Your Strategy is Showing #2: New Dad

What happens when the entire advertising industry is working from the same research. A series.

Here is New Dad. Here are his children.

New Dad is throwing a child into the air. They are bathed in the late afternoon sun. A wistful musical soundtrack indicates the fleeting nature of childhood.

For the first time, our ads are showing Dad, not Mom. Our research suggests that ‘masculinity is undergoing a global realignment’. We do not know what ‘global realignment’ means, but the result is that Dad has come home.

Dad is the new mom. Mom is so over. Whatever, Mom.

Look! New Dad is teaching his daughter how to ride a bike. See him clap as she succeeds. The child will grow and move on, but neither of them will forget this moment. It is laden with meaning. The music has made this clear.

Old Dad was simple. He could not change a diaper. He cheered for the game. He loved beer so much. We miss Old Dad, but beer is also undergoing a realignment. Old Dad is gone.

New Dad is complex. His facial hair tells us so. He is strong, but also patient and caring. He shows this by throwing his kids into the air. See him throw. Up and down. Run and catch. The child’s blond hair catches the light. Your Dad never did this. New Dad is the dad you always wanted. New Dad is the Dad you never had.

Now Dad is cooking for the children! It is spaghetti — always spaghetti. The children eat with delight. They make spaghetti moustaches together. The spaghetti moustache is powerful. It is a symbol of the child inside all of us.

Later on, New Dad will carry the children upstairs to bed. Behind him, the ghost of Old Dad will flicker in the TV light of a football game. For now, there is nothing in between.

Here is the grooming product his wife will buy. Here is New Dad.