Car commercials, video game commercials, FunnyOrDie, and movies all have two things in common: they're being used to sell you something, and they're being covered on FunkyBeast.com. Officially launching this week under the auspices of publisher/editor-in-chief - and former British veejay - Dean Conroy, FunkyBeast offers a "regular guy's perspective" on content, its creativity and effectiveness. One of its first official articles lauds carmaker Hyundai for its prescient move in partnering with YouTube sensation Pomplamoose in a series of holiday commercials for its Elantra, Sonata, and other models.
"The world of Web Marketing, Internet Advertising, Branded Entertainment, Digital Production, and Public Relations is one full of aspiration and exasperation, great work and lousy work, insight and cluelessness," said Conroy, who divides his time between Los Angeles and London, where the blog's editorial staff is based. "The bottom line is, everything sells something, so whether it's a piece of cinema or an advert, it's being marketed to you and there's a product within it that's being marketed to you. And we're just after the truth in advertising."
While FunkyBeast.com's initial content included a review of "The Social Network" and a Skype-generated discourse about actress Natalie Portman's appearance on the Zach Galifianakis FunnyOrDie show "Between Two Ferns," Conroy said that the Hyundai Pomplamoose piece and an early article about the spec BMW M3 Film "Living in the Lights" are ideal examples of FunkyBeast's formal direction. "Advertising and Marketing are not naughty words," he stated. "We don't take a cynical view of it all. We start with the premise that advertising is a useful and significant part of our lives and we commend brands and artists who seek to entertain us in the process." Conroy was a fan of Pomplamoose long before the Hyundai spots broke. "I admire them not only for their music, but for the way they shoot and edit their videos, for the way they've created their brand and style on YouTube," he noted. "Hyundai and the advertising agency totally get them, and they brought it to TV and back to the Web. And they've got the voice of last year's Oscar-winner Jeff Bridges, who's starring in Tron and True Grit. This is a Japanese car company with better timing than the Germans! Brilliant."
Conroy is quick to point out that "it's not all tea and cucumber sandwiches, as we say in England," and that FunkyBeast will fight injustice wherever it rears its ugly head. He points to a FunkyBeast article about Nondisclosure Agreements in the ad biz as a prime example. "It's a fun piece and fun is what keeps us all breathing, in my opinion, but the point we make is that people who didn't work on a project can say whatever they want but the people who worked for hire are often not permitted to promote it. That seems bloody ridiculous to me, mate, so we wrote about that."
As a veejay and "network ambassador" for the UK's MVE (Music Video Entertainment) from 1983-1987, Conroy became one of the most recognizable faces in promos. His subsequent work on the telly and on radio underscored his indelible impression on popular culture. In 2001, Conroy co-founded Funky Beast as an alternative public relations and marketing firm based in his adoptive home of Los Angeles. He worked with a vast array of high-profile clients, ranging from Superior Juices (and sub-brands SuperCoolPops and SuperFruityBags), to Teeming Dance Vans, and Ladies' Lux Cosmetics. FunkyBeast.com is the "three-eyed lovechild of those experiences," and to keep things honest, Conroy's editorial staff includes "a French snob, a cockney garbageman, a Cuban attorney, and a Guatemalan princess."
"I've assembled a team of regular people who happen to be smart, insightful, entertaining writers," Conroy concluded. "Well, they're mostly good writers. One of them is here, quite frankly, because it's good to have a barrister around."
###
No comments:
Post a Comment