The world has ended, but everyone’s favorite ’80s video store is still standing.
As close as it’s come to dying, Blockbuster Video will always live on.
That’s the message from the video rental chain’s amusingly dark Super Bowl-night commercial, which was screened off a VHS tape (and broadcast live on Instagram) at its last remaining store, in Bend, Oregon, during a Big Game party there Sunday night.
The 40-second spot, which follows a brief teaser campaign, opens on a post-apocalyptic world. There is scant sign of life, aside from a cockroach scuttling through the glowing wasteland. An Arnold Schwarzenegger-sounding voiceover confirms the world has ended, and that the internet “streams no more.”
How will the remaining life on Earth—if there is any—be able to watch videos? Luckily, our cockroach hero knows the place.
Does Steve work at Blockbuster? Or is he there to rent “A Bug’s Life”?
As ridiculous as it is, the stunt—by the agency Atlantic New York—is a good example of how to do Super Bowl hijacking right. Take an underdog/cult brand, craft some eye-catching teasers, come up with a quirky, buzz-worthy theme (creatively and with a media plan), and make the reveal worth it—all based at the intersection of a cultural truth (fears of the world ending) and brand truth (resilience as well as analog-over-algorithmic searching).
To that last point, store manager Sandi Harding said last week: “We want to remind everyone that there’s something special about the tangible experience of browsing the shelves and discovering something new. And honestly, if the world is ending, we want to go out with a bang.”
Asked about their learning from the campaign, agency founders João Coutinho and Marco Pupo told Ad Age in an email: “We learned that you don’t need millions of dollars to stand out. If everyone is spending that money hiring big-gun directors and celebrities, you should do the exact opposite of that.”
They added: “Try to purposefully navigate against the current and find something unique for the brand. Something that people would care about—thanks, nostalgia. Then, bring it to life with a process of fewer layers, fewer meetings and a lot of trust between client and agency.”
The spot will be posted in social media, but you’ll still have to access it through VHS—via a QR code on images like the one below.
