On Brand, Off-Key: JanSport Backpacks Sing Their Own Praises

As silly as it sounds

Hey, JanSport backpacks, zip it already!

Alas, In spots breaking this week, the bags keep crooning, utterly out of tune.

First, an elevator love story: “Your smooth suede bottom looks lovely tonight. I know we just met, but this feels so right.”

Next, with a pink sock wagging like a tongue: “I love the feeling of your things inside my pockets. Every time you pack me, my nonexistent heartbeat skyrockets.”

Our fave mixes things up as two screamy gals hurl one of the backpacks at an insect: “I’d rather hold your stuff than be used as a weapon. My pink bows will last. I know I can take him!”

“Our premise is simple: Every JanSport bag has personality. And we figured, if it could sing, it would,” says Matt Heath, CCO and co-founder at Party Land, which developed the campaign.

The tracks range from power ballads and pop to punk, “exaggerating the emotion—and the puppetry makes it feel weirdly real,” he says.

“It’s a fun and relatable way to reframe the product benefits and remind college-aged and older Gen Z that JanSport’s always there, forever a devoted companion.”

And note: That icky bug was no puppet or CGI!

“The cockroach is a real, live Madagascar hissing cockroach,” agency creative Eli White tells Muse. “So naturally, we had a professional cockroach handler who brought several of the disgusting creatures on set.”

“When it was time to shoot the bug scene,” he recalls, “we did a lineup of all of the cockroaches to see which one seemed the biggest and most active for the screen. It was horrible and so fun.”

Mophonics created the songs, which were performed by untrained vocalists—as if you couldn’t tell—in an effort to make the approach stand out and especially relatable. Parker Seaman directed via Impossible Studios.

Targeting mainly the college crowd, ads will run on TikTok, YouTube and elsewhere.

In the unlikely event you actually want to heart more, they released two additional videos:

CREDITS

Client: Jansport
Agency: Partyland
CCO/Co-Founder: Matt Heath
Managing Partner: Andy Silva
Creative Director: Natalia Fredericks
Art Director: Jacobb Warhop
Copywriter: Eli White
Group Brand Director: Amy Krieg
Agency Producer: Melissa “Mel” Langaas

Production Company: Impossible Studios
Executive Producer: Marco D’Angelo
Director: Parker Seaman

Original Songwriting and Music Production: Mophonics
Executive Creative Producer: Jean Scofield
ECD: Stephan Altman
Creative Director: Shea Duncan
Composer, “Bug”: Calvin Rezen
Composer, “Elevator Love”: Shea Duncan
Composer, “Messy Car”: Stella Web
Composer, “Overpacking”: Roberto Murguia
Composer, “Rotting”: Calvin Rezen