Picture this: It’s 4/20, you roll a joint, get ready to spark up, but wait — you can’t find your EZ reach lighter.
That’s the premise behind Bic’s latest campaign, released on the marijuana holiday, which taps legendary cannabis-smoking duo Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart to lead the hunt to find their lighters.
An extension of The Most Borrowed Lighter campaign, Bic Lights up America, created by M Booth, Doner CX, and Merkley + Partners follows Snoop and Martha as they organize a lighter search party under the presumption that country singer Willie Nelson stole it.
A video ad running on social media shows Stewart and Snoop Dogg on a video call with Nelson, asking him if he’s seen Snoop’s EZ reach lighter, as he tries to hide it behind his back.
But no one knows where Willie is — which is why Bic is calling on Americans to help find him.
To kick off the campaign, Bic will run out of home billboards in cities that play on the many names for cannabis, including Blunt, CA, Pottsville, PA, Weed, CA, Stoneville, NC and Hashtown, IN, as well as a digital billboard in Times Square, NY. They will include a call to action and a microsite to join the search party and view an interactive map.
The winner, who is able to spot a billboard featuring Nelson holding the lighter, will win exclusive merch signed by him, Snoop Dogg, and Stewart. Winners will be announced in May.
The campaign was built on the insight that EZ reach lighters tend to be borrowed by friends and family, Jeany Mui, marketing director at Bic Flame for Life, said in a statement emailed to Campaign US.
“Who better to help promote this initiative than Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart — three legendary icons known for using their BIC EZ Reach lighter quite frequently?” she said.