Property firms’ ads suffer from the Patrick Bateman complex
You’d think, having seen the reaction to Redrow’s American Psycho-style advert earlier this week, that Berkeley Group might have watched its new ad for One Blackfriars a few more times and thought about whether it would suffer a similar fate. But they didn’t. And it did.
Redrow’s ad stars an arrogant (and creepy) City-boy type, who “stands with the world at his feet”, in his lofty Redrow apartment. The ad was deemed bad taste since the building sits squarely in the poorest borough in London. The ad was pulled on Monday. But one thoughtful Vimeo user has republished it, his user name is Patrick Bateman. Nice.
Yesterday, Berkeley’s ad popped up for its Twitter bating. There’s a terribly smug man with his terribly agreeable arm candy, taking a trip in his terribly expensive private jet, before shopping for terribly expensive jewellery.
Twitter loved it. Nauseating, vile, elitist and eye-stabbingly awful, are just a selection of the descriptives used. TCC, the agency credited with the video, told The Capitalist it certainly wasn’t the video it had made a few months ago. Intriguing.
Berkeley Group couldn’t be reached for comment, but within 24 hours of the video being released, it had been taken down again.
There are definitely some lessons in there for future property ads; let’s see if anyone learns them…
■ LOOKS LIKE someone’s a little bit upset about not making our Top Twenty Economists to Follow on Twitter list. City A.M. HQ has received a rather unhappy note from a disgruntled economist who has not been included – “I guess there is quite a lot of competition for these slots but it is a bit odd not to include me in one of the top two or three places!” went the email. Adding salt to the wounds, clearly, one of this economist’s colleagues was on the list instead. Perhaps the fact this person has a book coming out in March has furthered their annoyance; we suppose some extra publicity wouldn’t have gone amiss. Anyway – we’re sorry, we promise to include you next time. You’re right, you truly are a fantastic economist. We hang our heads in shame.
■ The Capitalist has caught wind of a new, rather lofty craze sweeping the City. Jason Atherton’s restaurant du jour City Social is offering more than award-winning food and terrific views. According to one banking chief, who shall remain unnamed, a trip to the gents gives one an interesting opportunity. With the urinals right up against the glass windows and with the Bank’s prudential regulation authority (PRA) building positioned in the line of sight, one has the pleasure of pretending to, um, er… you get the idea. With the PRA pushing up banks’ costs and enforcing bonus caps left, right and centre, we expect there may soon be a queue around Atherton’s block.
■ WHEN YOU’RE complaining about going back to work on Monday 19th January, you can take some comfort in the fact you’re not KPMG partner Gareth Williams. The daring bean counter will be about to start a marathon in Antarctica. But wait: that’s not all. He and five pals will be going on to run a marathon in Chile right after, then the US, back to the UK for one, then Egypt, Singapore and lastly a marathon in Sydney. Naturally the pain is all for a good cause, KEEN London and The John Maclean Foundation in Australia will be the recipients of any funds raised. Visit www.teamcontinentaldrift.com if you want to donate. Alternatively, you can go and support Williams and his team as they run in London on 22 January, starting at the Royal Albert Hall and finishing near Buckingham Palace.