Pudding Surprise
JELL-O
Issue 27 | June 2013
Agency
CP+B Boulder
Creative Team
Worldwide Chief Creative Officer Rob Reilly VP Group Creative Directors Tony Calcao Adam Chasnow VP Creative Directors Andrew Ure Matt Denyer Sr Copywriters Liza Behles Alex Augustinos Sr Art Directors Courtney Bowditch Bryan Denman
Production Team
Integrated Head of Video Chad Hopenwasser Executive Integrated Producer Aaron Kovan Integrated Producer Abbie Noon
Other Credits
VP Group Account Director Kate Frazier Content Management Supervisor Kevin Sypal Content Supervisor Ashley Cochrane Content Manager Wendy Alexaitis Business Manager Kallie Halbach Lydia Tirpak Traffic Manager Kelton Wright Jr Traffic Manager Jenna Kotarski
Date
February 3, 2013
Background
On February 3rd 2013, The Baltimore Ravens played the San Francisco 49ers in the 67th Superbowl and won the game 34-31.
It was usually the winners who were congratulated but JELL-O took a different view and set out to celebrate the runnerup.
In a continuation of their ‘fun things up’ campaign based on the thought, “Nothing masks the bitter taste of defeat like the sweet taste of pudding”, JELL-O offered San Francisco supporters free pudding.
Idea
After the game, all eyes were on the Baltimore Ravens hoisting the trophy but JELL-O aired a TV spot congratulating San Francisco on putting themselves in the way of free puddings.
Two days after the Superbowl, JELL-O, along with former player Ronnie Lott, went to San Francisco to distribute free puddings at locations across the city.
And to make the days after the game a little easier for the distraught fans, JELL-O also created the Baltimore Blocker, a web browser plug-in available on the campaign site, which, when installed and enabled, replaced any online text mentions of Baltimore or the game itself with “blah” while substituting images of the game with those of a cute cat.
Results
Not available.
Our Thoughts
Typical CP&B to zag while everyone else is zigging. To run an ad congratulating the losers was a great strategic idea. And in terms of the execution, isn’t the Baltimore blocker such a great idea for an app? One observation I’d make is it’s a tecchy idea based on a good old-fashioned advertising property – the bitter taste of defeat can only be made better by a spoonful of JELL-O.
As I always say, technology leads creativity but it doesn’t drive it. The digital world still needs people who understand people and what makes them laugh.