Call me crazy, but I have never been a fan of meaningless and unoriginal selling. Needless to say it was not a great thrill receiving an SMS from a major Car manufacturer telling me I had “a few more days left to save thousands off a new model XR105.9_shoot me now”.

Although the above SMS was unexpected, it was the next line reading “to opt out of future specials SMS back STOP” that really ticked me off. The car industry in general is probably the biggest loser from the pending recession, but to approach someone with no prior engagement with your brand and make them pay money for not wanting to receive your arbitrary material seems backward. In stark contrast to this blatant attempt of selling vehicles, the last few weeks have proved that we are rapidly shifting into a new age of advertising; disguised, controversial and, in many ways, about time.

Whopper sacrifice: bending the rules is the new favourite

‘Return on Investment’. This term gets thrown around a lot but the reality is that the recession has made brands focus on each advertising dollar multiplying itself. Across digital channels the lesson within recent months seems to be: ‘try the latest channel, and if everyone else has already been there – do it differently’. There are definitely channels that are commonly identified by brands that have previously led the way. Think Blendtec or Carlton Draught with Viral marketing, Dell with Facebook, or Audi with iPhone and you’ll see what I mean. The challenge now is to bring more creativity to these campaigns. Recently Burger King in the US released a promotional campaign on Facebook whereby users could obtain a free Whopper by removing ten of their friends from their Facebook account. Aptly named the ‘Whopper sacrifice’, users put their friendships (or acquaintances) to the test by trading them in for one tenth of a burger and then sending a notification to this effect. Watching a friends profile picture spontaneously combust upon sacrificing them may have been the tipping point for Facebook – withdrawing the campaign after less than two weeks on the grounds of ‘philosophical differences’ (news.com.au). Despite its short lifespan, this campaign attracted over 230,000 users, an enormous amount of publicity and provided yet another opportunity to maintain their edgy and unique promotional strategy. (See also Burger King’s Whopper Virgin and Subservient Chicken campaigns). Sometimes you don’t need the precise dollar figures to know your getting more bang for your buck.

Recently, the most attention within Australia has gone to two ‘fake’ PR campaigns running on YouTube. (See ‘Man in the Jacket’ and ‘Best job in the world’). Employing actors and ad agency staff, Witchery and Tourism Queensland (respectively) have defended their tactics saying they were victimless and innovative. I think I agree. However, my uncertainty comes down to how much intelligence I recognise in their viewership. A woman tattooing her arm for the benefit of winning her dream job is victimless until someone decides to emulate this, or worse – up the stakes with an amputation. No doubt these PR stunts have got hundreds of creative people from major brands and agencies racking their brains as to how they can best mislead an audience whist pushing their name out into the public. To these people I say go for it. The element of surprise is one of the most compelling tactics to improve brand recall and push through campaigns. The difficulty is examining all angles to ensure campaigns remain victimless, and that the focus is on creativity as opposed to exploiting the public outcry that will follow.

Where this general campaign trajectory takes us in the future will be interesting. All personalised and unique YouTube videos that provoke any call to action are almost certain to be treated with an air of skepticism. This will make it harder for brands to get the same kind of public reaction – and even harder to pick up strangers you briefly met in a café.