Auckland Agency Unveils World’s First Strategy-Only Campaign, Forgetting to Make Ad
In a bold shake-up of industry conventions, Auckland-based agency GOBSMACC unveiled what it’s calling the 'future of marketing'—a campaign comprised entirely of strategy decks, ideation workshops, and one highly confidential PDF titled 'Moodboard Final V37_lol.pdf'.
The campaign, 'Invisible Impact', was developed over 14 months, involving 32 brainstorms, two off-site yoga retreats in Piha, and a week-long silent retreat for the account managers to 'realign their KPIs with the cosmic grid of purpose'. However, somewhere between the initial post-it flurry and the internal Slack channel named #DisruptOrDieTrying, no actual creative output was produced. Not a single ad. Not even a janky EDM.
“We’ve moved beyond execution,” said GOBSMACC Partner and Head of Non-Tangible Outcomes, Petra Lawrence, while sipping a turmeric soda and standing beside a wall entirely covered in string maps. “This is about creating an ecosystem of possibility. Do we need a physical ad when we’ve already redefined the consumer’s metaphysical orientation to the brand?”
Despite the absence of deliverables, the campaign has already won three gold pencils, one bronze lion, and the elusive 'Grand Prix for Vibe' at the recent Pan-Regional Egosphere Awards. The client, a mid-tier dairy-free gelato company with six followers on Instagram, has since gone out of business, but GOBSMACC maintains this was part of the narrative arc.
Internal sources reveal that junior staff are now developing a pioneering hashtag strategy for a non-existent product launch in Q1 2025, tentatively titled #WeMatterButAlsoNot. At press time, three agencies have already attempted to poach the strategy’s intern.
The campaign, 'Invisible Impact', was developed over 14 months, involving 32 brainstorms, two off-site yoga retreats in Piha, and a week-long silent retreat for the account managers to 'realign their KPIs with the cosmic grid of purpose'. However, somewhere between the initial post-it flurry and the internal Slack channel named #DisruptOrDieTrying, no actual creative output was produced. Not a single ad. Not even a janky EDM.
“We’ve moved beyond execution,” said GOBSMACC Partner and Head of Non-Tangible Outcomes, Petra Lawrence, while sipping a turmeric soda and standing beside a wall entirely covered in string maps. “This is about creating an ecosystem of possibility. Do we need a physical ad when we’ve already redefined the consumer’s metaphysical orientation to the brand?”
Despite the absence of deliverables, the campaign has already won three gold pencils, one bronze lion, and the elusive 'Grand Prix for Vibe' at the recent Pan-Regional Egosphere Awards. The client, a mid-tier dairy-free gelato company with six followers on Instagram, has since gone out of business, but GOBSMACC maintains this was part of the narrative arc.
Internal sources reveal that junior staff are now developing a pioneering hashtag strategy for a non-existent product launch in Q1 2025, tentatively titled #WeMatterButAlsoNot. At press time, three agencies have already attempted to poach the strategy’s intern.