Israeli Anti-Drug: Admirable attempt to use Facebook timeline

This YouTube video demonstrates how the Israeli Anti-Drug Authority used the new Timeline format to tell a simple life story about drug use with a side-by-side progression of the life of Adam Barak — one thread as an abuser, the other as a fresh-faced 20 something. I applaud the embrace of the new format. However, aspects of the campaign take away from its potentially compelling story:

1) In an effort to speed up the story, it condenses the progression from what should be more like 2-3 years into 28 days. We realize quickly that the timeline is intended to be nothing more than a device, especially given the side-by-side.

2) The side-by-side takes away from the authenticity, since it telegraphs exactly where the story is going. Something, I’m sure agency and client debated. Would have been more convincing as a post by Adam Barak the drug-user however. However, that’s the achilles heel of the attempt. Without the device they would have had to be clever about why I’d want to follow this dirtbag. Done by McCann Israel.

FYI, according to the agency, it was shut down by Facebook.

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