Timberland wants to give liars the boot—a comfy boot, that is, and shoes too, with anti-fatigue technology, so folks won't have to invent ridiculous excuses when their tired, aching feet make them goof up in the workplace.
Come on, some mustachioed motorcycle dude named Fernando—rocking a shiny, skin-tight purple jumpsuit and his own trumpety-hot theme song, no less—didn't really cause a boo-boo at the warehouse, now did he?
Yeehaw! Hump that cycle seat!
"We felt there was more room for unexpected comedy around the excuses people make rather than just trying to make funny films about making mistakes," Trent Patterson, creative director at The Martin Agency, which made the campaign, tells AdFreak.
"This route allows us to highlight a lot of different types of workplaces and workers, and then have those workers tell almost any story," he says. "So, the campaign can go in a ton of directions."
Such as dispatching Ray-Banned bros in black to the scene when some strange, perhaps extraterrestrial whatsit has fallen from the sky—plop!—right into freshly laid concrete:
You know, Mulder and Scully would look dope in Timberlands. (Well, in anything, really.)
"We liked the idea of the spots feeling very different from each other," says Patterson, "so 'Crash' gave us a chance to make an action sequence to juxtapose against the swooning in 'Fernando.' "
Amusing stuff, and certainly on brand—but perhaps a stretch, like leather pinching at the heel when you jam your beefy hoof into Timberlands two sizes too small. And if the gags get overly complex, could people miss the point? After all, the whole "unreliable narrator" hook is a tad tricky.
"We wrote some stories that were more elaborate, with more twists and turns that seemed funny, but would probably have been a lot harder to follow," Patterson says. "Ultimately, we settled on stories that, while outlandish, were pretty straightforward."
That's also why each ad closes "with a very clear payoff line—'Stop the excuses'—labeling what came before as a fib," he says.
Bottom line: Wear Timberlands ... and be a better worker-drone for the Man!
CREDITS
Client: Timberland
Director of Marketing: Cassie Heppner
Senior Marketing Manager: Rebecca Conway
Associate Marketing Manager: Ryan Murphy
Agency: The Martin Agency
Chief Creative Officer: Joe Alexander
Creative Director: Trent Patterson
Associate Creative Director: Alexander Zamiar
Associate Creative Director: Jonathan Richman
Executive Broadcast Producer: Christina Cairo
Executive Broadcast Producer: John McAdorey
Associate Broadcast Producer: Coleman Sweeney
Senior Production Business Manager: Kelly Clow
Business Affairs Coordinator: Kim Leonard
Planning Director: Kristin Axelson
Account Director: Michael Henry
Project Manager: Karen McEwen
Production Company: Tool
Director: Benji Weinstein
Managing Partner, Live Action: Oliver Fuselier
Executive Producer, Live Action:Lori Stonebraker
Production Service Company: Steam Films
Managing Partner/EP: Krista Marshall
Managing Partner/Head of Sales: Jennifer Sykes
Line Producer: Rob Jacklin
Production Company (Product): Spang TV
Executive Producer: Melanie Cox
Producer: Christina Garnett
Producer: Erin Surber
Director/Director of Photography: Jamie Prescott
Editorial: Beast
Editor: John Dingfield
Color: Company 3
Colorist: Tyler Roth
Online: Method Studios
Online Artist: Mark Anderson
Design: Method Design
Head of Production: Lauren Roth
Original Music for Fernando: Overcoast
Composers: Colin Beckett, Travis Tucker, Aaron Esposito
Producers: Travis Tucker, Colin Beckett
Audio Post Company: Rainmaker Studios
Sound Designer & Mix Engineer: Mike O'Connor
Executive Producer, Owner: Kristin O'Connor
General Manager/Scheduler: Clinton Spell II
