Droga5 Stages a Fanciful Laundromat Dance Number for Its LinkedIn Debut
Want a great job in the future? Better start dancing as fast as you can.
A little girl in a laundromat imagines what she'll do for work when she grows up. Socks, shirts and jackets—repping career options—join the youngster for some enthusiastic kicks, spins and twirls. Remi Wolf's "Guerrilla" thumps and pops on the soundtrack.
And so, we have Droga5's debut for LinkedIn, a film directed by Gustavo Moraes and Marco Laver (aka Alaska). Sherrie Silver, best known for Childish Gambino's "This Is America," served as choreographer.
"The initial inspirations for the setting and character were sparked by an amazing real-life little girl who helps run the cash register on weekends at her family's Brooklyn laundromat with attitude and confidence," Droga5 creative director Erika Kohnen tells Muse. "Imagining the space from the perspective of a child opened up a fresh way of bringing professional possibilities to life."
The upbeat, dreamy atmosphere suits the material to a T. It's all incredibly well staged, and intuitive, as kids do fantasize about employment. Monster's ultra-iconic ads of yore treaded similar ground, albeit with a totally different vibe.
Will the working world break this kid's youthful spirit? Or will she someday land the gig of her dreams thanks to LinkedIn? Maybe she should become a professional dancer. She's great at that already.
"The clothes we wear are bonded to who we are, who we want to be and often where we work," says Droga5 executive creative director Toby Treyer-Evans. "We loved the idea that a laundromat has all the identities of a world of professionals without the professionals there."
Indeed, it's something a bit different for the category, a mini-musical backing the new global tagline, "Find Your In."
"It's an idea and platform all about being whatever you can imagine in a place (LinkedIn) that has the tools, information and community you need to make it happen," says agency creative director Amy Werblin. "To bring this thought to life, we took inspiration from a universal concept within professional circles: having an 'in.' An 'in' can be anything that can help you grow in your career—a connection, a job posting an article."
But ... why use dance at all?
"Dance felt like a really natural way to move through all these possible careers and things you can be with LinkedIn. It's an expression of a little girl's imagination," explains Treyer-Evans. "It's always hard to get it right with dance, but with the team, Sherrie Silver—and Lexi, who at 9 is very special talent, it allowed us to play with the idea."
The campaign launched last week across TV, social and OLV channels, supported by an upcoming "Big Ins" activation featuring creators with careers in fashion, design and tech.
