Hasta La Creative!

Golden State Warriors Point Guard Steph Curry is no stranger to the ad spotlight, having appeared in a host of campaigns for clients including Under Armour, NBA 2K, Muscle Milk and most recently, Chase. His latest, for Oakland, Calif.-headquartered healthcare company Kaiser Permanente, shows him in an unexpectedly vulnerable light.

Created out of Translation, the effort debuts with a hero spot that opens on the NBA star’s intense mug, awash in blue as he prepares to step into a deprivation tank. The voices of critics swirl about: “Can Curry deliver?”… “He’s not one of the greats yet.”

Immersed in the capsule, he takes a deep breath and gets sucked into a surreal waterworld, where basketball nets stretch into jellyfish creatures and balls plunge in like torpedoes. The cacophony of criticism continues until Curry takes a deep breath and meditates: “Calm, strong, focused.” Chaos transforms to quiet. It’s then that we see Curry heading out to the court, open and confident. Copy reads, “Train the mind. The body will follow,” followed by the Kaiser Permanente logo.

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(TrendHunter.com) Flat C/Architecture’s ‘Hidden House’ looks relatively modest on first blush, but it’s the history behind the home that makes it stand out from the others in the area. Nestled…

Ms. Leon survived harrowing childhood escapes from grim pre-ghetto Warsaw and Communist Siberia to mingle years later with New York’s glitterati as a writer for the world’s oldest Yiddish newspaper.

Heineken USA selected Omnicom’s Red Urban as its lead digital and social marketing agency. The client formerly worked with a roster of agencies on digital and social media marketing assignments including creative AOR Publicis, Havas, 360i, We Are Social and Nomades.

Red Urban, which currently has offices in Toronto and Amsterdam, will open a new location in New York to service the client, whose brands include Heineken, Heineken Light, Tecate, Amstel, Dos Equis and Strongbow hard cider. According to a release, the office is a “bespoke solution which will also draw upon a number of agencies and partners.”

“We could not be more thrilled to partner with Heineken here in the U.S. and create something new, bespoke and innovative for them,” Red Urban group business director Emilio Rosas said in a statement. “The landscape is changing rapidly and we believe this fixed and flexible model allows us to respond at the speed of the marketplace with the right talent at the right time!”

“With Red Urban at the helm, and the ability to leverage Omnicom digital and social capabilities, we look forward to taking Heineken’s consumer centric strategy to the next level,” Omnicom Digital CEO Jonathan Nelson added.

Heineken USA chief marketing officer Nuno Teles cited Red Urban’s “fantastic track record for developing winning programming” in the selection, adding, “we look forward to partnering together across our portfolio of premium import beers and ciders.”

Ogilvy & Mather recently launched a new integrated campaign for IBM entitled “Watson at Work.”

The effort shows how Watson helps with everything from “Engineering,” “Energy” and “Security” to “Wine,” “Basketball” and “Golf.” Watson still has a thing to learn about when to keep quiet, though, if “Golf” and “Insurance” are any indication.

The newest spot in the campaign, “The Whisperer” makes its broadcast debut today during coverage of the PGA’s Masters Tournament. It shows how Watson helps aviation mechanics identify potential problems, even if the program is less helpful with the coffee maker.

The wide-ranging campaign shows the wide array of applications for IBM’s artificial intelligence, some of which are more expected than others. It may not surprise you, for, example, that the program’s analysis can help with engineering or security initiatives, but its ability to analyze satellite data to determine irrigation practices is a bit less expected.

Credits:
Creative Agency – Ogilvy & Mather
Lou Aversano – CEO Ogilvy USA
Steve Simpson – CCO North America
Liam Parker – Managing Director
Eva Augustyn – Group Planning Director
Jeff Curry – Executive Creative Director
George Tannenbaum – Executive Creative Director
Jeremy Kuhn – Executive Group Director
Steve Ford – Executive Producer
Karl Westman – Director of Music
Joanna Starling – Music Producer
Rich Wallace – Creative Director
Niels West – Creative Director
Joe Maire – Senior Producer
Sarah Pascale – Senior Producer
Soohan Han – Account Director
Nika Gokhman – Senior Planner
Dennis Kung – Senior Art Director
Greg Kissler – Senior Copywriter
Stephanie Cajucom – Senior Copywriter
Simon Woodham – Senior Art Director
Emilia Pittelli – Account Supervisor
Marisa Moody – Planner
Mina Mukherjee – Assistant Account Executive
Caity Briggs – Associate

PYTKA
Joe Pytka, Director
Gretchen Siss, Executive Producer

Friendshop, Editorial
Melissa Mapes – Managing Director/EP
Laura Shackleford – Producer
Ben Suenaga – Editor
Joe Kell – Editor
Daniel Clark – Motion Designer
Alex Pirrone – Assistant Editor
Kelly Wessel – Assistant Editor

The MILL / color grade
Sr. Producer – Natalie Westerfield
Associate Producer – Evan Bauer
Colorist – Mikey Rossiter, Josh Bohoskey
Color Assist – Nate Seymour, Zack Wilpon, Daniel Moisoff

Heard City / audio
Sasha Awn, Executive Producer
Audio Mix: Jeremy Siegel, Keith Reynaud, Eric Warzecha, Dan Flosdorf
Sound Design: Keith Reynaud

MPC / post production
Dan Sormani, Executive Producer
Nick Haynes Executive Producer
Elissa Norman, Senior Producer
Barry Gilbert, Senior Producer
Joaqui Lopez, Producer
Neela Kumuda, Producer

Ashley Bernes, VFX Supervisor
Brandon Thomas VFX Supervisor

Vadim Turchin, 3D Lead
3D Team:
Jemmy Molero
Francisco Fraga
Mike Little

Matt Tremaglio, 2D Lead

2D Team:
Marcus Wood
Alex Harding
Ruairi Twohig
Rob Walker
Giulia Bartra
Bilali Mack
Joey Deady
Steve Koenig
Mazyar Sharifian
John Shafto
Praveenkumar Samiraj
Sangeetha M
Karthi G
Kishan Katrimal
Srikanth Salla
R Vignesh
Joslin Job Mathew
Likin Ganpathy
Mohanakrishnan C
Muruganatham T

Anthony Ricciardi: AE Lead

360 – Video Partner Credits:

Production Company: Mill +
Director: Tom Basis (N.Y.) / Paul Mitchell (L.A.)
Executive Producer: Zu Al-Kadiri Producer: Tia Perkins
Director of Photography: Michael Girandola
Additional: Head of Content US – Ian Bearce
Additional: Australia VFX Supervisor- Matthew Hermans

Editorial: The Mill
Editor: Matthew Campbell + Rachel Greco (NY) / Jason Webb (LA)

VFX & Design – NY: The Mill
Executive Producer: Chris Kiser / Jeremy Moore Senior Producer: Eliana Carranza-Pitcher
Producer: Tabitha Ozturk Production Coordinator:Ashley Goodwin
Creative Director: Tom Basis 2D Lead: Lee Towndrow 3D Lead: Olivier Varteressian
2D Artists: Ryan Quinlan, Vi Nguyen, Nick Tanner, Molly Intersimone, Heather Kennedy, Alex Dreiblatt, Antoine Douadi 3D Artists: Emily Meger
Lead Senior Designer: Pierce Gibson Lead Animator: Thomas Heckel
Animation: Mikhael Vilegas, Benge Li, Vivian Kim, Bobby Ushiro, Bobby Nichols.

VFX & Design – LA: The Mill
Head of Production: Elizabeth Newman Executive Producer: Luke Colson
Senior Producer: Theresa Marth Post Producer: Brittany Gauran
Production Coordinator: Chaz Pizani
2D Lead Artist: Patrick Heinen 2D Artists: Greg Vanzyl, Tim Crabtree, Tom Van Dop

Colour: The Mill
Executive Producer, Colour: Dee Allen
Colour Producer: Natalie Westerfield
Colour Coordinator: Evan Bauer
Colourist: Mikey Rossiter
Colour Assist: Elias Nousiopoulos / Daniel Moisoff

Ad Age “Media Guy” columnist Simon Dumenco’s media roundup for the morning of Thursday, April 6:

I want to give thanks, in a way, to Pepsi, for that instantly notorious Kendall Jenner ad, because it’s given us all something to talk about (see Nos. 1 and 2, below) other than, you know, other things. Would it be too much to ask for, say, Dr Pepper to do a female-empowerment ad starring Caitlyn Jenner, or for Fanta to do an immigration-themed ad featuring Blac Chyna? That way maybe we wouldn’t have to talk about President Trump (No. 5) or Steve Bannon (No. 4) or Sean Spicer (No. 7). Anyway, let’s get started …

1. This tweet by Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter is closing in on a quarter-million likes and 125,000 retweets:

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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, Samsung serves up another one of its gorgeously filmed “Unbox your phone” spots showing off the Infinity Screen of the Galaxy S8, while Mercedes-Benz tell you to “Follow your own star” in an ad that stars pro golfer Rickie Fowler and big-wave surfer Garrett McNamara. And Jeep, once the ultimate utilitarian brand, positions the 2017 Grand Cherokee as a work of art.

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