Hasta La Creative!

Right now at apple.com/live/ there’s a real-time countdown clock ticking down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until 10 a.m. PT on Sept. 9, when Apple plans to launch its Next Big Thing (some sort of wearable tech is the prevailing theory). “Live video from our special event will be right here,” reads the text under clock.

You might almost get the sense that Apple is desperate to teleport to the future to escape the present — specifically, this awful week for the company when everybody kept talking about the “iCloud hack” in the notorious nude celebrity photo scandal. The iCloud brand has been tarnished, despite Apple’s insistence, via a statement posted on its website on Tuesday, that “None of the cases we have investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple’s systems including iCloud or Find my iPhone.”

The company insists that “After more than 40 hours of investigation, we have discovered that certain celebrity accounts were compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions, a practice that has become all too common on the Internet.” All too common — in other words, Lay off, this is not just about iCloud. Nobody is safe!

Continue reading at AdAge.com

AMV BBDO, London has a new spot for Guiness Africa entitled “Made of Black” that gets a little awkward.

Well intentioned as it may have been, the spot comes across as a bit tone deaf, homogenizing a continent of diverse cultural groups with the term “black,” because that’s also the color of Guinness. Opening with the question “What is black?,” lines like “Black is an attitude” and “Black got swag” come across as either pandering or condescending. (Several YouTube commenters even go as far as to call the spot racist.) Add to that the poor soundtrack selection of Kanye West (why would you not select an African artist in a spot that supposedly celebrates Africa?) and you’ve got quite the headscratcher. To be fair, the spot’s visuals are quite impressive, but somehow we don’t think that’s what people are going to be talking about. (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

JWT launched a campaign for Stouffer’s new Mac Cups, a snack-sized version of the brand’s mac and cheese line.

Mac Cups were launched with the revelation that Americans now eat snacks at meal times 40 percent of the time, and are often no longer following the three meals a day pattern. As Tom Moe, the director of marketing at Stouffer’s told The New York Times, “This notion of eating five meals a day, where consumers are grazing throughout the day depending on their need, has opened up a complete new territory.”

So, JWT’s 15-second stop-motion animated spot fits with this strategy. Mac Cups are presented as a tempting snack to eat any time, dancing around to Supertramp’s “Give A Little Bit” and, at one point hiding behind the toaster (for some reason). The interspersed footage of the mac and cheese, touting its “real aged cheddar” doesn’t do much to make the product look appetizing, however.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

La notion de « pluie » a été choisie par l’agence japonaise Nendo qui a créé cette collection de bouteilles doublées contenant chacune un type différent de « pluie » en acrylique. De la bruine d’automne en passant par les averses soudaines, la collection illustre les nombreuses nuances de la pluie et la relation subtile de la culture japonaise avec la nature.

The Los Angeles Clippers have announced the hiring of Santa Monica-based RPA as its new lead agency, tasked with heading strategy, creative, media planning and buying, digital/social marketing and branded entertainment, following a review launched in August.

The review was launched in search of an agency with experience “rebuilding an established, well-known brand” in the wake of the Donald Sterling scandal. Boston-based Pile & Co led the review, with a focus on agencies based in the area. New work can be expected soon, as the Clippers “will start the 2014–2015 season with a new creative platform that will be promoted across media channels.”

“The Los Angeles Clippers are poised for greatness. RPA will help the franchise become a first-class sports and entertainment brand,” said Kirt Danner, SVP, group account director at RPA. “The soon-to-launch campaign will help the franchise stand out and seize this unique opportunity to gain a competitive edge and increase its fan base.”

The team spent $433,500 in measured media last year, according to Kantar media, but that number could increase with the demands of the new campaign.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.