Title | PHUBBING |
Brand | MACQUARIE DICTIONARY |
Product / Service | DICTIONARY |
Category | J03. Storytelling |
Entrant | McCANN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA |
Entrant Company | McCANN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA |
Advertising Agency | McCANN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA |
Production Company | AIRBAG PRODUCTIONS Melbourne, AUSTRALIA |
Name | Company | Position |
---|---|---|
John Mescall | Mccann Melbourne | Executive Creative Director |
Pat Baron | Mccann Melbourne | Creative Director |
John Mescall | Mccann Melbourne | Copywriter |
Natasha Wood | Mccann Melbourne | Copywriter |
Pat Baron | Mccann Melbourne | Art Director |
Matthew Stoddart | Mccann Melbourne | Art Director |
Dave Budd | Mccann Melbourne | Designer |
Nath Mallon | Mccann Melbourne | Senior Editor |
Adrian Mills | Mccann Melbourne | Group Account Manager |
Alec Hussain | Mccann Melbourne | Account Director |
Alex Haigh | Mccann Melbourne | Account Executive |
John Mescall | Mccann Melbourne | Strategy |
Adrian Mills | Mccann Melbourne | Strategy |
Pauline Mcmillan | Mccann Melbourne | Digital Producer |
Chelsea Nieper | Mccann Melbourne | Agency Producer |
The execution was an integrated part of the creative idea. We identified a global problem that didn't have a word for it yet. The problem was poor smartphone manners. The word we created was ‘Phubbing: ignoring the person in front of you in favour of your smartphone.’ We launched the word, then used the word to spark a social movement. And then with media and public discussion of Phubbing at its peak, we used media and PR to reveal the origin of the word, to launch the 6th edition of the Macquarie Dictionary. Social was used as the core of the social movement.
The campaign received global coverage and critically, 3.6 million Australians could link the word to its definition. Additionally, the campaign: • Was discussed in 180 countries via social media and covered by 750+ news outlets in 50 countries • Earned 435 million PR impressions • Attracted over 27,000 fans on Facebook • The campaign received unbelievable traction. Hundreds of news outlets such as the USA’s ABC network, Time magazine, the BBC, China Daily, Grazia, and every major Australian media outlet covered the campaign. The editor of the dictionary even spent 10 minutes on breakfast television.
Dictionaries have largely become invisible in a world where Google has become the default source of all collective human wisdom. So when the Macquarie Dictionary planned to launch their 6th edition, they did so knowing that reportage and public interest would be minimal. Dictionaries just aren’t really part of the social discussion. In many ways, this was seen a bit as a lost cause. All the publishers wanted, was to generate a social buzz around their upcoming edition, and create a story that mainstream media (and not just the literary media) may be interested enough in, to give the Macquarie some oxygen. A secondary goal was to remind their parent-publishing house that dictionaries aren’t dead just yet, and prove that they may have a place in the modern world.