BT Sport and 4G prompt hike in UK adspend prediction

BT and BSkyB’s pay-TV marketing war has prompted ZenithOptimedia to upgrade its UK TV adspend forecast to 2.9 per cent year-on-year growth for 2013, after predicting a flat market as recently as June.

Howard Shatz Photography

Focus sur le travail du photographe américain Howard Shatz. Déjà connu pour ses séries comme Model and Mothers Series ou Underwater, il a été récompensé par de nombreux prix et publié par des magazines comme Vogue, GQ ou le New York Times. À découvrir en images dans la suite de l’article.

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TBWA/NEBOKO Combines Video with 3D Animation in ‘de Optimist’ for Delta Lloyd

TBWA/NEBOKO put together a technically ambitious spot for Dutch company Delta Lloyd.

For the spot, supporting the simple concept of a boy negotiating the dangers of the ocean on a small boat — “a metaphor for someone’s financial life, in which insurance company Delta Lloyd helps to respond alert to changes” — TBWA/NEBOKO seamlessly combined video with 3D computer images to create a convincing world. (It’s the Life of Pi of advertising guys!)

Shot in eight days in Almere, Heiloo and Texel by director Lieven van Baelen, with 3D animation added post-production, TBWA/NEBOKP clearly threw everything they had into this one. They even hired Olympic sailor Pieter-Jan Postma to give private lessons to the actor playing the boy in the spot. How’s that for attention to detail?

Since the technically difficult process is, arguably, the most interesting thing about “de Optimist,” it stands to reason that “Making of de Optimist” is well worth a look. Check it out, with credits, after the jump.

And feel free to give me Dutch lessons in the comment section. There’s some voice-over at the end of “de Optimist,” but I have no idea what they’re saying.

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69 Fairytale Photography Series – The Once Upon a Time Season Premiere Featured Peter Pan (TOPLIST)

(TrendHunter.com) This collection of fairytale themed photography celebrates the third Once Upon a Time season premiere on ABC Sunday night. The television series places beloved fairy tale characters like Snow White,…

Cheil UK hires Jon Buckley as first head of social

Cheil UK has appointed Jon Buckley, the digital director of Mesh Marketing, as its first head of social to boost its social credentials.

P&G dials up Fairy marketing after ASA victory over Unilever’s Persil

Procter & Gamble (P&G) is dialling up its marketing efforts for Fairy Liquid against rival Unilever’s Persil, following a victory ruling from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

Lotto to launch YouTube singalong to ‘Ooh-wakka-doo’

Camelot, the operator of the National Lottery, is launching an online singalong competition to the song in its new TV ad, which is based on the Gilbert O’Sullivan tune ‘Ooh-wakka-doo-wakka-day’, later today.

Grey London loses Seat UK ad account to Lowe & Partners

Lowe & Partners has won the international advertising and digital account for car marque Seat, unseating incumbent Grey London in the UK.

Steve Ballmer’s emotional goodbye to Microsoft

Steve Ballmer, the outgoing Microsoft chief executive, gave a characteristic emotional and energetic farewell address last week to “the greatest company in the world”.

Isobel takes Bordeaux account global

Isobel, the independent creative agency, has won the £8 million global creative account for Bordeaux wines, after previously managing the UK business.

Lowe Campbell Ewald Makes Some Cuts

loweceWe can’t confirm numbers or names–though we’re hearing some creative higher-ups and staff in L.A. were affected–but we’ve received confirmation that the agency now known as Lowe Campbell Ewald has made some cuts (we were told last Thursday and nearly 10 staffers were affected in L.A.). Here’s a quick statement from recently installed LCE CEO Jim Palmer: “Our industry is one of constant change, and we must routinely review where we are now and what we must do to stay competitive down the road. We are realigning our resources to best serve the current and future needs of our clients. Saying goodbye to our dedicated teammates is hard on all of us and without question the most difficult part of this business.” We’ll keep you posted if we hear more.

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Joanna Lumley takes centre stage in Sky on-demand campaign

Joanna Lumley is staring in a new television advertising campaign for Sky where she pays homage to hit series including ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘The Walking Dead’.

To Reach Millennials, Marketers May Revisit Music TV


It’s been five years since MTV canceled “Total Request Live,” its afternoon music mainstay. VJs have been replaced by the teen moms and fist pumpers of hit reality shows. Music videos are confined to the wee hours, MTV’s digital platforms or sibling networks like MTV Jams, MTV Hits and VH1 Classic.

But the seeds of MTV’s shift away from music videos were planted earlier than many people realize — perhaps as soon as it focused on reaching young people. Now Sean “Diddy” Combs is introducing a music network called Revolt. Is history about to repeat itself?

“The glory days of playing music videos in rotation probably wore off after that first year,” said Van Toffler, president of MTV Networks Music & Logo Group. “If you look anything like you did five years ago, especially if you are targeting a younger demographic, you are in trouble.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Interview: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Says You’ll Soon Tune Into Revolt TV, And So Will Brands


“I want my Revolt TV.”

Those are the five words rapperpreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs dreams will one day roll off the tongues of throngs of music fans. After spending 18 months laying the groundwork — hiring an all-star team of execs, making flashy appearances at big ad events like Cannes, and more quietly, flying around the country to pitch big multinational marketers — Revolt is set to launch.

The question is: Can Diddy get it done? Can his network become the MTV of a new generation?

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Heineken, W+K Amsterdam Drop the Ball with ‘Best of Heineken Dropped’

For the past four months Heineken and W+K Amsterdam have been giving men (because apparently if women drink Heineken, they really don’t give a shit) the opportunity to test their resourcefulness and wits in a reality-style web series by dropping them, blindfolded, in select locations.

To conclude this self-described “brand experiment” Heineken and W+K have put together the “Best of Heineken Dropped.” Unfortunately, the presentation wasn’t so well thought through.

I understand the need to want to narrate the adventures in “Best of Heineken Dropped,” but they really could have found a better way to do it than the annoying song telling the stories of the “Dropped” participants. The song is by one of “Dropped” participants, Murray, an Irishman from the Phillipines double drop, although that’s not mentioned in “Best of Heineken Dropped.” It’s basically just a repetitive verse with lyrics (including lots of cringe-worthy rhyming) changed for each “Dropped” participant’s story. The song is so uninteresting and obnoxious that it makes you want to zone it out, defeating the purpose of it narrating the “Dropped” men’s stories, and taking away from the occasionally interesting footage. By not mentioning the connection to the “Dropped” series they lose out on any gain from using Murray’s music (Do they really assume we’ve seen every “Dropped” episode?), so what’s the point? Simple voice-over narration explaining where each participant went and what they did would be much more effective, and not make me want to kill Heineken.

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Elle tackles pay inequality and sexual abuse in challenge to women’s feminist attitudes

Three groups of feminists are working with ad agencies to re-imagine the feminist movement for today for the November issue of Elle (on sale from Wednesday) with activity that tackles issues including pay inequality.

Team Detroit SVP Issues Emerging Technology Challenge

detroitlogo1Well, this filtered in to a friend’s LinkedIn and it comes from Team Detroit SVP/group director, emerging technology, Brian Bos. The exec is issuing a challenge of sorts and it goes a little something like this, verbatim: “I’m issuing the first ever Team Detroit – Emerging Technology Challenge to all interested companies. We’re seeking the most interesting media, technology and marketing ideas. The criteria is simple – 1) it’s truly ‘emerging’ and uncharted territory for brands 2) you’ve struggled to bring the idea forward, as ROI is not proven 3) You’ve thought “no brand would do this” but deep down inside, you know it could be ‘the next big thing’. I will personally carve out time on my calendar for every interesting idea, so please connect with me via Linkedin and I’ll follow up with you.” Are you game, companies? We’ll keep you posted if we hear more but here’s Bos’s LinkedIn in the meantime.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

NBCU Says It’s Sold a Record $800M in Winter Olympics Ads


NBC Universal has sold $800 million in advertising for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, according to Seth Winter, exec VP-sales and marketing for NBC Sports Group. That’s a record for the winter games and coming from fewer advertisers, NBC said.

The windfall for the Sochi games tops the previous Winter Olympics mark of roughly $750 million in ad sales that NBC wrote for the 2010 Vancouver and 2002 Salt Lake City games. NBC said with local support its total might approach $970 million for the Sochi games, scheduled for Feb. 7 to 23, 2014. The London 2012 games set the record for Summer Olympics with more than $1 billion in ad sales.

“As of today, we see $800 million, which is a winter-games record for us, surpassing Torino [2006], which was in the mid $600s, and both Salt Lake and Vancouver, which were in the mid-$700s,” Mr. Winter said last week. “Today we see $800 million — and we think there’s growth beyond that.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com

ZenithOptimedia holds adspend forecast at 3.5% growth for 2013

ZenithOptimedia has indicated a shift back to health for the global advertising market by holding its June global advertising expenditure forecast, which predicted global growth of 3.5 per cent during 2013 to $503 billion (£312 billion).

10 Brands That Made Music Part of Their Marketing DNA


Licensing popular songs for ads is so pass. Here are the advertisers who have a track record of going a step further with music — and demonstrating for consumers that making tunes is a meaningful part of their marketing DNA.

AMERICAN EXPRESS

“Unstaged” is the name of American Express’ livestream experience of concert performances by major musical acts. The program, which started in 2010, boasts high-quality production, with the brand bringing in notable directorial talents to shoot the shows. AmEx partners with Vevo and YouTube on the events, which air on amexunstaged.com. The results can be intriguing, like in 2013, when Vampire Weekend headlined while Steve Buscemi sat in the director’s chair. This year’s performance also included a “choose your cam” feature that let audiences see the performance from the director’s main camera or the artist’s POV. Previous pairings included: The Killers and Werner Herzog; Kenny Chesney and Jonathan Demme; Duran Duran and David Lynch; and Jack White and Gary Oldman.

Continue reading at AdAge.com