MUH-TAY-ZIK I HOF-FER Busts Out the Black Humor for Do.com

There are some rare death jokes on display in “17 Minutes,” the new longform Do.com ad, almost an FX brand of humor, not something you’d normally associate with a to-do-list website. An old man in a nursing home rushes to set up a farewell party after an oblivious doctor tells him he has 17 minutes to live. The man uses the collaborative features on the website to contact his friends and get the necessary party paraphernalia  It’s edgy, mildly offensive, and pretty funny. There’s also a pregnancy joke that is way too good for a commercial. There were probably safer ways to get the Do.com message across to viewers, but we always appreciate creatives who take risks. Credits after the jump.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Can Celebrities Help Monetize China’s Popular WeChat?


When Chinese heartthrob Chen Kun offered his fans morning wakeup calls over WeChat for a fee, teenage girls weren’t the only ones who snapped to attention. Marketers started calling their digital agencies, trying to gauge how the latest innovation on China’s hot social app might affect their future strategies.

Mr. Chen, an actor and singer, is asking fans to pay about $3 a month for a VIP subscription service on the free WeChat mobile app to gain access to exclusive songs, personal photos, musings and recorded morning greetings. It’s the first offer of its kind on Chinese internet giant Tencent’s WeChat, which has expanded to 236 million monthly active users in under three years without a big push to make money off the service.

“Everyone is discussing how to use this emerging channel to do branding and marketing, and Chen Kun is giving the industry a sense that Tencent is willing to try something new, willing to create some commercial value on WeChat,” said Jason Zhan, founder of China’s Vitamine social media agency.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Às vezes, uma dose é o suficiente…

A mensagem é simples e direta: se você for beber, planeje uma carona sóbria. Não importa quantas vezes a gente já tenha visto campanhas que alertam sobre os perigos de se misturar álcool e direção, parece que ainda existe uma dificuldade generalizada de se entender que às vezes basta só uma dose de bebida para nosso julgamento ser comprometido. É o que mostra Restaurant, filme produzido pela B-reel para o Texas Department of Transportation.

O que chama a atenção neste filme é que ele consegue captar a violência de um acidente de carro sem necessariamente mostrar o acidente, apenas simulando o movimento em uma mesa de bar.

Com direção de Josh Miller, Restaurant teve algumas cenas filmadas em um restaurante de verdade. Depois, em um estúdio, foram registradas as cenas do acidente, a 600 quadros por segundo. Por incrível que pareça, não houve trabalho de computação gráfica neste filme, e tudo foi capturado pela câmera.

Restaurant contou, ainda, com desenvolvimento da Sherry Matthews Advocacy Marketing, edição do Final Cut e pós-produção do The Mill.

alcool

 

Brainstorm9Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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Sleeping Pregnancy Photography – Jana Romanova Captures Expecting Couples Asleep in ‘Waiting’ (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) ‘Waiting’ by Jana Romanova is a photographic series capturing the vulnerable sleeping positions of expecting parents.

Pregnant couples sleep differently, whether a woman is struggling…

Karaoké School Identity

Les créatifs Marina Zakinyan et Vlad Likh ont pensé toute l’identité graphique du concept Wow Karaoké School. Développant une charte allant du digital au print, cette déclinaison simple mais efficace autour du monde du karaoké est à découvrir dans une série images dans la suite de l’article.

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Funky Chickens Rule the Viral-Video Roost for Mercedes

Once again, subservient chickens make a branding video go viral. Mercedes-Benz and German agency Jung von Matt/Neckar are nearing 1.5 million views in less than a week with this extremely offbeat ad starring some white-gloved Mummenschanz types who help chickens "dance" to Diana Ross's disco classic "Upside Down." Supposedly, this demonstrates the automaker's "Magic Body Control" suspension system. The birds' bodies sway, but their feathered faces stay sublimely still, staring stupidly into the camera, as delighted YouTube viewers, myself included, stupidly stare back. This is why Al Gore invented the Internet. This is advertising! Go suck an egg, Boy Hitler!

UPDATE: Was there a thief in the creative hen house? Ogilvy did a similar spot for Fujifilm back in February. Thanks to @axelk for the heads up.


    

London Live lands first series All About the McKenzies

London Live, the capital’s upcoming local TV channel run by Evgeny Lebedev’s ESTV, has landed its first series, YouTube family sitcom ‘All About the McKenzies’.

Back to Blue – Children of Rock Legends Share Their Creative Philosophy with Gap (SPONSORED) (VIDEO)

(TrendHunter.com) This behind-the-scenes video from Gap’s latest TV campaign features Alexa Ray Joel, daughter of Billy Joel. Here she shares how being brought up in a musical family and her classical training…

Smartphone preguiçoso volta a causar confusão

Há algumas semanas, a MotorolaGoogle finalmente entrou na “briga” dos smartphones com três filmes criados pela Droga5, com um simpático – e ainda assim irritante – personagem, o Lazy Phone. Personificação do smartphone “preguiçoso”, aquele em que você precisa fazer tudo para conseguir ouvir música, fotografar ou acessar suas mensagens, a campanha alcançou um certo sucesso no YouTube – um dos vídeos conta com quase 15 milhões de views.

E como não se mexe em time que está ganhando, a Droga5 foi convocada para dar continuidade à saga de confusões do Lazy Phone, mais uma vez trollando a concorrência com bom humor. No mais recente filme, o foco vai para o sistema de navegação ativado por voz – com direito até à falha no reconhecimento do comando. A consequência? Desastrosa, é claro.

Enquanto isso, o usuário do Moto X mais uma vez aparece com tudo funcionando perfeitamente, para jogar na cara do outro a superioridade de seu aparelho.

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Brainstorm9Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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Progressive Talks Aprons with New Brand Extension

In their new brand extension campaign “The Thread,” Progressive asks and then answers a question you might have had watching their long-running spots starring apron-wearing sales clerk Flo: “What does an apron have to do with car insurance?”

Over dramatic piano music, the first spot of the campaign, “Everything,” poses and then answers the question, claiming an apron is “hard work,” “pride in what you do,” “not quitting until you’ve made something a little better,” and, finally, “for us, everything.” The serious spot is quite a departure from Progressive’s typically goofy advertising strategy.

The real heart of the new campaign isn’t in the television spot, but rather the “Apron Projects” highlighted at Progressive’s Thread website. These are projects by people outside of Progressive who “make progress by making things a little better.” Like Stephen Ritz, a New York-based educator who launched Green Bronx Machine, a project building green walls that grow vegetables in urban areas with a lack of healthy food options.

The new, serious strategy apparent in “Everything”  – originally a bit perplexing — makes a lot more sense in light of “Apron Projects,” which makes you wonder why they didn’t highlight this side of the campaign in the TV spot. Hopefully the follow-up to “Everything” will remedy this.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

BrandMAX: Five trends revolutionising the future of marketing

Future trends are being driven by globalisation and technology, and means that marketers will need to look out for everything from the rise of Islam to the “disappearance of technology”, according to David Smith, Global Futures and Foresight chief executive.

L’Oreal Paris Men Expert picks Wolfpack for digital project

L’Oreal l has handed Wolfpack a brief to work on a digital project for L’Oreal Paris Men Expert, as the independent agency hires Adam & Eve/DDB’s Tom Ellis-Jones as a business director.

Smartphone Marketing – the next era

Mobile marketing is reaching an evolutionary point that has not been seen since the launch of SMS and the introduction of smart phone apps, writes Chris Minas, managing director and co-founder of Nimbletank.

Water is Life: Drinkable

Water in this urinal is cleaner than the drinking water in Haiti.
Unsafe water kills. Donate to stop the violence.

Advertising Agency: Miami Ad School, San Francisco, USA
Art Director / Copywriter: Hazar Aki
Photographer: Clint Blowers

Water is Life: Take a sip

Water in this urinal is cleaner than the drinking water in Haiti.
Unsafe water kills. Donate to stop the violence.

Advertising Agency: Miami Ad School, San Francisco, USA
Art Director / Copywriter: Hazar Aki
Photographer: Clint Blowers

Water is Life: Gun, 3

Water kills.
Unsafe water kills more people every year than war.

Advertising Agency: Miami Ad School, San Francisco, USA
Art Director / Copywriter: Hazar Aki
Photographer: Clint Blowers

Water is Life: Gun, 2

Water kills.
Unsafe water kills more people every year than war.

Advertising Agency: Miami Ad School, San Francisco, USA
Art Director / Copywriter: Hazar Aki
Photographer: Clint Blowers

Water is Life: Gun, 1

Water kills.
Unsafe water kills more people every year than war.

Advertising Agency: Miami Ad School, San Francisco, USA
Art Director / Copywriter: Hazar Aki
Photographer: Clint Blowers

Daimler’s Car2Go Launches National Campaign


Looking to broaden its presence in the car-sharing arena, automaker Daimler’s Car2Go is launching a national campaign this week.

In a segment ruled by Zipcar, Car2Go is notable for being owned by an automaker and for offering a fleet exclusively made up of SmartforTwo models. The company has 270,000 members in 11 cities across North America — it’s expanding into two more markets next week.

The main component of the campaign, from Austin, Texas-based EnviroMedia, is a print effort, set to run nationally in USA Today, as well as regional titles including 303 Magazine, Miami Magazine, San Diego Magazine and Austin 360 (all located in cities in which the company already operates).

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Albert Dali Naming Consultants: Brand Anagrams, 5

Stand out from sameness.

Advertising Agency: Lucifer Labs
Creative: Anantha Narayan