In advertising, real life is more powerful than fiction if you twist it here and there. And in advertising 2015, hero-dads are the new force in emotional persuasion. Duracell flexes its muscles, powered by both.
In the days between 2014 and 2015, American adventurers, Kevin Jorgeson and Tommy Caldwell, had another go at what they had been trying to do for six years. And succeeded.
This time with the world watching. The two young men free climbed Yosemite’s Dawn Wall.
The Dawn Wall presents some unique challenges. The harshest is that you have to climb much of it in the dark at night. As it turns out, Jorgeson had used only Duracell batteries for the climb. Duracell seized the moment and approached Jorgeson.
The story was given a dad, that is Kevin’s real dad, as hero twist and turned into a film directed (magnificently) by MP Cunnigham.
The core film has had 15,814,092 YouTube views since May 4.
The campaign was given all the essential films on the side to amp up its impact.
And its central idea was used as the catalyst for a 4th of July ad by Anomaly. This time hero dad is a US soldier and the child is his daughter.
A battery-powered speaking teddy bear is the tear-trigger and this being a classic ad format, hero dad was either going to be killed in action or come home unexpectedly.
Duracell triumphed over the emotion-muting effect of following a tried-and-true formula, so have a box of tissues handy while you’re finding out. Especially when you reach the strapline, “The ones you trust are always there.” [Never mind the tautology.]
…Because then you’ll find out that this ad is based on a true story also, that of navy air traffic controller, Robert Nilsson, his wife, Denise, and their daughters.
Duracell is donating $100,000 to the USO’s Comfort Crew for Military Kids and the ad’s tag asks viewers to donate too. It’s voiced by Hilary Swank, the daughter of a retired Air Force senior master sergeant.
