We Believers Says They’ve Produced One Million of the Famous ‘Edible Six Pack Rings’

Last week we posted an update to the story of We Believers’ 2016 “edible six pack rings” project, which earned a slew of media hits and awards and led to the creation of a separate production company called E6PR but has yet to become available on the market 15 months after the case study went live.

The agency did not respond to initial emails to its general contact address, but after the post went live co-founder and chief creative officer Marcos Vega reached out to offer some clarifications.

“Thanks for keeping the Edible Six Pack Rings on your radar. Everything you state is accurate,” he wrote. “However, the kind of struggle we are experiencing is the kind of struggle any startup that evolves from prototype to full blown mass production will expect and experience.”

Vega continued, “We have produced ONE MILLION RINGS, delivered in our warehouse. We will be testing with Saltwater Brewery and a major Beer Brand in the following months. Once the tests are successful and we tweak our design once again informed by the learning we will make them available to craft breweries and other major Beer brands and Carbonated Beverages.”

Vega and co-founder Gustavo Lauria, who is chairman of the US Hispanic Creative Circle, have cited the one million total at various industry events, and Vega said that the products themselves have undergone an unusually stringent development and approval process even though they are not yet available to clients or consumers.

“The level of testing our product has gone through has been exhaustive for it to be brought to mass scale,” he told us. “From stress testing to support extreme handling of the cans and high humidity all the way to additional lab testing for toxicity. The product so far has passed the tests with flying colors.”

Vega added that his agency wants the edible, biodegradable rings to become an industry standard but that “struggles are guaranteed as we strive to become that.”

“While we continue to find ways around them we believe now more than ever creativity will change the world for the better with inventions like ours and those to come,” he wrote.

So the agency and its production unit promise that the product, which continues to receive mentions in news reports about sustainable packaging and related environmental concerns, will soon hit the market.

For now, it lives primarily via press writeups and an Instagram hashtag.

Fake David Attenborough Watches Smokey Preventing Wildfires in New FCB West Ad Council Spot

[Read in formal elderly British man voice]

Observe, if you will, the American advertising agency, creating its pro-bono work for the so-called “Advertising Council.” The agency does this so as to earn media coverage in the “trade press” and increase its profile on the national stage, thereby increasing its chances of potentially winning what one might call “real business” from paying clients.

Today we see the agency calling itself FCB West return to the classic character Smokey Bear, who has been known to prevent fires (forest-based or otherwise) for some 70-plus years.

Thank you to FCB for not making him CGI.

Because we are dumb, we did not know that the Ad Council created Smokey, who turns 73 today, or that there is no “the” in his official name. We also learned that there’s never a dull moment for Bear, because the threat of fire in close proximity to combustible materials doesn’t really go away.

Also, he was based on a real bear?

“his evolution in the iconic figure of Smokey Bear brings him closer to a younger audience and further cements his reputation as wildfire prevention’s most loveable spokesperson,” said CEO Joe Oh of FCB West, which is handling his various social media accounts in addition to the digital video.

That Sam Elliot VO at the end makes it all worthwhile. Dude truly does sound like he’s chewing gravel every time he talks.

Denver B2B Agency Faction Media Closes After 12 Years in Business

Denver, Colorado-based agency Faction Media, which opened in 2005 and specialized in “demand creation” for B2B clients, closed this week after 12 years in business.

According to two parties familiar with the matter, the company is filing for bankruptcy after losing multiple unspecified accounts.

The source who alerted us to the news also states that Faction owes back pay to both employees (estimated at more than 50 on its LinkedIn page) and vendors.

An email to Faction’s PR line bounced back, and founder David Greves has not responded to another note. Calls to the company’s general number and those of its executives went unanswered today.

Faction, which called itself “the demand generation agency,” created campaigns for clients such as Hitachi and Avaya and won a series of local awards during its 12-year tenure including, most recently, from the Business Marketing Association of Colorado.

Earlier this year, another longstanding Denver agency called it quits as Factory Design Labs shut its doors after more than two decades in business.

Faction’s most recent social media posts concerned the aforementioned awards event in May. We will update this post if we receive more information.

Droga5 Takes a Long, Strange Trip Through These Twisted Comic Ads for Luxury Vacations

You meet the strangest people on vacation. For example, the talky trio in Droga5 London’s cheeky new ads for Secret Escapes, a members-only service that sells discounted luxury hotel accommodations and travel packages. These intense folks, enjoying holidays in sun-splashed climes, just can’t refrain from sharing waaay too much with anyone who’ll sit still long…

Ad Age Wake-Up Call: Disney Dumps Netflix and Other News to Know Today


Good morning. Welcome to Ad Age’s Wake-Up Call, our daily roundup of advertising, marketing, and digital-related news. What people are talking about today: The romance between Netflix and Disney is unraveling, or as Quartz puts it, “Disney is just beginning its conscious uncoupling from Netflix.” Netflix is set to lose access to new Disney and Pixar films as the Mouse House moves ahead with its own Netflix-like services. That includes an ESPN streaming service; Ad Age’s Anthony Crupi takes a closer look at the sports service to launch next year. The Walt Disney Co.’s CEO Bob Iger says the future will be all about direct relationships between content makers and consumers. But in some ways, “Disney is late to this party,” The New York Times says.

Highly annoying

Google is about to blast out emails to about 1,000 online publishers warning them that they are running “highly annoying, misleading or harmful” ads, as Ad Age’s George Slefo reports. Who will get emails? Publishers like Forbes and the Los Angeles Times. But also Betty Crocker.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

LG Plays Soccer and Scores in This Week's Viral Video Chart


Two soccer stars kick balls at TVs in this week’s top viral video.

Steven Gerrard, a former player and current coach, and Adam Lallana of Liverpool star in LG’s pseudo-dramatic “Nano Cell Super Match” spot, which pits them against each other in a match of accuracy and strategy. Kicking balls at a nine-panel screen, the two players aim for the highest numbersonly to discover that the TV’s that not a Nano Cell hides negative signs (e.g., -9) at tight angles. LG’s panels, however, clearly show negative signs wherever they are, a celebration of the TV’s advanced color capabilities.

The spot had over 33 million views this week.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Watch the Newest Ads on TV From State Farm, Red Robin, DNA Testing Service Helix and More


Every weekday, we bring you the Ad Age/iSpot Hot Spots, new TV commercials tracked by iSpot.tv, the real-time TV ad measurement company with attention and conversion analytics from 10 million smart TVs. The ads here ran on national TV for the first time yesterday.

A few highlights: “So many Americans struggle with finances,” an announcer says in a State Farm commercial that promotes the financial literacy tools available at LetsStartToday.com. Red Robin plugs its “Yum 2 Go” mobile-ordering app. And DNA testing service Helix encourages you to “Crack your code.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com

A Shorter Road to Account-Based Marketing: Start With Current Customers


So you’ve decided to implement an ABM strategy. Now what?

For the uninitiated, account-based marketing or ABM is a b-to-b strategy focused in cultivating a smaller pool of high-value accounts you really want to target rather than marketing to a wide audience. Instead of the broad approach most traditional marketing models use, ABM nurtures the key people at a specific account in the same industry or territory. When done right, ABM brings value through connected efforts between your sales and marketing teams to deliver highly customized content, rather than a mass one-size-fits-all marketing approach.

The concept of ABM or targeted marketing isn’t new, but the proliferation of technologies over the last few years is enabling it to happen automatically and on a large scale.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Ad Age Wake-Up Call: Disney Dumps Netflix and Other News to Know Today


Good morning. Welcome to Ad Age’s Wake-Up Call, our daily roundup of advertising, marketing, and digital-related news. What people are talking about today: The romance between Netflix and Disney is unraveling, or as Quartz puts it, “Disney is just beginning its conscious uncoupling from Netflix.” Netflix is set to lose access to new Disney and Pixar films as the Mouse House moves ahead with its own Netflix-like services. That includes an ESPN streaming service; Ad Age’s Anthony Crupi takes a closer look at the sports service to launch next year. The Walt Disney Co.’s CEO Bob Iger says the future will be all about direct relationships between content makers and consumers. But in some ways, “Disney is late to this party,” The New York Times says.

Highly annoying

Google is about to blast out emails to about 1,000 online publishers warning them that they are running “highly annoying, misleading or harmful” ads, as Ad Age’s George Slefo reports. Who will get emails? Publishers like Forbes and the Los Angeles Times. But also Betty Crocker.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

New ANA Report Claims Non-Transparent Production Practices at Agencies


A report set to be released Wednesday by the Association of National Advertisers claims that advertising agencies and holding companies engage in non-transparent practices when it comes to the production of commercials, music, events and other materials such as asking independent post-production houses to submit bogus, inflated “check bids” so that agencies can route jobs back to their in-house production shops.

The findings come eight months after reports that the U.S. Department of Justice was investigating whether ad agencies unfairly direct production business to their in-house departments over independent shops. Since then, multiple agency holding companies say they have been subpoenaed by the DOJ over production practices.

The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment on the progress of its investigation on Tuesday.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Kim Jong-un to Take 17-Day Golf Vacation Before Destroying the World (According to Colbert)


Ad Age “Media Guy” columnist Simon Dumenco’s media roundup for the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 9:

Time may be running out (see Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7, below), so let’s just get started …

1. Trump’s latest catchphrase — “fire and fury” — predictably appears on the front pages of the New York Post (though a story about thieving “club vixens” gets bigger play) and the Daily News:

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Cloak and Spammer: Facebook Beefs Up AI to Stop Black Hat Pages From Covering Their Tracks


Facebook says it is intensifying its efforts to control scams and fake news by taking a harder line on “cloaking,” a tactic that bad actors use across the web to avoid detection.

“We’ve recently been ramping up our enforcement,” says Rob Leathern, Facebook product management director. “We are making it clear: We don’t tolerate cloaking.”

Cloaking is a longtime but straightforward practice of so-called black hats online. Fraudulent marketers, pornographers and even racists have used it to disguise their true nature in search results and in social feeds.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Diversity Memo Drama Poses Biggest Public Test for Google CEO


In almost two years as Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai has weathered multiple storms with relative ease. His search engine came out of the fake news brouhaha largely unscathed. He watched his employees walk out en masse over immigration restrictions ordered by President Trump, lending his support without drawing heat from the White House. He avoided major fallout after scores of advertisers boycotted YouTube over offensive video content. And he’s continued to post double-digit sales growth, helping to propel shares of parent company Alphabet Inc. to records — even as the European Union ratchets up its antitrust scrutiny.

But a single memo is shaping up to be Pichai’s greatest trial yet.

On Monday, Google fired the engineer behind an internal posting that decried efforts at the company to diversify its workforce. The memorandum set off an explosive debate inside Google, which has prided itself on letting employees air opinions, and beyond once it became public. Pichai was on a family vacation when the controversy boiled over. He sent a note on Monday afternoon that said language in the memo violated company policies, writing that it “clearly impacted our co-workers, some of whom are hurting and feel judged based on their gender.” He told his 70,000-plus staff he was returning home to deal with the crisis. On Tuesday, some managers at Google held open-door sessions to address the still-brewing issues, according to one employee. Pichai was set to address the entire Google staff about the issue on Thursday at its weekly all-hands meeting.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Bacteria-Eliminating LED Wands – The Cleanty V2 is a Convenient Sanitation Device

(TrendHunter.com) When living in a city, it’s impossible to avoid all the potentially harmful bacteria hiding in the grit and grime of surfaces, but the Cleanty V2 is a new product that makes it easier to bust…

Carbon Fiber Canoes – This Two-Person Canoe Flaunts a Streamlined and Futuristic Design (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) This carbon fiber canoe demonstrates quite a departure from the tradition-steeped designs of both conventional and contemporary canoes. Appreciating the look of Borromeo & De Silva’s…

Colorful 3D-Knitted Shoes – The New Pair of JS Shoes Feature a Clear Sole and Colorful Pattern (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) ‘JS Shoes’ have released a new line of colorful 3D-knitted shoes. The company gained a wide audience after releasing a pair of knit, form-fitted shoes that functioned as indoor slippers…

53 Traffic-Reducing Initiatives – From Bluetooth Traffic Sensors to Lighted Pedestrian Crosswalks (TOPLIST)

(TrendHunter.com) Congested traffic is a problem that plagues almost every major city, but these traffic-reducing initiatives are working to solve this.

Many cities like Montreal, Dubai and Paris are keen on…

Curvy Hand-Made Furniture – Fielding-Smith Furniture's Collection is Shapely with Color Pops (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) Designer and maker Douglas Fielding-Smith has added seven new pieces to his collection of modern furniture he creates under the name Fielding-Smith Furniture.

The London-based designer prides…

Rich Pring Joins Humble as Managing Director/EP

Bicoastal integrated production studio Humble has hired Rich Pring as Managing Director/Executive Producer. Pring will head up the studio’s LA office, working closely alongside President/Founder Eric Berkowitz to foster the development of the Humble roster and cultivate relationships with agencies and brands alike.

No newcomer to the industry, Pring has worked as an Executive Producer for over a decade, collaborating with major brands including Apple, Nike, Target, GE, ESPN, Nintendo, Miu Miu, Honda, Beats by Dre, Amazon and many more.

“We are thrilled to welcome Rich to the Humble family,” said President/Founder Eric Berkowitz. “He’s not only an incredible producer, but his deep knowledge of fully-integrated production makes him the perfect conduit between strategy, creative, and production at Humble.”

Pring joins Humble from Psyop, an award winning collective where he served as Executive Producer. Brought on to help establish the company’s live action and content production departments in New York and Los Angeles, Pring ushered in the studio’s transition into producing live action in-house. Prior to that, Pring helped to cultivate Green Dot Films for 15 years while succeeding with new and return business from the top advertising agencies and Fortune 100 Companies.

“After meeting Eric and the team, I immediately felt a cohesive energy that was undeniable,” added Pring. “I’ve always been impressed by Humble’s commitment to making great work as well as its position at the forefront of our industry. I’m honored and excited to get started.”

About Humble
Humble is a bicoastal integrated content studio created in 2006 by President/Founder Eric Berkowitz. With sister company Postal, Humble offers full concept-to-completion creative resources, from high-quality live action production to full editorial, visual effects, CG, design and post production. Humble creates award-winning and buzz-worthy commercials, music videos, branded content, and features for top filmmakers and ad agencies around the world.

Adland: 

United Way "Thanks for making out" (2017) :30 (USA)

Nice misdirect from The United Way and their Baby Can Wait campaign that highlights good news for a change: Milwaukee’s Lowest-Ever Teen Birthrate. Reason to celebrate indeed. Just don’t let the quiet storm music get to you.

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