As part of McCain’s cross-agency team, I helped lead an integrated campaign with earned media at its heart tapping into the current cultural conversation about the crisis of masculinity in teenage boys.
Dads are often the ‘fun one’ when their sons are small but that bond can weaken between 7-11 meaning boys no longer turn to them when something’s wrong. It’s considered to be the root of the issues around toxic masculinity portrayed in the Netflix show Adolescence.
McCain’s brand is all about supporting the complexities of modern family life. Their brief was to encourage playful banter between dads and their lads during the shared dinnertime moment. My idea was to celebrate the lost art of The Dad Joke.
In partnership with the masculinity charity Beyond Equality, we released an investigation into the role of humour in maintaining the relationship between fathers and sons.
To launch, we created the Dad Joke Comedy Club. Comedian and dad of two Josh Widdicombe headlined a stand-up show performing a set of dad jokes to an audience exclusively made up of dads and lads. With Joe Marler and his son in the front row.
Josh did a round of national broadcast media interviews talking about how shared humour has helped strengthen his bond with his young children.
This was a truly earned-first campaign with the core PR idea powering a full 360 campaign featuring a TVC showing moments of shared silliness between fathers and sons and extended into a social campaign with creator collaborations and comedian James Buckley going undercover via a hidden Dad Cam to help the fathers of the UK nail the best Dad Jokes.
We also partnered with Rankin on a photo series capturing intimate moments of shared joy between dads and their lads. A gallery of Rankin’s photography was displayed in the lobby of the comedy club and the images were also used for the OOH campaign amplifying the earned impact.
