Funda launch, Wasaki Dublin Coastal Development
September 25th, 2006 by Jason Roe. Post is filed under Business, Marketing, Web Design & Development.
It seems that the Funda PR stunt and viral campaign has started to stir up some controversy at a local Irish Motorboat Club. It looks like many did not catch the end of the film directing users to Funda launch page. I have seen a large volume of searches today after my last post about the Wasaki Global Dublin coastal development.
Some information via Spoilt:
Chemistry conceived the idea. They commissioned The Farm for the video piece, and Spline Design was contracted for the website.
I would be interested to find out what you think of the whole “viral” campaign. Please leave your comments below.
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September 25th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
i’m not sure this one really rates as a viral. i mean, a real viral is self-propagating, but this one is getting lots of pushes from funda. without the pushes, i think it could (and should) have gone viral, but in pushing it the way they have, they have short-circuited the viral effect.
they seem to be putting a lot of effort into posting it on forums (there’s a lot of threads on one partic forum featuring this, where almost all are started by a newbie who’s never posted anything before, suggesting the post is by funda / their marketing team).
add in the ad in the mtro and the planning permission sign and what have you got? a pr stunt, rather than a viral, a stunt designed to get the rest of the media to notice them (which, sort of, rte’s morning ireland did this morning – though you have to either admire rte for refusing to give funda the plug, or despair at rte for not actually watching the video allt he way through – hopefully the former)
September 25th, 2006 at 5:30 pm
I have to agree, they seem to have made a late push. I think this was because the Dublin Costal site only went live within the last 2 weeks. With the planed launch of funda today it seems like they may have left it a bit late. Who knows!
September 25th, 2006 at 7:15 pm
Hi ther,
I saw this last week but have to say it was pretty poor on a number of levels:
1: Its poorly directed, and far (far) too long
2. The actor looks and acts stupid – not entertaining even
3. The text overlays are illegible, poorly created
4. The graphics are fine, but badly edited, and repetitive
5. The “fast-talk” at the end has been done many many times before – it is a cliche on radio adverts (Chemistry Agency?)
6. The company who commissioned it are dutch. I think they thinking building in the sea would catch on in Ireland also
7. Creating a ‘viral’ when you mention the website is silly. Especially when the website is down.
8. I presume the Agency billed by the minute to build their costs up, theres no other reason to watch the thing apart from looking at the variable quality of the buildings. If I was client I would be very very unhappy.
9. I notice that the wasaki word (company name) means ‘Evil Enemy’ – is that really a good marketing?
10. etc etc.
September 26th, 2006 at 10:37 am
Well funda.ie still isn’t live and the longer they take to get their site live the less people will remember this (something new will come along). Personally I love the idea and the implementation but worry about the follow-through TBH.
September 26th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
They also got bad press on RTE 1 news … I think they called it a scam!
September 28th, 2006 at 1:17 pm
Seriously guys.. Chill.
This idea has made everyone laugh, and we’re all talking about Funda. I agree about the website not being up, but its already achieved many of its aims. In relation to the quality of the video.. it doesn’t matter that it doesn’t look as professional as if it were real, because its not. It was professional enough to fool a load of people though, including the PDs, which is very very funny, you have to admit.
The fact is also that there is a seed of truth in it. Many have said that if there was such a development, they would definitely buy one. That is how mad Ireland has become. The copywriting is very funny. Think: A Giraffe only zoo. Howth 2, a replica of Howth on the South Side… priceless.
I agree with your viral definitional quotes, but they are academic at the moment. It was discussed on many radio stations, in newspapers, and on the national 9 O’Clock and 11 O’Clock news. That is attention, and that is coverage… by anyone’s standards.
September 28th, 2006 at 4:49 pm
IMO no one is talking about Funda. Everyone is talking about Shamrog Island.
Unless they have an Act II to follow up then I dont see very much of the marketing equity built up in this campaign getting transferred to Funda brand.
Personally I thought the whole thing was really well done, except for the follow through.
If I had to tell my boss we spent €30k+ on getting people talking but no one knows who Funda are I’d be slightly worried to say the least.
Just my opinion.
October 10th, 2006 at 7:07 am
Jason
http://www.google.ie/search?q=dublin+coastal+development
Some very interesting insights from Funda themsleves over on the EI board:
http://news.enterprise-ireland.com/read/messages?id=9097
October 10th, 2006 at 10:22 am
Some nice feedback on the EI forum, at least they spotted some of their flaws. I still think the funda delay has hurt the whole campaign. The site was live .. anyone know why it went back down?
November 1st, 2006 at 5:52 pm
Funda.ie is alive and kicking as of October 25th – some pretty cool innovative maps, certianly more interactive than myhome etc.