Hasta La Creative!

David&Goliath hired Stephen Larkin as chief marketing officer, effective immediately, Adweek reports. He will report directly to agency president Brian Dunbar.

“This is an agency that really knows who they are,” Larkin added. “David really has a vision for this agency, who it is, where it’s going and that really inspired me. There’s great talent here. It’s not just one person and there’s a great story at this agency. I just want to tell it.”

180LA appointed Karan Dang to the role of digital creative director and added several other creatives to its digital team.

The news follows several recent new business wins for the Los Angeles office including ASICS, University of Phoenix and, most prominently, Miller Lite.

“Karan is all about digital first,” said 180LA managing partner and CCO William Gelner. “He brings new thinking to 180LA that will accentuate what we do best – cutting-edge, digitally focused creative.”

Dang arrives at 180LA following Deutsch’s recent downsizing in response to Sprint moving more production work in-house. He served as an associate creative director, digital with Deutsch for nearly a year and a half, working on the agency’s digital accounts for Sprint, Volkswagen USA, Target and Taco Bell. Before joining Deutsch, Dang spent over a year and a half as a senior creative with TBWA Singapore, working with clients including Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore Airlines and Great Eastern Life Insurance. Before being named a senior creative, he spent nearly four years as a creative with the agency, working with brands such as SBC, Unilever, Bayer, Silk Airlines, Unilever, Nokia and Microsoft. He’s also spent time as a creative with BBDO/Proximity Singapore and Grey Singapore.

“I have been blown away by the work that 180LA has produced in the past,” said Dang. “I welcome the challenge of making groundbreaking interactive, experiential and social campaigns for stalwart clients. In our mission, we are backed by a bunch of passionate, hungry and talented folks, and a bold leadership team.”

The agency also announced the appointments of Stephen Fahlsing (veteran of several production companies) as executive producer, Jefferson Wu (formerly with TBWAChiatDay) as creative technologist, Stacey Savage (most recently with Meredith) as senior UX designer, Caspar Bock as digital copywriter and Toon Leysen as digital art director.

180LA is looking to hire a “badass creative director,” so the agency created “The Most Direct Recruitment Ad Ever,” and found a way to ensure top candidates would see it. They entered the ad into four Cannes competitions (the Film Lions, Direct Lions, Radio Lions and Press Lions) under the assumption that “if you’re on the Cannes Jury, you’re definitely one of the best creative directors in the world.”

The ad even calls out certain creative directors by name, including Luca Lorenzini and Eva Santos. 180 LA promises an 120 percent increase in the days of sunshine and “astonishing results.” For the latter, the ad claims 180LA is “one of the sexiest agencies on the planet” and that they work with “amazing clients who are hungry to do the best work of their lives.” And that beach view shown throughout the ad? That’s “the view from your new office.”

Obviously, 180LA isn’t hoping to bring home a Cannes Lion with the ad, but rather has found an attention-grabbing way to reach top creative directors who may be interested in the position. But will they find the ad clever, or a spammy gimmick? And was it worth the thousands the agency paid in entry fees?

180 LA takes a creepy approach with its “Come To Data” campaign for Boost Moble, which promotes the provider’s unlimited data program.

The suggestively-titled campaign features two 60-second spots in which individuals battle, and ultimately give in to, their cell phone-loving ids when they use their smart phones in inappropriate situations.

In “Bathroom Dilemma,” a man at a urinal fights the urge to use his cellphone while taking a leak, and ultimately loses. The voice in his head, which is unsettling, ultimately convinces him to whip the device out by appealing to his love of man-baby memes. A Vine supporting the campaign takes the idea a step further, with a man playing a dice game on his cell phone while in the loo, which could be confused for an activity far more inappropriate for a public restroom. The second spot, “The Priest,” features a holy man tempted into streaming a horse race in the confessional booth.

A host of Vines and short videos support the effort, all following the theme of inappropriate cell phone use.

Credits:

Client: Boost Mobile
Director, Sprint Prepaid Group: Peiti Feng
Manger of Brand Advertising and Creative, Wally Fox
Brand Manager, Social Media and Brand Integration, Jill Johnson
Advertising Manager, Mario Cardenas
Social Media and Brand Integration, Bre Cohen

Campaign: Come To Data

Agency: 180LA
Managing Partner, CCO: William Gelner
Creative Directors: Mike Bokman and Jason Rappaport
Copywriter: Chris Elzinga / Daniel Chen
Art Director: Marcus Cross / Jenny Kang
Head of Account Management: Chad Bettor
Associate Account Director: Paul Kinsella
Social Media Account Manager: Olivia Watson
Head of Production: Natasha Wellesley
Senior Producer: Lindsey Wood
Associate Producer: Lauren Prushan
Business Affairs Manager: Ivy Chen

Production Co: Treefort
Director: Shillick
Producer: Mike Begovich
DP: Max Gutierrez

Editorial Company: Treefort (Web Films) / Melvin (Vines)
Editor: Josh Hegard (Web Films) / Dave Groseclose (Vines)
Color/ Online Finishing: Sam Maliszewski / Melvin
Sound Design / Mix: Eddie Kim / Therapy

Confession: we’re still not quite sure what Zumba is.

Many face the same dilemma despite the fact that the company “counts 15 million weekly dance class participants in a 180 countries worldwide.” For this reason, Zumba enlisted 180LA to remind viewers what it’s all about, and the resulting spot — which debuted yesterday — is energetic enough to qualify as a public health hazard:

The main concept here is to promote Zumba to the public at large rather than catering to the sort of “gym junkies with unattainable bodies” that you might meet at, say, a Diplo set in L.A.

For the record, we also appreciate the presence of “nightclub bouncer” and “pudgy middle management dude” to subtly counter the idea that Zumba is a strictly-for-women phenomenon.

More info and credits below.

(more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

A Pepsi reuniu um elenco formado por estrelas do futebol – Robin van Persie, David Luiz, Sergio Ramos, Sergio Agüero, Jack Wilshere e Lionel Messi – e a cantora Janelle Monáe para a campanha “Now is What You Make it“. Criado pela 180LA, o comercial acompanha as peripécias sonoras da estrela do YouTube, Stony enquanto percorre algumas ruas de um morro carioca.

As experiências sonoras nos levam a uma cover de “Heroes”, de David Bowie, para obviamente terminar com uma multidão celebrando em uma campinho.

O filme também conta com uma versão interativa desenvolvida pela Interlude – responsável pelo clipe “Like a Rolling Stone”, de Bob Dylan – e que pode ser conferida aqui.

É impossível deixar de notar, entretanto, que um morro carioca é, mais uma vez, o palco para uma campanha gringa feita no Brasil. Apesar de o país ocupar uma superfície de 8.515.767,049 km2, parece que o cenário acaba sendo empre o mesmo, o que só ajuda a reforçar os estereótipos.

The Left Right Project is meant to celebrate an icon. Adidas and 180LA teamed up to create a giant pair of Adidas shell tops. One shoe was given to an east coast team of artist at Surface2Air in New York, NY. The other was given to the creative team, Upper Playground in San Francisco, CA. In a classic east vs. west tradition, the two teams designed their shoes to reflect their coast. Each crew had 3 days to design their shoe. The teams met up in Venice Beach, CA to showcase their work.

This is a nice viral/digital/experiential project. It is an example of micro targeting with mass appeal potential. The viral was picked up by the sneaker community as well as the creative community. It’s very Adidas and I like that it doesn’t feel overdone or over budget. The Left Right Project is part of a larger Adidas Originals campaign, which includes “games” and events.