2013 has been the year of the ‘prankvert’ with brands playing jokes on the public as part of their latest viral campaigns.
Adobes ‘Street Retouch Prank’ involved replacing a bus stop with an LCD screen, a long range camera and two Photoshop pros; transforming members of the public into genies in bottles, the Hulk and shrinking 2 unsuspecting teenagers onto the top of a wedding cake. Thankfully, the couple share artist Erik Johansson’s sense of humour and are grateful for the entertainment whilst waiting for their bus!
Adobe have recently began to use more ‘provocative’ and eye catching campaigns. The "metrics, not myths" campaign aims to dispel marketing myths, with an advert featuring statements such as "Marketing is BS", "Marketing hates big data" and "Half of ad spend is wasted", to grab attention and promote Adobe's suite of marketing tools. Combined with the prankvert, this is a big shift in marketing strategy for Adobe, which has taken a conservative approach in its previous campaigns, to a more "bold and provocative" one.
Adobe mastered the ‘prankvert’; achieving over 400,000 shares whilst also promoting the actual core function of their products. Other brands have struggled to do this and attempts often result in creating a simple viral video with some weak brand ties. This kind of advertisement always seems to prove popular for two reasons; ‘Prankverts’ always appear to be much more genuine, and therefore much more interesting. They also prompt the viewers to ask themselves what they would do in the same situation, generating a stronger emotional response. Well, this video by Adobe definitely made me smile!