Clever Creative: Spiking Digital Drama

In today’s world, scandal is everywhere — and social media loves it. So if you are a marketing agency looking to make waves in our digital era, what better way to do it than creating a scandal over social media?

That is exactly what We Are Social did with the #GoodbyeSpike campaign. This creative announcing the upcoming transition of Spike TV to the Paramount Network is really spiking digital drama.

What’s all the drama?

On December 1, a disgruntled soon-to-be-unemployed employee named Spike began his melodramatic meltdown onTwitter:

Believing in the “go big or go home” philosophy, Spike also took out a billboard in Times Square (because nothing adds legitimacy like ranting on a large, neon platform). The billboard, basically a no-holds-barred move, lays blame and calls for repercussions on the pictured Paramount CEO:

But wait .... there’s more. Here are a few of the only-slightly subtle gifs that will be making their rounds on social media as well.

Have you gotten the message?

Don’t call the “waaaambulance” just yet.

This digital drama is all part of the campaign, and no actual feelings were hurt during its creation. In fact, you have probably figured out that Spike isn’t even a real person and the aforementioned CEO was in on the joke. That said, as the campaign unfolds, it’s hard to not get wrapped up in the tension between the parties, which is caused by a situation familiar to many of us. And who among us can’t admit that we enjoy a bit of drama now and then — especially from the sidelines where we can comment without any real commitment or repercussion? Of course, this guilty pleasure, for better or for worse, combined with the understanding that nothing runs more rampant than gossip on social media, is exactly what the network is counting on to get the word out.

Overall, this campaign is a melodramatic approach to a dramatic venture.

Let us know what you think of this campaign, and be on the lookout for next week’s installment of Clever Creative!

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