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The first marketing for Apple Watch has arrived in a customary form for the brand: glossy print ads.

The March issue of Conde Nast’s Vogue includes 12 pages of advertising for Apple’s upcoming device, set to go on sale in April. The three versions — the leather-bound standard model, a rubber-banded Sport and a golden, luxury Edition — appear against stark white backdrops.

Apple’s appearance in Vogue’s March edition puts it in the company of European fashion houses and high-end luxury brands, which pour into fashion magazines’ March issues to preview their spring collections.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

You’ve all seen BBDO’s Brady Bunch-themed Danny Trejo/Steve Buscemi Snickers Super Bowl spot that continues to saturate your TV.

In another, recently publicized element of the campaign, a billboard that’s been up in New York City since December that initially featured a massive image of Marcia Brady was gradually turned into Trejo’s menacing mug.

This week, the brand has unveiled a quick time-lapse clip (above) of the billboard’s transformation from Brady to badass in a matter of weeks. Snickers seems to have captivated some New Yorkers, who were initially compelled to take photos and hit social media with the hashtag #WhatsUpWithMarcia.

Colossal Media, which handled the painting process, shared its own stop-motion clip and accompanying risque joke (?) last month:

The secret about #whatsupwithmarcia is finally out. #eatasnickers, y’all. pic.twitter.com/AgxxlWiUIu

— Colossal Media (@colossalmedia) January 23, 2015

I wonder if the carpet matches the drapes. #whatsupwithmarcia #eatsnickers http://t.co/fHwRAejHBI

— Colossal Media (@colossalmedia) January 24, 2015

The billboard essentially serves as a springboard for the next phase of the “Who Are You When You’re Hungry?” campaign.

There’s the web site that encourages visitors to upload photos, the Snickers Meme Generator, and a contest offering the chance to win free stuff or take over the brand’s YouTube page for a day.

Expect more work to come.

Branded content isn’t just for grown-ups. Kids’ networks are getting into the native advertising game, introducing their own branded content arms during this year’s upfront presentations.

Nickelodeon is formalizing its consumer insights, partnership marketing and multi-media services under the banner Nickelodeon Inside Out Solutions. The group is designed to connect marketers to Nickelodeon’s TV and digital channels, social footprint, consumer products business and on-the-ground marketing experiences.

“We have been hearing from our partners for a while that they want to bring our secret sauce to their campaigns,” said Pam Kaufman, CMO and president of consumer products, Viacom Kids and Family Group, of which Nick is a part.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

The Integer Group, an Omnicom agency that counts itself as part of the TBWA organization, hired Michael Rivera to serve as SVP/ECD in its Des Moines office.

We last heard from Rivera in 2010, when he went to Hoffman York, later known as “HY Connect,” as ECD.

Over the course of his career to date, Rivera held a series of creative roles beginning with a senior writer gig at JWT, which began in 1991. He spent the last half of the 90’s as creative director there before moving into the integrated marketing field with a nearly eight-year stint as ECD at Pittsburgh indie agency MARC USA.

He also held the ECD position at Omnicom’s now-defunct Agency.com and a packaged goods-focused shop called JUMP before Integer made the hire.

Before you get snarky, note that his LinkedIn profile includes testimonials from people at BBDO, Razorfish, Leo Burnett, Giant Creative Strategy, et cetera.

Here is Rivera’s online portfolio.

As the portfolio’s homepage reminds us, “Everything a brand does is advertising”…unless they don’t have to pay for it. Then it’s public relations.

Sonic is pretty serious about playing with its food.

A new campaign from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners transforms actors’ mouths into zany little characters using face paint, à la makeup artist Lauren Jenkinson‘s renditions of classic cartoon characters.

The illustrations are great more or less across the board, even if some of the writing and delivery—the self-destructive robot, the melodramatic doctor, the angst-ridden teenager—might try a little too hard to be funny.

The better monologues turn the corner on relatable bits of truth—like a Southern belle who scrambles to save face after it turns out she’s not so refined after all—or on straight-up charming silliness—like a hammy yeti, idiotic octopus or behind-the-times groundhog.

The best moments, though, come from the more subtle facial cues, like when a chin twitch becomes a boxer pumping his pecs, or a soul patch finds new life as chest hair (in what might be the most perfect equivalence ever).

Then again, that all might just be a matter of taste—promoting the fast-food chain’s various drink flavors is, after all, kind of the point. But seriously, just try to keep your brain from imploding when Abraham Lincoln cracks a pun about a Leonardo DiCaprio movie.

CREDITS
Client: Sonic
Campaign “Sipsters”
Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners

Creative
Executive Creative Director/Partner: Margaret Johnson
ACD/Writer: Jon Wolanske
ACD/Art Director/Designer: Kevin Koller
Copywriter: Justin Ralph

Account Services & Strategy
Group Account Director: Leslie Barrett
Account Director: Jenna Duboe
Assistant Account Manager: Olivia Mullen
Business Affairs Managers: Chrissy Shearer, Jane Regan
Senior Communication Strategist: John-James Richardson

Production
Director of Broadcast Production: Tod Puckett
Broadcast Producer: Melissa Nagy
Production Company: eLevel Films (Goodby Silverstein & Partners)
Director: Claude Shade/Jon Wolanske
Director of Photography: Brett Simms
Executive Producer: PJ Koll
Line Producer: Genevieve Giraudo
Production Manager: Haley Klarfield
Make-up Artists: Sarah Coy, Victor Cembelin, Sophie Smith and Monica Bishop

Postproduction
eLevel Films (Goodby Silverstein & Partners)
Editor: Quinn Motika
Executive Producer: PJ Koll
Post Producer: Samantha Liss
Telecine: Nathan Shipley
Online: Kyle Westbrook
Audio Mix/Sound Design: Nic DeMatteo, Jody Scott, Jon Shamieh
Music: APM Music
End Title Design: Kevin Koller

Target, recovering from its failed expansion into Canada, posted earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter that topped analysts’ estimates, lifted by a holiday sales gain.

Though a $5.1 billion writedown of its Canadian operations led to a net loss, Target’s operating profit exceeded projections. Same-store sales measuring comparable transactions gained 3.2% in the period, which ended Jan. 31, the Minneapolis-based company said Wednesday in a statement.

The gains were driven by strong sales in style, baby, kids and wellness, an increase in digital marketing, as well as an industry factors like improved consumer confidence and lower gas prices.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

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Today in Life Imitates an AgencySpy Comment Thread news, someone wanted Lewis Lazare of the Chicago Business Journal to know that the Leo Burnett McDonald’s ad that ran during the Oscars bore a striking resemblance to work from the chain’s other agency, DDB.

Seems that the responsible party pointed Mr. Lazare back to a print ad, created by DDB’s Australian operations, that paired the ingredients of certain McDonald’s staples with the narrative elements of classic films. Here’s the work in question in case you forgot:

At the time, the controversy surrounding this particular Cannes winner concerned the fact that it appeared in a tiny local publication just in time to qualify for the awards. The placement was…questionable.

Now both Lazare and several of our most insistent tipsters tell us that the Burnett Oscars work obviously mimicked the earlier DDB work, because how could two teams independently come up with an idea tying the world’s biggest fast food chain to a series of popular film franchises?!

A McD’s spokesperson did have a perfectly vague statement about the “controversy”:

“Great ideas are meant for sharing, and we are often inspired by creative campaigns in other McDonald’s markets. We’re proud of all of our agencies’ work on our behalf.”

Our Unofficial PR Translator tells us to read this as, “Yes, the concepts are similar because we love consistency in messaging…idiot.”

The chain of events is not surprising: someone leaked the much-mocked “Lovin’ Beats Hatin’” line — which has yet to appear in any ads verbatim — to the Wall Street Journal in what now looks like an attempt to embarrass the client as its creative review came to a close.

THAT story is completely believable.

La vidéaste italienne Sandro Bocci a réalisé cette vidéo intitulée « Meanwhile » : une plongée dans le monde sous-marin au milieu des coraux, animaux et étoiles de mer. Elle voulait montrer une partie cachée et merveilleuse de l’univers dont on devrait prendre plus soin. Sur une musique de Maurizio Morganti, une vidéo à découvrir.