the pros and cons of impecunious marketing

today was a crucial day in our campaign. our pro bono partners, ddb and hill & knowlton, came over to advise us on how to move our chess pieces around the board. (ddb is one of the world's top advertising agencies, whereas hill & knowlton is one of the world's top pr agencies.) now, mind you, it's those chess pieces i've been creating from dust, spit, and sweat since i came on board on 1 october. by "chess pieces", i mean the advertisements, celebrities, visuals, viral content, pr events and media contacts which, taken together, form a campaign. the primary challenge, until now, had been knocking on ceos' and suppliers' doors with a begging bowl, asking for free everything, from advice to programming. but, now, armed with a sufficient number of chess pieces -- at least for the next six months - it was time to decide, how should we move them? in what order? and how do we actually WIN the game? after 20 minutes of head-knocking between 12 people, we figured it all out. ha! now whether, 6 months from now, the public will congratulate us for having crafted a truly coherent and compelling tour de force of marketing which influences hong kong society and, in the process, the government, is for you guys to witness and judge for yourselves : ) one thing's for sure though: this is DEFINITELY the most ambitious, kaleidoscopic campaign i've ever undertaken -- what with moving parts which whizz and whir over at least 3 media platforms at any single time. in the lingo of my past private sector life, i'm trying to be walmart and louis vuitton at the same time, seducing everyone from the man on the street to the titan of industry. the trade-off for taking on such a promethean task is the chance to take crazy, unprecedented, artistic risks, with the excuse that, hey, i have no choice anyway, because my budget is zero. and, therefore, my ingenuity has to flourish in direct, inverse proportion.

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that said, i can't wait to launch our first animated video tomorrow. i'm on tenterhooks for several reasons: it took us THREE MONTHS to make it. in my entire 10-year career, very very few projects have taken three months of serious concentrated effort. on the other hand, i can't really take credit for this film. it's actually jessica louie, the artist, whose genius and hard work are showcased in it. all i did was crack the whip and alternately gasp with admiration, shock and frustration from time to time. next, this film takes a lot of risks: it dares to genuinely shock the viewer with gut-wrenching representations of what air pollution can do to the human body (against an original score of absurdly ironic music). finally, i want this clip to become viral so badly that i can't believe i just admitted that. but, then, NOTHING can make something viral unless it's just plain damn good. i asked my friend, jimmy wales, the founder of wikipedia, to look at it this morning. he said, "i really want to sign the f!@#$&*(% petition after seeing that, but where's the call to action? you gotta knock people over the head with that." so, for the umpteenth time, i asked victor pena, our saint-like post-production guy, to make another change to the film. if i've learned something from social media, it's that every single tiny visual cue or omission counts -- sometimes fatally -- and that it's impossible to resuscitate a missed opportunity. you really only get ONE chance to hook someone's eyeballs in the online world - let alone ask them to do something. having no money and no chances, i can't very well chance it with an imperfect product. so, here's to keeping all body parts crossed until YOU watch it -- and, hopefully, share it : )