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When lululemon came to us with the need for an ad campaign that was unpredictable and entertaining, that was current and relevant with the times, we ran with it.  They said that they weren’t scared to tell the truth and give the Yoga Journal readers a dose of what they needed to hear.  In the ad world, we don’t always get the opportunity to reveal our pitch.  However, at Cowie and Fox we agree with lululemon in saying that the “Pro Reality” message was a great ad campaign to work on.  It sends a message that resonates with something we all need to be attentive to in our daily lives.

The Pitch:

“‘The world is rapidly becoming muddled into a technology driven trance, where we lose touch with our senses, emotions and the true relationships that makes being a human so amazing. Instead we seek fulfillment by watching other people’s lives on television and communicating intimate personal feelings through cold and emotionless machines. Our subtle body language, facial expressions and simple touch have been replaced by abbreviated text message jargon, emoticons and blurted “comments” on a Facebook page. We are overestimating technology and are losing sight of true community, true life, and the truly powerful emotions we feel when simply looking into someone’s eyes.”

The Ads:

I hope you can all take something away from lululemon’s ‘Pro Reality’ message.

I know we did.

http://www.chipsnotdeadyet.com

Update: lululemon founder Chip Wilson and Cowie and Fox heated up the pavement once again with the fun and engaging Chip’s Not Dead Yet Memorial Mile. The event last weekend showcased C&F’s playful creative amongst numerous superheros, rockstars, scantly clad runners, street performers and a bustling beer garden. Approximately $100,000 was raised for BC Children’s Hospital Foundation and Chip is going to match that. It was a great success and one heck of a party!

Not that there is anything wrong with statues, monuments, buildings or roads that are built to commemorate somebody’s life, but the one unfortunate feature of this kind of commemoration is that they almost always depend on that somebody being dead. It’s nice to be remembered, but certainly nicer while you’re still alive. That’s why Lululemon founder, Chip Wilson, decided to forge his own legacy instead of waiting to die and have someone name a cul-de-sac in his memory.

Chip decided that part of this legacy would be a yearly charity run. Unlike most charity runs, Chip’s run is pretty short, just one mile to be exact. The brevity of the run was specifically set so that anyone could join in. The soul purpose of the event is to get as many people together to do something good, and to have fun while doing it. In order to find a way of capturing and sharing this spirit, Chip enlisted his long time agency, Cowie and Fox, to see what it could do about making this the largest and ‘funnest’ one mile race in the world. (more…)

First things first, I’m not the kind of guy to brag about my work. I hope not anyway. BUT this is a real phenomenon and I’ve never really spoken publicly about it. By now anyone living in a medium to large city in Canada is familiar with that red, reusable lululemon bag. It is absolutely everywhere. A day does not go by here in Vancouver where I don’t I see at least one (usually more) walk by me on the arm of someone out and about in the city. I attribute this to a few key factors; its slogans are inspiring to the target market, it is associated with a cool, hip brand in that market and, well, it’s a cool design. Design wise I don’t consider it my Magnum Opus, but it is the one thing I’ve done in my career that everyone immediately recognizes.

The thing is it was never actually designed to be what it became. Long before it was on posters, bags, tech tops and water bottles around the world, it was originally created around 2004 as a way to creatively display Chip’s wordy manifesto on the back cover of a printed lululemon magazine we were working on here at Cowie and Fox. (I’ve still got a few copies actually if anyone is interested.)

In the last few months, it has been hard for me to ignore the plethora of, dare I say “knockoffs” of the design. I’ve included one here from a the window of a clothing store in Yaletown I saw the other day. I see it even features some very similar wording to the original one…

-dtm