesy marketing stunts.
One is from Denmark and involves a young woman who is supposedly looking for the father of her child. The child is supposedly the result of a drunken one-nighter with some unknown tourist.
While it looks a bit pathetic, the video is apparently a tourism board idea. Allan and Lee discuss the cost and the target market, one of which is outrageous while the other is imponderable. They also discuss the complete failure of the campaign. At least two senior officials – one with the tourism board, the other with the agency – wound up leaving their employment over the fiasco. According to the lads, there were more in the sequence which have since been shelved.
The inspiration for this bit of tomfoolery was a stunt in Australia involving a jacket and a supposed chance encounter in a bar. The subsequent controversy - based on alleged misrepresentation of the video - saw one of the creative geniuses behind the thing leaving his company to pursue other opportunities.
Oh yes, the Danish one also generated another version of the Hitler meme.
Great podcast on a great topic from two guys who know their stuff. lee and Allen discuss viral videos and ethics at some length. it’s all good stuff.
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