Aspercreme, the seventh-largest topical pain relief brand in the U.S., needed to break through a crowded market dominated by bigger, more famous brands like Tylenol, Biofreeze, Icy Hot, and Bengay. And our brand and audience of 55+ year-olds were both facing the same challenge: We were overlooked and stereotyped, but a lot more interesting than people were giving us credit for. This led us to a new strategic insight: “Age makes you interesting, but pain makes you dull.” So to get people to rethink the brand, we first had to get them to rethink aging. To jump-start this change in perception, we took the brand and audience to a place nobody would expect: branded entertainment. A topical pain cream for arthritis doesn’t exactly scream Hollywood, but we discovered the perfect opportunity to take the product from the shelf to the big screen. Enter Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, the film sequel to the 1984 cult-classic movie about the most eccentric rock band ever, which also invented the mockumentary genre and delivered countless quotes we still reference today. (Remember the famous line, “These go to 11”? That was them.) Only now the band is 40 years older, a whole lot achier, and in no mood to feel any pain on tour. In tandem with the promotional rollout for the Spinal Tap II release, Aspercreme launched a partnership that felt like a scene straight out of the movie. Inspired by the wild list of demands that rock bands are famous for adding to their tour riders (like Van Halen banning brown M&M’s backstage), we asked the important question: What would an eccentric, aging, arthritic rock band ask for in the rider for their final tour? As it turns out, their list featured a wide array of items like a jar of London fog, a 17th-century Hungarian dictionary, and, most importantly, Aspercreme. Instead of a traditional ad campaign with the band holding up the product and reciting key messages, we held ourselves to the comedic standard of the movie itself, embracing the mockumentary style and the talent of the actors to show just how seriously they take pain relief on tour.