He was right.
Shock and awe does work - especially in an advertising industry where consumers have become increasingly numb to traditional advertising tactics. In fact, Andy Nulman wrote an entire book about it - go buy it.
WebUrbanist recently gathered a selection of some perfectly-executed shock and awe campaigns. Some are funny, some are scary - both their intention was to get your attention in a non-conventional manner.
The images below are directly from WebUrbanist - follow them.
They invested in a new, non-traditional campaign and justifiably received a significant amount of earned media as a result.
You should strive for the same -- you should always make it better.
