Candy brand Airheads is having some fun with skippable ads with short spots that transform adult situations into playful moments, with the Airheads logo inserting itself into scenes.
The work is the first from Adweek 2020 Breakthrough Agency of the Year Highdive—which was named creative agency of record for Perfetti Van Melle USA brands, including Airheads and Fruit-tella—and it’s centered on the brand’s desire to find play in any situation for people of all ages.
The concept for the 15- and 6-second ads is that people love to skip ads when they can, so Highdive transformed the skip button from typical preroll ads into humorous moments that disrupt scenes like a construction site, a horror movie and a yard sale.
In the horror movie scene, a chainsaw-wielding murderer and potential victim are interrupted by an Airheads balloon logo. When they realize they’re in an ad, they say “skip it” by punching the logo. They then find themselves playfully skipping through a field. The yard sale and construction ads end in similarly skipping fashion, with the phrase “Airheads, you can’t not play, even in a skip ad.”
“As our first assignment with Airheads, we had fun bringing more play to the Internet with the ‘Skip Ad’ spots,” Highdive co-founder and co-chief creative officer, Chad Broude said in a statement. “The brand’s light-hearted personality really shines in these spots and they inspire people to play more…even in moments where you might not expect it.”
The content was created for digital and social media placements, including Ibotta, Facebook, Pandora, Snapchat, Spotify, Pandora and YouTube.
“As play-hungry adults are seeking out more and more content and experiences, we wanted to make more play possible,” Airheads brand director, Jamey Lamb added. “And while most people have grown accustomed to the skip ad function, it’s rather expected and mundane, so we thought, why don’t we bring a little bit of play into an increasing part of our media consumption.”