Hasta La Creative!

Two Ad Age reporters embedded themselves at SXSW this weekend. (One reporter is still there — pray for him.) They scribbled notes during their stay. Here are some of their dispatches from the front.

Apple appears. The quiet Cupertino company usually eschews tech conferences, but not this one. The company held a small event. And later, a couple of Apple employees floated around The Barbarian Group party. Musa Tariq, the digital director of Apple’s retail division, who joined from Nike in August, reportedly held court at the Four Seasons, and tweeted frequently from the festival. But the Apple Watch did not appear; one employee let slip that the company, unsurprisingly, is not doling them out.

A libertarian meets the libertines. Spotted outside the raucous Pandora party on Saturday night: Sen. Rand Paul from Kentucky. In the few minutes Ad Age ogled him, exactly one person shook his hand. He did turn some heads though.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

JWT Atlanta launched a new integrated recruitment campaign for the US Marine Corps entitled “Home of the Brave.”

Two new spots attempt to target young people, emphasizing the Marine Corps as inclusive and diverse (despite the practice of gender segregation during recruit training) and presenting the division as defending the ideals of freedom and democracy. In “Wall,” the narrator rails on about how walls “divide, separate, segregate” while the camera settles on a brick wall in the desert. Then a bunch of Marines blow the wall to shit and storm through. So if you love unity and want to blow the hell out of walls, maybe the Marines are right for you. Another spot, “The Land We Love” is shot first person, with a man on a Subway asking, “So why the Marines?” and the remainder of the ad giving an impassioned answer via a montage. In addition, the campaign is supported by digital and social elements.

“The new work is the culmination of extensive research into today’s youth market, which underscored the importance of reflecting a more contemporary view of the country,” explained Sean McNeeley, group account director, J. Walter Thompson Atlanta, in a statement. “”Young people from all walks of life see America differently, but its enduring values anchor them in their call to serve.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com

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When it comes to interactive marketing and social media, Ian Schafer has a lot to say. The CEO and founder of Deep Focus is one of the industry’s most influential voices on technology and advertising.

As a Digital Trailblazer, he lives and breathes technology, focusing on what it means, or will mean, to people at work and in their personal lives.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Ikea does a ton of marketing worldwide, but its looniest ads come from one agency—BBH Asia Pacific. Just in the past year, it made the hilarious “Bookbook” ad, imaging the Ikea catalog as a futuristic gadget, and the parody of The Shining for Halloween.

Now, BBH and Ikea take you inside the bedroom, promising to “improve your private life” in this latest spot—which is quite suggestive, pun filled and faux-retro in parts.

Between Ikea and Durex, advertising is certainly bringing couples closer this week.

CREDITS
Client: Ikea
Agency: BBH Asia Pacific
Executive Creative Director: Scott McClelland
Creative Directors: Tinus Strydom & Maurice Wee
Senior Art Director: Janson Choo
Senior Copywriter: Khairul Mondzi
Business Director: Tim Cullinane
Associate Account Director: Manavi Sharma
Project Director: Lesley Chelvan
Producer: Wendi Chong
Head of Film: Daphne Ng
Social Strategist: Josie Khng
Director: Carlos Canal
Production House: Freeflow Productions
Editor: Jason Denning
Post Production House: BlackSheep Live
Audio Production: Fuse Audio
Executive Creative Director: Scott McClelland
Creative Directors: Tinus Strydom & Maurice Wee
Senior Art Director: Janson Choo