Most of us know the Calvin Klein commercial with Jeremy Allen White. He and his washboard abs climb onto a roof, virtually naked except for a pair of CK underpants, to make themselves lasciviously comfortable on a sofa under the New York sky. "Suddenly I want to be stairs, or a ladder, or a big red comfy sofa..." reads one of the thousands of comments and sums up the discourse well.
The topic is running hot, the drooling comments know no bounds - and two other brands are jumping on the bandwagon. Let's take a look at how they become part of this wide-ranging conversation in a funny, skillful and, above all, worthwhile way.
Enter BRLO, the Berlin brewer, crashing the scene like a rowdy party crasher at a posh affair. They bring in a beefy, redheaded dude to shake things up. And boy, does he shake! Sure, the connection between beer and underwear might be thinner than a supermodel's waistline, but who cares when you're having this much fun?
Enjoy the original video from our beer friends or take a look at the side-by-side, which shows even more clearly how much love has gone into the work here. Here's to big dudes in underwear, and to the brave souls who dare to make advertising a little less serious and a whole lot more entertaining.
And the suitcase brand Away also indulged in a parody that wowed in underpants.
Picture this: instead of the brooding actor flaunting his toned bod against the backdrop of the New York City skyline, we've got sleek suitcases striking their best pose.
In these cheeky black and white photos, Away's suitcases aren't just luggage – they're the stars of the show! And of course it was all about speed: the Calvin Klein video was launched on Thursday, and Away's own interpretation went live the next Monday.
The biggest challenge was to find matching underpants: “We hustled around New York City trying to find Calvin Klein underwear that would fit,” said members of the Away team. “When that didn’t work, we overnighted a few pairs of XXL boxers. They arrived at 4 a.m. on Saturday.”
Both cases show how exciting it can be to join cultural conversations that move your target groups and to surf the hype around certain topics with a lot of humor. This requires courage, the joy of experimentation - and above all speed.
What is our takeout?
"You think like we think!" - is always a direct route to the heart, especially of younger audiences. So it's perfect for all brands that want to connect with their lifestyle-oriented target groups and become part of the cultural conversation themselves.
