Here's what is labelled an "outdoor campaign" by Duval Guillaume Brussels, I emailed and asked them where this ran because when I first saw the ads I misinterpreted them a little. I even went to Ooops.be to try and get wiser but there's nothing much on that site to be honest (except a great long list of ad agency clients under references, so I guess this means we need to pass ooops' spamfilter if we want to contact ad geeks in Belgium!) I blame my misunderstanding on my severe geek streak though, see inside.
Arite, first I didn't read the tagline right - I read "A better way to answer spam" and for a moment there I was convinced that Ooops offered some software or a spamfilter that actually talks back to spammers with witty retorts. How cool would that be!? (forget for a moment that most spammers can't be reached at the originating address). Fun-ney! Anyway, so that's clearly not what they're doing, they're just offering a spamfilter like every other ISP on the planet, albeit with ads (and supporting website) lacking all information on what kind of spamfilter it might be. What, greylisting? Using RBL's? Using SPF? Automatic reporting to RBL's and Spamcop this helping stem the flow of spam? What!? Geeks want to know, put the dang info somewhere - I mean you are running ads with the tagline "a better answer to spam". We assume "better" than the other ISP's who all also offer spamfilters at server level. Spam filters at server level can be great or disaster depending on how they are configured - you don't want a filter that bounces a mail that reads "the pen is mightier than the sword" because there's a "penis" in there. Nor do you want to reject mails from domains that might be interpreted as "bad words", and these mistakes are a lot more common than you think. That said, here's the ads.
Oh yeah, no reply yet on my email so I guess "outdoor campaign" will have to do. I guess by the shape of the ads, Abri posters/bus stops, that sort of thing.
· Creative Director: Peter Ampe & Katrien Bottez
· Copywriter/Art Director: Robin Stam
· Designer: Cécile Van Caillie
· Media Planner: Davy Caluwaerts
· Account Manager: Matthias Dubois
· Client Contact: Eric Bockstael
· Advertising Agency : Duval Guillaume Brussels
· Published/Released (Month, Year): January 2008
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These made me giggle.
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PermalinkI've seen websites where people actually engage in conversation with Nigerian spammers, giving increasingly ridiculous information (I recall one about a dwarf ranch owned by a Lord Vader, or something to that extent).
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Permalink"Dwarf Vader"??? - Where is this? Skywalker Ranch?
:-)
Allan...
"Remember, no matter where you go... There you are." (Buckaroo Banzai).
"Hey, barkeep, 2 Rock Over Hip-Hops and 1 Bach Over Vivaldi with ice."
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PermalinkI thought Dwarf Vader was the crazy guy who dances in the costume on YouTube. Of course you wouldn't know that since YouTube is blocked for you! :-)
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PermalinkI forget the details, but there were a ton of overt pop-culture references that the spammer didn't get due to lack of knowledge of Western culture. Quite amusing (it almost inspired me to start talking to spammers myself, but I decided I din't want to become the subject of a federal investigation or have my kidneys stolen).
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PermalinkI've seen some good and bad ones over the years, and at one point an adgrunt here was planning a webpage with his hilarious mail-exchange with a spammer (Nuxx, I'm looking at you). Scambaiting is a sport that's spawned may webpages such as the scambaiter and the 419 eater, so in that sense I don't think these letters, albeit very funny (especially the housewife response, my fave), are very original. But advertising seldom is, and if these are huge posters at bus stops, commuters will probably get a laugh.
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PermalinkPerhaps this will fly in Belgium, but I don't imagine (as funny as it is) that the bored housewife, RE: L00kinForSomeCock,
will show up on any American bus stops any time soon. Too Bad! At
least not in the Red States in an election year. :-)
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