'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.
5:33 – you are right… totally insulting.
I really love how they’re “inviting” us to do the job of their ad agency. They’re “dedicated” to us helping them sell their products to us but that’s about it.
This makes for such bad PR for them on so many levels, it astounds me.
This is an opportunity for Virgin to do some good, get some great PR in the process (which is worth more than any advertising campaign – it could be implemented in other areas in other communities across the country as well), get a buzz going and further their brand in many ways, but they are so completely missing the boat.
Instead of building a relationship with the community and fostering a loyal customer base, they’re alienating us even more.
Do they not realize that word of mouth is the best and cheapest marketing?
Here’s a great example of how they’re losing out: my parents have been with Sprint PCS for ages because I bought my dad a Sprint phone for Christmas 7 years ago. I’ve since changed providers 2 times but they’re still with Sprint. Even though my loyalty has waned, they’re still going strong. So, let’s do the math: $100 plan per month x 12 x 7 years x 2 parents = Sprint has made at least $16,800 off my one purchase. And that’s not counting the roaming, overage fees and new phones they’ve bought in the past 7 years.
I won’t be buying him a Virgin phone any time soon. A snowball’s chance in hell at this rate. Sucks for them. Oh well, I guess it just goes to show what their true intentions are.
These ads are so disgusting and condescending. They are just so disturbing on so many levels. But then again most people who work in advertising are pretty despicable as well.
I agree with 1:03.
There wasn’t any sort of race reference in the ad – there WAS a class reference, but black folks can be Yuppies too.
The most ironic part of all this little sub-plot about Brooklynisis, is that s/he has told us s/he works in a professional capacity and lives in the city. We don’t know her/his age, but if s/he is relatively young, that makes Brooklynisis a Young Urban Professional (AKA “YUPPIE”).
Sorry, Brooklynisis, if I’ve made assumptions about your age, but you sound most definitely like an Urban Professional (and I mean that in a good way – I’d rather be a “professional” than an “unprofessional” or a deadbeat) and you’re obviously young enough to keep up with blogs and such.
So it seems there are YUPPIES who are part of the target audience, myself included.
Anyway… HAHAHAHAHA.
That is funny.
this is not about people of color fighting for justice-bed stuy is not only about people of color, by the way…i am white and i think that this campaign stinks on every level.
Enough already,
Brooklyninisis you hopefully won’t join another advertising firm in your long career that perhaps won’t be dedicated to the black journey. Please sign a contract that your salary and career will never take precedence to your obvious humble current beliefs. You know like Spike Lee who apparently did the right thing when he left Brooklyn for the Upper East Side. I’m not saying that people of color don’t have a right to move up and onward just trying not to be spoon fed your bulls*&t!
here’s virgin’s response to an email i sent earlier today. totally insulting and inadequate–
Thank you for taking the time to write. We
appreciate your comments and
recognize that we touched a nerve here. We have
invited Bed-Stuy
members of a local blog, bstoner.wpengine.com, to
provide us with
suggestions for an alternate poster for the
neighborhood, and extend
that invitation to you as well. Virgin Mobile
has always been dedicated
to giving consumers what they want, and this
seems like a good way to
demonstrate that.
Jayne Wallace
908-607-4014
Virgin Mobile # 917-374-9746
4:33 already has secured his/her rights to the text he/she wrote. A work is copyrighted as soon as it’s put into tangible form (ie: published on this blog).
If you think they’re really going to publish your text, thereby violating your copyright, you can register with the US Copyright Office by filling out the forms available at http://www.copyright.gov and paying a $45 fee. This allows you to also sue for legal fees and statutory damages if a party violates your copyright (among other advantages).
Full info about registration is available here:
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#cr
4:33- i hope that you’ve called your lawyer to secure some rights for the on point copy you’ve written. virgin should have done half as good a job.
just want to say that as a newcomer to bed stuy by way of fort greene i am so happy to see this thread. not happy that virgin has made asses of themselves by insulting the community, but happy to see the many eloquent responses that have followed.
this only reinforces my excellent decision to live here and raise my (white) family. i love the pride, individuality and loyalty of my neighbors and the inclusive spirit that is bed stuy. that’s what it’s all about. wake up virgin…1987 was a long time ago.
I’m with BedStuyMediaGuy.
Jayne, it’s lame to come to us with an invitation to basically do your work for you for free. You all broke it, you fix it. For real. In the community. With Virgin all over it.
I like the tie in to the pay-as-you-go phone angle, BSMG. Way to make meaning out of commerce!