Mother New York made up a word,"MIDWULS," using the last seven digits of Optimum's phone number, and created an integrated campaign around it. MIDWULS, we're told, is "that incredible feeling that comes when you get a great deal on TV, phone and Internet" by signing up with Optimum. The launch commercial shows folks in different situations saying "MIDWULS," and goofs on sci-fi-game addicts, Game of Thrones fanatics and Web-lovin' street gangs ("Yo, this is our hotspot!"). The campaign goes all-in, with a Wikipedia page (it's been deleted), a Tumblr (fairly amusing), an online store (every item is "sold out"—ha!) and the requisite #MIDWULS hashtag. (It's possible that Michael Bolton's next album will be titled MIDWULS.) I initially wondered if perhaps Mother deleted the Wikipedia entry itself as a postmodern, meta media move. Then I realized, even if they had, it would be a meh-ta move at best. The work tries a little too hard to be clever, like I just did with "meh-ta," and already feels played out. "MIDWULS" is amusing as a one-off, but I doubt it will spell success in the long run.
     |