Pipar\TBWA advertising campaign using real estate listing featured in premier creative news outlet

The “Spot the Difference” advertising campaign for Blush by the Icelandic Disruption® agency, Pipar\TBWA, has recently been featured by the premier creative news outlet, Muse by Clio.

During an interview with Agga Jónsdóttir, the Creative Director at Pipar\TBWA, Jónsdóttir explains how the agency had to get creative for the “Spot the Difference” campaign to advertise products by the intimate store, Blush, due to online advertising services having strict policies about advertising specific products.

As part of the campaign, Blush’s owner listed her house for sale in Icelandic newspapers, which included the usual series of interior photos viewers might expect. While it initially appears to be a typical house listing, upon closer inspection, various personal toys can be seen on bookshelves, the shower, and the kitchen, and the computer mouse was not a mouse.

Less than a day after the listing went up, viewers took online to share what they discovered, and soon after, the “Spot the Difference” campaign took off on radio, online, and outdoors.

“Finding some of the products was a bit of a challenge, and we wanted people to have some fun finding all the toys because some of them were not spotted in the beginning,” says Jónsdóttir. 

“Before the main hero part of the campaign took off, the brand owner did an Instagram story about their goal to normalize sexual health. She was quite nervous that people would not spot the difference, but after 24 hours, it just took off.”

Why “Spot the Difference” as a slogan?

“We wanted to find a slogan that could translate to different things, give people a chance to let their imagination flow, and be witty enough to get people talking without crossing any boundaries or offending people,” said Agga Jónsdóttir. “We also wanted to show the products in blend with everyday housing objectives to try to break the taboo of what these objectives often stand for.”

“Spot the Difference” is a translation from “Finndu muninn” and does not translate fully to English, as “Finndu” can mean find but also is related to touch and feel; “muninn” means both the difference and object.

The brief from Blush to Pipar\TBWA was to sell a positive and healthy experience, promote sexual health and healthy attitudes towards sex, and find a way to promote it without breaking the rules. “I think we managed that quite well,” said Agga Jónsdóttir.

To read the feature by Muse by Clio in full, click here.

About Pipar\TBWA
The creative agency sits in Iceland and Norway, with its headquarters in Reykjavik and Oslo. The agency dates back to 1994 and is a part of the TBWA family of advertising agencies, which has over 300 agencies around the world. We work with local and global brands from strategy to production and execution of campaigns using our sister companies Pipar\Media and The Engine.

Disruption® is in our DNA and we work every day to realize and put new ideas and concepts into practice. Although brands have become an integral part of our culture, there is an extreme amount of noise that distracts customers from the brands. In order for us to be able to help lift and break through this shock and reach the right audience, our customers trust that we will be able to cope with this task through a focus on creativity and an effective ability to execute.