The Boys
Pacific Brands
Issue 39 | June 2016
Agency
Clemenger BBDO Melbourne
Creative Team
Executive Creative Director Ant Keogh Creative Director Anthony Phillips Richard Williams Art Director Ant Phillips Copywriter Richard Williams
Production Team
Director Tony Rogers Agency Producer, TV Karolina Bozajkovska DOP/Cinematographer Marin Johnson Editor Richard Hamer Post Production Company Finish Post Productions Producer Jason Byrne Production Company Guilty Productions Strategic Planner Michael Derepas Sound House Flagstaff
Other Credits
Account Management Team Simon Lamplough Grant Oorloff
Date
April 2016
Background
Bonds is the biggest underwear brand in Australia. For years it had little or no competition.
In recent times, however, aggressive private labels had ramped up their attacks and many were half the price of Bonds.
Bonds' target market, 18-39 year-old guys, did not care much about their choice of underwear. Product benefits like '100% cotton' or a 'seamless stitch' did little for them. So the task was to find a different way to get through to them.
Idea
If men didn't care too much about the product specifications of underwear, they did care about the comfort of their nether regions. Bonds' aim therefore was to make men think about the impact of poorly fitting underwear on their 'boys'.
So a pair of talking testicles were created to highlight everything that our 'boys' go through.
Two guys, dressed in flesh-coloured lycra, represented the 'boys'.
In a series of online films, they were portrayed encountering the usual traumatic situations that all men's balls encounter – going for a swim, a groin trim, heat treatment, suffering inside a cricket box and even meeting some other balls in the showers.
Following the films came an integrated campaign using TV, print, digital and outdoor.
In the heart of Melbourne was a massive seven-storey high digital billboard. A live RSS feed linked the 'boys' to the weather, showing them reacting to the conditions.
When it was cold, they shrank towards the top of the billboard and when the weather was warmer, they descended and hung freely. They also got swung about in the wind.
Results
It's too early, but media coverage and social media comment – there's a surprise – has been huge.
Our Thoughts
Does this owe anything to the famous 'Hello Boys' Wonderbra poster featuring Eva Herzigova some 20 years ago?
Probably, but who cares? This campaign has undoubtedly caught the imagination, but it also speaks to an underlying truth: that, in a low-interest category (for men, at any rate) like underwear, you've got get close to the edge to stand out.
So the idea of talking testicles may offend some, but it's wrapped up in a gentle sense of humour that perfectly catches the way men think about their balls.
What man can't identify with the problems caused by bicycling, heat treatment, tight lycra or a bit of trimming?
Without great scripts and some nifty acting by the 'boys' however, it could all have fallen flat.