There's an inherent impossibility in advertising something physically intangible—say, a scent—via print or television. This, presumably, is why the fragrance industry attempts to sell an idea of a product rather than the product itself.

In the case of a designer fragrance for women, that "idea" tends to come to life in the form of an A-list celebrity (or occasionally a model) wandering aimlessly in some decadent setting, perhaps uttering an awkward phrase or two, preferably in a language not her own, and generally causing the average TV viewer to think, "What on earth was that all about?"

Case in point: Dior's new spot for J'adore.

Dior's minute-long "film," titled "The Future Is Gold," is about as textbook a fragrance ad as one could imagine. There's an untouchably gorgeous star (longtime spokeswoman Charlize Theron) doing some rather bizarre activities (such as climbing up a silk rope like a member of Cirque de Soleil) in various fantastical settings (an ornate ballroom followed by a futuristic cityscape) while wearing a lavish gown (not exactly the outfit one might choose for rope-climbing, but at least she had the good sense to lose the four-inch heels).



There's a voiceover—something about memories and dreams and the past and the future and heaven. And of course, there's Theron seductively purring the final "J'adore Dior."

Doesn't make sense? You're overthinking it.

You're not actually supposed to understand the incoherent dialogue. You're not supposed to know why Theron is climbing onto the roof wearing a red-carpet gown. And you're certainly not supposed to figure out what any of this has to do with J'adore's base notes of "Sambac Jasmine" and "Ylang Ylang from the Comoro Islands."

No, you're supposed to watch it (more than 10 million already have on YouTube), and absorb it—feel it. And then drop $70 on an ounce of eau de toilette next time you're killing time at Macy's before going to pick up your kids at the food court.

Toward the end of a tough week for the league, Lowe's will break a new NFL campaign, themed "Make your football self happy," during Thursday's CBS telecast of the Baltimore Ravens game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Four humorous spots from BBDO New York show men and women being urged by their inner pigskin selves to get their home improvement projects done—so they'll be free to watch pro football on Sunday.

The well-acted ads are aimed at men and women. Indeed, the best of the bunch shows a woman berating herself to get her gardening done in time for kickoff.

Lowe's pockets a huge chunk of its sales volume on weekends, when do-it-yourselfers finally catch up around the house, according to CMO Tom Lamb.

"For us, it's an angel on the shoulder reminding the consumer that football and home improvement can nicely co-exist—if they get off the couch early and get into Lowe's," he said.

Lowe's has a big advertising commitment to CBS's new Thursday night package, also serving as a presenting sponsor of the network's pre-game show.

Of course, neither Lowe's nor BBDO had any idea the Ray Rice story—his contract was terminated by the Ravens after video emerged of him knocking his then-girlfriend out cold—would explode this week. Still, does Lamb think it's wise to go for the funny bone on an NFL telecast when the league's approach to domestic violence is under fire?

The campaign is about football fans, Lamb replied, not the league or one single club.

"The ads, and the fun, and the humor, and the enjoyment of what we're trying to portray, is really for the fans," he said. "Everything we've done in testing, and pre-testing, is showing that our fans, and homeowners in general, really enjoy the spots."

CREDITS
Client: Lowe's
Spots: "Thank You," "Snack," "Pep Talk" and "Early Start"
Agency: BBDO New York
Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer, New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director: Lauren Connolly
Executive Creative Director: Tim Bayne
Creative Director: Molly Adler
Creative Director: Mike Sweeney
Art Director/Copywriter: Matt Vescovo
Senior Producer: Melissa Bemis
Head of Music Production: Rani Vaz
Senior Account Director: Jim Reath
Senior Account Director: Bob Estrada
Account Director: Heather Linde
Account Manager: Shippey Lewallen
Account Executive: Amanda Burnett
Group Director, Behavioral Planning: Annemarie Norris
Production Company: Epoch
Director: Michael Downing
Director of Photography: Toby Irwin
Edit House: Mackenzie Cutler
Editor ("Snack," "Thank You," "Early Start"): Ian Makenzie
Editor ("Pep Talk"): Nick Divers
Visual Effects House: The Mill

The KFC toasted burrito is all about getting more from your lunch break. Like, say, meeting, courting and marrying the love of your life.

In a new spot from BBH London, the chain's fried chicken wrap helps nudge a geeky workaday guy toward finding the woman of his dreams. What happens next is likely best interpreted as a brief fantasy about how much can happen in a mere hour.

Directed by Rattling Stick's Sara Dunlop, the spot is reminiscent of her earlier bit of excellent and brief storytelling, Vodafone's "The Wait." It helps that the two spots also share a similar soundtrack, with KFC using "Where I Fell in Love" from doo-wop group the Capris and Vodafone featuring a cover of Dusty Springfield's "Wishin' and Hopin'."  

Setting aside the question of exactly how a chicken burrito sets such a scenario into motion, the spot deserves credit for cramming more rom-com into 60 seconds than Hollywood usually can in 90 minutes. 500 Days of Summer? Just watch this instead.



CREDITS
Client: KFC
Chief Marketing Officer: David Timm
Marketing Manager: Grant MacPhearson
Brand Manager: Jocelyn Bynoe
Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty
Creative Director: Hamish Pinnell
Creatives: Charlene Chandasekaran, Dan Morris
TV Producer: Jodie Sibson
Team Director: Leo Sloley
Team Manager: Helen Campbell-Borton
Production Company: Rattling Stick
Director: Sara Dunlop
Producer: Stuart Bentham
Director of Photography: Nanu Segal
Stylist: Nick Foley-Oates
Editor: Art Jones, Work Post
Postproduction: The Mill
Visual Effects Producer: Rachel Stones
Colorist: James Bamford
Matte Painting: Jiyoung Lee, Can Y Sanalan
2-D Lead Artist: Chris Scott

Who's someone you see every day, and often thank, but don't know by name?

Coca-Cola thinks you should make up for being maybe a little rude to that person by buying him or her one of the brand's special bottles with names printed on them.

A new ad from the Philippines shows people gushing about the not-quite-acquaintances who brighten their days, and have earned consistent nicknames: a driver called "bro," a grocery bagger called "kid," a security guard called "boss." Then the people sheepishly admit they have no clue what their fellow humans are actually called. Cue personalized Coca-Cola gifts—the clouds part, the sun shines, and everybody goes home happy.



The three-minute commercial, created by McCann, is documentary-style, but filming true story lines would require some real logistical contortions, so more likely the whole thing is staged. (Did the brand put out a casting call for people who knew other people they liked but didn't really know them, and then embark on an elaborate stalking mission?)

Regardless, it hardly matters. It's a nice bit of marketing as entertainment, meant to make people feel nice. It's what Coke often tries to do, and in this case, it seems to be working. The YouTube clip has some 900,000 views since being posted Thursday. And the comments include plenty of gushing praise. (At press time, there was only one obvious crack about diabetes.)

The real question, though, is how people are supposed to actually find a bottle with the name of whoever it is they want to thank.

CREDITS
Client: Coca-Cola
Agency: McCann Worldgroup
Director: Paolo Villaluna

Sit back and take four minutes to watch this lovely ad by Pampers Japan.

Titled "Mom's First Birthday," it celebrates a big milestone in a new mom's life—her baby's one-year checkup. The brand partnered with some dads to surprise some moms, and the result is sweet and heartwarming.

What really thaws my cold, hard heart is how earnest everyone seems (I know it's a commercial; let me live my life). All these moms have just spent the past year sacrificing sleep and sanity, dealing with uncertainties and fears, and when they walk out of that milestone doctor appointment, well … I don't want to spoil it for you.

Click for subtitles unless you're fluent in Japanese.



CREDITS
Client: Pampers
Agency: Leo Burnett Tokyo/Beacon Communications

Samsung serves up a giant helping of adorable in this ad with real-life couple Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell, who are seduced by the Galaxy Tab S into ditching their plans for actually experiencing the world in favor of endless screen time.

Shepard and Bell—aka Crosby Braverman from Parenthood and Princess Anna from Frozen (OK, Veronica Mars, you snobs)—are certainly a cute couple. A little too cute at times?

Let's just say if you're irritated by the opening bedroom scene, in which Shepard ruminates about Bell's apparently wondrous fingers ("How do you even hold things with these little guys?"), you might want to skip the rest of the spot.

For those sticking it out, the McKinney spot is pretty entertaining, though, as the Galaxy Tab S provided endless opportunities for not going hiking—like watching animal videos, playing video games and singing along to 1970s R&B hits.



While living mostly in a fantasy world, the 90-second spot does find humor in elements of real life—mostly by featuring a handful of jokes about Bell's pregnancy. (The one time Shepard does break out of the house, it's to find food his wife is craving.) The verisimilitude is compromised a bit, though, by the utter absence of the couple's existing infant (although it should come as no surprise that she's off limits).

Real-life couples, of course, are fascinating in a way that actors playing them will never be. And indeed, this spot has already topped 5 million views since rolling out on Sunday.

It doesn't hurt, either, that they left the Apple bashing at the door.

CREDITS
Client: Samsung
Agency: McKinney

Gatorade hits it out of the park with this epic 90-second salute to New York Yankees superstar Derek Jeter, breaking today.

If the retiring Jeter is looking for a new career, he can get a job on Madison Avenue, since he wrote some of the copy here and even suggested the Frank Sinatra song that serves as soundtrack for the ad, by TBWA\Chiat\Day in Los Angeles.

Molly Carter, Gatorade's senior director of consumer engagement, gave Adweek a preview of the commercial, which shows Jeter surprising fans outside Yankee Stadium to the tune of Sinatra's "My Way."

After penning an open letter announcing his retirement this spring, the Yankees captain himself suggested a spot showing him thanking Yankee fans, said Carter. When Gatorade asked the 40-year-old (the brand's third-longest-serving endorser after Michael Jordan and Mia Hamm) which song best summed up his career, he picked "My Way."

"It was a true collaboration between Derek and Gatorade," Carter said.



Gatorade, the official sports drink of Major League Baseball since 1990, roped off a few blocks before a home game in the Bronx this July and "just kind of let Jeter go," said Carter. The shock and surprise on fans' faces when their idol walks into Stan's Sports Bar, or autographs baseballs, is genuine, she said.

The 90-second "My Way" spot breaks online Thursday, and will air on TV for the first time Saturday on the YES Network and Fox.

Gatorade will follow that with a full-page print ad (see below), which Carter said was written by Jeter himself, in the New York Daily News and Sports Illustrated on Sept. 28-29. Addressed to "New York," the ad shows Jeter tipping his cap to fans.

"From my first at bat until my final out, you helped make me who I am," he writes. (Jeter's final game in pinstripes is Sept. 28 at Boston, unless the Yankees somehow make the playoffs—which is highly unlikely.)

Besides the ad campaign, Gatorade will outfit the Yankees dugout with customized cups, coolers and towels featuring Jeter's No. 2 in place of the Gatorade "G" during a game on Sept. 22.

Jeter was also honored by Nike's Jordan Brand in a 90-second spot from Wieden + Kennedy in July.



CREDITS
Client: Gatorade
Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day, Los Angeles
Executive Creative Director: Brent Anderson
Creative Director: Renato Fernandez
Senior Copywriter: Nick Ciffone
Senior Art Director: Dave Estrada
Executive Producer: Sarah Patterson
Assistant Producer: Garrison Askew
Director: Henry-Alex Rubin
Production Company: Smuggler
Executive Producers: Patrick Milling Smith, Brian Carmody, Lisa Rich, Lisa Tauscher
Producer: Drew Santarsiero
Editorial: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: Damion Clayton
Executive Producers: Dave Sellars, Angela Dorian

MiniAbe Lincoln has been screaming and whoa-ing his way around Illinois for over a year in ads for the state's tourism office. But he settles down in the latest spot from JWT Chicago—thanks to the love of his life, Mary Todd.

Todd was notoriously melancholy for most of her adult life. And no wonder. It turns out she worked in a bleak cubicle in a nondescript office, pecking away on a keyboard that was way too big for her.

But along comes MiniAbe to whisk MiniMary offer her feet, quite literally, in this amusing spoof of the over-the-top final scene from An Officer and a Gentleman.

The spot is meant to get boomers, Gen X-ers and others to "whisk someone away" this fall and enjoy romantic attractions in Illinois.



CREDITS
Client: Illinois Office of Tourism
Agency: JWT Chicago

Outside Shibuya Station in Tokyo, there is a statue of a dog named Hachiko. In the 1920s, the dog would greet his owner at the station at the end of every day. One day, the owner died suddenly and never made it home. But Hachiko spent the next nine years, until his own death, returning to the site every day, hoping to see his owner.

A similar story of a dog's unceasing loyalty is the subject of Budweiser's latest responsible drinking ad, which rolled out Friday for Global Be(er) Responsible Day, which Bud conceived to talk about drinking and driving.

The spot, which has more than 6 million views as of Monday morning, shows man's best friend pining for his master's return after he leaves one night to go drinking with friends.



Dog lovers will get a tear in their eye, as they do with all of Bud's excellent dog-based tear-jerker marketing. (In some ways, it's kind of a sequel to "Puppy Love," the brand's world-beating 2014 Super Bowl commercial.)

There's been some griping about why the protagonist here wants to stay alive for his dog—and not his kid or wife or something. Well, people who whine into a comment box before really thinking about it, who do you think overdrinks the majority of the Budweiser in this country? A bunch of young dudes who don't have wives or kids yet. Thus, the smart hashtag: #friendsarewaiting.

It's also, wisely, not overly realistic. We don't need the scene where the dog destroys a shoe and pees everywhere in retaliation.

CREDITS
Client: Budweiser
Agency: Momentum Worldwide
Director: Gus Black
DP: David Morrison

Starbucks wants to help you with your communication problems. Just spend more time sitting in one of its shops talking to a real live person instead of text messaging.

In a series of new ads from BBDO, the coffee chain plays up the difference between the spoken and written word by showing text-message conversations which voice actors also say out loud at the same time—with real subtext instead of cutesy emoji and bad grammar.

In one of the spots, a man tries to figure out if he's still in the doghouse with a love interest. In another, a woman tries to get the skinny on her friend's date the night before. In a third, a father sets his daughter's mind at ease.

About halfway through each, the screen goes blank, but the voiceovers continue, and it turns out there's a lot more going on in each scenario than is at first apparent.

The message is nice, simple, clear and easy to identify with in an era dominated by smartphones and their pitfalls—not just the losses in translation wrought by a format that favors brevity, but also the constant distraction from one's immediate surroundings, and the people in them. The takeaway is also deftly illustrated in the visual minimalism of the ads, reminiscent of other powerful text-and-tech-based commercials that tap into the connected-24-7 zeitgeist like Google's classic "Parisian Love" and Honda's more recent PSAs against texting and driving.

It's also a bit of an straw man argument that seems to try to prey on popular handwringing about new technology's adverse effects. The premise—that people rely on text messaging as an equivalent replacement for face-to-face contact with the other people they actually want to see—doesn't also hold true. Also, miscommunications happen plenty when two people are sitting across each other at a table. But maybe if humans hang around Starbucks longer, they'll buy more stuff.

Regardless, all the people in the ads are talking way too slow for people who've been guzzling coffee. Plus, don't they have somewhere else they need to be?

CREDITS
Client: Starbucks
Title: "Conversation Films"

Agency: BBDO New York
Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer, New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director: Dennis Lim
Executive Creative Director: Juliana Cobb
Executive Creative Director: Tom Markham
Creative Director/Copywriter: Paul Bartow
Senior Copywriter: Dana Stalker
Associate Creative Director: Rachel Frederick

Director of Integrated Production: David Rolfe
Senior Producer: Becky Burkhard
Director of Music: Rani Vaz
Music Producer: John Melillo

Worldwide Senior Account Director: Brandon Fowler
Account Manager: Catherine Wright
Account Executive: Miranda Hardy
Group Planning Director: Rich Santiago
Account Planner: Sofia Morales
Engagement Planner: Kevin Wang

Director: Peter Jensen

Audio Post House: Sound Lounge
Sound Engineer: Tom Jucarone
Sound Engineer: Glen Landrum
Sound Engineer: Pat Christensen
Executive Producer: Vicky Ferraro

Edit House: Go Robot
Editor: Adam Liebowitz
Editor: Joe Kriksciun
Animator: Christian Matts

Top photo: rekre89/Flickr Creative Commons

When William Shatner released his first album, The Transformed Man, in 1968, he practically invented the genre of overly dramatic lyrical recitations to music. Of course, it wasn't well received, and he was ceaselessly mocked. But his unique style would become popular again decades later, as the Internet found those old recordings and did what the Internet does best: elevate the absurd to the sublime.

Then Ben Folds, a longtime secret fan of The Transformed Man, created an album with Shatner called Has Been in 2004, and suddenly, that special Shat style wasn't just hilarious and inexplicable, it was downright in demand.

So, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Thomson Holidays bases its latest commercial around Shatner's cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody" off his 2011 album Seeking Major Tom.



Thomson wants you to take a vacation that washes away the slings and arrows of your everyday life in the waters of the Caribbean. And in this spot, by London agency Beattie McGuinness Bungay, it woos you with a version of The Velveteen Rabbit—as a neglected, one-eyed teddy bear learns to smile again by vacationing in Jamaica and falls in love with an off-label My Little Pony.

The brand's previous ad, the award-winning "Simon the Ogre," won hearts and minds with similar fairy-tale storytelling. But of course, it wasn't cut to a track by William Shatner.

Frankly, the cute bear story would have been pretty darn good without the Shatman. It's beautifully and carefully considered and shot—not surprisingly, given that director Tom Tagholm's credits include the incredible "Meet the Superhumans" spot for the 2012 Paralympic Games.

But somehow, Shatner's reading elevates the work from a potentially slapstick exploration of the damage popsicles can do to plush into a surprisingly emotional journey that will have you feeling for the trials and tribulations of an inanimate animal.

Which means it could also give Thomson the fairy-tale sales it's dreaming of.

CREDITS
Client: Thomson Holidays
Spot: "A Film About a Smile"
Agency: Beattie McGuinness Bungay, London
Executive Creative Director: Trevor Beattie
Creative Director: Pat Burns
Creative: Rachel Miles, Michael Tsim
Producer: Gill Loftus
Production Company: Park Pictures
Director: Tom Tagholm
Executive Producer: Stephen Brierley
Producer: Fran Thompson
Production Manager: Ananda Coulier
Director of Photography: Martin Ruhe
Model Maker: Anarchy
Soft Technician, Teddy Bear Wrangler: Danielle Boyne
Postproduction: Realise Studio
Voiceover: William Shatner

Why do people drink Diet Coke? Is it the caffeine? The lack of calories? The sheer convenience? Or do they actually enjoy the taste?

Coca-Cola is banking on the latter on with its new "Get a Taste" campaign from Droga5—which, in the words of the company's North America vp Andrew McMillin, "[reminds] fans why they fell in love with Diet Coke the first time."

Three new ads will show how just a sip of a frosty Diet Coke can make your lame life into something way more exciting. (It's not exactly a groundbreaking concept, but at least it won't get the brand accused of pushing drug use or anorexia.)

The first spot, "Economy Class," says drinking a Diet Coke can make the hell that is flying coach into an absolutely delightful experience.

It all begins when a female passenger walks into the back galley, where a flight attendant gives her a rather jaunty once-over and hands her a can of the good stuff. The passenger takes a sip and—poof!—the cabin turns into a rollicking nightclub complete with a John Galliano lookalike nuzzling an Afghan Hound, a waiter's disembodied arm distributing hors d'oeuvres from an overhead compartment, and a bar stocked exclusively with Diet Coke.



Just as the woman turns her gaze to a dapper gentleman in the corner, though, turbulence hits, and she's jolted back into her economy-class reality, where dudes wear hoodies, not elegant smoking jackets.

Oh, and by the way—the music here, "Boom! Bap! Pow!" by Suit, is getting to be a popular advertising soundtrack. This is at least its third appearance in 13 months, following spots from Gilt.com and Value City.

Later this fall, Diet Coke will roll out another installment of the "Get a Taste" series starring none other than spokeswoman Taylor Swift. We have yet to see a preview of that ad, but I'd put money on her being transported via Diet Coke to a world filled with cuddly kittens, freshly baked cookies and repentant ex-boyfriends.

CREDITS
Client: Diet Coke
Agency: Droga5

Need a place where you can audition someone for your band? Where you can haul your giant computer equipment for a geeky meeting? Where you can fuel up with your fellow bikers? Where you can celebrate a birthday, reconnect with a long-lost friend or just engage in a little PDA?

There's a Starbucks for that.

The coffee giant rolled out its first global brand campaign on Monday. And the focus is very much not on Starbucks (well, kind of not on Starbucks) but on the millions of people who get together at its stores every day—and the stories they have to tell.

The feel-good theme is "Meet me at Starbucks," and the centerpiece—a five-minute-plus mini documentary by 72andSunny—shows people doing just that. It was culled from 220 hours of footage filmed in a single 24-hour period in 59 Starbucks stores (including the one I visited this morning, on Astor Place in New York) in 28 countries by 39 local filmmakers and 10 local photographers.

We get to visit everywhere from Rio de Janeiro to Bogota, Singapore to Beijing, Mumbai to Toronto, Paris to Berlin to Istanbul. And the bonhomie—like your latte—appears to be much the same wherever you go.



Last week we posted some new Starbucks work by BBDO New York that was very minimalist—images of text-message conversations cleverly showed how meeting people face to face is better than communicating virtually. The new campaign has the same message, but the style is sprawling by comparison.

On YouTube, the five-minute film is interactive, giving you options to watch eight other films that tell the stories of different eclectic groups who regularly get together at Starbucks. We meet scrapbookers in Long Beach, N.Y.; postcard-sending fanatics in the Czech Republic; women practicing the art of knot tying in Japan; a hearing-impaired group meeting weekly in Honolulu; and more. (The film was cut into 30- and 60-second TV ads.)

If that's not enough, you can click on "Gallery Mode" and get a whole screen full of smaller screens—with little films and vignettes everywhere you look. If this smorgasbord of virtual content doesn't convince you to stop consuming virtual content and go meet someone face to face, nothing will. (Actually, it's not that easy to embed anything except the main film, and perhaps that's a way to prevent virtual sprawl.)

Rather than make any real argument for getting together at Starbucks specifically, the campaign assumes you probably already do. (It takes a brand of Starbucks' size to say things like, "It's never been just about the coffee.") And so the brand happily blends into the background. It's so ubiquitous, it's almost invisible. It's the happy host. And it lets the consumer be the hero.

What the campaign does suggest about Starbucks, though, is that it's not just the unthinking, inevitable choice. Indeed, everyone here is thinking, and feeling, very deeply indeed. It's not just what everyone does. It's what interesting, passionate people do—and it's what they choose to do.

"Good things happen when we get together. See you tomorrow," says the copy at the end. It's hard to argue with the first statement. The second, despite the phrasing, is actually up to you. And if the campaign does what it's supposed to, it will feel like a real choice—and one you'll gladly make.





CREDITS
Agency: 72andSunny
Glenn Cole, Chief Creative Officer
John Boiler, CEO
Grant Holland , Group Creative Director
Chiyong Jones, CD/CW
Gui Borchert, CD/Designer
Jc Abbruzzi , Lead Writer
Warren Frost, Lead Designer
Martin Schubert, Jr. Writer
Natalie Viklund, Jr. Designer
Aaron Tourtellot, Jr. Designer
Matt Swenson, Creative Technologist
Matt Jarvis, Chief Strategy Officer
Kelly Schoeffel, Co-Head of Strategy
Elisha Greenwell, Strategy Director
Chris Kay, Managing Director, LA
Josh Jefferis, Brand Director
Celeste Hubbard, Brand Manager
Alex Belliveau, Brand Coordinator
Tom Dunlap, Chief Production Officer
Sam Baerwald, Director of Film Production
Dominique Anzano, Calleen Colburn, Ellen Pot, Sr. Film Producers
Peter Williams, Film Producer
Heather Wischmann, Director of Interactive Production
Ruben Barton, Sr. Interactive Producer
Adrienne Alexander, Interactive Producer
Jason Heinz, Sr. Analyst
Melissa Bell, UX Design Director
Chip Davis, UX Designer
Michelle McKinney, Business Affairs Director
Christina Rust, Business Affairs Manager
Jesse Sinkiewicz, Business Affairs Coordinator

Production Company: m ss ng p eces, in collaboration with Co.MISSION Content
Josh Nussbaum, Director
Kate Oppenheim, Ari Kuschnir, Brian Latt, Executive Producers
Dave Saltzman, Head of Production
Mike Prall, Producer
Harrison Winter, Co.MISSION Content Group EP / CEO
Kris L. Young, Co.MISSION Content Group President

Ideas United
David Roemer, CEO
Tammi Montier, Business Development
Aaron Azpiazu, Partner Manager

Editorial: Cut & Run, Los Angeles
Michelle Eskin, Managing Director
Carr Schilling, Executive Producer
Remy Foxx, Post Producer
Lucas Eskin, Stephen Berger, Isaac Chen, Sean Stender, Kendra Juul, Editors
Brian Meagher, Christopher Malcolm Kasper, Assistant Editors

Editorial: 72andSunny Studio
John Keaney, Director of Operations
Nick Gartner, Editor
Becca Purice, Producer

VFX: Jogger
David Parker, Creative Director
Matthew Lydecker, Artist
Megan Kennedy, Producer
Liz Lydecker, Sr. Producer

Telecine: CO3
Sean Coleman, Colorist

Mix: Play Studios
John Bolen, Ryan Sturup, Mixers
Lauren Cascio, Executive Producer

Music
Keith Kenniff, Unseen Music
Jóhann Jóhannsson
Youth Faire
Andrew Simple

Interactive: Stopp/Family
CEO/Executive Producer: Fredrik Frizell
Executive Producer: Eric Shamlin
Producer: Callan Koenig
Creative Director: Zachary Richter
Associate Creative Director: Abe Cortes
Junior Designer: April DiMartile
UX: Wai Shun Yeong
Junior UX: I.K Olumu
Technical Director: Ola Björling
Backend Developer: Mattias Hedman
Frontend Developer: Jin Kim
Subtitle Developer: Brian Hodge

Over the past decade, Dove has established itself as a brand that initiates conversation about real beauty and self-esteem. It latest long-form spot, "Legacy," at less than three minutes, is shorter than other recent Dove films, but it drives the point home: How girls feel about their beauty starts with how their mothers about theirs.

In the film, made by Ogilvy Paris, five women are asked to write two lists: what they like and don't like about the way they look. Then their daughters are asked the same questions, and we watch the mothers read their daughters' lists.



The mothers' reactions are particularly fascinating—they're restrained but disheartened. "Oh, she said her legs, too." The women realize their daughters are picking up on their complaints about their bodies and making them their own.

The ending is lovely, as the girls point out the things they do like about their bodies. Early in the film, one mother says, "I believe that the fact that I smile a lot has a lot to do with why my skin stays nice." And at the end, her daughter follows up with, "I like my face, because it is smiley."

"Whether a mother, aunt, coach, teacher or sister, all women can set a positive example for the next generation by expressing their own beauty with confidence," says Jennifer Bremner, director of marketing at Dove. "Dove has long been dedicated to fostering positive self-esteem in women and girls, and we invite all women to join us in making a difference to the next generation by ensuring their own beauty legacy is a positive one." 

Dove kicks off the 5th Annual Self-Esteem Weekend at the United Nations on Oct. 9.

CREDITS
Client: Dove
Agency: Ogilvy Paris

Not every famous photograph was taken with a Leica. But they were all taken thanks to Leica.

The German camera brand on Wednesday unveiled this incredible new ad from Brazilian agency F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first Leica camera and the opening of Leica Gallery São Paulo in November. And the message it conveys is not exactly a humble one.

Leica helped to move photography out from the studios and into real life. And so, in a way, it made possible every photo you've ever seen that captures real, unscripted, unposed life. To celebrate this, the two-minute spot recreates some 35 famous photos of spontaneous moments—and it does so delightfully and beautifully.

The spot is best watched at full screen. May also be NSFW due to brief nudity.



There are echoes here of Grey London's "Icons" spot, though the Leica ad is less of an elaborately structured set piece. But it's a triumph all its own—a spot that visually pays off its grand statement and, remarkably, stands as a pretty damn good tribute to every photo ever taken in the past 100 years.

CREDITS
Client: Leica Gallery São Paulo
Agency: F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi
Spot: "100"
Product: Leica Institucional
Executive Creative Directors: Fabio Fernandes | Eduardo Lima
Head of Art: João Linneu
Creatives: Bruno Oppido | Romero Cavalcanti | Thiago Carvalho | João Linneu
Agency Producer: Victor Alloza
Account Management: Marcello Penna | Melanie Zmetek
Media: Fábio Freitas | Gabriela Guedes
Planning: José Porto | Guilherme Pasculli
Production Company: Stink
Direction: Jones+Tino
Producer, Designer: Daniela Calcagno
Director of Photography: Bjorn Charpentier
Executive Producers: Cecília Salguero | Maria Zanocchi
Editors: Jones+Tino | Danilo Abraham
Line Producer: Victoria Martinez
First Assistant Director: Santiago Turell
Location Manager: Lucia Sánchez
Producer Designer: Daniela Calcagno
Stylist: Alejandra Rosasco
Postproduction: Casablanca Effects
Sound Studio: Satélite Áudio
Production: Equipe Satélite
Account Management: Fernanda Costa | Marina Castilho
Voiceover: Nick Brimble
Client Approval: Luiz Marinho | Anna Silveira

The iconic clock from Grand Central Terminal symbolizes the heart of New York City in this impressive 90-second animated film from Y&R, part of its campaign backing the New York Organ Donor Network.

There's darkness all around, and time is running out for Gotham as the clock struggles to keep ticking. Brick facades crumble. Cabs crawl past pedestrians who shuffle dejectedly through the streets. Even the Statue of Liberty slumps her shoulders. But ultimately, folks collect bits and pieces of NYC—subway signs, manhole covers, fire hydrants—to build a fantastical new machine (with a familiar design) that just might save the day.

The tagline pays off the plot, and viewers are directed to LongLiveNY.org for more.

"Next-to-last place—we are ranked 49th in terms of the percentage of state residents registered as organ donors—is not good enough for New York," Y&R executive creative director Glen Jacobs tells Adweek. "We need to move the needle, so organ donors can save lives. Period."



Every 15 hours, another New Yorker dies while waiting for a donated organ, and only 23 percent of the local population has registered to give. "We won't rest until we unlock the key to get this turned around," Jacobs says.

"It took several months to do the proper research and come up with the right approach," he adds. "But once we settled on the final direction, everything proceeded very quickly. It was really important for us to find the right caliber of talent to bring this idea to life."

Laurent Witz, an Oscar winner for last year's animated short Mr. Hublot, directed the film, which strikes the perfect tone of eerie melancholy before giving way to brightness and hope. The 3-D animation style is a good choice, adding a sense of lifelike urgency to every frame. (The campaign also includes the lovely poster below, which will run in the subway.)

"The biggest hurdle for the cause continues to be how many myths surround organ donation," says Jacobs. "So many people simply do not have the facts needed to make an informed decision." The film's visual élan and the Donor Network's treasure trove of information should encourage folks on the fence to give serious thought to registration. That would be a heartening development.

"If this campaign helps raise awareness for the cause, that's great," Jacobs says. "But we have a long way to go. So, our aim is to keep finding bigger and better ways to get the message out."



CREDITS
Client: New York Organ Donor Network
Agency: Y&R, New York
Chief Creative Officer: Jim Elliott
Executive Creative Director: Glen Jacobs
Creative Directors: Josh Schildkraut, Miranda Dean
Executive Director of Content Production: Letitia Jacobs
Producers: Emma Starzacher, Sarah Haroldson
Account Management: Laurie Newsome, Tre Jordan
Business Manager: Adele Solomon
Production, Postproduction: Zeilt Productions
Director, Executive Producer, Director of Photography: Laurent Witz
Production Assistant: Joane Degive
Character Design: Jerome Gillet, Ghayth Chegaar
Composer: Francois Rousselot
Music: Macedonia Radio Symphonic Orchestra

Remember the old basketball game HORSE? The one where you and a friend take turns trying to make baskets, and whoever doesn't make one gets a letter, and if you get enough letters and spell HORSE first, you lose? Or something like that?

Well, Foot Locker and BBDO New York recently invited people to play HORSE with Houston Rockets shooting guard James Harden, aka an actual NBA player.

Before you (rightfully) say, "Wow, that sounds like a terrible idea. Obviously the regular human is going to suffer an embarrassing loss," understand that Foot Locker has a very loose definition of the word "play." In this case, the game of HORSE did not involve two people actually interacting on a basketball court. Instead, people were asked to share videos of themselves making crazy shots (presumably after at least 100 failed attempts) using the hashtag #HorseWithHarden, which Harden would then try to replicate.



The actual "games," recapped in the YouTube video above, aren't especially riveting. What is riveting is watching Harden interact with the nameless hype man in the video who was apparently hired by Foot Locker to make loud noises and be a general annoyance to everyone. You'll remember the sound of his grating, high-pitched shout-squeals long after you remember why you were watching James Harden play HORSE in the first place.

You know that FX series You're the Worst that everyone seems to really like even though the promos looked terrible? That show is probably about this guy.

CREDITS
Client: Foot Locker
Title: "Horse with Harden"

Agency: BBDO New York
Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer, New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director: Chris Beresford-Hill
Executive Creative Director: Dan Lucey 
ACD/Art Director: Jesse Snyder
ACD/Copywriter: Tim Wassler

Director of Integrated Production: David Rolfe
Associate Director of Digital Production: Joe Croson
Lead Producer: David Martinez
Shot Producer: Eric Bloom
Associate Producer: Courtney Fallow
Production Supervisor: Michael Gentile

Account Director: Janelle Van Wonderen
Account Manager: Nick Robbins
Assistant Account Executive: Samuel Henderson

Senior Digital Strategist: Rhys Hillman

Production Company: The Kitchen
Director: Lawrence Chen
Line Producer: Jonathan Hsu
Director of Photography: Tinx Chan

Live Broadcast Switcher: Marcus Taylor
Live Editor: Keith Vogelsong
Event Recap Video Editor: Nick Divers

Music: Apollo Studios

Not all happy families have the same beginnings, but if there's one thing they have in common, it's the deep love at their core. And it's clear, in this new Cheerios ad from Canada, that André, Jonathan and their adopted daughter Raphaëlle couldn't feel more strongly for each other.

The spot begins with the French-Canadian couple, quickly glossing over how they met on a blind date to focus on the heart of the story—how their partnership became a family after Raphaëlle joined the picture. While it's a little too sappy-sweet to see the story illustrated by one Cheerio slowly floating toward two others in a bowl of milk, the story itself is undeniably heartfelt and memorable.

The ad is part of a "Cheerios Effect" campaign from Cossette Toronto, which celebrates stories of love—whether between fathers and their adopted daughter, a couple who bond over their passion for music, or a woman and her rescue dog. It also includes an interactive website that lets users input their personal stories, which are then turned into videos illustrated by Cheerios.



While all the stories are poignant, André, Jonathan & Raphaëlle's is especially touching because the men describe how they thought it would be impossible to have children. They also discuss their struggles with whether they wanted to be called "Dad," as they knew their daughter would already face societal judgment for having two gay parents.

If you aren't out of Kleenexes by this point in the two-minute clip, the final two lines of dialogue will ensure you'll be digging at the bottom of the box.

It's a healthy, balanced family indeed. 

See more ads from the campaign below.

CREDITS
Client: Cheerios
Agency: Cossette, Toronto
Chief Creative Officer: Glen Hunt
Creative Directors: Glen Hunt, Jennifer Wilson, Ed Lea
Art Director: Lucyed Hernandez
Copywriters: Dan Cummings, Jennifer Wilson
Agency Producer: Sharon Kosokowsky
Account Supervisor: Jamie Artkin
Group Account Director: Wendy Morgado
SVP, National Business Leader: Janis Lindenbergs
Production House: Descendants
Director: John Cullen
DOP: Kris Belchevski
Producer: Todd Huskisson
Editor: Gerrit Van Dyke
Editorial House: Soda Post
Audio House: Silent Joe
Music director: Jody Colero

You'll laugh! You'll cry! You may cringe a bit, too.

Barton F. Graf 9000's first campaign for Tomcat mouse-killing bait takes an off-off-off-Broadway approach with the introduction of "Dead Mouse Theatre." Essentially, it's a pair of hands manipulating a couple of fake mice with X's for eyes. Add some funny character voices and some atonal singing, and you've got some pretty amusing ads.

Rather than emphasize the kill, the mini-plays find entertainment value in the dead critters themselves, answering a teaser question from a perky male announcer at the beginning of each ad: "What will we do with all these dead mice?"

At their best, these ads feel like a cross between two old Saturday Night Live staples: The Mr. Bill Show and Leonard Pinth-Garnell's Bad Conceptual Theater. At their worst? Well, fringe theater still beats typical rodent-killer advertising. Oh, there's also this Tumblr page.

The tagline, enhanced in the ads by a cat screech, is, "Tomcat. Engineered to kill."

CREDITS
Client: Tomcat (The Scotts Miracle Grow Co.)
Agency: Barton F. Graf 9000, New York
Chief Creative Officer/Founder: Gerry Graf
Executive Creative Directors/Partners: Scott Vitrone, Ian Reichenthal
Art Directors: Jerome Marucci, Ross Fletcher
Copywriters: Steve McElligott, Nick Kaplan, Mark Bielik
Head of Integrated Production: Josh Morse
Producer: Cameron Farrell
Senior Strategist: Deepa Sen
Account Director: Jennifer Richardi
Account Supervisor: Kimmy Cunningham
Production Company: Rattling Stick
Director: Ringan Ledwidge
Executive Producer: Joe Biggins
Producer: Patrick Bailey
DOP: Ray Coates
Costume Designer: Rosa Dias
Production Designer: Simon Davis
Set Designers: Nigel Howlett, Nick Abbott
Puppeteer: Andy Heath
Editorial: Work Editorial Inc.
Editor: Mark Edinoff
Executive Producer: Erica Thompson
Senior Producer: Sari Resnick
Assistant Editor: Adam Witten
Finishing: The Mill
VFX Producer: Rachel Trillo
Telecine: Fergus McCall, Mikey Rossiter
2D Leads: Chris Sonia, Keith Sullivan
2D Assists: Emily Bloom, Molly Intersimone, Anne Trotman, Antoine Douadi, Dae Yoon Kang, Liz Berndt
3D Animation: Aran Quinn
Audio: Heard City
Audio Engineers: Philip Loeb, Evan Mangiamele
Music: Butter

Droga5 was just 2 years old in 2008, with nothing like the profile it has now, when it teamed up with Sarah Silverman for "The Great Schlep," encouraging Jews to visit their grandparents in Florida and get them to vote for Barack Obama.

"The Great Schlep" won millions of views along with a slew of ad awards. (Talking to Adweek earlier this year, Silverman called the reaction to it "a big beautiful surprise.") Now, she and the New York agency have reunited for another hilarious political campaign, the "Equal Payback Project," aimed at closing the wage gap between men and women.

The project, benefiting the National Women's Law Center, which advocates for equal pay, is essentially a giant fundraiser, with a ludicrously lofty goal of raising almost $30 trillion—a figure calculated by multiplying the 69 million working women by the amount ($435,049) each one stands to lose, on average, to the wage gap over the course of her career.

Silverman explains the project in the amusing video below. But then, realizing that goal is unlikely to be met, she embarks on an even more drastic plan to get the money she deserves.

Video is probably NSFW due to lots of fake male genitalia.



"It's insane that equal pay is still something we're fighting for in 2014," says Karen Short, creative director at Droga5. "More than 50 years have passed since the Equal Pay Act, and the typical woman is still making only 78 cents to a man's dollar. We want to breathe new life into an old issue still relevant to the modern working women. It's a wake-up call for us to take charge of our financial fates."

"Equal pay may not be a sexy issue, but it's an important one," says Casey Rand, Droga5 creative director. "And it is absurd. Young women need to know what's at stake. And we knew that to get them to engage, we'd need to play up that absurdity."

The video points to EqualPaybackProject.com, which goes live today and will collect donations through the end of the month. It's powered by Tilt, a crowdfunding platform, and was funded by The Ipsos Girls' Lounge.

The idea and original script for the video came from the creatives at Droga5; Silverman worked on the script, too, after signing up for the project.

"The wage gap is stubborn, it's persistent and it's outrageous," says NWLC co-president Marcia D. Greenberger. "We're thrilled that Sarah Silverman is bringing her prodigious talents and brand of irreverent humor to bear on a very serious issue for women and their families. We hope she opens hearts and minds—and a few pocketbooks—to provide the resources to close the wage gap once and for all."

See some infographics and posters from the campaign, along with credits, below. And check out our Q&A with Silverman from earlier this year on the joys and terrors of politically charged advertising.

CREDITS
Client: National Women's Law Center
Campaign: Equal Payback Project
Agency: Droga5
Creative Chairman: David Droga
Vice Chairman: Andrew Essex
Chief Creative Officer: Ted Royer
Creative Directors: Casey Rand, Karen Land Short
Art Director: Sean Park
Head of Integrated Production: Sally­-Ann Dale
Senior Producer: Anders Hedberg
Broadcast Producer: Bill Berg
Executive Technology Director: David Justus
Senior Interactive Producer: Laura Bruskin
Interactive Developer: Phillip Pastore
Chief Strategy Officer: Jonny Bauer
Head of Communications Strategy: Colleen Leddy
Communications Strategist: William deLanoy
Head of Accounts, General Manager: Susie Nam
Account Director: Amanda Chandler
Account Manager: Belle Bonar
Associate Account Manager: Jonathan Weiss
Co-Writer/Comedian: Sarah Silverman
Production Company: JASH
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Director of Photography: Jonathan Hall
Executive Producers: Daniel Kellison, Doug DeLuca, Mickey Meyers
Producer: Nicholas Veneroso
Associate Producers: Chelsea Gonnering, Skyer Predergast
Editing, Postproduction: Droga5 Studios
Editor: Matt Badger
Crowdfunding campaign powered by: Tilt
Music: Jingle Punk