Backed by former CP&B honcho Alex Bogusky, Chief Creative Director David Littlejohn and Chief Strategy Officer Andrew Clark opened Humanaut in Chattanooga, Tenn., in 2013 as a "brand invention agency," with the goal to create its own products from scratch and help build brands it believed in. Even if that meant having to preserve a species that's likely in no fear of dying out anytime soon: bros.
To promote Organic Valley's new product Organic Fuel, billed as the world's first organic milk protein recovery shake, Humanaut embarked on a rescue mission to ensure that those shirtless, faux-tanned muscle sculptures grunting in front of gym mirrors countrywide were putting good stuff into their bodies.
"Save the Bros" launched in 2015 with a hilarious film illustrating the plight of millions of bros. A straight-faced announcer informed us that every day, these important life-forms, who consume "two-thirds of our nation's light beer and 100% of our Axe body spray," are trying to "get swole" by fueling their workouts with artificial ingredients and chemicals.
The video was featured on YouTube and social media, directing viewers to savethebros.com, where they could get a "Buy One Bro One" voucher to try Organic Fuel and share one "with a Bro you know." The campaign continued with the Brononymous Hotline, a Twitter-enabled app for people to anonymously send an Organic Fuel coupon to a bro in need.
"We had the challenge of introducing a new product, educating people about the weird ingredients in most protein shakes and making something highly sharable for the web," said Mr. Littlejohn. To put it in bro-speak: "We knew we needed to go big or go home."