Hasta La Creative!

With its many appearances in TV, film, and commercials over the years, one can only imagine how many heads Richard Strauss’s “Also Sprach Zarathustra” has occupied ever since it was made famous in the opening of Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

For now, though, let’s focus on the latest usage of the 2001 theme in a new spot promoting leaf blowers courtesy of Virgina Beach-based outdoor power tool manufacturer Stihl (which is also apparently the world’s leading chainsaw retailer).

“Power” is, in fact, the operative word in this new ad, created by Paris agency Altmann + Pacreau, which shows just how much punch Stihl leaf blowers can pack with some rather bombastic, cosmic flair and a perfect counterpart in Strauss’s composition. A+P CCO Olivier Altmann tells AdFreak:

“Having done many ideas with leaves in the past, we thought we should go for something less expected to stand above the competitors in an allegoric and funny way.”

Advertising Agency: Altmann + Pacreau, Paris, France
??Creative Director: Olivier Altmann
Agency Management: Edouard Pacreau, Thomas Vigneron
Production: The Gang Films
Producer: Nathalie Le Caer

FCB Garfinkel has named Eric Cosper the agency’s new chief creative officer.

The top creative role has been vacant at the New York office of the Interpublic agency network since Javier Campapiano left in June to be chief creative officer of Saatchi & Saatchi’s Latin American operations. Mr. Campopiano joined the agency’s New York office in January 2013 after serving as regional creative director for FCB in Latin America.

“After a long and in-depth search, Kofi [Amoo-Gottfried, chief strategy officer] and I found in Eric the creative partner we were looking for: strong creative leadership, diversity of client experience, versatility of his creative work, and a strong belief that the only way to move clients’ businesses is through changing consumers’ behavior,” said CEO Lee Garfinkel in a statement. Mr. Cosper starts Monday, April 20.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

“Rock out in comfort” is a headline that will horrify rock ‘n’ roll purists—but Ringo Starr doesn’t care. The Beatles drummer is relaxation personified in his first campaign for Skechers, as the brand continues its association with aging legends following the Pete Rose ad on the Super Bowl.

Check out the commercial and print work below.

“I love to be relaxed,” Ringo says in a statement. “I don’t know why people think because you’re a well-known pop star that we relax differently. We don’t—we hang out at home, we have dinner, go to the movies. I like to actually sit on a beach in the sun and listen to the waves. But you can’t do that every day, can you?”

Ringo released his 18th solo album, Postcards from Paradise, on March 31 and will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist this Saturday.

Outdoor, Print
Mikado

Advertising Agency:Jésus, Paris, France
Ceo:Gabriel Gaultier
Creative Director:Gabriel Gaultier
Managing and development Director:Adrien Taquet
Art Director:Thomas Martin-Lalande
Copywriter:Grégory Tortes
Photographer:Peter Lippmann
Business Director:Lucille Didier
Account Manager:Julia Lissague
Strategic Planner:Guillaume Carrère
Art Buyer:Pia Schneider

Old Spice is tapping into the gamer community, which clearly overlaps with its own target, with an interesting campaign on Twitch—the live social video platform for gamers—in which viewers get to control a real human being dropping in a forest for three days.

Beginning Thursday at 10 a.m. PT, visitors to twitch.tv/oldspice will use the site’s chat feature to send commands to the man to perform. Users will work together to unlock achievements or activities for Nature Man. (“Arm wrestle an obviously fake bear? Hear stories from a wise tree? Stumble across interesting and good smelling characters? The scenarios are endless—and completely up to the participating gamers,” says Wieden + Kennedy, which built the experience.)

Beyond that, well, we’ll just have to see how it unfolds.

“Old Spice is thrilled to bring an outdoor gaming experience like no other to our fans and the Twitch community,” Kate DiCarlo, communications manager for P&G beauty care, tells AdFreak. “We’re always looking for new ways to entertain and build brand loyalty with our fans, and Twitch is the perfect partner to help us reach the gaming and live streaming culture in an authentic way. Plus, with scent names like Timber, Amber and Citron, we couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate our new nature-inspired Fresher Collection.”

The stream will run from 10 a.m. to sundown PT on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Au revoir, Megan.

With the Drapers’ divorce all but consummated, it seems that the goodbyes to the major characters have begun. While it’s possible that Megan could make another appearance, it feels unlikely. There’s a certain finality to a break that comes with receiving a check for a $1 million ($6 million in 2015 dollars) from soon-to-be-ex-hubby Don as a sort of make-good for a few years of lying, cheating and bad advice.

As much as this was inevitable, it’s too bad Megan, a pivotal character that moved Don fully out of the Betty era and gained us a view of late 60s SoCal, couldn’t zou bisou bisou off into the sunset with a better episode. Last night’s was, as much of the “Mad Men”-watching internet opined, a bit of a mess.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Direct Marketing, PR, Integrated, Print
Buffalo Exchange

Buffalo Exchange is a secondhand store where you can buy or sell used clothing. The Exes Collection is an idea that encourages people to sell leftover clothes from their ex girl or boyfriend. Call it revenge or a means to move on, in either case you come out as a winner.

Advertising Agency:Miami Ad School, New York, USA
Creative Director:Sara Shelton
Art Director:Jesper Bryngelsson
Copywriter:Gustav Lindberg