Saatchi Goes Weird for “My Boys”

Ok, first a confession: I watched the first season of My Boys on TBS.  Yes, it is a relatively minor sitcom with a distinctly female target audience but it has the amazing Jim Gaffigan and I had a bit of a crush on Jordana Spiro.  Eventually, I lost interest, largely because this Chicago blue-collar “Sex and the City” was just not for me.

Still, this is not a terrible show and could easily find a growing following among 18-42 women.  What it won’t do is suddenly find a group of 18-34 males digging in for more.

That’s what makes this campaign for the show by ad agency Saatchi so baffling.

Why does every ad agency think that an online video campaign has to be geared to a Borat-style crowd?  There are so many easy ways to tap into the fun a show like “My Boys” with a web video campaign but why go with a grumpy Russian guy and a silly, obviously fictional complaint that TBS ripped off his show?  Who does Saatchi think this will attract to the show?

It certainly won’t resonate with the key demo and if it attracts young males to tune in, they will likely feel like the victims of a bait-and-switch.

It seems to me that big media companies need to stop believing their ad agencies when they are told the agency understands marketing online.  Saatchi is proof this isn’t true.

When Viral Goes Wrong – A Saatchi & Saatchi Case Study

Sure, we all know it is hard to make oneself heard on the internet with all the noise and porn and out there.  So, when you pay a big agency like Saatchi&Saatchi to launch your product online you expect something pretty impressive.

I’m sure that the makers of Hot Tub Snacks were hoping for when they brough S&S on board.  Here’s what they got:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8vlAbA3nYc&hl=en]

Is there something sort of funny/compelling about this video?  Sure.  But at the same time it feels wildly insulting on a whole range of levels (calling someone a “retard” is pretty schoolyard) it also does little to make we want to try their snacks

You can see more of these videos at the HotTub site (warning: auto-resizes your browser)