Duracell | SunMatrix Ramble

Duracell: The Battle for Christmas Morning

Star Wars is a marketing phenomenon every brand wants to be part of. Disney signed up seven brands for what it described as an expansive promotional campaign. The brands included Covergirl, Max Factor, Duracell, FCA US, General Mills, HP, Subway and Verizon, each developing custom work for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Since Star Wars is the biggest and most talked about event of 2015, this makes a fitting last post of the year for Ramble. Here is a Duracell Star Wars TV ad that is described as having already generated over 15 million views on YouTube.

How the partner machine works

The mechanism is straightforward. A tentpole film recruits a small set of major brands, then those brands translate the movie into retail moments, household rituals, and repeatable creative formats that can run for weeks. A “tentpole” film is the flagship release that carries the biggest marketing push.

In global blockbuster launches, promotional partner programs scale a single release into many consumer touchpoints before opening weekend.

The real question is whether your brand has a native job in the franchise moment, or whether you are just renting attention.

Why the Duracell idea fits the moment

Duracell chooses a natural bridge. Star Wars lives in toys, imagination, and living-room play. Batteries are the invisible enabler of that play, which is why the brand does not need to borrow the story world awkwardly. It simply powers it. This is the right kind of franchise tie-in.

Extractable takeaway: When you attach to a cultural franchise, pick the most “native” role you can own in the experience, then dramatise that role in a scene people recognise from real life.

What to steal from this kind of film tie-in

Start from a product truth. The partnership works when the brand’s role is unavoidable, not decorative.
Anchor in a ritual. Christmas morning is a ready-made attention moment that does the distribution work for you.
Use the franchise as a texture. The brand still needs its own reason to exist inside the story.
Keep the message simple. One benefit, one scene, one emotional beat is enough in a seasonal spot.

A few fast answers before you act

What is this Duracell Star Wars spot doing in one sentence?

It uses Star Wars as a backdrop to make a simple point. Duracell powers the toys and imagination that fuel Christmas-morning play.

Why do big films recruit promotional partners?

Partners add reach, retail presence, and repeated reminders across categories, extending awareness beyond trailers and cinema media.

What makes a franchise tie-in feel authentic?

The brand has a clear, credible job in the experience, and the creative shows that job rather than forcing a logo into the story.

What is the main risk with “everyone wants in” moments?

Generic sameness. If the brand role is not distinct, the work becomes interchangeable and the franchise overshadows the message.

What should you measure beyond views?

Brand recall linked to the benefit, retail lift in the seasonal window, and whether the partnership creates a repeatable platform for future campaigns.

Duracell Moments of Warmth: Heated bus shelter

In a winter of ice storms and a polar vortex, moments of warmth are few and far between. So to change that, Duracell Quantum batteries in Canada retrofit a bus shelter with heaters, but the only way to get the heat to work is through a human connection, people joining their hands.

The shelter is set up so warmth only kicks in when two or more commuters complete a simple circuit by touching the contact points and holding hands in the middle.

Why “warmth you earn together” is the right mechanism

This idea works because the product promise is experienced, not explained. Because the heaters only turn on when strangers complete the circuit together, “power” turns into instant relief you can literally feel while you wait. This is the right pattern when you can prove your claim with a sensory payoff in under a minute.

Extractable takeaway: An ambient activation, meaning a brand experience built into the environment, lands fastest when the reward is physical and only unlocks through simple cooperation.

In cold-weather urban transit, small prompts that reward cooperation can turn waiting time into a shared moment, and into a brand story.

The real question is whether your interaction rule makes strangers coordinate in seconds without a staffer, a screen tutorial, or a social script.

What makes the interaction memorable

Clear rule in seconds. No app, no signup, no instructions beyond the physical cues.
Instant feedback. The reward is heat, right now, right where you are standing.
Social proof built in. Every new person who walks up sees the behavior and understands what to do.

Steal the cooperation trigger

Make the benefit tangible. If your claim is about performance, choose an output people can sense.
Use a cooperative trigger. Shared actions create a story people retell without prompting.
Keep the loop short. If it takes more than one minute to understand, street attention disappears.
Let the environment do the explaining. Physical design beats copy when you only have a few seconds.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “Duracell Moments of Warmth”?

It is an ambient bus shelter activation where heaters only activate when commuters connect physically, turning “power” into a felt experience.

How does the bus shelter get activated?

Two or more people complete a simple circuit by touching the shelter’s contact points while joining hands, which triggers the heating system.

Why does the hand-holding mechanic matter?

Because it forces cooperation. The brand benefit is delivered through a human moment, which makes the warmth feel earned and memorable.

What is the brand message in one sentence?

In cold winters you need power, and sometimes the best power comes from connecting with other people.

What is the main lesson for experiential marketing?

If you want people to remember a claim, make them participate in a mechanism that behaves like the claim.

Super Bowl 2014 Ads

Super Bowl Sunday is the mecca of television advertising year after year. Advertisers on this day have a golden opportunity to create valuable brand buzz and recognition through astronomically priced 30 second television spots. By brand buzz, I mean people repeating your brand name or distinctive cue unprompted in the hours and days after the game.

After watching over 60 ads that use both time-tested and unconventional strategies to attract attention, I have come up with my most entertaining list.

I start with one that immediately sets the tone for why Super Bowl ads matter. Big emotion. High memorability. Then I round it out with a mix of humour, characters, and simple ideas executed with confidence.

How I picked these ten

I looked for spots that make one clear choice, emotion, humour, or a character you can describe in a sentence, then execute it cleanly enough that you remember the brand, not just the joke.

In global consumer brands and agencies, Super Bowl work is a stress test for whether a brand can earn attention and stay memorable in a single crowded media moment.

Why these spots stick

When a spot commits to one simple idea and pays it off with a clear emotional or comedic beat, it becomes easy to retell, and retellability is what turns a 30 second moment into memorability.

Extractable takeaway: If people cannot retell your ad in one sentence, they will not carry your brand name with it.

The real question is which parts of a 30 second story people still remember when the game is over and the next morning is crowded with other brands.

I lean toward ads that trade clever complexity for a single, confident idea that stays attached to the brand at the moment you remember.

Budweiser: Puppy Love

Volkswagen: Wings

Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt: The Spill

Bud Light: Ian Up For Whatever

Heinz: If you are happy

Kia K900: The Truth

Hyundai Genesis: Dad’s Sixth Sense

Duracell: Trust Your Power

Doritos: Time Machine

M&M’S: Delivery

What to borrow for your next brief

Choose one main beat. Pick emotion, humour, or character first, then let everything else serve that choice.
Make the brand part of the payoff. Ensure the remembered moment still carries the brand name or distinctive cue.
Keep it retellable. If the premise cannot be repeated in one sentence, it will not travel beyond game night.
Use characters as memory hooks. A simple, consistent character or device can do more work than extra plot.
Execute with confidence. Simple ideas win when they are committed to, not over-explained.

A few fast answers before you act

What is this post?

A curated list of my most entertaining Super Bowl 2014 ads, selected after watching over 60 spots.

How many ads are on the list?

Ten.

Which brands are included?

Budweiser, Volkswagen, Dannon Oikos, Bud Light, Heinz, Kia, Hyundai, Duracell, Doritos, and M&M’S.

How should I use this list?

As a fast reference for what stands out on the biggest advertising day of the year. Then use it to compare how different brands earn attention through emotion, humour, and memorable ideas.