Hungryman's Dead Ad Society Resurrects Decade-Old Ad for KUL MOCKS

A decade-old idea just got its second chance, and so did an upstart beverage brand.

Hungryman’s new platform, "Dead Ad Societ,y" has released its first fully produced campaign for the non-alcoholic beverage company KUL MOCKS.

The campaign comes with a dark comedy spot that uses a script that had been collecting dust since 2012. 

Originally written by freelance creatives William Spencer and Mitchell Ratchik, the script was shelved when leadership changed at the agency they worked for.

“It happens all the time,” Ratchik said.

But over 10 years later, Spencer saw a LinkedIn post about Dead Ad Society and knew which script to resubmit. 

The forgotten idea ended up winning at Dead Ad Society’s inaugural event last fall in New York.

“We called it an anti-award show,” said Caleb Dewart, managing partner at Hungryman.

“It’s supposed to be wild. The scripts were performed live — a glorified table read. It was messy, imperfect, and that was the point. That’s the heart of it.”

The spot was directed by LJ Johnson, who connected immediately with the script’s tone and message.

From Table Read to Final Cut

Dead Ad Society was created to breathe new life into creative ideas that never made it past the pitch.

For the family-owned, female-founded beverage company KUL MOCKS, it was also a way into large-scale advertising.

The 45-second spot starts with a woman digging a hole in his backyard. 

"Are you burying all these KUL MOCKS?" her husband asks her. 

She answers with a straight face. The woman then grabs his husband by his hair and throws him into the ditch she created.

"I'm burying the guy who's trying to steal my KUL MOCKS," she responds. 

The spot ends with their daughter watching the horrific (yet comedic) events unfold from the window of their house. 

Work Editorial’s co-founder Jane Dilworth called the project a refreshing reminder of what could still be possible in advertising.

“The Dead Ad Society is a powerful reminder of just how much brilliance still exists in the ideas that don’t always get made.”

Submissions for Dead Ad Society Year Two are now open, with the next show set for September 18, 2025, at The Mint in Los Angeles.

Our Take: Can Dead Work Bring Brands to Life?

There’s something undeniably romantic about giving a second life to a script that was once dead on arrival.

But what makes this project stand out to me is how it brings brand identity into focus, not just for the brand, but for the platform itself.

Hungryman is carving out a lane for creative risk, where the underdog client and underdog concept get to shine together.

That’s the kind of reset advertising sorely needs.

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