How internet seeding works, or doesn’t.
Last week a representative of an internet seeding company sent me the following email:
Hi Ben,
Great blog! I am currently working on a campaign with Frosty Jacks and think your blog, with its interest in new adverts and anything a bit different could work really well with it.
I know what youre thinking! Frosty Jacks is perhaps not considered the conventional choice of cider and this is precisely the theme of the campaign. Consider Frosty Jacks for what it is. No theyre not the biggest selling cider, on the top of everyones list but they know what they are, and theyre proud of it!
Would you be interested in working with us on this campaign? If so, please let me know and I can send you some more details.
Many thanks,
To which I replied:
Hi XXXXXX,
Interesting email.
What would you mean by ‘working with us on this campaign’?
Thanks,
Ben
The seeder replied:
Hi Ben,
Thanks for getting back to me. We were hoping you might post a link to our video, embed it into your blog or discuss the content as it is fairly relevant to your readership. The links to the videos are:
and
You can also find out more about the campaign if you like on Frosty Jack’s website as:
What do you think? Thanks again for your help.
At this point I didn’t get back to her. I think the ads are really quite poor, but my mum told me that if you can’t think of anything good to say about someone, just ignore them until they go away.
The seeder then got back to me this afternoon:
Dear Ben,
I emailed you last week about our Frosty Jack’s campaign. Apologies for writing again so soon, I just wanted to follow up on the information I sent you to see what your thoughts were on it all? Do you think you might be interested in writing about the videos or campaign? We would really love to get you involved asap as the campaign is all moving on quite quickly. Please let me know what you think.
To which I replied:
Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner.
Having watched the ads, I didn’t really think they were that great. Would you like me to blog them anyway? I could see what my readers think of them if that’s any use.
She then replied:
Hi Ben,
It would be brilliant if you could blog them! We just want to get them seen really, then people can discuss them and make their minds up about them. All opinions are welcome! Thank you so much for your help. I look forward to seeing them on your blog 🙂
Well, there you go.
I’ve done my bit. Do you like them or did you, like me, think that they were pretty shite then swear never ever to go within a thousand miles of a single drop of Frosty Jack?
Brilliant. The blog post I mean; not the ads. They’re shite.
You should of listened to your mum.
The only people who like these will be the ‘creative’ team behind them. We will be able to spot them like a bottle sticking out of a bum.
Actually, I though they were pretty funny. Compared to, say WKD, they actually made me laugh. Each to his own I suppose.
the reason the seeder didn’t give a shit is because you’ve probably just generated 300 or so views for them. which they’ll later use to prove their seeding ability.
i’d like to hear from the creatives who made them. the problems they had. what they went through to make the ads. might be an interesting post to get people to talk about the average work they’ve made and explain to the more junior teams the reasons it ended up that way. once you know the pitfalls the theory is they are easier to dodge.
I didn’t watch them.
But I will certainly drink Frosty Jack’s cider from now on!
Frosty Jack’s – it’s the cider everyone loves.
What is weird why would they expect you to be helpful to seeding their ad? The idea is to seed to your target market surely, is that you?
Anonymous 5.44pm wrote them. Phew, glad we found the culprit.
Perhaps it would help if I knew what the hell it was. Is it alcoholic? Or is it just carbonated apple juice. Sorry, I’m a yank and to us cider is apple juice, basically. And it’s not carbonated. We normally associate “Frosty” with root beer.
What is it with advertisers at the moment?
If they’re not making ads so bad that people only remember them because they’re annoying as shite (Swiftcover, We Buy Any Car, Go Compare, etc), then they’re making adverts where one subset of humanity is made to look a total twat.
This reminds me of the WKD adverts (which I hate).
Really, if Frosty Jacks know what they are, and the sort of people that might drink it, then maybe they should be advertising to them – in parks – and let the tramps know about the alternative to Diamond White.
Offensive and crude for the sake of it. And the guy who is parking in the disabled spot is an unlikeable, nasty little arsehole. Terribly cast, unless they were going for a scummy piece of shit.
Hope this helps.
the bottle ad made me laugh, but is it cider in the, you know, butt bottle? the other one? the biggest twat in it didn’t cuddle an umbrella.
that woman who stalked you, well, she’s alright. she’s very likely not responsible for the shitty ads. don’t shoot the messenger.
WKD ads are pretty good, but they aren’t as good as this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MRokNf7RHU&feature=related
I don’t think I shot the messenger, but if I did, then I’m not sure it’s undeserved.
The whole thing is bollocks, from soup to nuts.
Is the implication meant to be that drinking Frosty Jacks turns you into a cunt?
If so, I think they’re rather good.
The website is a big bowl of shite. Particularly the part where they copy and pasted some of the strategy from the brief straight on to the ‘Anti-brand’ section.
Oh and seeding companies can fuck off.
I think the real insult is to you, the readers of this blog.
Someone out there thinks that this excrement would be right up your alleys.
(Yes, I’m fully aware the whole sorry episode also paints me in a pretty bad light but I think we all need to share the shame.)
i have been knee-deep in online video for years now. and seeding is the seedy side of this business. the dark art.
there are a LOT of cowboys doing this. clients get high off of youtube views for some reason. and these guys will promise the moon.
but the good ones acknowledge that you buy your way to online success just like you bought your way into the centre break of Coronation Street.
the internet is simply too clogged with awesome video. and it’s getting worse/better.
rob hatfield, i highly recommend a dry cider like Strongbow or Dry Blackthorn. you can get them in USA.
The note at the end helpfully directed me to the “even funnier, anti-excuses ‘midnight accident’ clip” after watching the first one. even funnier? well it couldn’t get any worse.
oh…it did.
Who’s our guru round here?
It’s Dave Trott.
Whose agency does the ads for Frosty Jack’s?
Dave Trott’s.
I can now imagine how Lou Reed fans felt when they ran out to buy Metal Machine Music on the first day of release, only to discover that it was four sides of unlistenable shit.
Bad Dave.
I’m confused. Why would you agree to do anything for a commercial venture unless they’re giving you a bag of cash?
idea = meh
Execution = meh
I disagree Ben, you could have easily said to the seeder that you don’t allow PR’s to dictate what you write about. Oh two litres of cider, ok.(joke)Or you could have said I have had a look and to be honest I dont think my readers would want to debate them so I’ll pass this time.
You knew it was a bad idea for your blog yet you ran with it? Not like you Ben.
Why did you insult us? We await an apology. Or where you trying to prove a point?
It’s up to you to decide what goes on your blog – the seeder mis-read the situation (or did she) and it should have been up to you to tell her so.
Seeding can fucking suck my hairy balls.
These ads are a pile of blood-filled pre-colon cancerous excrement that should be deleted from the annals history alongside with the talentless cunts who came up with them. And as for the downer who shot ’em. He needs one of those really hot, Arri media lamp things wanged straight up his bumhole. Which I, for one, think would make for a far funnier YouTube vid than two litres of cider being popped up that prick’s jacksy.
As for the WKD ads. Have I got a WKD side? Well, as a matter of fact I have. Cut the tits of a prostitute and buried her in a copse whilst frenziedly wanking into a Lidl bag. Why don’t you put that in an ad? Cunts.
Totally agree Vinny, that’s what I’ve come across too. There’s a reason why you have to pay more for some media or placements, because it is genuinely more valuable.
Anon 9:58, as you can see, I warned the seeder very clearly, and as you can see from the number of comments, the readers of this blog do want to debate the ads.
Of course I don’t let PRs dictate what I write about. Do you think the seeder wanted a post like the one I wrote?
But at the end of the day she got a bunch more exposure, I got an interesting post, the commenters got a chance to swear.
Everyone’s a winner.
UPDATE: oh, and do feel free to stick your desire for an apology up your arse.
It’s a numbers game. She doesn’t give a toss about the quality (or otherwise) of the ads. As long as her actions can drive up the viewing figures. We’ve all helped do that for her. I hope she’s very grateful.
The less said about the ads the better……
okay, okay.
Ben, how many ads do you get sent?
I bet a lot of them are from the creatives who made them, or the agency involved. I can think of a few.
What’s the difference between agencies doing it direct and a seeding company doing it?
Apart from the fact the seeding company doesn’t care how shit the ads are.
Better than WKD, but still very crap. Yes, the ‘TWAT’ bit raised a few chuckles (and disapproving glances from traffic), but surely we’re in an ideas industry and these fell well short of the already-pretty-low standards.
Good post though, Ben.
What the fuck Dave?
I don’t actually get sent that many ads.
I do get sent some quite shit ones occasionally but people tend not to come right out and ask me to blog them. If I don’t think they’re good I just don’t put them up. I’d rather not be the agent of my friends getting their ads slagged off in public.
I think the difference here is that I told her I didn’t like them and yet she still wanted me to blog them.
If that’s the case, and she hasn’t researched the content of this blog properly, then I hope this will either be a good lesson for her, or it won’t matter to her at all. Either way, I’m fine with it.
fair enough.
And good on you for keeping us all out of trouble.
Great line. “oh, and do feel free to stick your desire for an apology up your arse.”
That bloke who parks in the disabled parking spot has to be the biggest arsehole in the history of advertising. Unless there’s some ads for rohypnol that I don’t know about.
Did Dave Trott’s agency really do this? Funny, I read his blog and he seems like an erudite and moral character. Weird.
OK, so the book is out. But how the bejeezus to I get my hands on a copy.
Also are there any reviews of the book out yet.
(did you e-mail any bloggers from the world of publishing to blog about your book (just kidding, just a topical aside)).
What book?
They’re not new ads they are old ads for another product that have been used for frosty jacks.
[…] Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook movie. […]
Please tell me it isn’t true. Dave Trott’s agency is responsible for this? NOOOOOOOOOO! Next you’ll be telling me there’s no such thing as Santa Claus. Oh the humanity!
I have no idea which agency did it.
CST did it. It’s on their blog look. That’s what my link is. Have you stopped following my links Ben?
One of these ads just got blogged by boing boing. I thought that was a proper blog about interesting stuff.
Hi Ben,
Just to be clear, I wasn’t the creative director on Frosty Jacks.
I can’t answer any questions about it because I wasn’t involved.
Thank you for clearing that up.
“…but my mum told me that if you can‚Äôt think of anything good to say about someone, just ignore them until they go away.”
That SO doesn’t sound like me….
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