Homeowners face a constant battle with lawn weeds.

Weed B Gon is the easiest way to control weeds without harming the lawn. The focus of its spring 2017 campaign was to build awareness of the product as a practical solution.

The brand wanted to plan a unique strategy to deliver its message. It’s no secret that weeds left untreated spread annoyingly fast. So they leveraged this awareness to bring an interactive advertisement into a traditionally non-interactive environment – being TV.

A 30-second spot was created featuring Prickly, a puppet of a dandelion that was obnoxious, but oddly charming. His monologue left no doubt about just how irritating weeds can be. Typically, people change the channel to escape commercials, but thanks to Prickly, they were changing the channel to seek out the commercial.

Prickly encouraged viewers to use the TV remote. When they changed the channel, there was Prickly, multiplying just as weeds would when not properly managed. Prickly was annoying, so viewers sought him out just to see him die. When it came time for Prickly to die, viewers had the kill switch in the palm of their hands. Just as in real life, it ends with the satisfying death of annoying weeds.

People made an effort to find Prickly, proving that an old medium like television can still be interactive.