Publicis

Publicis New York for ThermaCare.

"Men With Cramps" was a bronze Effie winner in 2008 in the category of Healthcare, Products and Services- there must have been a bunch of women on the decision board, but really it's about time men had cramps. This is yet another example of an advertising campaign that is based around a spoof-like falsehood. Clearly, the "doctors" and "research" gathered about men having cramps is not true, but people respond to this kind of advertising, either because it's funny (like the recession aggression bag for Office Depot) or actually deceptive (like the fake road block DraftFCB made in South Africa)-whatever the reason, this whole notion of creating a formulated, publicized, and essentially "fake" campaign is a trend in advertising right now. Maybe it's just because America loves a good spoof ever since the Snuggie came out...

Publicis took ThermaCare heating pads, a product that had been experiencing pretty bad sales declines, and with this campaign, reduced the decline for ThermaCare by fifty percent. ThermaCare must have been having some reallyyyyy bad sales declines if they got an Effie for only reducing sales hehehe. This campaign was really able to capitalize on a concept that should have been done by tampon brands or other period-related products years ago! All women want men to experience period pain, but I guess no one was brave enough to put that opinion out there until now. This campaign was a joint effort between Publicis New York and Kirt Gunn & Associates, who made the films about four volunteer patients and Dr. Gerhardt Fardel, all of whom are part of a not so reputable study about male cramps. This was a viral campaign that incorporated a timeline of historic moments in male cramping, a documentary about the ailment, and some lingo in male cramping that is supposed to have you "cramping with laughter."