There weren't many things to be thankful for in 2020 – certainly good health, having a job, and for many, Pornhub. The brand offered free Premium access to all users at the beginning of the pandemic, and around the same time as Thanksgiving, their Pornhub Premium Lifetime Membership came into the frame for the second time. Pun not intended.
Pornhub found itself in the middle of a PR crisis at the end of last year, but it looks like the company is taking active steps to ensure all the videos on the platform are perfectly in line with the brand's values. Amidst all this, the quirkiness of the brand still stands and it is well manifested in the Lifetime Membership ad that Officer and Gentleman created.
Today we are trying to get Behind the Idea to understand more about this unique and hilarious campaign by the Spanish creative agency. You can watch the full SFW ad by navigating to this link on YouTube.
What was the brief?
For a second year in a row, Pornhub wanted to promote the one-day-only release of their popular Pornhub Premium Lifetime Membership, which came out on Black Friday. After a huge success with our 2019 launch, the brand wanted to keep the promo fresh with a new concept for 2020 that would make the membership just as relevant as it was last year.
How did the initial pitch/brainstorming phase go?
As with any brief, there are numerous ways to approach something like this, so we try to focus on the USP and to just let the ideas fly from there. We’ve been working with Pornhub for almost 6 years now, so we are always searching for completely new territories.
Tell us more about the concept. How did it come to life, and why was it the right choice?
Though we explored a lot of different territories, we kept coming back to the need to address the elephant in the room: the absolutely insane year that 2020 has been. And thinking about Black Friday and that time of year, we came upon the idea of people sitting around their Thanksgiving table with not that much to be thankful for. And since we looked at the Lifetime Membership as a bright spot in a bleak year, in an ironic way we thought it just might be the perfect thing to save 2020.
What was the production process like? What was the biggest challenge?
We’re based in Spain, but since this production required an American cast and setting to give it that true Thanksgiving feel, we opted to shoot in the US, in New York. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic we weren’t able to travel so we followed the production remotely. Luckily, we were working with a director and production company (Michael Krivicka and whoisthebaldguy) that we’ve collaborated with several times in the past (including on another remote shoot for Pornhub) so that trust made the process much easier.
What is one funny or notable thing that happened during the production of the campaign?
As with most of our productions, there are usually a number of funny anecdotes. But on a remote shoot, you miss out on a lot of the on-set goofs, etc. Nowadays, it’s usually more like something funny happening to us while we’re watching the production from home. In this case, it was our co-founder Javi’s youngest son who was popping up on zoom to pay the team a visit and play creative director.
What’s the main message of the campaign and why does it matter?
The main message of the campaign, besides promoting the product, was to take a light-hearted look at the craziness of 2020, with a humorous message of hope from everyone’s favorite adult website.
How long did it take from inception to delivery?
Inception to delivery was about 6 weeks, but because of delays caused by the pandemic, the time from shoot to delivery was just under 7 days (which is a pretty tight timing, even for us).
What do you hope it achieves for the brand?
Besides boosting the sale of the Lifetime Membership, with every campaign we produce for Pornhub, we’re trying to grow their fanbase and strengthen the brand. Campaigns like these serve a particular goal, but they also take us one step further toward continuing to change perceptions about the brand.
Credit list for the campaign?
Client: Pornhub
Agency: Officer & Gentleman
Executive Creative Directors: Javi Iñiguez de Onzoño & Alex Katz
Managing Director: Jose Ortiz
Account Supervisors: Inma Ortega & Karina Guerra
Creative Supervisors: Monica Gramunt & Luis Alvarez
Agency Producer: Beto PF
Prod Company: Whoisthebaldguy
Director: Michael Krivicka
Producer: Christopher Yoon
Prod Supervisor: Avi Saban
Director of Photography: Joel Kingsbury
Sound Mixer: Artem Kulakov
Prop Master: Jillian Brammer
Key HMU: Sally Westfall
Editor: Michael Krivicka
Colorist: Gabe Sanchez
