TBS - Clipped

Clipped was a new sitcom on TBS. It took place in a Boston Barbershop. (Think Cheers, but with hair and not as funny.)

To launch the show, we aired a local, cable commercial in Boston promoting the fake sitcom barbershop, Buzzy's. We used the stars of the show and pretended everything was real. A few thousand people actually called the number and got messages from the stars.

We ran a local cable commercial in Boston for Buzzy’s Barbershop with a phone number to call for an appointment. The commercial was insane that people called and got a message from the cast. (The message is below.)

Then we created the Bad Haircut Hall of Fame and invited the internet to send in their worst haircut tragedies.

Then we created the Bad Haircut Hall of Fame and invited the internet to send in their worst haircut tragedies.

  • Division of Labor actually has a bit of a history with Turner. The Division of Labor founders launched TNT as a Drama Network years ago when they were still at Goodby Silverstein and Partners and always remained in contact.

    Clipped was a show intended to span generations. Starring Ashley Tisdale and George Wendt, it’s basically Cheers but in a barber shop. Our job; just get people to watch the pilot. Build awareness. Build excitement. Do something funny.

  • We developed a multi-media campaign utilizing out-of-home, digital, social, video and activations. Division of Labor is a top advertising agency in San Francisco, so we create full-funnel campaigns that build awareness, then follow up with consideration messaging and then get into more product detail. So we did that here. The first thing we did was create a fake local cable commercial for the fake barbershop where the real show took place. The promo ran in Boston and ended with a local phone number so people could call for an appointment. Thousands of people actually did because the commercial was intentionally low-rent and combined with the fact that is starred Ashley Tisdale, Lauren Lapkus, George Wendt and the rest of the cast plus the tagline: Buzzys - Giving you the head you deserve for the last 35 years.

  • We did an outdoor campaign in New York that carried into a larger digital campaign all based on the line: Bad Haircut? Laugh it off. The ads featured people with some of the worst haircuts ever. Some we created by cutting the hair of our very supportive friends and family and others we via social media after inviting the public to send in photos. It was funny stuff and the Facebook App / Bad Haircut Hall of Fame was an engaging device. In the end, we got 1.3 million viewers for the pilot, which is pretty good for a sitcom. Ultimately, the show only ran for a season because, well, our advertising was funnier than the show.