Julie, the morning-after pill, explores emergency contraception from the guys’ point of view

Julie, the emergency contraception brand, is rolling out a sequel to its well-received April commercial that featured two women battling over the last pack of the product in a pharmacy. This time, though, it’s two dudes who are squaring off. In the original spot, the women tried to one-up each other by listing all the reasons were terrible—the strong implication being that they shouldn’t become fathers. The new spot picks up that same thread, except the guys are making fun of their own inadequacies—going back and forth on why they are not the best fit to become new fathers. Julie's in-house creative team partnered on both spots with Esther Povitsky's creative company, Don't Make Me Crazy Inc. The new ad stars comedians Brandon Wardell and Nick Rutherford, and was written and directed by Povitsky, who is a comedian herself. “For our first commercial, we had two women at the counter, Hayley Law and Bria Vinaite, experiencing everything that goes into buying EC,” Chloe Hall, head of brand and creative at Julie, told Ad Age. “Dudes can buy EC too, and just like the women in our first commercial, they can riff on how and why one deserves it over the other.” Hall said she and brand co-founder Julie Schott had wanted to cast Wardell in something for years. “We’re such huge fans of his comedy. Esther recommended Nick Rutherford, and they both brought the best energy and improv to set, hands down,” Hall said. “Their ability to go back and forth, coming up with their own lines, made for a really fun and authentic day on set. Nick and Brandon’s comedy brings a levity and realness to the EC conversation that’s missing but we hope to remedy that." “Our process is really similar to what I’ve seen work well in my career in scripted half-hour comedy,” Povitsky added. “The words are there and ready before we shoot. We have a script we love and we have pages of alts that excite us and a few on there that scare us a little bit. We also do some silly passes and always make sure the actors feel like they are able to be as free and weird as they want to be.” The ad will be running on commercials, cable and streaming services. “I’m a mom so maybe next time we will have two moms duel at the counter if Esther is down to write it,” Hall said. See the earlier spot below.

Julie, the morning-after pill, explores emergency contraception from the guys’ point of view

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