Oscar Mayer Made Its First Beauty Ads, But There’s a Twist

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Oscar Mayer smokes its thick-cut bacon for 12 hours. To draw attention to that fact, the brand took an unusual approach that hijacks beauty advertising.

The campaign, by agency Johannes Leonardo, features a series of 15- and 30-second spots that start simply, with shots of the meat slowly cooking and an explanation about how that process imbues it with a strong, smoky flavor.

The commercial break then transitions to what seems to be an unrelated spot: an archetypal promo for a lip gloss promoting its long-lasting shine or a razor offering a close shave.

In both cases, the actors are interrupted by an overpowering smell, with Oscar Mayer revealing that the bacon is still smoking.

“All bacon ads are about bacon, but when your bacon is smoked longer than most, sometimes your bacon ad will run into a beauty ad, or a shaving ad,” Johannes Leonardo creative director Zack Roif said in a statement. “When the regular 15-second media buy just isn’t enough time to demonstrate how long we smoke your bacon, we took aim at disrupting all the other ads to prove our point. We’re smoked longer.”

The tactic is reminiscent of an out-of-home campaign from Jollibee in 2022, in which the restaurant chain produced watch and fragrance ads that were actually linked to their own digital billboards.

The Oscar Mayer campaign will incorporate online video, social media, display and streaming audio tactics across iHeartRadio, Twitch and sports mediums. Social media posts measure the bacon’s cook time in screen time averages or the length of multiple basketball or football games.

a book with the inside pages cut out and a capri sun tucked in

CREDITS

Client: Kraft Heinz
Director of external communications and public relations, North America: Jenna Thornton
Vice president of marketing for Oscar Mayer: Molly White
Senior manager, brand PR for Oscar Mayer: Kate Mitchell
Brand communications manager for Oscar Mayer: Shelby Max

Production and creative: Johannes Leonardo
Co-founder and creative chairman: Jan Jacobs
Creative directors: Zack Roif, Michael Hess
Associate creative directors: Caitlin Harsch, Dany Babette
Design director: Charles Watlington
Senior designer: Emma McGuire
Group strategy director: Julianna Katrancha
Strategy director: Anthony Perez
Head of communications strategy: Jonathan Daly
Communications strategy director: Jim Rech
Senior communications strategist: Cameren Moncrieffe
Strategist: Andrew Grant
Head of account management: Connor Keeshan
Group account director: Jack Beck
Account supervisor: Heidi Brown
Account manager: Shenea Walker
Group executive producer: Ken Kitch
Producer: Anna James
Business affairs director: Alesa Blanchard-Nelson
Senior business affairs manager: Emilly Tan
Senior project manager: Destiny Heggins

Paid media: Carat U.S.
Vp, integrated planning: Karla Faria
Associate media director: Emily Miller
Senior manager, planning: Laura Lumbayi
Director, strategy: Jackie Rogers
Senior media planner: Indri Saskiaputri
Media planner: Philip Carrol

Cultural marketing: Cashmere
Senior vp, cultural strategy: Jesse Nicely
Account manager: Nardos Berhane

Social media: The Kitchen
Account director: Danielle Sikora
Social media manager: Rachel Miller

PR: Zeno Group
Head foodie: Missy Maher
Executive vp, earned media: Courtney Pischke
Senior vp: Jamie Dammrich
Vp: Bri Shanley
Senior account supervisor: Bethany Roth
Account supervisor, earned media: Veronica Smith
Senior account executive: Morgan Miller
Associate account executive, earned media: Kara McKiernan

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Oscar Mayer Made Its First Beauty Ads, But There’s a Twist

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