Ben and Shane get the sack
September 21 2009, 2:20 pm | | 34 Comments
On 09.09.09, advertising creatives Shane Dawson and Ben Birchall found themselves out of a job.
Cast: Shane Dawson. Art Director. Part time model. Ben Birchall. Copywriter. Failed teenage pop star.
Plot: After 5 years at the same agency (The Campaign Palace, Melbourne), a creative team is given their pink slips after a big account walks. They decide to document their redundancy….
34 Comments
As much as getting the arse sucks, someone told me years ago you can’t made it in advertising until you’ve been retrenched, so congrats fellas. And with and idea like ‘The Sack’ I can’t see you both being destitute for much longer.
I like your proactivity guys.
Send me your details and we’ll see what we can do to help you.
I look forward to the next movie!
Welcome to advertising
Loving it guys – awesome stuff
You’re amateurs. I’ve been sacked 9 times. Curiously, I left the Palace voluntarily.
awesome.
best ‘we got sacked campaign’ of the year.
Well done. My advice would be to fuck agencies all together.
Pump this concept up and win a client or two off the back of it.
4.49. Is that you Yanni?
That’s great.
Can’t wait for the job interview episodes. I’m sure they’re coming!
maybe even enter it into cannes….change the music though
Brilliant guys. Very entertaining, you both won’t be out of work for long!
5.18 or Steve, I gott say, that was pretty damn funny.
Pity you didn’t use an unemployed TVC director for your clips- would have been a whole lot better story telling and visually arresting!
Guys,
Sorry to say it but you’ll be out of work again before you can say “stubble ridden 20 something looking like a hobo”. It might take a few more years (if you are really lucky) and you’ll fall from job to job trading off your last headline or an ad you think everyone actually remembered but forgot instantly. Then you’ll look at the fresh creative team that has just been hired and realise you have fallen out of favour.
The stubble starts looking a bit ridiculous and scruffy black t-shirts and jeans will have moved on. You’ll remind anyone who’ll listen of how many awards you have won and wonder why they feign interest. Enjoy it while it lasts because it won’t. Look around at all the creative teams who look like cookie-cutter versions of you. Look again and wonder where all the guys you knew 5 years ago actually went.
They were pushed out many times…this appears to be your first. Get used to it!
It’s ok guys.. getting mates to write ‘you won’t be out of work for long!’ isn’t as effective as just calling people with a good book.
Fuck John…bitter much?
These guys are doing exactly what creatives are supposed to do everyday – turn a negative/problem into a positive…and you’re having a crack at them?
If you’re any good you’ll be fine. And by the way you’ve dealt with your first retrenchment I’d say you’ll be more than fine.
Love the idea.
AUSSIE CD in NYC.
Boys,
You’ve had a good idea…now use it. Why didn’t you put your book onto the end of the clip about you sorting out your book? You’d have exposure to half the CDs in the country off the bat, plus the vid would have had some point to it. The world doesn’t need more pointless You Tube style mpegs… prove you can rise above that.
cheers,
Another ex-pat Aussie CD
JOHN.
It sounds like everything that you’ve just mentioned has happened to you.
There’s an obvious pattern that exists here on the CB blog. The ones that are struggling, bitter or feel ripped off are the ones cutting people down – having cheap shots at decent people with good intentions. I’d be very surprised if the best minds in the business are posting messages such as yours John……they simply have no reason to……………as opposed to you.
I hope you don’t get a job so I can keep watching you two clowns! Piss funny.
I love this.
BTW guys, anyone that’s keen should look at their blog website – their work is there. Think this is the best piece in their book but some pretty cool stuff as well.
Dudes, this is great stuff and you’re showing what you’re made of. Good luck, although I’ve seen your porti and I know you don’t need it.
John and 4:49 – getting fired repeatedly doesn’t mean you’re special and no one understands you. It just means you’re crap at your job.
Sorry.
You guys have positioned yourselves as losers.
Brave?
No, bad strategy.
Boys, here’s an idea… why don’t you cast John in your next ep?
He could play the villain who casts long dark shadows over the world. He ends up being destroyed by a secret spell you put on him. It goes…
Lighten the fuck up.
To be honest @ 11.14, they’re not being losers, they’re being honest. They got retrenched, it kinda happens in this game.
And rather than take the ‘we’re one of 40 teams currently in retrenchment in Melbourne can you have a look at our book’ the boys have embraced it.
If anything, they’re positioning themselves as winners.
Why don’t you and John start an agency together? Call it ‘Bitter & Twisted Miscommunications’.
Shitloads of people in my agency (a good one) are following these guys. Not just in creative. Word has spread. Good on ’em for getting off their arse and trying to see the positive side.
Clearly John of 11:44 is bitter and doesn’t deserve further comment, but ‘To be honest’ of 11:14 must be the janitor of some agency who’s jumped onto someone’s computer, because his particular kick in the face while these guys are already down is completely uneducated. If it’s wrong to position yourself as a loser there would never be the ‘Honest, it’s a Skoda’ campaign, VW’s ‘Lemon’ ad, Dr Pepper’s ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’ and plenty more. ‘To be honest’, you just embarrassed yourself.
Hey 10.45.
You sighted Skoda, VW and Dr Pepper as examples of a loser positioning.
What?
This is complex to answer but …
(a.) Skoda. The jury is out if a middle European car maker from an ex communist country with a ‘Russian’ image can rise above its deeply entrenched negative connotations. So far. It hasn’t and sales are very poor, even after a massive investment.
(b) VW’s ‘Lemon’. This Doyle Dane Bernbach classic is often held up as postive proof that negative works. It is not. It was just one ad in a brilliant series of dozens of DDB television and print ads that focused on all the positive (if quirky) advantages of owning a VW in America. Check ’em out. Not a negative approach amongst them.
(c) Doctor Pepper. Y&R have produced some stunning commercials over the years but have never really got the brand going anywhere near Coke or Pepsi. It’s a niche brand with a niche taste. And always will be. Y&R have used the brand to sell themselves, because they sure as hell haven’t sold much Doctor Pepper.
Oi, Honestly now, I sure hope you’re an art director, because I believe the term you were looking for is ‘cited’ not sighted.
Now get back to your catalogues.
10.58 … from your superior arsed tone you are clearly a teenage suit working in some half arsed agency who has no idea on what the fuck he is all about except the fact that he went to Kings, Cranbrook or Scotch College and believes he’s fucking God.
Fuck off you ignorant cunt.
Now back to the subject of this blog.
If these guys are to get a job, they need to hear the truth about their strategy on how to crack it back.
Pricks like you who wouldn’t know if there arse was pointing up or down, are not helping.
Now, go back to putting catalogues into letterboxes you pratt.
Guys. Be positive.
Maybe John ramped up his argument too much but in a lot of ways he is right. Creatives are like sportsmen. Lots of players running around until 35 max – and there are only a few coaching spots. It’s narrow at the top of the triangle.
I kinda think that John has copped a bit of slagging for simply being in your face and honest. Anyone who has been in agencies for more than 5 years is probably nodding in agreement with John. I think he was a bit brutal in his delivery but the churn and burn of agencies tends to wear a bit thin. I can relate to John’s pain and also these two guys who have taken a positive stance for their first kick in the teeth. Life goes on but in 10 years time few of us will be in any agency. So where do we all go as the number of agencies reduces with mergers and both global and local agency groups. John held up a mirror…too bad we don’t like what we see.
Another classic bomb using the negative.
Boys, you are getting the blogs with the approach, but it won’t get you a job.
Turn it around now, before you are known for all the wrong reasons.
Watching their vids gave me the uneasy feeling they don’t give a fuck about being given the sack.
One must remember, one was a failed model and the other a failed rock star.
Ironically on their ‘TV’ show, they are achieving the stardom they so obviously long for
Interesting and somewhat indulgent.
Poorly scripted, good use of wobbly cam.
I gave The Sack 1/2 a star.
The stereotypes really are true aren’t they? There really are some wankers in advertising.
Ignore them boys, it’s a brilliant idea, we’re all jealous (except for the retrenchment bit!).