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Follow up to Slam PR pumpkin thing
Despite a fairly low uptake from its PR counterparts, it looks like Slam’s pumpkin challenge (as reported on last week) has found a fair few willing participants.
A spokesperson from the newly opened lifestyle operation informed us that, after reading about the story on How-Do, ad agency Viv’id got in touch to request a slice of the action. This led Slam to open up the challenge to firms including CheethamBellJWT, LOVE, Like a River, TBWA\Manchester, Dinosaur and BJL.
Viv’id is currently leading the race (to concoct a Halloween campaign from said large member of the squash family) with its Paulo Pumpkin character. Paulo has apparently notched up over 50 friends on Facebook.
Pickings in the PR field weren’t quite so rich though, with only Tangerine (believed to be making pumpkin soup) and Biss Lancaster expressing an interest in taking part. The latter party’s willingness was, however, vetoed by MD Brian Beech, who reportedly said: "We won't be taking part in your pumpkin challenge, preferring to use our creativity on behalf of our client ASDA for whom Halloween is a massive trading period.”
The poor uptake led Slam’s Chris Dolan to comment: “Seems our other counterparts are all mouth and no trousers. SKV is ‘too busy’ and we've not heard a peep out of Brazen, Crush, Communique, Mason Williams, Vertigo, MC2 or The Bird Consultancy...so we're waiting with baited breath to see what surprises await.”
The competition closes at 10am today and we expect to hear the result shortly after… perhaps even posted below.
Slam PR is owned by Weber Shandwick and the newly created Manchester office is headed up by ex-Tangerine’r Ric Coggins – who clearly has something ‘going on’ for orange fruit.
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Hats off to the team at Vivd who well and truly lived up to their Vision Ideas Victory motto.
The creative agency got into the, ahem, spirit of Halloween by creating a Paulo Pump character who, at the last count, had amassed an impressive 62 friends on Facebook.
Paulo's crowning glory should have been his jump off Manchester's tallest building. Sadly, it ended in tragedy following a 'parachute malfunction'.
Members of the Vivid team arrived at the SLAM offices in a funeral-like procession to deliver Paulo's remains.
A memorial for Paulo has been created on Century Street.
Any one sick enough to want to watch Paulo's demise can do so via his Facebook page.
Well done team, treats are on their way over...
mixed messages? waste of time? dubious productivity? all packaging and no content?
webers? surely not.
Pumpkins and paranoia…..
Who’d of thought a couple of pumpkins could have caused such an issue for Manchester PR agencies.
Reading the post, I think some more ‘established’ members of the city’s PR industry have totally missed the point of what the guys and gals of SLAM are trying to do.
I can’t believe some senior players feel letting their teams have a go at the pumpkin challenge will get in the way of client work. What, like letting your staff take 10 minutes out to carve a pumpkin is going to have such a massive impact on your team’s productivity and client work? Get real!
I’ve now heard that certain MDs are banning their staff from attending the SLAM launch tonight at Atlas Bar. I can only assume MDs are worried their staff will jump ship to SLAM.
If another agency is bold enough to open its doors and say “come see what we’re about”, then you should at least turn up – you’ll better understand the competition. It makes business sense.
Let’s face it, we all end up working with each other at some point in this town. So, what’s the problem with having a glass of vino with colleagues and welcoming the latest member of the Manchester PR community (god help it!).
Despite not taking part in the pumpkin challenge, the acting MD of Brazen took the time to rsvp to our launch party... See you there, Rick.
Never trust anyone who doesn't know that the actual phrase is 'all mouth and trousers'. The bastardised 'no trousers' variant is the sure mark of a wassock.
Dear everyone. Honestly, I don't understand. What is this all about? Please, can anyone explain?
What a bubbly name you've got! Glad to see you're taking a 'real interest' in this. I'd love to have a chat about 'real' creativity with you.
Apparently another north west ‘yoof’ PR agency has now sent out packets of seasonal sparklers to other creative shops and challenged them to come up with a headline-grabbing campaign.
Smart money is one someone from Vivid lighting one and spelling their client’s names out with it before posting the subsequent footage on youtube, veoh and blinx.
The anticipated viral buzz this will create will, it is hoped, see a major impact on client’s search engine rankings and thus generate a very impressive ROI.
Thank God 'real' creativity is thriving in the region.
Many people seem to miss the point that true creative companies are packed full of ideas and not all of them need to be carried out on large, time consuming budgets, we're not in the eighties where ideas are found at the bottom of empty and pricey champagne bottles, and clients pay the price - our clients loved the campaign and many are Paulo's friends. As a final note the point of any stunt is to create talkability so I guess that it worked! Well done to the SLAM team.
It’s lovely to see our little stunt has sparked such interest.
Sadly, many of you seem to have missed the point and took this as an opportunity to take a swipe with (faceless) comments.
You could have used the time spent posting messages to think up an idea? Just a thought…
Anyway, if you’ve still got things to get off your chest, pick up the phone or come and say hello.