Deutsch LA is taking Mophie to the Super Bowl with an apocalyptic 60-second ad, directed by Biscuit’s Christopher Riggert, that is also the brand’s broadcast debut.
The spot, entitled “All Powerless” depicts all kinds of doomsday events, from gravity ceasing to function properly, to flying penguins, natural disasters and, for some reason, dogs walking their owners. Drawing in viewers with its visual imagination and mysterious premise, the ad finally brings everything together in its final seconds with the reveal that the preceding events were God’s cell phone losing power.
“All Powerless” was built around the insight that cellphone users feel powerless when their phone dies, which can have all kind of disastrous effects on their day. Deutsch LA places the dilemma on an epic scale by imagining what it would be like for a higher being.
“When your phone loses power, you lose power,” Pete Favat, chief creative officer, Deutsch LA, told Adweek. “We’ve all had that feeling of vulnerability…For us, that might mean missing important meetings, getting lost while traveling or being unable to make that one important phone call. For the most powerful being in the universe, losing power truly means losing power.”
Favat went on to explain the strategy behind the fledgling brand’s costly broadcast debut, telling Adweek, “We’re trying to establish a new market with this ad. There’s 10 percent category awareness, 9 percent brand awareness for us. There’s no better opportunity than the Super Bowl to get attention for your brand.”
Mophie will support the broadcast spot with a promotional sweepstakes, giving away one million dollars worth of prizes should the game go into overtime (currently a 16:1 shot), and $10,000 in prizes if it does not.