Hasta La Creative!

Outdoor, Print
DGT – General Traffic Department of Spain

Some of the most iconic cars in history converted into a more efficient way of transportation.

Advertising Agency:Ogilvy & Mather, Madrid, Spain
General Creative Director:Paulo Areas
Art Director:Diego Lauton, Javier Martinez
Copywriter:Emilio Holguin
Photographer:Jesus Alonso

(TrendHunter.com) The top May 2016 brand activations include a variety of experiential marketing campaigns that sought to engage consumers going about their daily routines.

Ahead of the drop of his latest album &#…

H4B Catapult chief creative officer Gerry McLaughlin is leaving the agency after nearly two and a half years to pursue “new opportunities outside of the network,” according to an internal memo.

McLaughlin joined the agency–which is part of the Havas-owned Health4Brands network, hence the “H4B”–as chief creative officer in January of 2014, following almost 15 years as managing partner, creative director with Cline Davis & Mann Princeton, and almost 24 years with CDM overall.

H4B Catapult promoted Tracy Zuto to the role of executive vice president, executive creative director, tasking her with leading the agency’s creative department following McLaughlin’s exit. Zuto served as senior vice president, creative director for the agency over the past six months, following nearly eight years as vice president, associate creative director/group copy supervisor with Cline Davis & Mann.

The agency also appointed Chris Rogers as senior vice president, creative director/head of art. In the role, he will work closely with fellow senior vice president, creative director Kristen Pilkiewicz and report to Zuto. He joins the agency after a decade or so serving in various roles with Publicis/Medicus agencies including Ogilvy and Saatchi & Saatchi. He has worked with brands including Burger King, Nabisco, Wild Turkey, and Molson.

H4B Catapult also promoted Jon Rea to art group supervisor, Amanda Margitich to senior copywriter and Alaina Klaus to art director. 

Here’s the full memo, which does not include a signature.

First, we’d like to share that Gerry McLaughlin is pursuing new opportunities outside of the network. We thank him for the role he played at Catapult in moving the creative product forward during an important time of transition. We wish him all the best.

Effective today, we are thrilled to announce the promotion of Tracy Zuto to the role of EVP, Executive Creative Director. In this role, Tracy will be the single head of the creative department. There could not be a better candidate for this job. Those of you who have been able to work with her over the past few months would agree I am sure that she has impeccable creative chops, is skilled with client relations, and is a caring and committed leader and mentor. The role of head of an agency’s creative department is one of the most difficult in this industry, and success requires a rare combination of multiple skillsets from both the creative and organizational sides of the brain. Tracy is one of those rare few. The fact that she loves dogs and owns a pig is just icing on the cake! Reporting to Tracy in important leadership roles in the department and agency are Kristen Pilkiewicz, Rob Brosen, and our new head of Art (see below). Tracy reports to me.

We are also excited today to report we have a new head of Art! Chris Rogers will join us on 5/23 as SVP, Creative Director, to set the vision, tone, and leadership of the Art side of the house, and to work in partnership with Kristen and Tracy to guide Catapult’s creative department to new heights. Chris comes to us after a decade with the Publicis/Medicus organization, with previous roles at Ogilvy and Saatchi. He’s deeply ingrained in our world of healthcare and health & wellness, but also has a solid consumer background working on Burger King, Nabisco, Wild Turkey, and Molson. Chris is a graduate of SVA, and is Jersey Strong (Old Bridge…doesn’t get more Jersey than that). We’re excited to have him join our family.

And as discussed in our Town Hall today, we have 3 creative promotions. Please join us in celebrating new roles for Jon Rea (Art Group Sup), Amanda Margitich (Senior Copywriter), and Alaina Klaus (Art Director).

By shutting its doors in June, this East Village business is relenting to the economic and digital realities that have doomed bigger stores.

Print
Ford

Advertising Agency:Ogilvy & Mather, Madrid, Spain
General Creative Director:Paulo Areas
Art Director:Diego Lauton, Javier Martinez
Copywriter:Jacint Sotorra
Producer:Pedro Pozo
Photographer:Paloma Rincón
Production Company:The Mushroom Company

(TrendHunter.com) Foam furniture has a soft and cushy appeal to many, and the VARHANY foam Lounge Chair offers that as well as a unique style to go along with it.

The foam lounge chair is made from a few pieces of…

Following a decision by the alcopop brand Mike’s to concentrate exclusively on digital advertising, independent Los Angeles agency Battery launched a digital campaign introducing its new line of higher ABV offerings, Mike’s Harder, with some good old-fashioned juvenile penis humor.

In the 30-second “Speech,” for example, said schpiel is delivered by a blonde woman, who opens the spot with the suggestively-delivered, “Have things gotten soft? Ask your grocer about Mike’s Harder,” before almost dropping a can of the malt beverage and suggesting that it “might take two hands.” In the background, two men pitch a tent (literally). As the ad goes on, the woman continues the speech as one man wrestles with a watering hose and another sits on a pool noodle.

The phallic references, clearly, are not subtle, which is kind of the point. The sophomoric humor targets the kind of millenial men who were probably already cracking jokes about the Mike’s Hard name. Presumably the brand is assuming that the new line will appeal primarily to young men looking for a cheap buzz.

The exclusionary approach, however, may turn off others (and we’re pretty sure both guys and girls drink alcopop) from the main Mike’s Hard Lemonade brand. We’re also not sure we buy the assumption that women would automatically shy away from the higher ABV offering, or that there wasn’t a way to appeal to the stated core audience that has less potential to alienate other viewers. We’re certainly not averse to dick jokes, but the spots could have worked a little harder, haha, on the delivery.

At any rate, the approach extends to a series of 15-second spots, with clay pottery and a man kneading bread standing in for the phallic references. One of the spots makes reference to a certain highly-advertised drug, stating that you should seek medical attention if your Mike’s Harder lasts longer than four hours.

As with many questionable advertising ideas, the approach seems to have originated with the client.

“The client wants to own it,” Battery CCO Philip Khosid told Adweek. “So we came up with something to engage the young male audience and be irreverent but still be clever about it with a play on words.”

The campaign will run at least until the end of the summer, possibly longer. “It’s funny and bold,” Mike’s Harder creative director Kevin Brady said of the campaign, which he thinks has staying power, “and it made us laugh out loud.”