Mullen, American Greetings Go For Another Viral Hit With 'Dad Casting'

Last month Mullen unveiled the  “#worldstoughestjob” Mother’s Day campaign for client card company American Greetings that was sort of a Candid Camera meets Craigslist approach. The agency posted an online help wanted listing for a “director of operations” position and then recorded the responses of candidates as they listened to the requirements during an online interview. 

Unbeknownst to the candidates, the listing was for the job of Mom and included requirements such as standing up most the time, no time to sleep and no vacations. Oh, and no salary either. Lunch break? Sometimes, maybe. 

The upshot? The video became a huge viral hit -- to date it has been seen more than 20.6 million times. 

Now the agency and client have teamed up to try to capture lightning in a bottle one more time with a Father’s Day sequel called “Dad Casting.” 

The structure of the video is a “casting call” for the role of dad. The actors don’t know it has anything to do with American Greetings.   

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According to the agency the creative premise is that “fatherhood is full of unscripted moments.” The goal is to generate appreciation for dads and their parenting, a job that, like the role of moms, is tougher than it looks. 

Consumers can participate in the conversation by tweeting unscripted dad moments and explaining why the dad in their life deserves a standing ovation. 

Every #worldstoughestjob hashtagged card, tweet and post about dad is tallied up by a “Dadmiration Tracker” and displayed on a blog landing page. The “Dad Casting” video can be seen here. And here are the credits:

Project Title:  Dad Casting

Client:  Cardstore from American Greetings

Executive Director, Marketing:  Alex Ho

Vice President, Marketing:  Christy Kaprosy

Agency:  Mullen

Chief Creative Officer:  Mark Wenneker

Executive Creative Director:  Tim Vaccarino

Executive Creative Director:  Dave Weist

Creative Director:  Jon Ruby

Copywriter:  Latasha Ewell

Art Director: Sarah Dudek

Executive Director of Integrated Production:  Liza Near

Head of Broadcast:  Zeke Bowman

Producer:  Vera Everson

Production Company:  Hungry Man

Director:  Hank Perlman

Executive Producer:  Kevin Byrne

Producer:  Joshua Greenberg

DP:  Eric Steelberg

Editorial:  PS260

Editor:  JJ Lask

Assistant Editor:  Colin Edelman

Senior Producer: Laura Lamb Patterson

Color Correct/Finishing:  PS260

Colorist:  Michael Marciano

Audio Post:  Plush NYC

Sound Design/Mixer:  Rob Fielack

Music:  Human

3 comments about "Mullen, American Greetings Go For Another Viral Hit With 'Dad Casting'".
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  1. Jacquelyn Bullerman from Arbitron, June 4, 2014 at 11:01 a.m.

    I checked out the video & all I could think was: "Is the only role that dad plays is the boundary maker?"

    Did no on this team have a dad who taught them thinks (teacher)? Nurture their dreams (coach or audience)? How about fun guy to hang out with (playground)? Story-teller (campfire)?

    I realize the last 10 seconds show a few soft moments of "I love you" but given the 2 preceding minutes preceding were all dad= cop the video's message really boiled down to: "Dad's, they are emotionally stunted people, but they do love you."

    Yes, my dad was the rule-enforcer but he was so much more and this video really gives him & all dad's short-change for all the other things Dad's do beyond enforcing rules...

  2. gavin johnston from Mr., June 4, 2014 at 2:58 p.m.

    Yet again, fathers are portrayed as lazy, selfish, idiotic buffoons. Thank SO MUCH for honoring what we do in your new campaign. "Viral hit" my ass.

  3. Jonathan Hutter from Northern Light Health, June 4, 2014 at 4:58 p.m.

    I think the point is that, if you script it, dads come off as typecast policemen. But, if you let it be real, there is much more to it. I don't think it's necessarily a home run (kinda sappy), but it doesn't insult dads either.

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