A newspaper across the face, a nail in your shoe, a swift kick in the groin area. These are among the painful experiences that a guy must endure–but he does so without blinking an eye, all the while maintaining a cherry disposition.
His reactions and demeanor support the scientific fact supered on screen which tell us that, “Optimists feel less pain,” a scientific fact shared by children’s science museum Science World.
Conceived by Canadian agency Rethink, “Positively Painful” was denied airing on TV as censors deemed the action too violent. However, the spot has since found life on the Internet.
Credits
Client Science World Agency Rethink Ian Grais, Chris Staples, Rob Tarry, creative directors; Felipe Mollica, art director; Morgan Tierney, writer; DW, broadcast producer. Production OPC/Family Style, Reco Chris Woods, director; Harland Weiss, Donovan Boden, Liz Dussault, Michael Haldane, exec producers; John Houtman, DP; Darrin Ball, line producer. Post Cycle Media Rob Doucet, Mathew Griffiths, editors. Audio Vapor Music Kailee Nowosad, producer; Andrew Harris, engineer. Visual Effects Crush
How do you top one of the most viral brand videos ever made? Spoiler alert: you can’t. But when Dollar Shave Club tapped Zack Seckler to direct a new campaign to revive the absurdist humor of its iconic launch video, he knew he had a rare opportunity to create something special.
The brief was simple: introduce the concept of a physical “Club” that people would love to join while showcasing Dollar Shave Club’s products and embracing the weird. From script to direction and post, Seckler--an alum of SHOOT’s 2021 New Directors Showcase--was invited to help sculpt that vision.
The result is this “Welcome to the Club” spot which invites us to join a unique, seemingly exclusive but in reality an accessible and affordable fraternity of Dollar Shave Club members. But you need to know the password or more accurately, the two-word phrase--"shave money."
“The Club” campaign brings the brand back to its humorous roots, reflecting a new chapter after being acquired by Nexus Capital Management from Unilever in late 2023. The work takes Dollar Shave Club back to its disruptive beginnings and what made the brand a viral sensation from its inception in 2011.
