Hasta La Creative!

Portland, Maine based The VIA Agency launched “Golden Bill of Rights” for grill buffet/hall of shame eating Golden Corral, starring “America’s beloved comedian” Jeff (“Paul Blart isn’t available? Okay fine, get Jeff Foxworthy”) Foxworthy, marking the agency’s first work since winning lead creative duties for the brand in December.

Jeff Foxworthy delivers the message behind the brand’s “Golden Bill of Rights,” promoting all-day breakfast with a message that boils down to “You want to throw a scoop of ice cream, on top of a steak, on top of a stack of pancakes? You can do that! This is Golden Corral. There’s no judgement here, only expanding waistlines.” He manages to sneak in some good old-fashioned gender stereotyping with the line, “Mom, you get the night off. Dad, this is not going to break the bank,” while illustrating “The right to family happiness,” and sneaks in the truly awful “mush more room on my plate” mushroom pun while promoting “The right to food made fresh.” The campaign targets the brand’s core audience in the south while also claiming to be “on brand with millenials,” which is not a phrase you’d expect in the same paragraph as the name “Jeff Foxworthy,” due to its latching on to the breakfast foods whenever trend (a Mintel report predicts a 4.3 percent increase in the sale of breakfast food items for 2015).

“Golden Corral was founded on the same values as America itself, freedom and happiness, all at a reasonable price,” said Leeann Leahy, president of The VIA Agency, in a statement. “We are thrilled that Jeff Foxworthy is a part of the campaign that highlights this essence.  He is the perfect spokesperson to remind Americans of their dining rights. Targeted towards families, the new campaign shows that quality, fresh food doesn’t have to break the bank and can be found right in a time tested favorite ­ no matter what your craving.”

Credits:

THE VIA AGENCY
Teddy Stoecklein – Executive Creative Director
Ian Dunn – Creative Director
Ken Matsubara – Creative Director
Stephen Davis – Senior Copywriter
Matt Scheumann – Art Director
Mary Hanifin – Executive Producer
Dustin Levine – Senior Producer
Jason Wright – Group Strategy Director
Moya Fry – Client Strategist
Chris Michaud – Account Executive
Jill Hurd – Senior Project Manager
Meghan Gildart-Nappi – Creative and Business Affairs Manager

PARTNERS
Mortar Inc., – Production
Dave Merhar – Director
My Active Driveway – Graphics
North Creative, LLC – Color/Mix
Vacationland – Offline/Edit
Parma Recordings – Music
Horizon Media – Media
Stroh Creative – In–store POP
Twin Bear – Social Media Manager

Best ice-cream bar ever conceived? That would be the Klondike Kandy Bar, born an indeterminate number of months after an illicit tryst between a regular Klondike Bar and a tall, striking, chocolatey candy-bar nurse—according to a male shopper's adult-movie-addled brain in this sweet spot from The VIA Agency.

It's a fun idea, brought to life quite nicely. In particular, the visual look is pleasantly unique, blending real-world footage and animation. "A ton of ads use animated characters. So we made the decision to shoot as much as we could in camera," says Greg Smith, chief creative officer at VIA. "The awkwardness of putting 'real' characters on 'real' sets and then animating their eyes, arms and legs made it different and it helped us stay true to the lo-fi vibe we wanted to portray."

Turns out the Klondike-candy relationship extends beyond the '70s candy-porn set, too. Klondike is partnering with CollegeHumor to produce a comedy series about the couple. That should be interesting—particularly the inevitable reality-show squabbles over why she's the one who's way more phallic looking.