Égard Watch Company - Erased / the female runner (2023) (USA)

The dust hasn't settled at all after the recent Dylan sponsorships, when Égard decided to show up with this ad which they call "ERASED - A message to woke corporate America (Nike & Budweiser)". How subtle. It's not the first time that Égard decided to zig when others zagged, in 2022 they created the ad What is a woman and What is a man in response to that Gillette ad. Somewhere in their marketing department they must have a found a large group of watch buyers who are very invested in this, as it seems somehow less reactionary than say Jeremy's Razors (and chocolate), but clearly a reaction at the same time. This ad is a comment on the current state of women's sports. With some storytelling and some stock photo, we follow the path of a young girl who grows up wanting to be an athlete because her father told her that she could run faster than anybody. The copy says that she "strives for perfection", but perfection isn't good enough. That didn't quite work for me, perfection isn't what runners strive for, they are after speed or distance, or both. But nitpicking aside, we get it. And if we didn't, there are countless headlines edited in at the end to really hammer the ads story in. Quelle discreet, yo.

It's interesting how brands these days can just get big chunks of PR if their inhouse agency can cobble together an ad fast enough to tag along on recent news, isn't it? No brand building, really, just "let's see if we can get mentioned on the news too!" What do we call this? Reactionvertising? Backlashvertising?

Client: Égard Watch Company Ad agency: In-House