Upon momentary reflection, this week’s collection of Top 5 honorees spans a pretty eclectic, and perhaps unlikely, range of advertised products. A cooler brand, a streaming service, Lifetime movies (!), eggs, and bleach. But each utilizes a unique storytelling strategy for its individual market category, sure, but also for ads in general. Each appears to know exactly who their brand is, who its audience is, and how to speak to them. Which, y’know, is a pretty decent place to start. Onward!
Clorox “Clean Matters”
https://youtu.be/9lVngvANQUE
What: A new ad for Clorox cleaning products that focuses on the reasons for using it over the product.
Who: Clorox, FCB San Francisco
Why we care: No one ever confused bleach or any cleaning product with emotional storytelling, but here the brand pulls it off by stylishly focusing on the all the reasons we clean, and the moments behind them, over direct product benefit. Simply, the brand here shows heart and it works.
Vital Farms “Bullsh*t Free Eggs”
What: A Vital Farms ad that points out the finer differences between cage-free and pasture-raised eggs.
Who: Vital Farms, Preacher
Why we care: Stuart Dill makes Vital Farms look as idyllic a rural setting as anything Norman Rockwell ever came up with, all while framing the debate with a down-to-earth approach, pitting straight talk against Big Eggs. Happy hens, people!
Yeti “Odd Man Out”
What: A new short film from Yeti that takes gender stereotypes out fishing.
Who: Yeti, Seacat Creative
Why we care: The latest from Yeti’s award-winning content team is a profile of fly-fishing guide Camille Egdorf, a woman in a largely male-dominated sport ad industry. Through Egdorf’s personal story, and her efforts to open the sport up to more women–which have undeniable parallels in plenty of other areas of society–the film still manages to make fly fishing look exciting, even if you’ve never considered standing waist-deep in the middle of a river.
Lifetime Movie Network “Run Away With Me”
What: A Lifetime Movie Network promo that generously pokes fun at the network’s reputation.
Who: Lifetime movie Network, Decon
Why we care: As we all know, self-awareness is a gift, particularly in advertising. And here Lifetime hits it out of the park in perhaps the silliest way possible.
Netflix “Love In The Upside Down”
What: A new promo for Stranger Things 2 that makes the first season look like a rom-com.
Who: Netflix
Why we care: First, they set the teaser trailer to “Thriller” and got Ghostbusters costumes involved. Then, they repurposed classic movie posters. Now, a rom-com-ification of season one in the spirit of that infamous re-edit of The Shining trailer. Plus, Barb!
Recognize your brand’s excellence by applying to this year’s Brands That Matter Awards before the early-rate deadline, May 3.
