Trap Your Little Customers

 

This ad caught my eye immediately because it’s so close to my “Big Words”.

But then I really looked at it. What the hell? It’s a close up of a coffee table, with tiny little women trapped in an upside down glass.

My concerns:
1. I normally trap spiders like this.
2. Won’t they eventually run out of oxygen and die?
3. Why aren’t they trying to get out?

This is supposed to be self-promotion for Big House Communications. If you get a chance, their website is actually fun to visit and reminds me of the Naked site.

But this campaign is really unsettling to me. Here is what I think is their B2B ad in the campaign:

How creepy is that? Who wants to even think about that image, let alone associate it with someone you would hire? And the tag – yeah it doesn’t help the creepiness. “We Get Them” sounds like Big House goes out and traps them or kidnaps them.

When you are, as an agency, putting yourself out there, to me you should be presenting yourself honestly and creatively. Answering questions like what do you excel in, or what separates you from the competition, are huge pluses. If you can do all that in a fun self promo, you’ve got a great chance of connecting with the client. But if you produce scary work like this, you show no original creative thought, and you don’t separate yourself from the competition. And in today’s competitive world of pitches and image and tight budget, the most important thing might be establishing yourself and your identity clearly.

So how does this translate to the hiring process? If you approach an interview like a self promotion, you have to find ways to differentiate yourself and stand out. Putting things on your resume that are out of the ordinary is a great start. My experience as a short order cook went over so well when my interviewer was a huge Top Chef fan. Take a look at your experiences and skill set: what do you bring that the next guy won’t? Don’t wait for them to ask that question, establish yourself as early as possible.

If you are on the creative side of things, the connection is pretty clear. Your work and your portfolio needs to show not only your creativity and skills, but also how you think. How you approach problems, and how you communicate your message. With Big House, the message is, “notice us! we are cool! We Get Them!” in a way that is short on innovation and only pretends to be edgy. If you are going to go out there, go way out. If the agency doesn’t hire you, they aren’t challenging themselves the way you are challenging yourself. That is what breeds new ideas, and new ideas are what drives this industry!