What began as a cryptic 15-second tease titled “Take A Look” from Liquid I.V. has now expanded into the brand’s first-ever Big Game commercial, developed with Anomaly and set almost entirely in a place most advertisers avoid.
During NBC’s Super Bowl LX broadcast, the hydration brand aired the 30-second version that leaned fully into the most unavoidable of human realities: what your urine color says about your hydration. The ad delivers its message via a chorus of toilets, urinals, and assorted porcelain fixtures, all singing a cover of Phil Collins’ Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now), performed by Ejae, whose recent work includes the film KPop Demon Hunters. It’s weird, slightly uncomfortable, and impossible to ignore, very much by design. Watch below:
The concept is meant to make viewers squirm just enough to pay attention. “It’s one of those things that just makes you sit up a little bit straighter in your chair, and you’re just uncomfortable enough,” said Stacey Andrade-Wells, Liquid I.V.’s chief marketing officer. While the product itself doesn’t appear until the closing moments, she noted that “it all comes together at the very end,” when viewers finally understand “why these toilets are singing.”
Liquid I.V. entered a Super Bowl landscape packed with health and wellness messaging, from weight-loss drugs and telehealth platforms to preventative testing services. Andrade-Wells points to a broader cultural shift driving that presence. In the wake of the pandemic, she said, there has been “a refocus on health and wellness,” with people paying closer attention to how they care for their bodies. “That trend is not going anywhere.”
For the creative team, leaning into bathroom humor was less a risk than a proven tactic. “There’s a long tradition of bathroom humor in advertising, which tells us two things: One, it works. And two, we’re all still five years old,” added Scott Horlbeck, Associate Creative Director at Anomaly LA. “Besides, who knows more about our hydration than our toilets?”
CREDITS:
BRAND: Liquid I.V.
- Chief Marketing Officer: Stacey Andrade
- Senior Brand Director: Brittany Shaw
- Brand Director: Tayce Taylor
- Creative Director: Stevy Wang
- Senior Director, Head of Communications: Greg Casto
AGENCY: Anomaly LA
- Chief Executive Officer: Khara Wagner
- Chief Creative Officer: Josh Fell
- Chief Strategy Officer: Amanda Feve
- Group Creative Director: Zach Myrow
- Creative Director: Drew Burton
- Creative Director: Lucy Logan
- Associate Creative Director, Copywriter: Scott Horlbeck
- Associate Creative Director, Art Director: Joaquin Sabarots
- Head of Project Management & Creative Ops: Chris Greve
- Head of Production: Erika Madison
- Senior Producer: Isabella Lebovitz
- Comms Strategy Director: Breanna Jones
- Brand Strategy Director: Hannah Barr
- Comms Strategist: Parker Smith
- Group Business Director: Max Taylor
- Account Supervisor: Marissa Vensel
- Account Executive: Robert Granatelli
- Head of Business Affairs: Dani Vargas
- Sr. Business Affairs Manager: Maggie Harasyn
- Sr. Business Affairs Manager: Daniel Gerena
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Epoch
- Director: Martin de Thurah
- DP: Kasper Tuxen
- Production Designer: Henry Boráros
- Line Producer: Michaela Johnson
- Executive Producer: Melissa Culligan
LOCAL PRODUCTION COMPANY: UNIT SOFA
EDIT: Rock Paper Scissors / MakeMake
- Editor: Peter Brandt
- Assistant Editor: Laurence Thrush
- Producer: Kevin Gottlieb
- EP: Meagan Carroll
COLOR: Rare Medium
- Colorist: Fergus McCall @ Rare Medium
- Producer: Lucy Gatanis
- EP / Partner: Heath Raymond
VFX: Blacksmith
- Ben Kwok, VFX Supervisor and Lead Compositor
- Tuna Unalan, Lead CG
- Pablo Estrella-You, Lead CG
- Yebin Ahn, Flame Artist
- Lily Sarokin, Producer
MUSIC / AUDIO: Walker
- Mix Engineer & Sound Designer: Ignacio Zas
- Composer: Mark Tewarson
- Senior Producer: Danielle Soury
- Managing Director: Sara Matarazzo
- Senior Executive Producer: Stephanie Pigott
- Senior Producer: Danielle Soury
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Liquid I.V. teases Super Bowl spot in the bathroom
