Hasta La Creative!

One of the coolest branded buildings at SXSW this year will be particularly difficult to get into. That’s because it’s only 5 inches high, 14 inches wide and 10 inches deep. D’oh!

Having had great success with its first Simpsons construction set and minifigures, Lego will physically unveil its new Simpsons product at SXSW on Friday—the iconic Kwik-E-Mart featured regularly in the show.

The set goes on sale May 1. For hard-core fans of the Fox cartoon, it’s a treasure trove. And it also has Easter eggs for Lego fans, including very rare dark orange bricks.

Among its more interesting features:

• Six minifigures: Homer Simpson, Bart Simpson, Marge Simpson, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief Wiggum and Snake (aka Jailbird)
• Opening rear walls, a removable roof with secret vegetable garden, Kwik-E-Mart signage, light-blue walls, dusty blue floors, turquoise welcome mat, shelves, refrigerated cases, counter, Buzz Cola soda fountain, juice dispensers, coffee machine, two arcade games, ATM, crates of Powersauce bars, surveillance cameras, rear storage closet with a rat, cheese, rat hole and an exit door
• Shelves featuring beauty products, diapers, dog food, pastries, fruits, vegetables and more—including Krusty-O’s and Chef Lonelyheart’s Soup for One
• Refrigerator cabinets with a variety of beverages including cans of Buzz Cola … and frozen Jasper
• Counter with a cash register, magazine and card display, lottery machine, hot dog oven, donut display and a Squishee dispenser with 2 Squishees
• Chief Wiggum’s police car featuring an opening trunk, removable roof and space for three minifigures

Many more pics below.

Canada’s communications regulator is reducing quotas for how much nationally produced programming must appear on TV, as more consumers watch content via broadband Internet through providers such as Netflix.

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission will reduce program requirements for broadcasters during the day, Jean-Pierre Blais, the CRTC’s chair, said in prepared remarks for a speech in Ottawa.

“Radio begat television, television begat cable and satellite, and broadband internet has changed everything,” Mr. Blais said.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Today we learned of more staffing changes at the New York office of Ogilvy & Mather: Creative Director Otto Bell and Director of Creative Management Lisa Clunie will be leaving the agency.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any specifics at the moment on why either party is leaving or where they plan to go.

Bell has been with OgilvyEntertainment for nearly a decade after working in brand planning at Y&R and becoming the second member of the unit after founder Doug Scott. He was hired during a WPP fellowship after graduating from Oxford and went on to create content for such Ogilvy clients as DuPont, Cisco, Phillips, and IBM.

Clunie joined Ogilvy in 2011 as a senior partner and director of creative management for North America. Previous agency roles include stints in accounts at Carmichael Lynch and Fallon. She also served as group account director of BBH NY and managing director of Saatchi & Saatchi’s New York office before joining the O&M organization.

These moves follow the August departures of former CCO Calle Sjoenell and Scott, who went to WME/IMG (William Morris Endeavor) as EVP of Marketing and Brand Solutions. At the end of January, the agency promoted Corinna Falusi to replace Sjoenell; no word on plans to replace either Scott or the outgoing Bell.

Updates as they come in.

Le vidéaste Thomas Blanchard, dont nous avons déjà parlé précédemment, a capturé des fleurs en pleine éclosion avec la technique du timelapse, en 4 mois et 9624 clichés RAW. Les races de fleurs défilent devant des fonds aux motifs rétro-psychédéliques. Sur une musique de Linda Scott – « Three Guesses », la vidéo est à découvrir dans la suite.

Google’s foray into high-speed internet and TV-service has signed up an “incredibly small” number of customers and isn’t a threat to cable and satellite investors, according to MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett.

Google Fiber, which started in 2012, has 27,000 video subscribers combined in Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, and less than 3,000 in the other cities, according to U.S. Copyright Office data collected by MoffettNathanson. The service originated in Kansas City and expanded to Provo, Utah, and later Palo Alto, California.

“Google Fiber is a bit like Ebola: very scary and something to be taken seriously … but the numbers are very small, it gets more press attention than it deserves, and it ultimately doesn’t pose much of a risk (here in the U.S. at least),” Mr. Moffett said in a note Thursday.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Toda vez que aparece uma campanha nova da IKEA, minha reação quase sempre é a de me perguntar: “tem como não amar?” A comunicação da rede varejista de móveis costuma ser bastante consistente, sempre trazendo um elemento de diversão para a conversa ou, de alguma forma, causando algum tipo de reflexão.

São esses os ingredientes de Everyday Heroes, filme recente da marca sueca criado pela Forsman & Bodenfors. O comercial foca nos objetos do dia a dia que podem até não ter o charme de alguns móveis assinados por designers, mas que desempenham com dignidade algumas funções essenciais para que nós, seres humanos, tenhamos mais conforto.

A ideia toda é muito bem sacada e, por um momento, lembra a narração de Here’s to the Crazy Ones, da Apple. No Twitter, o perfil @EverydayHeroes365 reúne as “desventuras” diárias destes heróis esquecidos.

Everyday Heroes conta com legendas em português.

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Today Y&R CEO David Sable promoted Alex Hughes to the global CMO position.

Hughes, who has spent nearly 27 years with the larger Y&R/Wunderman organization, most recently served as general manager of its European operations.

In the new gig, he will work directly with Beth Wade, CMO of sister org VML, in integrating the various services offered by the two entities. He will also serve as “liason” to the larger WPP organization on new “integrated” business.

Hughes has been with Y&R since 1994, working his way up through the accounts side of the business to become global client development leader before ascending to the European GM role in 2013.

The reason for his promotion is the departure of Cathy Cohan, who joined the agency in the newly-created global chief growth officer role back in 2012. Cohan worked in accounts at TBWA, JWT, and BBDO Atlanta before moving into an EVP/consultancy role and Roth Associates in 2007.

At the time of her appointment, one of our readers predicted that her tenure would last “approximately 2 years”; he was off by six months.

The release tells us that Cohan will transition away from her role in order to “pursue some of her other passions.” In a statement, Sable writes:

“Alex has spent 27 years at Y&R Advertising and Wunderman…he has worked across our various disciplines, all around our global network, and on accounts large and small — and on top of that, speaks four languages. He knows how to leverage the agency’s resources to deliver the best work and results.

Cathy has been an enormous asset to this agency.  And while we are sad to see her leave, we fully support her desire to follow some of her other interests.”

Samsung Turkey has launched a website with a video call center for the hearing impaired, and it’s announced it with quite the stunt.

In the video below, titled “The Most Emotional Surprise of the Year,” we follow Muharrem, a hearing-impaired man, through his morning routine. A month of preparation (including sign language training) and many cameras later, Muharrem goes through the city and is greeted by people who can communicate just like he does.

It ends with Muharrem approaching a large screen, with a woman signing to him “A world without barriers is our dream, as well.” She announces the video call center for the hearing impaired, and then the “gotcha” moment happens.

Lot of tears. From Muharrem and maybe a viewer or two.