A pretty ‘Big Deal’ indeed! Langham vids removed

Poor Doug. Our post from three days ago stirred up so much controversy that all three Langham ‘Big Deal’ episodes have been removed. The videos have all been privatized on Youtube (thanks for tipping us off commenter Ed!) as well.

Blogs such as ‘The Pitch Hong Hong’ and ‘Living in Hong Kong’ picked up the matter quickly, as well as our growing share of Twitter followers. A small selection of responses here, here, here, here and here. And of course we shouldn’t forget the good people who are actually great fans of the material or just fellow hippies, such as our friend Chris here.

The Dark Side comes to the rescue of course. Unfortunately we were only able to retrieve episode I, but it blows almost as much as episodes II and III. Let’s see how long it’ll take before Doug decides to have it blocked for copyright infringement:

Update: And look, episode II is back as well! All hail Miss O’Kistic.

Update II: Today Langham Hotels canceled the entire campaign, as apparently these vids only represented phase I of their exciting social media marketing adventure. The Dark Side at your service.

Update III: Today (16-6-2009) we received an email from Youtube saying they deleted the above vids due to a copyright infringement claim by Langham Hotels. You wonder what took ‘m so long, considering the shitload of bad publicity. We did find the 2nd episode on Dailymotion, click here for more.

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26 May, 2009 | Milfo | Hong Kong, Random
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  • Michel
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elD38pJX7iE

    NOW THAT IS GOOD MARKETING - think Bob VAN DEN OORD needs to think twice before he does another marketing attempt. It is a shame that someone else had to take the heat for what he is ultimatly responsible for. Well done Bob.
  • elephant
    didn't take any responsibility? at least an apology is expected to come...
  • elephant
    why does the brainless one in LHI who worked on this?
  • elephant
    why the one in LHI who had this brainless idea is avoidable to be fired?
  • creative freelance
    I've noticed a disturbing trend of software programmers, tecchies, proclaiming the role of web designer, graphic designer, copywriter, tv scriptwriter,creative director (over the past 7 years). I am appalled by these sad state of affairs. The saddest part of all is these self proclaimers are eroding the reputation of the creative communication industry which has taken a battering. A client who hires an amature knowingly should also pay for poor business ethics.
  • I'm happy to see this prick Dougles fall down...

    http://www.orientexpat.com/forum/index.php?show...
  • creative freelance
    The reason why creative communication specialists with history and a good portfolio exist is to avoid embarrassing situations like these. In this case it could have serious repercussions for the Langham brand. A client has got to be seriously deranged to engage anyone who've not got the pedigree in writing tv/viral scripts (minimum). It's like Coco Cola engaging an amateur to run their multi-billion dollar empire - suicide! Every tv commercial an agency creates for it's client hangs it's entire reputation on that commercial. If it's bad, the agency looks bad in front of an audience of millions aswell as the production company who shot it - end of story.
  • They probably didn't use their brain... or perhaps simply have poor taste?
  • As marketers, irrelevant to whether on traditional, digital, or social mediums, a key component to a campaigns success is by really knowing our audience.
  • Might have worked in 1909 if the Internet were as widespread then... now it's viral as in h1n1.

    Smacks of a poor understanding of the local market. HK is a flagship international city that mixes local culture with an international perspective and attitudes in terms of products and service, they seem to have misunderstood their customers and their local presence in one swoop.

    That this could get approved by a producer, an advertising company, and the client stinks of a poor control/qa chain in each step of approval.
  • Chef
    What a bunch of tossers this LHI managment is...
  • T Grundy
    It's too late for the Langham Group to suddenly pretend these videos were satirical. They were offensive to foreigners, locals and to Hong Kong itself. If they weren’t during production, those involved should be thoroughly embarrassed in retrospect and could perhaps donate their fees to a local charity that works with less fortunate people in Mongkok. Clearly, White had editorial control and it is the minimum one could do in order to correct wrongdoing.
  • Ed
    Oh, vids are also removed from SO-U TV.. Looks like Dark Side has the only online copies except Episode III. What a fun day I've had
  • Ed
    It really did seem as if they were taking the piss. Biggest winner unfortunately is that wanky So-fucking shite-U TV company
  • stir
    Even though this had a negative outcome in HK, didn't it bring everyone's mind to it? sounds viral to me. Never knew langham was a hotel or chain of hotels before this. Kudos for taking jump in HK. Takes balls
  • David
    This campaign was so poorly crafted that it positively reeks of amateur filmmaker passing off his work as viral. "Hey I can make vignettes and post them online for you..that's what the kids on the internet usually do." Prosperity Research needs to read up on some cases of how and when to properly execute these types of campaigns... And Langham's staff need to keep their eyes on the ball.
  • Mr. Chaoalin
    Wasn't this supposed to be a Viral marketing campaign? Seems more like a FAIL campaign to me.
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