Swedish Lifestyle is Back to Taunt America in New Wasa Crispbread Ad

Sweden is getting its high cheekbones all up in America’s grill once again, asserting its Scandinavian superiority with this online spot for Wasa Crispbread.

An American woman in Sweden takes a yoga class and happily discovers that it’s filled with hunky, English-speaking dads and their adorably flexible babies. Because in everyone’s favorite progressive paradise, family leave for fathers can last a very long time… and, apparently, babies are frighteningly good at yoga.

“I wrote the Yoga Baby script after a visit to Sweden when a friend noted that the Swedes seemed to have more male nannies than anywhere else,” says Scott Goodson, CEO at StrawberryFrog, which created the campaign. “But they weren’t nannies, they were daddies who get 6 months parental leave for each newborn. That deserved a film!”

Sweden has been flexing its blond muscles in ads lately, with this Wasa campaign following the popular “Like a Swede” initiative from trade-union group TCO earlier this year.

“The naturalness of Swedish life, the fit lifestyle and the Nordic mindset is very different and fun and in many cases inspiring for American men and women,” according to Goodson.

Well, America’s pretty cool too. We’ve got … um … Tim Howard … when he’s not playing in the U.K., that is. And we’ve got other great stuff. Like GM Cars and grade-A produce. U-S-A! 

Patriotism notwithstanding, this particular yoga class feels like an exercise in strangeness for its own sake. I guess I shouldn’t get all twisted up about it, though.



Surrealist Literary Collages – This Digital Collage Captivates and Seduces (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) Mathias Schweizer collaborated with the Roosje Klap studio to create a series of beautiful digital collages for De Gids, a Dutch literary magazine that’s been around since the 1800s….

Blended Body Photography – Trina Merry Merges the Landscape with Models (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) Trina Merry is an artist who uses models as her canvas, combined with backdrops of the city. For someone passing by, it would be hard to spot the model from the image in the background.

What’…

Microsoft Flips Famed PC vs. Mac Ads to Pitch Smartphones, Tablets


Microsoft, once the tech king, is ripping a page from its old nemesis by pitting its mobile devices squarely against the reigning market leader: Apple.

The campaign is the first produced by m:united, the name given to the new agency created after Microsoft shifted its media business to Interpublic Group and Dentsu Aegis in April.

“We are a challenger brand in the mobile category,” said Kathleen Hall, general manager of global and brand marketing at Microsoft. She admits the move borrows some from Samsung, which staked a claim in the smartphone market with ads panning the iPhone. “Samsung did it more on an emotional position,” she said. “We’re going for more of a rational appeal.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Vodafone Home: Bounce

Advertising Agency: Grey, London, UK
Deputy Executive Creative Director: Vicki Maguire
Creative Directors: Tom Chancellor, Simon Brotherson
Agency producers: Emma Fasson, Julia Parry
Planner: Ruth Chadwick
Account team: Katharine Easteal, Ayesha Datoo, Fay Taylor
Media agency: OMD
Media planners: Carolyn Odgers, Aoife Joyce
Production company: Smuggler
Director: Neil Harris
Editor: Phil Currie
Producer: Jason Scanlon
Illustrator: Richard Hogg
DOP: Theo Garland
Post-production: Framestore
Grade: Framestore
Soundtrack composer: Austen Corbin
Audio post-production: Wave

Rice Krispies: Dinosaur

Advertising Agency: Leo Burnett, London, UK
Creative Director: Don Bowen
Executive Creative Director: Justin Tindall
Copywriter: Elliott Starr
Art director: Laura Clark
Planner: Ian Hilton
Media agency: Carat
Planner: Nadia Lavelle
Production Company: Hornet Inc / Blink
Directors: Yves Geleyn, Samuel Abraham
Producer: Cathy Kwan
Editor: Anita Chao
Music: Huma-Huma Original Music & Sound
Sound Design: Chris Turner / Jungle Studios
Post Production: Hornet Inc & MPC ?
Post Producers: Cathy Kwan, Thomas Cole ?
Agency Producer: Abbie McLean

Mullen Rediscovers Punk Rock for Acura

Sex Pistols “bassist” Sid Vicious’s decision to cover “My Way” was idiosyncratic for its time, but one has to wonder what the man would think of his tune’s appearance in a 2014 car ad if he’d somehow managed to live past 21.

This week Mullen LA debuted a new campaign for client Acura, and its central spot uses John Simon Ritchie’s take on the Sinatra standard to frame Acura’s engineers as bold rule-breakers.

Here’s the copy:

“We all go a little mad sometimes. But the end result isn’t always a car. It’s That Kind of Thrill.”

In this case, however, the end result was most definitely a car.

The campaign to promote the client’s new TLX model, which previously featured Jerry Seinfeld riffing on his “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” series, includes several shorter spots with less surprising musical accompaniment.

(more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Apple's Powerful 'Your Verse' Campaign Rolls On, from Beijing and through Detroit

Apple is sticking with a good thing, continuing the rollout of its “Your Verse” campaign with two new stories about how people around the world are using iPads as tools to support their passions.

In one, Yaoband, a Beijing-based electro-pop ground, use their gadgets to sample sounds, communicate with fans, and perform live while they tour China. In the second, Jason Hall, a Detroit resident, uses his tablet to help organize Slow Roll, a weekly group bike ride through the city that draws thousands of cyclists, in an effort to help revitalize the city’s sense of community.

The 60-second TV ads for each, below, do get the ideas across, but they’re really just teasers—the deep dives over at Apple’s website make for less impressionistic and more powerful experiences.

Even those are fairly ambitious, and rely on a premise that may not be obvious to anyone who hasn’t been closely following the brand’s advertising of late. The “Your Verse” tagline launched early this year by paying homage to Walt Whitman as brilliantly recited by Robin Williams, may he rest in peace, in the 1989 movie Dead Poets Society. It has since been the foundation for some of the brand’s most persuasive ads in recent memory. But even to newcomers to the campaign, the takeaway should be clear enough, and feel consistent with expectations for good tech advertising: These are vignettes that illustrate how engineering can help enrich lives.

Plus, it’s nice to see Apple’s marketing keep reaching high while also staying grounded. Especially when that’s what people expect—or at least hope—to get from the brand. 



Whimsical Galactic Photography – Photographer Mako Miyamoto Depicts Wookies Hanging Out on Earth (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) If you’re a Star Wars fans, one of your dreams growing up might have been having a Wookie to hang out with like Han Solo did; photographer Mako Miyamoto’s work fantasy to reality by…

Old Navy's Tween-Showtune-Tastic 'Unlimited' Web Video Push Goes Viral


With the back-to-school season now in full swing, Old Navy’s marketing efforts for the occasion via an online music video captured 2.8 million views over the week that ended on Sunday, according to Visible Measures.

Meant to be the “backbone” of the retailer’s back-to-school campaign, the four-minute spot is essentially a short musical that features an endearing young girl singing her way through the school halls as she battles first-day jitters. Dubbed “Unlimited,” it shows the tween belting out an optimistic tune about the endless possibilities that lie ahead and references the brand only in the closing of the sponsored video. The spot comes in at No. 7 on this week’s Viral Video Chart.

This week’s No. 1, however, went to Johnnie Walker and its cinematic “The Gentleman’s Wager” short, taking a 222% leap from last week’s chart, when it debuted at No. 5.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Category Close-up: Frozen Pizza Getting Cold as Economy Improves


What’s happening

The market is stagnating and brands are fighting for a bigger slice of the same-sized pie. And

conditions might get tougher as the economy improves and more people are able to afford restaurant pizza, according to Mintel. The market-research group projects sales of packaged pizza will remain relatively flat at $5.5 billion annually through 2019, while pizza chains will grow sales by 18% between 2013 and 2018, reaching $45.3 billion.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Retailers: Don't Get Stuck in the Deep Discount Dilemma


Retailers are running scared. In every sector, from apparel to electronics to groceries, they’re afraid of becoming the 40%-off brand. Shoppers are so trained to wait for discounts that the slippery slope has become an avalanche.

Digital has been part of the problem. Mobile apps make it easier for consumers to “showroom,” compare prices and hunt down deals; omnichannel retailing means thousands of low-overhead e-storefronts compete with the mall. Consider this: An Accenture study found that 46% of consumers plan to make more purchases online in the future. Meanwhile, a study by Google found that 84% of smartphone owners use their phone to help them shop while in the store. The good news is they buy more; the bad news is, they’re using those phones mostly to compare prices (53%) and find offers (39%). Alas, digital has become the gateway to discount addiction.

But digital enables the solutions, too. Consider digital tools to deliver something that means as much –or more — than price. Make your brand about the value add, not the cents off.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Vídeo reúne imagens históricas de atores em testes para o cinema e TV

Se você curte cinema, há grandes chances de já ter visto por aí alguns vídeos de artistas fazendo testes para personagens de filmes e séries de televisão – muitos deles que a história provou ser determinantes paras suas carreiras.

Agora, o canal do YouTube PrankMedia reuniu 40 destes momentos históricos em um único vídeo. De Robert De Niro lutando para ganhar o papel do jovem Vito Corleone em O Poderoso Chefão 2, até Mark Hammil e Carrie Fisher em seus testes para Luke Skywalker e Princesa Leia em Star Wars, passando por Leonardo DiCaprio querendo atuar em Vidas Sem Rumo e Hugh Laurie encarnando o Dr. House no banheiro de um hotel.

Talvez o mais impressionante entre todos estes seja o garoto Henry Thomas, chorando de verdade, no teste para ET. Não é à toa que o filme é um clássico.

Está tudo lá, isso e muito mais.

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Brainstorm9Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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Why Domino's renewed its sponsorship of The X Factor app

Kay Tasker, the group business director at Arena, explains why the Arena client Domino’s renewed its sponsorship of The X Factor app.

Paddy Power tweets 'wrong number' prank conversation

Paddy Power has kept up its mischievous social media agenda by posting a series of responses to a man called ‘Steve’, who, it is claimed, accidentally contacted a member of the bookmarker’s social media team.

Healthy Vegetable Chips – Running to the Kitchen's Tomato Chips are Sliced, Salted and Microwaved (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) Those who have a deep and borderline obsessive love for crispy snacks will love these healthy vegetable chips. Easy to make at home, the recipe involves two large tomatoes, some salt and access to a…

Tchau, Robin Williams. Obrigada pelas risadas

Ontem à noite, a notícia da morte de Robin Williams pegou o mundo de surpresa. Apesar de todos os problemas do artista – sua luta contra o vício em álcool e drogas era a mais conhecida -, um final tão triste para alguém que nos trouxe tantas alegrias é sempre difícil de processar. Especialmente para quem cresceu assistindo aos seus filmes e, de alguma maneira, aprendeu muito com eles.

A primeira coisa que me vem à mente quando penso nos filmes de Robin Williams é que a maioria sempre tinha uma mensagem otimista. O russo tentando se acostumar aos hábitos norte-americanos em Moscou em Nova York, o locutor de rádio que tenta fazer os soldados se esquecerem dos horrores da guerra por alguns minutos em Bom Dia, Vietnã, o professor que todos nós gostaríamos de ter em Sociedade dos Poetas Mortos, o pai que encarna uma velhinha para ficar perto dos filhos em Uma Babá Quase Perfeita, o médico que acredita que rir é o melhor remédio em Patch Adams… Isso só para citar alguns entre os mais de 100 filmes e séries em que ele atuou.

Mas eram apenas filmes. A vida real é bem diferente e dificilmente a gente sabe o que vai na mente e no coração do outro.

Um dos últimos papéis de Robin Williams foi o publicitário Simon Roberts em The Crazy Ones, uma série cômica que se passava em uma agência de publicidade bem distante da realidade. Era tão exagerada que acabou não convencendo o público. Isso não quer dizer que o ator sempre se deu mal neste universo, e o site Campaign Live reuniu alguns comerciais marcantes estrelados ou narrados por ele:

No cinema, ainda teremos a oportunidade de nos despedir do ator em três filmes que, segundo o IMDB estão em fase de pós-produção, sendo que um deles é Uma Noite no Museu 3. Infelizmente, nunca poderemos agradecer todos os risos, lágrimas e lições que aprendemos com seus personagens, que de certa forma traziam um pouquinho do ator que os interpretou.

Tchau, Robin Williams. Obrigada pelas risadas.

Brainstorm9Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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Inflatable Vegetables

Pour le restaurant végétarien Hiltl, situé à Zürich, Tobias Stierli a travaillé avec l’agence Ruf Lanz pour concevoir ces créations en 3D représentant avec talent divers aliments sous la forme de ballons gonflés. Un rendu impressionnant appelé « Inflatable Vegetables », jouant sur notre perception à découvrir dans la suite.

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The 'Fab 5' of Your Work Life

Category: Career Oxygen
Summary: You are the average of the five people that you spend the most time with. -Jim Rohn

I’ve heard this quote on various occasions. Every time I come across it, I pause for a moment, as the message that lives there is simply so powerful. What and who we surround ourselves with can affect us — and we can begin to mirror the moods, problems, and passions of our surroundings.

Liquid Smoke Photography – This Ink and Water Photo Series is Hypnotic and Psychedelically Colored (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) Mixing ink and water to create this set of mesmerizing and dreamy images, photographer Jordan Weinrich captures different colored inks as they ethereally dance in still waters to create liquid smoke….