The Mystery of Carlos Soto: how the Dutch put Dalarö on the map
At first it seemed like just another ordinary day on a small Scandinavian island. But something very strange was afoot. According to witnesses, no fewer than 32 residents of an otherwise normal Swedish town made their way to their nearest Volvo dealer and parted with good money for the new S40 model.
It may have been a freak coincidence. But perhaps they were propelled into their purchase by some unknown force?
Renowned documentary-maker Carlos Soto is called out to make a film about the events. His previous work on "Tears of Bethania" seems to make him the perfect choice for the car-maker. He flies to Sweden and shoots footage proudly displayed on an official Volvo website.
And then the rumours start flying around.
Some people say that Soto has been questioning the whole purpose of the project on his own web pages and feels he's been somehow misled. Others have gone one stage further and questioned the existence of Mr Soto himself.
The truth is out there. But we have to travel to Amsterdam to find it.
The innovative spoof campaign is apparently the brainchild of Volvo's rostered European ad agency, MBVMS Fuel Europe. One of the interesting aspects of the project is the way it breaks new ground in terms of mixed media platforms. The mockumentary itself can be viewed on the web or by DVD and is supported by television ads that simply give a flavour of the subject matter and a URL for Volvo Cars. Meanwhile, the creation of the Soto website adds a strong viral element to the campaign. Creatively, it's one of the most intriguing and elaborate ideas I've come across in recent months and I suspect it could run and run. Perhaps the "Mystery of Dalarö" will join the JFK assassination as a perpetual talking point? The creatives are certainly having too much fun to let go of the idea.
© Phil Woodford, 2004. All rights reserved.
Phil Woodford is a creative director at a London-based advertising agency and a lecturer in advertising theory. www.philwoodford.com
Read more:
The Mystery of Dalarö
http://www.news40.volvocars.co.uk/flash/default.asp
Carlos Soto
www.carlossoto.com
In 1968, David Ogilvy wrote a letter that was distributed at New York's Grand Central Station to help raise money for an African-American college fund. The opening line asked readers to look out of the train window when they reached 108th Street. Seeing with their own eyes the homes of the impoverished black students, they donated $26,000 in one evening. A simple idea that proved incredibly powerful. And an inspiration for this blog on advertising creativity around the world.
Thursday, February 19, 2004
Sunday, February 01, 2004
Next time you visit the seaside, make it Koksijde
One of the hardest parts of writing a blog about advertising creativity is the fact that you have to take the rough with the smooth. Or, to put it another way, you can't always define creative excellence unless you're prepared to look at some examples of work that's fallen short of the mark.
Sometimes people have the very best of intentions, but still fail. One example I came across recently is a direct mail piece for Flanders-Brussels Tourism. This eight-sided, colourful mini-brochure is trying to persuade me that I should camp myself out on a beach just west of Zeebrugge. A difficult job at the best of times, as this bit of the Belgian coast isn't currrently the number-one destination for eager holiday-makers from the UK.
Sponsored by the Flemish Government and the European Fund for Regional Development, the mailshot has high production values and some intriguing photogaphy. There's just one drawback. It makes no sense whatsoever - presumably because of mistranslation. It's not possible to convey the full sense of the thing without showing you the pictures, but the headline copy reads as follows:
re-action
or no action
but where?
Here
Yellow
submarine
or earth bound pleasures
Knowledge
makes you go free
I don't want to embarrass anyone or to irritate the good people of Belgium. Although I've never sunbathed in Nieuwpoort or Wenduine, I certainly enjoyed Brussels very much on the couple of occasions I've visited the city. I'm also sure the people responsible for this brochure speak English a great deal better than I speak Flemish.
Nevertheless, there's no getting away from the fact that the words I've transcribed above are absolute gibberish. And you shouldn't assume they make a lot more sense with the photographs either. Youths in winter coats splash around the sea front, whilst a glamorous couple sips champagne and munches oysters from a table set up in a sand dune. Plastic dolls recline in deck chairs and a computer-animated mermaid swims towards us. None of the images is particularly well connected with the text and the overall effect is somewhat surreal.
It's very hard to give any persuasive advertising message a real-world, colloquial flavour that is understood and appreciated by native speakers of a language. That's why professional copywriters exist. It's also why the whole business of international advertising is fraught with danger. Even when moving between American, Australian and UK English, it's essential to tread very carefully.
A reconstructed screen grab from www.flemishcoast.co.uk is included in the brochure and tells me that the best time to experience the Belgian coastline is the late summer. That's when I can apparently enjoy it "intensively". By my reckoning, that gives them seven or eight months to revisit the marketing campaign.
© Phil Woodford, 2004. All rights reserved.
Phil Woodford is a creative director at a London-based advertising agency and a lecturer in advertising theory. www.philwoodford.com
One of the hardest parts of writing a blog about advertising creativity is the fact that you have to take the rough with the smooth. Or, to put it another way, you can't always define creative excellence unless you're prepared to look at some examples of work that's fallen short of the mark.
Sometimes people have the very best of intentions, but still fail. One example I came across recently is a direct mail piece for Flanders-Brussels Tourism. This eight-sided, colourful mini-brochure is trying to persuade me that I should camp myself out on a beach just west of Zeebrugge. A difficult job at the best of times, as this bit of the Belgian coast isn't currrently the number-one destination for eager holiday-makers from the UK.
Sponsored by the Flemish Government and the European Fund for Regional Development, the mailshot has high production values and some intriguing photogaphy. There's just one drawback. It makes no sense whatsoever - presumably because of mistranslation. It's not possible to convey the full sense of the thing without showing you the pictures, but the headline copy reads as follows:
re-action
or no action
but where?
Here
Yellow
submarine
or earth bound pleasures
Knowledge
makes you go free
I don't want to embarrass anyone or to irritate the good people of Belgium. Although I've never sunbathed in Nieuwpoort or Wenduine, I certainly enjoyed Brussels very much on the couple of occasions I've visited the city. I'm also sure the people responsible for this brochure speak English a great deal better than I speak Flemish.
Nevertheless, there's no getting away from the fact that the words I've transcribed above are absolute gibberish. And you shouldn't assume they make a lot more sense with the photographs either. Youths in winter coats splash around the sea front, whilst a glamorous couple sips champagne and munches oysters from a table set up in a sand dune. Plastic dolls recline in deck chairs and a computer-animated mermaid swims towards us. None of the images is particularly well connected with the text and the overall effect is somewhat surreal.
It's very hard to give any persuasive advertising message a real-world, colloquial flavour that is understood and appreciated by native speakers of a language. That's why professional copywriters exist. It's also why the whole business of international advertising is fraught with danger. Even when moving between American, Australian and UK English, it's essential to tread very carefully.
A reconstructed screen grab from www.flemishcoast.co.uk is included in the brochure and tells me that the best time to experience the Belgian coastline is the late summer. That's when I can apparently enjoy it "intensively". By my reckoning, that gives them seven or eight months to revisit the marketing campaign.
© Phil Woodford, 2004. All rights reserved.
Phil Woodford is a creative director at a London-based advertising agency and a lecturer in advertising theory. www.philwoodford.com
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