Dwayne Johnson is a content machine. This is not a controversial statement. The man averages three blockbuster movies a year, stars in HBO’s Ballers, and cranks out enough Instagram video to qualify his feed as its own life-affirming pep talk network. Now the star is dropping his latest Project Rock collection with Under Armour.
Aside from the whole celebrity workout gear situation, another thing that makes The Rock unique is that he’s got his own personal ad agency. Launched a year ago, Seven Bucks Creative is the strategic and marketing arm of The Rock and partner Dany Garcia’s Seven Bucks production company, and it works on all of Johnson’s projects in some capacity. For Project Rock, Seven Bucks Creative takes on the more traditional ad agency role of handling the strategic and creative marketing for the brand.
The new Project Rock campaign is an extension of one launched in March called “Build the Belief,” and has the same stylish-yet-gritty vibe. But whereas the first campaign had Johnson narrating his journey from broke and jobless to worldwide superstar, this new work aims to focus on the day-to-day commitment needed to attain one’s goals.
“It’s meant to speak to how training is a mentality, that the work you put in the gym extends to real life, and that mentality is consistent,” says Chet Gulland, Seven Bucks Creative chief marketing officer. “That’s part of what makes Dwayne magical—is how he applies that same discipline from the gym into everything, and we wanted to express that in this campaign.”
The spot was shot over three weeks, following Johnson around the globe to Atlanta, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and New York. “Everything in this was real,” says Gulland. “For the gym shoot, he walked in and did his actual workout. We just filmed him living his life, his workout, his morning routine, or getting ready for a movie premiere—it was all real, which is the most important thing for him.”
It’s just part of the Johnson Content Machine. He’s been putting out teasers all week, getting millions of views in the process. This ad just makes it official. For Seven Bucks Creative, Gulland says it’s not a traditional agency because it really only has, or needs, its one client. Johnson has at least three major films scheduled to come out in 2019 alone–Jungle Cruise, a Jumanji sequel, and Fast and Furious spin-off Hobbs and Shaw–and the agency will be working with those films to create content and other marketing revolving around the star.
“We’re not an agency, we’re not looking to work with other people at the moment,” says Gulland. “What we’re focused on is the enormous amount of projects and opportunities in Dwayne and Dany’s universe—and in a lot of different ways, applying strategic vision and shaping these things.”
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