The name might suggest a madhouse, but look closer and you’ll see that Asylum Artists is a finely tuned production studio located in Toronto, Canada..
The campaign target audience was specifically directed towards Advertising & Creative Agencies. The challenge was to deliver a single minded selling proposition: Production logistics today can be a major organisational nightmare. With Asylum offering still, motion imaging and post production all in one studio, it’s the sane way to get the most done with the fewest headaches. The end result was to drive traffic to the new Asylum Artist website.
Arrangements were made with Red Lion advertising agency Toronto, to have an actor posing as a freelance Art Director. After being introduced and set up in the agency he begins to unravel due to an argument online with a client. It culminates in his smashing his computer on the floor – in frustration – and storming out of the agency. This was captured on a mobile phone and uploaded onto YouTube, with specifically targeted emails. The video began to rapidly circulate throughout the Canadian advertising community through a variety of social media channels.
The viral created the required stir within the creative industry. Was this video ‘fake’ or ‘real’? Within 24 hours the viral video was viewed 6400 times. The campaign was supported by magazine ADs, Adbase emails, banner Ads and eBlasts to drive viewers to the new Asylum website to reveal the hoax.
Headlines like “Asylum Artists punks agency with fake freelancer freak-out” began to surface in advertising and media magazines. Online conversation began “In fact it was the production values, or absence of them, that made it feel authentic. The print completes the circle and the whole thing makes sense now. I like it.” to ‘‘Is this ad effective” to Hmm… I watched that video and all I saw was some angry freelancer throwing a hissy fit. It fooled me”.
View viral video: https://vimeo.com/715996529/5ba9b7eb37
