Helping Crunch punch a lot harder.

The Super Bowl happens in February, but for gyms it takes place a little earlier—late December to be exact. After the holiday spirit and eggnog has worn off, folks book it to the gym to start on their New Year’s resolutions. 

That being said, many have still been reluctant to come back to the gym after the pandemic. As Crunch’s AOR, we wanted to give them their Super Bowl spot—one that woke everyone up from their Covid slumber.

So what is Crunch Mode?
It's a song.

Instead of writing a trite brandifesto that would cause snores, we thought a song was the best way to fully express the varying emotions and quirks of Crunch Mode. So we wrote one.

Working with Walker—a music house that’s created the likes of the Old Spice Mom Song—we aimed to create something that felt familiar and lost through the annals of time, yet modern (and not a happy clappy addy jingle).

It's a giant puppeted hand.
Named Doug.

When we work on challenger brands, we like to leverage the equity they’ve built up over the years. For Crunch, that’s their logo: a hand crushing the word “Crunch.”

Their big honking logo had been underutilized and begged to be personified, dimensionalized and songified.

Behind the seams.

Our dream was to do this practically, not CGI; a puppet would allow for so much more character and charm than a computer generated creation. We had long debates over how it moved, what it sounded like. What it thought of breakfast tacos (jk). We worked with Sam Hill—one of the main fabrication studios for SNL—and his team painstakingly helped bring it to life.

It's all these things and so much more.
In one thirty second commercial.

The only way to tame this circus was to work with a director who thought like us, yet pushed us. Someone who'd been here before, yet came at it as freshly as possible. And somehow, we landed Mike Maguire of Halligan.

Super Bowl ads, Cannes Lions, giant sharks and talking trees—Mike’s a legend who’s been part of the very best commercials anyone’s ever made or seen. Thanks to Mike, our friends at Spang and the state of New Jersey (sort of) we were able to join together and tell (sing to) the world what Crunch Mode is all about.

Fitness!