• by Les Luchter , November 4, 2024

Duracell’s annual holiday ad campaign, debuting today under the tagline “Built Different,” is the first to focus on “Power Boost,” the battery brand’s three-year-old ingredient formula containing a “unique blend of nickel and lithium” that will make all new toys and devices “work on Christmas morning.”

The campaign, from Duracell’s new agency of record VaynerMedia, also debuts the “Duracell Scientist,” a spokesperson who is himself “built different.” He’s a buff, super-strong guy with eyeglasses who can lift heavily laden shopping carts with one hand.

The character is “somebody that really embodies who we are as a brand: the combination of being all about power and all about science,” Duracell vice president of marketing Todd Midura tells Marketing Daily.

Let’s hear from the spokesperson himself via an introductory Instagram video:  “I’m a scientist at Duracell. I’ve devoted the last decade of my life to making a battery that’s built different.”

“We’re in a low-engagement category,” explains Midura. “People don’t think a ton about batteries. In these types of categories, a character can be a great way to break through and deliver a message.”

That “Built Different” message, geared towards families with kids, will be delivered by the Duracell Scientist on national broadcast and cable TV, linear streaming services, online video (e.g., YouTube), audio (via iHeart Radio), and social, with media buying handled by GroupM’s EssenceMediacom.

The character’s involvement will extend to live events like Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami CF games matches and the Williams Racing Formula One team.

Will the character -- like competitor Energizer’s bunny--– keep going and going and going?

“We think he’s the right character for us right now to deliver the message of being different with Power Boost ingredients,” says Midura. “We’re optimistic that we could have a longer-term character. He’s a great embodiment of the brand and the benefit.”

Indeed, the Duracell Scientist shows up in the TV spot declaring “Incorrect!” just as the male half of a shopping couple asserts that “all batteries are the same.”

“We’re on a mission to show the world that Duracell is built differently,” Midura proclaims.

Duracell says the Duracell Scientist is its first spokesperson since 1988 – when it stopped using its own Duracell Bunny in the U.S. and when the Energizer Bunny first debuted.

Here’s the latter’s first commercial, which directly references the former, who’s still appearing in Duracell advertising globally.