Airheads is a candy that knows its place, and it’s one that has elevated sweets advertising to an astral plane of strangeness. The brand, which recently got into the chicken sandwich wars with a candy bun and took a bizarrely playful turn at skippable ads, has taken the path more oddly trodden in a new campaign from AOR Highdive.
The new “Airheads Have More Fun” creative campaign, directed by Harry Einstein of Dummy Films, is about how people who eat Airheads have more fun, taking it to absurd heights. In one spot, a couple of cowboys on horses look on mystified as another cowboy trots in eating Airheads riding a hippo.
In another spot a routine trip to the doctor turns into the doc playing the kid patient like a drum set with his reflex hammer.
“Where there’s Airheads Candy, play isn’t far behind. People have always played with Airheads. Shaking the bars to make them into a ball or shaping them like putty. This gives us license to be a little hyperbolic, showing that people who eat Airheads have more fun—making for out there, memorable work,” said Highdive co-founder and chief creative officer Chad Broude in a statement.
The agency created different versions of the ads for different placements, including “director’s cuts” of “Howdy” and “Reflexive.”
The campaign will run on streaming services, including Hulu, PubMatic, Viacom, Freewheel, SpotX, Roku, YouTube, TrueX Interactive, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram.
“At the core of Airheads Candy has always been a playful spirit. And we wanted a campaign that reminds people of that. It’s about the true spirit of play. Imaginative, carefree, just for the fun of it play,” said Craig Cuchra, vp of marketing for Perfetti Van Melle, makers of Airheads, in a statement.
CREDITS:
Client: Perfetti Van Melle / Airheads
Ad or Campaign: Airheads Have More Fun
VP of Marketing North America: Craig Cuchra
Brand Director, Airheads: Chris Borges
Senior Brand Manager, Airheads: JR Reall
Associate Brand Manager: Andreina Tirado Amaya
Agency: Highdive
Co-Founder/CCO: Chad Broude
Co-Founder/CCO: Mark Gross
Creative Director / Art Director: Philipe Diao
Creative Director / Copywriter: Aaron Cathey
Copywriter: Jim Lemaitre
Managing Partner, Account and Strategy Lead: Megan Lally
Account Director: Julie Merkin
Assistant Account Executive: Audrey Yin
Head of Production: Jen Passaniti
Producer: Kam McAllister
Director of Business Affairs: Kelley Beaman
Production Business Manager: Annie Paganini
Production Company: Dummy Films
Director: Harold Einstein
Producer: Michael Kanter
1st AD: Michael Parziale
Offline Edit: Arcade
Executive Producer / Partner: Sila Soyer
Executive Producer: Crissy DeSimone
Producer: Andrew Cravotta
Editor: Dave Anderson
Assistant: Samuel Barden
VFX: The Mill
Senior Producer: Rachel Burke
Head of Production: James Babiarz
Creative Director, Head of CG Los Angeles: John Leonti
Creative Director, Joint Head of CG: Ben Turner
Color: CO3
Senior Producer, Short Form: Kevin Breheny
Head of Commercial Color: Tim Masick
Mix/Sound Design + Finish: 1986
Executive Producer: Becca Sita
Sound Design/Mix: Steve Aguilar