Hasta La Creative!

Israeli officials used gag orders in recent weeks to stifle reporting on two investigations into the abduction and murder of four teenagers.

Hey, look, the new Apple isn’t just the same old monolith after all.

A video released by the brand this week features thousands of the company’s employees, including CEO Tim Cook, and their family members all gathering to march in last month’s San Francisco Pride Parade.

It’s unusual to see Apple’s workers show up in its consumer advertising. It’s also nice, especially in support of a worthwhile cause (even if Apple does, yes, just ultimately want to sell more gadgets). Set to Coldplay’s new single “A Sky Full of Stars,” the video opens on the company’s prep for the parade, with rows of bicycles, and a barista pouring beverages, and staffers donning boxes-on-boxes worth of special Apple-logo T-shirts reading “Pride,” before the montage crescendoes to the main event. Cook’s appearance is brief, nestled among a sequence of less-recognizable faces. “Inclusion inspires innovation,” says the closing copy.

That reads, though, as more than just a corporate show of force for LGBT rights, which the company has a history of supporting in its own employment policies. Everybody always knew Cook would have a hard time replacing messianic figure Steve Jobs as the face of Apple. The perhaps obvious answer, hinted at subtly here, is that Cook is not doing it alone.

After much handwringing in recent years over the new CEO’s vision—or perceived lack thereof—the blueprint of Cook’s Apple that’s now trickling out suggests a company that’s less closed off and more collaborative than during its mythic era under Jobs, a notoriously exacting master who crafted its reputation for shrouding itself in secrecy and keeping a tight focus on products—including in its advertising.

In other words, it’s hard to imagine an ad featuring a smiling Jobs milling around with his underlings. Yet, here is Cook, doing just that.

The clip itself is a little slow to get off the ground, but the payoff, focused as it is on people—namely Apple staffers and the LGBT community writ large—is well worth the wait. That’s something of a coup, considering the company’s ill-fated detour into advertising around its corporate culture in 2013, by way of a botched attempt at a manifesto about the significance of products.

The new ad, meanwhile, also aligns with Cook’s championing, including in his CEO role, of human rights broadly defined, as well as other causes like environmentalism. Such are the trappings of inheriting a powerful company with the ability, and arguably an obligation, to contribute more socially. But back in 2011, Cook also made a point of saying that one of Jobs’s last pieces of advice to him was never to ask what Steve Jobs would do, and instead to “just do what’s right.”

Maybe those who want to can still see Jobs pulling the strings, even from beyond the grave. Subtle perception games aside, that just might mean the next great Apple product everyone’s been waiting for is just around the corner, too.

Our Clip of the Week comes to us from Fourgrounds Media, a film and video production company based in St. Catharines, Ontario. In “Everyday Football Fouls,” posted Tuesday on YouTube, the Fourgrounds team shows what would happen we all acted like soccer players in our homes and offices.

The World Cup may be wrapping up, but the lesson here is that with a little bit of effort — and a lot of bad acting — you can bring some of the spirit of the game to your daily life.

Simon Dumenco is the “Media Guy” columnist for Advertising Age. You can follow him on Twitter @simondumenco.

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The tradition of the bold cinematic logo is alive and well in Hollywood, with designers striving for ever more creative graphic effects.

CBS is integrating Fitbit Flex activity trackers into this season of “Big Brother,” letting viewers track the contestants’ movement and other physical data. The trackers are already ranking the houseguests from most active to least active, providing fodder for potential rewards or punishments.

Throughout the season, according to CBS, Fitbit will reveal contestants’ weight, number of steps taken, miles traveled, calories burned and active minutes, which can all be monitored on CBS.com.

Asked whether Fitbit had any concern about appearing on a show that’s essentially about taking away people’s privacy, Tim Rosa, VP-marketing at Fitbit, said no. “People that know us know our position on privacy,” he said. “We don’t share our individual data.”

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Media, Outdoor
Salvation Army

Advertising Agency:Artplan, São Paulo, Brasil
Creative Vice President:Roberto Vilhena
Creative Director:Rodrigo Moraes
Art Director:Guilherme Grotti
Copywriter:Rodrigo Sanches
Motion Designer:Carlos Geovanne
Sound:Tofu
Account:Roberta Prevedello

Reynolds American, the producer of Camel cigarettes, said it’s in talks to acquire Lorillard in a transaction that would create a closer competitor to U.S. tobacco market leader Altria Inc.

Lorillard also confirmed the discussions in a statement today, following reports that a deal may be close after months of negotiation. British American Tobacco, the U.K. company that owns 42% of Reynolds, said it expects to support the transaction by subscribing for additional shares to maintain its stake. Separately, Imperial Tobacco Group said it’s in talks with the U.S. companies to buy some brands.

The deal — which would follow months of on-again, off- again talks — is complicated by its size and the involvement of several companies. Together, Reynolds and Greensboro, N.C.-based Lorillard have a market value of about $56 billion and annual sales of more than $13 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Merger speculation has propelled stocks of both companies this year.

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