Farmed This Way.

Remember Farmville?  Of course you do.  It was that game you thought was quite fun a year or so ago.  You played it and played it and played it until your farm was the size of a small planet and your friends stopped talking to you because you were clogging up your Facebook feed with "I've just harvested some peonies!  Look at my carrots!  Will you buy me a new cow?".

Anyway.  While we may have stopped playing, the game is still popular with quite a few people worldwide - a massive 80 million by February last year.  Which makes it (ahem) fertile territory if you've got something to sell.

So who's been tapping the market?  Give up?  Well, Lady Gaga obviously.  Dur.

To promote the launch of her new album, Born This Way, Farmville turned into Gagaville for two weeks.  Players got to listen to exclusive album tracks while buying Gaga-themed pigs and sheep (the Gaga baa-baas), building Gaga barns and planting Gaga-themed crops.  Like blond hairpieces and bondage tape, probably.

Now I can't decide if this is bonkers, brilliant or brilliantly bonkers.  You wouldn't think that arch-mentalist, gender-transcending, glam-kitsch Gaga is the right match for the folksy charm of Farmville.  But it's this tension that helped produce the following bizarrely amusing promotional video.

 

Did it work?  Well, as with most online marketing, there's no real way of knowing.  But the fact is that Born This Way has achieved the fastest first week sales for 2011.  And it seems people are still going crazy for Farmville.

No, not crazy.  Oh, what is the word I'm looking for?  Nope, it's gone.

Its The Thought That Counts

This week saw the launch of the new Cadbury ad from Fallon, marking yet another attempt to reach the premature marsupial climax of the campaign.

Except this time, instead of viewers wanting to find out the true identity of a gorilla, they were intrigued by rhythmic charity shop cast-offs.

Were they puppets?  Was it all computer jiggery-pokery?  What’s it got to do with chocolate?

No CGI here folks.  Nineteen dancers spent weeks training in Prague, before getting sewn up in life-size costumes.  Boogieing blindly in a set scaled up to be two times bigger than them, the effect is interesting and fun.  You can fully appreciate the hard work that went into it.

It’s a nice move.  We are so used to CGI effects nowadays that even the most jaw-dropping action sequence or dazzling techy venture feels done.  Low-tech special effects that used to look cheap and old-fashioned have regained their charm.

Partly through fashionable nostalgia, “homemade” effects now seem keenly crafted and lovingly created, in opposition to the impressive but strictly digital fakery. 

I thought I’d include some other great examples of homemade special effects (in ads and other things….let’s broaden our horizons.) 

Disclaimer: I am well aware that if I tried to recreate any of these at home in my bedroom, I’d probably start a fire/spill glue on the carpet/lose an eye.

I still don’t know what it’s got to do with chocolate.

Dating Tips for Clients

Chemistry meetings can be so difficult.  And yet, they should be so good!

A bad chemistry meeting can feel like a blind date gone hideously wrong.  The agency feels rejected, the client feels let down and then everyone goes home to eat ice cream and cry.

The other week we received a phone call from a well-known charity.  The Donor Manager explained that they were in a hurry to get a new agency and that we had come highly recommended.  After asking for an informal chemistry session with us, we weren’t told if any other agencies were also invited.  We were not given a brief.  She didn’t want a PowerPoint presentation or for us to spend too much time on what was supposedly going to be a casual meeting of client/agency minds.

So far, so good.

We assembled a crack team personally interested in the cause – a planner, senior creative and suit.  They gathered relevant samples, did desk research, ran a Digital Presence Index on the online marketing, had some first thoughts, boarded it all up and prepared for an interactive, two-way session.

Turns out our meeting was at 3:30pm on a Friday.  They’d already seen five other agencies that day.  The formal room was set up for a PowerPoint presentation.  The client team were tired, uninterested and disappointed.  They didn’t want to discuss our point of view and the whole thing was a draining waste of time.  We cut it short and went to the pub.

Why am I telling you this?  Partially as an exercise in relief, but also to talk about how clients can get the best out of chemistry meetings.  Here are my top tips:

1.    Select agencies you might really want to work with, not just based on hearsay or corridor chat.

2.    Brief the session in writing and be honest in what you want out of it, what you expect to see and how you intend to judge the work.

3.    Be straight about the number of agencies involved.

4.    Be upfront about those attending from the client side.

5.    Get creds out of the way separately; have them presented or sent at another time.

6.    Don’t be overly ambitious with how many sessions you can fit in one day – 3 - 4 max should ensure bright and interactive meetings.

7.    Probably best to avoid Friday afternoons.

8.    Use a room that encourages informality.  We’re not taking bean bags here, but screens and judging panels aren’t hugely casual.

9.    Please give proper feedback – not just, “You’re not through.”

10. Do some prep yourself – on the agency, the people, prepare questions, be challenging – we like debate!

Intend to interact and enjoy the session – you’ll get a lot more out of it, find out exactly what you need to know and will be more likely to shortlist agencies which are right for you.