This piece of copy for the Amazon Kindle brief was based on the notion that if books were seen to be obsolete, then surely there would be some people that wouldn't be too chuffed to see books disappear. This idea takes this a bit further and suggests that if you don't keep up with the times, you run the risk of getting left behind, being seen to be out of touch and - as you'll go on to see - a little bit mental.
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Client: The Amazon Kindle Digital Book Reader.
Project: Digital/social media campaign.
Video filmed for TV and to be uploaded to YouTube
We open to a black screen with a white caption.
Caption: This is a political party broadcast paid for by the Anti-Kindle Party.
We open to a Victorian era living room with an old man wearing a red smoking jacket, a monocle and a large mustache. He is sitting in a high back chair in front of a roaring log fire and completely engrossed in a large book spread open on his lap.
Old Man: "Ha ha! Oh, Yossarian... You cad-like bounder!"
The man looks up at the camera as if noticing it for the first time.
Old Man: "Oh! Hello!
He removes his monocle and the camera begins to slowly zoom in on the man.
He removes his monocle and the camera begins to slowly zoom in on the man.
Old Man: "Glad for you to join me! Today I would like to urge you not to purchase an Amazon Kindle. The whole thing is a load of bally nonsense!"
The man slams the large book shut which releases a cloud of dust into the air.
The man slams the large book shut which releases a cloud of dust into the air.
Old Man: "Books have been around for years! Books run in my family!
As the man speaks and gets progressively more angry, the camera continues to zoom in on his face.
Old Man: "They were good enough for me! My Father! And his Father! And here comes t-t-t-technology sticking it's big nose in where it doesn't belong! 'Your first paper-cut is a rite of passage for any boy,' my Father used to say! Tush and fie, I say! Ban the whole bally lot of them!"
Camera stops zooming in on the man's face and pauses there for a few moments. The camera quickly cuts back to it's original position as the old man re-opens his book and puts his monocle back on.
Old Man: "Cheerio!"
Camera stops zooming in on the man's face and pauses there for a few moments. The camera quickly cuts back to it's original position as the old man re-opens his book and puts his monocle back on.
Old Man: "Cheerio!"
The old man cheerfully continues to read his book, guffawing frequently as if the whole encounter never happened.
Strapline: (... Don't buy an) Amazon Kindle.
