‘The receding hairline is a little close to home’ – Meet Graham’s creators on the Meet Grant spoof
The creators of the acclaimed ‘Meet Graham’ safety campaign have applauded the spin-off parody ‘Meet Grant’, which depicts a creature with unusually thick skin, smaller than average genitals and a completely removal spine, aka ‘the only person designed to survive a career in advertising’.
Clemenger BBDO swept the board at Cannes Lions and beyond in 2017 with the intriguing and intricate ‘Meet Graham’ campaign. This week, fellow Australian shop Cummins & Partners released a spoof of the case study film to poke fun at its own industry – and promote the Melbourne Advertising & Design Club’s Stars Creative Showcase.
Accompanied by a haunting piano track, the spot depicts a slightly flabby, middle-aged man being prodded and poked as if he were an interactive model.
A voiceover explains this is the only person designed to survive “the trauma of a career in advertising”, having evolved to deal with "dangerously long hours, self-induced stress and rampant alcoholism".
Stephen de Wolf and Evan Roberts, the executive creative directors behind the original campaign, said they thought Cummins & Partners had done a “brilliant job”.
“The work put in to ensure that level of detail and accuracy is incredible and flattering,” they told The Drum in an email. “We had no idea anyone knew and could capture exactly what we looked like after we delivered Meet Graham.
“The amount of grey and the receding hairline is a little close to home though.”
The team behind 'Meet Grant' suggest the following anatomic features are needed to survive a career in advertising:
- Ears that filter out conflicting opinions
- Unusually thick skin to deflect scathing comments on Campaign Brief
- An auxiliary liver to process copious amounts of alcohol
- Smaller than average genitals that act as something to compensate for
- A completely removable spine for client meetings
The film also notes that Grant is, of course, a white male.
Content created with:
Clemenger BBDO
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