Chesapeake Bank - “125 Years of The Chesapeake Way” (2025)
To celebrate its 125th anniversary, Chesapeake Bank is doubling down on what made their debut campaign a standout last year:
Evolve are back, with their tongue in cheek promotion of gun safety. Just like in Playthings (& print) and The Bill of Rights for Dumbasses, this commercial from Evolve wants to disarm you with humor - if you pardon the pun.
Now Hollywood star Josh Lucas acts as the spokesperson, walking through small town Americana being superbly patriotic and apple-pie with every skip, all the while asking you, dear gun owner to “Clear It. Check it. Lock it.”. Lucas thanks you for "being an American who does not leave your firearm in the couch cushions, or on a ledge above the playpen".
The ad is clearly targeting responsible gun owners, and hoping they'll find the humor appealing enough to share the clip with... irresponsible gun owners?
“We need to make safety aspirational and free of finger-wagging. We need to get to a place where we’re talking about gun safety before someone gets hurt, rather than after,” says Rebecca Bond, Co-Founder of Evolve. “If we’re going to get America talking, we have to talk about it a way that people can hear and that’s what this campaign is all about. We’ve created an ad that could run during the Super Bowl. It talks to America in a way that is apolitical, non-judgmental and entertaining.”
Production: B-Reel Films