For the launch of the second season of hit TV series Fargo, Neon has launched a hilarious campaign that brings together Mid-Western sweater fashion with the largely unexpected horrors that take place in the show.
Called Fargo Woollens, the campaign features a collection of actual sweaters, which have been made specifically for promotional push. The products stay true to the ugly sweater style that is often celebrated by American families during Christmas time, but the design also feature gory elements in the shape of gashes, knife wounds and cleaver assaults.
“A place with such gruesome sweaters and ugly murders definitely needs its own fashion line,” says DDB executive creative director Shane Bradnick. “Fargo has developed a cult following over the last season with fans engaging with the show beyond just the episodes, the Fargo Woollens collection is a fresh way to get people excited and talking about the new season.”
The quirky fashion idea was dreamed by the creatives at DDB, who then brought in Remar Knitwear and the Textile Collective to create jerseys, beanies and mittens inspired by the theme ‘a lovely place to get murdered’.
“Fargo is about two things: politeness and murder,” says DDB chief creative officer Damon Stapleton. “All we did was add a little fashion. What you end up with is a catalogue of Christmas jumpers beautifully knitted and full of blood and gore. Perfect.”
While unconventional, the campaign also put smiles on the faces of those working at Neon.
“What better way to acknowledge Fargo’s return than with a range of garments that celebrate the character’s lives in Luverne, Minnesota,” said Neon general manager Dave Joyce in a release. “Just like the show, they’re super nice on one hand, while mind-numbingly brutal on the other. While they all come with the lovely patterns you’d expect in a quaint winter town, they also have a unique customised wound – something that you betcha might just get some longing looks when you’re popping down the dairy.”
In keeping with the fashion theme, DDB then brought in photographer Adam Bryce for a fashion shoot, with the resulting photographs being posted to the Fargo Wollens Tumblr page.
This adds yet another platform to the growing number of digital spaces Neon has been using to promote its shows.
In a bid to reach younger audiences, Neon has since its launch used both Facebook and Twitter and it was also recently one of the founding partners when Instagram first introduced its ad offering in the local market.
The creative work Neon produces on Instagram has been distributed through the the social media platform’s ad network (which it shares with Facebook) to reach the company’s target audiences.
Tumblr also provides native advertising placements that enable brands to infiltrate the feeds of Kiwis using the site; however, at this stage it’s unclear whether Neon is tapping into Tumblr’s native ad offering or if it is just hosting its content on the site.
“We don’t disclose the details of our advertisers, I’m afraid – it is of course confidential,” said Kate McBean, Yahoo’s head of consumer marketing and PR, when asked whether Neon had paid for any advertising on Tumblr.
