Stephen Tobolowsky gets stuck in a Lay’s time loop.
Interesting media vehicles can make great advertising even better. We saw several examples this week, including a special box of chocolates from U by Kotex, as well as a series of eight interlocking spots from Lay’s that played hilariously throughout Groundhog Day. Elsewhere, we saw Snap position itself as something beyond social media, an amusing #grwm video from California Naturals, and the latest Saudi-based work from Droga5 and Accenture Song.
Check out this week’s Top 5 below.
It was a bruising week for the tech giants, as they were subjected to a withering inquiry from Congress over social media’s damaging effects on young people. Snap, though, took the opportunity to attempt to reframe itself as somehow not social media—in a two-minute spot, created in-house. The message—that the Snapchat experience is more about fun and connection than “likes” and trolling—is well delivered here. Whether it’s entirely true is another question, though as a portrait of Snap’s intentions, it was nicely crafted and well-timed.
Owen Wilson is charming in pretty much everything he does, and that’s certainly the case with his amusingly askew version of a “Get Ready With Me” video for California Naturals. There’s nothing revolutionary here, but as celebrity-driven branded entertainment, it rises above most such productions with its understated humor and warm glow. Bonus points for including Waffles, Wilson’s real-life dog.
U by Kotex has been working to normalize periods for some time, and this latest effort moves on to yet another taboo—period sex. The idea for “Let’s Have Period Sex” Valentine’s Day chocolates is inspired, and the brand didn’t just phone it in—it partnered with Phasey, the female-owned maker of functional foods for better periods. Nice work from agency Quality Meats, whose separate Valentine’s Day stunt for SAXX Underwear is also an example of amusing product innovation.
Droga5 and Accenture Song have been producing interesting work around Saudi Arabian entertainment projects for a while. Last year, they teamed up on an explosive promo for the Fury-Ngannou boxing match in Riyadh. Now, we get another eye-catching 90-second spot, this one promoting Qiddiya City—an entertainment district near Riyadh, still under construction, that’s being billed as a giant playground for adults. The spot, shot by cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt, is appealingly dark and mysterious at the outset, and the crowd’s eventual surreal journey to Qiddiya at the end is something to behold. It plays like a video game trailer, which is perfect for a tourist destination urging you to “Play Life.”
You have to hand it to Maximum Effort—it has a more adventurous and playful approach to advertising than most agencies, particularly when it comes to creative media choices. We saw this with the A.L.F. campaign a while back. And this Lay’s campaign, timed to Groundhog Day, is even more special. Working with Jimmy Kimmel’s Kimmelot, they crafted eight 30-second spots starring Stephen Tobolowsky—who played Ned Ryerson in the “Groundhog Day” movie—as a Lay’s-buying customer who’s stuck in a kind of time loop in a grocery store, buying different varieties of Lay’s over and over, with a checkout clerk who barely budges from her own circular script. The creative is great fun—it’s got a wonderfully creepy vibe, à la “The Good Place”—but the media buy is where the campaign truly shines. The spots ran a total of 75 times on Groundhog Day itself. Viewers who caught multiple executions were in for a delightful experience—a simple, brilliant concept that’s funny and engaging and reminds us how advertising, at its best, can be as entertaining as anything out there.
