Boss of the agency behind the jacket video: don’t be naive – you can still be playful
The boss of the agency behind the girl-and-a-jacket fake video claims that the campaign has been a huge success which the client is delighted with, while some of its critics are being “naive”.
This morning fashion brand Witchery finally came clean about being behind the hoax, in which an actress appeared in a video claiming she was looking for a man who had left his new jacket in a cafe.
Adam Ferrier, managing partner of Sydney-based Naked Communications, today told Mumbrella: “It was a classic tease-and-release strategy. We are extremely pleased with the results and so is the client. They are excited. People are going into Witchery stores and asking about it. When you have an established brand that is launching something new, you need to create something that has talkability. The media spend has been zero.”
Referring to criticism that consumers would feel that the brand had misled them, he said there was a place for fantasy and drama within communications. He said: “I totally agree with the social media commentators that brands need to be authentic these days, but that does not mean they cannot be playful. If it gets to the point where you have to be 100% truthful the whole time, it becomes a very sterile outcome. People will be afraid to try different things.”
So Witchery may have sold a jacket or two, but should that come at the cost of an agency’s integrity?
‘People are going into Witchery stores and asking about it.’ – let me guess, you got one anecdotal report from one store that this happened and now it’s the plural.
Like most attempts at viral campaigns I guess the real question is ‘and then what….?’
If the client is delighted I’d suggest it is because they are naive, not those working in the Social Media space.
I’ve criticised the campaign – not because Naked did it (I enjoyed a lot of their work) but because it was lame.
The internet is a wild and wooly place, like the real world. It’s a reflection of the people that inhabit it.
It’s unfair for Social Media purists to maintain that the values of the internet have to be more pure than those in the real world.
Society is not all ‘lovey dovey’, you know.
This has been a fascinating debate to watch from afar, first of all because it’s an example of how a blog discussion can move from what’s being said to who is saying it.
Also because the issue of social media fakery has relevance wherever you are.
So you don’t need to be “100% truthful the whole time.” Really? What proportion of untruths is acceptable? 5%? 10% How about 20%?
But Adam Ferrier’s whole line seems to be: ‘Get off your high horse and just lighten up.’
I agree, none of us in this industry can afford to be particularly sanctimonious. But there’s a very good practical reason why astro turfing like this is counter productive.
Virals like this depend in part on the oxygen of publicity that they get from the media.
Once you pull the wool over a journalist’s eyes once, what reaction do you think you’ll get the next time you come knocking at his / her door?
I think this kind of behaviour is unethical, dirty, tasteless, tacky and wrong.
Mr Ferrier is highly patronising to the public and should straighten up- but I wonder- can he sleep staright in bed?