*viral highjack*

viral highjack

I’m not sure what the most interesting thing about ASABAILEY’s www.ogilvymather.co.uk viral stunt. The fact that they had the cajones to do it, or the fact that they had the cajones to launch the buzz by being the first to write about it. Here’s what greets visitors to www.ogilvymather.co.uk:

Ogilvy is dead. Long Live Mather.

lpc24, an Adland user who who gave the heads-up on the stunt, appears to be a sort of shell account for ASABAILEY. He or she has only posted twice, both about ASABAILEY stunts, and admits being involved in the current hijack in the comments to the Adland entry.

[edit]
As the comment below states, lpc24 is a freelance writer who helps write for ASABAILEY, not a shell account. I apologize for assuming otherwise.
[/edit]

The post itself, though, poses as outside commentary:

The question is, is this underhanded, or a cheap attack from the viral team, or is O&M and other Ad Goliaths, fair game for a stunt such as this? What is the team trying to prove? If it is to make a big established ad agencies look outdated — it worked. However you look at it, it’s an underdogs blow to a massive advertising establishment, that by its nature, and as the ad states, should know how to protect its brand.

If a press release was sent to Adland, there would have most likely still been a post on the hijack. Dabitch and crew are pretty good about that. But by posting meta-commentary on their own stunt, ADA was able to control the initial seed–and all further commentary on their stunt. To frame the reactions, and in so doing, remove some of the WTF-factor and potential backlash. Some may see this as perhaps more “underhanded” than the stunt. Others may see it as really effective PR.

Either way, I’m reminded of Dadaists entering urinals in art shows just so that they could then comment on their rejection. Point made, times two.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 6th, 2004 at 2:27 pm and is filed under *advertising* . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

4 Responses to “viral highjack”

LPC24 Says:
November 6th, 2004 at 5:38 pm
I work with the ASABAILEY team on their viral stunts, that�s true; I work as a freelance writer. In the mean time I thought I’d post what content I had to hand on adland. I’ll try to be wider in my posts from now on too, but obviously I’m bound to be bias towards those who help to pay my rising mortgage.

SO, to my fellow Dadaists out there - is it me, but do all boys toilets smell of pee. I�m off back to the bar for that Guinness with Dabitch :)

Bye for now.
ViralAdAgency.com Says:
November 9th, 2004 at 10:59 am
People in glasshouses? Yes indeed!

Go to ASABAILEY.COM and all you’ll see is a link to VIRALADVERTISINGAGENCY.COM…

Yet they failed to snag the much more obvious VIRALADAGENCY.COM when it wasn’t renewed.

Big mistake!
Dabitch Says:
November 24th, 2004 at 11:55 pm
Dabitch and crew are pretty good about that.. *takes a wee bow* Uh-huh. The whole idea of Adland is of course that any member can post to the front page, just like that. It’s fun that way, people can come say what they please - under assumed names to protect the guilty - and all that jazz. Things we don’t let through are the usual, pressreleases with 600 mentions of the PR companies name written in ALL CAPS and the whole thing starts with “LONDON:” or “LOS ANGELES; CALIFORNIA” written in PR-ease. double-u tee eff people? The crowd is us adgrunts, talk to us like normal people. ;)
Funny stuff though, sure, bring it on! It’s your soapbox! That is why I built that microphone. ALways not ethe username.. Brandon gets it. ;)
Mortgage Loans Ireland Says:
January 16th, 2008 at 8:29 am
Mortgage Loans Ireland…

Mortgage Loans Ireland…

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What is texturl?

texturl shoves together the terms "text" and "URL". texturl is a URL containing text and about text. texturl is digital text, webbed text, URLed text: textURL. texturl spawns two different readings hinged on a single letter substitution: textu(a)l and textu(r)l: textural. Text is textural; words are concrete and measurable and have concrete and measurable results. texturl is words, working.

Brandon Barr is a copywriter in Atlanta, GA. He holds an MA in English Literature from the University of Rochester and remains interested in the poetics of new media--in the arts, in video games, in TV & radio, and in advertising. He loves music. And he works at IQ Interactive.
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*viral highjack*

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What is texturl?

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viral highjack

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