twofifteenmccann implores viewers to “Watch More. Lie Less.” in its latest campaign for streaming service Hulu, with a pair of 30-second spots built around the concept of people lying about being caught up with a TV show.
In “Watch More The Path — Lie Less,” that show is the Hulu original series The Path, starring Aaron Paul. A fan runs into Paul at a coffee shop and, seemingly without intending to, finds himself lying to the actor about having seen every episode of The Path. A voiceover gives viewers a look into the man’s mental process as Paul talks about the show and he tries to avoid hearing any spoilers. Paul, meanwhile, seems to slowly figure out what’s going on.
While anything with Aaron Paul is bound to attract some attention and the scenario is humorous and somewhat relatable, the only argument the spot seems to make for Hulu over other subscription services is that The Path is a Hulu original. And since its regular service contains ads, the “Watch More” approach could even make an argument for its rivals. (Although Hulu did recently add a more expensive ad-free option.)
Another spot takes a similar approach, with a man lying to friends about being caught up on Empire, but takes things a bit farther in the off-the-wall direction, as the man, realizing he is lying, worries that he’ll turn to identity theft or copyright infringement next. Wondering if he’s lying to himself (we guess), he questions if Mike is even his real name. It suffers from the same drawbacks as the other spot, but without the benefits of promoting a Hulu original, (or Aaron Paul’s acting abilities).
“In today’s society, lying about watching a show or movie is nearly a felony in some people’s eyes,” twofifteenmccann CCO Scott Duchon told Adweek. “This campaign shows people caught in their own web of lies and offers Hulu as the way out. The Hulu team really wanted to have fun in the way they are positioned as the answer to this behavior.”
Credits:
Agency: twofifteenmccann
Chief Creative Officer: Scott Duchon
ACD/Art Director: Justin Hargraves
ACD/Copywriter: Rob Katzenstein
Director of Integrated Production: Alex Spahr
Senior Producer: Mai Huynh
Business Affairs: Mary Beth Barney
Account team: Julie Sinclair, Bhumieka Patel
Strategy team: Gabrielle Tenaglia, Janene Lin, Paige Robertson
Production Company: Anonymous Content
Director: Tim Godsall
DP: Andre Pienaar
Line Producer: James Graves
Executive Producer: Eric Stern
Head of Production: Kerry Haynie
Production Designer: Paul Austerberry
Editorial: Cut + Run
Editor: Steve Gandolfi
Editor: Pete Koob
Managing Director: Michelle Eskin
Los Angles EP: Amburr Farls
San Francisco EP: Deanne Mehling
Producer: Jared Thomas
VFX: Jogger
Creative Director: David Parker
Executive Producer: Rich Rama
Producer: Ben Sposato
2D Artist: Adam Levine
Flame Assistant: Jorge Tanaka
Colorist: Dave Hussey
Company: Company 3
Music: Human