If the U.S. population was represented by Woody Allen's "Manhattan," the Fed's $300 million investment in Draftfcb's 2010 census communications program will probably deliver the greatest ROI in
marketing history. This sprawling campaign has been resoundingly criticized for lame humor, lackluster creative and missed targeting. But hold on, folks! Our fellow marketing brethren at Draftfcb
didn't even get the contract until September 2007 and only had support from 11 other companies!
The Census Bureau mandated that "the communications contractor must develop and implement a
campaign targeted to all and every single element of the population." With a paltry $1 per head, Draftfcb hedged its bet. It created a two-pronged campaign: a "funny" one for the white audience and an
unfunny educational one for everyone else, with whatever money was left over.
To hit all its targets, Draftfcb had to cut some corners. The intended-to-be "funny" side of the campaign included
a Super Bowl commercial and a series of intended-to-be viral videos, starring comedian/actor Ed Begley Jr., who has intended to make people laugh since "St. Elsewhere." Draftfcb picked cult director
Christopher Guest, whose most recent film, "For Your Consideration," grossed $5.5 million worldwide. I guess bankably funny Adam McKay, ("Talladega Nights," $162,966,177 worldwide gross), or Paul and
Chris Weitz ("American Pie," $234,800,000 worldwide gross) would have been too much of a sure thing for the chance takers at Draftfcb. Besides, Draftfcb's not spending a real client's money --
it's spending ours!
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Guest's selection of his almost all-white ensemble cast probably helped lock down that hard-to-access white, middle-class audience, leaving the rest of the population to be
persuaded by an intentionally unfunny straightforward informational campaign, conveniently translated into 28 languages. These impassioned "talking head" ads capture about as much mindshare as a
flight attendant demonstrating a seatbelt during a business commuter shuttle. It's clear that equal amounts of creative thought went into both prongs.
The "viral" aspects of the video campaigns
have generated low viewership, hardly holding a candle to the millions of views garnered by videos like the unintentionally funny "Star Wars Kid." And those of you with children will be proud to know
that your sons and daughters probably have more Facebook and Twitter friends than Draftfcb's handpicked social network marketers could drum up.
With a brain trust that includes Global Hue
(African-American market), the IW group (Asian-Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific islanders), G&G (American Indians and Alaska Natives) and Draftfcb PR (Puerto Ricans), how could Draftfcb have
left any population stones unturned?
Well, where's the agency that specializes in the Homeless, or the agency that specializes in the Recently Foreclosed On and Now Living in Halfway Houses?
Aren't they also part of the population? Maybe Draftfcb wants to give everyone else a choice: self-select affiliation with the intended-to-be funny campaign or the intended-to-be unfunny campaign.
After all, isn't freedom of choice the American way?
According to the Census Bureau the campaign has three goals:
1) Increase the mail response rate
2)
Increase accuracy and reduce the differential undercount, and
3) Increase cooperation with door-to-door census takers.
Where does it say anything about trying to be funny
or unfunny? No agency in the world could write a joke that would make everyone laugh.
The universal language isn't humor (or un-humor); it's money. Instead of giving all the money to one agency
to get 300 million people to fill out a form, they should have just sent us each a buck and let us self-motivate. If we want to laugh, we can use it to rent "Animal House" at the nearest Redbox.