A grainy home video showing a teenage girl whining about a red car for a birthday present (she wanted blue!) was part of a multi-layered Domino’s Pizza campaign created by JWT/New York and Humble, a New York production company. “My Birthday Disaster” was one of a series of 16 viral videos that played at YouTube and other video sharing sites to promote Domino’s $9.99 Anything Goes deal and give away cars and other high end prizes to the winners of the campaign contest.
The video, shot with a hand held camera to give it “the viral home based feel,” according to Eric Berkowitz, Humble’s executive producer, was the technique used to reach the YouTube audience. “The idea is to produce them in a way so it looks like it fits into the medium,” said Jill Rothman, JWT’s director of production. “It looks real, not over produced and slick.”
Although the video was carefully cast, with special lighting and sound requirements, according to Berkowitz, it comes across as a rough family video, purportedly shot by the “brother” holding the camera. A combination of medium shots and close ups are used to portray the main character who, surrounded by members of her family, yammers on about not wanting the car.
Humble’s cameraman used a Panasonic DVX-100b and Panasonic HVX200 for the job.
The video was shot at a house in West Caldwell, NJ, on a cold December day. The video campaign began running on Dec. 15 and the campaign continued through Feb. 4. Viewers of the video were directed to Domino’s www.anythinggoesdeal.com where they could register to play and solve the daily puzzles in order to search the prize on ebay. The winner of the contest associated with this video was able to buy the girl’s red car for $9.99, which supports the Domino’s offer.
“The viral video was a way to engage with the young 18-29 pizza eating target where they are instead of interrupting them with normal broadcast commercials,” Rothman said.
It should be noted that the videos in the campaign weren’t brand specific. The Domino’s connection is only revealed when viewers go to the website. So the campaign demonstrates how YouTube can be used in a brand-free way to promote a brand. “When you do viral videos, certain ones will hit,” Rothman said. “We’re trying to take what we know about film and bring it to this type of guerilla video production.”
Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action Lawsuit To Proceed Against Meta
The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors' lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.
The justices heard arguments in November in Meta's bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.
The high court dismissed the company's appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.
Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users' personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump 's first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.
Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company's shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court's action. "The plaintiff's claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court," Stone said in an emailed statement.
Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.
Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.
The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia.... Read More