W+K Portland and Secret Wish You Namaste in Latest ‘Stress Tested for Women’ Spot

W+K Portland launched a humorous new 15-second spot for Secret, the latest in its “Stress Tested For Women” campaign. We’re thankful it has nothing to do with the holidays.

The spot depicts a woman using a bathroom hand dryer to dry her visibly damp armpits. When another woman comes out of the stall, she does the sensible thing and pretends to be doing bathroom yoga. Namaste.

The approach works as a comical illustration of the campaign’s central theme. It ends with the “Don’t Pit Out When You Stress Out” tagline, which gels well with the preceding action. It’s a clear departure from earlier efforts dealing more seriously with women’s issues, such as last month’s “Ladies Room,” “The Question” back in May and the agency’s first work for the brand the month prior, “Raise” and “Three Dots.”

The new effort is likely just a reprieve from the more serious approach. Still, it works well with the overall theme of the campaign and throwing in a spot like “Namaste” every once in a while will make the other efforts hit harder and it’s still tangentially related to stress factors at work, echoing the initial “Raise” spot.

In related news, W+K creative director Justine Armour, who led the Secret campaign, recently resigned to accept a job as group creative director at the New York office of 72andSunny. W+K has not made any announcements regarding future leadership of the account at this time.

MIX

Mix Company: Joint

Mixer: Noah Woodburn

Producer: Jen Milano