Last month, fans rushed to see who they thought was singer Elton John outside a Primark store near Anfield, Liverpool.
Wearing a red suit with gold lettering spelling ‘Rocket Man’ on it, sticking red shoes and a Union Jack necklace, “Elton John” was seen making ways into high street retailer Primark, shocking the public.
Surrounded by two security guards, fans were convinced it was the multi-award-winning singer.
However, this was not the case.
Meet, Lewis Ellis, owner of Hussel Marketing, who made the “disruptive” marketing advert for Primark featuring the fake Elton John for less than $1000.
In the advert, “Elton” was looking for his sunglasses with his assistant suggesting he get some from Primark. The clip went on to show him stepping out of a black Bentley and walking through Liverpool City Centre as he approached Primark surrounded by a crowd.
“Primark is a huge organisation, who would not have even heard of us [Hussel Marketing], Ellis tells Marketing Beat.
“We rebranded a Primark advert in our own format, just like how graphic designer rebrands their business in their own way. It’s disruptive and engages the public.”
Disruptive marketing involves using experimental tactics that challenge the status quo, something which Ellis takes pride in.
“I really want to showcase how different we think,” Ellis continues.
He says every single person seems to have found the ‘Badvertising’ campaign “hilarious”.
“I would have expected some negativity, but there was none. Every single person that was involved found it quite funny. It was simply a prank where there were no victims, and that’s quite rare these days.A lot of people seem to do things at other people’s expense.”
Ellis adds: “In the midst of all the chaos, we managed to film, an actual advert for Primark right so that was the whole concept.”
He claims in the industry you have to “weigh up who your target audience is and what do they engage in”.
As a result he says: “If I offend that 60 year old person, because they don’t understand the concept, that’s irrelevant, because they’re not the target audience.
“In terms of tonnes of getting cancelled and cancelled culture, that’s kind of only relevant to the worst, my perspective, from the worst and most unforgivable things like being racist, making anti-trans and homophobic comments, which no marketing campaign in its right mind would ever do.
‘Badvertising’
According to the marketer, the Primark advert is part of the company’s bad advertising series, where they take a big brand that “wouldn’t work with the agency and pretend they have been hired by the company.
This results in Hussel creating a unique advertisement for them which would be “disruptive” and “creative at the same time”.
Other brands on Ellis’ radar are Victoria Secret, Ikea, Apple, Red Bull and especially John Lewis.
“At Christmas, we might even make our very own John Lewis advert, which the retailer spends millions of pounds on it. But, if I could do my own version for under £2,000, that is also engaging and creative, people would think ‘Wow, they did that for a fraction of a price'”.
The future of marketing
Ellis believes social media will “die out soon”, with more money and attention being focused on immersive experiences.
“Pretty soon we’ll be having augmented reality in our lives,” he says.
“Soon we will be wearing some sort of tech that shows offers, deals and advertisements in real life when walking down the street. I think I can see that augmented reality being a big thing.”
Ellis concluded in terms of marketing, most companies need to focus, stand out and focus to engage with its customers.
“Firms need to make their audiences more excited and even inspire them, which 99% of companies don’t even do now, and thats a shame,” he concludes.
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