Convincing Millennials to cozy up to a legacy brand.

Duraflame Brand Strategy & Advertising Campaign

The challenge: attract a younger audience to Duraflame. A product they may have affinity and nostalgia for, but haven’t thought about in years. What better way to start a conversation about Duraflame, then to talk about Duraflame around a duraflame® fire. So we hired a guy named Mike and his dog Piggy (both their real names), to do that. Hang out and chat by a fire. Which people do.

We created a comprehensive media and social content strategy to get over 40 different duraflame ads in front of “bridging millennials.” These are the 20 and 30-somethings who would rather just watch Netflix or perhaps do some online shopping for home furnishings instead of going out to the bars.

The idea for this duraflame® ad campaign came from a simple premise. What do you do by a fire? Well, you talk. Which is likely where the “fireside chat” moniker originated. We wrote lots and lots of scripts, but the magic came from Mike, our lead actor. Taking simple concepts we developed, Mike ad-libbed his way into some hilarious and memorable moments. Whether out of coincidence or imitation, this duraflame ad campaign inspired some very “similar” executions, like this one from Doritos. (That script sounds awfully familiar!)