Hasta La Creative!

Matt Teeman, the former sales director at BBC Magazines, is to take on the new role of commercial director at free newspaper Metro.

(TrendHunter.com) Collage artist Jesse Treece creates surreal compositions, which borderline charming and hauntingly sublime. While his images may appear mundane, the process and compositions are darling and…

A dupla brasileira Otavio e Gustavo Pandolfo, conhecidos como Os Gêmeos, tem pela primeira vez uma exibição de arte nos Estados Unidos. A exposição abriu na semana passada no Institute of Contemporary Art em Boston.

Além dos trabalhos dentro da galeria, o duo pintou também dois murais na cidade, como esse da imagem acima. O problema é que nem todo mundo gostou, em uma polêmica levantada principalmente pela Fox News local.

Questionando em sua página no Facebook e em reportagens na TV (vídeo abaixo), a emissora mostra que muitos estão associando o grafite ao terrorismo, com discurso de que tal imagem não deveria estar em um espaço público.

O curador do projeto, Pedro Alonzo, declarou que não acredita que é isso que a maioria das pessoas pensam sobre a obra de arte. Segundo ele, o personagem é apenas um garotinho de pijamas com uma camiseta em volta da cabeça. Alonzo já levou para Boston outro artista controverso, com uma retrospectiva de Shepard Fairey.

Se nada atrapalhar, os murais devem continuar na cidade até novembro de 2013.

/via BostInno

Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
Twitter | Facebook | Contato | Anuncie

Apple's "Genius Bar" ads are gone, but you'll probably see more from the star of the ads, a 24-year old comedian named Josh Rabinowitz.

Five years after having fronted a collection and campaign for Jordache, Project Runway’s Heidi Klum is back as spokesmodel for the brand. Following an outing with 30 Rock cast member Katrina Bowden last year, Jordache will hype a collection that will be sold at Walmart. The campaign will include print and television.

Of the decision to partner with Klum again, Jordache President Liz Berlinger said, “Heidi’s beautiful and a great businesswoman and designer, and she also turns out to be an amazing dancer with great stamina. She danced from 10 in the morning until midnight in 5-inch heels. I’d have a hard time walking down the street in the heels she was wearing.”

The new television ad will feature a soundtrack created by Brooklyn’s Ian Love.

Questionable? Brilliant?

This Olympics-focused editorial series is written by Ronald Urbach, Chairman of law firm Davis & Gilbert LLP and the co-chair of the Advertising, Marketing & Promotions Practice Group at the firm.

Much of what we hear as we read the reports of the Olympics is: how many medals? It appears that the media is compelled to quantify success, sort of like an Olympic box score. Is the US leading in the total medal count? Is the US leading in gold medals? How many medals does China have? Will Great Britain, the host country, finally begin to rack up the medals? As I write this article, the US is leading in total overall medals, though not in gold. Great Britain is coming on strong – now in third, and Andy Murray beat Roger Federer for the coveted gold in men’s tennis.

But to advertisers and agencies, the medal count pales next to the critical question – who will be the breakout advertising spokesperson of the 2012 Olympics? Will anyone rise to the level of a true advertising superstar?

We are confident that there will be one or more Olympic athletes on cereal boxes. We will see one or more members of the US Olympic team at the White House. We know that the “Q Scores” of several athletes are being studied. The social media indices of Tweets, number of followers, and chatter on the web, which have become the advertisers’ version of crowd sourcing, are being reviewed to help guide future marketing decisions.

When you think of 2012 Olympics advertising superstars – potential or real – who come to mind? Michael Phelps seems to be a safe choice. He has won more Olympic medals than any other athlete; he has transformed men’s swimming like no one else; and even his eyes misted-up at the right moments during his medal ceremonies.

How about Gabby Douglas, the 16-year-old African American teenager who won the gold medal for individual overall gymnastics? She has a stellar smile; she was not expected to win big; and she has a compelling human-interest angle to her life and family. Or will it be the next swimming phenom Missy Franklin? She is the 17-year-old winner of multiple gold medals who is not at the zenith of her Olympic career, but at the nadir.

It is hard to divine the tea leaves and find the correct answer. What we do know is that Gabby may be on an upcoming Kellogg’s Corn Flakes box; Missy may forego all endorsement deals to focus on her college career; and Michael will continue with and expand his endorsement deals. Whoever it will be, there are critical issues that must be taken in to account when you hire an athlete/celebrity. If you don’t, you’ll wish you saved the money and did something else.

Here are some key pointers.

Will the athlete remain a successful competitor? An athlete is a unique type of celebrity. His/her celebrity status is preconditioned on having a high degree of success on the sports field. This is especially true in certain Olympic sports where the competitors are truly amateurs, like in gymnastics and swimming. If you hired an amateur athlete as an advertising spokesperson and he/she has a career ending injury or decides to retire, the talent agreement needs to cover such a circumstance – i.e., the advertiser can pull out of the deal and get its money back, or a pro rata portion.

Should an advertiser enter in to a long-term deal? This is a gamble. If you sign the athlete to a long-term deal, problems caused by retirement or injury are exacerbated. Not only is there more money at stake, there is risk to the brand. The positive is that if you bet right, and this athlete becomes the next Michael Jordan or LeBron James, there will be tremendous value in signing the athlete before he or she actually becomes a real superstar.

How do you handle exclusivity? Exclusivity and its importance is a function of the history of the parties and the nature of the competitive landscape. If there is a blood feud between two companies and the fight is now personal, not just a marketplace fight, the scope of exclusivity will likely become quite broad. Though defining exclusivity by ensuring that your spokesperson does not “consort with the enemy” is perfectly acceptable, it just may not be acceptable to the athlete, and you might be blowing a deal over emotion, not over what is important to your business.

In today’s era, is a “morals clause” still relevant? The answer is – Yes. Before all of his legal problems, OJ Simpson was an athlete that had made an effective transition to celebrity status, with movies and advertising stardom. Some of you may remember OJ running through the airport to make a flight after dropping off his rental car. Well, when he was accused of murdering his wife, there were frantic phone calls on Madison Avenue that led to a detailed review of documents. Why? Hertz needed to know if there was a morals clause in the OJ talent agreement. Since I was involved in that frantic effort and review, I can certainly say they were difficult times. Negotiating tip: always get a “morals clause”.

Is a deal worth it? This is a very difficult question to answer. There is no such thing as unit pricing in talent deals. Consultants, agents, and advisors are only too happy to provide an opinion or advice (for a fee). Talent deals oftentimes are equal to an advertiser’s budget for over-scale talent – i.e., how much it has to spend on a particular athlete. The best advice is: don’t let your emotions drive the deal. Think about your car purchase or lease, when you tell the salesperson how much you have to spend and that you love the vehicle, his eyes see dollar signs.

An Olympic athlete as an advertising celebrity is like that little star in the sky, it does “Twinkle, Twinkle.” But remember the second line to the song, it reminds us that we need to consider who the athlete actually is and if the deal makes sense: “How I wonder what you are.” You can learn a lot from a lullaby.

Ronald Urbach is the Chairman of law firm Davis and Gilbert LLP and the co-chair of the Advertising, Marketing and Promotions Practice Group at the firm. His clients include numerous multinational, national, and regional advertising agencies, including those agencies that are viewed as being the top creative agencies in the world. Ron can be reached at rurbach@dglaw.com.

Surprise! Both Romney and Obama are doing their fair share of lying in this particular ad battle.

Amping up its already full bore 90’s themed ad campaign, Old Navy has added 90210’s (the real one) Luke Perry and Jennie Garth to its schoolhouse lineup. Previously, the brand had Gabrielle Carteris swooning over Jason Priestly who, the the Old Navy ad, is now a teacher.

This second CP +B- created 90210-themed outing features Luke Perry and Jason Priestly vying for the attention of the still amazing hot Jennie Garth who, like Priestly in the previous commercial, is now a teacher.

Forever playing hard to get, Jennie opts, instead for the jeans…all of them. After all, they’re only $19 each during the brand’s back to school sale.

The campaign is sort of genis in the sense the audience that will identify with this original 90120 cast are the very same people who now have school aged children…who are just now begging to be taken shopping to buy the coolest jeans they can find before school starts in September.

We can’t wait to see what CP+B has in store for Brian Austin Green, Tori Spelling, Ian Ziering, Shannen Doherty and Tiffany Theissen. Please don’t stop now.

This week, Dominic Gesua, managing director at blowUP Media, reveals that walking his dog to work through Primrose Hill is the key to clear thinking, as he spends most of his day on site or in meetings.

This one is funny. Brilliant funny, actually. And so simple. And so relatable. While all of us may not have entered our parents bedroom while they were having sex, we’ve all had our encounters with various forms of embarrassment from time to time.

This new commercial for Ragu captures that awkward embarrassment a quirky way and runs with it. All to sell some pasta sauce.