Hasta La Creative!

This week’s viral chart speaks to the power of the automobile. Specifically, two stunts: Jeff Gordon’s punking of a Jalopnik writer for Pepsi Max and Hennessey setting a land speed record at the Kennedy Space Center.

We’ve all heard plenty about the Jeff Gordon “Test Drive” video, so lets talk about Hennessey. The short film documents the speed test with the Venom GT hitting 270.49 mph, unseating the Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 as world’s fastest production car. The 4-minute video, which includes an audio recording of JFK’s “We choose to go to the Moon” speech, amassed over 4.3 million views last week and debuts at No. 2 on this week’s Viral Video Chart.

Other newcomers to the chart include Coca Cola at No. 4 with a humorous spot that flaunts a huge pet funnel to reconnect people who are disengaged by social media; Samsung’s “#UNPACKED” campaign takes No. 5 with the reveal of its Galaxy S5 and Gear Fit; CoverGirl snags No.6, owing to an inspiring commercial featuring celebrities Katy Perry, Sofia Vergara, Ellen DeGeneres, Queen Latifah, Pink, and Janelle Monae; and UK company Three’s adorably funny “#SingItKitty” spot finishes off the chart at No. 10 this week with 2.5 million views.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

BlueRock, Spontaneous and Scarlett collaborated to create the “Give A Chuck” contest for  BlueRock Spontaneous and Scarlett , asking entrants to submit photos and videos of their own, dressed-up versions of Converse’s classic Chuck Taylor sneakers. The three companies presented clients with an invitation to enter the contest as part of their holiday gift-giving. The winners of the contest — judged “by a panel including Olivier Wicki from BlueRock, Johanna Marciano from Scarlett and Brian Bowman of Spontaneous” — were just announced today on a special Tumblr page.

The grand prize (an all-expense-paid weekend trip to South Beach and a $1000 donation to a charity of the winner’s choosing) went to Y&R’s Abby Bralove, who submitted the above stop-motion video of her and her chucks. Abby chose St. Jude’s Research Hospital to receive the $1,000 donation. The contest, which “drew several dozen entries from agency creatives and producers” also handed out three runner-up prizes to Melanie Baublis and Jane Minehan of O&M, who won $500 donations in their names to Doctors Without Borders, and Brian Gonsar of Hill Holliday, who gave his donation to Teach for America.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

In what may be the cutest advertisement you see today, ROKKAN teamed up with healthcare giant WellPoint to create “The ABCs of Disease,” “a creative extension of WellPoint’s Real Health campaign, a full scale digital & social initiative aimed at simplifying and educating Americans around the often complex landscape of healthcare and insurance.”

“The ABCs of Disease” is a fun video in which Forrest Kline, of powerpop band HelloGoodbye, leads a group from the imagined Florence Nightingale Middle School through a pageant depicting “26 reasons to protect your health” from A-Z. It’s an infectious little number that ROKKAN and WellPoint hopes will catch on and convince viewers of the need for health insurance. “The ABCs of Disease” features an original song, handmade costumes and adorable cast of characters from asthma to bacteria to narcolepsy. In addition to the long-form video, the campaign also includes “a range of elements from short form pre-roll spots and bite-sized video content to the website, which serves as the digital conversation hub.” You can check out the full length video above, and stick around for “The ABCs of Disease: Catch it Now!” after the jump. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Publicis Groupe is continuing its digital agency spree, this time with the acquisition of Dallas-based Hawkeye.

The shop, which specializes in digital marketing and CRM, will become aligned with creative agency network Publicis North America and renamed Publicis Hawkeye. It employs 160 staffers and operates offices in Dallas, Charlotte, Buffalo, Minneapolis, Denver and Vail.

Steve Dapper, founder and chairman of Hawkeye, was previously CEO of both WPP’s Wunderman and Omnicom’s Rapp Collins. He will continue his current chairman role while Sally Kennedy, CEO of Publicis Dallas, becomes CEO of Publicis Hawkeye.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

It’s a tried-and-true segment for the morning talk show circuit — an expert reviews and recommends a series of products, playfully chatting with the hosts along the way. The problem arises when said expert happens to be a paid endorser for one of the products.

The Federal Trade Commission, which has been cracking down on potentially misleading endorsements in advertising, said today that it had charged the home security giant ADT with misrepresenting paid endorsements as independent reviews. ADT set up three paid endorsers, one of whom calls herself “Safety Mom,” for appearances as independent experts on such as NBC’s “Today” in 2010 and 2011, according the FTC.

According to the complaint, ADT set up media interviews for its endorsers through a public relations firm and booking agents, often providing news outlets with suggested interview questions and b-roll video to accompany any coverage. ADT’s paid endorsers, who received more than $300,000 to promote a service called ADT Pulse, were billed as experts in child safety, home security or technology. Two of ADT’s endorsers also received a free ADT Pulse security system, along with free monthly monitoring.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

L’agence canadienne lg2 a repensé avec beaucoup de talent l’identité graphique du Parc à Montréal ayant accueilli les Jeux olympiques en 1976. Inspirée par les couleurs et la rondeur du Stade Olympique, toute la déclinaison redonne vie à cet évènement. A découvrir dans la suite en images.