Tagline

Nine years ago this week, Dove and Ogilvy Brazil rolled out one of the great megaviral ads of all time, "Real Beauty Sketches." Today on Tagline, we revisit the 2013 social experiment with the folks who made it—to learn how a film shot for less than $200,000 made a powerful statement about self-esteem, rejuvenated a legendary brand platform, drove $54 million worth of earned media, and rocketed around the world to become the most-watched online ad ever.

This week we explore one of advertising's strangest and most delightful confections: the "Blank the Rainbow" campaign for Skittles. We look at how a product truth, combined with a cultural insight about millennial teens, led to a string of beloved, absurdist ads in the mid-2000s, and how the brand revived that spirit in two subversive Super Bowl stunts a decade later. Presented by GSTV.

We kick off Season 2 with a look at Apple's "Get a Mac," the episodic comedy series that ran from 2006 to 2009, with Justin Long as a personified Macintosh and John Hodgman as a PC. We revisit its entire history, from the brutal eight-month search for the idea to the campaign's demise 93 spots later—just as it was named Adweek's campaign of the decade. Presented by GSTV.

We're back and ready for Season 2! Tim gives a sneak peek of the 10 campaigns we're covering this year. We'll have comedies and dramas, campaigns about race and gender, amazing product demos and beautiful brand spots. Season 2 premieres March 14, sponsored by GSTV.

On Valentine's Day 2018, Joaquin Oliver, 17 years old, was killed along with 16 others in a mass shooting at his high school in Parkland, Florida. Two weeks later, his parents Manuel and Patricia created the organization Change the Ref, becoming remarkable advocates for curbing gun violence in America. On this episode, we chat with Manny and Patricia about their celebrated work, the recent escalation of their tactics, how they work with agencies, and why they see art and creativity as the ultimate weapon in the battle against guns.

To close out Pride Month, we look back at the charming 1994 Ikea commercial that was the first mainstream ad ever to feature a gay couple. We chat with many of the folks who worked on the spot at Deutsch—about the bold concept, the unconventional writing and filming, the praise and the backlash, and where we are now, 27 years later, in terms of LGBTQ representation in ads.

On this bonus episode, we chat with David Kolbusz, chief creative officer of Droga5 London, who’s brought a consistency and level of creative excellence to the agency’s U.K. operation that was missing before. We dig into some of David’s celebrated work across his career—with stops at Mother, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, BBH and Wieden + Kennedy—and how his time at W+K and Droga, in particular, has increasingly been defined by making ads that don’t look like ads at all.

This week's episode is all about The Richards Group's beloved radio campaign for Motel 6, which began in 1986 and continued, practically unchanged, for 34 years, before imploding last fall when a racist comment from Stan Richards got the agency fired. We look at the campaign's creation, its nostalic roots and contemporary twists, the downfall of Richards, and how a new agency plans to refresh the campaign this summer.

This week we look at Procter & Gamble’s powerful trilogy of spots about racial bias: “The Talk” from 2017, “The Look” from 2019, and “The Choice” from 2020. We dig into the craft of each piece and explore P&G’s evolving approach to fighting racism, from the early days of the Trump presidency to the murder of George Floyd and beyond. Presented by GSTV.

This week we unpack one of the great sports ads of the past decade, Droga5's Michael Phelps spot for Under Armour, made for the 2016 Olympics. We look at how the spot shed new light on the world's greatest swimmer, how it was expertly concepted and crafted, and how it was ahead of its time in broaching the difficult subject of Olympic athletes and mental health. Presented by GSTV.