It was a damn good idea.
We had all the artwork ready, logistics were perfect, and . It was going to draw a lot of attention to use, build our brand, and even stir a little controversy (yay!)
But,
It was the controversy that shut the whole fiesta down.
Back up, the idea:
There was a viral ad campaign pushed around Dallas that featured a black and white photo of someone looking a rough around the edges with text that said "I Am Second". The ads were EVERYWHERE, you couldn't drive down 75 or 35 without seeing this on billboards, bumper stickers, fliers etc.
SO:
We were going to put fliers and signs near all the major highways that featured a blood-soaked dinosaur that said "I Am First" and a link to our website.
Kickass, right?
We got nuts about it. Our friends loved it to. I was already fantasizing having two hundred new fans at our next show. Maybe even winning some advertising award for creativity (even though I can't name one, haha). It was gonna blow up.
However, we kinda forgot who we'd be dealing with: a southern evangelical church coalition. I wonder how they'd react to us proclaiming dinosaurs came first.
Hmm... this might be an issue.
The copyright lawyer I talked to said as much. "While technically you wouldn't be infringing, they could still sue as tarnishment... Do you have the cash to beat them in court?"
Harpooned.
Fuck.
No awards for me.
We spent the next practice debating if it was still worth the risk. "What percent chance do you think we have of them suing us?" Eventually the idea had to die. We poured a forty of Mickey's on the curb to mourn the loss.
It's hard coping with an idea that was almost great, especially after loading so much work into it. But such is life. Don't hold onto mediocre ideas too long, throw that trash out.
Never, ever, stop coming up with new ideas.
No comments:
Post a Comment