The internet and access to vehicles to disseminate and share the material generated by users or companies has definitely made it easier than ever. As has the access to the technology to make it easy for even non-technology savvy people to produce videos or “photo-shop” images and create other digital materials.
One area, not surprisingly, that is creating a lot of activity is the political one. We are seeing in the run up to the 2010 elections in the UK not only individuals creating, spoofing and hijacking posters and ads - but even the parties doing it.
It seems that the process is almost becoming an iterative creative development process. This alone is fascinating to watch and understand - as puts a whole new slant and opportunity to think about creative development moving forwards. “Crowd sourcing” your creative process!
Take this example:
The Labour party ran a competition allowing supporters to submit ideas for a poster in the run up to the election. A young fashion store manager called Jacob Quagliozzi submitted an idea that built on the TV show "Ashes to Ashes" set in the 1980s. The idea was worked up by Saatchi & Saatchi creative teams, using an image of the lead character Gene Hunt sitting on a Quattro with David Cameron's head on (leader of the conservatives) with the headline : “DON’T LE HIM TAKE BRITAIN BACK TO THE 1980S”, trying to associate the party with Margaret Thatcher of the 1980s when for many she and the conservatives were unpopular.
How clever everyone thought it was, and the process of how they got the ad created a lot of publicity.
Within hours the Conservatives had a version of the ad out where they changed the headline to “FIRE UP THE QUATTRO, IT’S TIME FOR CHNAGE”, evoking the mood of some that it is time for change. This then swamped the publicity and was seen as genius and hijacked the story.
The sense of evolution and building on ideas is at the very heart of the creative process, and it is fascinating to see it played out so publically - with the public actually being able to engage, interact and contribute.
It seems to be happening all over. In the same week the Australian tourist board revealed a new line and campaign line “there’s nothing like Australia”. Spoofs started appearing reflecting less than flattering events in Australian history using that slogan on a site http://www.nothinglikeaustralia.net/
These created huge amount of publicity. More than the original campaign ever could or did. So did the spoofs harm or help? Help I think, as people are intelligent and clever enough. And one thing I do know is I knew there was a new push and campaign for Australia that I would probably never have noticed otherwise.
The same with the messages from the labour vs conservatives. The spoofs and interactive nature of the poster got coverage and debate and the message has stuck or been made more clearly. Of course which one resonates and registers probably depends on one's political leaning - but you now know what each is trying to instil with you.
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