Hasta La Creative!

The Oscars are just around the corner, so now’s as good a time as any to start amping yourself up by revisiting past highlights. And the show’s producers, with help from 180LA, are making it easy to get a quick fix with the four new ads below, cut together by Oscar-winning editor Kirk Baxter.

The first, “And the Oscar Goes to,” features a parade of stars—too many to name, though movie buffs might have a fun time trying to rattle them all off—doing their best victory dances. Their exuberance is pretty moving, even if it’s plenty vain, too.

A second, “Holding Oscars,” features the campaign’s most poignant moment—one second of Robin Williams looking around in breathless gratitude, a genuine scene that makes the loss of such a talent sting all the more in hindsight.

The third spot, a multilingual Kumbaya “Everyone Speaks Oscar,” can’t help but be a bit corny. (Sure, movies are a universal language, sort of, but really, where would most of us be without subtitles?) Still, the Academy deserves a nod in the Best Lie category for trying to pretend Hollywood isn’t a U.S.-dominated enterprise, and implying the winners are an ethnically diverse bunch—when in fact they’re mostly white.

The fourth ad, a Valentine’s spot featuring the likes of Matthew McConaughey and Tom Hanks kissing their wives at the show, is cute enough, set to the fairly obscure but anachronistically charming sounds of “Am I in Love” from 1952’s Son of Paleface, performed by Bob Hope and Jane Russell.

For good measure, 180LA also commissioned a series of 15 posters featuring the Oscar statue alongside various artists interpretations of imagination (a popular theme in ads because it’s hard to hate).

The results feature a number of nods to the award show’s roots in the Art Deco era, but the standouts are really the weirder takes—like Hattie Stewart’s leering, winking cartoon hearts, and Blastto’s surrealist eyeball sculpture. Because if those aren’t apt metaphors for America’s unhealthy obsession with celebrity, what is?

CREDITS
Client: Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences
President: Cheryl Boone Isaacs
Chief Executive Officer: Dawn Hudson
Chief Marketing Officer: Christina Kounelias
Marketing Manager: Ford Oelman

Agency: 180LA
Chief Creative Officer: William Gelner
Creative Directors: Zac Ryder / Adam Groves
Copywriter: Christina Semak
Art Director: Karine Grigorian
Head of Production: Natasha Wellesley
Producer: Nili Zadok
Chief Marketing Officer: Stephen Larkin
Account Manager: Jessica DeLillo
Account Coordinator: Alexandra Conti
Planner: Jason Knight

Editorial _ HOLDING / GOES TO / VDAY
Editorial Company: Exile Edit
Editor: Nate Gross (HOLDING)
Editor: Will Butler (VDAY & GOES TO)
Executive Producer: Carol Lynn Weaver
Producer: Brittany Carson

Editorial _ FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Editor: Dave Groseclose (Foreign Language)
Producer: Brian Scharwath (Foreign Language)

Color/VFX/Finishing: The Mill LA
Colorist: Adam Scott
Color Executive Producer: Thatcher Peterson
Color Producers: Natalie Westerfield, Antonio Hardy
Color Coordinator: Diane Valera
Lead 2D Artist: Robin McGloin
Additional 2D Artists: Scott Johnson
Art Department: Jeff Langlois, Laurence Konishi
Executive Producer: Sue Troyan
VFX Producer: Kiana Bicoy
VFX Coordinator: Jillian Lynes

Recording Mix
Recording Studio: Eleven Sound
Date: Various
Mixer: Scott Burns
Asst Mixer: AJ Murillo
Producer: Dawn Redmann
Executive Producer: Suzanne Hollingshead

Retour sur les burgers loufoques des designers français Thomas et Quentin fondateurs du collectif Fat & Furious Burger. Inspiré par l’actualité et la pop culture, le duo revisite, transforme et réinvente le burger sous forme de set design à toutes les sauces. À découvrir dans la suite de l’article.

Online marketers and just about everyone who plays in the space has a reputation for being a leader and an innovator. After all, back in the day, anyone who had anything to do with online marketing had to move mountains, jump through hoops and put forth Herculean effort to convince their decidedly offline bosses that anything .com was even worth talking about.

Much like those early online marketers, affiliate marketers are great innovators, inventors, over-achievers and, well, all around heroes when it comes to developing newer and better ways to sell products online.

Let’s take a look at a few innovative companies in the affiliate space who have developed new and unique methods which have improved the online retail shopping experience.

Coupon startup Honey (http://joinhoney.com/) has developed new coupon code toolbar that allows the retailer to dynamically change their offer based on where the consumer came from. And, as a Chrome extension, acts as a shopping aid to the consumer at the same moment they are considering a purchase. For example, Forever 21 can offer 20% in the next 10 minutes to consumers coming from H&M. This can help merchants “buy” market share from their competitors based on the consumer profile.

Software brand Wymsee (http://www.wymsee.com/) has created an application which can be used by costume, hair, makeup, and props departments on movie and TV show sets. These departments use the app to inventory items used in scenes, make sure there is continuity, keep track of wardrobe, etc. Now, they are taking that information and creating a real-time second screen shopping experience for consumers/viewers.

For example, as someone is watching a TV program, they will be able to pull out their phone or tablet and see that a character is wearing a specific top, which would have an affiliate link directly to that top on the brand or retailer’s website.

Wymsee has this data for almost every piece of clothing worn by every character on many major TV shows. They are still testing the exact interface, but it’s almost like Shazam for clothes instead of music.

Keep.com (https://keep.com/) is a Pinterest-like fashion site and app that allows the consumer to buy direct form the app. They recently launched an affiliate program which offers a universal cart with minimal integration for merchants. They also offer an editorial blog for their retailers.

Digidip is a network of bloggers and content creators which operates much like any other sub-affiliate network such as SkimLinks or VigLink, etc. The main difference with Digidip is that they do not accept any code or loyalty affiliates. Digidip prefers to recruit content sites. They are signing with Elle Magazine and Vogue to to help those sites optimize their links for the first time. Digidip can also parse out traffic relative to the location of the client.

Spring Shopping is a new mobile app which merchants can use to target mobile consumers. It is a universal cart much like Sporing.com. Merchants can set up shop to access the network and users follow brands much in the same way people follow other people (or brands) on Twitter and Facebook.

Wear It Her Way (http://www.wearitherway.com/) is an interesting one. It’s sole purpose to help men buy things by accessing a network of women who review a man’s shopping cart and comment on his selections. Men browse clothes and create lists from online retailers and add them to your lists to be reviewed. Then the men can submit their lists of items to female friends on Facebook friends (or a selected demographic) and get their thoughts on what clothes to buy. Men then review the recommendations and buy the clothes on their lists that are most popular with girls in your demographic. Perfect for the fashion challenged man. And the merchant who knows the man has money but can’t seem to open his wallet!

Netotiate (http://www.negotiate.com) offers added website functionality. When a customer has stopped moving their mouse or are moving their mouse towards closing the website, Netotiate re-engages with the shopper and lets the shopper set their own price for an item.

A button appears below the “Buy” button on the product page and that button is customizable by the retailer such as “Try Your Luck” or “VIP Special” or “Make Your Offer.” Then a window pops up where the customer can put in the price they are willing to pay for that product. If it’s too low, the shopper has one more chance and a red/green bar will indicate how likely it is the customer’s bid will be accepted. The proposal is then either accepted or the website counters the offer.

Pradux (http://www.pradux.com/) uses the virality of social media to increase the chances of purchase. Users log in with Facebook and share their top products with friends – or even embed them directly into a blog post – and start getting rewards. When a person engages with a product that’s been shared, the poster will get a Reaction Point which can be used to unlock exclusive experiences with merchant brands and retailers.

When someone purchases a product that’s been shared, Pradux will then split the commission of the sale, 50/50. With an incentive in place for consumers to earn cash rewards by promoting a brand, the chances that item will see a larger grouping of potential buyers is greatly increased.

FlipGive (http://www.flipgive.com) is a charity platform which allows the public to raise funds for charities while merchants can also see a return. Essentially with every purchase made, up to 50% of proceeds will go to charity of choice. A representative from FlipGive says, “Based on the learnings with the Raise the Game program for Under Armour, which drove UA AOV’s 40% higher than norm and delivered 80% new customers, we know the opportunity is ripe for all parties: fundraisers, brands and the sport associations, technology and media players that we’ll be using as distribution partners.”

Success in the affiliate channel calls for continuous innovation. The above are but a few examples of the many companies who have radically changed things for better in the space. Are you one? Do you want to become one? Take a page out of the above companys’ playbooks and put it to use in your own world of innovation. Who knows? Maybe you’ll make a list like this someday.

If you’re a merchant, you’ll want to dig deep into what these companies have to offer. And not just specifically what they offer but also how the gist of their innovation can be put to work for you in your affiliate channel.

This guest article was written by Greg Shepard, CEO AffiliateTraction.

Zambezi has launched a new campaign for TaylorMade with the 60-second spot “Made of Greatness,” the agency’s first work for the brand since taking over for Eleven without a review early last year.

The anthem ad is shot in black-and-white and introduces TaylorMade’s new R15 club, following several golfers who are dedicated to the club. While elegantly shot, with good shots of the R15 in action, the sub-par voiceover (“…because for greatness, good enough is never good enough.”) tends to drag it down. In addition to the anthem ad, Zambezi is also releasing a series of vignettes featuring PGA golfers Sergio Garcia, Jason Day, Justin Rose and Ryan Palmer, as well as supporting print and digital components.

Sure, renowned advertising creatives Gerry Graf, Tor Myhren, Rob Reilly, Tiffany Rolfe and Ted Royer are riding high these days. But things are about to come crashing down in a serious way.

The AICP takes a dismaying look at each of their lives 35 years from now in a hilarious series of videos, unveiled today, promoting the call for entries for the 2015 AICP Awards.

Each of them is in horrifying shape, having seen their careers—and their lives—spiral into utter shambles. The one thing they can hold on to is their long-past success, which the AICP has helped to preserve. (AICP-winning work gets archived in the Museum of Modern Art, which is more validation than most ad people ever get.)

“Craft your legacy. We’ll protect it,” says the on-screen text. The accompanying website is craft-your-legacy.com.

The spots are hilariously written (Reilly and Graf conceived the concept with AICP president and CEO Matt Miller) and nicely directed by Brian Billow of O Positive. And kudos to the actors for their delightfully disturbing takes on past-their-prime ad people.

CREDITS
Writing Credits
Gerry Graf, Barton F. Graf 9000
Tor Myhren, Grey
Rob Reilly, McCann
Tiffany Rolfe, co:collective
Ted Royer, Droga5

Creative Concept
Rob Reilly, McCann
Gerry Graf, Barton F. Graf 9000
Eric Monnet, McCann

Production
Brian Billow, Director
O Positive Executive Producer: Ralph Laucella
Executive Producer: Marc Grill
Production Supervisor: Christina Woolston

Casting
Grande/Morris Casting
Casting Director: Faye Grand

Editorial
Editor on “Tor Myhren”: Charlie Cusumano

No.6NY
Editor on “Gerry Graf”: Jason Macdonald
Editor on “Rob Reilly”: Justin Quagliata
Editor on “Tiffany Rolfe”: Nick Schneider
Editor on “Ted Royer”: Dan Aronin
Senior Cutting Assistant: Ryan Bukowski
Executive Producers: Corina Dennison, Crissy DeSimone
Producer: Malia Rose, Kendra Desai

Graphics
The Studio

Audio
Color Audio Post
Partner, Mixer: Kevin Halpin.
Mixer: JD Heilbronner
Partner, Executive Producer: Jeff Rosner

Equipment Rental
Hello World Communications
Feature Systems

Actors
Gerry Graf: Gene Ruffini
Tor Myhren: Jim Murtaugh
Rob Reilly: George Riddle
Nurse: Stevie Steel
Tiffany Rolfe: Marie Wallace
Ted Royer: Frank Ridley

Website
Istros Media Corp.

All films were shot on location at Droga5