Lynx’s new darkly comic ads shine with crazy plots and unhinged performances

A lot of advertising comedy tries too hard and you can see the jokes coming a mile away. But two new comic spots from Lynx (the Unilever brand known as Axe in the U.S.) feel fresh with their farcical plots, unhinged performances and moments that veer into the amusingly uncomfortable. The campaign—promoting Blue Lavender, a scent from Lynx’s new Fine Fragrance Collection—is from LOLA MullenLowe and directors Lionel Goldstein (the Belgian duo of Koen Mortier and Joe Vanhoutteghem). First check out the “Robbery” spot, in which a clearly amateur thief almost pulls off a heist at a rural inn, before getting totally derailed. There are so many fun lines and weird twists in the 80 seconds, and the whole thing feels fully formed and unexpected, not manufactured. The second spot, “Funeral,” is more classically subversive, as we see mourners weeping yet fawning over a corpse—for all the wrong reasons—at a memorial service. The woman awkwardly carrying the coffin out to her car is a funny way to extend the gag, and the final scene is a nice bit of nonlinear storytelling. Tomás Ostiglia, executive creative director at LOLA MullenLowe, said the agency came up with about 10 ideas around the concept of “The Power of a Fragrance.” They chose three ideas to film—the third spot will be coming later. “We believed these ideas were the strongest and because they gave us a chance to play with humor centered around actors, something we felt the brand needed to bring back and not just the brand,” Ostiglia told Ad Age. “This kind of humor is something the whole industry needs. It is time not to take ourselves too seriously and be more self-deprecating. It is time for humor to be funny again.” The spot also “directly addressed the product’s benefit, something the brand hadn’t been doing directly for quite some time,” he added. “This new collection also smells really good, so we wondered, why not celebrate its primary value?” “It takes a lot of courage and boldness for a client and agency today to give us freedom to play with the ideas,” said Lionel Goldstein. “Lionel is very happy to be part of the new Lynx communication and films. The basics of the daring script and the humoristic level are our cup of tea!” The campaign is breaking cinemas and online across the U.K. and Turkey, as well as in Latin American countries including Mexico, Argentina and Uruguay.

Lynx’s new darkly comic ads shine with crazy plots and unhinged performances

Featured Stories