Chris Simon's response

Cynical Arse:

John Mescall is one of those interesting self opinioned local ECD’s who
interestingly enough has the time to express his opinions regularly in an aptly
titled local ad rag column called ‘Smart Arse’!

Most really great global ECD’s I know are too busy winning business to write
about what they consider to be over-hype! (After all, what are their own regular
Columns? You got it! Over-hyped!)

How interesting then or hypocritical that Mr Mescall found time in his 4 April ,
2008 Column to write what he said wasn’t an anti-Earth Hour rant, but sounded
very much like one!

He offered the incredibly successful Earth Hour 2008 as his “Exhibit A”, sighting
the original and inaugural Earth Hour 2007 as working more “freshly” and not
being “hyped to death in the month leading up to it”!

I have absolutely no argument about how fresh and original Sydney Earth Hour
2007 was, but ‘how easily they forget’, (these smart local self opinioned ECD’s).

Not considering any of this hype, I will remind this local ECD of the facts:

In the 2007 original month leading up to Earth Hour, it had a major media group
that got behind it day after day and provide not only integral front page editorials
but specific whole front page promotion and advertising to persuade Sydney to
‘turn out’ for the event. If you put the Sydney media coverage 2007 alongside the
Sydney media coverage 2008, you will see Earth Hour 2007 ran far more stories
and a far greater level of promotion!

I noticed far less major “media group” Sydney 2008 “build” coverage, but far
more National and International 2008 “build” coverage! You don’t have to be too
smart to realize this was because, eh, it had become global!

It was because of this great idea’s original “groundswell” and the authenticity of
its Sydney community that it went worldwide!

I cannot really comment on your “Melbourne hot air balloons” or any “48-page
newspaper inserts”, because I wasn’t interested in that part of its Local, National
and International build. And I wonder how much of that activity was contributed at
no cost to get Melbourne to contribute greatly, as I know they did, to worldwide
“groundswell” and “community”. Melbourne’s or someone’s balloon was seen by
millions and millions on the Earth Hour Site and internet TV links throughout the
world. Pretty amazing and cost efficient worldwide awareness, don’t you think?

Let’s see how much real energy consumption was reduced as a result of Earth
Hour this year? In Melbourne, in Sydney and Cities across the world. Let’s see
how much “lasting change” it affects?

For the 2007 “under-hyped” Earth Hour I was in Malaysia, (on Global Warming
business), where, interestingly enough, most of Asia and Greater China were
watching the Sydney success story on internet TV! I’ve met Clients in Countries
where they were planning their Earth Hour contribution one year before, as part
of their City’s overall “lasting change” policies for Climate Change issues and
Emission Reduction!

I read more “hot air” in your Earth Hour Column John, than anywhere else! The
countries and colleagues I’ve spoken with and why they got involved said it had
everything to do with the fact that this year’s Earth Hour was more about the
world showing how powerful it can be when its community gets behind a
movement with limited resources! They were “genuinely inspired”, not
“overhyped”!

On top of all this and in the month leading up to international Earth Hour 2008, I
read some interesting news in a major industry blog that ‘I think’ is frequently
contributed to by the likes of important and influential columnists like Mr Mescall!

It was reminding his industry that the deadline was just over a month away for
agencies and their clients to show their Earth Hour 2008 Australia support and
that agencies could win a trip to the Cannes Ad Fest with their most effective
and/or inspirational way to leverage Earth Hour activity.

At this stage of the “over-hyped” game, corporate support was overwhelming.
The news suggested that ABN AMRO, Macquarie Bank, Accenture,
@radical.media, Arthouse Hotel, BankSA, Bankstown City Council, City of
Melbourne, City of Subiaco, CNBC Australia, Dinosaur Designs, Icebergs Bondi,
ING Direct, NSW Dept Environment & Climate Change, Ricoh Australia, The Slip
Inn and The Age were all supporting, (and honourably so, I say). The news
further suggested this was amongst 2,000 other companies and some 43,000
individuals.

Brilliant, I thought.

The news further suggested that the Cannes entries being judged by a top
worldwide creative panel for this major media group prize would include work
from many of the top agencies and listed some 30 contributing agencies! Indeed,
it seemed that most of the ad industry had pledged Earth Hour 2008 support !

The news also stated that just about the whole industry had put aside its
cynicism of the 2007 Event! I’m not sure if Mr Mescall’s agency was part of the
original “groundswell” of 2006 – early 2007 agency cynicism about Global
Warming issue efforts, (which many remember very well)!

But, sure enough, John Mescall’s Agency name was one of the 30 published
contributing agencies to try and win the Earth Hour 2008 industry prize.

And his recent hypocritical rant on Earth Hour says:

“But the decision to open up Earth Hour to the entire advertising industry, and all
our clients – and for a major media group to get behind Earth Hour and hype it –
changed Earth Hour. And not for the better”.

So how come his agency, according to the news, got behind what he thought
was ‘over-hype’?

I’ll just end by saying that this very honest point of view has absolutely no need to
be “over-hyped” and will almost certainly never get published in the journal that
regulary features Mr Mescall’s enlightening opinions!

So I’ll just send it to you, him, all my friends and all my frenemies!

And I look forward to proving that many, many cities and at least those from
Adelaide and Atlanta through to Canberra, Chicago, Darwin, Dublin, Sydney and
San Francisco will disagree with all his ‘SmartArse’ opinions on Earth Hour 2008!

Hearty Congratulations to Earth Hour 2007 and 2008; and we go on supporting
you.