Parents, man. Whatever they do, they traumatize you.
That's just something we like to say in hard times. But parenting is obviously a job best characterized by improvisation, one constantly learned and never really mastered. Around the holidays, it's natural for parents to feel wracked by self-doubt.
In honor of the people doing their best to make functional adults, Minute Maid has launched "The Holiday Store with Nothing to Sell." At this paradoxical little pop-up, crammed with sparkly snowflakes and light-drenched Christmas trees, kids walk in and write letters to their parents while sipping on orange juice. (Hemingway would cringe.)
The letters are boxed up and wrapped in pale green paper. In the video below, watch five kids reflect on their letters, and the parents' reactions upon opening the gifts.
"She's gonna probably have a confused kinda look," one daughter predicts. "She's gonna think it's maybe, like, a ring, or a bracelet...?"
But no, it will be none of those things!
Created by agency Doner, the execution is part of Minute Maid's #doingood campaign, developed to help parents combat their internal struggles while trying to balance work, life and progeny. "Sometimes the best gifts can't be bought," the video suggests, and incites others to tell their parents they're #doingood, too.
It ends with the campaign tagline, "Put good in. Get good out"—something that works as well for juice as it does for the holiday season, when everyone feels pressure to highlight the value of another person ... usually by spending money.
While it isn't clear whether this'll sell more Minute Maid, it doesn't hurt to remind us that the best gifts we can give are the sometimes-muted truths about how we feel.
Because how often do we do that?
CREDITS
Client: Minute Maid/The Coca-Cola Company
Agency: Doner
President/CEO: David DeMuth
Global Chief Creative Officer: Eric Weisberg
EVP, Executive Creative Director: Brad Emmett
Creative Director: Jason Bergeron
Creative Director: Virgil Adams
EVP, Director of Content Production: Laurie Irwin
Executive Producer: Stacey Gizinski
Broadcast Business Manager: Theresa Bland
Senior Talent Manager: Jane Greening
EVP, Chief Integration Officer, Account Service: Monica Tysell
SVP, Brand Leader: Jim Vassallo
VP, Brand Leader: Adina Sigler
Senior Account Executive: Andrew Doyle
Assistant Account Executive: Brittany Durham
Production: HeLo
Director: Kyle Ruddick
Producer: Lawrence Lewis
Executive Producer: Brendan Kierman
Postproduction: The Underground
Independent Editor: Philip Owen
Producer: Stacy Langdon
Executive Producer: Chad Cooper