Maaco, America’s #1 auto paint and collision repair provider, recognizes damage to your car can feel like a daily burden. To acknowledge the hardship of living with a damaged vehicle and to highlight how easy it can be to fix, Maaco is launching a new campaign, titled “Living With Damage.”
Developed in partnership with ATL-based creative agency, Dagger, “Living With Damage,” follows the story of two roommates: a young man and his damaged car door. Through this analogy, the campaign reframes car repair not as a reaction to an accident, but as a way to eliminate an ongoing, everyday frustration.
“Every day, drivers are on the road with damaged vehicles, often waiting weeks, if not months, before deciding to get them repaired,” said Amanda Bishop, Director of Media Strategy and Investments at Maaco. “‘Living with Damage’ highlights just how inconvenient that can be, while showing how easy Maaco makes it to get back to normal.”
The :30 hero film, “Roommates” opens with a young man waiting impatiently outside a shared bathroom, asking his roommate to hurry up in the shower. When the viewer gains entry into the bathroom, they learn that the roommate is actually this man’s damaged car door. Over the following scenes, we see the car door continue to make major roommate faux pas. Simultaneously, the voiceover reminds viewers that living with damage to your car is a constant frustration.
His last straw is broken as he gets ready to leave the house, when he asks his roommate if he’s seen his hat, only to realize that the car door is wearing it himself. The film cuts to scenes of the Maaco repair; as technicians work carefully, the voiceover tells the viewer they can trust Maaco to restore vehicles to their original state. In the end, the man is happy to be reunited with his repaired car, no longer dealing with the nuisance.
The second :30 spot, “Date” revisits our main character, this time returning to his apartment with a date. An awkward encounter with his slovenly damaged car door roommate spoils the moment though, and his date decides to leave.
“We wanted to remind people how annoying it is to live with damage to your car, and how it drags you down a little bit every day,” said Al Patton, Chief Creative Officer. “Equating that to having an annoying roommate felt like something that was widely relatable and it gave us a way to break through with humor.”
Now live, the campaign will run across TVC, CTV, YouTube, Social, Digital, Email, OOH, and Direct Mail.
