Ask Gets Cryptic, Too Cryptic, to Push Equally Cryptic Algo
We were trawling SF during ad:tech when we saw the ad at left, except smaller and on some kind of relief kiosk. We wondered whose it was and suspected Ask after seeing another billboard that said, "The algorithm killed Jeeves."
Bitter much? The butler was awkward. If the algo didn't kill him, Ms. Dewey would have anyway.
Anyway, Make the Logo Bigger asked the question we didn't and found all the alleged background information for this Ask.com campaign by Crispin.
The hope is people will be inspired to hunt around for the campaign online, thereby tickling the very algorithm that so escapes them. Well, one out of three ain't bad.
Comments
On first blush, I tend to agree with the notion that this is another sign advertisers believe the public cares a lot more about advertising than they do. Then again, this extremely narrow, targeted approach to niche audiences is something of a testament to DraftFCB's data-driven "Wal-Mart" (or should I say, "KMart") vision of the future of marketing.
I said it once, and I'll say it again. The future of advertising may well come down to CP&B's "we create culture" approach and DraftFCB's data-is-king model facing off for twelve rounds.
I hear Julie Roehm is already auditioning for ring girl....
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