'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.
JB,
Get a clue, the add says ” BED STUY”
Great…thanks Virgin for giving another youth with nothing to lose a little bit of encouragement…to commit a crime against an unsuspecting “Yuppie”. After all, can’t I use your phone to call my hommies and tell them what happened?
Afterall, I don’t take crap from anyone.
Stupid Ad? Yes
BUT…they aren’t targeting Bed-Stuy people.
They have these ads in many different neighborhoods. UES/UWS/Chinatown/GV.
If you ask me, what a waste of ad space advertising on the UES/UWS, unless Virgin has a blackberry plan.
I think they are trying to appeal to new yorkers as a whole, not just lower income “gangsta” types who need a disposable phone to commit crimes, as has been insinuated.
5:18 is back peddling
My father used to call this one, “Pimps on Poverty!”
5:18, then I think you totally missed the point that Brooklynisis was making. If the target is the group YOU are talking about, the poor, credit-less, group. (In Bed-Stuy, that would be majority AA) then her point is valid. Do or Die is not a moniker that is worn proudly by historical bed stuy residents. So if the marketing team just took references to “do or die” and thought it was a thing of pride, then yes… it is pandering.
The danger in this type of advertising is it gives a false sense of identity to people who are otherwise unfamiliar.
Before YOU go getting on your high horse, try to educate yourself on how poor advertising damages communities!
What group of people are the anti development, anti yuppies in Bed-Stuy? apparently not YOU!
First off, I agree that the ad is poor at best and yes, any research that was performed produced poor results (probably done in focus groups in an area other than the intended market).
However, you just don’t get the point I am making. Agreed, the ad is placed in Bed-Stuy – but all of Bed-Stuy is not the target audience. They are trying to attract a sub-segment within Bed-Stuy – the segment which is the largest consumer of pay-as-you phones. That being people with no credit history or a poorer one. It has nothing to do with what Bed-Stuy as a whole thinks about the copy. It has to do with how that specific demo interprets the it. Yes everybody can see the ad because of where it is placed. Yes it can piss off 99% of the population. However if it is successful in reaching that 1%, and that 1% is the intended audience, then the ad is 100% successful.
Anon 5:31 – I had nothing to do with this campaign nor am I in the business any longer. Is it possible you misunderstood the copy as you misunderstood me? Believe me, the industry knows you all too well.
5:18 clearly works for the agency that Virgin hired. Told them that he conducted extensive focus groups and the “do or die” theme resonated well with the locals. He Then took the rest of his money, bought a UES Condo, and loaned the rest of his loot to his developer brother to make another Fedders Shit Sandwich special at Marcy and Myrtle!
Anon 5:18,
It looks like you are the one that needs to be educated. You’re assuming Isis is not the target, but if you read the ad carefully, it looks like anyone who is NOT a newcomer, developer, or someone who wants to change the “makeup” of Bed-Stuy.
I’m African-American. Born and raised in Bed/Stuy and it looks to me like they are targeting people who are indigenous to the Stuy. I’m offended by the seperatist approach and divisive nature of the add.
I actually don’t know what point YOU’RE trying to make, but who cares, the point is the add sucks, and if any research was done to create this, it was poorly done