Hasta La Creative!

Who are the faceless people? Or rather, what on earth are they advertising? Spotted at Henley, at Wimbledon and at the start of Harrods summer sale. Might it be an ad stunt for cars? No I don’t see the connection either – but whois says that http://www.facelesspeople.com/ is owned by Group Lotus Plc, Norwich, Norfolk United Kingdom. That’s Group Lotus cars. Wonder what “True Character” will be revealed in 19 days. That car better be good looking as hell after a stunt like that, ya’ll.

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These five new Round Table Pizza spots are so delightfully silly and earnestly stupid, they deserve their own category at Cannes. The chain’s Pizza Knight runs like a sissy from a screaming horror-movie-masked Killer Pizza who wields a club made out of salad; he shares a tender moment with a portly Super Hawaiian; and to illustrate that Round Table won’t cut corners, he rides a tricycle so badly that he winds up on his back, armored limbs flailing—all part of his quest to promote the chain’s pies. “We wanted to elicit a ’What the heck?’ response to really get people engaged,” says Michael Boychuk, senior creative director at ad shop WongDoody. Recent Comcast commercials employ the same wordplay premise. But Round Table takes it to a new level of stoopid. Just look at that Killer Pizza … brandishing a huge salad bar. Now that’s killer stupid! Imagine what they could do with the words “bread sticks.” On second thought, don’t.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Eyeblaster, AKQA and Mindblaster put their wands together to create a video widget for Nike Football Soccer. It spans 10 countries and is supposedly one of the largest video widget campaigns EVAR. (The PR guy called it “revolutionizing.”)

LONDON – Consumer survey reveals 13 % rise in ‘nuisance factor’ of DM, yet a third claim to have responded to direct mail in the past year

LONDON – Adidas has appointed Montreal-based Sid Lee as the lead creative agency for its retro casual sports-wear line Adidas Originals, following a review involving incumbent 180 Amsterdam.

LONDON – Freeview is bringing its digital TV recorder (DTR) brand up-to-date by switching to the name Freeview+.

We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again: Nothing chills the blood quite like smartly dressed children, and this “Dead Zone” ad from Verizon proves it. We’re pretty sure the inspiration for the spot came from The Shining, not The Dead Zone, and that the creepy kids were girls, not boys. But that’s artistic license for you. Besides, having two extra weird bow-tied children around isn’t a big deal for this guy, considering the mob of Verizon workers already living in his enormous house. We’re just lucky they didn’t stage the killing of a competitor with an axe.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

LONDON – BBC One is the nation’s favourite television channel and BBC Radio 2 is the most popular national radio station, according to the findings of the new IPA Touchpoints survey. However, there was some good news for the commercial sector, as 15% of adults said they enjoy watching ads starring their favourite celebrities.

LONDON – Yorkshire Tea has called a review of its creative account.

The patriotic spirit of the season has inspired the Philadelphia Recycling Office and its ad shop, LevLane. They’ve declared Monday, July 7, to be “BINdependence Day” (could nobody stop them?), celebrating the launch of a citywide program under which residents will be “free” to put all recyclables into one bin, instead of spending an extra five minutes sorting them. The Founding Fathers would be proud. The campaign is themed, “All together now.” That’s a phrase associated with the Beatles, who were Brits, so the tagline can be viewed as an ironic jab at our pals across the pond who opposed U.S. independence because they couldn’t bear the thought of a gem like Delaware not being part of their empire. Colorful bus and trolley wraps, along with transit wallscapes and posters, show metal, glass, cardboard and plastic co-existing in the same bin—a virtual melting pot of refuse!

—Posted by David Gianatasio