McCann-Erickson pledges to be behind three of the top 10 most “positively talked about” ads by the end of next year
August 6 2010, 11:47 am | | 50 Comments
SMH marketing editor Julian Lee reports that one of Australia’s oldest advertising agency brands, McCann-Erickson, has hit upon a novel way to market itself by pledging to be behind three of the top 10 most “positively talked about” ads by the end of next year.
50 Comments
No pressure
So they have less than a year to change everything they do.
who knew it was so easy
I can see this happening.
Just look at the latest ‘Tap ‘n Go’ creative.
Obviously, they’re holding back for the onslaught.
Don’t count on that shite Mastercard ad to be one of them.
If the people stuck doing boring old TV and press ads are ‘dead’ as Mort says, then who does he propose does these ads which everyone will be talking about?
And is it a coincidence that Mort is Death in French?
And this release is meant to get us talking about them being talked about for having three of the most talked about ads. riiiiiiiight:)
No chance
hahahahahahahahahahaha! You got me, oh yeah you got me, hahahahahaha!
Behind 3? What, like fourth?
A real Bob Hawke no-child-living-in-poverty moment right there.
Is it all about them or all about their clients?
Maybe their clients don’t want ads that are talked about. Maybe that just want ads that sell.
With all due respect, they are not necessarily always one and the same thing.
The article also said: “The agency also aims to have built a database of at least a million Australians on behalf of its clients, which include Pfizer, Uncle Toby’s, Jack Daniel’s, Holden and Mastercard.”
Sounds scary. My new business advice would be that the next key client they should go after is ASIO. It sounds like they are already in the same business.
Ad 1: a nun fellating a horse.
Ad 2: uses footage from snuff movies.
Ad 3: repeated use of the C-Word.
Getting talked about is easy.
Hiring from outside? The most talented outsider couldn’t have saved that woeful Mastercard ad. Sorry, but this parrot is dead.
‘E’s passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! ‘E’s expired and gone to meet ‘is maker!
‘E’s a stiff! Bereft of life, ‘e rests in peace! If you hadn’t nailed ‘im to the perch ‘e’d be pushing up the daisies!
‘Is metabolic processes are now ‘istory! ‘E’s off the twig!
‘E’s kicked the bucket, ‘e’s shuffled off ‘is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisibile!!
THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!
I think they have a few blatantly obvious issues they’ll need to address first.
Wouldn’t it be grand if their clients suddenly turned around and said: “So you’re only gonna start trying NOW?”
Good luck
Please make ad 1, 2 & 3. Please.
While you’re at it, why not promise to deliver 10 Lions too
Don’t say.
Do.
The McCann smacking continues – that’s really amazing – someone had a management meeting moment not long ago and decided McCanns should make some corporate noise…..
…..geeesh I bet they’re glad they minuted that now…….2 slappings out of 2 – I hope they just cancelled the 3rd release…..mind it would be funny if they didn’t.
I want to be an astronaut.
I picked up three lions in cannes. I actually picked them up. They were stuffed animals and I raised them above my head for over 30 seconds.
I pledge to win lots of money, turn into a unicorn and cure cancer with a slice of cheese.
People entrusted to run major agencies are so out of touch with their immediate environments that they waste golden opportunities to facilitate change, choosing instead the well-trodden path of easy platitudes and empty promises.
Mark why would you say something so silly?
Everyone make sure you have diaried August 5th 2011 to come back to this thread and discuss how well McCanns have done. Lynchy. Any chance of bringing this story back to the top of the blog next year so we can all applaud/deride where appropriate?
Brilliant. Great Friday humour. They post that mastercard
stuff then this.
If they are actually serious getting rid of the people responsible for that would be a start. And hiring some decent suits/planners would be next.
Well I guess the clients must be thrilled…they chose a dead dog who wants to go to the races…seriously….
…a “Culture of tinkerers”?
Tinkerer – Noun 1. an unskilled person who tries to fix or mend
So Mark Pollard is saying Mcanns is in need of fixing and they are going to use unskilled people to attempt to do this. Hardly inspires confidence now, does it?
Having worked there, I once witnessed a previous management team agree (in front of the agency after an AFA ethics preso) that they would use the creative work of a competing agency (in a pitch scenario) if the client preferred it but bought into them because of $$ oh and their strategy….!?! …huh
At that point I looked at my GAD, she looked at me, both stunned and 6 months later neither of us were still there thank Christ!
Look leave them alone, everyone has a 50,000 year plan. They’re going to go digitalization in 4075!
They just got 32 comments! But they weren’t all positive. Is this the first of the three tactics?
Singletons said they would enter awards a year ago. Entering is fine. Winning is different. Cart before the horse my friends.
DM is the way forward but in digital. Imagine an iPad you could Z fold and spot varnish? Think about it?
If they make their ads a little worse than they are now, they’ll easily become the most talked about – for all the wrong reasons.
The thing is that New Zealand were the only unbeaten team at the World Cup.
Bet this idea sounded ok to over exited junior agency account people over warm wine and chips in the agency reception.
I promise, within the next year I’ll have made three campaigns that the punters and our peers will love, and even talk about, sometimes. I’m even ballsy enough to propose that people will think about me in their dreams, sometime after I’ve won my platinum logie. Awards and friends. Watch this space!
Pledge to do this or what?
It’s not fun if there’s no what. If you don’t achieve this by next year, shut up shop.
Or just shut up.
Is the TAB offering odds on this not happening?
I could use a Christmas bonus next year.
It pretty easy to do 3 pieces of crap.
As Dave Trott used to say in his workshops, it’s very easy to draw attention to your ad, all you need is a big picture of a severed foot as your visual.
The hard part, as he pointed out, is to make it relevant.
Talk is cheap.
The McCann-Erickson Pledge. Sounds like a packaged goods campaign.
I bet the creative department is even more embarrassed than it usually is.
I’m on a horse
I am a horse.
is that a bag of salt to McCanns then….
Good luck to them for wanting to do some good work instead conveniently banging on about effectiveness. But I think the goal should be far more measurable…
“Employees in the Sydney office then numbered about 25 people; today it is 48.”
but did Chris Mort tell anyone that Brisbane is zero, and Melbourne is half the size,
at least he got to have a little party for the “new Business” he took from the other offices
“take out ads and insert brands” How can mccann make what I suppose they thought was a very important announcement and then announce that the announcement was incorrect. clever