How do you make a commercial stand out during the Super Bowl? You fart!
Project Overview
Research
Developed multiple concepts
Co-wrote commercial
Produced video from concept to completion
Careerbuilder is a website dedicated to helping people find new jobs. In 2008, Careerbuilder had the largest market share among online employment websites in the United States. Today, it’s worth over $700 million and employs 3,000 people around the globe.
In 2010 Careerbuilder wanted an “odd-humored commercial” to trumpet their brand during the upcoming Super Bowl, one of the most expensive and most viewed ad spots in television. They offered $100,000 to anyone who could think up a funny enough concept worthy of a Super Bowl spot. So we got to work!
Careerbuilder had an established brand voice with a particularly off-color sense of humor. Its ads depicted chimpanzees screaming during board meetings, bosses greeting their employees with a jolly, “Hey dummy!”, and people punching koala bears in the face. It was a successful advertising approach that immediately caught everyone’s attention. We knew that matching their brand’s tone would be the key to getting a commercial concept approved.
After combing through hours of super bowl commercials, one thing became clear: memorable Super Bowl commercials had a crude element about them. There was alcohol consumption, partial nudity, explosions, yelling, but we were shocked when we realized that there had never been a Super Bowl commercial with a fart-the royal flush of crude, in our opinion.
Partnering with Forrest Media Inc. and Token Media, we produced a low-budget, 30-second test commercial (shown below) of our concept and submitted it to Careerbuilder’s marketing department. We were pleased to hear that after reviewing all the submissions they had received, they enthusiastically had chosen our brainchild! Careerbuilder produced the final commercial and we managed to bring our little fart to every home in America.
In an interview with a local news paper, Eric was quoted as saying, “The commercial is about a fart…that is lit on fire…we spent money on it! And, a responsible company of grown-ups loved it!