Promo - September 2008 - (Page 20)

B rian Q uinton Interactive Be Like Kanye Absolut takes viral path with West promo What could be better than being as cool as Kanye West? Well, perhaps growing a working pair of Michael Phelps gills. But a summertime promotion teaming the recording star with Absolut vodka promised a pill that could do exactly that: turn anyone into Kanye West, for a few hours. The campaign grew out of a sponsorship by the stylish Absolut 100 of West’s “Glow in the Dark” tour earlier this year. That link extended to a short video produced by West for Absolut’s “Visionaries” branding campaign, launched online in February. The video shows clips by creative and distinctive artists, comedians and personalities themed around the Absolut tag line, “In an Absolut World.” West’s clip was a clever spoof on celebrity and narcissism. He walks into a club, takes over the dance floor, but retreats to the men’s room in sudden panic. The reason? He’s really a doughy white guy who’s able to drop a couple of fizzy tablets into a glass of water and turn back into Kanye West for a few more hours. Funny stuff in itself, and the clip was rolled out to play in movie theaters this summer, as well as on Absolut’s Web site, an Absolut channel on YouTube and in other Internet media. As of last month, the clip has gotten more than 220,000 views on the YouTube Absolut channel and 2,200 ratings. But Absolut and the online agency behind the “Visionaries” campaign, Great Works, found a few interesting ways to take the concept deeper into the realm of buzz marketing. TBWA\ Chiat\Day, which handles Absolut’s print and broadcast advertising, created a pitch-perfect ’70s-style infomercial for “real” Be Kanye pills. Standing before a dazzling array of cheesy backdrops, West asks viewers, “How many times have you told yourself, ‘I feel famous and powerful on the inside, but nobody sees it on the outside’?” All the infomercial clichés are strung together: the booming voiceover, the explodinggalaxy background, the say-goodbye-to-messy-gels claims. The branding on the spot is extremely subtle. Only those who know the Absolut tag line will get the reference when West says, “Any time is Kanye time in an Absolut world.” Great Works placed the ad on a microsite, www.BeKanyeNow.com, which has seen W For more articles on interactive marketing go to www.promomagazine.com/interactive Newsletter Web RSS Webinar Conference Podcast upwards of 50,000 page views. The spot is also running on YouTube, where it has gotten about 150,000 views. To move the campaign offline, Great Works and TBWA created spoof ad cards that appeared on subways and buses and in taxis around New Absolut’s spoof York City. campaign may have “We just wanted to find a way to been confusing for get a real 360-degree impact around New York subway riders (inset). the Kanye West material, and this presented itself,” says Zoe Turnbull, account supervisor for Great Works. The cards point viewers to the BeKanyeNow Web site, but they also offer the same toll-free number shown in the faux infomercial. That number, staffed by media agency OMD, offers callers a chance to input their mobile numbers to sign up to become a West groupie, sign on to his “Absolut-ly fabulous” entourage, or get recipes for Absolut summer cocktails. The final phone option is being connected directly to West’s cell phone. Choose that, and you’ll find yourself on hold for a callback from West—in three months, 24 days, 11 hours and 24 minutes. 20 September 2008 / WWW.PROMOMAGAZINE.COM / Promo http://www.BeKanyeNow.com http://www.promomagazine.com/interactive http://www.promomagazine.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Promo - September 2008

Promo - September 2008 Contents Editor's Note Consumer Driven Magic Makeover Free Flight Legal Checkup Lasting Impressions Pop A Shop Commentary Squeezed Q&A: Eco-Friendly Champagne Tastes Safety First Resource Center The Agency Center Web Marketing 101 Index of Advertisers

Promo - September 2008

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