Dead Ad Society Resurrects Its Second Winning Idea

A toddler wants a sip of his mum’s coffee. When she tells him it’s only for grown-ups, he takes matters into his own hands, transforming himself into a fully grown man and helping himself to a generous sip.

That is the simple, absurd premise behind ‘All Grown Up’, the newly released campaign for Jones Coffee Roasters, and the second winning script to be resurrected through Dead Ad Society, hungryman’s ‘anti-award show award show’ created to give great advertising ideas that died too soon another chance at life.

Written by Anomaly LA associate creative director Jagger Moore while he was at INNOCEAN USA, and directed by hungryman’s Lena Beug, the spot began years ago as an idea for a different coffee brand. Jagger and his creative partner had been asked to write a funny campaign centred on the best-tasting coffee in the world. They wrote dozens of scripts. Another idea ultimately moved forward, while ‘All Grown Up’ was left behind.

But Jagger never forgot it.

“A pretty common brainstorm technique is to ask yourself, ‘What's the craziest thing someone would do for this thing?’,” he says of the idea. “And I thought about my own kid, who was always asking for a coffee, and how I had to explain that coffee is for grown-ups. Wouldn't it be funny if a kid literally willed themselves into adulthood just to have a taste?”


So, years later, he submitted the script to hungryman’s second annual Dead Ad Society Awards. From more than 250 submissions, ‘All Grown Up’ was selected as one of 16 finalists and performed live on stage by a troupe of improv actors before a packed audience at The Mint in Los Angeles last September. A jury of leading creatives deliberated in real time, before naming the script the night’s Gold winner.

LBB followed Dead Ad Society’s second year closely, speaking to its jurors ahead of the show and catching up with Jagger after ‘All Grown Up’ took Gold. At that point, the script still had no client attached and existed only as a live performance. Less than a year later, it’s a finished film.

“Some unproduced creative feels like work that a client would never buy,” says Dead Ad Society founder and hungryman managing partner Caleb Dewart. “‘All Grown Up’ was different. It’s weird and charming and genuinely felt like a spot that deserved to be brought into the world. Jagger did a wonderful job writing a script that checked every box, which is not an easy feat.”

The prize: full production by hungryman, with support from Dead Ad Society’s group of industry partners – Antfood, ARC Creative, Synapse Virtual Production, Sonic Union, Work Editorial, The Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and Uncle Lefty. INNOCEAN USA fully embraced the resurrection as well, championing the winning script and finding the right client to finally bring it into the world.

“It was a genius idea that was so generously funded by hungryman. We’d be idiots not to get behind this,” says Jason Sperling, chief creative officer of INNOCEAN USA.

Jason asked around the agency to see if anyone had a contact somewhere that could be a good fit for the idea. That client ended up being Jones Coffee Roasters, a family-owned Southern California coffee company with roots stretching back generations. Jones saw an opportunity in the strange, unexpected idea and agreed to become the brand behind it.

“While it's a rare opportunity to go to a potential client with a free, fully produced idea, we wanted to be sure that it felt like a relationship that could live past the piece of creative, and was a partner that would appreciate the absurdity of it,” says Jason. “Jones Coffee was a perfect partner in that, much like our baby in the spot, it’s growing quickly. And, they liked the absurdist comedy. Win win.”

“As a family-owned business, we take our coffee seriously, but we don't take ourselves too seriously,” adds Chuck Jones, founder of Jones Coffee. “When we read the script for ‘All Grown Up’, it made us laugh. It was unexpected and definitely not your typical ad. Coffee is the catalyst for creativity and shines bright in this commercial.”

The result was a typical brand-agency-production partnership, assembled in a completely atypical way.

“The goal was always bigger than celebrating dead ideas for one night,” adds Caleb. “INNOCEAN became a true partner in bringing this idea to life. It’s a traditional creative partnership that came together completely backwards, which feels very Dead Ad Society.”

To direct the winning script, hungryman turned to Lena Beug. The director’s grounded yet surreal approach made her a natural fit for a spot that required complete commitment to an increasingly ridiculous premise. And by the time cameras rolled, Lena had already spent months with the script, having actually directed the actors as they performed all 16 finalist scripts live at the previous Dead Ad Society Awards.

“Bringing all of the scripts to life on stage with improv actors was so illuminating,” Lena says. “Stripping the ideas down to their essence really reveals whether they work, without all the bells and whistles that production brings. It showed us that this idea has something ancient to it, metamorphosis – if you want something badly enough you might just be able to transform yourself into something altogether other to get it.”

That on-stage experience also shaped how Lena approached the final production – and how she’d love to begin every filmmaking process in the future. “Honestly I'd like to make every film by starting off with improv actors, no locations, no costumes, no fuss,” she says. “You're stripping it back to its most important and basic form. The performance.”

The experience influenced Lena’s decision to not overcomplicate the idea, serving as a “real education” on the power of leaving things to the imagination.

“ARC did beautiful work with special effects on the transformation shots, but it's quite minimal and stripped back,” she says. “Everyone was so on board with that approach. The story is told as much by the reaction of the mom – that very simple shot of the back of the stroller as it expands and things fly everywhere – and the sound design. So the post work becomes like a beautiful and delicious cherry on top.

“Of course,” adds Lena, “when you make the film, you want to use all the tools you have (visuals, wardrobe, sound design and effects), but I think starting with the improv really informed all those decisions.”

“We’re so used to pouring our hearts into these ideas knowing that most of them won’t get made,” continues Jagger. “That’s just the name of the game. The phrase everyone uses is ‘kill your babies’, right? This time, my baby gets to grow up all the way – even if it is only for a matter of seconds.

“It was so cool to see so many talented people come together in service of an idea. The whole experience was a great reminder of all that is good in this industry.”

With its second winning idea back from the dead, Dead Ad Society is now searching for the next one. Submissions for year three are officially open at DeadAdSociety.com. This year’s event will take place on November 19th at LPR, an iconic independent live music venue in New York City.

“[Dead Ad Society] is really about celebrating unsung heroes and recognising creative brilliance, so I’m less interested in growth for the sake of growth than I am in expanding our reach,” says Caleb. “I just want more creatives and producers to know about the show, submit the ideas they believe in, and have a real chance to see one of those ideas brought back to life.”

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Read more about Dead Ad Society's mission to resurrect killed ideas here.

​Read more from Addison Capper here.