JanSport鈥檚 Iconic Backpacks Sing Their Hearts Out in Comedic Gen Z Campaign by Party Land
Building on last year鈥檚 breakout success, 鈥淎lways With You鈥� returns with lovably twisted odes from your ride-or-die backpack that sees it all.
What if your JanSport could talk? What if it could sing? This back-to-school season, your favorite backpack brand is bringing to life the unsung devotion of a bag that鈥檚 been with you through every ride, trip, spill, and meltdown, with zero thanks and zero complaints. JanSport鈥檚 鈥楢lways With You鈥� campaign is back, and this new chapter鈥攃reated by comedy鈥檚 greatest ad agency, Party Land鈥攖urns the iconic backpack into a singing, deadpan antihero belting pocket-mouth ballads about the everyday chaos associated with always being by your side.
鈥淥ur premise is simple: Every JanSport bag has personality. And we figured, if it could sing, it would. We gave the bags voices, wrote original songs, and let them react to the everyday chaos they go through, like falling in love, warding off bug attacks, getting overstuffed,鈥� said Matt Heath, Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer at Party Land. 鈥淭he music, ranging from angsty punk to earnest power ballads, exaggerates the emotion, and the puppetry makes it feel weirdly real. It鈥檚 a fun and relatable way to reframe the product benefits and remind college-aged and older Gen Z that JanSport鈥檚 always there, forever a devoted companion.鈥�
Last year鈥檚 鈥淎lways With You鈥� campaign recast JanSport from nostalgic legacy to Gen Z essential鈥攏amed one of Ad Age鈥檚 Top 5 Gen Z Marketing Strategies of 2024 and hailed for its irreverent humor, music-first storytelling, and TikTok-native sensibility. The campaign drove a 385% year-over-year spike in engagement at launch and helped JanSport record its highest-grossing month in 57 years.
鈥淛anSport has been with young people through decades of life鈥檚 messiest, funniest, and most forgettable moments,鈥� said Alexandra Reveles, VP of Global Brand at JanSport. 鈥淟ast year鈥檚 campaign helped reestablish our place in culture by unapologetically leaning into who we already are for our customers鈥攍oyal, reliable, and basic. That honesty resonated with Gen Z. This new campaign takes that connection even further. Our backpacks now voice the unfiltered, over-the-top thoughts of an emotional support bag who鈥檚 been through it all, and still shows up. Once again, Party Land brought it to life in the way they do best鈥攖hrough comedy, music, and just the right amount of weird.鈥�
How JanSport & Party Land Cracked the Gen Z Code & Are Keeping It Going
鈥嬧�婽his campaign is deliberately built for how Gen Z audiences consume, connect, and share. Designed for TikTok and YouTube, each :15 film embraces the absurd humor, emotional exaggeration, chaotic charm, and deliberately unpolished style that mirrors Gen Z鈥檚 own content.
Last year鈥檚 鈥淎lways With You鈥� campaign proved just how effective that approach can be. By ditching perfection and instead highlighting JanSport鈥檚 dependable, no-frills personality, the campaign hit a nerve with a generation that sees through polish and gravitates toward brands that keep it real. It also tapped into Gen Z鈥檚 preference for content that feels unserious but emotionally honest鈥攆unny, messy, and real in a way that traditional ads rarely are. This year builds on that proven strategy鈥攕ame tone, same insight鈥攄elivered through a new cast of characters and songs.
Party Land鈥檚 use of humor isn鈥檛 just a stylistic choice. Studies show 78% of Gen Z are more likely to share ads they find funny, and 61% believe humorous brands are more trustworthy (). Just as importantly, the campaign reflects how the target audience see JanSport鈥攏ot as an aspirational lifestyle brand, but as a dependable, everyday companion, without pretending to be something it鈥檚 not. What makes Party Land鈥檚 work especially effective is its ability to spotlight product benefits without feeling like a pitch. The backpacks don鈥檛 talk about their features, they live them melodramatically.
鈥淓very JanSport bag in this campaign is a character鈥攁n overdramatic and overinvested character,鈥� said Andy Silva, Managing Partner, Party Land. 鈥淲e wanted to reflect what it means to grow up with a JanSport: it sees everything, survives everything, and holds onto your stuff鈥攁nd your secrets鈥攚ithout judgment. By treating the backpacks like real characters with real emotional stakes, we could exaggerate the product鈥檚 loyalty, usefulness, and durability in ways that are funny, strange, and still endearing.鈥�
Puppets and Practical Effects: Bringing the Singing Bags to Life
To make the bags sing (literally) Party Land and Impossible Studios turned to puppetry and practical effects rather than CGI to give each JanSport鈥檚 front pouch a surprisingly expressive mouth. The result? A weirdly lifelike canvas companion capable of singing, reacting, and emoting like the most loyal (and unhinged) sidekick you鈥檝e ever had.
Every spot uses genre-based songs, written by Party Land and brought to life by music shop Mophonics, to heighten the comedy and tension of otherwise mundane scenarios. The bags鈥� voices were performed by untrained actors鈥攔aw, off-key, imploring鈥攅nhancing the campaign鈥檚 handmade, relatable feel.
By skipping traditional advertising tropes and embracing a weirder, more intimate tone, JanSport is reasserting its place鈥攏ot just as a school staple, but as a cultural touchstone for 18鈥�24-year-olds.
The campaign will run nationally with a heavy emphasis on TikTok, YouTube, and short-form video.
About JanSport
From the beginning, JanSport has lived true to its purpose: Always With You. The brand is a true and trusted ally throughout all life adventures and values inclusivity, authenticity, and self-expression. With sustainability at its core, JanSport is committed to improving the environmental impact of its products through material and manufacturing innovations while continuing to provide the same durability, versatility, and long-life JanSport packs are known for. Though the brand began by manufacturing and marketing world-class outdoor backpacks, today's product offerings include backpacks, crossbody bags, totes and travel bags, and accessories sold on , in department stores, and in specialty and boutique retail locations worldwide.
About Party Land
Party Land is comedy鈥檚 greatest ad agency, renowned for its ability to drive business results through the strategic use and execution of humor. Since launching in 2018, Party Land has quickly emerged as a top independent agency in the U.S., garnering recognition for consistently creating unignorable, effective campaigns for marketers who believe in the power of comedy to turn audiences into fans. Party Land has been named an Ad Age Small Agency of the Year (2x), an Adweek Breakthrough Agency of the Year finalist (2x), #9 on Adweek鈥檚 100 Fastest Growing Agencies, and 2x Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. Learn more at
