Streets unveils new ads from campaign featuring cheeky Gaytime and Bubble O’Bill ad
S
treets has tweaked its global ice-cream campaign ‘Time for a Cooler Snack’ to include a cheeky tone for the Australian market.
DDB Sydney reworked the campaign, first conceived by Adam & Eve DDB, using local variants such as Splice, Cornetto, Gaytime and Bubble O’Bill.
The outdoor campaign has already attracted attention, with one poster appearing to reference the film Brokeback Mountain with a Bubble O’Bill asking a Gaytime ice cream: “Gaytime?”, to which it replies: “Whoa there cowboy!”
Another version soon-to-be-released outdoor carries the edgy line: “The new boss has a stick up his…”
Anthony Toovey, marketing director ice cream with Unilever Australia, said that while the global template had been used all of the work had been specifically created for the local market using the theme of giving consumers a break from the serious side of life.
“We are trying to put a smile on people’s faces during that return-to-work period,” said Toovey.
He said that the tone of the campaign walked a fine line but he believed Australians would get the joke, adding he was “thrilled” with the results for the campaign, which has taken off on social media on sites including Reddit.
“Global have been fantastic giving us the space to make this work in Australia. Our sense of humour is very different,” he added.
“It is a shell of an idea which is designed to be localised. We just thought, let’s be really topical and have fun with it.”
Each of more than 30 versions of the campaign has been tailored to fit the medium it is running in.
Other ads in the series include a reference to the summer of tennis with a Cornetto ad: “You’ll never win a game with a soft serve”.
Another references the beach with a Splice in a bikini with a bite mark and a Bubble O’Bill declaring: “I can see your white bits”.
Yet another features Bubble O’Bill telling a Gaytime and a Splice to “Stick ’em up”.
Simon Canning
Credits:
Global Campaign Origination: Adam&EveDDB
Local Campaign Execution: DDB Sydney, PHD, Mango Sydney
Client: Unilever
Marketing Director: Anthony Toovey
Senior Brand Manager: Scott Mingl
Regional Team: Anthony Hillier, Briar Taylor, Leanne Landolfi
DDB Sydney Team:
Toby Talbot, Chief Creative Officer, DDB Group
Creative Partner: Steve Jackson
Creative Teams: Owen Bryson, Anna Paine, Matt Chandler, Ben Pearce, Jeff Galbraith.
Account Team: Kate Sheppard, Topher Jones, Celine Smith, Micaela Benitez
Planner: Fiona Lenahan
Mango
Account Team: Fern Canning, Lizzie Culverhouse, Michael Ozard, Laura Cario
PHD
Account Team: Kathryn Furnari, Alex Pacey, Joel Pearson, Jay Malig, Jessie Ho, Holly Mizen, Billy Luu.
Whilst the “I can see your white bits” poster is hilarious I bet it is going to create thousands of complaints. Thousands!
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Congrats to the twelve year old boy who wrote the gags.
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Billy C – they’re ads for icecream. They’re meant to be funny and a bit silly. You don’t expect a sophisticated/mature/serious approach for a Bubble O’Bill, surely?
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I agree. As a fellow marketer, I think these are absolutely brilliant!
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These ads are so clever, get the adults attention first.. @EatAGaytimeDay this Saturday 9/1/16…
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@Jeff – No but I don’t expect adult concepts being used to sell ice creams that are clearly aimed at Children either. How many adults buy bubble-o bills?
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I’d imagine Bubble O Bill and Gaytime are targeted at adults who ate them when they were kids, given they’ve been off the market for so long.
Regardless, I’d prefer a billboard written by a 12 year old boy that makes international headlines than a sensible billboard written by a grown up that everyone ignores.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....reats.html
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There is a Streets ad on the Monash Highway billboard that has the following:
Calippo lying on it’s side: “I’m having a meltdown”
Splice: “Harden up softy.”
I drive past it every morning. As someone struggling to get a male family member in the age range with the most suicide risk to seek help for their mental health issues I don’t know how the people behind this campaign can be so stupid and irresponsible, undoing all the good work done with ‘R U OK Day’, Movember and Byond Blue.
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@Billy c, I’m and adult and love Bubble O Bills.
@Monika, lighten up.
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As a straight, white, privileged middle class male, first of all Monika let me say ‘I hear you sister’.
I myself am regularly offended, ‘white bread’, ‘vanilla’, ‘meninist’… I could go on, but I wouldn’t want to burden you with my privilege.
I guess what got me through those difficult times was to follow some wise words. “Get over yourself”.
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@Monika – While I respect that your situation is sensitive, anything can be misconstrued given a particular context. Let me explain.
I have an uncle called Monty. He’s a bit eccentric, he only ever wears a Tuxedo, but we love him nonetheless. After several failed marriages and an unsuccessful recent spell on Tinder, he was feeling pretty lonely. Come Christmas, the relatives and I decided to shell out on a mail order bride so he wouldn’t have to spend the festive season alone. Unfortunately, they hated each other’s guts and parted ways a few days later.
You can imagine my horror when I saw the 2014 John Lewis Christmas ad.
In summary, it’s a silly ad about ice creams. I have a feeling the amount of smiles it brings to people’s faces will heavily outweigh the frown it puts on yours.
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It’s an ad for freaking ice-cream. I think some of us need to lighten up.
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Firstly, I have yet to see such a perfect specimen of a Bubble O Bill emerge from its wrapper as are displayed in these promotions. Usually a half-melted, then re-frozen blob of vague dimensions, crusted over with a layer of sparkly ice crystals. Suggest pack shot fantasy vs. promo reality could be an area needing some attention from Streets.
Secondly, along the same lines as the MLA’s current “lambasting” over its savage and alarming vegan flamethrower attack, it doesn’t take long for someone to connect a mildly amusing attempt at ice cream humour on a billboard with responsibility for the massive undermining of many years of noble work by charities and other agencies in the area of suicide prevention. Is this really what we’ve come down to?
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Err… that should have read ‘product reality’, of course.
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Can’t stop laughing after watching the ad
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nice
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You guys make a bunch of funny ice-cream commercials even funnier.
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