Droga5 New York’s New Sausage Ads Are ‘Made the Johnsonville Way’

By Erik Oster 

Droga5 New York’s new campaign for Johnsonville, “Made the Johnsonville Way” has the kind of twist our readers tend to hate: the agency claims to have let the client’s employees come up with the ideas for the ads.

An introductory spot, “Responsibilities,” introduces the premise with the concept that employees of the family owned company are responsible for everything that goes into “making sure every sausage tastes great,” with one employee  adding, “And now, we’re also responsible for coming up with the commercials.”

The 30-second spot ends with Johnsonville employees sitting around the table coming up with ideas when one of them, appropriately named Brett, pitches “How about sausage meets car chase?”(Groan).

Unsurprisingly, the next ad is just that, with Droga5 fleshing out the idea and teaming up with Arts & Sciences to give it the professional production treatment.

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The concept, as narrated by Brett, is delivered in a stream-of-consciousness, rough draft sort of way in a slightly new take on Droga’s by now predictable style.

Brett decides partway through the ad, for example, that it isn’t a high speed chase but rather a “Regular Speed Chase.” He’s unsure how to end the ad, deciding “maybe everybody just ends up eating sausage” and then, channeling his inner Michael Bay, decides to throw a gratuitous explosion in there for good measure. Goofy as it is, it’s far from the weirdest spot the agency has made for the brand.

Another spot, conceived by Johnsonville bro Jeff, sees “Jeff and His Forest Friends” interacting over breakfast after Jeff wakes up to dine on some sausage. He talks all about Johnsonville’s products to a group of curious critters, also explaining how he’s able to talk to them.

We were amazingly not surprised.

An “Official Trailer” running over four minutes long is actually a look at the creative process, with employees pitching their ideas which are then given an animated treatment.

Some of these don’t appear as full-fledged spots, which could mean we’ll see them in the near future. If that’s still not enough “Made the Johnsonville Way” for you, there’s also a “Behind-The-Scenes” feature.

Credits:
Client: Johnsonville Sausage, LLC
Campaign: “Made the Johnsonville Way”
Agency: Droga5 NY
Creative Chairman: David Droga
Chief Creative Officer: Ted Royer
Group Creative Director: Scott Bell
Senior Copywriter: Chris Colliton
Senior Art Director: Kevin Weir
Junior Copywriter: Gabe Sherman
Junior Art Director: Gage Young
Executive Design Director: Rob Trostle
Design Director: Rich Greco
Designer: April Pascua
Chief Creation Officer: Sally-Ann Dale
Head of Broadcast Production: Ben Davies
Executive Broadcast Producer: Scott Chinn
Executive Broadcast Producer: Adam Perloff
Global Chief Strategy Officer: Jonny Bauer
Group Strategy Director: Aaron Wiggan
Senior Strategist: Marc Iserlis
Data Strategy Director: Lily Ng
Group Communications Strategy Director: Brian Nguyen
Communications Strategist: Kevin Wilkerson
Group Account Director: Julia Albu
Account Director: Dave Murphy
Account Supervisor: Kate Tyler Monroe
Associate Account Manager: Rebecca Warren
Project Manager: Rayna Lucier
Client: Johnsonville Sausage, LLC
Vice President, Marketing: Ryan Pociask
Group Marketing Director, General Manager: Jim Mueller
Integrated Marketing Director: Jamie Schmelzer
Senior Brand Manager: Ron Schroder
Senior Brand Manager: Kimberly Keller
Associate Brand Manager: Steve Bembinista
Marketing Associate: Catherine Swick
Production Company: Arts & Sciences
Director: Adam & Dave
DOP: Toby Irwin
Executive Producer: Marc Marrie
Producer: Pat Harris
Editorial: MackCut
Editor: Ryan Steele
Assistant Editor: Maria Lee
Executive Producer: Sasha Hirschfeld
Post Production: MPC
Executive Producer: Elexis Stearn
Producer: Nicole Saccardi
Lead Artist (Flame): Andy Bate
2D Artists: Steven Miller, Mahendra Natha Reddy
3D Artists: Masahito Yoshioka, Ted Abeyta
Colorist: Mark Gethin
Color Assistant: Kris Smale
Executive Producer/Color: Meghan Lang
Producer/Color: Rebecca Boorsma
Production Coordinator: Valentina Cokonis
Assistant Line Producer: Neela Kumuda Parankusham
Sound: MackCut
Mixer: Sam Shaffer

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