Carhartt Plugs Rain Defender Technology, Disregards ‘Weatherman’

Carhartt’s in-house creative team worked with production company Furlined to launch a fall integrated advertising campaign promoting the brand’s Rain Defender technology, available in select outerwear, sweatshirts, pants and accessories.

To showcase the Rain Defender technology in the 60-second “Weatherman” the Carhartt and Furlined team traveled to rainy Washington state to capture arborists, dock workers, farmers, and ranchers battling the elements in Carhartt gear to get the job done. The spot opens on a man watching a weather report calling for clear skies and sunny weather. “Leave the rain gear at home,” the weatherman says, but when he glances outside he sees it is already raining. He slips on his Carhartt jacket, steps outside, and gets to work.

“…hardworking men and women trust their Carhartt, not their local weather forecast,” said Tony Ambroza, senior vice president of marketing at Carhartt. “Having gear that protects against even the
harshest weather conditions is just as important to them as their work truck, tool belt, hard hat, etcetera – they want to be prepared for whatever Mother Nature throws at them.”

The broadcast campaign will run primarily across national sports and outdoor programming networks, and will be aided by digital support on social media and sports websites. (more…)

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Leo Burnett Celebrates ‘HappiMess’ for Delta Faucets

Leo Burnett has a new campaign for Delta Faucets introducing the portmanteau “HappiMess” to describe the joy of using Delta’s products to wash away fun messes.

The 30-second anthem ad features a variety of messy situations highlighting Delta’s different faucets. A woman clears a collection of dirty dishes at a dinner party and washes them in her Delta kitchen faucet; children play in a garden and are then ushered inside for a bath; a father and daughter enjoy a muddy hike and then the father washes his hands with a motion sensor faucet; a woman gets blasted with colored powders on a color run and returns to take a shower. “When Delta bath, toilet, shower and faucet innovations make getting clean just as beautiful as getting dirty, that’s HappiMess,” the voiceover intones. As The New York Times points out, the tagline is similar to children’s bath bubble brand Mr. Bubble’s, “Makes getting clean almost as much fun as getting dirty!” Only Leo Burnett aims to translate the idea for adults.

“When you think back to when you were a kid, getting messy in the garden, or baking and getting flour all over you were always considered to be a great things,” Leo Burnett Creative Director Jo Shoesmith told The New York Times. “But for adults, getting sweaty going for a run, or going on a mud run or a color run — those also are moments in life that people love and Delta plays a role in that, because where there’s a mess you need to be cleaned up.”

The campaign, which also features print and digital components, also marks the first time the brand is advertising the whole brand rather than a single product, according to Catherine Roper, director of brand marketing for Delta Faucet. It aims to celebrate the product innovations — such as the detachable shower head with temperature indicator, and motion sensor touch-free faucet — but these can be easy to miss over the course of the ad. Stick around for credits after the jump. (more…)

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RPA Taps Michael Bolton as ‘Talent’ for ‘Happy Honda Days’

If there’s one thing the Internet loves (aside from cats and pornography), it’s cheesy celebrities from bygone eras. This has accounted for the revival of figures like Rick Astley, who has reemerged in the public consciousness thanks to rickrolling. RPA seeks to cash in on the phenomenon with their “Happy Honda Days” campaign, featuring Michael Bolton, the man once referred to as a “no-talent ass clown” in Office Space who returns to advertising after stints in spots like the one for Optimum earlier this year.

The campaign contains four new spots, all of which feature Bolton singing. Each spot begins by asking “What does it feel like to get a great deal at Happy Honda Days?” before answering with an original holiday song from Michael Bolton. (These would have been much funnier if they had made Bolton sing “When a Man Loves a Honda,” but I digress…) Our favorite is the spot featured above, in which Bolton’s singing is met by blank stares (probably the most honestly depicted reaction of the four spots/how we would react in that situation). As you can surmise, RPA went for the goofy approach with this campaign, in the hopes that people find the spots memorable. It would help if there was a little more variation among the four 30 second ads, as they all feel like basically the same spot. In addition to the TV campaign, there will be a live social media event on November 22nd featuring Bolton delivering personalized messaged under the promoted hashtag #XOXOBolton, as well as print and radio campaigns.

We don’t know about you, but we can’t see or hear anything about Michael Bolton without thinking of this. Credits and second “Happy Honda Days” spot after the jump. continued…

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