Spies Travel's (Spies Rejser in Danish) latest ad campaign is Do It For Mom, a follow-up to 2014's Do It For Denmark. Both ads play on the declining birthrates in Denmark, citing very real fears about Denmark's future and its welfare. However, the ads quickly take a humorous turn as they begin to push Spies Travel's products - holidays.
The ad opens by referencing the Do It For Denmark campaign, and this time hitting home by emotionally playing on the idea of women never becoming grandmothers due to low birthrates. It proceeds to explain how holidays can increase fertility and sex drives through hot weather and exercise, before prompting mothers to donate towards holidays for their kids.
Incredibly, the campaign features a fantastic sales page linked directly to it, with options to buy vouchers towards the holiday, reiterating the message of decreasing birthrates in Denmark, and even suggesting mum's share raunchy looking videos of sexually-suggestive workout routines on their offspring's Facebook wall... a move that will, no doubt, embarrass a number of Danish 30-somethings.
The advert itself hits all the right notes, playing the emotional card initially before jumping straight to the humour. It spouts pseudoscience about sex drives and holidays in a convincing manner, and also argues that even your (to steal from the Channel 4 series) 'undateable' child might pick up a mate whilst away. A highlight for me was a shot of the holiday welcome package, complete with shish kebab'd condoms.
Let's take a look at this from under the guidance of Chip and Dan Heath's SUCCESs model from Made To Stick:
Simple - the ad's concept is easy to pick up, clear, and fun. It also hits a new target market - the over 60s - by asking them to buy holidays for their kids.
Unexpected - the ad quickly takes an unexpected turn. What initially looks like it's going to promoting a charity, rapidly takes you on a fun and slightly racy ride.
Concrete - emotional plays followed by strong humour. The core message is constantly interwoven.
Credible - is it credible? There's probably some credibility to the notion, and the advert is presented in a way to make it appear so. But it doesn't matter, and most people aren't going to care. It's about the humour.
Emotional - does it get much more emotional than grandchildren? The initial shots are genuinely quite heartwrenching.
Stories - there's a strong storytelling element here. How the product impacts upon that story is also very evident.
All in all, this ad nails it. It says something that, at the time of writing, the ad has hit the front page of Reddit's video subreddit - an incredible accolade, considering how anti-marketing Reddit typically is. The travel industry has been a strong player in advertising over recent years (such as Thomson's Simon the Ogre campaign), and this is yet another fantastic campaign. Props to Spies Travel for this.
