• by Karl Greenberg , May 25, 2011

Revlon's Mitchum brand has a new global ad campaign called "Love Thy Pits" supporting Mitchum Advanced Control antiperspirant and deodorant combo. Rather than apotheosize masculinity, the campaign pokes fun at daily life with ads that show the stress incumbent upon one's daily struggles with things like job interviews and what happens when you actually get the job you are completely unqualified for -- but which you got because you lied on the application.

The television, print, digital, social media, point-of-sale, out-of-home and radio effort centers on creative by ad agency Mother and production house Brand New School that makes the human torso something of a palimpsest for various pursuits, with animation representing various jobs, hobbies, escapes and disasters superimposed thereon. In the above-mentioned ad, a guy's day job hunting is reduced to iconography, with the application actually appearing on his torso. The armpit is where stress is expressed. He ends up getting a job as a translator in the Netherlands even though he doesn't speak Dutch (of course everyone speaks English there, but anyway.)

Revlon's global CMO Julia Goldin calls "Love Thy Pits" Mitchum's new "manifesto." "'Love Thy Pits' captures the essence of our brand in a smart and simple way that will continue to set us apart from the category and help us launch new Mitchum Advanced Control anti-perspirant and deodorant in a bold way," she says, adding that "the colorful iconography that appears in the campaign will be used across all platforms -- TV, digital, print, out of home and point of sale -- to convey product benefits in an easy, playful manner."

The effort debuted during game seven of the NBA semi-finals on ABC, and continued with an integrated effort on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" with the host doing his own interpretation of "Love Thy Pits." Mitchum also ran a 48-hour social media push (the company is touting the product's 48-hour protection.) The social effort on Facebook and Twitter has Mitchum's right and left armpits offering their take on world events and various less weighty topics. Each tweet will end with the hashtag #lovethypits.

The Mitchum media plan includes national cable in the U.S. and Canada for the second and third spots -- including one that is Mitchum's first female-centric TV spot in more than 20 years. The second and third TV spots break May 30 and June 20 in the U.S.

The online component of the program includes sites like ABC.com, MTVNetworks.com and MLB.com. The media placement flanks a digital version of the TV spot with banner ads featuring the "Love Thy Pits" tagline with the heart icon. In June Mitchum will have its second live commercial integration with Comedy Central's Tosh.0. And in the third quarter, Mitchum will also sponsor ESPN's "Top Plays" on SportsCenter.

Goldin says that the campaign's is partly meant to build up the Mitchum brand. "We see 'Love Thy Pits' as an opportunity to strengthen our position as a go-to niche product in the category," she says, adding that Mitchum users are more loyal than the category average, and that the new effort is meant both to bring in new generation while remaining relevant to loyal users of the product.

The campaign is also rolling out in South Africa in the fall, then U.K., Australia and Latin America with a focus on print and outdoor using the "Love Thy Pits" tagline with the heart icon. Additionally Mitchum's website -- and a new campaign-specific site, LoveThyPits.com -- and Facebook page were redesigned by Mother, with the armpit as profile picture on the Mitchum Facebook page, per the company. Goldin concedes that the AP/Deodorant category is mature but that the over-the-top approaches other brands have been taking makes room for a practical approach. "We learned from our research that consumers are simply looking for a product that works. We conducted research across the U.S. and U.K. and know that consumers are tired of the over the top advertising that pervades the category. Some are so fed up, they've grown mistrustful of AP/DEO brands altogether," she says. "We decided to take an honest approach using a tongue-in-cheek tone and dry humor that pokes fun at the absurd realities of everyday life and why you might need deodorant to begin with. We wanted the campaign to be smart and simple and yes, entertaining."