Hasta La Creative!

What’s more epic than one brand in a Super Bowl ad? Two brands in one ad! PepsiCo announced that two of its brands–Doritos and Mountain Dew–will share air time during the Big Game in an epic 60-second spot. The company also released a teaser today (see below). Not only will there be two major brands…

After strengthening its leadership team in Los Angeles in November, 72andSunny has set out to build up its New York office with some key strategic moves–hiring Jessica Monsey as managing director, promoting Justine Armour to executive creative director and moving its current managing director and partner, James Townsend, into a global role. Monsey is slated…

The Television Critics Association’s winter press tour comes to a close today, capping 14 days in which approximately 40 broadcast, cable and streaming outlets presented their early-2018 shows to hundreds of TV journalists. But a company that never set foot inside Pasadena, Calif.’s Langham Huntington dominated most of those two weeks. Netflix once again skipped…

Branded integrations at sporting events are usually forgettable affairs, with the sponsors seeming interchangeable and often unrelated to whatever they’re slapping their name on. But it would be hard not to notice or remember Old Spice’s “Sweat Mop Boys,” who clean college basketball courts midgame using mops designed to look like sticks of Old Spice…

PepsiCo is plugging its Mtn Dew and Doritos brands in back-to-back ads totaling 60 seconds starring actors Morgan Freeman and Peter Dinklage. The spots by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners promote two new line extensions: lemon-lime flavored Mtn Dew Ice and spicy Doritos Blaze. In a teaser video released today, Freeman reps Mtn Dew and Dinklage, known for his “Game of Thrones” role, backs Doritos.

“This is a great example of the power of PepsiCo’s food and beverage portfolio coming to life for consumers on one of the world’s largest stages,” PepsiCo North America CEO Al Carey said in a statement. The company has long-touted the “power of one” to investors as it justified keeping beverage brands and snack brands under the same roof.

Ad Age had earlier confirmed that Doritos would return to the game after sitting out last year. Its crowd-sourced “Crash the Super Bowl” program ended a 10-year run in 2016.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

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 more than seven million smart TVs. The ads here ran on national TV for the first time yesterday.

A few highlights: State Farm serves up a story about a cherished piece of jewelryshowing what it means to a mother and her daughterby way of suggesting that you should get the right insurance for the things you really care about. ADT promotes a different kind of protection: ADT Go, “the family safety mobile app and service.” And Jackson Hewitt scoffs at the idea that a tax-prep website can beat the service provided face-to-face by the tax pros at its storefront locations.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Cartoon Network is giving out coffee and hot chocolates to mark the return of children’s animation We Bare Bears.

An Energy Department photographer says he was fired for exposing the coal industry’s influence with the Energy secretary.

-Mother introduces “Gravy Cocktails” for KFC U.K. and Ireland (video above) because what better way is there to endear people to a brand than to completely gross them out?

–Keanu Reaves will star in Squarespace’s fifth consecutive Super Bowl ad.

-The ad community responds to Facebook’s recent algorithm changes.

-Adweek asks “Where Is the Line Between Creepy and Creative in Advertising?”

-The Drum lists “More than 70 women of color who should be speaking at marketing conferences.”

-Future marketing leaders explain what they want from agencies.