Hey, it's a clever flash game ... umm ... something's off here.

December 12, 2001 9:05 PM

Hey, it's a clever flash game ... umm ... something's off here. Never a sucker for banner ads, I click on an ad from Yahoo for some type of "advertising trivia" game. Cool enough, but it seems all of the questions are about laundry products, P&G laundry products. The capper came when the started streaming a Tide ad as part of the "game." So naturally, the whois is some entity in Cincinnati.

Jeez, do I feel like a simp.
posted by foist (8 comments total)

The outfit that does these games is called Adternity. They are a Cincinnati-based outfit that codes these advertising games, though I would submit that it is not their being from Cincinnati that makes a Tide-focused game odd. Now, if they were to have a Quake version where you could hunt crazed containers of laundry detergent, well...then they might just have something there.
posted by O Boingo at 9:19 PM on December 12, 2001

Don't feel bad; that's some pretty clever marketing. But I have to ask, aren't the two illustrations in there stolen from Terry Colon and John K.?
posted by waxpancake at 9:29 PM on December 12, 2001

I won a free sample of Tide Kick!!!
posted by howa2396 at 9:48 PM on December 12, 2001

With increasing sponsorship in the school system, in a few years this is what S.A.T.s will look like. But a good ad, seems like these guys have a clue.
posted by bobo123 at 10:40 PM on December 12, 2001

Do not question Profit and God! ;)

P&C Corporate HQ is in Cincinnati and they like to hire us local guys from time to time.
posted by Mick at 6:55 AM on December 13, 2001

Weird. I felt less like a customer and more like a sales rep at a detergent makers' convention going through some corporate team building excersize.
posted by dataport72 at 7:49 AM on December 13, 2001

The concept is reminiscent of "You Don't Know Jack" (when they had their online version)...but with that wretched commercial twist.

>Don't feel bad; that's some pretty clever marketing. But I
>have to ask, aren't the two illustrations in there stolen
>from Terry Colon and John K.?

I wouldn't assume that the illustrations were pinched. With P&G's advertising budget, Adternity easily could have hired one of the artists.

BTW, here is a story about Adternity in the Cincinnati Enquirer, the city's largest local paper. It sheds light on their strategy and business model.

Quote: "“The goal was to try to get a deeper brand sell than you can with TV”...question is, do we need "deeper brand sells" at all?

(and speaking of brand sells and "pretty clever marketing"...the implied From Here To "Adternity" absolutely makes me cringe. Of course, maybe they are playing off of the term "Fraternity"...which is even worse.)
posted by kilroy at 8:47 AM on December 13, 2001

Simple rule: All advertising is *at best* deceptive and at worst fraud.

If you believe or act on any advertising, expect to be taken advantage of. Except possibly ads that tell you NOT to do something, like "Don't drink and drive".
posted by krisjohn at 5:52 PM on December 13, 2001