You're sitting, stranded at sea, in a lifeboat with your best friend, who you don't really even like that much, but he's the only other person around, so you'll go with what you've got. But soon the two of you are fighting over whether the imaginary cream or the imaginary cookies are the best part of your imaginary Oreos, and things quickly spiral out of control.
Still, better than if your shipmate were a tiger.
This spot—the latest from Wieden + Kennedy for Oreo—is the second of two spots that came out of the agency's Super Bowl assignment for the Mondelez brand. (The first, the slapstick number "Whisper Fight," aired on the big game. Both were directed by MJZ's Tom Kuntz.) W+K has also been rolling out a series of web videos about elaborate cookie-separation machines under the same "Cookies vs. Creme" campaign banner. Clocking in at a few minutes apiece, each of those succeeds in offering enough entertainment—in the form of wry, absurdist humor—to keep them from feeling like a total waste of time.
"Life Raft" packs a similarly comedic, if slightly more surreal, ethos into its 50 seconds. Without getting into spoilers, it features the kind of offbeat writing that's easy to laugh at, and invites the question, "Where did they come up with that?"—without flying so far off the handle as to be off-putting. And while it's a soft sell, the product stays at the center of the story line. That makes it strong, classic, memorable TV advertising worth envying.
CREDITS
Client: Oreo
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Creative Directors: Jason Bagley / Craig Allen
Copywriter: Nathanial Lawlor
Art Director: Christina Gignac
Producer: Colleen Wellman
Account Team: Ken Smith / Jessie Young
Executive Creative Directors: Joe Staples / Susan Hoffman
Head of Production: Ben Grylewicz
Production Company: MJZ
Director: Tom Kuntz
Executive Producer: Scott Howard
Line Producer: Emily Skinner
Director of Photography: Toby Irwin
Editorial Company: Mackenzie Cutler
Editor: Gavin Cutler
Assistant Editor: Ryan Steele
Post Executive Producer: Sasha Hirschfeld
VFX Company: The Mill
Flame Lead Artist: Ant Walsham
2D Artists: Sarah Eim / Emma White / Trent Shumway / Patrick Munoz
3D Artists: Michael Panov / Brett Angeleillis
Production Coordinator: Ben Sposato
VFX Producer: Christina Thompson
Titles/Graphics: Clarice Chin
I usually have at least one question for our intrepid Ad of the Day candidates. But I have several for Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne. First, why did you make me play that one album on four different boom boxes sitting in the corners of my living room? Also, what in the world is going on in your new Virgin Mobile commercial?
Coyne is in this ad (following his and the band's recent turn for Hyundai), telling us to retrain our brains, and it feels a lot like watching one of the weirder Flaming Lips songs (like this cover of "If I Only Had a Brain," for example). My favorite moment here is the "cat video" of a person playing with a ball of yarn, apparently filmed by Colonel Meow, not to be confused with Chairman Meow. The brain leaping off the reverse-exploding couch is also quite effective, as are the red-suited interpretive dancers who swirl the giant Kleenex through the air.
One of the most solid axioms of copywriting is that if you don't have anything to say, say something funny, and that is exactly what this spot does. Honestly, pay-as-you-go cellphones don't really seem like that great of an idea anymore, but Virgin is sticking to its guns and Coyne is convincing enough to make you go, "Wait, why was my cellphone bill $95 last month, again?" It might not make you switch, but it makes you laugh, and that keeps the ad's subject on your mind.
I'm also not convinced it's not forcibly inserting itself into your brain in some weird way. This is the kind of thing I watch and then expect to start clucking like a chicken an hour later solely to amuse people like Coyne and agency Mother.
The New York agency has done a great job on this one, too. The casting is great, and it's got a solid Adult Swim vibe. To be honest, it feels most like something from the late, lamented Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, which is a little weird, since Tim Heidecker usually works for Weiden + Kennedy. Maybe it's just the Flaming Lips effect.
Also, Wayne, is this part of a new direction for the band? Why did you put out your last record exclusively on vinyl for two months? Does not having a turntable make me a loser? Cluck cluck cluck cluck cluck … !
CREDITS
Client: Virgin Mobile
Agency: Mother, New York
Lately it seems like every day is April 1 in advertising, based on how many campaigns are pranking ordinary people.
Cue Carlsberg's latest stunt, which rouses unsuspecting people from their beds (or wherever) between 1 and 5 a.m. with panicked calls from their friends, who claim they just lost $400 playing poker and must come up with the cash immediately—or else. "Come down now or I'm gone," one says ominously. When the friends arrive with the money at what appears to be a seedy building in Chinatown, they must pass by bouncers, bare-chested brawlers and other unsavory sights to reach the game on the third floor, where curtains part, game-show style, once the gag is revealed. Ultimately, Carlsbergs are raised in praise of "standing up for a friend."
Belgium's Duval Guillaume Modem dealt this particular hand. The same agency created Carlsberg's burly-bikers-in-a-movie-theater viral and TNT's uber-popular and over-the-top "Push to add drama" stunts. The poker prank, while elaborate and invasive, actually seems a tad tame by the genre's current standards. It's nowhere near as shocking as last week's faux elevator strangling for the movie thriller Dead Man Down, or as intricately upsetting as Nivea's airport ambush in February, which strove to convince people that they were wanted by the law.
Still, the public's appetite for such fare seems far from sated, as the poker play has passed a quarter-million YouTube views in two days. My favorite bit takes place in an elevator, where an old guy offers the prank victims some sketchy-looking meat on a skewer. (UPDATE: The brewer informs us those are actually grasshoppers!) In this genre, weird stuff always happens in elevators.
If you're trapped in prankvertising, take the stairs.
CREDITS
Client: Carlsberg
Agency: Duval Guillaume Modem, Antwerp, Belgium
Creative Directors: Geoffrey Hantson, Katrien Bottez
Art Director: Koenraad Lefever
Copywriter: Dries De Wilde
Account Director: Elke Janssens
Account Manager: Bart Verschueren
Agency Producer: Marc Van Buggenhout
Digital Strategic Director: Kris Hoet
Conversation Manager: Maarten Van Herck
Production Company: Monodot
Director: Cecilia Verheyden
Executive Producer: Tatiana Pierre
Producers: Bo De Group, Charlotte Cotman
Director of Photography : Pieter van Alphen
Postproduction Manager: Frauke Dierickx
Editor: Joris Vanden Berk
Sound Studio: Sonicville
Postproduction Company: Grid Brussels
Choosing a paint color is a pretty big commitment. If you paint a room in a color you hate, you'll either have to paint the whole thing over again, shell out for someone else to repaint it, or resign yourself to living with a horrific shade of mustard yellow that looked so much better on the paint chip.
Valspar is trying to take some of the anxiety out of the color-commitment process with its new "Love Your Color Guarantee," which allows anyone who doesn't love their Valspar paint to get another color gratis. (Unfortunately, the guarantee doesn't include a crew of painters.)
To prove how painless the process is, Draftfcb created this spot starring a pair of talking chameleons—Jon and Val, in case you were wondering—who are struggling to choose their own paint color for their living room. (You didn't know that chameleons live in houses? Duh.) Because Jon and Val are chameleons, they can easily shift to match any of the colors on the vibrant Valspar paint chips they're considering—unlike their living room, Jon points out, which will be stuck with whatever color they decide on. But Val knows about the "Love Your Color" guarantee, which means that if she decides to go with a hideous shade of purple, she can change her mind later. Problem solved!
There's just one more nagging issue: How the hell do two chameleons paint a living room?
CREDITS
Client: Valspar
Vice President, Director of Marketing: John Anton
Director of Brand Marketing: Paula Shikany
Agency: Draftfcb, Chicago
Chief Creative Officer: Todd Tilford
Group Creative Director: Gigi Carroll
Creative Director, Writer: Drew Donatelle
Associate Creative Director, Art Director: Myra Mazzei
Group Management Director: Scot Havrilla
Account Management Director: Rebeca Bechily
Production Company: The Mill
Directors: Ben Smith, Yann Mabille
Executive Producer: Ian Bearce
Producer: R. Stephan Mohammed
Editing Company: The Mill
Editor: Jonathan Rippon
Postproduction, Visual Effects Company: The Mill
Executive Producer: Jo Arghiris
Visual Effects Producers: Zu Alkadiri, Heath Raymond, Dee Allen
2-D Lead Artist: Tomas Wall
3-D Lead Artist: Christian Nielsen
2-D Artist: Erin Nash
3-D Artists: Joshua Merck, Laurent Makowski, Laurent Giaume, Timothy Kim, Alex Allain, Zang Chen, Justin Diamond, Hassan Taimur, Paul Liaw, John Wilson, Jeffrey Lee, Han Hu, Christina Ku
Motion Graphics: Tetsuro Mise
Colorist: Damien Van Der Cruyssen
Four out of five doctors agree that advertisers loves statistics, because consumers tend to believe them, even when they're meaningless. Now, Orangina's latest campaign from Fred & Farid presents the most ludicrous ad stats yet. And they bring excellent news to the long-running campaign's creepy anthropomorphic animals.
Two spots, "Cannon Ball" and "Pigeon," present exceedingly peculiar scenarios. In the former, a human cannon ball is shot clear through a circus tent and across miles of hilly terrain. Eventually, he crashes into an office building, where he takes out a bullying boss—leaving the man's Orangina-animal underlings speechless. A statistic then appears on screen: "Orangina drinkers attacked by the human cannon ball: 0%." It might not be a product benefit you'll use very often, but at least you know it's there when you need it.
Likewise, "Pigeon" features an obnoxious woman arguing on a cell phone who soon gets her come-uppance—in the form of a truly voluminous amount of pigeon shit falling on her head. "Orangina drinkers attacked by the wicked pigeon: 0%," says the reassuring copy.
The tagline on both spots is: "Stay alive, drink Orangina." Print ads support the TV work.
CREDITS
Client: Orangina
Agency: Fred & Farid, Paris and Shanghai
Creative Directors: Fred & Farid
Copywriters: Fred & Farid, Gian Carlo Lanfranco, Rolando Cordova
Art Directors: Rolando Cordova, Gian Carlo Lanfranco
Brand Supervisors: Hugues Pietrini, Stan de Parcevaux, Florence Burtin
Agency Supervisors: Mehdi Benali, Hélène Camus, Olivia Courbon
TV Producer: Karim Naceur
Post-Producer: Elise Dutartre
Production Company: The Glue Society
Director: Gary Freedman
TBWA\Chiat\Day's first brand image ad for Southwest Airlines since winning the assignment way back in July 2012 feels big, yet also down to earth.
The bigness—a change of tone for a carrier known for its more playful side—comes in the form of a series of trailing shots of a pilot, a basketball player, a ballerina and a corporate executive, each about to enter his or her given "arena"—be it a court, dance floor or boardroom. But just as you think, "Oh man, here comes another over-the-top paean to an industry rife with problems," the imagery softens to include a surfer, a farmer and baby standing. That's what makes this ad feel relatable.
Music also lightens up the message, with the sing-song chorus of fun.'s "Some Nights" driving the action.
Ultimately, the imagery shifts to smiling airline employees—a standard cliché of airline advertising, no doubt—but the voiceover message is less "We're the greatest" and more "We work really, really hard." Also, the employees in the end nod their heads to the side, as if to invite you aboard. Again, this is not an oversell but rather an ethos that weary travelers may appreciate—that is, if they arrive on time and their bags aren't lost.
The ad, which was directed by BRW USA's Erik Van Wyk and breaks today, is the first of some 10 national and local market spots that will roll out in the next two weeks.
CREDITS
Client: Southwest Airlines
Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day Chief Creative Officer: John Norman
Group Creative Director: Gage Glegg
Creative Director: Scott Brown
Associate Creative Director: Lauren Smith
Copywriter: Omeed Boghraty
Art Directors: Rebecca Ginos, Caroline O'Hare
Executive Director of Integrated Production: Richard O'Neill
Producers: Richard O'Neill, Micah Kawaguchi-Ailetcher
Director of Business Affairs: Linda Daubson
Senior Business Affairs Manager: Jill Durand
Group Planning Director: Rad Tollett
Planning Director: Amanda Reid
Account Planner: Whitney Martinez
Group Account Director: Stan Fiorito
Account Director: Chris Asahara
Account Supervisor: Eneida Mejia
Account Executive: Nicole Stokman
Account Group Assistant: Kayla Laufer
Traffic Manager: Nadzyah Guillermo
Production Company: BRW USA
Director: Erik Van Wyk
Executive Producers, Partners: Gianfilippo Pedrotti, Michele Nocchi
Producer: Ari Weiner
Director of Photography: Sebastian Wintero
Editorial Company: Venice Beach Editorial
Executive Producer: Hunter Conner
Editors: Peter Smith, Don Andrews
Assistant Editor: Neil Jariwala
Assistant Post Producer: Orlee Klempner
Editorial Company: Rock Paper Scissors
Executive Producer: Carol Lynn Weaver
Editor: Adam Pertofsky
Post Effects: MPC
Lead Smoke Artist: Mark Holden
Smoke Artist: Rob Ufer
Nuke: Ben Persons, Elliott Brennan, Jason Heinze
Producer: Abi Adejare
Executive Producer: Asher Edwards
Creative Director: Paul Oshea
Final Mix: Play Studio
Mixer: John Bolan Mix Producer: Lauren Cascio
Licensed Music for National TV Spots: "Some Nights"
Writers: Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost, Jack Antonoff, Jeff Bhasker
Artist: fun.
Record Label: Rhino Entertainment/Warner Music Group
Original Music for Local TV Spots:
MassiveMusic
Executive Producer: Scott Cymbala
Head of Production: Jessica Entner
Creative Director: Tim Adams
Composer: Ryan Rehm
Engineers: Tim Adams, Ryan Rehm
The slogan in this new ad for Pepperidge Farm's Milano cookies is "My yummy secret," which is either the title of an article in Ladies Home Journal or a late-night movie on Cinemax. The ad itself, however, is surefooted. It's a good concept executed simply and well: Just before a big dinner party, a husband finds his wife chilling with that most pernicious relaxant, the cookie.
Most of the burden of proof here is on the actors, and they're both excellent, particularly her. The "Still getting ready!" brush-off is just the right balance of cute and smug, and it's the rare comedy spot that appears to be about a functional marriage, or perhaps merely a marriage between two high-functioning chocoholics. (Also, you'll recognize the husband—the actor Pete Grosz—from a million Sonic commercials. It may be in his contract that he has to be eating something on camera in every spot he does.)
And that brings me to a more important point raised by this ad: I know it looks funny on TV, but seriously, folks, if you're struggling with chocoholism, please seek help. You don't want to wake up one morning, your face smeared with brown crust, your hair a mess, next to someone with whom you have nothing in common except the bottomless lust for Hershey's Special Dark. Milano cookies look harmless on television, but do you think this couple will have a good time at the dinner party plowed out of their gourds on baked goods?
I think not.
Your local chapter of Chocoholics Anonymous can provide an array of helpful literature and a group of people with the same struggles who will help you find the root of your problem.
Y&R in New York has done an excellent job of illustrating this poor woman's plight. Her compassion for her husband drives them both to binge. Why does she have such a frantic attachment to the fruit of the cocoa bean? Was her mother, too, a chocoholic?
It's almost too sad to contemplate. But perhaps she, like you, can wean herself and her enabler of a husband on to something less sinister—like gin.
CREDITS
Client: Pepperidge Farm
Brand: Milano
Agency: Y&R, New York
Chief Creative Officer: Jim Elliott
Executive Creative Director: James Caporimo
Creative Directors: Eric Glickman, Stephen Hersh
Art Director: Matilda Kahl
Copywriter: Viktor Angwald
Director: David Shane
Agency Producer: Jennifer Weinberg
Production Company: O Positive
Producer: Ken Licata
Executive Producer: Ralph Laucella
Editing Company: Cosmo Street
Editor: Aaron Langly
Account Management: Carol Ventura
Strategic Planner: Tara Fray
Brand Managers: Suzanne Goodrich, Rayne Pacek
The Anti-Defamation League celebrates its centennial year with this lovely, simple video from Publicis Kaplan Thaler that imagines what the world would be like if Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Anne Frank, Harvey Milk, Daniel Pearl, James Byrd, Matthew Shepard and Yitzhak Rabin were still alive and continuing their inspiring contributions to the world.
Of course, it's set to John Lennon's "Imagine," so they don't even need to put him in the video. The ADL would like us to imagine a world without bigotry and hate—something we've been asked to do before, but not nearly so poetically.
One minor quibble is that Nobel prizes aren't given out for specific works (sorry, Anne), but perhaps a world without hate has an alternate system for awarding Nobels.
Anyway, YouTube has already proved the ADL's point. Hate is vibrantly alive today. Just check out the video's comments section.
CREDITS
Client: Anti-Defamation League
Agency: Publicis Kaplan Thaler, New York
Music tends to resist attempts to define it. But Spotify tries to do so anyway in its first-ever advertising campaign—a dark, atmospheric effort for the streaming-music service from Droga5 in New York.
The centerpiece is an anthem spot, "For Music," which debuts Monday night on NBC's The Voice. Cut into 30-, 60- and 90-second versions, it shows a guy taking the crowd-surf of his life over a seething mass of thousands of faceless humans, as a male voiceover tries to describe what music is, and what it can accomplish. (Talk about a difficult task.)
"It's been said that the best songs don't give answers but instead ask questions," says the voice. "So, why? Why does music stop us in our tracks? Dictate if we pump a fist or swing it? Why can a song change the world? Because music is a force. For good. For change. For whatever. It's a magnifying glass. A bullhorn. A stick in the gears and the tools to fix it. Because music is a need. An urge to be vindicated. It's bigger than us. It lives inside us. Because we were all conceived to a 4:4 beat. Because music can't be stopped. Can't be contained. It's never finished. Because music makes us scream 'Coo coo ca choo' and mean it. Because music is worth fighting for. Why? Because it's music."
If that copy seems somewhat random, no wonder. Music is ineffable. Particular songs can be roughly described in words, more or less. But trying to capture what music is and what it does forces you to use any number of metaphors, many of which are strung together here. It's a problem endemic to many anthem spots—see Wieden + Kennedy's recent work for Facebook and Levi's. Attempting to ascribe great meaning to a product's effect on humanity is challenging in the best of times, and perhaps impossible when the product is as vast, unwieldy and deeply personal as music.
Notably, the spot also doesn't really have any music in it. It has echoing tones throughout, but nothing that would rouse anyone to a state of ecstasy or political purpose. It's an almost completely visual and textual way of characterizing something that is neither. This may be unavoidable, too—you wouldn't use particular tracks, or even several, if the goal is to communicate universality. Still, talking about the power of music without demonstrating it feels cerebral rather than emotional—like telling, not showing.
That said, the spot is beautifully filmed by Seb Edwards of Park Pictures (whom we spotlighted last year for his lovely Hovis ad). The sea of hands, the swells that move through the crowd, the haunting lighting—it's a grand and impressive production that suits the message well. Whatever detractors it has, the spot will have its fervent admirers as well.
The campaign will also include other 15- and 30-second TV spots (see two below) that depict specific moments where music changes everything—a chance meeting, a moment of nostalgia, an impromptu party. There are digital and social executions, too.
CREDITS
Client: Spotify
Vp, Global Marketing & Partnerships Erin Clift
Director Of Business Marketing Hayeon Kim
Creative Director Rich Frankel
Head of Video Johannes Ring
Agency Droga5, New York
Creative Chairman David Droga
Group Creative Director Neil Heymann
Creative Director Graham Douglas
Lead Copywriter Spencer Lavallee
Creative Mutant Kenny Kim
Head of Integrated Production Sally-Ann Dale
Head of Broadcast Production Ben Davies
Head of Digital Strategy Chet Gulland
Senior Digital Strategist Dan Neumann
Brand Strategist Matthew Gardner
Communications Strategy Director Colleen Leddy
Group Account Director Tenny Pearson
Account Director Matthew Hennell
Executive Interactive Producer Lindsey Slaby
Digital Producer Justin Durazzo
UX Designer Eileen Tang
Creative Technical Lead Fran Devinney
Designer Ryan Hoelting
Senior Art Producer Julia Menassa
Print Production Manager Kim Williams
Retoucher Travis Commeau
Broadcast Production Company Park Pictures
Director Seb Edwards
DOP Hoyte Van Hoytema
Partner / Executive Producer Jackie Kelman
Executive Producer Justin Pollock
Producer Caroline Kousidonis
Broadcast Editorial Trim Edit / Cosmo Street Editorial
Editor Tom Lindsay
Assistant Editor Mark Potter
Executive Producer Maura Woodward
Producer Heather Richardson
Broadcast Post Production The Mill New York
Head Of Production Sean Costelloe
Producer Lily Tilton
Colorist Fergus Mccall
Lead Flame Artists Westley Sarokin / Nathan Kane
CG Lead Wyatt Savarese / Vince Baertsoen
Broadcast Music Tonic Music Ltd 'For Music' Peter Broderick 'Her Song' / 'Getting Weird' Guy Wood / Jo Wills
Music Producer Susan Stone
Broadcast Lead Sound Studio & Wave Studios London
Sound Design 'For Music'
Sound Designer & Mixer Jack Sedgwick 'Her Song' / 'Getting Weird'
Sound Designer & Mixer Joe Mount
Broadcast V/O Sound Studio Sonic Union
Sound Engineer Steve Rosen / David Papa
Photography 'Kiss' Marcus Haney 'Getting Weird' / 'Subway' RJ Shaunessy
Interactive Production Companies My My Star, Squarewave
Print Production Company Portfolio One
Stylist Imogene Barron
Set Design Abraham Latham
There may be some things that could make checking your credit score a little less boring. There are definitely a lot of things that could make watching a commercial about checking your credit score a little less boring. Not many of these things are remotely plausible, but some of them can make for amusing advertising.
FreeCreditScore.com's latest campaign from The Martin Agency features commercial kings Rhett & Link acting out ridiculous twist endings—suggested by viewers as part of a contest—to ads that would otherwise offer prosaic demonstrations of new tools on the brand's website. You can you use FreeCreditScore's "sliders"—that is to say, interactive graphs—to see how different financial actions will affect your credit rating. You can also, according to one new spot, use the sliders to instantly encase every item in your home—including you and your annoying roommate—in bubble wrap, and then embark on a wild, slightly OCD popping spree. You can also use the sliders to transform your house into an llama rodeo, or a doomsaying picnic basket. Or a science-fiction starship captained by a cat.
Of course, you can't really do any of those things with FreeCreditReport's website—except the pretty dull part about seeing how your credit score will drop if you get a new credit card or tick up if your lender raises your limit. But watching Rhett & Link play around with the less soul-sucking functionality is not without some entertainment value. Divorced as the scenes may seem from the campaign's sales pitch, they're fairly consistent with the longtime absurdity of FreeCreditScore's marketing—all those years of cheesy jingles. To that end, this campaign's random endings build on the brand's Bret-Michaels-genies-into-your-living-room spot from late last year.
The "Make a Better Commercial Than We Did" idea is, depending on your mood, charmingly self-deprecating, antagonistic or some combination of the two. Gimmicky as it is, though, it's a welcome change of pace from the warm-and-fuzzy tack of so many crowdsourcing concepts—even if, in the end, it seems rigged to produce disappointment.
CREDITS
Client: FreeCreditScore.com
Agency: The Martin Agency, Richmond, Va.
Production Company: StudioNow
High-fashion ads shot by celebrity directors usually amount to little more than pretentious, narrative-starved ad-sturbation. Prada, though, often delivers something more, something refreshing for the category—a cool sense of style mixed with (gasp) an actual sense of humor.
We saw this last year in Roman Polanski's wonderfully witty short Prada film with Ben Kingsley and Helena Bonham Carter—a piece that was captivating, with a wink, while still embodying the brand's elegance.
Now, we have a new Prada short film, for a fragrance this time, Candy L'Eau, directed by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola. Clocking in at precisely the same length as the Polanski piece—three minutes and 31 seconds—the film delightfully pays homage to French New Wave love triangles (à la Truffaut's Jules et Jim and Godard's Bande à part) and stars French actress and model Léa Seydoux as a beauty pursued by a couple of fashionable gents who happen to be best friends.
The filmmaking is exquisite, which perfectly suits the brand's aesthetic. And the story is charming and self-deprecating, with no fewer than three explicit brand plugs—one for each of its mini acts.
It's all in French, with English subtitles, but it should play well everywhere—even, despite Seydoux's obvious disdain for the place, in South America.
CREDITS
Client: Prada
Product: Candy L'Eau
Directors: Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
OK, so does everyone watch Game of Thrones? You all do, right? You know how Ned has those horrible nightmares about things that actually happen in the first season? This is kind of what happens to Kevin Durant and Dwyane Wade, who both have horrible, horrible dreams about Gatorade.
Wait, no, they have horrible dreams about what happens when you don't drink Gatorade.
Point is, Gatorade and G1 series chews give you terrible, terrible nightmares.
Here's my question: Does Wade's dream include Kevin Durant's dream and his training regimen? Because if so, I want to know what happens when, I dunno, Chris Paul wakes up screaming, having dreamed both Wade and Durant's dreams and goes to his fridge and gets out a bottle of … POWERADE.
Too serious a twist, probably.
This is a clever ad. It's actually kind of bleak if you stop to think about it too hard, as I clearly have. Are these two men locked in an infinitely iterating dream battle? Will either ever emerge victorious? It's the Inception of salty-fruit-punch commercials.
Speaking of Paul, man, these basketball guys do a lot of commercials, right? It took me a few minutes to actually notice, but wow, MJZ director Rupert Sanders and agency TBWA\Chiat\Day have done an incredible job staging a basketball game in this spot. The training montage is kind of vanilla, but the game is top-notch, and the music couldn't be better. Also, this one will air well internationally—doesn't require a single line of dialogue.
And that's good, because you know what Americans are not thinking about right now? Professional basketball.
CREDITS
Client: Gatorade
Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day
Chief Creative Officer: John Norman
Global Group Creative Director: Brent Anderson
Global Creative Director: Jayanta Jenkins
Associate Creative Director/Writer: Gustavo Sarkis
Associate Creative Director/Art Director: Renato Fernandez
Associate Creative Director/Art Director: Guto Araki
Executive Producer: Sarah Patterson
Producer: Katie Lambrecht
Assistant Producer: Garrison Askew
Executive Project Manager: Karen Thomas
Managing Director: Nick Drake
Group Account Director: Blake Crosbie
Global Account Director: Caroline Britt
Management Supervisor: Magdalena Huber
Global Management Supervisor: Chris Crockett
Account Supervisor: Kyle Webster
Global Account Supervisor: Catherine Fishback
Account Executive: Robyn Baker
Sports Marketing: Lexi Vonderlieth
Sports Marketing: Brynn Cameron
Group Planning Director: Scott MacMaster
Planning Director: Martin Ramos
Planner: Rebecca Harris
Junior Planner: Katie Acosta
Junior Planner: Matt Bataclan
Director of Business Affairs: Linda Daubson
Senior Business Affairs Manager: KK Davis
Talent Payment Manager: Vanessa Aniles
Traffic Manager: Jerry Neill
Production Company: MJZ
Director: Rupert Sanders
President: David Zander
Executive Producer: Kate Leahy
Producer: Laurie Boccaccio
Editorial: Rock Paper Scissors
Executive Producer: CL Weaver
Head of Production: Angela Dorian
Editor: Kirk Baxter
Post EFX: The Moving Picture Company
Executive Producer: Asher Edwards
Producer: Juliet Thierney
Supervisor: Paul O’Shea
Music: Amber Music
Original Composition
Composer: Eugene Cho
Executive Producer: Michelle Curran
Voice commands and hand gestures don't just allow you to control the viewing experience on Samsung's latest Smart TV. They help you tame marauding hordes of wildebeests, aliens, Roman centurions, Maori warriors, American footballers … and the wildest of the wild: cheerleaders.
It appears Samsung has not engineered a cool advance in TV technology here so much as a complete revolution in warfare.
The Smart TV is intended to give viewers a cinematic experience. So, of course, these two 90-second spots are themselves cinematic. Directed (separately) by Adam Berg and Romain Gavras—two guys who know their way around a grand production or two—the "King of TV City" and "Charge" spots from CHI & Partners in London couldn't be more blockbuster-y. They both feature groups of attackers ripped from every action movie in history, each charging headlong at a single Samsung-buying dude, who seems vulnerable but in fact couldn't be more superhuman himself.
In a way, the bigness of the spots is a disconnect from the features that are actually being advertised, which are relatively subtle—hand swipes and audio cues, which take the place of a remote control. When these features are demonstrated in the context of each ad—both guys simply swipe away danger—it comes off as … well, kind of silly.
This is why, of the two spots, Gavras's "Charge" actually works a little better—because it's more fun-loving and goofier, from the bouncier soundtrack to the often-comical jockeying for position among the legions bearing down on our hero, plopping lazily in an armchair on the beach. (Outside of video games, that's certainly not a fighting posture.) Berg's spot, meanwhile, remains more serious throughout, perhaps to its detriment. (The teddy bear is cute, but he's ditched pretty quickly when the extraterrestrials arrive.)
Both spots are expertly produced. They are very much mini movies, visually grand with jaw-dropping flourishes (the T. Rex in "King of TV City," the car flipping over in "Charge"). And by all accounts, the Smart TV technology is indeed impressive, so it's not like this is the world's most elaborate dog, pony and dinosaur show. For a global campaign, it's probably just the right size.
If you are set upon by hundreds of millions of years of antagonists, though, do not try this at home. Bring a sword or something.
CREDITS
Client: Samsung
Agency: CHI & Partners, London
Spot: "King of TV City"
Executive Creative Director: Jonathan Burley
Art Director: Alexei Berwitz
Copywriter: Rob Webster
Planners: Anthony Cox, Oli Egan
Agency Producer: Alex Nicholson
Account Handlers: Christian Hinchcliffe, Ana Saffer
Media Agency: Starcom
Media Planner: Erica Chen
Director: Adam Berg
Production Company: Stink
Production Company Executive Producer: Blake Powell
Production Company Producer: Ben Croker
Production Company Manager: Christabelle Stone
Director of Photography: Mattias Montero
Visual Effects: MPC
Visual Effects Producer: Chris Allen
Visual Effects Supervisor: Franck Lambertz
Grade: Mark Gethin
Audio Postproduction: Jungle Studios
Editor: Paul Hardcastle (Trim)
Spot: "Charge"
Creative Directors: Jonathan Burley, Rick Brim
Art Director: Jay Phillips
Copywriter: Neil Clarke
Planners: Anthony Cox, Oli Egan
Agency Producer: Caroline Angell
Account Handlers: Christian Hinchcliffe, Ryan Colet
Media Agency: Starcom
Media Planner: Erica Chen
Director: Romain Gavras
Production Company: Somesuch&co
Production Company Executive Producer: Tim Nash
Director of Photography: Benoit Debie
Visual Effects: MPC
Visual Effects Producer: Ian Luxford
Visual Effects Supervisor: Rob Walker
Grade: Aline Sinquin
Audio Postproduction: Sam Ashwell @ 750mph
Editor: Jono Griffith @ Hagon
According to two new spots in the long-running "Got milk?" campaign, you'll soar a lot longer in those "Look at me, I can fly!" dreams and loll in the embrace of a smokin' hot water nymph if you just drink milk before bed.
Short of a rubber mallet over the head, it's a tall order to help the 40 percent of Americans who suffer from sleeplessness get a good night's rest. But these new commercials for the California Milk Processor Board, from San Francisco ad agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, suggest that the tryptophan in milk makes it a good nighttime choice.
Since every new batch of ads tout milk for a different "occasion" or benefit—most infamously as a cure for PMS—insomnia apparently was next in line. The new spots, directed by Jeff Goodby, aim to show what happens if you skip that glass of white. Dreamus interruptus!
A couple of Spanish-language spots, here and here, from L.A.'s Grupo Gallegos get even more surreal, but with much happier endings.
The Goodby campaign includes a few somnambulistic offshoots like a sleep hotline—(855) Milk-zzz—where "the world's most boring man" will read pi until you pass out or hang up, and digital bus-shelter ads of people yawning.
It remains to be seen if the message, "What, you don't like interrupted dreams? There might just be a drink for that," works better for the marketer than, "For people who've never heard of Ambien."
CREDITS
Client: California Milk Processor Board/"Got Milk?"
Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco
Director: Jeff Goodby
Stephen Colbert famously mocked, on the air, the exhaustive memo he had gotten from Nabisco detailing exactly how Wheat Thins should be presented on his Comedy Central show—the centerpiece of a long comedy routine in which he was forced to read an "apology" with a lawyer standing behind him at the end. And Wheat Thins told Adweek they couldn't have been happier with the segment.
Now, the Nabisco brand is really going for broke with a pair of extremely funny spots that wouldn't look out of place on one of the nuttier web comedy sites.
The suburban husband guarding his cache from Ted next door and a huge, hairy, non-Bigfoot monster ("Honey, I was close! It's a yeti!") is really great. But the traumatized puppet takes the gold.
"You can't eat Wheat Thins, John," the doctor explains gently. "You're a puppet, and nothing's going to change that."
I know, dude. I'd go nuts, too.
Both ads, from Being NY, are well directed and cast to perfection. But the writing is what makes both shine—so, good on whichever copywriter is getting to stretch his or her wings here. Also, that puppet looks really, really sad in the shot that establishes his depressed self in "Puppet." Poor bastard.
Someday, my friend, the blue fairy will come to help you out. In the meantime, listen to crickets, and for heaven's sake stay away from carnivals and whales.
StubHub’s unnerving Ticket Oak is back, and this time the arboreal altruist is in the throes of acute caffeine intoxication.
As seen in a new 30-second spot created by agency of record Duncan/Channon, Ticket Oak overdoes it with the lattes, leading to a frenzy of “leaf”-shedding and eye-goggling. “D- d- d- do you wanna sit in the dugout?” the overstimulated oak asks his cackling human foil, before offering passes to the local Shakespeare festival.
After manically rhapsodizing about an upcoming reggae concert, Ticket Oak effectively vomits a torrent of empty paper cups onto his human companions. While coffee is clearly the tree’s drug of choice, the wobbling eyeballs and his “I can’t feel my bark!” lament suggest something darker. (Cocaine hydrolysis? Walter White’s Blue Meth?)
The bug-eyed tree’s offer to hook up his pals with Shakespeare and reggae ducats is of a piece with the brand’s desire to transcend its status as the premiere secondary ticket market for sporting contests by developing an exchange for passes to cultural events.
Kooky is Duncan/Channon’s stock-in-trade and this spot dials it up to 11. “We think the popular success of the Ticket Oak comes from the fact that it’s just wonderfully weird,” said Parker Channon, executive creative director of Duncan/Channon. “So our goal for this year’s effort was simple: take the weird and crank it up even higher to ensure our audience gets the discovery message in the most memorable way possible.”
That message is going to reach the far corners of the media universe, as the StubHub spot will appear all over the TV dial, and across all dayparts. Buys have been made across an array of broadcast and cable networks, including ABC, NBC, ESPN, Adult Swim, AMC, Comedy Central, E!, FX, NHL Network, TBS, TNT, USA Network and VH1. The spot will begin airing today.
As StubHub has formal relationships in place with Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League, April is an ideal time for the eBay unit to launch a new spot. Not only is today Opening Day of the 2013 MLB season, but both the NBA and NHL are gearing up for their respective playoff showcases.
In terms of specific program buys, look for the Ticket Oak spot to appear during ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, TBS’s Sunday afternoon game and in TNT’s first-round coverage of the NBA playoffs. StubHub has also bought time in NBC Sports’ presentation of the NHL playoffs, which begin April 30. The spot will air through the Eastern and Western Conference Finals (mid-May).
One can only hope that Roger Sterling doesn’t get an eyeful of the new Ticket Oak spot. The last time we saw the silver-haired advertising exec, he was on an LSD-fueled voyage of self-discovery. This new ad, which is set to air on AMC during the April 7 Season 6 premiere of Mad Men, could prove to be a bit too much for the Sterling Draper Cooper Pryce senior partner.
Other outlets set to carry the spot include all four of NBC’s late-night franchises: The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, Last Call With Carson Daly and Saturday Night Live. The ad will also air during upcoming installments of Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC.
Version 2.0 of the campaign, which first launched in May 2011, looks to build on its early success. Last April, StubHub’s traffic increased 53 percent versus the year-ago period, while visits in May grew 60 percent.
Along with its aggressive TV campaign, StubHub also will run full-page Ticket Oak ads in Rolling Stone, ESPN The Magazine, Sports Illustrated and Entertainment Weekly.
Last year, the company invested $31.9 million in measured media, down 22 percent from 2011. Per Kantar Media data, StubHub’s national cable spend was $8.16 million, up 49 percent from the previous year, while broadcast spend was $6.18 million, up 45 percent.
StubHub in 2012 sharply curtailed its online spending, reducing its display spend 75 percent ($3.31 million), while cutting back of search by 25 percent ($4.62 million). The company also drastically reduced its radio and outdoor investments.
It's been a big year for Beyoncé. She sang (sort of) at President Obama's second inauguration, performed a colossal Super Bowl halftime show, starred in a 90-minute HBO "documentary" chronicling her fabulous existence, and is currently gearing up to release her fifth studio album. And it's only April.
Now, as the pop superstar continues on her path to total world domination by 2014, Pepsi is releasing a new spot from 180 LA commemorating Queen Bey's decade as the brand's fiercest spokeswoman.
In the minute-long video, featuring a preview of Beyoncé's upcoming single, titled "Grown Woman" (always subtle, that one), the singer goes into a dance studio to practice her moves. Upon popping open a cold can of Pepsi (and flashing some sick nail art in the process), Bey looks up to find a reflection of herself from her "Bootylicious" Destiny's Child days staring back—wearing a stretchy, one-shouldered, berry-colored ensemble that most Dancing With the Stars contestants would deem too tacky.
Other past Beyoncés begin appearing in the mirrors: short-shorted "Crazy in Love" Beyoncé, alter ego Sasha Fierce from the "Single Ladies" video, and a slew of others. Present-era Bey matches their boob shakes and hip thrusts move for move, proving that even at the practically geriatric age of 31, she's still got it.
The presence of multiple Beyoncés proves to be too much for this mortal world, and the mirrors shatter under the weight of the magnificence within. Having successfully vanquished her rivals through dance—for the only force strong enough to threaten Beyoncé is Beyoncé herself—Queen Bey takes a sip of her life-giving (non-diet!) Pepsi.
"Embrace your past, but live for now," she advises, and struts off to continue taking over the universe.
CREDITS
Client: Pepsi
Spot: "Mirrors"
Agency: 180 Los Angeles
Global Chief Executive Officer: Mike Allen
Managing Partner, Executive Creative Director: William Gelner
Creative Directors: Matthew Woodhams-Roberts, Dave Horton
Creatives: Aramis Israel, Julia Tsao
Managing Partner, Executive Producer: Peter Cline
Senior Producer: Lorraine Kraus
Managing Partner, Chairman: Chris Mendola
Account Director: Lauren Lombardo
Account Manager: Frith Dabkowski
Director of Business Affairs: Loretta Zolliecoffer
Production
Production Company: Believe Media
Director: Jake Nava
Executive Producers: Liz Silver, Luke Thornton, Gerard Cantor
Line Producer: Benedict Cooper
Editing
Editing Company: Cut+Run
Editors: Joel Miller, Sean Stender, Steve Gandolfi, Julia Knight
Managing Director: Michelle Burke
Executive Producer: Carr Schilling
Transfer
The Mill
Colorists: Adam Scott, Shane Reed
Executive Producer: LaRue Anderson
Color Producer: Sarah Laborde
Special Effects
Framestore
Creative Director: Aron Hjartarson
2-D, Flame Lead: Alex Thomas
3-D Lead: Ben West
Flame: Ben Cronin, Mark Beardall, Savneet Nagi, Jodi Tyne
Computer Graphics Effects: Dean Grubb, Jon Balcome, Gary Laurie
Executive Producer: Kati Haberstock
Producers: Mary Nockles, Bethan Thomas
Mix
Eleven Sound
Mixer: Jeff Payne
Music
Beyoncé, "Grown Woman"
Sound Design
Trinitite
Sound Designer: Brian Emrich
Client Credits
President, Global Beverage Group: Brad Jakeman
Vice President, Advertising: David Foulds
Vice President, Consumer Insights: Deb Benovitz
Senior Vice President, Brand Engagement: Frank Cooper
Senior Marketing Director, Global Consumer Engagement: Ellen Healy
Marketing Director: Juliet Armstrong
Senior Director, Brand Marketing: Gary So
But when you're standing shell-shocked in your new home, surrounded by stacks of boxes containing your uprooted life, Reliant Energy says it will make things a little easier. Because, if you use the company's services, at least your electricity, phone, Internet and cable will work.
A new campaign from Grey San Francisco and directed by David LaChappelle features cross-sections of a classic nuclear family's new home, frantic with moving-day activity. Matthew McConaughey performs the voice-overs, offering soothing promises as to how Reliant's myriad services will make you feel better.
The concept is good, and the visuals are charming enough. Some of the jokes are kind of chuckle-worthy. For example: Accidentally packing the cat in a cardboard box.
At the same time, the executions don't seem to quite realize the idea's potential—never quite turning the corner from cute into persuasive, and occasionally veering off into the realm of the patently absurd. "Of all the reasons there are to move, the most attractive is the energy-saving Nest learning thermostat you get when you sign up for the Reliant 'learn and conserve' plan." Not so much. A better job, more room, and a better school district are all, in fact, more attractive than a home appliance. Unless that thermostat is so smart it can manage your stock portfolio to an early retirement, store all your winter clothes and home-school your children.
The family, meanwhile, comes from the pansy school of movers, hiring professionals to do all the heavy lifting, instead of renting a U-Haul and strong-arming friends into spending their Saturday sweating into an old t-shirt while trying to maneuver a couch through a narrow doorway. Still, Mom is frantic beyond hyperbole, and definitely needs something more than a new energy company—maybe a Xanax?
Credits after the jump.
CREDITS
Client: Reliant
Agency: Grey, San Francisco
Executive Creative Director: Jack Fund
Creative Director/Copywriter: Michael Buss
Associate Creative Director/Art Director: Mark Chila
Agency Producer: Jackie Vidor Bombeck, Florence Babbitt
Director: David LaChapelle
Production Company: HSI
Producer: Ron Mohrhoff
Director Of Photography: Bill Pope
Editor: Spencer Susser, Rock Paper Scissors
Music: Mophonics
Mix: Loren Silber, Lime
Holiday Inn Express may not have stayed smart, but it is trying to get smart again.
The brand is reviving its popular, long-running "Stay Smart" message with two new spots from Ogilvy & Mather, which won the business last year. The original campaign, which featured commercials ending in the line "But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night," ran for 11 years, starting in 1998, and was originally created by Fallon.
The new ads follow the familiar formula, in which average people find themselves magically endowed with remarkable talents thanks to a great night of budget-hotel sleep (yeah, right). One spot features a talented acupuncturist who turns out to be a well-rested and oddly presumptuous delivery man, and his patient, who is surprisingly (or perhaps appropriately) relaxed about the whole thing. (Still, there has to be a lawsuit in there.) The other spot features a genius mathematician who solves an impossible (and, in reality, non-existent) problem—even though he's actually just a visiting parent. Even worse, his daughter is a dance major. Because, ha ha, come on, why can't your progeny study something real?
The jokes aren't gut-laugh funny, but the ads are solid enough to fit, and fulfill the brand's desire to cash back in on a classic campaign (a rare enough beast in its own right). Whether they have the same offbeatcharm as some of the spots from the original run is a different question. But they're definitely a step up from the generic individualism that comprised some the brand's advertising in the interim.
Now, it just has to keep getting smarter.
CREDITS
Client: Holiday Inn Express
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather
Directors: The Perlorian Brothers
This lovely "Portraits" spot for Instagram really does wonders with the fuzzy yellow filter that just screams late '70s/early '80s, and the casting and direction bring you into this family's world even as the costumes change with the … hmm?
What's that? This is an ad for Bank of America?
Huh.
Financial services is a tough category, but this really excellent generational short film is kind of a triumph of copywriting over brand identity. "We know we're not the center of your life," the narrator apologetically tells us at the end of the minute-long spot by Hill Holliday. And yeah, we know that, too.
What we don't know is what the narrator means when he says, "There was a connection that started it all and made the future the wonderful thing it turned out to be." Was there? Are we talking about the beautiful photo album of this lovely family that is clearly growing by leaps and bounds with each passing second? I think we must be.
Mind you, it is a really lovely advertisement. The actors are all perfect, and director Ivan Zacharias has framed every shot so that it seems to be taking place just after the family makes the needed adjustment to deal with "the second British Invasion," for example (love the cute punk girl doing her excessive makeup), or the long-haired son's "brief brush with the law."
"We know we're not the center of your life, but we'll do our best to help you connect to what is," the voiceover says at the end, followed by the briefest flash of an on-screen tagline ("Life's better when we're connected") and the client's logo.
BofA does such an impressive job getting out of its own way in "Portraits" that it could almost be an ad for anything. But it's backed up by more spots—two released so far, with many more on the way—in different styles and with more direct product messaging.
They'll be hoping you connect with them as well.
CREDITS
Client: Bank of America
Agency: Hill Holliday, Boston
Spot: "Portraits"
Executive Vice President, Chief Creative Officer: Lance Jensen
Executive Vice Presidents, Group Creative Directors: Spencer Deadrick, David Gardiner
Senior Vice Presidents, Group Creative Directors: Kevin Daley, David Banta
Art Director: Kevin Daley
Copywriters: David Banta, Lance Jensen
Executive Vice President, Director, Creative Production: Bryan Sweeney
Senior Vice President, Executive Broadcast Producer: Scott Hainline
Broadcast Production Assistant: David Shaw
Executive Vice President, Managing Director: Leslee Kiley
Executive Vice President, Account Director: Nancy Lehrer
Vice President, Account Director: Andrew Still
Management Supervisors: Kim Almazan, Jaime Zozula
Account Supervisor: Kate Norris
Account Executive: Megan Wiggin
Assistant Account Executive: Raquel Ross
Project Manager: Jillian Malenfant
Senior Vice President, Group Planning Director: Linda Lewi
Director, Broadcast Business Affairs: Lenora Cushing
Director, Business Affairs: Sharon McDonald
Production Company: Smuggler
Director: Ivan Zacharias
Producer: Nick Landon
Line Producer: Pete Slowey
Music: Original Snow Palms
—Spot: "Dumont Green"
Executive Vice President, Chief Creative Officer: Lance Jensen
Executive Vice President, Group Creative Director: Spencer Deadrick
Senior Vice Presidents, Group Creative Directors: Neal Hughlett, Sue DeSilva
Copywriter: Neal Hughlett
Art Director: Sue DeSilva
