Dive Brief:
- Milk-Bone is parodying corny romantic comedy trailers with ads that will appear in movie theaters and through in-cinema out-of-home placements, per details shared with Marketing Dive.
- “Howl You Know,” part of the brand’s “More Dog” campaign, bursts with rom-com tropes as actor Katelyn Tarver portrays a hapless single who has a meet cute with a dog instead of a love interest and eventually learns to become a confident pet owner.
- Milk-Bone is extending its faux production company’s content to social media with 15- and 30-second trailers riffing on other genres, including horror. TV, online video and audio buys also factor into the effort tapping into pop culture.
Dive Insight:
Milk-Bone, the dog biscuits brand marketed by The J.M. Smucker Co., is hoping to catch consumers off-guard as they head to theaters for the holiday season. “Howl You Know,” which has a title echoing existing rom-coms, will play before actual movie trailers, aiming to draw viewers in with a convincing faux teaser before revealing it’s an ad. The announcement cited data that claim 71% of moviegoers go to the cinema to catch trailers, though frustration with long trailer times is also well-documented.
“Howl You Know” was directed by Sammi Cohen (Netflix’s “You’re So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah”) and is sprinkled with in-jokes, such as review blurbs from a “G’Dog” publisher and accolades from the “Boops & Boops” film festival. Posters promoting the movie, which will also appear in cinemas, are rated DP for “Dog People Content.”
The campaign was developed by PSOne, Publicis Groupe’s dedicated unit for J.M. Smucker, with creative led by BBH USA. Alan Wilson, senior vice president and group creative director at BBH USA, positioned “Howl You Know” as part of a larger comeback for humor in advertising.
Milk-Bone is running additional social content to support its take on Hollywood production, with red carpet footage, director’s chair interviews and other trailer parodies. One for a horror film titled “The Barkening” builds to a jump-scare moment, but rather than a monster lurking in the shadows, it’s a Welsh Corgi, inspiring a scream of excitement instead of fear from the protagonist.
Milk-Bone’s “More Dog,” which launched two years ago, aims to better align the brand with pop culture trends and serve as a distraction from habits like doomscrolling. Previous ideas stemming from the platform include a line of streetwear with Only NY and a team-up with sister brand Jif that poked fun at oddball brand collaborations through a fictional perfume carrying a peanut butter scent.
Movie parodies have become common in marketing as brands try to provide entertainment that doesn’t immediately read as promotional. CeraVe, the L’Oréal skincare marketer, earlier this year also dropped a fake rom-com trailer where the main character’s beau ends up being a bottle of lotion.
