In the past, TBWA has reached heavily to this younger demographic in campaigns for Apple, Washington Mutual, Adidas, Taco Bell, McDonalds, Gatorade, Pepsi, Nissan, Visa, and Starburst among many others. Of these, the “Whoo Hoo” campaign for Washington Mutual, the “In An Absolut World” campaign for Absolut, and the “Get a Mac” campaign for Apple are the more notoriously well-known.
The “Whoo Hoo” campaign was introduced in February 2008 as fears of the economic crisis was rising. Already referring to themselves as WaMu, Washington Mutual was looking for a way to become “an iconic brand that people love”. TBWA helped them become just that – the “Whoo Hoo” campaign increased website traffic by double digits and the term “WaMu” appeared in searches 1,000% more between January and March 2008 than the entire previous year.
In addition to the new fun-loving and somewhat rhyming tagline, Washington Mutual was decked out in hotpink and bright blue with a heading that stated “Most banks are grey. That’s just not our style”. The attempt was to differentiate themselves and attract a younger crowd. Clearly, they’re not speaking to the traditional set-in-his ways businessmen here, but rather to a group of people who may not actually know a lot about what they’re doing, but will go someplace that looks welcoming and friendly.
Another way to reach the younger world is through idealism and imagination – or at least that’s what TBWA proved with the “In An Absolut World” campaign. The campaign, which launched in 2007, featured fanciful scenarios the target audience may view as perfections – a “surreal place where common sense prevails and just desserts are always on the menu”. The campaign cost roughly $34 million and included print ads, billboards, commercials, online ads, and event marketing.
Another way to reach the younger world is through idealism and imagination – or at least that’s what TBWA proved with the “In An Absolut World” campaign. The campaign, which launched in 2007, featured fanciful scenarios the target audience may view as perfections – a “surreal place where common sense prevails and just desserts are always on the menu”. The campaign cost roughly $34 million and included print ads, billboards, commercials, online ads, and event marketing.
Planet Absolut, the imaginary place where the dreams are reality, includes pregnant men, famous paintings replacing NYC billboards, Pinocchio noses on lying politicians, police breaking up protestors with feather pillows, and easy transformation from fatty to hottie. The campaign is wide-spread and well-known in this generation and will be remembered for years to come for it’s creativity and visionary qualities.
However, there is another TBWA campaign that upstages even “In An Absolut World” when it comes to long-standing sustainability and recognition by the general public, and that is the “Get a Mac” campaign for Apple, sometimes also referred to as "I'm a Mac and I'm a PC". The campaign, which ran from 2006 through 2010 was shown in not only the United States, but Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and the UK as well.
The campaign showed Mac as more competent, more socially acceptable, having less viruses, better at creative aspects, and truly caring about customers. The campaign won a Grand Effie in 2007, but its true mark of success comes from the fact that the campaign not only increased Apple’s appeal, but also made Macs a topic of lunchroom conversation.
