For its new geo-specific campaign “You Rule,” meant to push its no-commitment cell phone service, Virgin Mobile made a big oops in the Big Apple, installing neighborhood-specific ads in the wrong neighborhoods.
This wouldn’t be a huge issue if not for the fact that some wrongly-placed ads are actually trashing the neighborhoods they’ve found themselves in.
To note, an unspecified number of Upper West Side posters have been placed on the Upper East Side. And they say really clever things like, “…because up here it’s not cool to be tied down and uptight. If you want to live like that, move to Greenwich, or at least across the park.”
The campaign was created by McKinney in Durham, North Carolina, but a Virgin spokeswoman is pointing fingers at an outdoor company entrusted with the task of placing the posters in their rightful frames.
McKinney president Jeff Jones notes, “This work was inspired by the truth that most cell phone providers want customers to make a commitment to them, and Virgin Mobile is all about making a commitment to its customers.”
Commitments are cool, as long as the ones to whom you confess said commitment don’t catch you shit-talking. That’s what’s called a relationship foul.
The guys in charge of campaign execution – whoever those may be – might want to pull out some gigantic barf bags right about now. Or at least buy flowers for all those tight-assed, tied-down Upper East Siders.
