Thursday, July 05, 2007

MTV 'WELCOMES SNOOP' TO OZ WITH 19 PART MULTI PLATFORM CAMPAIGN VIA LOWE HUNT





MTV Australia, via Lowe Hunt Sydney, has launched “Welcome Snoop”, a 19-part multi-platform campaign starring Snoop Dogg documenting the international superstar’s bid to become an Australian “citizen”. Over the next 7 weeks, television, online and mobile audiences can follow the music mogul’s transformation to become an upstanding Australian citizen.
The creative team was Lowe Hunt’s Dejan Rasic, Rebecca Carrasco and Howard Collinge, who have since left the agency with Rasic and Carasco setting up their own shop with former LOwe Hunt MD, Ben Colman called Colman Rasic Carrasco.
Directed by Plaza Films' Paul Middleditch the hilarious footage shows Snoop Dogg vying to become an upstanding Australian citizen. He buys a house in the conservative Vaucluse, upsetting the neighbours, and moves in with girlfriend Sophie Monk but is still flanked by a posse of girls. It shows Snoop having dinner with Monks’ parents, playing cricket, washing the dishes, struggling with the national anthem and cruising on the harbour at sunset.
After coming to Australia to film the spots earlier in the year, Snoop started showing genuine interest in buying property in Australia so MTV invited him back to appear at the 2007 MTV Australia Video Music Awards in April. However, he was denied a visa because after an unlicensed gun was found in his car, an offence he pleaded guitly to and was let off with a community service commitment. The publicity that ensued following the visa denial prompted MTV to launch it “Vote for Snoop to Get Citinzship” with fans asked to sign an online petition (www.mtv.com.au/snoop) showing
their support for Snoop.

Client: MTV Networks Australia.
Agency: Lowe Hunt, Sydney
Creative Director: Dejan Rasic.
Creative Team: Dejan Rasic, Rebecca Carrasco & Howard Collinge.
Talent Liaison: India Bent, Happy Bash Communication
Head of Production: Darren Bailey.
Website: Liquid Protocol.
Senior Producers: Charna Henry & Lisa Cordukes.
Editors: Peter Whitmore, Kris Rees.
Production Company: Plaza Films.
Director: Paul Middleditch.
Producer: Peter Masterton.
Photographer: Andreas Smetana.
Retouching: Electric Art.
Sound: Sound Reservoir.
MTV Creative Director: Vanessa Zuppicich.
MTV Marketing Team: Colin Blake & Sam Coombes.
MTV Managing Director: Dave Sibley.
MTV Communications & Publicity Manager: Laura Vozzo.

72 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's hillarious. LMAO. Brilliant stuff.

12:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Go Middleditch! Fuck what a way to follow up big ad

1:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

fuckin rasic. comes through with the goods again.

1:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Where are the other "19" ads then?

1:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

just missed cannes guys. Too bad.

2:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hmmmm, good angle could've been funnier.

2:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

that would have been an interesting shoot to go to

3:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

... I got a meatpie too that i want ya to try later on - funniest shit i heard in ages well done guys.

3:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

LOL. brilliant!

4:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's the shizzle ma nizzle.

4:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

mother fucker, that is gooooooood shit!

4:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I want to see all of it - rare to see a genuine content idea in this industry. How long is it all going to be?

4:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i can see Middleditch mixin' it up with the homies in LA. He's got the cap for it. Gotta hand it to the playa - He knows funny.

6:30 PM  
Blogger David J Smith said...

big ups to everyone involved.

It's one of those "I wish I had done it" campaigns.

When are they releasing the other films?

6:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

When is it all launching lynchy? Is this just a teaser?

7:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

GIVE US THE FILMS!

8:28 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I like 'em, but come on theyre not that funny are they.

8:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

this is huge - go Dejan and Bec! more evidence that they are one hot team to watch. If you look at the credits - no wonder it's so good. Middleditch, Smetana and great creatives usually result in great work.

kick it guys

AW

10:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I want to see the rest. It's a bit early to comment on how funny they are when we've only seen 2 of the 19 ads. I can see where it's going though. we are so used to watching a couple of ads. This is really different and for that I congratulate lowe. So is it going to run as a short film as well?

11:39 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Refreshing to see more and more soft porn on this site. Apart from the lovely breasts, I can see an equally lovely campaign developing. Agree it would probably make just a little bit more sense to see it all instead of just an introduction.

Also refreshing to see a brand confident enough to do this in Australia.

2:05 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

i know it's unpopular to bag these guys' work, but it's nothing Cannes would have missed. I agree with one of the other guys, it could have been so much better. So much better... It's a Gold Lion idea with Caxtons Finalist execution...

8:08 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Couldn't they at least have made 20 ads?

8:30 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great stuff.

Girt, girt? What the fuck is girt?

Hilarious

11:07 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

love em. all Rasic & Co got to do now is move on from Lynx and MTV and crack the big ugly corporate stuff

2:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

8:08 is obviously a moron. This is great work and well done to all involved. Lowe is on fire

3:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

great idea but the scripts don't seem very funny so far

4:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's funny how 8:08 bags them out even though he hasn't even seen 95% of the campaign yet.

4:34 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well done Dejan & Howard, a really interesting approach...

9:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is the best campaign i've seen come out of Australia this year by far. It's special cause it ties into australia so well instead of duplicating styles of ideas from abroad which is so common.

As for how funny it is, it had me in stitches.

11:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So far so so. Good topical angle and how the fuck appeal. Funny but not "hilariously Cannes oh-my god I wet my pants that's good and categorically brilliant at this point." I'm keen to see where it goes though. Lets see the rest.

1:06 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

um so 8.08 has a name - Sam - unlike you morons who are more than happy to criticise anonymously. If you're going to call me a moron go ahead and give an intelligent reason why you think so. Oh, can't? I'm not surprised.

3:18, you're just a douchebag, and 4:34 - I don't want to see the other 95%. Not when two of the very first ads they offer are the same ad, just badly re-cut. I think i know what I'm in for. And i'm not interested.

8:58 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's funnier how 4.34PM bags the baggers when he hasn't seen 95% of the campaign either.

10:15 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Biatches.There's a whole propa film that they aint lettin' the peeps see yet. I got a sneak peek and it's juicy juicy juicy. Kill ads this is tha future.

Kazzzzzzzz

11:15 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

LET HIM IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can move in with me Snoop anytime baby. Snoop is tha N0.1.
xx
Jaycee

2:22 PM  
Blogger Julian Cole said...

The idea works well on myspace with atleast a reason to revisit or to become friends with the site.

To all the people asking for the rest of the ads, it is levelled release, in order to drive traffic back to the mains.

3:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey 8:58 - it seems you don't have a name either cause when I click on 'SAM' I get NOTHING which means you're just as anonymous as the rest.

SAM.

9:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I read the blog responses before I watched the clips.

From what I could see, for the most part it got a really good reaction.

But when I eventually viewed the spots, I couldnt understand how and why it was getting all the praise.

I think its sorta a good idea, but you should have gotten someone young ie like one of the Baker twins as apposed to middleditch to direct this.

I think those young guys could have pushed the envolope a bit further with a guy like snoop.

Middleditch is a great director, but I cant see him being as in touch with an MTV market as a really young diector would be.

The problem with alot of MTV australias stuff, is that its always kind of there, but falls slightly short in various departments, in other words - slightly week - hope this makes sense.

Look at MTV2's stuff (United States) ie. idents, randoms inhouse produced films etc. And youll know what I mean.

They get really young directors in to do their low budget stuff. Look up 'JONNIE ROSS' in google, his work is soo fresh, idea and but effective lo-fi technique driven stuff.

So I suppose I might not be making much sense with my rant, and leading off into various tangents, but bottom line is, the quality of MTV Australia is still not quite there yet, and this Snoop Dogg stuff is not helping in any way.

Hooray for boobies though

12:10 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's probably brilliant. Having said that, if you can't nail a campaign for MTV, I reckon you'd have to be a bit of a duffer. In terms of subject matter, it's inherently current, cool and entertaining. They are the mandatories, tone of voice and brand essence you'd die for. Not bagging the work. So, please don't go bashing me by the time identity this blog happens to give me. "You're an idiot 12:04pm etc. etc." All I'm saying is that the best work we can do and the most value our industry can offer is making the stuff that no-one cares about relevant. That's also why I have never been a big fan of all the work out of NZ that won lots of awards promoting films and TV shows. That's easy.

12:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

COMON AUSTRALIA!! WHERES YOU SPIRIT! LET SNOOP COME IN AUSTRALIA OR ILL POP ALL YOU HOEZ!!!! YOU LET EVERY OTHER FUCKIN RAPPER IN AUSTRALIA BUT NOT THE BEST OF THEM ALL ? SNOOP DOGG ?? WTF IS WITH YOU AUSTRALIA !!! :@:@:@:@

1:13 PM  
Blogger David J Smith said...

From the Guardian to Pitchfork, whether you like the films or not, it's pretty impressive.

http://music.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2119650,00.html


http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/44040-snoop-dogg-seeks-australian-citizenship

9:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://www.contagiousmagazine.com/News%20Article.aspx?REF=542&IsArchive=false

Another sexiest campaign from Lowe.

10:10 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oldest joke ever about the national anthem and gratuitous tit joke twice. Inspired.

1:28 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

David.(6.47) Did you really say "Big ups".....

1:47 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Hey boys, if you're going to suck a CD's dick on a blog, you really should leave your contact details. Like your uni email address or your mum's phone number.

Seems like 12:10 and I are the only ones gainfully employed in advertising. And the only ones who have some perspective on what good work is.

Apologies to 9:05, I have been having terrible trouble establishing a profile on this thing, like many others.

If you'd like to see what the rest of the wrld is winning award for, I'd suggest www.canneslionslive.com.

Sam

1:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Say what you will mr 'SAM' but this campaign is getting heaps of coverage all over the world. David is right - I just checked his links and googled it in news and it is massive. Doubt you ever created anything this huge buddy.

Lowe does it again and again.

2:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

seen it all. it's way great. Wait till you see the whole film - world class.

Congrats dejan and bec and the lowe team

3:02 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great work. Don't listen to negative fuckers who are in the minority.

next ...

4:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Go MTV & Lowe Hunt, and go Snoop - very cool stuff.

4:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

In response to 12.10... you sound sooo like you're in the MTV demo. Wow - you've even watched MTV 2 in the States. What an expert!

5:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Warum muessen solche Warmduscher wie SAM ueberhaupt ihren Senf abgeben?
Wahrscheinlich weil sie ihren Mini Pimmel kompensieren wollen und in der kleinbuergerlichen Konservativ-Agentur, in der sie als Schwanzlutscher arbeiten, dazu keine Chance haben.

Ansonsten hoch die Faust fuer SNOOP und die best gelungenste multi mediale Kampagne aus Australien in diesem Jahr...

6:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

noticed it on the homepage of myspace.com

9:51 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi 12:10... bit of a narrow minded, long winded opinion there buddy... who cares... I reckon it's good that it's got an Australian edge.

Also, when creating a parody I'd-a thought the last thing an agency would want is someone caught up in the culture. It might end up looking like a "fresh" Guy Sebastian film clip... opps

3:41 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

12:10? What tha fuck is 12:10?

9:37 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love how these days you can PR the fuck out of any idea, great, ordinary or even done before and it gets places. Create enough attention around an idea, blogs (hey I'm doing it now), myspace, news reports and any other mention and it's great! Very sad that the industry is taking advantage of PR to make an idea feel "massive". A good example was Lynx Jet. They spent 9 months PRing the 32 different channels as being one of the most integrated campaigns in history? Of course it was that's what the presentation said! I'm sure the Lowe team are already working on there 5 minute entry for Cannes. Some advice: use good music and a great editor and shitloads of news clippings and make it feel big..judges love that.

11:48 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

From 12:10 (myself)

Thanks Sam for backing me on this one.

I wasnt trying to entirely bag it out.

Im just saying that it just looks a lil too static and maybe even too unauthentic.

Would anyone of even known that Middleditch directed this unless you read it on the credits?

I cant remotely see his thumb print on this work.

It looks no better than what an inhouse team would do.

Ofcourse, the style is going for a 'spoof documentary' look - so not much territory there for doing things differently or more innovatively.

But, even in this genre there is always room for pushing it very far, and the unique thing about the famous image of MTV, is that there are few and almost no boundaries, not only when it comes to the ideas (often explicit, radical thinking, very controversial), but more importantly, the innovation in execution (styles, looks, casting, colors, logos, titles, vfx, camera work...) These spots fall short in the latter department.

Because these MTV spots have been shot on HD / video get someone who is a master of shooting HD / digital ie, typically young up and coming directors.

But if you wanted to shoot this on 35mm, then would I say to get middleditch, a master of film.

Sure, this campaign will go on, gain alot of attention and success because it is a unique idea, get a few hits on music websites, and various newsfeed websites.

But id say, if innovation was pushed even further, it could have been far more famous for more reasons than just the fact that it features Snoop Dogg.

Now, my opinion is not king, and will not be agreed on by many, because if everyone shared my viewpoint from audiences, to creatives, to producers, to clients, to directors, then there would simply be less average work to be complaining about.

1:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So 11:48? Your point is?

If you google news 'Snoop MTV' it will give you an idea of how big it is already. And that's without a video. I reckon it's great.

4:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You know a campaign has struck a nerve when people start writing essays on it.

4:50 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So many essays. Lynchy, you should publish a compilation. Sam would love to get a copy.

5:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

4.45, my point is simple: it's not a great idea but as you guys all keep harping on about it makes it seem like it's the most innovative thought since "Vote for Schapelle to be set free" or "Bring Hicks home campaign...sad.

7:16 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just had a look at the campaign and website and I have to say it's very clever the way they tied the idea so well to him being banned from entering Australia.
It's like they knew he would be banned and they shot the film beforehand. That's very cool and something that hasn't been done before. Full marks there.

The cultural thing is ok and that's not why I like it - the fact that it sticks it up authority is what I like and the way Snoop Dogg plays himself so well. I did have a laugh as well.

I really would like to see more depth in it and I guess there is probably a lot more to see (someone mentioned there's an entire film). At the moment it is light on.

So there's my 2 cents.

9:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

who is sam? is he the new toby and bec?

1:19 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I say get in line Bitch!

11:04 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If he wanna live in australia he should be able to. Sucks how they banned tha main man.

8:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Lovely. No doubt it's a super large strategy and very strong on many levels. The kind of idea people chat about outside the 'inner circle' as well.

:: :MuppETTe: ::

1:27 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's nowhere near as good as what you're all making it out to be. Great strategy. Very average execution. And lets be honest, it ISN'T funny. Reality check guys.

12:16 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Shut up Sam - give up. This is great work.

3:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

First Saatchi gave us the kiss, then Cummins and Partners went the pash, and now Lowe get out the boobies. I love this site!

10:24 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Who are you Sam? Man of mystery.

SAM (But not that Sam)

2:42 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Fab stuff Middleditch. Congrats to the team as well.

4:27 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's not all that.

11:32 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

wow! 70 posts! (and it's still not all that....)

6:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

it's just really fun to watch. Have a laugh and move on...

7:31 PM  

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