"Brawny Academy" for Brawny

Winner of the 2007 Andy Silver Award
Fallon Worldwide, Minneapolis

Campaign Insight
Research has shown women are fed up by two things: First, they are disappointed by the men in their lives-- they simply wish men could be a little more helpful around the house. Second, they do not like consumer package goods companies which continue to create advertising that portray women in stereotypical ways.
Fallon and their client, Georgia Pacific, quickly understood that Brawny's communications needed to break the category convention and engage their female consumer target audience in a better way. Chris Lawrence, group account director for Brawny at Fallon Minneapolis explained, "With used these insights to come up with a way to connect deeply and emotionally with women in way that reflected the reality in their lives. And to do so in a unique and entertaining way."

The mission of Brawny Academy is to support women by helping the men in their lives become better, more proactive and more compassionate partners. Lawrence explained, "We also wanted to leverage the popularity and attributes of 'strength through versatility' of the Brawny Man icon."

Brawny Academy provides "tools" to motivate husbands to perform better both in and outside the home, but the Brawny Man himself becomes an advocate for women -- teaching men ways to be not only better husbands -- but to become better men.

Fallon decided to create the episodes online (hence, webisode) because we know women in our target (women between the ages of 30 and 54) are very busy taking care of their work, family and home, but spent a lot of time online. By providing content that they can seek out "on-demand," and on their own terms, we further demonstrated our deep understanding of these women and their needs-- not only in the message, but in how they receive the message.

As Chris Lawrence explains, "A unique aspect of the project is that two husband-and-wife teams worked to bring Brawny Academy to life." Alisa Sengel Wixom and Kris Wixom were the creative team at Fallon Minneapolis who teamed up with John Russell Feist and Kate Hall Feist of Feisty Flix, the prime-time Emmy-award-winning reality show producers/directors whose resume includes CBS's Survivor; NBC's The Restaurant and Meet Mr. Mom;and Fox's The Casino and America's Most Wanted.

It is also important to note that there were no shortcuts taken in the development of Brawny Academy just because it was created for an interactive environment versus TV. A few less cameras and a compressed production schedule perhaps, otherwise the process, the quality of the crew, right down to having a psychologist on set, was exactly the same as any quality reality show created for TV.

This is the first time the Brawny Man has stepped into real life and interacted with real people. This is particularly noteworthy because other packaged goods companies who keep their icons highly protected and "in the glass case." It is also important to note that this is a real reality show with real contestants, not actors.

This is not a reality show "spoof," as some other ad agencies have created, nor it is simply a sponsorship with product placement. This is true branded entertainment that was born from the heart of the brand, with content that includes real issues that are relevant to the female consumer target audience.