Marketers and producers, take note: you do not maximize a geek idol by toning down her weirdness to stuff her into some cookie-cutter mainstream mold. That sort of Intellectual Laziness turns potentially game-changing black swans into commodified poultry. That sort of intellectual laziness would have turned Shoko Nakagawa into just another bikini idol.
The best way to maximize a geek idol is by playing up the very weirdness that makes her unique.
The Relevance of Weirdness
That’s exactly what Globe Telecom does with Filipina cosplay goddess Alodia Gosiengfiao, in the newest ad for their Tattoo mobile broadband service. In this visually stunning advertisement, Globe effectively conveys five of the geeky things that make Alodia unique among Filipina celebrities: (1) her passion for cosplaying multiple characters, (2) the organic online origin of her celebrity status, (3) her ability to constantly churn out compelling online content, (4) her ability to promote her online content, and (5) her online content’s ability to attract ridiculous amounts of Web traffic.
The last four things dovetail perfectly into the need for unlimited mobile broadband service, which is exactly what the ad is selling. Not only does the ad celebrate Alodia’s uniqueness, it also makes her uniqueness relevant to the service. That’s far more creative than sticking a random pretty face next to whatever you’re selling.
Dissonance and Fragmentation
The only thing Globe did wrong with this ad was to replace Alodia’s voice. The inauthentic aural substitution stood out as a jarring contrast to the spot-on visual narrative. Other than that bit of cognitive dissonance, this is one of the most clueful ads I’ve ever seen.
The Internet-powered fragmentation of culture has created an unprecedented variety of nontraditional artists like Alodia. Kudos to Globe on successfully recognizing, conveying, and leveraging Alodia’s uniqueness.
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- Win a Date with Alodia via Mobile Downloads!
- Alodia Endorses TinierMe
- Alodia’s Fantasy: Geek Girl in Charge
- Animax Feels the Alodia Effect
- Alodia Endorses US Figure Shop
