First scams and now spoofs at Award shows

Singapore - Iris Singapore birthed a fictitious company called Maie TV. The "network" has created four short films featuring the opinions of industry leaders at the Singapore Effies on issues which has plagued the trade for years, such as scam ads and "Media vs Idea".

Initially intended to be a project to celebrate its finalist entry at the Singapore Effies, Iris developed the idea further and with the knowledge and approval from IAS, it filmed hours of footage that night. It eventually won a Bronze Effie for its work on "Top Shot" for Sony Ericsson, and the project indirectly helped Iris to promote itself.

"We asked people if they had heard of Iris -- on that evening not many people had. However, we think that may well be starting to change," Iris Singapore's MD, Dan Saxby, said.

"Maie TV is intended to provoke debate and challenge the status quo in the Singapore advertising industry, and there's no better place to do this than at the Effies. The films are not intended to upset anyone in the industry. Footage we felt could be harmful to any individual or agency were not included," Saxby said.

The footage was posted on Maie TV's website, which launched virally two weeks ago and has been hit with over 500 unique visitors since, eliciting debates and industry interaction on its blog board.

The issue on scams ads were the focus of debate at this year's Adfest as reported by Marketing on 29 Mar.