Hasta La Creative!

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 and conversion analytics from 10 million smart TVs. The New Releases here ran on TV for the first time over the weekend. The Most Engaging ads are ranked by digital activity (including online views and social shares) over the past week.

Among the new releases, a graduation-themed Taco Bell ad warns students against the temptation of Naked Chicken Chips (Ad Age’s Jessica Wohl has the backstory: “A Taco Bell Item We Should Have Seen Coming: Dippable Chicken Chips”). Dale Earnhardt Jr. shows up in a mock HSN-style ad for the “most patriotic drink ever”: Dew-S-A, from Mtn Dew. And a Colgate PSA about saving water that stars noted water expert Michael Phelps requires subtitles because … well, you’ll see.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Ok Adbusters,

I just finished#130, fresh out of the mailbox this morning. Started with the Impeachment side because I knew it would fan my flame. The fire that started with Occupy, the fire that took me to DC on 1/21, keeps me in the streets with my banners, makes me send to PP, NODAPL, ACLU, MOAS and keeps me on the phone with my Reps. And this side of #130 did not disappoint. Flame rages.

Then onto the Hamlet side which reinforced what I already knew to be true.

Here is the problem; after reading every word, absorbing every graphic cover to cover, all I want to do right now is go vomit in my toilet, climb onto my couch and pull the quilt up over my head. Middle page of #130 … where’s my tiny flower poking up through the asphalt? I need that image. I’m going to a political huddle with my people from the women’s March tomorrow night. But I just may need a cold IPA tonight.

yours, on fire,

Julie E. Powell

The post Feedback of the Week appeared first on Adbusters | Journal of the mental environment.

Source

Johannes Leonardo launched a campaign for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), celebrating the virtues of interdependence.

In an anthem ad entitled “Two Ways,” the voiceover narrator explains that “We come into this world leading others, then we are told it’s braver to go it alone” over footage of a solitary young backpacker and a sparse piano and string score. As the spot continues, the voiceover posits that “the only path to fulfillment is through others.”

While some may see that as a nice sentiment, the spot seems to rely on pushing back against argument which may or may nor exist. Is anyone rely denying the benefits of working with and relying on other people? Still, the idea presents a connection to the services in question, in a category where that can be a challenge, and concludes the spot by attempting to tie the message directly to the brand with the tagline, “Live Mutual.”

The spot exists in both 60 and 30-second versions, with support from a series of digital efforts related to MassMutal’s financial service offerings, such as “College Savings Strategies,” “What is life insurance?” and “Making sense of your 401 (k),” as well as a series of OOH ads in line with the same message as “Two Ways.”