Ad Mavericks

Several suggestions for Worst of the Week rolled in this past week.  I had one suggestion about Pizza Hut’s brand confusion – with “The Hut” – which caused them to actually put out a news release stating that they were not changing their name.  Then, there was a suggestion of the latest ad from Burger King and the brilliant (not) promotional work their Singapore agency has done for them overseas (this should have been hands-down winner, but I hate to rag on – and give more attention to – BK and their inferiority complex again.  Also had a suggestion for an Iowa State University Facebook fan page with almost 9,000 members, but no status updates or wall posts (I’m not sure this is ISU’s official Facebook fan page – or if it is someone else that started this fan page).

However, this week’s award goes to Converse (yeah, the sneaker company).  

First let me say that Converse seems to be making a comeback with the teen market – so maybe what they are doing is working.  My teen “sources” seem to have put Converse back on their radars.  And Converse, with its Chuck Taylors, have always seemed to play a little to the counter-culture.  However, I’m not exactly sure how you make the connection from stylish athletic shoes to this. (www.kissingwithross.com)

If you can stomach exploring this site for any length of time, you’ll see other videos – all part of the same “campaign”?  I’m assuming this is some kind of crowdsourced type campaign where Converse asks people to be creative and submit their videos – but I have no idea why any company (besides maybe a body-modification company – note the guy’s ear) would want their brand associated with this.

There are plenty of good examples of crowdsourced campaigns – companies that have done it right.  Watching a guy kiss plate glass doesn’t qualify.  In fact, this campaign looks like it was developed with the stereotypical, award-winning “creative process” that happens at larger agencies demonstrated in this video:  

Congrats Converse, you are the Worst of the Week.

Author: Tom Flynn III

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