'Phone or Die' in Bed Stuy
If the Bed Stuy edition of the new locally-targeted ad campaign from Virgin Mobile is any indication, Branson et al should probably get back to the drawing board before the national roll-out. Here’s the text: When people close their eyes and think of Brooklyn, your legendary brownstones come to mind. That’s because everyone from rappers…
If the Bed Stuy edition of the new locally-targeted ad campaign from Virgin Mobile is any indication, Branson et al should probably get back to the drawing board before the national roll-out. Here’s the text:
When people close their eyes and think of Brooklyn, your legendary brownstones come to mind. That’s because everyone from rappers to directors have used you as the backdrop for stories about life in the neighborhood that has everything. Do or Die is more than a moniker. It speaks to the fact that you don’t take crap from anyone. Especially newcomers who want to change Bed-Stuy into some sort of yuppie strip mall. With us you only make changes if you want. That’s the beauty of our cell phone plans without annual contracts. Because Bed-Stuy, we know you call your own shots.
It’s a good thing Virgin Mobile has been so entrenched in the community for so long and isn’t trying to exploit it for commercial purposes! Check out another of the ads that up along the BQE on the jump.
Brooklynsis –
If you have spent that much time at a multicultural agency then you would know that much of the time what succeeds in focus groups and research fails in a real world situation. This has nothing to do with the “whites” in the agency writing copy. I could see many reasons for this copy to succeed in a test scenario. My guess is that the target audience is not your internet using, blog reading individuals who are currently bashing this campaign.
I bet only about 5% of the above have pay as you go phones for starters.
Would you be offended if I said that the agency “blacks” (who would tend to be middle-class or better) don’t even understand their audience?
This is an ad designed to appeal to drug dealers who change phones frequently and don’t want to be traceable. It’s sick.
These people are mostly clueless –
I remember working on an ad campaign for MCI-Sprint at my first agency job out of college. It targeted the poorer areas of Philly, Camden, Newark, etc. The point of the campaign was that you did not have to have good credit or have to go through a credit check in order to receive a phone. When it launched the second question the people were asked was “what credit card would you like to use”‘. Not one person at corporate could figure out that people with poor credit generally don’t have credit cards.
This is a CLASSIC example of white creatives at an ad agency creating ads with NO people of color input or testing. I work at a multicultural ad agency and see this mess ALL the time coming out of general market shops.
No this is not a ad for “drag”(sic) dealers anon. Nice try at being funny. No this is a white agency attempts to be down that has failed as miserably as your post.
As a PROUD African American Brownstoner resident of Bed Stuy, this ad does not make me prouder. It is pandering, at best.
Brownstoner–Have you ever heard of spell check?
Stacy,
I saw that ad, kind of made me want to puke. I hate ad copy written in the second person, and I hate advertising concepts that try to capture essence de Brooklyn — viz Domino’s ill-fated Brooklyn pizza ads.
Jeezus. I agree with the puker above.
I mean, I’m fine with a British owned company providing cell phone service (especially if their coverage is better than the crappy German-owned T-Mobile coverage), but I don’t seem to remember hearing anything about the Brooklyn headquarters of Virgin USA.
This is so offensive to both the old guard and “newcomers”. I may be a “newcomer” but at least I’m not disingenuous. Maybe Virgin will sponsor my block association or the public schools in the neighborhood if they want to put their money where their mouth is?
And the vernacular of the ad sounds more apropos to Williamsburg or Jeff Spicoli than Bed Stuy: AWESOME! YOU RULE! (…dude!)
If someone hasn’t defaced this ad already, I’d guess it has a life expectancy of about an hour (and I’m being generous). Let us know where it’s located and I’ll go deface it myself.
If you have feedback, this is the person to contact:
Media Relations
Jayne Wallace
Virgin Mobile USA
Email: Jayne.Wallace@virginmobileusa.com
I think it would help if comments were constructive (whether you’re pro or con these ads), and respectful in tone. Either way, just remember this woman didn’t author the ads; she’s Virgin’s internal PR person and as such would be interested in audience perceptions and opinions.
Crass corporate capitalism masking as earnest populist community boosterism.
Zero dollars.
Crazed community member running over her ex-lover with an SUV as a very real and stark counterpoint to the “do or die” slogan.
Priceless.