Hasta La Creative!

Fashion and fitness collide in a sense in a new campaign from Taipei-based agency Rules Creative for local clothing brand Earl Jean.

Rather than focus on the knitted denim jeans themselves, though, Rules Creative has some fun with the brand and some unsuspecting customers who just want to try its clothes on. As mentioned above, the agency transformed a fitting room floor at an Earl Jean store into a treadmill, testing shoppers’ balance while essentially forcing them to engage in some physical activity in the process.

Their surprised reactions are captured in the video above, which has garnered nearly a million views on the Earl Jean Taiwan fan page and its official YouTube channel.

So, why would Rules Creative subject random people to this mini-workout?

The purpose of the stunt is not only to address the fact that jeans aren’t seen as proper sportswear, but also to show that Earl Jean denim carries many of the same features such as traditional workout/sports gear such as moisture-wicking, flexibility, and breathability.

As the campaign slogan tells us, “It’s the jeans that people could wear for sports” — and the agency tells us that sales are up 30 percent, so someone is listening.

Stephen Clements, longtime veteran of the AKQA organization who currently serves as ECD in its San Francisco office, will be leaving the agency to “pursue other opportunities.”

He does so after more than a decade with AKQA, which he joined as a head of graphics/video back in 2003 before moving up to the CD role in 2010 and being selected, along with Neil Robinson, to replace departing ECD Pierre Lipton in 2012. (Lipton spent two years at M&C Saatchi before leaving to become CCO at 360i back in October.)

During his tenure, Clements helped run creative for clients such as Apple, Target, Verizon, and Google Glass.

From AKQA Managing Director Simon Jefferson:

“Stephen has been a strong creative leader and valuable mentor for our team in San Francisco. We’re grateful for the contributions he’s made to our business and wish him all the best in his next endeavor.”

…and from Clements himself:

“I’m a big fan of AKQA and am proud of all that we’ve achieved in collaboration with our forward-thinking clients. It’s an incredibly talented group of people, and I’m honored to have been part of the growth and success of one of the world’s best agencies.”

As to the why, we hear that Clements plans to run his own “incubator,” that he already has at least one major investor, and that the entire project — according to a source — may be funded by another agency entirely.

In other former AKQA executives news, Robinson — who left in March 2014 to co-found the San Francisco office of Zeus Jones — departed from that gig in January to help launch still-new agency Chapter SF.

Expect to hear more about Clements’ project in coming months.

This Trebor Mints ad from Wieden & Kennedy London has a bit of that 1990s Gushers weirdness to it, either as a tribute to nostalgic thirtysomethings or just for shiggles.

It opens with a teen admitting to his father that he prefers soft mints to their harder contemporaries, which makes his dad go all Malory Archer and crush his whiskey glass out of anger. Weird how that never cuts anyone’s hand on TV.

And it only gets stranger from there.

Though the concept is hardly revolutionary, they kept the weirdness to one element of the ad that mostly delivers, so it works. For my own sanity, I won’t get into the Punnett square logistics that resulted in minty dad’s human son. No sense asking questions I don’t want answered.

CREDITS
Client: Trebor
Marketing Manager, Gum & Candy, Mondelez: Elena Germani
Senior Brand Manager, Mondelez: Elena Mallo
Project Name: “Choose Your Trebor”
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy London
Creative Directors: Kim Papworth
Creative team: Max Batten & Ben Shaffrey
Executive Creative Directors: Tony Davidson / Iain Tait
Agency Executive Producer: Danielle Stewart
Group Account Director: Andrew Kay
Account Director: Hanne Haugen
Head of Planning: Beth Bentley
Planning Director: Georgia Challis
TV Producer: Lou Hake
Creative Producer: Danny Wallace
Designer: Michael Bow
Production Company: Hungryman
Director: Taika Waititi
Executive Producer: Matt Buels
Producer: Camilla Cullen
Director of Photography: Bob Pendar-Hughes
Editorial Company: Work Post
Editor: Rachel Spann
Post Producer: Josh Robinson, The Mill
VFX Supervisor: Dan Adams, The Mill
Music+Sound Company: Wave
Sound Designer: Dugal Macdiarmid
Producer: Rebecca Boswell
Mix Company: Wave
Mixer: Dugal Macdiarmid
Producer: Rebecca Boswell

RSA has signed directors Anna Sandilands and Ewan McNicol to its roster, as their film “Uncertain,” a Southern gothic tale set on the Texas/Louisiana border, premiers at the Tribeca Film Festival. The filmmaking duo are co-owners of Lucid, a documentary production company based in Seattle, and they have made TV commercials and communications for clients including Google, Apple, Nike, Nokia, and BlackBerry. Their short films have screened at festivals including Sundance, Tribeca, BFI London International Film Festival and SXSW, and they have received awards including a Cannes Silver Lion, BAFTA nomination, Webby for Best Documentary and a One Show award.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Coca-Cola Co. has put its U.S. media-buying and -planning business into review, Ad Age has learned.

A company spokeswoman confirmed the review and said incumbent Starcom Mediavest Group will participate along with three agencies that Coke works with globally: UM, MediaCom and Carat/Dentsu. The review is expected to conclude later this year after formal presentations in mid-July.

Coca-Cola spent more than $406 million on measured media in the U.S. last year, according to Kantar Media. Spending is expected to jump this year as the company implements a global cost-cutting program with some savings poured into media.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Ms. Tellem will be chief media officer and executive chairwoman of the start-up, best known for an interactive music video of Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.”

La photographe américaine Lynn Goldsmith a sillonné les rues new-yorkaises de 1973 à 2013 pour tirer le portraits de quelques icônes telles que le groupe The Police, le rappeur LL Cool J, les acteurs Kevin Bacon et Mark Wahlberg. L’exposition « Streets of NYC » a ouvert le 17 avril et continuera jusqu’au 6 mai, à la galerie du Morrison Hotel (Soho) : elle retrace les rencontres et portraits de Goldsmith.

The Police – 8th Avenue and 37th, 1978.

LL Cool J – 8th Avenue and 33rd Street, 1997.

Van Halen – Chinatown, 1978.

Mark Walberg – West Village, 1991.

Laurie Anderson – 6th Avenue and 53rd, 1982.

Matt Dillon – subway lower Manhattan, 1981.

Lion Babe – Jillian Hervey East Village – 2nd Avenue and 3rd, 2013.

Kevin Bacon – 6th Avenue and 40th, 1982.

Photos by Lynn Goldsmith/courtesy of Morrison Hotel Gallery.