Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Classically pointless activity done well

 Deck chairs?
  (+5, -1)
(+5, -1) 		  [vote for,
against]

This campaign would depict persons doing activities classically considered pointless. For example - a passenger rearranging deck chairs as the Titanic sinks. As it goes under the deck chairs, now lashed together in a tight group, float away as a makeshift raft with survivors aboard. One could show effective and organized herding cats. One could show a Chinese fire drill - starting with shouting and a lot of movement but actually a model of efficiency getting everyone out and organized.

Probably this would be for one of those companies that provides services for businesses.

—bungston, Mar 13 2014

This is a job for ... ! Metaphor_20Actualisation_20Agency
[hippo, Mar 13 2014]

Herding Cats http://www.youtube....watch?v=m_MaJDK3VNE
That one's been done [ytk, Mar 13 2014]

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       I like it but... chindogu ? makework ?
—FlyingToaster, Mar 13 2014
   

       I don't know why you should limit it to services - lots of the products people are convinced they need to buy are wholly unnecessary.
—normzone, Mar 13 2014
   

       Really this is just an eye catching ad. Could be for lutefisk. Maybe I should have saved the concept for Tongal. I find their 140 character limit frustrating.
—bungston, Mar 13 2014
   

       We already have this: the Ha'bakery.
—sqeaketh the wheel, Mar 13 2014
   

       Voting ?
—8th of 7, Mar 13 2014
   

       This seems very familiar. It is esentially 'twist' or 'alter expectations' advertising - draw people's attention with something odd; then add the twist to resolve it into something clever. It is ubiquitous in today's advertising, but I'm struggling to think of examples.   

       The only example of 'twist' advertising (that is also in the category of 'apparent exercise in futility') I can think of is a McDonald's ad. In this ad a teenage boy is seen retrieving a shopping trolley from somewhere very difficult and then pushing it over difficult terrain to return it to the shopping centre (this is apparently odd behaviour). When the shopping trolley is returned, the boy then gets a $2 coin in return for his troubles so he can buy a $2 burger (this is the twist; the resolution to something clever).
—xaviergisz, Mar 13 2014
   

       Football. Soccer.
—lurch, Mar 14 2014
   

       This is like pushing water up a hill.
—not_morrison_rm, Mar 14 2014
   

       I think you're conflating pointless/ineffective and difficult/impossible.   

       Rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship is the former, herding cats is the latter.
—Loris, Mar 14 2014
   

       Herding cats is easy, providing you have enough spray glue.
—8th of 7, Mar 14 2014
   


 

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