Responses by Andy Silva, managing partner, Party Land.
Background: The brief was simple: How do we convince Every Man Jack’s core audience, males 18–34 years old, that naturally derived deodorant can be effective? We were tackling a marketplace perception problem: A lot of men doubt whether natural deodorants actually work. Our goal was to show them that Every Man Jack’s deodorant is the real deal. It not only keeps you smelling fresh for ages, but also gives you that rugged outdoorsy scent without any harsh chemicals.
Design thinking: To land this product effectiveness point, we knew the idea had to be super simple, repetitive in nature and memorable at the point of purchase. A song wasn’t the first approach that jumped at us, but once we had identified the key takeaways, its potential became clear. Research shows that we process music using the same parts of the brain responsible for memory and emotion. That’s why certain commercial jingles not only live in our minds for decades, but are also so effective in building strong brand perception. Drawing from Party Land’s extensive experience using original music to make an impact—including our “Them Beardles” beard campaign for Every Man Jack, Wholly Veggie’s “Haha You Just Ate Vegetables” and Liquid Death’s “Greatest Hates” series—we understood the power of music in communicating messages effectively and how repeating “still smell good” over again would positively affect the recall of our audience.
As comedy’s greatest ad agency, using humor in this campaign was a no-brainer for Party Land. Beyond our own experience, there’s plenty of research that underscores the power of comedy in advertising and the potential it holds for brands. A recent Oracle study found that 90 percent of people are more likely to remember ads that are funny and 72 percent say they would choose a humorous brand over other more mundane options. The sense of humor we’ve honed for Every Man Jack not only aligns with the DNA of their brand, but it also resonates with their core male audience. The results speak for themselves: Our “Them Beardles” campaign drove a 29 percent year-over-year lift in average beard dollars per week during the campaign flight, going above and beyond expectations.
Challenges: Anytime you create a song for an advertisement, there’s a lot of “cart before the horse” that needs to happen. You generate a song first in order to have a framework to shoot against, then there’s a back and forth between the edit and music house to perfect timing and comprehension. It requires meticulous planning and close collaboration throughout the entire process.
Favorite details: Aside from creating a second successful campaign for Every Man Jack, we’re particularly proud of the realistic murder hornets we were able to create despite working on a smaller budget. We were unsure if our vision could be achieved through visual effects or if we’d need to take a more practical approach. Fortunately, we had an amazing production partner in Food Chain Films, who was able to take our dream of realistic hornets attacking innocent bystanders and bring it to life through visual effects.
New lessons: When shooting in Oregon in February, don’t rely on weather-dependent lighting. Oregon was the perfect environment to deliver on Every Man Jack’s “outdoor inspired” vision, but there’s a saying about the weather there, being as mercurial as it is: a “sunbreak” is a joyous moment between clouds when the sun bestows upon our pale skin a few minutes of vitamin D. Fortunately, we were prepared for this and weren’t banking on too many sunbreaks. We also learned how to execute the art of falling down a mountain from our stuntman.
Specific project demands: The Every Man Jack team’s clear understanding of their brand and implicit trust in our expertise made this project remarkably smooth. It’s incredibly rewarding to collaborate with a client who not only has a clear vision for their brand but also has unwavering confidence in our team’s expertise and abilities.
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