Carmichael Lynch launched a new campaign for jerky brand Jack Link’s, comparing the brand to other snacking options.
Unsurprisingly, the competition falls short in multiple areas, as illustrated with a variety of tests.
“We know now more than ever that consumers are looking for protein-rich foods to snack on,” Jack Link’s chief marketing officer Tom Dixon explained in a statement. “We wanted to remind people you can’t out-protein meat and do so in a Jack Link’s way.”
In “the most direct of the spots, Protein Detector,” a woman in what appears to be a science lab straight out of the seventies, uses the titularly implied device (which looks an awful lot like a metal detector with tape reading “Protein Detector” slapped on it, to test the amount of protein in three different snacks. Not only does Jack Link’s jerky beat out the snack bar and string cheese in the protein department, it has a surprising effect on the device as well.
Other spots apply the approach to a microscope, speed gun and polygraph each time ending by stating the brand “beats the snack out of other snacks,” followed by the “Feed Your Wild Side” tagline. In “Microscope” it’s revealed that a container of nuts has squirrels inside (at the microscopic level). “Polygraph” meanwhile feels especially like a missed opportunity, failing to do anything clever with the premise. But then the bar for comical use of the polygraph has been set high.
After singing a duet with Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt‘s Tituss Burgess back in March, Sasquatch is mostly kept in the background here, which is a nice change of pace for the brand. Hopefully they can take the “Versus” premise to more comic extremes in future executions.
“‘Versus’ delivers spots that relay Jack Link’s product benefits and the brand’s sense of humor, but does it in a new and breakthrough way for the brand,” Carmiachel Lynch group creative director Josh Leutz said in a statement. “It also lets us continue flexing where Sasquatch can go for Jack Link’s and what he can do for the brand and the products outside of his woodland home.”
Last October, Jack Link’s selected Minneapolis-based agency Periscope as its digital agency of record, following a review, but Carmichael Lynch has since added digital duties (the agency already handled PR as well as creative). Prior to last year’s review, brand had previously worked with space150 on digital advertising.
Credits:
Agency: Carmichael Lynch
President, Carmichael Lynch: Julie Batliner
Chief Creative Officer: Marty Senn
Group Creative Director: Josh Leutz
Creative Director: Luke Oeth
Art Director: Arthur Stewart
Writer: Chris Vandersall
Senior Designer: Andrew Wetzel
Account Director, Carmichael Lynch: Alissa Ausan Anderson
Account Supervisor, Carmichael Lynch: Catherine Finn
Engagement Strategist: Nellie Murray
Brand Planning: Sarah Poluha
Production Company: Gifted Youth
Director: Fatal Farm
Producer: Alistair Walford
Executive Producer: Dal Wolf