Peet’s Coffee enlists comedian Iliza Shlesinger to get funny with iced espresso drinks
Peet’s Coffee is letting standup comedian Iliza Shlesinger riff on the daily trials and tribulations of her life to help promote the coffee company’s canned Iced Espresso products. For the campaign, Peet’s worked with Portland-based agency North to create a series of films that let Shlesinger’s comedic talents shine.
Iliza Shlesinger for Peet's Coffee
As part of Peet’s #AlwaysJustified campaign, the four unscripted vignettes were inspired by actual situations Shlesinger – who served as creative consultant on the project – has encountered in her life as a comedian, actress and self-proclaimed ‘elder millennial.’ In one vignette, while trying on questionably fashionable outfits with her stylist, Iliza observes, “I look like an idea that was crumpled up and then thrown away.” In other vignettes, Iliza battles with the keycard reader on her hotel room door, does a spot-on impression of the velociraptor in the kitchen scene from Jurassic Park during a sound check and conducts a five-hour chat session with a telemarketer.
“We are thrilled to work with Iliza for our #AlwaysJustified campaign,” said Gretchen Koch, senior director of consumer marketing at Peet’s. “Her vibrant and clever sense of humor connects with our target audience and taps into a relevant mindset as consumers are regularly finding ways to ‘earn’ a little indulgence. As a coffee lover and a rising star, Iliza was a perfect fit to bring this rationalizing behavior to life in a fun and engaging way.”
The films were also directed, produced and edited by North. During shooting, director Mark Ray had to work around the noise on set because people could not contain their laughter when Iliza got going with each bit of improv. Also on set was Blanche, Shlesinger’s Pomeranian-mix dog, who has thousands of Instagram fans and opens all of Shlesinger’s standup shows. Blanche makes an appearance in two of the spots.
“Celebrity product endorsements as we've known them are over. Audiences can smell canned marketing, and brands like Peet's want true collaborations with artists and influencers” said Mark Ray, chief creative officer at North. “Iliza is one of the funniest, most talented people on the planet. But what made this work are the shared values; extraordinary dedication to craft and pushing for higher standards. Plus, free coffee.”
The work will appear on both Shlesinger and Peet’s Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter social channels starting May 20.
See the spots by clicking the Creative Works box below.
