Mitchum's new "Love Thy Pits" campaign, which spans television, print, digital, social media, point-of-sale, out-of-home and radio, uses humor, cutting edge animation and bold iconography to convey product benefits and Mitchum's love of armpits in a smart, simple way. "Love Thy Pits" was created by Mother and represents a new creative direction and brand strategy for Mitchum, which is owned by Revlon Consumer Products Corporation.
Mitchum and Mother gained insights from consumers across the U.S. and the U.K. that people are tired of being flooded with over-the-top promises about what a deodorant can do for them. What they want is straightforward communication that is engaging without being distracting. "Love Thy Pits" was designed to do just that.
"For more than 50 years, Mitchum has cultivated a heritage of effectiveness that is appreciated by our consumers who are among the most loyal in the category," said Julia Goldin, Global Chief Marketing Officer for Revlon. "'Love Thy Pits' captures the essence of our brand in a smart and simple way that will set us apart from the category and introduce us to the next generation of Mitchum users, while remaining relevant to our devoted consumers."
"People have a weird relationship with their armpits, but Mitchum spends all day, every day making sure your armpits are awesome," said Mother lead creatives Dave Clark and Christine Gignac. "If you think about it, which you don't, but if you did, armpits are always by our side no matter what life throws at us. So, we created a campaign about celebrating this underappreciated part of the body."
"Love Thy Pits" kicked off with the premiere of "Lie," the first of three TV spots in the campaign, during game seven of the NBA semi-finals on ABC. Mitchum's media plan includes national cable in the U.S. and Canada with the second and third spots - "Dance Machine" and "The Dawson's Kid," which is Mitchum's first female-centric TV spot in more than 20 years - rolling out on May 30 and June 20, respectively, in the U.S. Directed by Brand New School, all three cheeky TV spots depict the absurd realities of everyday life and demonstrate how new Mitchum Advanced Control has pits covered.
"From the beginning, we had a clear understanding of the tone of the creative. I personally saw a chance to combine animation and film in a way that I had not seen before," said Jonathan Notaro, founder/executive creative director, and director for Brand New School. "Early on it was clear that we were a good fit and we were able to help usher the direction of the spots into an interesting place."
Mitchum is also reaching a targeted group of key consumers on a range of broadband sites, including ABC.com, MTVNetworks.com and MLB.com. All play Mitchum's new TV spot while flanked by banner ads featuring the "Love Thy Pits" tagline with the heart icon, the graphic representation "Love Thy Pits." In June, Mitchum will have its second live commercial integration with Comedy Central's Tosh.0. In the third quarter, Mitchum will also sponsor ESPN's "Top Plays" during SportsCenter's highest rated 10pm EST/1am PST timeslot.
The bold iconography that appears in the TV spots and online will touch all aspects of the campaign. Later this month, it will be introduced at point of sale in the U.S. and Canada. Print and out-of-home advertising will begin running in South Africa in the fall and continue rolling out in the U.K., Australia and Latin America. Print executions, along with U.K. bus shelters, will include not only the product-focused icons but also the "Love Thy Pits" tagline with the heart icon. Online, "Love Thy Pits" infuses every part of Mitchum's digital plans. Mitchum's website and Mitchum's Facebook both received a makeover from Mother, including a new Facebook profile picture of what else, an armpit!