Skully Rebels ad agency raises plight of bowling pins for Storm Bowling

SKULLY REBELS CREATIVE BRIGADE

By Cam Bonelli – Reporter, Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal

Jan 13, 2025

Updated Jan 13, 2025 5:25pm CST

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An ad agency is promoting a bowling ball maker with a new web series depicting the tough existence of bowling pins.

Skully Rebels Creative Brigade, a Minneapolis-based creative agency founded in 2020, collaborated with Utah-based bowling ball manufacturer Storm Bowling for a new project. The agency created a social web series called "The Knock'm Downs." The series shows life from the point of view of the bowling pins. The web series is live now on Storm Bowling's website and Skully Rebels's Vimeo.

In one clip, the series shows the bowling pins clocking out with bruises and scratches after being bowled over repeatedly by a Storm bowling ball. After a long shift, the bowling pins are pictured relaxing in a sauna, getting massages.

"Our original concept was one animated ad, but we saw the potential of these pins as individual characters," Skully Rebels Creative Director Jordan Rohweder said in an email. "Each with their own story and way of healing themselves to be ready for the next day of battering — like Wile E Coyote and the Roadrunner."

Rohweder said this was the first web series campaign the agency had created but hopes it won't be the last.

"We haven't seen many ad campaigns that are simple messaging cloaked in entertainment since the old Buddy Lee ads," Rohweder added, referring to a comedic ad campaign for Lee Jeans in the early 2000s using a doll as a mascot named Buddy Lee.

Skully Rebels's cartoon clips for Storm Bowling are in black and white and use a vintage-looking animation style. That creative choice to create a web series with a vintage feel reflects a nostalgic sense bowling alleys possess, Rohweder said.

"These were the places our fathers and grandfathers loved to go, and now younger generations are starting to enjoy it," he said. "So we wanted a modern cartoon with an homage to bowling's roots."

But doing the ad for Storm Bowling was personal for Rohweder.

Rohweder told the Business Journal that he serves as the commissioner of Ad League Bowling, a Minneapolis-based league that's been around for 30-plus years with teams made up of ad agencies and production studios. Carmichael Lynch, Drive Thru Productions, Volt Studios, Colle Mcvoy, BBDO and Skully Rebels Creative Bridgade are in the league. The league usually meets Monday nights at Memory Lanes in Minneapolis.

"When I'm not working in advertising you can usually find me on the lanes working on my strike game," Rohweder said.

Storm Bowling, which started as High Score Products, was founded in 1985 by Bill Chrisman. Today, Storm Bowling is considered one of the most well-known, top-selling brands in the bowling industry and is one of 11 bowling ball manufacturers in the world.

Storm Bowling takes an innovative approach to producing its products, and Rohweder said it was a good fit for his agency's style.

"Storm Bowling definitely appreciated our unique approach and casual, friendly style," Rohweder said. "We pride ourselves on building strong relationships with our clients, often turning those connections into lasting friendships. And let’s be honest — being a passionate bowling nerd probably didn’t hurt either."

Skully Rebels has worked on a few ad campaign projects with Storm Bowling and will continue collaborating with the brand.