Speed is everything

Toronto agency, John St, hits adland where it hurts – in its fads.

Real-time marketing, aka being there – sort of, is that recent fervour to be seen to be the first to say something about whatever is happening. Canadian agency, John St, has taken ownership of the trend.

John St has developed , Reactvertising™.

“Does your agency take hours to respond to the latest trending hashtag or celebrity death? Is your brand missing out on being part of the conversation because you’re reacting too slow?” the agency quizzes its audience in its promotional video.

The agency is building a fake story about its fad (er, breakthrough). And a whole campaign around it. John St. is pretending to be running a whole new dedicated unit called Reactvertising™, where it goes to ridiculous lengths to make sure its clients are clued into current events 24/7 and can react within seconds to breaking news.

“It’s not about being funny or smart. It’s about being fast,” one of the agency’s 2,800 new speedwriters commented in the campaign video. “So now we just write whatever pops into our heads.”

And what do clients think? “There’s no one better at not thinking than these guys,” remarked client, Mitch Barker, CMO of Femmepax, in the video.

The campaign video is being supported by three videos showing how Reactvertising™ works in R&D, mobile and traditional advertising:

Will adland stop being fadland? What? Admit it doesn’t really know how to make people buy or use what it wants?

But, it’s a memorable and creative way to tout the credentials of the agency every now and then, is it not? Previous John St self-promo campaigns are ExFEARiential: