Hasta La Creative!

Facebook is planning to announce its long-rumored acquisition of Microsoft’s Atlas Solutions division tomorrow, according to two people briefed on the plans. Ad Age reported earlier this month that the deal was imminent. Like all announcements, there is the chance for a delay, but all parties are planning to make the deal public tomorrow.

While the ad-tech world still debates the main reason for the deal – is it about Facebook proving that advertiser conversions can be attributed to its ads or about Atlas’ ad-serving tech helping to build a Facebook ad network around the web? (answer: probably a bit of both) – Microsoft already indirectly made its pitch to Facebook publicly…in a blog post seven months ago.

“Through Atlas’s Click Purchase Path Analysis, [advertisers] can glean insights into where Facebook advertising dwells as an introducer, influencer, or closer across each unique click path, essentially creating a virtual representation of the digital conversion funnel,” read the blog post, written by Sanjay Vasdev, a senior market analyst at Microsoft, according to LinkedIn.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Le français Arthur Valverde a réalisé cette vidéo impressionnante appelée « The Anatomy of Gravity ». Dans cette création produite par Rollin Studio, la mannequin Valeria Leonova, habillée d’un drap blanc, effectue une chorégraphie magnifique. La vidéo est à découvrir en haute définition dans la suite de l’article.

Mullen has made its way onto the Coca-Cola roster for the first time via a new relationship with Honest Tea.

With the appointment comes the end of the brand’s agency-of-record relationship with Silver & Partners, formerly known as Amalgamated. Peter Kaye, who took on the post of Honest Tea’s VP of marketing and communications in early 2011, hired the shop in early 2012. In August, Amalgamated CEO Brian Martin left the indie New York-based shop to join Project Worldwide. A month later, when chief creative officer Eric Silver became a majority owner, the agency changed its name.

Michael Stefanski, managing director at Silver & Partners, said, “From the time that Coca-Cola started to get involved in the decision-making process on Honest Tea it was clear we had strong differences about creative direction. It was a mutual decision to part ways. We sincerely wish them the best.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com

RelayRides is quickly going from startup to major player in the fast-growing car-sharing category. The company has received $13 million in funding since launching regionally in 2010, and last September it announced an exclusive, national partnership with General Motors. The partnership enables GM owners to rent out their cars to RelayRides renters using GM’s OnStar technology.

Still, the car-sharing brand’s new VP-marketing Scott Kinzie, who most recently held a top marketing role at Johnson & Johnson’s Babycenter.com, wants to turn RelayRides into a “household brand.” He talked to Ad Age about showcasing differentiation in what’s becoming a competitive rental market and how to incentivize car owners to build businesses around their own vehicles.

Ad Age: The category is getting crowded Avis acquired Zipcar, Enterprise acquired Mint and other new car-sharing companies like Daimler’s Car2Go and Hertz On Demand are popping up left and right. What makes RelayRides stand out?

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Tesco has today gone live with its food news website, as it seeks to shed light on its food supply chain in light of the horsemeat scandal.

Scaring the crap out of people in their everyday lives is horror-movie marketing 101. There are countless examples—my favorite probably being the old Ring Two stunt that sent people a link to the trailer and then called their cell phone with a petrifying message right afterward. This new video from Thinkmodo for The Last Exorcism Part II is pretty solid, too. They rigged up a mirror at a beauty salon to show fleeting glimpses of a dead girl—clearly unnerving the unsuspecting patrons. Some of them seem more unsuspecting than others, actually, and there's not much point to the profanity—it seems a little gratuitous. Still, the ending is spectacular—as the girl behind the mirror puts her extreme flexibility to good use in an homage to the movie's poster. It's undeniably freaky, and understandably sends the patrons scattering.

Brands will always crave what’s new, which might explain the obsession with startups (no matter how long this phase lasts). Marketers tend to seek out what has forward momentum, and startups are businesses that are the most likely to grow rapidly. On the other hand, they’re also the most likely to fail.

With startups proliferating more rapidly than ever, how can marketers keep track of it all?

The best approach is to diversify your investment, and this is especially important given the investment is almost entirely of time rather than money. Here’s a portfolio-management approach for keeping track of what’s new and next:

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Um novo comercial da Mars, para a sua marca de chocolates Galaxy, reascende a polêmica do uso de celebridades mortas em campanhas publicitárias.

Agora foi a vez de Audrey Hepburn ser desenterrada para fins promocionais. 20 anos após sua morte, a atriz viaja de ônibus pela Costa Amalfitana na década de 1950, enquanto tira um chocolate de sua bolsa e observa um homem na rua. Como trilha, “Moon River” referencia “Bonequinha de Luxo”.

A autorização do uso da imagem foi dada pelos filhos de Hepburn, Sean Ferrer e Luca Dotti, que afirmaram que a mãe ficaria orgulhosa do novo papel, já que “sempre foi fã de chocolates“.

Marcas como GM, Nike, Citroën e até a Volkswagen aqui no Brasil, também já recorreram aos mortos para fazer campanhas. Uma pesquisa da Forbes estima que celebridades falecidas arrecadaram mais de 500 milhões de dólares em publicidade no último ano.

A opinião pública não parece ser muito fã desses fantasmas coloridos, já que tais campanhas quase sempre enfrentam críticas e estranheza. Definitivamente, o direito de imagem e legado de personalidades também tem prazo de validade.

Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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Let me begin by stating the obvious: If you find yourself downing more than 3 Jager-bombs in one sitting, odds are your bro doesn’t have your back. Your bro is not a good bro, and you should consider bro-ing out with a new bro who won’t let such a terrible thing happen to you. Sorry, bro.

Now that’s out of the way, let’s take a look at the latest campaign for Jagermeister and LA-based indie shop Mistress titled “A Brother in Your Corner.” The concept of celebrating male companionship in alcohol ads is nothing new, especially in the beer category where things like “Man Law” are done time and time again. Instead of playing the concept for comedic effect, however, Jagermeister has decided to showcase legendary boxing trainer Freddie Roach, whose long resume includes times spent in the corner of boxing champs like Oscar de la Hoya, Manny Pacquiao, and Julio Caesar Chavez. As the video illustrates, Roach has gained a reputation within the boxing community for taking extra special care of his fighters, both within the ring and outside of it. This devotion to his athletes, Roach says, was instilled in him by his own trainer, Eddie Futch, who himself gained fame for training legends like Joe Fraizer, Ken Norton, and Larry Holmes.

The campaign’s tone and focus seems targeted to an older, likely middle-aged bro, one who has actually heard of these fighters and knows anything about professional boxing as none of the fighters associated with Roach our Futch are named in the spot. Also, it’s hard to find many people under that age of 30 who know much about boxing, as MMA continues its climb upwards as boxing fades into irrelevance. The campaign also features a digital extension in which those young males who prove they live by the “Jager Code” compete for a chance to win a trip to Las Vegas for a private training session with Roach as well as tickets to an upcoming boxing match. For more info visit the Jager Code website and Jagermeister’s Facebook page. Credits after the jump.
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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Há que se admirar os artistas que estão na estrada há décadas e ainda conseguem criar coisas novas e diferentes. Mesmo que as coisas novas e diferentes não tenham o mesmo brilho de seus trabalhos clássicos, a tentativa é digna do todo o louvor.

É muito fácil cair na saída fácil de se repetir e fazer de cada diso novo a repetição da mesma formula. Quem não faz isso merece todo o mérito, e Jeremy Pelt chamou minha atenção mês passado justamente por isso. Seu disco novo é experimental, inspirador e excelente.

Esse macaco-velho, veterano trompetista acaba de lançar seu quarto álbum em quatro anos. O cara é incansável, e mesmo depois de tantos anos de atividade ele esbanja fôlego para se reinventar.

Water and Earth mostra um músico claramente em busca de um novo caminho, misturando em sua banda músicos da velha guarda (como o percussionista Jeffrey Haynes) e um pessoal mais novo (como o pianista David Bryant).

O resultado é interessante e certamente desafiador, e se algumas faixas soam um pouco fora de lugar à primeira impressão, o disco é brilhante quando acerta na experimentação e mostra banda e composições em sintonia fina.

Pieces Of A Dream e Boom Bishop são matadoras. Mystique e Butterfly Dreams são lindas e só mostram que Water and Earth é mais um acerto na trajetória de Pelt.

Quem se arriscar além da superfície vai descobrir um disco viciante.

Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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