T-Mobile teamed up with Community and Soup star Joel McHale for the latest in its “Jump” campaign.
In addition to starring in the ad, McHale and his team of writers crafted the spot with agencies Porter Novelli and Publicis. A series of five more spots will follow, for a total of two broadcast and four digital ads. The initial offering features McHale promoting T-Mobile’s plan which allows customers to switch to a new phone at any time rather than being locked into a contract for two years. He points out some obvious mistake purchases before finding someone who “chose wisely” and won’t need to trade his in. Despite McHale’s involvement in the creative process, the spot very directly addresses the benefits of the program, while the attempts at humor fall flat.
“I was very involved in the creative,” McHale told Adweek. “My writers were involved in the creative, and that’s what was really cool about it. They kind of let us do the ad, and so hopefully, we made a funny, entertaining ad while communicating what the new deal is. The agency had a concept, and usually when you hear that, you’re like, ‘Oh shit, that could be a real problem,'” he said. “But their concept was really good, and they let us put in jokes and determine the dialogue, and obviously we put in dialogue that would sell the product.”