‘Coming soon’: the art of keeping people waiting

Before opening this site, we put together this fifteen-second video for you. In it, you see a lagoon-coloured ink blot, our logo, a spinning stamp and a promise: ‘Coming soon… You will discover the world of AKA COM’.

We did not invent anything: the technique is over a century old. In November 1913, the head of advertising for the Marcus Loew cinema chain in New York produced a short film announcing that the musical ‘The Pleasure Seekers’ was about to open on Broadway. The trailer was born, and owes its name to the fact that the promotional film was shown at the end of the screening, after the main feature. In some French-speaking regions such as Quebec, it is called ‘prochainement’ (or ‘les prochainement’), a reference to the posters and title cards that announced upcoming releases.

In France, although teasing has been around for a long time, the 1981 campaign by billboard company Avenir and the agency CLM/BBDO featuring the model Myriam left a lasting impression: ‘On 2 September, I’ll take off my top…’, then ‘On 4 September, I’ll take off the bottom half’. Myriam kept her word, step by step, on 4×3 billboards, right up to the final reveal of the slogan: ‘Avenir, the billboard company that keeps its promises’.

So, you may ask, what is the point of all these announcements that reveal almost nothing? They aim to spark curiosity, keep a story in suspense and leave people wanting to know what happens next.

For us, the ‘coming soon’ in our trailer has a particular meaning: we wanted to open the conversation even before the launch. AKA COM is a young agency, born within AKA SRL alongside AKA NEWS. Our backgrounds span journalism, photography, audiovisual production and communications. Our company’s story is only just beginning; the best is yet to come.

Speaking of launches, our media outlet, AKA NEWS, is next in line. Stay tuned for the next episode.