HBO: It’s What Connects Us – Version 1

The static opening before every HBO show is one of the most iconic branding moments in entertainment. The “It’s What Connects Us” campaign reimagines the static through individual performances—featuring 61 in-character talent from shows including Game of Thrones, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Girls, Silicon Valley, Westworld, and more. It will run across all HBO platforms including HBO, HBO Now, HBO Go, YouTube & HBO Social Channels.

Video of HBO: It’s What Connects Us (Version 1)

HBO: It’s What Connects Us – Version 2:

The static opening before every HBO show is one of the most iconic branding moments in entertainment. The “It’s What Connects Us” campaign reimagines the static through individual performances—featuring 61 in-character talent from shows including Game of Thrones, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Girls, Silicon Valley, Westworld, and more. It will run across all HBO platforms including HBO, HBO Now, HBO Go, YouTube & HBO Social Channels.

Video of HBO: It’s What Connects Us (Version 2)

HBO: It’s What Connects Us – John Oliver

The static opening before every HBO show is one of the most iconic branding moments in entertainment. The “It’s What Connects Us” campaign reimagines the static through individual performances—featuring 61 in-character talent from shows including Game of Thrones, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Girls, Silicon Valley, Westworld, and more. It will run across all HBO platforms including HBO, HBO Now, HBO Go, YouTube & HBO Social Channels.

Video of Last Week Tonight: It’s What Connects Us (HBO)

Cancer Research UK: The Breath Test

Cancer Research UK: The Breath Test
Cancer Research UK: The Breath Test
Cancer Research UK: The Breath Test

Cancer Research UK is launching ‘The Breath Test’ – a new outdoor, experiential, social, guerrilla, press and radio campaign. ‘The Breath Test’ aims to promote the effectiveness of local Stop Smoking Services to smokers who’d like to quit. AMV BBDO and Cancer Research UK have created a series of executions across multiple channels that puts smokers to the test. This local campaign is running until the end of March.

Video of Cancer Research UK: Interactive Poster

Sindicato dos Médicos do ceará: Medical Equipment, 1

Sindicato dos Médicos do ceará: Medical Equipment, 1

Ad for doctors of Ceará to combat the misappropriation of the healthcare funds.

Sindicato dos Médicos do ceará: Medical Equipment, 2

Sindicato dos Médicos do ceará: Medical Equipment, 2

Ad for doctors of Ceará to combat the misappropriation of the healthcare funds.

Sindicato dos Médicos do ceará: Medical Equipment, 3

Sindicato dos Médicos do ceará: Medical Equipment, 3

Ad for doctors of Ceará to combat the misappropriation of the healthcare funds.

‘The House Is Only Half Of It’ in Deutsch L.A.’s New Work for Trulia

Deutsch L.A. launched a new campaign for Zillow brand Trulia, highlighting how the service can help find not just the right house, but the right neighborhood.

To illustrate the importance of finding the right neighborhood, a series of spots show some pretty awful ones. In “The Coburns” that involves neighbors that get a little reckless with their charcoal grill.

Another spot focuses on some nightmarish traffic in a city neighborhood. (We’d rather deal with the pyromaniac neighbors). Each of the ads ends with a look at the Trulia features which allow users to quickly assess neighborhoods based on things like the location of playgrounds nearby, schools, demographics, crime and more, which is a nice brand differentiator.

“We talked to many consumers in thinking about this campaign,” Trulia vice president, marketing Alissa Reiter told MediaPost . “What we heard over and over was that they love Trulia for the ways it helps them figure out not just the house they want to buy, but the neighborhood around the house. Getting that right was just as important to them as the house itself.”

The campaign is based on insights from research conducted by Harris Interactive which found that 84 percent of respondents said the neighborhood was as important or more important the house itself, according to MediaPost.

Facebook agora permite adição de extensões nos bots do Messenger

Segundo a rede social, as pessoas tem preferido cada vez mais interagir com empresas através do Messenger

> LEIA MAIS: Facebook agora permite adição de extensões nos bots do Messenger

Conheça Facebook Spaces, o futuro dos encontros em VR

Olá, Second Life?

> LEIA MAIS: Conheça Facebook Spaces, o futuro dos encontros em VR

Listen to the New 'Tagline' Podcast With Melissa Etheridge


Artist and activist Melissa Etheridge joined the latest episode of Ad Age and iHeartMedia’s “Tagline” podcast series to talk about collaboration, mashups and creativity.

Etheridge was joined by host and Publicis Media President of Global Innovation Adam Shlachter, Visa Chief Brand and Innovation Officer Chris Curtin and JinglePunks President and Chief Creative Officer Jared Gutstadt, not to mention the mixologist Brian Floyd, courtesy of “Tagline” sponsor Bulleit Frontier Whisky.

Here’s a taste:

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Wingstop Wonders Whether It's Time for a New Creative Agency


Wingstop appears to be looking for a new creative agency, Ad Age has learned.

The apparent search for a creative agency comes months after the chicken wing chain picked Starcom USA as its first national media agency of record.

“While I can’t speak specifically to the rumors, I will tell you that we’re constantly evaluating our agency partners to make sure they are positioned to support our rapidly growing business,” Chief Marketing Officer Flynn Dekker said in an email, adding that sometimes the chain looks for agencies for projects and other times “for longer-term strategic initiatives.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com

There's No Mention of McDonald's in Its Latest Campaign


McDonald’s is nowhere in its latest campaign, which banks on the social cred of Mindy Kaling, the power of Google, as well as its own reputation as the best place to consume something other than burgers and fries — Coca-Cola.

A new effort out of We Are Unlimited stars the comedian and actress (wearing a yellow dress and standing in front of a red backdrop) talking about the “place where Coke tastes soooo good,” and then urging viewers to go ahead, Google it.

Turns out, she’s slyly directing viewers to the Golden Arches. It so happens there’s a whole pop culture mythology around Coca-Cola tasting extra delicious at McDonald’s, and the fast feeder is using it for its latest beverage promotion — where Cokes (and any other soft drinks) will be $1, and small McCafe drinks are going for $2.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

So How Did That Super Bowl Rejection Affect GNC's Sales?


Fox Broadcasting’s decision to kick GNC out of the Super Bowl is still smarting at the vitamin and supplement seller, which reported first-quarter earnings on Tuesday that were on the decline.

GNC had been hoping for a sales boost with the big game spot. But for the quarter ended March 31, the Pittsburgh-based brand’s same-store sales fell 3.9%. Revenue for the period was $644.8 million, a 3.6% drop from the year-earlier period, while net income was $23.9 million, roughly half of what it had been in the first quarter of 2016. Even so, analysts were impressed that the company beat expectations.

Larry Chiagouris, a marketing professor at Pace University’s Lubin School of Business, believes that GNC’s loss would have been less had the retailer been allowed to air its Super Bowl ad as originally planned. The ad, with a pricetag near $5 million, was the highlight of the 82-year-old’s rebranding campaign to combat slowing sales amid online and grocery store competition. The turnaround effort also included a store redesign and revamped, more clear-cut loyalty program with better pricing all under the One New GNC platform.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Books of The Times: ‘The New Book of Snobs’ Updates the Shifting Science of Social Cues

D.J. Taylor’s clever and timely work contends that the world would be a poorer place without a bit of insolence and ostentation.

ECD and Partner Josh DiMarcantonio Goes Freelance After Almost 2 Years with Zambezi

L.A.’s Zambezi recently made another change atop its creative team as partner and ECD Josh DiMarcantonio left to take the freelance route.

The departed creative joined Zambezi, along with chief strategy officer Kristina Jenkins, in the halcyon days of summer of 2015 after working on Expedia and Adidas at nearby 180LA. His resume read like something of a who’s who including time spent as a senior copywriter at Wieden+Kennedy, ACD at TBWAChiatDay and CD at Deutsch working on the Taco Bell account.

An agency spokesperson credited DiMarcantonio with driving Zambezi’s pivot from a shop focused on sports to a more general marketing agency.

“The agency enjoyed a ton of success during Josh’s two years as ECD,” the spox wrote today. “In the end, there was a positive, mutual parting of ways.”

DiMarcantonio’s departure was also preceded by the arrival of Gavin Lester, a fellow Deutsch grad who became the indie agency’s first chief creative officer (and an equity partner to boot) back in February. During his tenure he led creative efforts on such accounts as TaylorMade, The Honest Company and Zambezi’s biggest client, Autotrader.

Zambezi has been on something of a hiring/promotion spree in recent weeks and months, promoting COO Jean Freeman to chief executive officer and naming some new creatives as well.

Volkswagen convida o público a “desachar” opiniões e preconceitos em nova campanha

Não tem nada mais atual do que rever pensamentos, questionar ideias ultrapassadas e abrir a mente para aquilo que é novo. Essa mistura originou a campanha da Volkswagen para o novo modelo do up! Chamada de “Desache“, o filme apresenta diversas crenças que cairam por terra e que hoje são vistas com outros olhos, como […]

> LEIA MAIS: Volkswagen convida o público a “desachar” opiniões e preconceitos em nova campanha

Tumblr lança aplicativo para assistir vídeos do YouTube com amigos

Se reúna para ver vídeos de gatinhos

> LEIA MAIS: Tumblr lança aplicativo para assistir vídeos do YouTube com amigos

Facebook chegou tarde na realidade aumentada, mas promete finalmente dar utilidade à tecnologia

Plataforma Camera Effects foi apresentada por Mark Zuckerberg na F8 Conference

> LEIA MAIS: Facebook chegou tarde na realidade aumentada, mas promete finalmente dar utilidade à tecnologia

Watch the Newest Ads on TV From Gatorade, Progressive, Dos Equis and More


Every weekday, we bring you the Ad Age/iSpot Hot Spots, new and trending TV commercials tracked by iSpot.tv, the real-time TV ad measurement company with attention analytics from 10 million smart TVs. The New Releases here ran on TV for the first time yesterday. The Most Engaging ads are ranked by digital activity (including online views and social shares) over the past week.

Among the new releases, NBA star Paul George decides he’s done with a game — “No OT tonight,” we hear him say to himself in his head — and so he chugs some Gatorade Flow, things get all slow-mo and trippy, and of course he sinks a game-winning shot at the buzzer. Progressive’s Flo (not to be confused with Gatorade Flow) comforts a couple of freaked-out new home owners with, naturally, a bullhorn. And a Dos Equis announcer says “Attending his Cinco de Mayo party requires signing a release form,” as the Most Interesting Man in the World is shown triumphing over some rube in a hot-pepper-eating contest.

Continue reading at AdAge.com