Jan Jacobs on Cutting Through Big Game Clutter

When Jan Jacobs, co-founder & chief creative officer at creative agency Johannes Leonardo, took on a brief for Tide in 2008, the task was to create a memorable commercial for a brand new product that would also mark the first time Proctor & Gamble had advertised at the Super Bowl.

Seven years on and the resulting spot, Talking Stain, has become one of the most celebrated pieces of work to air at the event despite the advertising landscape evolving significantly since then. Last year, the concept was revived and built upon in a spot, Miracle Stain, directed by Bryan Buckley.

Below, Jacobs tells us about his classic spot, whether it'd be as successful in today's increasingly cluttered ad slots and how valuable he believes the Big Game to be for a brand today.

Tell us about your Tide spot from 2008 for those who haven't seen it?

In an environment cluttered with predictably huge productions (giant carrier pigeons wearing helmets!) we wanted to do something very simple, something that would stand out by hitting a nerve. It was also a brand new product, and the first time ever P&G was going to advertise at the Super Bowl, so we wanted to create a real need for the product and show in 30 seconds the value it would bring.

The spot shows a simple one-to-one job interview setting, where the applicant is trying to impress, while the boss just cannot get past the obvious stain on the guy’s shirt. The stain is so disruptive; it might as well be a third person in the room, rambling incoherently in Norwegian over the poor applicant’s story. Which it does.

How was the ad landscape different back then?

It was 2008 and the landscape was different in a number of ways. The recent trend of getting more traction for your spot by launching it a week early didn’t exist then. Faking a Super Bowl spot (the newest thing it appears) was not an option either. You had to actually make one, and people would see it for the first time during the game when it ran. It really had to break through the clutter as a result. And if you pulled it off, then all the discussion about the best work would happen in the weeks following the event.

It’s hard to imagine, but there was also no Instagram yet, nor Snapchat. Foursquare had not yet been born, let alone died, to name just a few. So unlike today, there wasn’t much digital back up for the spots, or ways consumers could engage with the work online. We did create mytalkingstain.com where people could create their own – yes, microsites were still a thing.

Would your spot be as successful in today's world if the same piece of work was launched at this year’s event?

Yes it would. It is a timeless spot because it depicts a truth of human nature, as well as a real need the product fulfils. It remains as relatable now as it did then. And it does it simply and funnily.

Did you create anything for this year’s Super Bowl?

Not this year. We had a regional Super Bowl spot (below) last year for Trident that did very well for the brand. It’s interesting to see this year that regional seems to be becoming a trend. As we saw with Trident, you can see a direct retail effect (up to 7.3 per cent in our case) of the work in a small, controlled environment, which may be why some brands are now choosing to go this way.

How important do you feel it is for a brand to advertise at the Super Bowl?

It depends on the brand. It is expensive and it is just a moment in time, so it’s not necessarily right for every brand. But it is expensive for a reason. There are really just a handful of events on earth that are watched live by over 100 million people, and most of those only happen every four years. In that sense it really is a very unique media spectacle.

It also garners a huge amount of earned media in all the pre and post game discussions, which can be very valuable. People are still talking about Tide’s Talking Stain seven years after the fact, and there aren’t many media buys that can generate that kind of value out of 30 seconds.

Tide and many other brands at the event aren't typically ones that would usually resonate with football fans. Why is the Super Bowl different?

The Super Bowl is not just watched by football fans and has grown past being just a sporting event, to a cultural event. And even if you don’t watch football, it is impossible to escape its media effect in the US. It’s like Halloween. People dress for it, throw parties for it, bet on it, and discuss every aspect of it including, of course, the advertising.