This new spot for the latest game in EA's Dead Space series really captures the visceral horror of the video-game franchise's sickest, most disgusting … wait, hold on.
I'm sorry, this is an ad for herbal tea.
It plays better pre-spoiled, so watch below. The punch line just seems ridiculous. On the second viewing, however, you can see more clearly what's dragging the hideous clown, the bloated corpse and the ghost down into the murky depths. "Drown your fears," it says, and seems to imply: "And if you don't have any fears, you are welcome to try a few suggestions from our Fear Generation department here at Hungary-based Herbaria."
One of the nice things about European ads is they seem to take for granted that you can get away with a lot more on the air, and so they just go for broke (witness this 1992 winner of the Cannes Grand Prix).
The makeup artists really deserve some kudos for this one. The clown is, of course, the star of this nightmare, but the chainsaw-wielding zombie guy is perfectly put together (or rather, taken apart), and the effect on the ghost is fascinating—how did they do that? CGI? Really good underwater face makeup and a shaved head? I don't know, but I dig.
There is no escape for these evil creatures from the vast plain of water, which ends up being the inside of your teacup. It doesn't exactly make me want tea right this moment, but it does make me want to see if I can substitute tea for Ativan.
CREDITS
Client: Herbaria
Agency: Jung von Matt/Neckar
Production Company: Tempomedia
Director: Andreas Roth
DOP: Roland Stuprich
Co-Production Company: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg
Service Production: Valentine Films
Qualcomm may be one of the world's main suppliers for smartphones and tablets, but few people recognize the brand behind the processor chips used in so many of their favorite mobile devices. To grab mass-market attention, OgilvyWest pulls out the stops in this new Qualcomm spot: It's executed as an epic movie trailer with live action shot around Vancouver and fantasy elements including castles, crossbows, knights and dragons that tease Qualcomm's new generation of Snapdragon processors coming this summer.
The dragon is central here, acting as a brand character that epitomizes the processors' upgrades. In the tongue-in-cheek execution, the agency, working with special-effects house Framestore, cuts the commercial's fire-breathing monster down to size, making it smaller, cuter and more brand appealing to consumers. "People love their devices, but they don't always know what it is that makes them work," says agency co-chief creative officer James Dawson-Hollis. "A big part of this was 'How do you make an emotional connection that is key to the thing that you love?' "
Someone who's given that a lot of thought is Qualcomm's new CMO, Anand Chandrasekher, who was hired from Intel last August. While he's pledged to boost advertising to build a consumer brand, the company won't be as demanding as Intel: He has said partners can "opt in" to the marketing initiative and aren't required to advertise the Qualcomm brand on their products.
It's not the first time the San Diego company has used creatures to represent brand attributes. A year and a half ago, Qualcomm used insects, spiders and scorpions in the "Bug Circus Generator" spot to show the efficiencies of a bug-powered smart phone. It was a clever spot from Denizen Co. in Los Angeles, but not nearly as consumer-friendly as the new spokesdragon, which may well show up in future Qualcomm ads.
CREDITS
Client: Qualcomm
Product: Snapdragon
Agency: OgilvyWest
Co-Chief Creative Officers: James Dawson-Hollis, Bill Wright
Creative Director, Copywriter: Nathan Dills
Associate Creative Director: Dennis Lee
Art Director: Carson Liu
Head of Integrated Production, Executive Producer: Carolyn Johnson
Postproduction: Framestore
Executive Producer: James Razzall
Director: Murray Butler
Director: David Mellor
Head of Production: Jonathan Shipman
Senior Producer: Satoko Iinuma
Sartorial trends come and go, but in the fashion world, Diet Coke has always been a favorite. (In fact, it's the only liquid that legendary Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld will deign to ingest.) In recent years, fashion icons from Jean Paul Gaultier to Lagerfeld himself have lent their talents as "creative director" of the brand. Now, to celebrate its 30th anniversary in Europe, Diet Coke is bringing in yet another world-renowned designer: Marc Jacobs.
Fortunately for the brand, Jacobs happens to be more than an insanely gifted fashion designer. He's also somewhat of a sex symbol. So, it only makes sense that in addition to designing new packaging for the soft drink, Jacobs is also the star of an ad campaign.
In a new spot promoting the collaboration, three pretty girls stumble upon Jacobs in a photo booth, clad in his signature kilt but soon devoid of a shirt. As the pictures fly out and the curtain flies open to reveal Jacobs's chiseled, tattoo-covered physique, the girls squeal with delight—although it's not entirely clear whether they're big fans of his designs or just sadly unaware that they're not really his type.
No matter. Jacobs is always game to reveal his toned body, SpongeBob ink and all. Because if you had recently managed to go from this to this, wouldn't you want to show off, too?
The world is going to hell in a hurry. But at least we've got our comfort food, which has sustained us for millennia—all cooked with rich, quality butter.
That's the reassurance offered by Wieden + Kennedy London in its latest visually astonishing spot in the U.K. for Danish butter brand Lurpak. No other campaign in all of advertising will make you feel as hungry as the Lurpak ads do. W+K has been cooking up a whole new kind of food porn for this client in recent years, redefining tabletop with incredibly forceful close-up hero shots of the food (and the process of hammering it into shape) that are as aggressive as they are mouthwatering—backed by rhythmic soundtracks that drive the action forward.
In this new spot, the muscular approach is particularly compelling, as Lurpak isn't just claiming to make your meals a little tastier. It wants nothing less than to help humans through their current tough times—and to feel fulfilled at the dinner table, if nowhere else.
This sweeping historical context is evident from the first frames, as a spark ignites a flame on a stove. (Look, we've discovered fire!) "Mankind wasn't built on just baby leaf salad," says the almost absurdly gruff Rutger Hauer voiceover. "Stomachs full, we marched forward on meals forged with our own two hands." We then see three such meals being prepared—cottage pie, bread and butter pudding, and macaroni and cheese—as primal drum beats mark every slice, smear, grate and stir of the classic comfort dishes.
It's almost an industrial vibe—the prep shots are cold and dark, even foreboding, with every pot and pan and knife and timer built for a purpose, not for show or style. At the end, the warmth seeps into the film as the finished dishes are pulled from a scorching oven. "If we can get through an Ice Age, we can get through this week," Hauer says. "Tomorrow, we're ready for you."
The on-screen tagline is: "Good food deserves Lurpak."
The point is, when it comes to comfort food, you get out what you put in—so don't skimp on the ingredients. And for God's sake don't feel guilty about eating this stuff. "Lurpak has gone against the grain to celebrate the power of the dishes we're so often made to feel bad about," said W+K creative Hollie Newton. "Sod it. It's winter. It's a never-ending recession. We deserve a proper dinner."
The 60-second TV spot, directed by Vince Squibb at Gorgeous, broke on Sunday. The $15 million campaign will also include cinema, print, out-of-home, digital, in-store and experiential ads.
CREDITS
Client: Lurpak, Arla Foods
Director of BSM Brands: Stuart Ibberson
Senior Brand Manager: Jessica Hardcastle
Brand Manager: Samantha Peel
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, London
Creative Directors: Dan Norris, Ray Shaughnessy
Creative: Hollie Newton
Account Director: Emma Simmons
Planner: Theo Izzard-Brown
Agency TV Producer: Lucy Russell
Agency Print Producer: Rebecca Herbert
Media Planning: Carat
In-store and Experiential: BD Network
Digital and Social Media: Outside Line
TV Production Company: Gorgeous
Director: Vince Squibb
Production Director: Sam Levene
Offline Editor: Paul Watts at The Quarry
Postproduction 2-D Artist: Barnsley at The Mill London
Sound Design: Dan Beckwith at Factory Sound Studios
Music: Alex Heffes ℅ Abi Leland at Leland Music
Food Stylist: Kate Giovanni
Print Production Company: Wyatt Clark Jones
Photographer: Rick Guest
Retouching: Stanleys Post
You love your job. You wake up every morning, and that's what you tell yourself.
Then you go to the office. And you're beset by superficial motivational posters, senseless meetings with pie charts and a dressing down from a boss. A commemorative pen reminds you that yes, you've wasted five years of your life toiling way in this particular professional hell. You smile and nod, and feign mild enthusiasm—when you can muster it. But you're not really fooling anyone.
This ad for jobs site Monster manages to pack in an awful lot of rich if depressing subtext, especially given the minimal dialogue. Created by BBDO in New York—though running only in the U.K.—it may be aided by the fact that advertising creatives feel uniquely qualified to weigh in on hating their jobs. Strong as the script is, though, the miserable protagonist delivers a knockout performance, nailing limp-armed, slack-shouldered ennui. And director Noam Murro suffuses the atmosphere with the perfect fluorescent gloom.
Little details, like our hero's thousand-yard stare into the bottom of a paper cup at the water cooler—as if he's dreaming he could escape by diving in—help tip the scales in favor of absurdist comedy. And the ever-growing nose, a familiar device, manages to serves its purpose without feeling hackneyed. For one thing, it invites the viewer to wonder if it will clear the closing elevator doors, a fresh and amusing take on Pinocchio's dilemma. And in the final shot, when the tragic hero squeaks out one more little lie to his wife, its ridiculous proportions drive the point home.
Now, all it needs is a eureka moment, where the guy realizes he should be grateful he has a job at all.
CREDITS
Client: Monster.com
Agency: BBDO, New York
Title: "Pinocchio"
Chief Creative Officer: David Lubars
Executive Creative Directors: Mike Smith, Greg Hahn
Creative Director, Art Director: Jens Waernes
Creative Director, Copywriter: Oliver Handlos
Producer: Amy Wertheimer
Executive Music Producer: Rani Vaz
Worldwide Account Director: Paul Suchman
Account Director: Courtney Hermanas
Production House: Biscuit Filmworks
Director: Noam Murro
Director of Photography: Simon Duggan
Managing Director: Shawn Lacy
Executive Producer: Colleen O'Donnell
Editorial: Final Cut
Editor: Eric Zumbrunnen
Effects: Method, New York
Music: "Edelweiss" from The Sound of Music by Rodgers & Hammerstein/Imagem Music
Score: Elias
The Microsoft Surface user who makes everyone around him burst out into enthusiastic dance moves is back. And this time it's professional.
This new ad for the Surface Pro is slicker and better focused than the previous one for the Surface RT, which I still liked but which many of you fine folks pointed out had its problems—most notably, huge fingerprints all over the screen in one of the last shots. (It's OK. Perfectionism is what makes you Adweek readers.)
But the new ad—Jon M. Chu directed both—is structured in a way the old one wasn't. It's set at a business meeting that appears to take place entirely in User Von Microsoft's head, in which the click-clack of his tablet's snap-together keyboard attachment and the bonking of his stylus are a symphony of martial taps and rolls just before the faux dubstep wubs and wurrrrrs.
The best moment here is the boss walking into the boardroom where leggy secretaries and fly junior execs are dancing like they're in the Rob Ashford revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. And instead of what's-all-this-ing them back to their cubicles, takes off his fancy coat and breaks it down while his beatboxing assistant drops some bass all over that nice clean floor.
This is basically the end to all movies about college, where the crusty old dean is admonished not to be such a square by an even more senior administrator, except there's no crusty old dean—just you, the viewer, who didn't give enough credit to this boss for being cool when he first walked in with his expensive glasses and his dance-proof trenchcoat.
He took off that coat and showed you, didn't he? What, bosses can't dance? Bosses aren't cool? We've had it with your attitude, prospective Surface Pro user. You're fired.
CREDITS
Client: Microsoft
Director: Jon M. Chu
Music: The Bangerz
It's not usually the role of advertising to make people experience extreme discomfort. But it works pretty well in this Nivea stunt from Germany—a clever if highly sadistic bit of ambush marketing that's destined to go viral.
If you want to be surprised, watch the clip below before reading further.
What happened was: Nivea and ad agency Felix & Lamberti ambushed a series of people in an airport waiting room with an mischievous multimedia barrage that made it appear as though each one was wanted by the police for some crime. The agency secretly took each person's photo, then quickly printed it on a fake newspaper cover identifying the person as a fugitive, which an actor would then carry over and pretend to read near the person. Next, the photo would appear on a TV overhead, as part of a fake newscast that described the person as "dangerous and unpredictable."
Naturally, the victim's confusion—and stress—grow with each passing moment.
Security personnel soon approach, but then the ruse is revealed. They open a suitcase to reveal Nivea's new "Stress Protect" deodorant—apparently perfect for anyone under intense pressure, whether the subject of a dodgy manhunt or not.
Refreshingly, the brand says the victims were not actors. In a comment on the YouTube video, it claims to have thoroughly researched the people to make sure they were healthy enough to take part (no known heart problems, for example), that it had the people's friends lure them to the airport, and that the actual duration of the stress was fairly short.
"Everyone went home happy," the brand says. The same will surely be true of millions of viewers as this thing gets picked up in the coming days.
CREDITS
Client: Nivea
Agency: Felix & Lamberti, Hamburg, Germany
Creative Director, Copywriter: Felix Schulz
Art Director: Johannes Widmer
Production Companies: JOTZ!, Wefilm
Nascar isn't just a bunch of dudes driving heavily branded stock cars around in circles.
It's also a bunch of dudes spinning out, flipping and smashing those heavily branded stock cars in spectacular crashes. It's also dudes threatening to punch each other in the face, and dudes getting really bummed out about losing and really excited about winning. Occasionally, it's not even dudes doing all this stuff (though mostly it is).
This is "Twist," the first of five new English-language spots (plus four additional versions in Spanish) for the popular racing association. The first work for the brand from Ogilvy, it's also part of what Nascar is calling its first ever fully integrated campaign, which debuts on TV this Sunday during the sport's biggest North American race, the Daytona 500.
Overall, the spot seems to answer the brief, "Make people think this sport isn't boring." The defensive posture isn't surprising, given the sport's declining popularity in recent years. It does an pretty good job of condensing myriad little dramas into a 60-second spot—and playing up the rubbernecking aspect of the sport, which may help give Nascar an edgier sheen for the youth demographic it's trying to reach.
Whether it's enough to stop Nascar from hemorrhaging viewers at live events and on TV is another question. The ad doesn't show much that isn't already familiar. The most insightful bit might be that the events aren't as fleeting as they seem—that drivers spend years working to get where they are, a fact generally eclipsed by the quick thrills of the sport. The nods to gender equality and patriotism feel almost obligatory. In short, it's all very ambitious, and tightly contrived, but doesn't quite turn the corner into something moving.
Plus, closing the loop at the end by inverting the ad's opening line—"For every turn, a twist" becomes "For every twist, there's a turn"—might not do the message any favors. As it turns out, Nascar is just a bunch of dudes driving heavily branded stock cars in circles.
CREDITS
Client: Nascar
Agency: Ogilvy, New York
Creative:
Calle Sjoenell- Chief Creative Officer
Terry Finley- Group Creative Director
Rich Wallace- Creative Director
Jack Low- Creative Director
Joey Monteverde- Copywriter
Doug Hanshaw- Art Director
Alvaro Cabrera- Executive Director, Creative Strategy
Production:
Lee Weiss- Executive Producer, WW
Susan Rafter- Senior Producer
Dave Lambert- Assistant Producer
This Dell spot from Young & Rubicam in New York is barely a Dell spot, but that's sort of what makes it work as entertainment, if not particularly as advertisement.
It's the latest in the "Power to Do More" series, which previously brought us Annie, the girl who could fly. In the new spot, we meet Thomas, "creator of an alternate universe." Directed by Bjoern Ruehmann, it's a lot of fun to look at (there are behind-the-scenes shorts for those suitably enchanted by the CGI characters)—especially the nervous rabbit, whose only pleasure in life seems to be the acquisition of a second ear, courtesy of Thomas Wilks, our budding-graphic-novelist protagonist.
Ruehmann's spot does pack a lot into a few seconds: There's the humdrum eye-flirting between Thomas and the beautiful woman down the row, whom he's clearly using as fodder for the fowl fatale character in his noirish story. The frog is a lot of fun, too. But the cricket-jockey mice are definitely the highlight, as far as I'm concerned. (By the way, people enchanted by Wilks's premise should know that the hardboiled-Wind-in-the-Willows thing has already been done quite well by graphic novelist Bryan Talbot in his series Grandville.)
The special effects here are a very convincing blend of practical and CG. The bird's feathered hand is a really beautiful piece of costuming, and the rabbit's whole getup is pretty seamless.
But ultimately, the ad doesn't really convince me that the Dell in question can do anything really notable or different. The spot is meant to celebrate the way Dell technology helps enable interests that people pursue outside of their work life. But with all story and not much product, it has trouble making its own case.
Maybe that's a sign of the times—computers now being no more or less preferable among brands than diet sodas—even if the tech industry is so invested in telling us otherwise.
CREDITS
Client: Dell
Agency: Young & Rubicam, New York
Chief Creative Officer: Jim Elliott
Executive Vice President, Global Creative Director: Jim Radosevic
Creative Director, Art Director: Fern Cohen
Creative Director, Copywriter: Margot Owett
Coywriter: Bruce Jacobsen
Executive Producer: Craig Jelniker
Assistant Producer: Abby Bralove
Executive Producer, Music and Creative Content: Jessica Dierauer
Assistant Music Producer: Rachel Rauch
Director of Business Affairs: Debra Horvath
Senior Vice President, Account Managing Director: Lara Griggs
Account Supervisor: Linden White
Production Company: Furlined
Director: Bjoern Ruehmann
Producer: Leah Fleischmann
Director of Photgraphy: Roman Vasyanov
Senior Executive Producer: David Thorne
President: Diane McArter
Editing: Work Post
Editor: Rich Orrick
Assistant Editor: Healy Snow
Executive Producer: Erica Thompson
CG, Online: MPC (Moving Picture Company)
Head of Production: Derek Macleod-Veilleux
Production Assistant: Lindsay Myers
Visual Effects Supervisor, 2-D Lead: Gigi Ng
Visual Effects Supervisor, CG Lead, Bill Dorais
Nuke: Alex Harding (lead), John Laughlin, Craig Sylvester, Sang Lee, Carl Fong, Mikael Petterson, Kelly Bruce
Animators: Grae Ravell, Anderson Ko, Ross Scroble, Jacob Fradkin
Lighters: Susie Hong, Corey Langelotti, Jimmy San, Ross Denner, Grahame Curtis
Modeller, Rigger: Andres Weber
Concept Artist: Andrew Brooks
Designers: Rob Modini, Colin Hess
Telecine: Adrian Seery
Telecine Assistant: Dan Silverman
Music: Tonic
Composer: Benjamin Price
Music Producer: Susan Stone
Sound Design: Wave Studios
Sound Designer: Alex Nicholls-Lee
Mix: Heard City
Engineer: Eric Warzecha
Executive Producer: Gloria Pitagorsky
The company announced on Wednesday that it's opening up testing on its Google Glass project to the public through a competition geared at programmers that invites applicants to make a case for why they should be allowed to play with the the technology. The search giant has also just launched the new ad below, which makes the whole idea of what's essentially a voice-activated smartphone that you wear on your face seem more viscerally exciting—and less intrusive—than it did in the initial teaser from last spring, which leaned more toward the off-kilter geeky and curiously conceptual.
The new spot, from Google Creative Lab and m ss ng p eces, still errs on the side of relentlessly quirky, casting potential users in roles like aerialist, ice sculptor and propeller-plane pilot. We'd venture those demographics, even combined, make up a relatively small portion of the population. Nonetheless, it includes enough range—and enough of the more mundane but still meaningful moments, like trips to the park with your kids or an elderly relative's birthday—to illustrate why anyone who isn't a gung-ho adventurer might care.
Perhaps most important, it illustrates a social tech experience that's better integrated into a first-person view, without digital thought bubbles popping into your field of vision, or the awkwardness of having to hold up your camera to snap a photo or shoot a video. (Now you can just shout commands at yourself instead.) It's the sort of concept that, if realized, is bound to take Internet-aided narcissism—"Hey, look at what I'm doing!"—to new heights, while also delighting wannabe cyborgs everywhere.
It's also easy to see that it could be a lot of fun.
CREDITS
Executive Producer and Creative Direction: Google Creative Lab
Production Company: M ssn g P eces
It doesn't take a lot of talking to appreciate the outdoors.
That's the charming subtext of this spot from hunting gear retailer Cabela's. Directed by Tyler Stableford, the ad eschews dialogue or a voiceover in favor of natural sound and screen copy. Those lines capture the little blips of solipsistic pseudo-insight that might flit through your brain as you sit at a campsite, sipping coffee and staring at a stunning landscape of rolling mountains. Some of the observations are more trite than others, but they do a great job of projecting a feeling of comfort—repackaging a self-satisfied, if simplistic, monologue as down-home marketing wisdom.
The message is definitely not for everyone. But the ad has enough emotional heft—and completely gorgeous scenery—to conjure a sort of romanticism even to people outside its target demo. I'm a city kid who can barely pitch a tent but has enough experience sleeping in the woods to know it's not my thing. Still, after a couple times watching the ad, I'm tempted to grab a bow, throw on some camo and spend a few days eating what I kill and waking up with a stiff neck.
Now, I should probably shut up and enjoy the view.
CREDITS
Creative Director: Brandon Beck
Director: Tyler Stableford
Directors of Photography: Anson Fogel & Kent Harvey
Correction: An earlier version of this article inaccurately identified Surdell & Partners as the advertising agency that created the new Cabela's ad.
In a classic print campaign for the Citibank AAdvantage credit card nearly 20 years ago, Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners raised the question of what motivates men to buy presents for women—suggesting it might not all be about pure love but about mileage points instead.
In a similar vein, Wieden + Kennedy's new campaign for Velveeta, breaking today, introduces the notion of a "Liquid Gold Digger"—or a guy who's really only interested in your golden sauce, not you per se. He wants you to think it's all about you, though, even while he angles for the cheese.
In one new TV spot, a teenage boy turns up for a sleepover at his friend's house, knowing full well that his friend is away. He feigns enough disappointment that the mom invites him to stay for dinner. He demands Velveeta on a hot dog.
Another ad takes place at a potluck dinner, with a young man named Jay telling a white-haired woman how young she looks, even as he digs into her macaroni and Velveeta.
In a third ad, a woman breaks the news to her friend in a kitchen that her partner is really just after her Velveeta cheesy broccoli soup.
The tagline: "Liquid gold diggers love liquid gold."
Previous W+K campaigns for the Kraft Foods brand looked to sell prepared meals such as Velveeta Cheesy Skillets and Velveeta Shells & Cheese. This effort sells the cheese itself, with a wink, a nod and even a Facebook quiz to determine if you're digger.
Traditional, blue-collar moms 25-54 are the primary target this time, according to Velveeta brand manager Richard Bode. Here's hoping they have a sense of humor about cheese.
CREDITS
Client: Velveeta
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Creative Directors: Karl Lieberman, Eric Baldwin
Copywriter: Michael Illick
Art Director: Rob Kendall
Producer: Monica Ranes
Agency Post Producer: Hayley Goggin
Account Team: Kara York, Jennifer Segerholt, Ken Smith
Executive Creative Directors: Mark Fitzloff, Susan Hoffman, Joe Staples
Agency Executive Producer: Ben Grylewicz
PRODUCTION
Production Company: Moxie
Director: Martin Granger
Executive Producers: Robert Fernandez, Roger Zorovich, Karol Zeno
Line Producer: Heidi Soltesz
Director of Photography: Eric Schmidt
EDITORIAL
Editorial Company: HutchCo
Editor: Jim Hutchins
Assistant Editor: Patrick O'Leary
Post Executive Producer: Jane Hutchins
In the case of Lincoln's "Sound and Vision" project, it turns out less is more.
Last week, the automaker released what it billed as the "fully immersive digital experience" of its much-commented-on Beck-covers-Bowie concert. In English, that roughly means a website that lets viewers wander around a virtual facsimile of the show. On the site, visitors can see all of theater-in-the-round's 160-musician ensemble, and hear different versions of the mix based on their positions, during the various stages of the performance.
As Wired outlines, it was an impressive feat of production—filmed with 360-degree camera rigs and recorded with microphone setups designed to mimic the human ear. That's another notch in the already-impressive belt of @radical.media director Chris Milk.
Still, even the high-definition version comes across as grainy and underwhelming, kind of like the digital version of a town car. The facial-recognition software—an optional, hands-free method for controlling the camera's perspective—is kludgy, and a distraction from the more remarkable piece of the campaign, which is the performance itself. And perhaps not surprisingly, the visuals themselves don't really add all that much. Watching people in the audience tap their feet and members of the orchestra wait for their entrances, it turns out, doesn't really make for all that good television. That's doubly true in contrast to Beck's own dynamic stage presence.
In fact, as great an experiment as the would-be-digital-wonderland seemed in theory, the plain old edited, focused, nine-minute regular video version of the performance (posted below), and the accompanying mix, make for a much better overall package without the bells and whistles of the gimmick. Especially because the concert itself is so good.
Still, for what it's worth, the campaign has drummed up a fair amount of attention for a brand nobody thought was capable of surprising anyone. And maybe it'll help Lincoln escape the widespread impression that it exists solely for the purpose of making limos.
CREDITS
Client: Lincoln
Agency: Hudson Rouge
Agency: Willo Perron & Associates
Production Company: @radical.media
Director: Chris Milk
I must say that if "physicist David Neevel" (who also appears to be Wieden + Kennedy creative David Neevel—yes, all right, he says he's a copywriter in the video) really did design this Oreo-dividing and -decreming machine in .04 years, he is perhaps wasting a certain amount of potential. Like, Large Hadron Collider-level potential.
Neevel is very funny in this ad, answering (badly) exactly the kinds of questions people off camera ask reality-TV performers ("One of the hardest things to overcome was to learn how to build robots and make them work," he says at one point) and generally looking worried most of the time. Is it me, or are we as a nation sick of dumb questions this week? Everybody's favorite video was Jennifer Lawrence describing her pre-Oscars "process" as "I just woke up and tried on a dress, and it fit, thank God, and then, um, I took a shower?"
The Rube Goldberg-y machine here is pretty cool, although it's odd that Neevel didn't use, I dunno, a light switch to make it work rather than the weird, homemade toggle thing. But then, this doesn't seem to be a guy who does things the easy way, does it?
My only issue with W+K's new cookies vs. creme campaign, besides Oreo's recalcitrance over the correct spelling of the word "cream" (seriously, give it an accent grave and tell people it's pronounced "crem," or just trademark the dumb thing), is that it causes the viewer to ask the TV set why the cookie lovers don't simply migrate to Nabisco's Chocolate Teddy Grahams, and why the creme lovers don't sit alone in their darkened apartments sobbing quietly into tubs of Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy Vanilla Frosting (16 oz.), which I have never, ever done and anyone who says different is a liar, Mom.
The dramatic music in the background is exactly right for the kind of thing this is kind of parodying—Syfy shows like Robot Wars, for example. And I really dig the ASCII/dot-matrix intro, although in about six months that's going to restrict the viewership of this ad to people over 30, since most of the digital generation thinks about dot matrix and ASCII the way we over-30s think about gramophones and typewriters.
Three more videos in this series are forthcoming—on Feb. 28, March 4 and March 7.
All right, this ad has successfully made me feel old. In conclusion, ZOMG, ROFL, this ad is swag (<— am I using this right? I never know). Kthxbai.
CREDITS
Client: Mondelēz International
Product: Oreo
Creative Agency: Wieden + Kennedy
Digital Agency: 360i
Production Company: World War Seven
Director: Shillick
Fun fact: Associating with David Bowie, whether in physical or purely musical form, instantly increases your cool factor by about 1 trillion percent. See: fashion model Iman, TV series Flight of the Conchords, the movie Labryinth and Lincoln Motor Co.
So, to elevate an otherwise just sort-of-neat ad for its new smartphone, the Xperia Z (pronounce it "zed" for full effect), Sony had the good sense to enlist the talents of the artist formerly known as Ziggy Stardust—or at least his vocals from a 1977 outtake of the song "Sound and Vision." (Yes, the same song Beck covered so memorably for Lincoln.)
The Xperia spot, from McCann London and director Tarsem—his credits include everything from REM's "Losing My Religion" video to the recent film Mirror, Mirror (also known as the Snow White retelling that didn't result in Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson's tragic breakup)—begins with the popular "Our brand through history" trope. But Bowie's soundtrack makes the slow-motion flashback scenes, from a group of people watching a rocket blast off on an early Sony TV to some kids playing with the first Sony PlayStation, seem substantially less cheesy.
The big finish, Tarsem's present-day depiction of the Xperia Z in action, is visually stunning: A pair of tourists in India use the smartphone to record a Holi festival celebration—in which the participants throw brightly colored powders at one another—before rinsing the apparently waterproof device in a stream of clear water.
Moving at half speed and set to this music, Tarsem almost makes you forget that you're watching your 30th smartphone ad of the day.
CREDITS
Client: Sony
Product: Xperia Z
Agency: McCann, London
Production Company: @radical.media
Director: Tarsem Singh
Tired of Rube Goldberg machines in advertising yet? Sorry, here's another. But after you finish your long sigh, you might actually enjoy this one.
A month from now, it will be 10 years since Wieden + Kennedy released its "Cog" spot for Honda. But the Rube Goldberg idea can still be compelling now and again, particularly when the advertiser can lay some kind of metaphorical claim to mirroring how such machines work—i.e., not very efficiently but with a higher purpose in mind.
In Panera's case, this means taking the longer road to making its food, and indulging in detours along the way. For example, it uses harder-to-find ingredients like antibiotic-free chicken; it bakes fresh bread from fresh dough in every one of its bakery cafés; and it donates leftover food to charity. These could be seen as inefficiencies—a Rube Goldberg way of doing business—but the result is a better-quality product, and as it turns out, a more delightful commercial.
Panera's agency, Cramer-Krasselt, hired 1stAveMachine to build the Rube Goldberg device—a wise choice, given that production company's extensive experience in making quirky devices for commercials (many of them for Google). 1stAveMachine built this device in a circle, which is itself a metaphor for Panera's daily routine—it ends, and then begins anew the next morning.
"What we're trying to do here is illustrate the cyclical nature of a day in the life of Panera," 1stAveMachine co-director Bob Partington says in the revealing behind-the-scenes video (also posted below). "A Rube Goldberg device is a cause and effect, like a chain-reaction device. And the idea is, all these little things in this circle represent all the difficult decisions and the hard road that Panera takes in creating this really great product."
There is also, of course, the more obvious connection between a Rube Goldberg machine and Panera's product—both are handmade, or "artisanal," if you like. "We thought that by doing it with artisans and embracing their craftsmanship, we were somehow also embracing the style of the brand," says co-director Antonio Balseiro.
Even if you think that's overly conceptualized, there's also the plain fact that Rube Goldberg machines are just fun to watch—whatever you're selling. If nothing else, that's why we'll surely see plenty more of them in the future.
CREDITS
Client: Panera
Agency: Cramer-Krasselt
Production Company: 1stAveMachine
Last September, Volkswagen released a notable commercial from Deutsch that was all about the infectious power of laughter. That ad earned millions of views, and probably as many smiles. Now, though, the automaker and agency are backtracking a little. Not every laugh, it turns out, is quite so heartwarming.
VW and Deutsch have become quite accomplished together at capturing life's little moments. And this spot from Noam Murro—often this agency and client's go-to director—is no different. We won't spoil it by taking you through the plot. Check out the spot below.
The casting is great. The joke is kind of goofy but relatable—a sweet spot for VW in much of its advertising these days. And it leads perfectly into the pitch, which is that the clean-diesel Jetta TDI can go more than 600 agonizing miles without needing a fill-up.
This execution might not be quite as wonderful as last year's VW road-trip spot—in which two buddies learned Spanish in a similarly long-running Passat TDI—but it's close.
Being able to laugh at a laugh. That's the power of German engineering.
CREDITS
Client: Volkswagen of America
Executive Vice President, Chief Product and Marketing Officer: Tim Mahoney
Vice President, Marketing: Kevin Mayer
General Manager, Marketing Communications: Justin Osborne
Advertising Manager: Jeff Sayen
Advertising Specialist: Chanel Arola
Agency: Deutsch, Los Angeles
Chief Creative Officer: Mark Hunter
Group Creative Directors: Michael Kadin, Matt Ian
Senior Art Director: Karl Haddad
Senior Copywriter: Jed Cohen
Director of Integrated Production: Vic Palumbo
Director of Content Production: Victoria Guenier
Executive Integrated Producer: Jim Haight
Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks
Director: Noam Murro
Executive Producer: Shawn Lacy
Head of Production: Colleen O'Donnell
Line Producer: Jay Veal
Editorial Company: Spot Welders
Editor: Haines Hall
Assistant Editor: Kai Yu
Executive Producer: David Glean
Producer: J. Patrick McElroy
Post Facility: The Mill
Color: Adam Scott
Visual Effects Company: The Mill
Producer: Rachael Trillo
Visual Effects Supervisor: James Allen
Sound Designer: 740 Sound Design & Mix
Sound Designers: Rommel Molina, Nicholas Interlandi
Executive Producer: Scott Ganary
Audio Post Company: Lime
Mixer: Rohan Young
Assistant: Jeff Malen
Producer: Jessica Locke
Additional Deutsch Credits:
Chief Executive Officer: Mike Sheldon
Group Account Director: Tom Else
Account Director: Monica Jungbeck
Account Supervisor: Amanda Rantuccio
Account Executive: Danielle Gordon
Account Planners:
Chief Strategic Officer: Jeffrey Blish
Group Planning Director: Doug Van Praet
Senior Account Planner: Nargis Pirani
Legal/Broadcast:
Director of Integrated Business Affairs: Abilino Guillermo
Associate Director of Business Affairs: Gabriela Farias
Director of Broadcast Traffic: Carie Bonillo
Broadcast Traffic Manager: Sarah Brennan
It's 9:30 in the morning. You're already at the office. Your wife, nine months pregnant, is at home, just now dragging herself out of bed. But thanks to Google, you will spend every second of the day in contact with her, sharing all of the anticipation, anxiety and not-getting-anything-else-done that comes, appropriately, with being on the verge of popping out a kid.
This U.K. ad from the Internet giant—with help from its in-house video agency Across the Pond, directors Silent Studios and production company Not To Scale—takes the now-familiar tack of humanizing the brand's technology by illustrating how the easily-taken-for-granted functions it facilitates—chat, search, maps—integrate into daily life to help people better inform themselves, and more easily keep in touch with their loved ones across distances.
The soundtrack, also characteristically for the brand, eschews voiceover in favor of the sort of Devotchka-esque instrumental music made so popular by Little Miss Sunshine that seems designed to capture the ineffably profound joy and meaning of existence, but certainly not by taking itself too seriously. And some approximation of that insight is, apparently, that despite living in a world where a vast amount of communication has shifted from talking, say, on the phone, to less intimate but more efficient text-based correspondence, what really matters in the end is being attentive to the person with whom you're sharing the ride—and ensuring the future of the species.
Overall, the style succeeds in accurately reflecting, for better or worse, the somewhat removed but still-connected way in which we experience the world, and relationships, these days. It also seems to accurately reflect the way in which men have always experienced their wives being pregnant. Which is why, of course, you're getting that pineapple she wants without making fun of her, and who cares if she's being a little passive aggressive—you'd better bet it's your record collection, and not her menagerie of animal-shaped teapots, that's going into storage to make room for the newest member of your family, whom she has just carried around in her stomach for the better part of a year. P.S.: All of her friends on Google Plus agree.
Not that she really needs their assent. Google, always listening, is your and her new best friend. It's also your secretary, your therapist, your financial adviser, your real estate agent, your navigator and your midwife.
CREDITS
Client: Google
Agency: Across the Pond
Google Product Marketing Managers: Jon Day, Matt Maltby, Harsh Shah
Across the Pond Head of Production: Beki Gard
Agency Producer: Alexia Merrington
Production Company: Not To Scale
Director: Silent Studios
Executive Producers: Dan O'Rourke, Debbie Crosscup
Cast
Man: Lawrence Baker
Woman: Jaymie Addicott
Line Producer: Hannah Ireland
Production Managers: Kelly Ford, Matt Saxton
Director of Photography: Benjamin Thomas
Production Designer: Nicola Dietmann
Costume Designer: Alli Wyldeck
Hair, Makeup: Heather Manson
Editing: Sam Gunn, Whitehouse Post
Grading: Max Horton, Technicolor
Sound Mix: Liam Paton, Resonate
You people have caused Michael Bolton no end of misery, and I just hope you're happy.
Mother's new spot for Optimum features good sport Bolton giving his dog a bath, jumping on a trampoline and rocking out in his amps-only living room while people like you—who make me sick, you're so inconsiderate—keep calling him and calling him.
The well-cast Optimum spokesperson shamefacedly explains that the company's new 866 number is just one digit different than Michael Bolton's number (please don't call him—he's had enough grief from you) and flashes both numbers up on the screen to explain the error. "Oops," says the Optimum rep, grinning sheepishly.
Yeah, "Oops." You've just given the vulture-like American public a way to get in touch with the beloved singer of "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You," and probably also some other songs, too. For the love of God, folks, leave the man alone.
OK, so I called Michael Bolton, mostly to ask him what he's been up to recently. But when I dialed the number in the ad, I got the following phone tree: "Hello, you've reached Michael Bolton. Press 1 if you thought you were calling Optimum to get TV, phone and internet for $84.95 a month. Press 2 to hear me shred on the guitar. Press 3 to hear how I warm up before a performance. Press 4 to hear me speak Spanish. Press 5 to hear a funny joke."
The joke's not actually that funny, but Michael Bolton laughs. Well played, Mother. Well played.
CREDITS
Client: Optimum
Spot: "Bolton"
Agency: Mother, New York
Production Company: Station Film
Director: Harold Einstein
Director of Photography: Barry Markowitz
Executive Producer: Eric Liney
Editorial Company: Mackenzie Cutler
Editor: Erik Laroi
Animation, Postproduction: Ataboy, Schmigital
Executive Producer: Sasha Hirschfeld
Post Producer: Evan Meeker
Final Grade, Finishing: Nice Shoes
Music Production: Butter
Music Producer: Annick Mayer
An ad touting excellent gas mileage or a turbo-powered engine or a spectacularly designed exterior isn't enough to sell a car these days. What you need, apparently, is a narrative of cinematic proportions. Throw in an of-the-moment actor and an original song by a buzzy artist, and you've got Jaguar's short film for the F-Type convertible.
The 15-minute branded film from agency Brooklyn Brothers and Ridley Scott's RSA Films, titled Desire, won't be out for the foreseeable future. But this week, after releasing several behind-the-scenes featurettes—something that's becoming increasingly common for even the lowliest ads—Jaguar has unveiled a full teaser trailer. It stars Homeland actor Damian Lewis (also a Brit, which we've hopefully all figured out by now) and Shannyn Sossamon (who you probably last saw in 2001's A Knight's Tale), and even features an original song, aptly titled "Burning Desire," by pretty, dead-eyed warbler Lana Del Rey.
Based on the 1:20 spot, here's what we can deduce: Desire appears to be the tale of a car delivery gone terribly wrong. Lewis, playing suited deliveryman Sydney Clark, is attempting to get a shiny red Jaguar F-Type to a wealthy businessman. But because "in the desert, nothing is simple" (according to the title cards, or possibly an old desert saying), he ends up caught in a fight between a gangster and the gangster's ex-wife. Played by Sossamon, the ex-wife's main job seems to be brandishing a gun inches away from Lewis's head while yelling at him to drive. Meanwhile, her gangster ex takes occasional breaks from waving his own piece to call Lewis "Prince Harry" and hyperventilate into a paper bag.
Yes, it's more than a little reminiscent of BMW Films from 2001. But all in all, it looks like good fun.
CREDITS
Client: Jaguar
Agency: Brooklyn Brothers
Production Company: RSA Films
Director: Adam Smith
