Growing Pains
That's My Boy ,
produced by Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising for Adult Tylenol.
The strategy animating
That's My Boy , produced by Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising for Adult
Tylenol, is simple: Capitalize on the clichéd but timely football motif to
appeal directly to the men among the 129 million viewers of the Super Bowl
broadcast. At the same time, reach out to women--who buy the pills and stock
the medicine cabinet--by cleverly deconstructing the macho stereotype so that
it becomes familiar, funny.
The idea seems to have
worked: The ad emerged as one of the Super Bowl broadcast's 10 most successful,
according to USA Today 's people meter, a hand-held dial that registered
the second-by-second reaction of a sample of 139 consumers. And it fared
particularly well with women, who placed it in the top five.
The spot opens with an
overweight father clearly looking to realize his old dreams vicariously through
his son. Dad knows that the key to success lies in the early start he did not
get, that only the savvy fledgling gets the worm. So he's willing to go to bat
for his boy: "Now, we got a lot of work to do before the next game," he tells
the perfectly--and expensively--attired aspirant. "But I'm with you." His
support, the son's almost weary "OK, Dad" suggests, is a dubious privilege.
The second scene shows Dad
holding the ball for a place kick. The setting, complete with Norman Rockwell
backyard and white picket fence, is perfect. It invites nostalgia, stirs
memories of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet or, for parents born a
generation later, The Partridge Family , when ... ouch ! Junior's
mighty kick makes sharp contact with Dad's foot.
Undaunted, the
self-appointed coach keeps his post, showing his charge how to throw the ball,
then going out for a pass. "I'm open," he yells. Sure he is--there's no one
else on the field. But wait--here's a hedge, scourge of the
less-than-fleet-of-foot. Awkward, klutzy, Dad trips. As before, it's the father
who's been hurt, the son who expresses concern. "Dad, you OK?" The father's
response ("Yeah, fine," when he's clearly not) and the next two scenes (a
flurry of action, then a shot of him flat on his face) suddenly clarify the
spot's real target. It's the woman, of course, who, seeing her own frustrated
sportsman in the prone figure on the field, smiles as she turns up the dial on
the ad meter. She knows that Dad will try something he shouldn't, that he will
stub his toe, that he will complain, and that she will have to give him
something to stop the pain.
The rout continues, a
blind-side tackle eliciting a wheezy "Nice tackle, son," followed by a close-up
of the clearly pumped-up kid. The duo runs toward us, with Dad puffing,
struggling to keep up, then finally gesturing for a timeout. We get a
commercial break within the commercial, the voice-over telling us that "the
best moments in life sometimes come with a few aches and pains." A shot of the
Tylenol box and a glass of water accompanies the first mention of the product.
The contrast with past aspirin and Tylenol ads is striking. No pain-wracked
headache sufferers here. No irradiative blue waves pulsating to pounding music.
This is a happy ad for a pain reliever so effective that, as we see in the next
scenes, it can help you smile through a broken arm.
And for all the kidding he's
taken, Dad gets his payoff. The scene moves to the real world of real players
and real coaches, and our footballer, still wearing his No. 11 jersey, seems to
be holding his own: "Your little guy's looking pretty good out there," says an
approving coach. The dad is studiously blasé: "Yeah, well," he says. "We've
been practicing."
The game
over, father and son walk away from us, satisfied. The little guy in the big
shirt gets a pat on the head from Dad: "Hey, that was a good game, buddy." The
Tylenol name appears at the bottom of the screen in a strong but unobtrusive
red. A perfect end to a perfect day. Dad's been injured, sure, but his pride is
intact, his love for his son papering over his shortcomings as a coach. Mom's
still smiling, struck by the warmth and familiarity of this scene--and, the ad
makers hope, she's still turning up the dials and buying up the Tylenol.
--Robert
Shrum
