Old Navy spokeswoman Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who took over for Amy Poehler in December, promotes the brand’s line of “boyfriend jeans” in a new spot kicking off a spring campaign from lead agency Chandelier.
The spot casts the Veep star as a couples counselor dealing with a jealous boyfriend who saw a text with the word “boyfriend” on his girlfriend’s phone. Of course, she was actually referring to her new boyfriend jeans from Old Navy. When she informs Louis-Dreyfus that they’re only $15, she says “That’s insane…not clinically, of course” and soon they’re off, following up on the “breakthrough” and headed to Old Navy. Despite Louis-Dreyfus’ talent, the spot never really finds its comedic voice. Both the tone and the timing seem just a tad off and the tacked-on running out of the shot to get to Old Navy ending feels painfully forced (as it has in past spots).
As has become the norm with these types of ads, the outtakes (featured below) are actually more entertaining than the spot itself. So far, however, Louis-Dreyfus’ outtakes have failed to attract the same attention as those from Poehler’s ads. While the latter regularly received upwards of 500,000 views on YouTube, outtakes from Old Navy’s December campaign sit well under the 100,000 view mark. The campaign also includes a social effort, handled by AKQA, featuring Emily Current and Meritt Elliott.
“They’re different sides of the same coin,” Chandelier Founder Richard Christiansen told AdAge, speaking of the two spokeswomen. He explained that Poehler was very spontaneous, while Louis-Dreyfus brings more of a “trained” approach to the ads. “For Julia, we’re still improvising, but a lot of that stuff is a little bit more planned,” he added. “She’s studied. She’s controlled. She’s got a lot of great structure.”