Every format carries a set of promises. Tech launches promise breakthroughs. Horror films promise dread. Pharmaceutical ads promise salvation. Etc. The moment an audience sees the format, they start expecting. That expectation is the creative brief and you can hijack it. Spoof the format, and you get recognition, anticipation, and the laugh of surprise all at once.
Here are seven creative tactics from the Storytelling Engine that know exactly which format to steal and when to pull the rug.
- Hijack a Cultural Ritual
- Parody the Tech Launch
- Turn Horror Genre Loose on a Product Problem
- Make the Ad Format the Joke
- Use a Nostalgic TV Format to Expose a Hard Truth
- Build a Fake Product in a Real Format
- Parody a Category Convention to Own Your Position
1. Hijack a Cultural Ritual
Borrow the format of a live cultural moment — and make your brand the reveal.
Baby Scan — Marmite, adam&eveDDB, 2023
Marmite's 'Love it or hate it' positioning is so embedded that it had almost stopped landing. Adam&eveDDB found the sharpest possible reactivation: the gender reveal. Expectant parents were invited to a 4D scan to determine not the sex of their baby but something arguably more consequential — whether their child would be a Marmite lover or hater. The results were delivered with a full gender-reveal ceremony: themed events, celebratory announcements, and social sharing. The campaign drove a 37% increase in online conversation around the brand.
The tactic works because the ritual format pre-loads emotional investment that no ad could manufacture from scratch. You're not interrupting the moment — you're the moment. The brand's job is simply to fit the shape of something people already care about, then make it theirs.
