"PrograMADic... The Musical"
Coming to the Westport Playhouse in 2024
Welcome to “PrograMADic… The Musical” — A newsletter offshoot from Quo Vadis to keep our supporters and patrons of the theatre informed on the most creative project in AdTech Land.
"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them, because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do." — Think Different.
It all started with a silly question
Last year right before Cannes Lions I came up with what seemed like a totally crazy idea. Not a genius idea by any means, but an off-the-wall concept to break up the day-to-day monotony of programmatic advertising.
It all started when I thought about what it would be like to tell a story of programmatic “advertising” as a comedic musical.
For example, what would the story be if I took the opaque world of programmatic “advertising” and mixed it with the storyline from The Big Short? What if I threw in a few character inspirations and pivotal scenes from The Wolf of Wall Street? What if the story was threaded with the satirical folly of The Book of Moron and brought to life vis-a-vis the outrageous flare and audience involvement of The Rocky Horror Picture Show?
That’s when PrograMADic…The Musical was born.
But would anyone really be interested in such a strange story? To answer that question I needed some validation and the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity was the perfect place to do it.
So, in the spirit of old-school advertising, I made myself into a walking advertisement at Cannes. I ordered a dozen of these gorgeously designed mesh-back trucker hats to use as a prop.
I wore that hat to every meeting. Without fail, at some point in every conversation, someone would eventually ask me about the hat.
Here’s how the scene unfolded time after time.
EXT. OUTDOOR TERRACE - MAJESTIC HOTEL, CANNES
The sun bathes the outdoor terrace of the Majestic Hotel in an early morning golden glow. Festival-goers fill the space mingling and networking over coffee and croissants in a buzz of money-making deals. TOM stands out from the crowd with his unique fashion choice—a baseball cap that proudly reads "PrograMADic… The Musical." He’s a walking advertisement.
At a table on the bustling terrace, TOM sits across from LUCY, a seasoned adtech powerbroker known for her sharp wit and immense expertise. As their chat concludes, LUCY raises an eyebrow, gesturing with her eyes toward TOM's hat.
LUCY (smiling)
So, Tom, what's up with your hat? Are you starring in a musical now?
TOM (happy his ad worked, Lucy leans forward, intrigued)
“Glad you noticed. I love it when advertising works. I’m producing a musical about programmatic. It’s simply called PrograMADic… The Musical.”
(dramatic pause, Lucy contemplates)
Then came the moment of truth. There were two types of reactions:
Reaction 1: “Are you out of your [FILL IN THE BLANK] mind?” But after a quick pause and reassessment…“Wait a second, that could be hilarious, like really hilarious.”
Reaction 2: “That’s actually brilliant! I can see it! Have you thought about [FILL IN THE BLANK]… and what if [FILL IN THE BLANK]?”
Then the conversation turned into a rapid-fire impromptu brainstorming session about all the goofy stuff this kind of musical could reveal and bring to the masses. Besides, who really wants to talk about silly programmatic topics at Cannes when you can have way more fun dreaming up “PrograMADic…The Musical.”
Anyhow, by the end of Cannes 2022, not only did I get the early validation I was looking for, but I also ended up with new story angles to think about. Even better was watching everyone gravitate toward getting the audience involved in the story. After all, they are the very target of audience targeting. It’s like they say, “If you don’t know what the product is, it’s probably you.”
Your support with a $100 donation
Flash forward to Cannes 2023. This time around it’s all about building crowdfunding support and forming a core team for pre-production planning.
So, if you’re a patron of the theatre and you’d like to take this crazy journey with us, then please donate $100 to support our pre-production planning budget. When you do, you’ll get one of these beautiful hats!
We’re aiming to put hats on 500 heads by the end of summer to raise $50K. Help us get there!
If you would like to get involved and join the team, please DM me on LinkedIn. We’ll be sending out a post on needed team roles next week.
What’s the storyline?
Glad you asked! So far we’ve come up with four different loglines by playing around with a classic voyage-and-return story arc.
Voyage and Return Story Arc: Think Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz — she embarks on a metaphorical journey, encounters various obstacles and challenges, and ultimately returns home transformed.
Logline 1: The Rise of Penny Programmatic Our protagonist, Penny Programmatic, embarks on a voyage of self-discovery and growth. Coming from the TV media world, she joins the world of programmatic advertising for a change of pace and to build her career. She rises fast becoming a programmatic celebrity. She gets sucked in, loving every minute of this exciting new world. She drinks the Koolade of data and algorithms until she faces its darker aspects. In a world where there is lots of knowing but very little true knowledge — because those who have it won't share it — she gets caught up in an ethical dilemma by learning too much. Logline 2: The Programmatic Gamble In the cutthroat opaque world of programmatic advertising, a group of eccentric and visionary agency adtechies uncover a hidden web of fraud, manipulation, and greed. As they navigate the volatile landscape, they must decide whether to expose the industry's corrupt practices or succumb to the pressures of the advertiser's prisoner’s dilemma where self-preservation takes precedence over the potentially embarrassing truth of burning billions of dollars. Logline 3: Ad Fraud Anonymous Fed up with the twisted world of programmatic advertising, our protagonist, a disillusioned programmatic trader, decides to take matters into her own hands. She creates a web of deception, building a fraudulent empire of fake ad inventory while maintaining a straight face during her day job. Her campaign strategies are so successful in appearance that she keeps getting promoted up the chain. She must juggle the consequences of her actions while questioning the ethics of her choices as her bank account grows and the folly unfolds. Logline 4: Web of Deception A morally ambiguous programmer, living a seemingly ordinary life, runs a covert ad fraud operation from the comfort of his humble abode. Unbeknownst to his friends and family, his intricate web of deception stretches across borders, ensnaring unsuspecting advertising executives, and blurring the lines between right and wrong. But when an ambitious cybercrime investigator gets wind of his operation, he must navigate treacherous alliances, unravel the truth behind his own creation, and confront the moral implications of his actions before the threads of his deceit come tear apart, forever altering his life and the world of programmatic advertising.
If you have a better one in mind we’re all ears.
Disclaimer
This musical is a work of fiction based on real-life events. Artistic liberties have been taken to enhance the narrative and create a compelling cinematic experience. Certain sequences, dialogues, and character interactions have been fictionalized or altered for dramatic effect. While certain elements and characters might be inspired by true stories, the portrayal of events, people, and circumstances has been dramatized and fictionalized for the purposes of entertainment. This musical concept does not intend to present a factual account of the events, and any resemblance to real people, places, or incidents is purely coincidental.