• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, April 12, 2013

SlimFast is using a provocative new ad campaign to introduce a brand positioning shift.

In its “Get What You Really Want” campaign, SlimFast is contrasting the “politically correct” weight-reduction motivations typically used in marketing by SlimFast and other weight-reduction brands with women’s “real” (franker and somewhat racier) underlying motivations.

The creative, from agency The Bull Whitehouse, aims to have “liberating,” humorous appeal to “Slimmers” (SlimFast’s term for the women it’s targeting).

Each of the print ads in the campaign uses two cartoon-like copy bubbles coming out of the mouth of a silhouetted form of a woman, with one conveying her stated, politically correct reason for losing weight, and the other (thought bubble) conveying her real reason. 

Some of the ads use real true-motivation comments from “Slimmers” (identified just by first name and age); others use unidentified true-motivation copy based on research with the target audience.

For instance, in one ad, the stated reason is “I want to show off my new confidence,” while the internal thought shown is “I want to show off my new ass.” In another, the stated reason is “I want my jeans to go on easier,” while the internal thought is “I want my jeans to come off easier.” A third variation: “I want to get into my new pants,” versus “I want to get into someone else’s pants.”

The bottom of each ad shows an image of a SlimFast product, with the headline: “Get What You Really Want—SlimFast!”

“The truthful thoughts on why these women want to slim down are far more powerful, entertaining, motivating, hilarious and human” than their normally stated-out-loud reasons, says SlimFast director Wesley Boas. “SlimFast is all about helping women get their mojo back.”

In addition to ads in various women’s magazines, the campaign includes video-ad formats on magazine-brand sites (such as Elle, Marie Claire, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, People and Glamour) and other sites (including Popsugar, E Online, Blogher, Facebook, Btanga, Yahoo En Espanol, Telemundo, YouTube, AOL and NBC properties).

The campaign also has visibility on SlimFast’s site, Facebook page and Twitter presence.