Agency.com Has Hispter Orgasm On YouTube
Attention ad agencies. Don't DON'T. DO NOT DO THIS. Do not create a video where you publicly masturbate, backslap and attempt to hipify yourself with viral goodness in front of the industry all in the name of cool factor and winning new business. Watch this video so you'll never do this to yourselves. Agency.com created a video of themselves pitching the Subway business as the pitch itself and uploaded it to YouTube. Everyone in the industry needs to watch this. Not because it's good but because it makes ad agency people look dumb and sound really stupid. It's filled with mindless business blather, self-important ad speak, fist bumps, fashionably un-tucked shirts and way too many utterances of the word "dude." It's painful to watch.
Comments
ouch. from the comments -
"Has anyone noticed that the people that are complimenting this insanely boring movie have never posted a video to youtube, have never been viewed, and are all in their mid-30s? Nice try agency.com, but sending ppl who work for you to give something a good rating doesn't make it 'viral.' It makes it wannabe viral. I hope subway knows better than to hire hack artists who would post something like this and send their friends to it in an attempt to make it appear popular."
another example of ad agencies not getting the client and not following the brief. i can almost hear the creative director saying "if they asked for a five minute video, why not give them a 10 minute video - it'll be twice as good!"
Sad thing is this viral is actually a success - you posted it, we watched it. For subway it's actually worked as a viral - even if the agency came across looking like fools.
What I dont understand is the point of this video... Was it to promote agency.com as "out-of-the-box" thinkers, or was it to promote Subway? Did they even win the account? Ive worked with various folks at Subway on branding activities and I feel that this misses the mark. All it shows is that this agency will do its best to understand Subway using a hands-on approach. Blah...
It's funny how bi-polar all the comments are. Personally I think it's spot on. These guys look loveable and clients want great people to work with - not know-it-all sour pusses. I'd work with this crew. Come to think of it - will you guys pitch Coca Cola??!
looks like someone from their agency decided to post on the comments over on adfreak... nasty!
I am not from Agency.com and I have to aplaud Agency.com for being themselves and not being PC (politically correct) just because they were being filmed!
Kudos to Agency.com for taking a chance. Any other agency out there putting themselves out on the line?
You are all talking about it - so its working.
john, i think you've missed the point of the comments. It wasn't about them being(or not being) PC, it was about the actual content.
As for other agencies "putting themselves out on the line" - everyday. The work is representative of the agency. Crappy work=crappy agency.
This is a shitty video that makes agency folk look like dumbasses=agency.com looks like a bunch of dumbasses.
In our current world of the ADD consumer.. why the hell did they think someone would watch a 3 minute video.. let alone their 9 minute video?!?!
On a final note: to put yourself out there(esp. on youtube) is an open invitation for criticism.. and the fact that they're faking youtube comments and now arguing on blogs to "defend" their work is pathetic.... they(being an interactive agency) should have known better... or at least expected this.
My goodness, Brent is an angry doobie today...
I don't think this video was made for the consumer, but for the pitch itself. Why its being so hotly debated, I'm not sure.
Also, if Agency.com is posting, I would assume that their competitors are too? Just a thought.
At least a couple of times in my life I have been the client trying to sit through stupid Ad Agency presentations from little kids trying to beg for my business. I don't give a flip about awards or how cool the staff is and I don't want to waste my time sitting throgh it. I want to know if you can do the job, make me money, put butts in the seats, and how are you going to approach the business. Watching a video like this one, no.
I think Roy's comments are spot on. Lily also raises a good point that if they are hyping themselves on these boards, competition is likely bashing them as well. The hot debate is likely because they set themselves up for criticism and are now receiving it.
What is good about this video is that it shows the inner workings of an agency and the thought process that one goes thru when trying to come up with an innovative pitch to win biz. Whether its a crappy end result or brilliant, its still good learning for all those youngsters out there. But kids, please dont try this at home cuz if you go, you gotta go big!
Brent man, settle down. Are you that embarassed? Agencies have been doing this kind of thing for many, many years. These guys just went the extra step (which I too question) of putting it out there for angry people like you to beat up. I don't think they did anything breakthrough in here, but I certainly don't feel like a need a shower after watching it either.
Yikes. Thanks for the cautionary tale.
1) We all know, and from my own blog experience, that the critics are the ones to comment. So probably safe to say the comments here aren't a fair representation.
2) I found the video intriguing although NOTHING happens. I could watch many more minutes, but what I didn't get was the pitch. I was waiting for it at the end - Agency.com?
3) With 2 said, I think Agency.com was going for the "medium is the message" move. In this case I don't think it worked. If I was Subway I would've applauded their efforts but not given them the biz on account of creating a 9 minute video featuring themselves in played out scenarios. I was really turned off by the 1st scene that was clearly fabricated.
4) Agency.com probably does some good work, and if anything they accomplished something here. They got people talking about this and now 1000s have heard of them. Don't know if any publicity is good publicity, but in this case I might now be intrigued to learn more about their work if I was looking for and ad agency.
Nothing wrong with trying to stir a viral buzz online -- as long it's the right buzz. And let's be sure not to confuse "viral" or "buzz" with "effective." Did the thing "succeed?" At becoming viral, yes. But for the wrong reasons. In case you're not clear, go to technorati and search "Mel Gibson." Word to agency.com: sneaky idea, but it's not about you. Might want to get with Mel re: damage control.
my apologies on the harshness of my choice of language... it was "one of those days" and i decided to take out the agression on the folks over at agency.com.... it was too easy.. sorry.. :)
Subway has just launched a new sub called "The Agency.com." It's a super-sized sandwich with no meat, but lots of cheese. It takes you 9 minutes to eat it and then you throw up.
(I just gave my self a fist-bump for that, cuz if I comment, I comment big.)
How does this do anything to promote the subway brand? I didn't learn anything new about Subway, no mention of sandwich's anything. As a viral, this is good to promote agency.com but where is the benefit to the client.
It wasn't a bad video production wise, a little corny but interesting. But bottom line, why post a 'viral' for the client when the video is about who 'you' are?
@David Jones:
Spot on, man. Spot on.
One fist bump to you.
If Subway is a dorky brand - which it is- Agency dot com is their guy.
Wow. This is bad, real bad, in every conceivable way. Some might think this is a 'creative' way to use youtube to impress the crap out of prospects, but come on, potential clients like a bit of discretion. Not only did you make yourselves look like idiots, but you made the client look pretty stupid too.
Part of me wants to applaud the effort to use youtube to promote part of the pitch, but it appears that you misused your creative minds in this case. You made them appear to be thinking about the business challenge (account person territory) or thinking about the consumer insight (planner territory). Next time, let your creatives do what I hope (for your sake) they are good at doing - creating killer work that consumers actually want to spend time with.
Agency.com's new fist-bump slogan: if we fail, we fail big!
When we site an act of bravery in any endeavor, that act must come with a large measure of humility and honesty, which this video couldn't be further from.
it's kind of annoying, but who cares? it's a window into a fictional couple of days preparing for stupid pitches. you weren't obliged to watch and comment, but you did. plus, it seems everyone misses the fact that they say it isn't the actual pitch; it's to get to know the people. it's clever. not as clever as "caffeine + creativity = crazy delicious" though. apparently you are an O.G. in the viral game Brent. Being one of the first to adopt a Lazy Sunday reference as a personal mantra definitely makes you an expert. Keeping it this long makes you hard core. Enough of this b.s., I'm going back my site, numanumaguy.com
...and what the hell is a fist-bump? are you guys masturbating to this blog under your desk?
gee, aren't i lucky, my comments got someone going to my website...does that make it viral?
All joking aside, thanks for visiting my website. I'm glad you took a personal interest in whether or not people talked about your subway pitch disaster. Sorry, I mean agency.com's subway pitch disaster. Anyhow, I was flattered with how you could say "who cares," and then follow it up by attacking a random tag on my half-ass blog. You really must care if you felt obliged to watch the video, read my comments, go to my site for ammo, then comment here. And knowing that someone out there cares makes me feel all warm inside, especially if that caring has anything to do w/ my site. So again - Thanks.
cranky + comments = crazy delicious!
Lets discuss the part where someone chases after a Hasidic gentleman and asking if he's "allowed to touch women"...how is it possible to be so condescending? Did they edit out the part where someone ran down a woman of color and told her to put down the KFC and get her badass self into Subway?
Snarktastic! The comments war here is way better than the video.
But still, like someone said over at Ad Freak - only agency types are watching and talking about it. That was not really the viral intended, I'm sure.
Sincerely,
Fist-bumping dude with an untucked shirt who rolls big.
We're HIPSTERS, damnit. Not HISPTERS [sic]. C'mon adblog dude!
My point was just that if you put yourself out there and take risks you will have things that don't always work out for you and will sometimes make you look like a rock star. When you are always being careful and not putting yourself out there you will of course never make blunders and be criticized but then again you will never be a rock star. Even if it is only for a day!
someone made "We roll big" t-shirts ... does that make it viral?
http://www.spreadshirt.net/shop.php?op=article&article_id=3404773#top
YES, the t-shirts make it viral
Post a comment