Inside Dramamine’s quirky mini-doc about the end of airplane barf bags

Dramamine, the motion sickness medicine, goes deep into the eccentric subculture of air sickness bags—and the people who collect them—in a mini-documentary that pushes the anti-nausea brand as well. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs “The Last Barf Bag,” a lighthearted, 12-minute film from FCB Chicago and directing collective Sunny Sixteen, goes live Wednesday on YouTube and at thelastbarfbag.com, supported by paid social and digital ads. It profiles four collectors of air sickness bags who show off their treasures, and also looks more broadly at the decline of such bags on commercial airlines. That decline has followed a major drop in air nausea rates over the past half-century, as improved planes and flight paths have lessened turbulence. But Dramamine, in a tongue-in-cheek style, takes some credit for it in the film—at one point showing a chart mapping the brand’s growth against the bags’ disappearance. The idea for the film originated when FCB, while exploring the nausea space, stumbled upon stories about the decline of the bags. Barf bags and Dramamine both turn 75 this year, so exploring their histories—and how they might intersect—seemed apt. “The reality is, every time you see a barf bag, you wish you had Dramamine. The only reason why you would need one is if you don’t have Dramamine in your pocket,” said Andrés Ordóñez, FCB’s global chief creative officer. “So there’s already a connection. Then we went deeper to understand the subculture. Barf bags are disappearing, but [the collectors] are giving them a second life. That’s where this whole beautiful story started.” The project also extends Dramamine’s efforts to humanize the brand, moving it from functional and medicinal to more fun and approachable. An FCB campaign called “Ditch the Drama,” launched last year, has included comic spots with a “Drama Llama” character. The brand, working with 360PR+, also struck an endorsement deal with Captain Lee Rosbach from Bravo’s “Below Deck,” who suffered from motion sickness early in his career. “The Last Barf Bag” fit into this brand reinvention, said Randi Jachino, VP of marketing at Dramamine parent Prestige Consumer Healthcare. “I love ideas that get us into society and get people talking, that are fun and relatable and culturally relevant,” she said. “For me, this checked every box as a brand marketer. I loved it from minute one. I was like, ‘This is genius. How do we do this?’” The agency called on the directors at Sunny Sixteen to bring the film to life. Sunny Sixteen worked with FCB on the general narrative and story arc they wanted to capture, but a lot came together during the shoot itself. “This was the least I’ve ever seen of any kind of story before it got shot,” Jachino said. “It was more, ‘Can you trust us? We’re going to figure it out.’” Sunny Sixteen’s four principals split into two teams—Niles Grey Jeran and Taylor Pendleton, and Joshua Martin and Caleb Babcock—to travel the country shooting different parts of the film. “When we heard about this project, we thought there was no way it could be real. No one collects barf bags,” said Jeran. “Once we found out it was real, we were really excited just because it is so quirky and peculiar and interesting.” Many of the collectors were surprised to hear from the filmmakers, and not all of them were initially comfortable on camera. “It’s not a collectible that is super attractive on the surface, so there was a little bit of ‘Why are you here?’ We had to almost prove ourselves to them,” said Jeran. “But we wanted them to feel cherished—like you’re talking to a grandpa or an uncle, someone you’re very fond of.” Ad Age Creativity Bookmark our section covering the best in brand creativity every day Read more here “When someone isn’t comfortable [on camera], we like to talk them through it,” said Martin. “We wanted to connect to them on that level, to be able to say, ‘This is this something you love. Let’s get there together because this is going to be so rewarding.’ We wanted to see their expressions and their personalities shine on camera.” The biggest challenge was figuring out the brand’s role in the story. They didn’t want it to feel like an ad, but the brand also couldn’t be a bystander or just a sponsor of the film. In the end, Dramamine is a big presence—a number of its execs are featured, further putting a human face to the brand—while the focus remains mostly on the collectors. “It was probably the hardest discussion I’ve had in my career—what’s the right way to do this?” said Jachino. “We wanted to focus on the collectors, but obviously it doesn’t work without a storyline of, why is Dramamine even making this film? What are the right moments for Dramamine to be in it, where it’s not gratuitous branding? I’m really happy with where we landed on that.” The brand and its subject dovetail nicely at the end, when one of the collectors, Eli Cox—a memorable presence throughout, who suggests the barf bag should be given the more dignified name of “nausivat”—reveals he is looking for a permanent home for his collection. Dramamine offers to acquire the collection and house it at its headquarters. “There was something about Eli,” said Jeran. “Maybe it’s just his voice, or how he talks. But that dude won us over, for sure.” Along with the film, thelastbarfbag.com also offers repurposed barf bags for sale. The brand and agency are also eyeing film festivals as a possible next step for the documentary. “People are consuming entertainment more than ever, so we’ve got to start putting our brands into entertainment in a way that is interesting,” said Ordóñez. “Only Dramamine could do this film because of its association already with barf bags. Now, there is a beautiful connection between the two. We found a new way to remind people about how great our product is—in a fun and quirky way.” Sign up for Ad Age newsletters From influencer marketing to agencies, get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox Click here

Inside Dramamine’s quirky mini-doc about the end of airplane barf bags

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