Hasta La Creative!

Following the release of W+K Amsterdam’s “The Odyssey” last week, Heineken has released a tongue-in-cheek response to the comment section skeptics who questioned the spot’s authenticity.

The 2:10, presented as “the genuine response of our official PR representative Dymfke van Der Gaal,” replies directly to YouTube commenters who publicly questioned the authenticity of the individual talents in “The Odyssey.” As evidence, Heineken presents the casting calls for the guys in the ad, which are predictably goofy. In addition the PR response video, Heineken has also uploaded the casting calls for each of the talents featured in “The Odyssey.” The PR response fits well with the lighthearted tone of the campaign, and reinforces its core message. As Sandrine Huijgen, Global Communications Director at Heineken puts it, “When we saw the comments about The Odyssey TVC, we wanted to show that there are no boundaries between real and fake, proving that real men have unique skills, and everyone is legendary at something.” Stick around for the original “The Odyssey” spot and credits following the jump. continued…

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Was this what Lee Clow was talking about? Last month the ad vet effortlessly whipped adland into a frenzy by tweeting about the Super Bowl and Mac’s 30th birthday, leading to rumors that the brand would be making an appearance on advertising’s biggest night. That didn’t happen, but Monday morning, Apple released this film to celebrate Mac’s birthday.

The film doesn’t dwell on the Mac itself but the idea that it put technology into the hands of the people for the first time. It spotlights the “next thirty years” via the lens of another game-changing tech invention: Apple’s iPhone, which was used to shoot the ad around the world on a single day. The spot was created via TBWA Media Arts Lab. The director is Jake Scott, the son of Ridley Scott, who directed Apple’s lauded Super Bowl ad introducing Mac 30 years ago, “1984.”

In some ways the clip is similar with the Super Bowl ad that Microsoft did run on Sunday. It focused on technology’s ability to improve lives.

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(TrendHunter.com) Model Chiharu Okunugi is a modern muse in the Dansk Spring/Summer 2014 cover shoot. Although she looks as though she stepped out of a Victorian painting, on closer inspection it is clear that her…

Since few would argue that the commercials were more interesting than the game last night, chances are you saw RPA’s “Hugfest” spot, featuring Bruce Willis and SNL-alum/Portlandia star Fred Armisen.

The simple, straightforward spot features Willis urging viewers to hug those around them that they care about — “the people that matter to you, matter to us” — as a way of emphasizing Honda’s commitment to safety. Armisen then appears and hugs Willis for the duration of the 60 second spot.

“Our simple, yet engaging, big-game spot is intended to highlight not only Honda’s deep concern for the safety of our customers, but the actual industry-leading crash test results that back up our commitment,” explained Mike Accavitti, senior vice president of auto operations at American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

The campaign extends beyond the big game spot, with a large social media component utilizing the hashtag #hugfest. During the Super Bowl, Honda posted “real-time video reactions from Willis about events such as penalties, fumbles and referee calls on the brand’s @Honda Twitter feed.” Immediately after the spot aired, Honda encouraged viewers to send virtual hugs (actually Willis hugging the camera) to loved ones who they couldn’t be near during the big game. Today, Honda is collecting hugs via Twitter by asking people “to send a picture or Vine of their hug with the hash tag #hugfest.” Bruce Willis will then respond with a “meme appraisal of the hug.” Additionally, Honda will have a homepage takeovers at MSN and ESPN, where a 30-second spot “How to Hug” video featuring Willis and Armisen will greet visitors to the sites. You can view “How to Hug,” along with credits after the jump. continued…

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(TrendHunter.com) The Apple iTie is an ingenious tech concept that comes from the mind of artist Tomislav Zvonari?.

Combining the worlds of technology and fashion, the iTie is designed to be the only tie you’…

Most businesses can only dream of growing big enough one day to advertise in the Super Bowl. So when an 18-month-old startup finds itself running an ad in the game for free, there's no playbook to plan what happens next.

Game maker GoldieBlox recently won Intuit's "Small Business Big Game" promotion, which promised a 30-second ad valued at $4 million in this Sunday's Super Bowl. While GoldieBlox proved itself a savvy marketer with a successful Kickstarter campaign and a highly popular video about empowering girls to invent, the business also ran afoul of intellectual property law and took some heat from the public when it used the Beastie Boys track "Girls" without permission.

Given the odd path that's led GoldieBlox to the big game, it's hard to predict how its Super Bowl ad, created by longtime Honda agency RPA, will be received and how the company will evolve in the year ahead.

So we decided to ask GoldieBlox founder Debbie Sterling about the contest, the controversy and the mission that have all shaped her company's unique fate. 

AdFreak: In some ways, it seems like you won a $4 million lottery, but it's not like you didn't have to work for it. How did you react to hearing you'd won the Intuit contest?

Debbie Sterling: It's almost hard to describe how I feel and how I felt the moment I found out we were the grand prize winner. I felt almost like it wasn't just a win for GoldieBlox; it was a win for girls around the world.

One hundred million people are going to see our message about empowering girls. It feels just incredible, incredibly validating that America voted for us and wants us for their daughters. It's not just an ad; it's almost like a revolution.

GoldieBlox seemed to have an early lead in the contest, especially when your video was going viral. Then the debate over the Beastie Boys track seemed to change the tone. Did you worry it would distract people from the contest and supporting your product?

There was a lot of misunderstanding in the media at the time. A lot of people thought that video was supposed to be our big-game commercial, which it wasn't. It was a really hard time for us as a company and me as an individual.

Soundtrack aside, that online video was pretty ambitious. How did it come about?

My team and I were having lunch at a Mexican restaurant, brainstorming ways to get girls interested in science and engineering. We came up with this idea to create a Rube Goldberg device out of toys.

We had remembered seeing the OK Go video, and we wanted to set it to a girl power anthem. We're a pretty small team, but we're really passionate, and we made it ourselves (with OK Go collaborator Brett Doar).

Surely you weren't expecting the clip to become as big of a viral sensation as it did?

You can never know if something's going to go viral. We had no idea. We made a video we felt kind of encapsulated our mission and we hoped would spark some interest in kids.

As great as it must have been to see the video getting all this love and attention, it must have been jarring when the legal debate started and it all got so negative so fast. 

It was a really hard time. The controversy around it, it took away from our mission. If you ever come visit GoldieBlox headquarters, you'll see we have written on the wall, "The mission is more important than the company."

The last I heard, the Beastie Boys had filed a countersuit looking for damages and fees. What's the status of the legal debate over the song? Is it still going?

There's still legal stuff going on.

So nothing's been settled?

I can't comment on any of the legal stuff.

Your team is small, and I'm sure allocating resources is a big part of your daily life. Between the Rube Goldberg video and the Intuit contest, how have you made time for product and R&D along with the marketing?

Our main focus is product. We put a lot of work into our product each day.

We think of our marketing and advertising almost as a product, too, in the sense that the videos we've been creating and the community we've been building on our Facebook page, on Twitter and elsewhere in social media, they're all kind of bubbling up to the same goal. In a way, it almost feels like our marketing and product are one.

For most global brands in the Super Bowl, there's a lot of debate about how many millions of products they'll need to sell to make the ad worthwhile, but obviously you're in a different situation. Do you have any sales goals or other metrics for how you'll define a win from your ad this Sunday?

For me, we've already won, because the ad sends a very clear message that girls deserve more than the "pink aisle" has to offer. Having 100 million people see that and talk about it at the dinner table, or have a dad encourage his daughter to invent something … that already is going to come out of this, and that's a win.

This time around it was free. So over the next year, you just have to set aside $5 million or so to buy your next Super Bowl ad.

Hahah, yes. I hope this is not our last Super Bowl ad.

Debbie Sterling graduated from Stanford University with a degree in engineering before becoming the founder and CEO of GoldieBlox. The company now sells three games available primarily through independent toy stores, Toys-R-Us and Target. She hopes to expand the brand into animation and video games in the near future.

Buy: The brewer’s crucial and expensive Super Bowl plans this year added up to three ads for Bud Light; two for Budweiser. The five ads were originally slated to run three and a half minutes, one minute less than the brewer bought in the past two Super Bowls, but one Bud ad, “Hero’s Welcome,” was expanded to 60 seconds from 30.

Creative: A 30-second spot and a 60-second spot introduced a Bud Light tagline, “The Perfect Beer for Whatever Happens,” that ended the four-year-run of “Here We Go,” and featured Arnold Schwarzenegger, Don Cheadle and comedian/musician Reggie Watts giving unsuspecting regular guy Ian Rappaport an “Epic Night.” Another 30-second Bud Light spot promoted a new aluminum bottle. One 60-second Budweiser ad — released the Wednesday before the game and embedded below — brought back the Clydesdale trainer from 2013’s well-received “Brotherhood” commercial and spotlighted a bond between a Clydesdale and a puppy. The other Budweiser spot, the now-60-second long “Hero’s Welcome,” paid tribute to soldiers returning from Afghanistan. In 2013 A-B InBev ran ads for four different beers, including two new line extensions.

Agency: The pair of celebrity-filled Bud Light ads marked the debut of BBDO on the account. Cannonball, St. Louis, handled the aluminum bottle spot. Budweiser’s ads are from Anomaly.

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