66 Comments

WOW!
schnabz
2009-12-22 16:07:19

Umm, something tells me this really is spam (good spam!) and I liked the secret millionaire moment at the end!
Theo
2009-12-22 16:10:49

Call me an old cynic (so many do) but I can't help thinking the guy that 'won' the money was in on it all along. As Theo says though, a nice tale and a happy ending so I'm left not feeling totally cynical after all ;)
Wallis
2009-12-22 16:57:43

even the 'Theo' is suss.
schnabz
2009-12-22 16:58:13

Lets encourage people to second guess what looks like spam and send bank account details? Am I missing something here...
David
2009-12-22 17:06:53

(notice how 'Theo' was based in London, seemed to be a big cheese at his company, knew he'd donate it AND give it to a charity that was going under. still. . . it's clever that a spam email actually was real. so the christmas message is, 'mother donates to charity, and quite a bit sum'. that's good enough.
schnabz
2009-12-22 17:09:17

This is very creative idea and I really like it. But there is a "but".
What I mean to say is that even the person who had this great idea,
never reply to a spam with full name and bank account.
No one would take that risk, unless he's bank account is empty.

Ok, mother donates to charity. I respect that
but it's really hard for me to believe that
there was a person who reply to the spam.

I never reply to a spam. Even now that I saw the $10.000 spam.
Would anyone else out there reply to a spam?

I'm not trying to say something, I'm just writing my thoughts.

Cheers
Renato T.
2009-12-22 18:35:04

looks kind staged to me, but a prtty sweet idea. word up dogs
peter brown
2009-12-22 19:44:32

Irresponsible... PR making... set-up. Spam is not to be encouraged, this type of act only makes it more misleading and those whose accounts are then emptied and lives messed up would be appalled at this type of thing. By all means be a secret millionaire, but don't try to be 'smart' doing it. FAIL!
Dylan J
2009-12-22 19:51:37

*creepy* marketing. ...spammers trying to reverse trend. Insider dealing, methinks.
I don't like 'mommy blogging' to begin with but to see this creeps me out even more.
Judith
BindingLogic
Judith Patterson
2009-12-22 20:54:57

Encouraging people to trust those spam emails after all? Doh.
Simon
2009-12-22 21:21:45

I"m not a fan of this. Now everytime I see spam I'm going to second guess myself while deleting it. Great advertising for Mother though...
Paul
2009-12-22 21:23:37

So Theo is a successful commercials director and Mother is an Ad agency. Setup? Probably. It's stil better than the usual agency Christmas guff and one of those ideas that will have people thinking "I wish I'd done that"
Olly
2009-12-22 22:05:34

I like the idea behind it, it's a nice Christmas message of giving and so forth...

but it's a bit irresponsible to encourage people to give out their full name and (verified) bank details.
Luci
2009-12-23 09:27:44

Of course it's a set up. If you think of the infamous Nigerian Money Scam spams that get sent, the ironic twist here is that the money actually ends up with a Nigerian charity, so you can see how the line of thought went with this. Great idea if you ask me.
Ben
2009-12-23 10:12:07

Olly – wouldn't a successful commercials director be exactly the kind of person Mother would have a Christmas mailing list? I don't think that counts as evidence of a set up.
Nick
2009-12-23 10:14:53

If it's staged okay. But please please say that the gifting of 10k was real be it pre-organised!
Maria
2009-12-23 11:02:11

I like it, and hope that it's real. Is Canadian YMCA next year's look, then?

@CR, loving the American Apparel ads at the moment!
Ed Wright
2009-12-23 12:11:34

The last bit, the bit that mattered, was genuine. How wonderful!
Adam Smith
2009-12-23 13:17:06

of course it is staged, but they did it to promote the fact that they were giving to charity!
Good PR!
Darren Scott
2009-12-23 13:30:14

It is true. Theo was indeed the only one to reply with his bank details.
Daniel
2009-12-23 14:22:08

Why encourage idiots to reply to Scam emails?

They are giving it to a charity for Nigeria when nearly all of the scam emails claim to be from someone from Nigeria - oh you are ironic!

Its guerilla advertising for the sake of it, they were giving it to charity anyway! Cashing in on the secret Millionaire and polishing there halo in public!

Do something nice this Christmas without expecting a pat on the back!

Merry Christmas

PS try and do something nice as often as possible without wanting recognition!

PEACE
Framedink
2009-12-23 15:20:56

this is fantastic
Z
2009-12-23 17:38:57

thats pretty sweet,
cheeky!
ace cream
2009-12-24 13:40:50

@Ed Wright; it was last years look, evidenced by all the tw*ts in 'ditch

I too hope this is real for whatever it's worth. However there are better, morally sound ways to publicize getting money out the door before the end of the tax year
Santa Logic
2009-12-26 15:39:45

If the camera didn't happen to be there... hehe
Dani r
2009-12-28 16:39:17

So what was that actually trying to prove? That if you are stupid enough you may one day get lucky?
Andy Walpole
2009-12-29 16:15:34

I love it. Probably the best Christmas "work" I saw this season.

Although I wonder, is Theo Delaney, one of the guys behind Leagas Delaney?

Anyway, congratulations to mother London for a very amusing & creative job!
André Breda
2009-12-30 15:39:01

Clearly a setup.

I now know why I don't have a creative job though. I need a beard like the ones they both have. And possibly a loud cheque shirt.
M
2009-12-30 16:32:05

Money laundering I think..
Clever though.
This is what I found in my spambox from "CR" the other day:
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/4060/screenshot20091230at234.png
Thom
2009-12-30 23:42:38

Did anyone watch the video to the very end? The guy gave the $10,000 to Nigerians! So it was a Nigerian e-mail scam all along!!
Dan Zee
2009-12-31 15:17:57

Mother - what a bunch of idiots.

more self masturbation.
Jam
2010-01-02 13:49:30

ever masturbatet anyone except yourself?
stereodeluxe
2010-01-04 15:19:00

I always reply to spam. I am a millionaire eight times over thanks to the continually degenerating socio-politial situation in Africa, and my penis is enormous to boot.
Gemma Mercy
2010-01-05 10:38:44

Funny but staged
chris
2010-01-05 12:06:52

boring shoreditch (deleted by moderator)!

roger
2010-01-05 12:12:00

Hello Dear Beloved ,

I am Mrs Victoria Sankoh now undergoing medical treatment for cancer. I am married to Mr. Peter Sankoh who worked with South Africa embassy in Malaysia for nine years before he died in the year 2006. Before my Husband died, we both made a deposit of some amount of money worth $10.5M in a consignment with a security and finance institution in Europe. Recently, my Doctor told me that I have few months to live due to cancer problem. Having known my condition I have decided to donate this fund to you so that you can use it to build an orphanage home in your country to help less privilege. My doctor will issue you a Letter of Authority from Court naming you the original Beneficiary of these funds. Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I stated herein. Hoping to hear from you.

Please send all response strictly to my email below.
victoriasankoh19@gmail.com

In His Arms.
Mrs.Victoria Sankoh .

P.S. Do I win an award?
Evil Brand Scientist
2010-01-05 12:19:38

funny idea if it wasn't a total set up
millsustwo
2010-01-05 12:21:52

The bastards never sent me an email.... :-(
Stubot
2010-01-05 12:29:20

Its a shame the money didn't go to someone not in the industry, Theo Delaney?? Come on guys a quick nod and a wink and a beautiful little video for some free publicity. Im surprised Creative Review actually feel for this.
Alan high
2010-01-05 12:42:33

grab me the pile cream... I need to shrink an inflated arsehole....
graeme duddridge
2010-01-05 12:43:15

The irony of the money getting forwarded to a charity called forward in nigeria is I would say pretty priceless.
da bishop
2010-01-05 12:45:13

Does reconfirm suspicions that Mother is fast running out of truly creative ideas.
There is nothing creative or clever about this.
SPAM is a serious problem with a very shady foundation. the last thing we need are donuts like Mother "being clever" about it.

It is, like much of their work, ill conceived, poorly thought out and more about Mother than anything else.

And CR - what's with the Am App ads? Think I saw that stretch lace grid bodysuit being advertised in my local phone box.
mw
2010-01-05 12:46:28

I'm with Framedink and Santa Logic - shouting from the rooftops about your largesse just stinks.
James
2010-01-05 12:53:06

You would think that a company like Mother would be more intelligent than this.

Most people are trying really hard to protect those less technically aware people around us by helping them understand the differences between legit emails and spam emails. Good money has been spent on campaigns to spread the word and help to protect people against online fraud and identity theft. This silly publicity stunt goes directly against those efforts.

I usually stand up and support controversial campaigns / ideas as they tend to get strong messages across to otherwise ignorant audiences, however this one is just silly and potentially dangerous.

Tut tut Mother, you should be setting a good example to your children rather than suggesting that they get in the car with a stranger AND eat their sweets.
Steve Perry (fu.gu)
2010-01-05 12:56:49

Definitely the most original agency christmas card idea ever!
Red Brown
2010-01-05 13:01:42

So Mother advertising works for about 1 in 200 people then. Not great returns if you ask me :)
Chris Keegan
2010-01-05 14:01:38

2 guys with beards, that was the point. The rest is just piffle.
Long Live Beardy Guys
Jeremy Webb
2010-01-05 14:03:30

This seasons all young male creatives MUST sport a beard and/or moustache. Otherwise you're not creative.
Hard Candy
2010-01-05 14:06:56

I feel like I have been conned. Seems something disingenuous is going on, maybe it's the untrustworthy effect of the beards but, too many coincidences. Or we are being denied the whole story. Are we supposed to accept this at face value?

Happy Kwanzaa!
Charlie
2010-01-05 14:27:49

I too have a beard, but unlike Santa or the Motherly philanthropists, am tight as a gnat's chuff.
Obviously staged, albeit credible, propaganda for Mother's cheridee work, ya.
...oh, and I dig the Nigerian donation irony too.
Moany McMoan
2010-01-05 15:18:19

What a terrible idea! Looks staged, and encourages people to reply to spam. Rubbish.
Traci Rochester
2010-01-05 15:55:45

Usual Mother onanism isn't it?

The spoof email wasn't written badly enough to be truly believable, although to be fair no one at Mother seems to be a native English speaker anyway. This is why you don't see much copy on their ads, just a sort of Eurospeak.

Of course it works as publicity for Mother, but I still feel their ideas are ephemeral and the King has no clothes.
Sunbeam
2010-01-05 16:15:24

Maybe Theo's bank need to talk to him about his security.
Charity? I think not,
Pull the other Christmas cracker
Freddie Brazil
2010-01-05 16:33:03

This annoys the hell out of me and further reinforces the whole self-congratulatory 'up their own arses' a lot of big- league design companies have...

for the record, I am a one man (sometimes two man) design company based in the North East, and every year for the past 10 years I have donated to a local hospice at Christmas... the combined sum wont be far off Mother's donation and I barely tell anyone about it apart from my immediate clients and suppliers in the form of an e-shot instead of Xmas Cards.... I do it as they are part of the local community and I feel I ought to give something back

This years has resonance as one of my freelancer's mother died during the Xmas period and she had benefitted from respite care at this hospice.

Frankly the 'Nigerian Scam' angle that feels like it's intended to say "Oh look at us aren't we clever" makes me want to give those guys a good kicking...

Mother, you should be ashamed of yourselves...
GregM
2010-01-05 16:58:51

mehther
Dave Grotter
2010-01-05 17:09:29

Nigerian crime lords are moving up in the criminal underworld. Now they're playing the long con by placing marketing directors in top London agencies and persuading them to legitimately donate money to Nigerian cartels via email scams.

Just kidding.

Interesting take, but it will only be appreciated within the walls of CR and similar, making me think that Mother is on a recruitment drive.
Jaqoda
2010-01-05 23:46:49

A mother of a terrible idea. Embarrassing
for a once hot respected outfit. Tragic.
BingoThe Ferret
2010-01-05 23:56:10

Please reply to this comment with your full name and full verified bank details and I will let you know my opinion.
Nick
2010-01-06 13:33:38

Bit weird. I can't imagine anyone replying with their bank details to a spam email. Everyone nos the danger of this. Encouraging people to reply to spam as it might actually be a true email isn't the best of ideas. The advert was pretty cringy about from where they actually gave to charity, which was the best thing about it. Seems like an adverts been made just to publicise the fact that Mother give to charity, you shouldn't need to promote yourself this way.
Emma
2010-01-06 18:04:47

Haha, nice post. Can't believe they did.
Charlie Street
2010-02-07 13:29:02

This is setting a pretty bad precident. What next? "We'll be hiding down a dark alley in the bad part of town with some money to give at 1am. Question is - which bad part of town? Get searching - and come alone, or we won't give it to you!"

I for one am glad that it is so obviously a fake.
zander
2010-02-18 12:06:16

Very very bad to encourage people to give their personnal informations
lukaas249
2010-04-24 16:54:14

ya sounds like it might not be a good idea even if it is
jimij
2011-01-10 05:35:52

Man, I would never throw away spam ever again:)) Think this is a good opportunity for me to learn from my mistakes and live up trusting the internet!
Ronnell
2011-03-18 13:55:20

Interesting take, but it will only be appreciated within the walls of CR and similar, making me think that Mother is on a recruitment drive.
wctube
2011-06-26 01:26:45

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