M&C Saatchi create fictitious world of ‘Wotifia’ for debut Wotif campaign

So the “next generation of customers” are middle-aged-hipster-geek-males going travelling to offset their mid life crisis?
That’s quite a niche market. This isn’t appealing to the uni graduates or the thirties affluents, and as for women, Julia Gillard would have something to say about the bikini colossus.
Really wondering if Flight of the Jack Blacks was the right way to go for Wotif’s, “Hey we’re still here” message.

Why the long face Jack? Sounds like you need a holiday. This hits the spot, is engaging and unlike your good self, doesn’t take itself too seriously. Good work all involved.

The ad seems to be designed to put off as many people as it is designed to attract.

Bags of personality and fun- very enjoyable.

Well said Charlie. Good work M&CS team!

This is average creative backed by appalling strategy.

Bet this works its arse off, catchy, funny and not disappearing up its own orifice. Nice work from the M&C crew.

This is nice, I happily watched it all the way to the end and actually wanted some more, not many ads you can say that about these days.

Spot the contributors from M&C Saatchi on this discussion board.
No prizes for anyone that does

Does anyone here actually watch what’s on TV during the ad breaks?

It’s awful. Actually, worse than awful, it’s wallpaper with a logo.

So either I’m in the wrong business or the haters have some sort of agenda.

How is this average? Average compared to what? D&AD Gold or what the rest of the Australian industry is putting out?

I think it’s great.

And I don’t work at M&C, but arrived from the UK recently to find an industry that seems to despise itself. Why?

I showed this to colleagues, and they thought it was great.

What am I missing?

This is the worst bit of junk I’ve ever seen. Compared to other companies like booking. Com, this is hillarsly embarrassing for wotif and no doubt with backfire worst then the where the bloody hell are ya Bingle campaign. SHOCKING USE OF SHARE HOLDERS MONEY!!

Enough interrogation PLEASE enough already.
It’s called advertising ,it’s fun.In the case of Wotifia,lots of fun that makes me feel pretty good about this mob.
Good enough to go there rather than Expedia ..job done.
As for the prat going on about ‘wrong’ strategy?
How would you know what was needed.
Were you at the brief?
So pompous.

This is completely bad advertising. I could go into the music, talent, lyrics, visuals, theme, inappropriate content and ultimately the weak message… But who has the time? Wotifs target market is middle income females 18-35, yet this appears to target the 1980s male low income and uneducated ‘bogan’. How is this intelligent marketing from an agency of this apparent calibre and a brand of this previous stature? A departure from the brand does not necessarily make it innovative, credible or open up new markets, conversely this appears fickle and is out of touch with its valuable market. We in marketing all want brand loyalty, so where is the loyalty from Wotif to its long standing consumers?

So dumb. So indulgent. So wrong on so many levels.
All it does is ingrain a made up word based on another made up word. Brilliant!

This is an ok bit of entertainment. Agree – I watched it until the end but and was left with a new impression of wotif. Before this, I thought they were modern, innovative & for the savvy.

Now I think they’re out dated, dumb & lacking in any discernment.

It’s unsophisticated & feels outdated. It depicts ’80s style men and clearly says “this is not a brand for women”. This might be the intention?

So for me, it’s saying – if you want a blokey holiday with a hint of sexism, use wotif!

And to any men that answer this with “stop being so up tight “….I say, stop being so bloody stupid.

‘This lady’??
That you would choose to call yourself by such a name says it all.
Oh and by the way,don’t call me stupid.
It’s rude.

… a piece of comment actually let a brand’s personality shine through in a way that made the punters happy. Well done M&C and Wotif. Strong and fun.

Last time I checked, fart jokes and giant tits were the domain of 12 year old boys. Either the fossils who burped out this ad, no doubt giggling with dementia all the way to the grade, have age regressed, or the ill-judged male-centric targeting overshot its mark by – gee – a decade or two?

It’s nice to see that the same infuriated, anonymous armchair pundits have decided to copy and paste their comments and place them on Campaign Brief blog word for word just so even more people can tell just how damn ANGRY they are. It’s ok, losing a pitch to M&C recently isn’t the end of the world. Go out and have a run or something, get all that hate out of your system.

Full on rip off of Flight of the Conchords!

Unfortunately for wotif this is a terrible campaign and silly idea for a business struggling to gain any top line growth against a competitive market. I would welcome the chance to speak with the marketing team regarding future role opportunities and I hope not, but it seems very likely that this will not work.

I have been a supporter of wotif for many years, but this campaign will go down as the worst advertisements in recent years. All the best.

Rex, darn..what was I thinking? Little old me forgot that admitting one is a female on this blog invites additional criticism. Silly bloody woman, me. Oh and I’m terribly sorry if I came across as rude/making a point . Best I go back to focussing on being pretty , quiet & useful.

It sounds like a lot of you aren’t the target market. I’m a 18-35yo woman, don’t work at M&CS and thought it was hilarious. I thought wotif were outdated with no sense of humour- I’ve now changed my view. Nice work!

Definately inspired by Flight of the Conchords

I work in the accomm industry within digital sales and marketing for over a decade. Compare it to Booking.com, and Expedia and you can see why Wotif are haemmoraging market share. Completely out of touch. Being quirky does not necessarily make it interesting, innovative or effective… it just self indulgent agency BS. I’m glad I don’t work at Wotif, as they will be laying off staff when the figures of this bomb sink in