Hasta La Creative!

Pete Marquis and Jamie McCelland — the writing/directing team behind HelloFlo’s “First Moon Party” and “Camp Gyno” — wrote and directed the comical “Theresa the Baristapist” for text/video-chat counseling service In Your Corner.

The ad portrays Theresa, a deluded barista who fancies herself a great unlicensed therapist (thus the term “Baristapist) — or as she puts it “like a Freudian Jesus.” She “can do things real therapists can’t,” like spray a misbehaving child with whipped cream or suggest that you go ahead and kill your boss. The point of the whacky character is to illustrate that “Sometimes the best advice is expert advice.” Theresa is the kind of character who would be terrifying in real life, which makes her work perfectly as a humorous exaggeration of what can go wrong when seeking advice in the wrong places. The spotwas designed with the approach of removing the stigma from therapy with humor.

“The idea came from the insight that people are hesitant to seek actual, professional therapy, but still get it from everywhere—their friends, relatives, their hairstylist, even the barista,” Marquis explained to Adweek. “We wanted to have fun with the idea that she’s giving unlicensed advice with no accountability or concern for anyone’s long-term mental health,” McCelland added.

Poo-Pourri made waves last year with the viral “Girls Don’t Poop” video introducing its toilet deodorizer with pun-filled toilet humor that went on to garner over 30 million views on YouTube. While the follow-up, “Second Hand Stink,” didn’t draw quite as much attention, the brand’s latest, “Even Santa Poops” has the potential to attract attention to the brand once more with the holiday season right around the corner.

Written and directed by Pete Marquis and Jamie McClelland, who worked on HelloFlo’s “Camp Gyno” and “First Moon Party,” in collaboration with copywriter Joel Ackerman, who was behind the original “Girls Don’t Poop” spot for Poo-Pourri, “Even Santa Poops” should prove a success. The setup is new: Santa is delivering gifts when all the cookies and milk catch up with him and he has to retreat to the toilet for relief. His stench wakes three British sisters, who attempt to blackmail him for extra gifts and inform him of the Poo-Pourri which he should be using to mask his odor. Otherwise the formula is familiar: plenty of poo puns and a quick introduction of the product as a solution. Mostly the puns are pretty clever and while some may object to the premise, others will be all too happy to gleefully share this with friends and the timing of the release works to promote Poo-Pourri as a holiday (gag) gift while people are shopping for the season.

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When a girl lies about getting her first period, her mother takes the ultimate revenge in a new spot for tampon subscription service (yes, that’s a thing) Hello Flo.

Company founder and CEO Naama Bloom once again teamed up with Jamie T. McCelland and Pete Marquis, the writers/directors of last year’s “Camp Gyno” spot for an even funnier follow-up.

Entitled “First Moon Party,” the 2:19 video begins with a girl who is frustrated to be the last of her friends to get her period. She decides to fake it in order to become a member of the “Cherry Slush Club.” When her mother questions her about a rubylicious nail polish-stained pad, she says “What do you think it is? I’m on my ladies days.” Angered by both the lie and her daughter’s tone, the mother decides to take the ultimate revenge, and goes way, way too far. Claiming that it’s “family tradition” she throws her daughter a “First Moon Party,” inviting friends, family, and co-workers to celebrate her menarche. With activities like “pin the pad on the period,” “bobbing for ovaries,” a uterus pinata, and a “vagician” the daughter is traumatized by the party. When the daughter inevitably reveals she was lying, the mother gives her a Hello Flo Period Starter kit, followed by a pretty hilarious punchline.

Like “Camp Gyno” the spot uses humor to frankly tackle a subject all too often treated as squeamish, while also perfectly tying it to their product/service. “First Moon Party” has already proven to be a huge success, racking up almost 1.5 million views since being posted two days ago. Given its humor and relatability, that shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Hello Flo team will have a hard time topping this one, but we look forward to seeing what they can come up with next. Stay tuned for credits and a “Camp Gyno” refresher after the jump. (more…)

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