Calm in the Chaos
As Db Premieres Its "Summer Chaos ’24" we look at some of the iconic summer marketingcampaigns in history
Db has just premiered its new Summer Chaos ’24 drop campaign. Sure, we are biased, but mixing the effortless cool of Db ambassadors Olav Stubberud, Beatrice Domond, Luis Medearis and Juliette Lacome, into the chaos of a summer airport, then stirring it with travelling stereotypes (the 6am drinker, the built-in Karen margin, the check-in water skoller) and comedy-oiling it smooth with the Ramverk luggage system just, well, works.
We think it stacks up with some of the more memorable summer campaigns in the ad world. In many of the iconic campaigns, making you smile has been key. You might remember the classic “Whatever’s Comfortable” ad for Southern Comfort. The protagonist, with his handlebar moustache and his bronzed, glistening gut, shows a confident disregard for what others might be thinking of him, as he steps around other beachgoers to the song Hit or Miss by Odetta.
Now we aren’t saying Olav Stubberud has quite the same overt swagger (and he's known for his six-pack rather than his beer belly) but the photographer, filmer, model and actor is an oasis of calm, cool, confidence and calm as he glides through the chaos of the summer airport.
For many, the idea of a classic summer campaign brings memories of Coca-Cola ads. The famous “Hilltop” commercial of 1971 came after an ad exec was forced to spend a night delayed in an airport and watched people bond over a Coke. That turned into a multicultural chorus of attractive young people singing “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” on a hillside. Registered as one of the most successful campaigns of all time it also featured in the very last scene of the TV series Mad Men.
In our Summer Chaos campaign, French surfer Juliette Lacome may have been channelling another famous, in surfing circles at least, Coke ad filmed at the famous Indonesian wave of Nias in the 1990s. The star in the Australia ad was West Australian icon Jodie Cooper, who after going through travel hell to get to the isolated, perfect, palm-fringed wave in the tropics, scores the barrel of the trip. “You can’t beat the feeling" was the tagline. Lacome though, enjoys a different take in our film, getting lit with the Brits in the classic airport stereo staple: the breakfast beer!
Now we might be stretching the comparison a little, but was Luis Medearis, ex-basketballer turned snowboard filmier to the stars, channelling the Old Spice Man in his turn in the Summer Chaos piece? In the famous 2010 spots, Isaiah Mustafa engaged in a range of swoon-worthy activities including the line, It’s an oyster, with two tickets to That Thing You Love! Look again, the tickets are now diamonds!”
The cheesy, douchy, swagger shouldn’t work, but with its absurdist, tongue-so-firmly-in-cheek humour, it turned a stale brand into a cultural zeitgeist. At one point in mid-July 2010, videos from the series accounted for eight of the top eleven most-popular videos on YouTube.
Now Lake Tahoe-based Medearis isn’t one to ride a horse backwards, but any skier, snowboarder or surfer who has ever shed kilograms off their bag on the scales by lifting the tail with their foot, will love that knowing wink he gives us in the clip at the 0.30 mark.
Which brings us, nicely, to skater Beatrice Domond. In our campaign, Domond skates through the travel chaos as if on a magic carpet, powered by her skateboard and our Ramverkluggage. Overzealous security guards, over-eager influencers and over-the-top football supporters simply melt into the background when faced with her rolling travel zen.
It reminded us of the iconic Honda "Cog" campaign. In this the roll of a transmission bearing triggers the chain reaction, where the car’s parts click, whirr and crash into place, to form the Honda car model the Accord. The car drives away to the opening beats of The SugarhillGang’s Rapper’s Delight with the closing line "Isn’t it nice when things just work?” which is the perfect finishing statement.
The best summer campaigns seek to connect and entertain. We wanted to show how airports are a space where every culture and corner of the world are temporarily forced to co-exist in what is the definition of organized chaos. Db, and our ambassadors, know how to maximize efficiency and minimize stress when getting from A to B. Our Ramverk Luggage is your calm in the chaos. And we hope the campaign will be one that is remembered.