Method Leaf-Blows a Birthday Cake and Makes Other Unholy Messes in These Fun Ads

The brand's new "Fear No Mess" campaign, which might be less pithily articulated as "Make as Big a Mess as You Possibly Can," features immaculately dressed heroes finding inventive ways to trash beautifully designed rooms in a series of TV ads. 

The general theme of each :15 and :30 is food fights taken to extremes. "Birthday" features a grandma taking a leaf blower to a cake: 

Meanwhile, in "Fruit Fan," a blonde model type tosses fruit through a giant fan.

And in "Meatball Golf," a powerful woman whacks meatballs with a golf club.

A simpler but similarly fun set of Facebook and digital OOH executions feature mess-generating images on a loop. In one, a snow cone drips rainbow sugar water on a woman's hand:

In another, an impossibly shaggy dog hypnotically shakes off muck.

And in a third, a never-ending ramp of dirty dishes slides diagonally across the screen.

Agencies Muh-tay-zik Hof-fer and Essence created the campaign, which launched last week in Boston, Chicago and San Francisco. The brand's marketing team is framing it as celebration of the joy of getting dirty, with a deliberately fashionable presentation meant to position Method as a lifestyle brand, a contrast to more staid marketing from environmentally friendly competitors.

It certainly is endearing in its playfulness (even if actress Maya Rudolph wasn't, to be fair, entirely stiff in her recent role pitching Seventh Generation). And the unusually polished look works unexpectedly well, largely because it makes such a stark contrast to the splattering comestibles. 

The concept, though, is not entirely new. U.K. laundry detergent Persil has a standing claim on the same basic idea of celebrating filth with its long-running "Dirt Is Good" campaign (even if the executions sometimes miss the mark a bit).

But substituting bravado for originality makes the ad seem even more like fashion marketing, so it's probably a win in the end.

CREDITS

Client: Method Products
"Fear No Mess" Campaign

Agency // Muh-tay-zik | Hof-fer
Executive Creative Director: John Matejczyk
Director Of Strategy: Matt Hofherr
Associate Director Of Strategy: Rachel Gold
Head Of Production: Michelle Spear Nicholson
Producer: Molly Hayes
Creative Director: Joel Kaplan
Creative Director: Tony Zimney
Copywriter: Christopher Penman
Copywriter: Zack Johnson
Art Director: Brittany Tooker
Art Director: Vanessa Hellmann
Designer: Charlotte Cooper
Account Manager: Ashley Gullickson
Director Of Media: Eric Perko

Digital Media Agency // Essence Digital

Production // The Directors Bureau / Canada
Directors: CANADA
Dp: Axel
Executive Producer: Oscar Romagosa
Head Of Production Canada: Alba Barneda
Line Producer: Julia Carrasco

Editorial // Canada
Editor: Marc Soria de la Torre
Producer Post: Blanca Ballesté
Colorist: Marc Morató

Post/Visual Effects: La Metropolitana

Audio // Idea Sonora
Sound Engineer: Pep Aguiló
Music Supervision: Good Ear Music Supervision

Music:
Meatball Golf Artist: The Joy-Tones – This Love (That I'm Giving You)
Fruit Fan Artist: Sugar Billy Garner – I Got Some

Birthday Artist: The Joy-Tones – This Love (That I'm Giving You)