It was a Super Bowl ad that made viewers look twice. It made some laugh, and others share their disgust on social media.
And that's exactly what the electronic cigarette company featured in the commercial and its creators from the Miami Ad School were looking to do.
"There's no such thing as bad press," said one of the school’s students that collaborated on the spot.
It shows a man vigorously shaking his wrist inside what appears to be a public urinal. Contrary to what some viewers may have initially expected, he turns out to be shaking a bottle of e-liquid.
“And then turns around and he starts to fill it. Starts vaping as he walks away," explained Nick Molina, the International Vapor Group’s CEO.
"That's all he had in his hand," he added.
Molina calls the spot a hit. On the only night Americans look forward to commercial breaks, the 30-second spot got lots of attention on social media.
Local
Some tweets read "That Vaporzone commercial was the only funny commercial." Another read, "that Vaporzone commercial was slightly disgusting."
"Mission accomplished! Yeah, that's exactly right they're talking about it," Molina said.
A team of three Miami Ad School students made the winning pitch; 21 teams at the school competed for the honor. The advertising school is no stranger to working with huge brands.
"But it’s the first time we've done a Super Bowl ad, which is extra exciting," said Mark T. Smith, the director of brand synergy at the Miami Ad School.
Smith said students had less than a month to develop the concepts and execute the project.
"We did the storyboards, wrote the scripts, and cast it, and boom, had the ad together. This is something that can be done only in an ad agency or in our school," Smith said.
"We all just worked together and came up with an idea of, 'Oh! It should be in an art gallery,'" said Cara Johnson, explaining another twist to the ad.
She's part of a second team that came up with another Vaporzone TV spot coming to a screen near you soon. That team of four pitched in to help the Super Bowl team.
"It's crazy, you come back to school, it’s the first week and you're pitching to a real client. It's a real experience," said Estefania Grigio.
Said another student, Francisco Vial, "We are super excited that people love it, especially young people.”
The students described their spot as simple and humorous, saying the ad stands out among the multimillion-dollar projects that featured stars and special effects.
"The younger generation has a lot of things to bring to the table. A lot of things could come out of students and not just people that are already in the industry," Ariel Gagnon said.
