• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, August 31, 2016

Last week, Dallas-based agency Slingshot launched a stunt that involved ransom videos directed at El Segundo-based ad agency David & Goliath. The purpose of the videos was to extract ransom payment for the DavidAndGoliath domain name which, until recently, Slingshot had been using.

Over the course of the week, Slingshot released daily ransom videos, shot and edited by Kevin Hamm of Varnish, Slingshot’s in-house production company. The videos featured Associate Creative Directors Jordan Dontos and Clay Coleman as half-wit hostage takers, performing comical acts of torture on a tied-up laptop embodying the URL. 

It was all tongue and cheek of course with the ultimate goal of Slingshot raising money for a charity -- to which David & Goliath happily contributed -- designed to better Dallas and Austin communities by aiding early childhood learning.

Last Friday all was revealed and over the weekend Slingshot Founder and CEO Owen Hannay discussed the terms of the "ransom" with David & Goliath Founder and Chairman David Angelo.

Of the stunt, Angelo said: “When we first opened our doors, we were eager to obtain the DavidAndGoliath.com URL, so we were obviously disappointed to learn that it was already taken by Slingshot. At the time, Slingshot wasn’t in a position to sell it to us, so we opted for DNG.com, which, while it has treated us well over the years, doesn’t pack as powerful a punch. Kudos to Slingshot for coming up with a creative, inventive and very funny way to get our attention. After 17 years, we can at last reunite with our beloved URL. We had a great time playing along this week, and in the spirit of good will and love, we will of course be donating to the Slingshot Foundation.”

Hannay added, “Disruptive and fun, demonstrating with the right tactics, you can breakthrough to anyone – even a prominent advertising figure with a man in a panda mask.” 

Like I said last week, there are far more mundane -- and, sadly, all too prevalent -- means of transferring URLs from one party to another. Thankfully, Slingshot removed the boredom and brightened it up for all involved.