The Variable: Best Small Agencies 2023

Growing emotionally attached to a plush toy is among the most ubiquitous of human experiences. For some people, maybe it’s a stuffed bear or whale. But for a North Carolina agency called The Variable, it’s a plush womb. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, The Variable wanted to do something less ephemeral than, say, a 24-hour Instagram Story objecting to the Dobbs decision. So it created “a protest in the form of a plushie” and distributed the wombs to activist groups supporting reproductive rights, as well as legislators on both sides of the aisle. Ad Age Small Agency Awards See all of the 2023 winners Click here The Variable created a multitude of campaign videos (some of which were Home Shopping Network-themed) and other assets, spreading the message online and making it known that these pink plushies were for sale on Woombies.com. Plus, for every plushie sold, another is sent to an anti-choice politician of the buyer’s choice—or, as the agency put it, “Send politicians a womb of their own so they’ll leave ours alone.” “We often talk about complaining by creating, and Woombies is a great example of that,” David Mullen, CEO and partner at The Variable, said in a statement. The agency sold out its first Woombies shipping container within five weeks and donated $10,000 raised from Woombie sales to Planned Parenthood and a local North Carolina women’s clinic. Ad Age Small Agency Awards See all of the 2023 winners Click here

The Variable’s ‘Protest Plushie’ gave anti-choice politicians wombs of their own

Featured Stories