Hasta La Creative!

Last August, when the media praised celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz for helping to save a British tourist who’d been hit by a cab, Hearst Magazines’ multi-million dollar bet on a Dr. Oz magazine seemed like money in the bank.

All of that hero talk seemed to be forgotten this week, however, as a Senate subcommittee pilloried Mr. Oz for hyping dubious miracle cures on his TV show.

“I don’t get why you say this stuff because you know it’s not true,” Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, told Mr. Oz during a hearing on consumer protection Tuesday.

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Estée Lauder has chosen Johannes Leonardo for global creative assignment, including both traditional and digital ads, Adweek reports.

The decision follows a creative review in which Sid Lee was also identified as a finalist, and also included McKinney in initial presentations. While global spending figures were not available, Adweek reported the brand spent around $100 million in media last year in the U.S. alone. Estée Lauder has historically opted for regional campaigns, but looks to create global campaigns going forward. While “Johannes Leonardo referred calls to the New York-based Estée Lauder,” and Estée Lauder refused to comment, Adweek sources “said that the company had told the finalists of its decision.” Johannes Leonardo will not be responsible for global media, which will remain at Omnicom Group’s OMD.

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Coca-Cola was at the annual Licensing Expo in Las Vegas as usual, this time getting ready for the 100th anniversary of its iconic contour bottle next year with a booth full of vintage products. But Coca-Cola also looked forward, with a licensed 3-D printer for consumers, the Ekocycle Cube in partnership with 3D Systems and 3D Systems’ chief creative director, Will.i.am.

Coca-Cola and Will.i.am, who started the Ekocycle brand with Coca-Cola in 2012, are offering a 3-D printer that comes with 25 ready to “print” concepts curated by will.i.am. It will also have a sustainable component, which is on brand for Coca-Cola’s Ekocycle. The filament used to create the objects will be produced — at least in part — by recycled 20-ounce plastic Coke bottles.

3D Systems expects this to be just the start: The company is also working on a 3-D printer for confections in partnership with Hershey’s. 3D Systems will be responsible for the technology and the geometry of the confections while Hershey’s will consult on use of chocolate and taste. Although the machine will take any type of chocolate, guidelines will be provided on how to achieve a Hershey’s-quality outcome.

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In a play to reach more gift-buyers, Walmart held an event for more than 100 long-lead magazine and gift guide editors on Wednesday to showcase what it expects to be top sellers this holiday season.

The event, a first for the retail giant, takes the concept of Christmas creep to a new level. In the past, Walmart pitched media outlets to make it in to their holiday gift guides, which usually close in July. This year, the retailer stepped up its game by gathering the media for a private event.

Walmart’s push to consumers will begin later in the fall, after the back-to-school rush. And it’s still holding its Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals close to the vest. “We have to keep some secrets,” said Jaeme Laczkowski, director of media relations.

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Every weekday, we bring you the Ad Age/iSpot Hot Spots, new and trending TV commercials tracked by iSpot.tv, a company that catalogs, tags and measures activity around TV ads in real time. The New Releases ran on TV for the first time yesterday. The Most Engaging ads are showing sustained social heat, ranked by SpotShare scores reflecting the percent of digital activity associated with each one over the past week. See the methodology here.

Among the new releases, Nike uses a cartoon Cristiano Ronaldo in another 30-second ad promoting its five-and-a-half minute “The Last Game” animated web film tied to the World Cup, while AT&T serves up another spot in its continuing campaign for the “rugged” Samsung Galaxy S5 Active. And Kohl’s suggests that it’s “your summer destination for family fun in the sun” by way of promoting its latest Night Owls/Early Birds sale this Friday and Saturday.

As always, you can find out more about the making of the best commercials on TV at Ad Age’s Creativity.

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Merkley+Partners created a new pro-bono promoting safe firearms storage in conjunction with The Ad Council and National Crime Prevention Council.

Funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), the PSA campaign encourages gun owners to safely store their firearms through television, print, outdoor and online ads centered around the tagline “Remember, Always…Lock It Up.” The television ad above, shot in black and white, features a group of children listing safety rules their parents taught them. They then go on to list the unsafe locations their parents have left a loaded gun, before asking, “How safe is that?” At the conclusion of the PSA, viewers are directed to ncpc.org, where they can learn firearm safety solutions for their household.

“We teach all drivers to buckle up in case of accidents and to lock their cars,” explains National Crime Prevention Council President and CEO Ann M. Harkins. “The same logic applies to this campaign; we want owners to lock up their firearms to prevent accidents and keep them out of the wrong hands. Safe storage ensures that owners are doing their part to increase public safety.” Stick around for credits and another TV spotafter the jump. (more…)

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OK so the Ad Council, in partnership with the National Crime Prevention Council and the Bureau of Justice Assistance, is out with a new firearms safety campaign entitled Safe Firearms Storage. The work, created by Merkley+Partners, features children basically begging their parents to use caution just as parents so often instruct their kids to use caution when doing things in life like riding a bike or swimming in a pool.

Own a gun? The campaign’s message is clear: be careful with it. Store it properly. Don’t keep a loaded gun where anyone can get to it. As the kids in the ads ask, “How safe it that?”

We have a simple solution that would eliminate the need for a campaign like this in the first place: don’t own a gun.

Now before all you pro gun types go crazy, yes, there are times when owning a gun is appropriate. But, for the most part, the proliferation of guns in America has reached insanely epic proportion. The whole thing is a sick and twisted interpretation of the second amendment. Rail against us if you want. But that’s our stance on the topic.

In terms of the work? It’s admirable enough. It makes it’s point. And, yes, it’s an important point. There are activities in life that must be performed with proper guidance and caution. Gun ownership is no different. And that’s the point this campaign drives home.