Continuing the Australian theme (and the boomerang-fancying nation
does seem to be cropping up in Diary with alarming regularity), another
example of subtle and understated advertising reaches us courtesy of our
friends down under.
This time it's an example of the advertising industry advertising
itself, in the shape of the YoungGuns International Advertising
Award.
A new campaign, to promote the under-30s' award scheme and encourage
people to enter, depicts some distinctly over-30 creative advertising
gurus going to desperate lengths in order to appear younger, just so
that they can enter the Young Guns competition. The first two executions
are about to be unveiled: one has Warren Brown mounting the pretentious
creative's vehicle of choice, the two-wheel scooter, and hurtling down a
steep hill; while the other shows Gary Horners getting a piercing in a
fairly painful place, and reacting accordingly.
Future executions will involve such luminaries as Steve Henry, John
Hegarty and David Droga.
And, true to its status as a creative award scheme, YoungGuns could be
set to raise the hackles of the media agency community with the
campaign.
The reason: it's being distributed by viral MPEG, so the media value is
pretty much zero.
