JCPenney, the retail chain that can’t seem to make up its mind about which agency it wants to work with, has, as you probably know, assembled a cavalcade of shops including Doner, Victors & Spoils and EVB, who succeed Y&R following a rather brief stint. Anyhow, layoffs have ensued at Y&R, which sent us this statement:
“Due to our recent parting of ways with J.C. Penney, and in order to best structure ourselves for growth in the new year, we are reducing staff in our New York office by 15 people. Although we are sad to see some of our people go, we are confident about the overall growth of our North American network, and plan to add jobs in our Chicago, San Francisco and Toronto offices in the coming months.”
Y&R took over on JCPenney creative duties this past April.
Adidas recently debuted its official FIFA World Cup 2014 ball with much fanfare, and now Nike presents its own brightly colored orb, the Ordem Football, in this charming film starring Wayne Rooney, one of the soccer pros who starred in the brand’s much-celebrated 2010 World Cup campaign “Write the Future.” Created in-house at Nike and produced out of Great Guns, the spot shows Mr. Rooney stepping out onto new turf — a golf course — and going head to head with pro golfer Rory McIlroy. For unfamiliar ground, the soccer athlete seemingly has impressive skills, even skipping the ball over a water trap.
Throughout, both players are pretty neck and neck — until the final shot is made — by none other than Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldo. Frank Sinatra’s classic “Straight Down the Middle” track adds even more lighthearted fun to the film.
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BBDO NY’s new holiday campaign for Champs Sports helps kids hack their wish lists into their parents’ browsers, through fake viral videos and a browser extension that turns all banner ads into ads for their wish list. The campaign is a mix of sneaky and clever, and kids whose wish lists are full of Champs merchandise should be happy about this one.
The 56 second video promoting the campaign (see above) features Jon Gruden, who introduces himself as a “football coach, TV personality, and overall tough guy.” Gruden always gets what he wants for Christmas, because all he really wants are pork rinds. He appeals to kids to make sure their parents see their wish list via “Hard Hinting,” so they don’t end up getting a clarinet, instead of the Jordan Retro 1 they asked for. (Hey, what’s wrong with the clarinet?) Gruden then goes on to describe Champs Sports’ two methods of Hard Hinting: viral video hacks and banner ad takeovers.
Although Champs Sports does have products for girls, this ad is clearly aimed squarely at the young male, sports fan market (the only audience that doesn’t find Jon Gruden overwhelmingly obnoxious). You have to wonder a little bit about targeting such a specific demographic, but then I suppose that audience accounts for a lot of Champs’ business this time of year. It just might have made sense to do so in a way that wasn’t so alienating to everybody else. While the hacking your wishlist to get your parents attention schtick is pretty clever (and I’m sure kids will appreciate it), I imagine a few parents will feel it crosses the line. And they’re the ones ultimately doing the shopping, right?
What the hell is going on here? That may be the main question on your mind as you watch this Marc Jacobs video, in which the brand's president, Robert Duffy, announces something about a photo truck being outside its Bleecker Street store on weekends this month—but instead of just saying it, Duffy is lip-syncing some other guy saying it (and the other guy seems to have a mild stutter). The effect is not unlike the uncanny valley, as Duffy seems quite nonhuman. As weird as it is, though, it's undeniably compelling—sort of amazing, in a way. Just, you know, show up to the event at your own risk. Via Fashionista, which points out that Duffy has done some weird stuff in company videos before.
Composée d’une matrice de 256 ballons gonflés à l’hélium et équipés de LEDs, Cyclique est une superbe installation imaginée par le Collectif Coin ainsi que Nohista réagissant à la musique, le tout dans le cadre de la Nuit Blanche 2013 à Amiens en France. A découvrir en vidéo et détails dans la suite de l’article.
(TrendHunter.com) Part of the footwear designers 12 Shoes for 12 Lovers project, the Sebastian Errazuriz Gold Digger shoes are perhaps one of the more captivating creations. Unlike the Cry Baby and Honey Natasha…
It’s not a very merry TV Christmas so far for Shrek, the Grinch or that Elf on the Shelf.
Many of the holiday movies and specials that ran in prime-time over Thanksgiving week saw declines from their airings in 2012, including with “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “Shrek the Halls” on ABC, “Elf on the Shelf” and “Hoops and Yoyo Ruin Christmas” on CBS, and “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” on The CW.
In total viewers, “Shrek” plunged 37% to 5.3 million this year from 8.4 million in 2012, “Grinch” declined 32% to 5.7 million, and both “Elf on the Shelf” and “Hoops and Yoyo” halved their audiences, with just 2.8 million and 2.1 million viewers tuning in, respectively.
Rolling Stone plans to introduce a new website called Rolling Stone Country in the second quarter of 2014.
The new standalone site’s aim is to cover the country music scene in the same way Rolling Stone does rock and pop music, according to Gus Wenner, director of Rolling Stone.com. To that end, the magazine is opening an office in Nashville with 10 to 15 editorial staffers, said Mr. Wenner, whose father Jann is the co-founder of Rolling Stone and parent company Wenner Media. To coincide with the site’s introduction, the magazine is planning a country-themed print issue, a first for Rolling Stone.
The initiative is among the younger Wenner’s first major moves since he was named to run RollingStone.com in May. “There’s a really big void in the digital coverage of country music as far as giving it the serious attention it deserves,” he said, comparing the genre’s popularity to that of Nascar. “I saw some similarities and thought it could be an opportunity for Rolling Stone.”
We can imagine the the amount of head scratching that went on among Clemenger BBDO creatives after being briefed by Carlton on their new beer which is called…Carlton Cold. We’re sure it was like, “Say what” Isn’t all beer cold? How the hell are we going to differentiate this cold beer from every single other beer brand in the world?”
So what’s a creative to do when tasked with marketing a product that’s exactly the same as every other product in its category. Well you go for the stupid, the crazy, the weird, the odd. That’s what you do. And Clemenger certainly achieved that with these four :15’s they created for the brand.
Quirky situations such as a bartender whose fingernails are too long to serve a beer and another who does a bit more than just slide a beer down the bar to a customer are finished off with the in-your-face announcer close, “Colder. Bolder. Fresher.”
Advertising Agency: David&Goliath, USA
Founder, Chief Creative Officer: David Angelo
Executive Creative Director: Colin Jeffery
Director of Client Services: Brian Dunbar
Creative Directors: Ben Purcell, Steve Yee
Executive Producer / Director of Broadcast Production: Carol Lombard
Broadcast Producer: Mia Lischer
Production Company: Epoch Films
Director: Michael Downing
Executive Producer: Melissa Culligan
Producer: Kim Hubert
HOP: Megan Murphree
Production Supervisor: Nic Jaramillo
Director of Photography: Masanobu Takayanagi
Editorial: Spinach
Editor: Adam Bright / Art Castle
Assistant Producer: Jonathan Carpio
Mix Company: Margarita Mix
Mixer: Nathan Dubin
Producer: Michele Millard
Online: Fell VFX
EP / VFX Supervisor / Partner: Rachel Koch / EP
Flame Artist / Creative Director / Partner: Russell Fell
Music: Original Music by Human
Advertising Agency: David&Goliath, USA
Founder, Chief Creative Officer: David Angelo
Executive Creative Director: Colin Jeffery
Director of Client Services: Brian Dunbar
Creative Directors: Ben Purcell, Steve Yee
Executive Producer / Director of Broadcast Production: Carol Lombard
Broadcast Producer: Mia Lischer
Production Company: Epoch Films
Director: Michael Downing
Executive Producer: Melissa Culligan
Producer: Kim Hubert
HOP: Megan Murphree
Production Supervisor: Nic Jaramillo
Director of Photography: Masanobu Takayanagi
Editorial: Spinach
Editor: Adam Bright / Art Castle
Assistant Producer: Jonathan Carpio
Mix Company: Margarita Mix
Mixer: Nathan Dubin
Producer: Michele Millard
Online: Fell VFX
EP / VFX Supervisor / Partner: Rachel Koch / EP
Flame Artist / Creative Director / Partner: Russell Fell
Music: Original Music by Human
Advertising Agency: David&Goliath, USA
Founder, Chief Creative Officer: David Angelo
Executive Creative Director: Colin Jeffery
Director of Client Services: Brian Dunbar
Creative Directors: Ben Purcell, Steve Yee
Executive Producer / Director of Broadcast Production: Carol Lombard
Broadcast Producer: Mia Lischer
Production Company: Epoch Films
Director: Michael Downing
Executive Producer: Melissa Culligan
Producer: Kim Hubert
HOP: Megan Murphree
Production Supervisor: Nic Jaramillo
Director of Photography: Masanobu Takayanagi
Editorial: Spinach
Editor: Adam Bright / Art Castle
Assistant Producer: Jonathan Carpio
Mix Company: Margarita Mix
Mixer: Nathan Dubin
Producer: Michele Millard
Online: Fell VFX
EP / VFX Supervisor / Partner: Rachel Koch / EP
Flame Artist / Creative Director / Partner: Russell Fell
Music: Original Music by Human
How do you take attention away from the fact that you were recently declared the worst cellular network in a consumer report? If you’re Sprint, apparently you get agency DigitasLBi to work with you to create a gesture-based, interactive retail experience. Because that’s the future: being able to shop online without having to use a pesky mouse and keyboard. But where to unveil such a creation? What is an event where people would see the Sprint name and not know any better?
Sprint will unveil the new “Shop. Hands Free. In 3D.” experience during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion’s Week in Las Vegas, tomorrow, Dec. 6. This follows on the success of the pilot unveiling, during NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race weekends at the Chicagoland in Septmber, and Kansas Speedways in October. NASCAR fans seemed pleased with the Sprint’s new magical technology, as evidenced in the above video.
So how does it work? Well, according to the announce, “…users move their hands through the air above a Leap Motion controller, which displays their actions onto a large screen ahead.” But wait, that’s not all. There’s a podium. A branded podium. To appeal to Nascar fans, DigitasLBi created “an eye-catching branded podium to house the technology.” Those who tried out the shopping experience then “supply their email addresses to receive their picture from the virtual photo booth as well as a link to the items they browsed.” Combining technology used in next-gen gaming with a theme park-esque photo service, that’s their strategy, because Sprint is “more than just a wireless company,” according to Sprint Program Manager Lane Allison.
Perhaps I’m being a bit hard on Sprint. After all “Shop. Hands Free. In 3D.” is sort of an intriguing prospect, if only for the novelty value. It’s just that this does absolutely nothing to repair Sprint’s damaged reputation. Since most people now view Sprint as something of a joke, maybe that’s what they should be working on. Or maybe Sprint is just for NASCAR fans now.
They’re coming out of the woodwork. Or, rather, infesting YouTube with their incredible lameness. Just today, we had this overly long SausageCopter deal. And now we have an even more lame Root Beer Float Drone Project from A&W Root Beer which claims to have been given birth in 2005.
We think it’s time for all these spoofs to quietly dismiss themselves to the flashmob archive where they will make friends with prankvertising, assvertising, the Million Dollar Homepage, this guy, this girl, Second Life and Courtney Van Dunk.
What do you do when your catchphrase becomes so popular, major brands start using it on their own merchandise without permission or compensation? If you're the VlogBrothers, you reluctantly do nothing.
The YouTube star siblings John and Hank Green have long ended their clips with the mantra, "Don't forget to be awesome." Its acronym, DFTBA, is even the name of their indie record label, which has supported other online celebrities like Smosh, NicePeter (of "Epic Rap Battles" fame) and Rhett and Link.
The phrase's popularity among VlogBrothers fans, known as Nerdfighters, has now made it a hot item among pop fashion and retail brands including Urban Outfitters, Hobby Lobby, Delia's, Aeropostale, Pier One and more. Not one of the brands or their suppliers has paid for the line's usage.
In a new clip, John Green explains not only why the brothers are allowing these unpaid uses to be sold but also how the "wild world of trademarks" actually works for modern content creators. For the VlogBrothers, cracking down on national brands would mean also having to go after fans who sell "Don't forget to be awesome" merchandise on sites like Etsy.
If you're the least bit interested in how modern Internet-fueled catchphrases are used, abused and co-opted by fans and Fortune 500 companies alike, this video is a must-watch.
Facing a legal fight with an uncertain outcome, the toy company GoldiBlox has given in to the Beastie Boys and pulled its parody of the group’s song “Girls” from YouTube. But marketers and agencies can still learn from the episode. Attorney Brian Heidelberger breaks it down in his latest Mini Law Lesson.
While there are a few funny moments in this redpepper-created Amazon Prime Air spoof, at two minutes in length, it’s about 1:30 longer than it needs to be. In the spoof, a bunch of vegetarians are enjoying a very meatless gathering but one attendee thinks there should be more meat. He whips out his mobile app and orders up a few links of sausage to be delivered by the SausageCopter. And, yea, that’s about it.
Para promover a otimização da performance de baterias, proporcionadas pelos seus processadores, a Intel aplicou uma pegadinha em clientes de uma cafeteria.
Ao encontrarem o oásis que é uma tomada quando seu smartphone ou laptop está prestes a morrer, as pessoas eram surpreendidas com a fuga da mesma.
O conceito é óbvio, mas aplicado de maneira divertida: Com processadores Intel, você não precisa ficar correndo atrás de tomadas. Mais uma solução para problemas que antes não existiam.
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