Like a really funny joke

I’ve been meaning to write about this for awhile, but have been away and what not (it was Fran’s birthday – go FRAN!). My lunch with BJ today sparked my motivation.

So Agency.com turned the advert world on its watercooler heels when it launched its viral video on YouTube. The video is Agency.com's team effort at pitching SUBWAY for its interactive business. And as nearly every ad-blog-newsletter-banter will tell you – this is either a brilliant move…or a plain splinter in the foot.

The video documents the team’s efforts at coming up with “big ideas” and demonstrating their “passion” for interactive media. It includes one-on-one's with the team, as well as footage of them interviewing people on the street about their SUBWAY experience. It also includes a particularly funny segment on the team members working at SUBWAY. Here’s also where I find myself in a pessimistic predicament – anyone who has an engagement ring the size of Texas is not keen on working at SUBWAY – no matter how much you tell me it will be fun.

What makes the video even more disconcerting (in that kind of I'm embarrassed way) is the level of passion we are being told the team has. If you have passion – do you really need to tell us about it- or might you just let the production of the pitch speak for itself. Lines like “When we roll we roll big” or “We can pull it off no matter what” may be true in reality…but in a reality that is not in front of a video camera (aw, the conundrum).

What’s brilliant (for my purposes) is when an Agency.com team member asks a person on the street, “Do you forward things to your friends? Like in email?” And she replies, “Maybe if it’s something really funny, like a really funny joke.”

So – is this a really funny joke? Or one of the coolest marketing pitch ideas? Really, it would be much more realistic an undertaking had there been a bizdev person arguing against such a high-cost production, a producer looking at the time constraints (what with their other half-dozen projects) and a creative director begging the question – but really, couldn’t we just look like fools.