CRIKEY! SINGO’S PLUSH EXPLOIT FOR COKE EXPOSED
This for today’s Crikey.com.au newsletter……
Creative exploitation goes better with Coke
An advertising insider writes:
Ad agency Singletons have asked 20 TV commercial directors (whom they consider young & groovy etc) to submit treatments for a 1-3 minute film … featuring … Coca Cola.
They will then choose 10 directors from their treatments and fund them to $30,000 to make their films. Apparently the Coca Cola stuff is be featured as “revitalising” (whatever that means).
All this is “top secret” of course and the invited have to swear secrecy. The Singleton owned production company Plush Films is involved. The films are to be released on the internet and will remain the property of Coca Cola.
OK, what it means: 20 young Directors, paranoid about the current lack of work in the industry, will all be killing each other to get their scripts together in the hope of staying young and groovy in the eyes of the agency and the production house. They will be “buying” the jobs.
There is no way that they can create these films on this sort of budget unless they cash in all their favours with crew and editors etc. They have to provide all the services for the $30,000. Most 45 second commercials cost at least $150 – $200 thousand to produce. Minimum.
Who is the beneficiary? Coca Cola. They get to run a hip and groovy viral internet campaign at a bargain basement price! And Singletons for getting all this exposure (which will be trumpeted in all the trade mags etc) for the 3rd World price of $300 thousand – total. They’ll make a million miles out of it.
The directors who are put in this melee will think they are being positioned for future jobs … but there’s too many of them for any benefit to flow back to an individual. It stinks. Coca Cola goes Tropfest.
And the poor bastards “invited” to submit are too scared to refuse – thinking they’ll be seen as not excited/team players etc and will miss future pitches for one of the world’s biggest advertisers.
It’s the sort of idea only a couple of creatives on a long lunch would dream up. If ever an Agency needed an outing, this is it.
20 Comments
Love your work (CB Blog that is – not Singos).
Don’t do it!! Coke rots your teeth!!!
not exactly surprising, considering their previous efforts
well its doesnt have to be 200K to be a great idea. as many ads that have cost more than that have proved. and if its viral it doesnt have to be finished in 19.1 super surround sound thx cinemascope either my powerbook can online something like that. They have the choice to say yes or no to be involved and.how much did Ok Go’s film clip cost (they even returned the treadmills after the shoot for a refund!) Viral just doesnt have much of a budget, so you have to either have a great script of free reign. and its sounds like they stand a chance of the latter.so my take…. big deal. let the kids run with it but for that money kids dont let them tell you what to do! your kinda funding the spot for the reel so be strong!
exploiting creatives is nothing new. every agency does it with their junior staff. pay them 25k to come up with big ideas for clients who are paying the agency millions a year.
Finally CB blog finds a good reason to exist other than posting ads and telling us who is working where. real journalism – who’d a thunk it.
Teeth? Sounds like – if you’re a director – it rots your bank account too.
This is typical of Plush. Typical of the Australian industry at the moment and typical of agencies treatment of production companies for the last decade. Everyone ends up buying most jobs in one way or another. Favours are never repaid. Loyalty is non existent. Get used to it.
Isn’t this an admission on Singo’s part that none of their own creative people are young and groovy or can create a young and groovy idea?Seems a bit short-sighted to me.Wouldn’t the client’s next obvious step (to save money) be to bypass Singo’s altogether?
i agree. isn’t it the creatives job to do the creative work?
Naughty Singos!Just as well agency creatives never call up directors for self-indulgent favours
On ya Campaign Brief !- about time you used your power to expose these evil Agnecy and Multi-National tricks!I say to Producers and Directors- Don’t be a sucker and play into their hands – dont even think about doing it! It’s no wonder any Director worth a grain of salt is seeking work offshore.
hpdzqolqWhere have you been 3.09 Annonymous?Since when don’t agency creatives call up Directors for self indulgent favours?
.. agency creatives? Isn’t that anathema these days? Who needs agency creatives when you’ve got desperate directors..?
sounds like a pretty normal brief these days. All the directors and production companies let Plush and all the STW agencies get to this stage by rolling over years ago. Great ethics for a publicly listed company.You reap what you sew.
I wish we could know how many clients read this Blog, lots I hopeSo last week Singos goes on the defence as their pet client the Comm bank rip the creative away from Singo’s and give it to the USA. Fighting back Singos then gives away a great creative oppurtunity to the cheapest bid. Fucking brilliant My Gut tells me that Coke are paying far more than $30,000 per spot, I trully hope so, cause when Coke (USA) finds out .. goodbye Plush, the big multi nationals cannnot afford to be seen condoning price fixing whiich after all is illegal.& God help Coke if the main stream media get hold of this story …… hmmmmm.
6:34. After you get the hang of this blogging caper (eg: don’t publish the word verification!) you might have enough mental agility left to realise that the person you’re lampooning was being ironic.Let me give you another example:A chemist had a sign in his window: ‘We dispense with accuracy.’Someone seeing this sign pointed out to the chemist that his sign could be taken to mean the exact opposite of its intended meaning.So he changed the sign to read:’We do not dispense with accuracy.’Get it?
What bunch of scared children you all really are! For once an agency is asking directors to flex there creatibe muscles and suddenly you are all crying exploitation! If directors don’t want to do it, they won’t. But for a lot of dorectors this is a chance to do something unique and individual. Who else is offering that? You? I don’t think so! Wake up and write some good scripts. Otherwise shot up and watch what happens.p.s. I have no vested interest. so don’t claim that i do!
This is called a free market. What exactly is plush or singos doing wrong here? offering people money to shoot something for the web that will end up being about 300 pixels wide? have any of you been offered a viral spot? because 30k sounds like about the average budget, yes theres big issues if coke is paying much more (can anyone spell colours) but 10 spots is 300k plus agency costs for a viral campaign. dont think coke would be spending much more.its not slave labour, just say yes if you want to or dont. and since when does the average creative have time to come up with an idea for a viral spot, look around th average creative is so overworked they dont have time to brush their hair. i dont get the fuss.
Com bank and Coke, is Singos the new Plush?Makig money doing nothing.Mind you, that’s a pretty awesome business plan if you ask me.