Responses by Bruno Frankel, strategist, Christen Brestrup, art director and Bertie Scrase, copywriter, Wieden+Kennedy

Background: This was RXBAR’s first major advertising campaign. RXBAR is a brand that has a cult following in urban centers where an army of young, busy people is constantly on the lookout for something healthy to snack on as they navigate their lives. However, they have no time for the hyperbole that many brands use to attract them. RXBAR was keen to show this audience that it also believed in a world with a little less BS.

Reasoning: RXBAR has always tried to avoid the gimmicks and fads that have come to define so many modern food brands. RXBAR’s commitment to simple, high-quality ingredients inspired the brand’s broader attitude to take the BS out of the world of food. RXBAR has embraced this attitude, guiding both its development to current and future foods and the way it describes itself out in the world. In short, in everything RXBAR does, there is No BS.

Challenges: Making sure the posters had bold simplicity, yet also a playful edge. Nowadays, people are bombarded and surrounded by overthought, boring messaging, so we cut through the clutter with something fresh and aesthetically pleasing that also made them chuckle. Retaining humor in such a simple execution was tough.

Favorite details: It was great to see the posters popping out of the cities in which they were placed—Chicago, LA and New York. The “Barely noticeable RXBAR poster in Times Square” was especially fun to see. Also managing to keep these posters as simple and stand-out as possible, just like RXBARs themselves, which are made from simple ingredients—little ad there for our client partner who was brave enough to back this!

Visual influences: We wanted to keep that boldness that had been established on the RXBAR packs, but every poster was separately considered from a design perspective. Each poster had its own rules, depending on its size and dimensions. We also considered the actual placement of each poster, linking a certain color to the environment it was placed in. For example, the mint green “Product Shot” poster was placed next to a hotel that was a similar color.

Specific demands: With such a high volume of placements in high traffic areas, it was difficult to ensure that the standard of executions remained high. Countless hours of looking up close and personal at board after board to ensure the level of detail and perfection was consistent was a tough, rigorous process. We hope it paid off.

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