At Marcus Thomas LLC, we hold a session during our weekly staff meeting called “I Wish I’d Done That.” For those of you not part of our staff meeting, I wanted to bring that experience to our blog to share with you. “I Wish I’d Done That” is something we at the agency have seen out in the world that had such an impact on us that we had to talk about it.

For my “I Wish I’d Done That” session, I chose the Duluth Trading Company. Duluth is a men’s workwear retailer. Why did I choose them? Click the link below and you may have the same reaction I did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eirp9zy777s

I mean, come on – they are hilarious. When you see a Duluth ad, you won’t forget it. These types of ads may seem out of the norm, yet they are hitting their target audience, creating memorable content, as well as resonating with their audience. This type of content is not seen too much in the advertising space; while we are able to create great pieces, we have certain brand guidelines we need to follow and stay true to.

Planet Propaganda has been Duluth’s agency of record since 2010; during the over a decade partnership, they have grown revenue from $60 million to $800 million. To generate that significant growth in revenue, Planet Propaganda had to ask themselves the same question we all must ask: “What problem do we need to solve?” The answer was to find an effective way to communicate the distinctiveness of Duluth products. After conducting their research, Planet Propaganda discovered that “average is always the enemy.” What did that discovery mean for Planet Propaganda/Duluth? They decided it meant: “Poke average in the eye.” Which then gave us these outstanding animated ads!

We should take this message from Duluth and “Poke average in the eye.” Be bold, be different, be true to your brand. Have you come across anything that makes you think, “I wish I’d done that?”