Crashvertise, let’s make crashes happen!

Crashvertise

The traffic accidents aggravated the dense urban crowd and immediately the news was spread by word of mouth. People just stopped, attracted by the feverish show of a tragedy. People no longer ran, distracted by the frenzy of everyday life, but suddenly found time to stop, trying to find a place as close as possible to the scene. And they did nothing but watch. What better location for advertisements is there in a constantly distracted world than a traffic accident? Crashvertise is a project by KOOK Artgency (“a-conventional” communications agency and spin-off of the guerriglia marketing collective) inspired by urban crashes. As soon as a serious crash takes place amid the bustle of the city, a Crashvertise team will head to the site to place signs and branded warning triangles for the bystanders to inspect. They also take pictures of the tragedy scene for publishing on the social networks and for creating a viral marketing campaign as soon as possible. The costs are calculated by the severity of the accident and its location, for example the city center is more expensive than suburban areas. A document containing valuable guidance suggests how easily you too can cause accidents and become an official agent of the Crashvertise project. As with Where next , a disturbing invitation to speculate on upcoming international attacks, the guerrilla marketers play with a surprising tool: a marketing campaign that is predicated on accidents and tragedy. The project certainly it seems to be in bad taste, however something similar actually happens in reality: the more cars that circulate in the streets, the more accidents will occur. This causes significant increases in the automotive industry (coachbuilders, mechanics, insurance) and a subsequent growth in jobs. So if accidents paradoxically generate jobs, Crashvertise is a virtual corollary (and the most extreme one too), but it follows the logic of consumption impeccably. Once again what looks like a surreal playful sarcasm unfortunately is a visionary (though unsustainable) representation of our everyday life.

Chiara Ciociola