21st
The Ila Dusk is a personal alarm for women that’s flying off the shelves of leading U.K. retailers and will soon be launched in the U.S. It’s an odd device. About the size of an iPod, its sole function is to ward off attackers by emitting the piercing sound of a screaming woman. But what’s truly unusual about it is the company that developed it: British ad agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH).
Ad agencies, after all, are supposed to be in the business of selling products invented by others. But BBH three years ago strayed from the path when it set up a subsidiary called Zag to create and market novel goods like the Ila Dusk. BBH calls Zag its brand-invention business — and it isn’t the only ad shop selling its own branded products. New York City agency Anomaly produces Eos, a line of women’s cosmetics; Miami-based Crispin Porter + Bogusky is the brains behind Twist cleaning products. And Brooklyn Brothers, with offices in New York City and London, produces a line of organic milk chocolate called Fat Pig…..
