Virgin
has pulled a competition running on a UK website aimed at creative geeks,
despite being warned of the response it was likely to generate.
The irreverent
b3ta.com
offers a newsletter, bulletin board and galleries for what it terms "the best
stuff on the internet". It features a range of animated gifs, Flash files and
doctored images that revel in adolescent humour.
Advertisement
B3ta was founded by Rob Manuel, Denise Wilton and Cal Henderson, who
specialise in designing online creatives for viral marketing campaigns, many
incorporating an element of offensiveness to maximise impact.
Recent 'songs' performed and animated by Manuel include She's In a
Wheelchair (But I Don't Care Cos She's a Babe), Kill Your Parents
and B-B-B-Birmingham Pow!.
Manuel is also a member of TomBoy Virals, which recently created a
TV
ad for Virgin Trains that features the "biggest cock I've ever seen",
according to a voiceover on the soundtrack.
Virgin's association with the group led to a competition on the b3ta site
that called for creative responses to the concept 'What would happen if you said
Yes to everything?'.
Virgin was not pleased with some of the results, however, including an image
of
Richard
Branson relieving himself over a man dressed in a baby outfit. WARNING - not
for the squeamish.
The furore has not dampened Manuel's spirits. Under the heading 'Virgin on
the ridiculous', he posts: "Yep, they pulled the challenge; yep, they were told
before they opened it exactly how it would play out; yep, they asked us to
delete it; and yep, I think the whole thing is funny."
Whether Virgin's clever marketing types will be equally amused at this exposé
of their web-savviness is another matter.
Do you agree?
Have your say on this article