I remember working after hours one evening and a guy from a nearby office came in, introduced himself and said he ran out of printer paper and desperately needed some. I gave him about 20 sheets and he proceeded to tell me his career accomplishments and generally how important he was. Trying to get some work done myself, I found myself hoping he would soon stop talking but I had no such luck. The Groucho in me then told him that if I realized he was so important, I would have given him more paper. He got the message and mercifully left.
It’s a scenario akin to the old joke about having a conversation with a director who’s talking about his favorite subject–himself.
Now tapping into the humor of this ego-centric behavior–and offering tongue-in-cheek encouragement for more–is a clever viral campaign, “Conversations,” designed to promote the AICP Show and motivate industry folk to enter this year’s competition.
It offers tips on how past AICP Show honorees can bring the conversation around to New York’s Museum of Modern Art, which houses AICP Show-recognized work in its film archives. Then honorees can mention that their work is at MoMA.
Dieting
In “Fad Diets,” which is episode two in the seven-part AICP Show campaign, we’re informed through an introductory sign that we’re about to hear a conversation about “Topic #108: Fad Diets.” The pair discussing dieting consists of a man and a woman who are seen as graphic silhouette-like characters seated in the back of a taxi cab going through Gotham. The guy asks her if she’s had any luck keeping her new year’s resolution. She responds that dieting has been difficult.
Signage supered across the backseat cab scene at opportune moments then takes us step by step on how to skew the conversation your way. The first reads, “Step 1: Bring up that there are a lot out there.”
The guy does just that. “There are so many stupid diets out there.”
The next sign reads, “Step 2: Mention that most of them don’t work.
“And most of them don’t even work,” he says. “Yeah, look at what happened to the Atkins guy.”
She replies, “Didn’t he die?
Then Step 3 reads, “Bring up all you need is a good walk.”
“I’m a firm believer in mall walking. Solves all my problems,” says the gent.
“Step 4: Mention that MoMA has 630,000 square feet to walk on.”
Right on cue, the guy relates, “You know, if you’re in the city, you should consider walking around MoMA. It has like 630,000 square feet.
“Gee, that’s a lot,” she says. “I could lose like six or seven pounds.”
“Step 5: Mention your work is in there somewhere.”
In reference to MoMA, the man notes, “Yeah, and there’s a lot of culture there. Well you can see my work.” He then slyly slips his arm behind her neck, bringing them closer together.
“Your work,” she says, sounding impressed. “So I could actually lose weight and learn.”
“Yeah,” he responds. “My work will make your ass tighter and your brain bigger,” as we see a supered message that advises, “Make every conversation a conversation about you.”
She says, “Let’s go to MoMA. I’m feeling skinnier already.” A parting super informs us that we can enter the AICP Show at www.aicp.com.
Student body of work
The creative for this campaign came from students at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Brandcenter under the aegis of managing director/professor Rick Boyko. The VCU Brandcenter team included copywriter Tim Gordon, art director Karen Land, creative brand manager Daniel Riddick and communications strategist Neeti Newaskar.
Grant Lau and Wilson Wu of bicoastal Imaginary Forces served as co-directors on the campaign.
