Johnsonville Let Its Employees Come Up With Ads, and the Results Are Hilarious
Campaign From Droga5 Unleashed Staffers' Creativity
Editor's Pick
Johnsonville's quirkily comedic campaign from Droga5 takes a new tack in its latest ads. Having previously focused on messed-up families, the campaign now takes that to a new level, with the idea that only a family-owned company would let its employees come up with its commercials.
The latest campaign kicks off with a trailer, which shows a real-life focus group of staffers explaining their ideas for ads, interspersed with storyboards of some their suggestions, which range from the surreal to the Western and gothic horror-themed. (According to the agency, this footage was originally not meant to be public-facing, but they loved it so much it released it as part of the campaign).
Droga5 went on to create real commercials out of these real ideas, as well as a 30-second anthem spot explaining how the employees are responsible for the commercials. The most surreal has to be "Jeff and His Forest Friends," seen here, in which different animals come up to 18-year Johnsonville employee Jeff, who's eating Johnsonville Breakfast Sausage in a forest, and ask him questions. Another spot, playing on the suggestions of Johnsonville staffer Brett, involves a high-speed car chase in which trucks, ice-cream vans and grandmans on scooters are all chasing a Johnsonville grill truck. A third spot, titled "New Neighbors," is slated to launch next month.
The beauty of the ads, which are directed by Adam & Dave out of Arts & Sciences, is that everything unfolds just as the Johnsonville staffers explain it when coming up with their ideas, from the newsreader saying "Blah blah, car chase," to the animals wandering up, as explained by Jeff's deadpan voice. The earnestness of the stafffers is oddly endearing, and the way their ideas are brought to life will definitely appeal to a certain quirky sense of humor, (and if you really love it, you can watch a Behind the Scenes film too.)
Credits
- Date
- May 25, 2016
- Agency :
- Droga5-New York
- Brand :
- Johnsonville
- Client :
- Johnsonville
- Director :
- Adam & Dave
- Production Company :
- Arts & Sciences
- Chairperson :
- David Droga
- Chief Creative Officer :
- Ted Royer
- Group Creative Director :
- Scott Bell
- Senior Copywriter :
- Chris Colliton
- Senior Art Director :
- Kevin Weir
- Junior Copywriter :
- Gabe Sherman
- Junior Art Director :
- Gage Young
- Executive Design Director :
- Rob Trostle
- Design Director :
- Rich Greco
- Designer :
- April Pascua
- Chief Creative Officer :
- Sally-Ann Dale
- Head of Broadcast Production :
- Ben Davies
- Executive Broadcast Producer :
- Scott Chinn
- Executive Broadcast Producer :
- Adam Perloff
- Global Chief Strategy Officer :
- Jonny Bauer
- Group Director, Strategy :
- Aaron Wiggan
- Senior Strategist :
- Marc Iserlis
- Data Strategy Director :
- Lily Ng
- Group Communications Strategy Director :
- Brian Nguyen
- Communications Strategist :
- Kevin Wilkerson
- Group Account Director :
- Julia Albu
- Account Director :
- Dave Murphy
- Account Supervisor :
- Kate Tyler Monroe
- Associate Account Manager :
- Rebecca Warren
- Project Manager :
- Rayna Lucier
- Vice President, Marketing :
- Ryan Pociask
- Group Marketing Director :
- Jim Mueller
- General Manager :
- Jim Mueller
- Integrated Marketing Director :
- Jamie Schmelzer
- Senior Brand Manager :
- Ron Schroder
- Senior Brand Manager :
- Kimberly Keller
- Associate Brand Manager :
- Steve Bembinista
- Marketing Associate :
- Catherine Swick
- Production Company :
- Arts & Sciences
- Director :
- Adam & Dave
- Director, Photography :
- Toby Irwin
- Executive Producer :
- Marc Marrie
- Producer :
- Pat Harris
- Editorial Company :
- MackCut
- Editor :
- Ryan Steele
- Assistant Editor :
- Maria Lee
- Executive Producer :
- Sasha Hirschfeld
- Post Production Company :
- MPC
- Executive Producer :
- Elexis Stearn
- Producer :
- Nicole Saccardi
- Lead Flame Artist :
- Andy Bate
- 2D Artist :
- Steven Miller
- 2D Artist :
- Mahendra Natha Reddy
- 3D Artist :
- Masahito Yoshioka
- 3D Artist :
- Ted Abeyta
- Colorist :
- Mark Gethin
- Color Assistant :
- Kris Smale
- Executive Producer of Color :
- Meghan Lang
- Color Producer :
- Rebecca Boorsma
- Production Coordination :
- Valentina Cokonis
- Assistant Line Producer :
- Neela Kumuda Parankusham
- Sound Company :
- MackCut
- Mixer :
- Sam Shaffer
Need a credit fix? Contact the Creativity Editors
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