Shocking Barack Demonstrates the 80 / 20 Rule Flip in Action

Alex Bogusky reports on the Brammo campaign Shocking Barack

That’s the thing about this that’s so fundamentally different than anything that has even a tiny media buy connected. With media you know you’ll get something but here, there is a very real chance that absolutely nothing happens. Yet we were also confident that what we were doing mattered and that, maybe when something matters, it has a chance to get noticed.

CP + B bought no media for the campaign. They made their own media. They flexed their creativity and earned attention.

Just in case you thought we were the only ones seeing the 80 / 20 rule flip happening. Not so much.

It’s the biggest change in media and advertising right now and it’ll continue to be for the next decade. To recap:

Advertising’s 80 / 20 (media / creative) is flipping.

20 / 80 (media / creative) will be the new rule.

Here’s the introduction — Advertising’s 80 / 20 Rule is Flipping.

Here’s the collection — posts on the 80 / 20 Rule Flip.

Here’s a sample of a Shocking Barack video:

Tags:
80 / 20 flip, 80 / 20 Rule Flip, Advertising, Alex Bogusky, Brammo, Change, CP + B, creative, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, media, Shocking Barack

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Very cool. I love seeing the flip in action.

James, a bit of well-intentioned feedback. The first time I read this post, I was a bit lost wondering who is Brammo and why does he have an innovative campaign to shock the president? Perhaps a short intro about the dudes riding electric bikes to DC would give people context for understanding the significance of the campaign. But that’s just me talking, the context police.

Looking forward to some extended F2F time soon!

Lee, excellent feedback. Hard to get out of my own head sometimes!

Some much-needed context:

Brammo is a startup company building an electric motorcycle, not a person. They bill it as the most energy efficient vehicle in America: no clutch, no gears, no gas. The image at the top of this post is one of their motorcycles.

Brammo employed ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky to promote their product. And it’s been an interesting campaign to watch — breaking traditional rules and creating controversy.

The most interesting part to me was the Shocking Barack portion — a journey from Detroit to Washington, following the same path as the Big 3 auto execs, to prove the viability and appeal of the product.

Throughout that journey they chose not to buy any media to gain attention or build momentum. Instead, they created their own media — videos along the way, stories from participants, photos that spoke louder than words. They gathered people to the cause like a snowball gathering snowflakes.

The story is well documented on their website, Shocking Barack: http://shockingbarack.com

I look forward to the F2F time too! Tofino, ho!