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Underground Advertising
When writer Jeff Johnson was taking the tube to Heathrow airport, he became the audience for British Airways' latest whispering campaign:
... on the train back to Heathrow, two men stopped in my car and started talking about how one of them wasn't going to make his flight. The man insisted that he was going to make his flight because he'd checked-in online way before hand at BA.com. The conversation/argument went on for about a minute and a half before the BA.com stuff got out of hand and it turned out that the guys were actors paid to make us think about BA.com. They went to the next car and began again.
For me this would rank as less desirable than "I am homeless and hungry... " but preferable to "Have you been saved?"
Posted by Charles Star on 06/20/2005 | Permalink
Comments
While reading this article, I can't stop thinking about "Pattern recognition" (William Gibson) : there is a character who makes some money in acting this way, talking in some "favorable view" about cultural products at bar 'n cofee shop...
If you didn't read it, go : it's a really great book (and no,it isn't SciFi).
Posted by: Izard | Jun 20, 2005 5:52:14 PM
What's funny is that this is totally an old Reverend Billy technique, right?
Posted by: Colin Atrophy | Jun 20, 2005 9:43:37 PM
This is your cue to break in:
you: "Pardon me, gentlemen, but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. Is BA.com really a more convenient way to check in?"
shill: "Why yes, it is."
you: "It's funny. I used that website to buy tickets recently, and at the end of the transaction, a series of pornographic images appeared. Does that happen every time?"
shill: "Umm, I don't know what you're talking about."
(they go back to talking to each other)
you: "Because if it does, that would be brilliant. I mean, it's like a little reward for completing the transaction. Kind of the cheese at the end of the maze, you know?"
Posted by: Damian | Jun 21, 2005 10:21:55 AM
