Hasta La Creative!

As part of a major brand overhaul including new packaging and entree options, Nestle brand Lean Cuisine has changed up its advertising with a move away from weight loss marketing with new broadcast and social campaigns.

The broadcast campaign, “Feed Your Phenomenal” (featured above), launches early next month with a 30-second spot by Grey. Grey’s spot depicts a hard-working maternity nurse in Boston who looks forward to the end of her shift, at 3:23 AM,when she can finally take a breather and enjoy a Lean Cuisine mac and cheese meal. She credits lean cuisine with helping her maintain a healthy lifestyle and “eat the way I want to eat,” despite her hectic schedule. Nonsensical tagline aside, the spot does move away from the brand’s typical association with diet and weight loss, and if its claim that it is part of a “healthy lifestyle” is far-fetched it at least presents one accurate selling point in its fitting in with a busy schedule.

360i’s social campaign, which precedes the broadcast effort, takes on the scale more directly. A 2:25 video, entitled “#WeighThis,” opens with the question “How much do you weigh?’ as a moderator tells a group of women, “I want you to approach the scale.” The catch? The women don’t step on the scael to weight themselves, but instead weigh their biggest accomplishment, which varies from a backpack representing trips around the world to a college textbook signyfying a middle aged woman’s fresh start to divorce papers to a single mother’s Dean’s List certificate, accompanied by the message, “If you’re going to weigh something, weigh what matters.” The spot ends by inviting viewers to share how they’d like to be weighed with the hashtag, #WeighThis.

Lean Cuisine brand manager Chris Flora told AdAge that the new campaign represented a “massive pivot” for the brand, which consumers “most closely associate…with being a diet brand,” adding, “But we recognize that diets are dead and we want to show that we are truly shifting away from diet.” The new campaign follows about a year and a half in which the brand was largely absent from marketing while it considered a new strategy. “We didn’t really have a brand soul,” Flora explained, “for us to really thrive in this marketplace we wanted to find that brand soul.”

Fallon London appointed Gareth Collins as its new CEO, Campaign reports. He will begin the new position this summer, after leaving AMV BBDO, where he currently serves as a managing partner. Upon arrival, he will lead a management team including executive creative director Nick Bell and chief strategy officer David Hackworthy. The news coincides with the departure of managing director James Townsend, who is leaving to become CEO of 360i London.

Collins began his position at AMV BBDO in March of last year, following over five years in Australia with Clemenger BBDO, most recently as a managing partner. He first joined Clemenger BBDO as a group account director, becoming a client service director the following year and managing partner in April of 2012. Prior to that he spent five years as a board account director with AMV BBDO. He also spent three years with Ogilvy & Mather as an account manager and served a brief stint as service manager with Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

Magnus Djaba, chief  executive of Saatchi & Saatchi Fallon UK Group, told Campaign, “When Pat Fallon picked a management team to start Fallon London, he chose people who didn’t know the rules but just wanted to create new ones. Gareth has that same spirit and attitude.”

The best marketing embodies, rather than just projects, the message it’s trying to deliver. And 360i’s new tourism campaign for New Orleans is a good example of that.

Three TV spots all use the same voiceover script, but completely different characters and locations, to cleverly communicate the point that you can have all sorts of diverse experiences in the city.

Check out the ads below, directed by Henry Mason and produced by Chelsea Pictures, with an original score by David Torkanowsky and renowned New Orleans musicians:

The ads, for the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation, must be played sequentially to make the most sense, and that’s the plan on TV and digital (via Facebook) in 35 target markets.

The campaign continues the “Follow Your NOLA” theme and showcases the city as a unique, one-of-a-kind experience. It will also use radio, influencer marketing, mobile and live events to court travelers. On mobile, the upgraded followyournola.com will feature curated itineraries for each of the TV ads, as well as celebrity itineraries by Anthony Bourdain, Emeril Lagasse and John Besh.

NOTMC is also getting social influencers to create their own ideal New Orleans trips and share them on Instagram, YouTube and their own blogs.

“New Orleans has an incredible range of experiences and attractions for people of all mindsets and interests—that’s the insight at the heart of ‘Follow Your NOLA.’ Our challenge was to bring this to life with stories that live up to the beauty and creative spirit of the city itself,” said Pierre Lipton, chief creative officer at 360i.

“The result is an integrated campaign with digital at the core. Our videos and TV executions illustrate visitors’ top interests discovered through social listening; the mobile site showcases itineraries featured in the spots; social influencers bring their own NOLA trips to life online; display and mobile ads target the right people at the right time; and the events bring the NOLA experience to life across the country.”

If regular Oreos don’t already put you in the mood for love, maybe try the cookie’s new Red Velvet flavor. The limited-edition Valentine’s Day product stars in a new animated campaign from 360i, and is presented as an awkward aphrodisiac for strangers.

The effects of Red Velvet Oreos might include a woman who looks kind of like a middle-aged Daria sliding her grip up a bus pole to touch the hand of the rocker hunk next to her. (In fact, the whole aesthetic seems inspired by ’90s MTV cartoons.) And let’s just say the dude is not moving his mitt away, either.

Irresistible cookie romance could also strike at the checkout counter, or 35,000 feet above sea level (because someone couldn’t resist a nod to the Mile High Club). In other words, Red Velvet Oreos are like the Axe of cookies. (Its advertising is just—appropriately—quirkier and more subtle than most of the body spray’s.)

There are six spots in total, with a new one rolling out each day this week. The brand says they’re meant for people who aren’t psyched about Valentine’s Day. That makes some sense, because while Red Velvet Oreos might be a dubious gift, it’s perfectly appropriate to shame-eat a pack while sitting alone at home watching rom-com marathons while everyone else is paired off and having a good time out on the town.

And whether or not Red Velvet Oreos will actually get you laid, one thing is for sure—more people should carry fanny packs with cookies in them.

CREDITS
Client: Oreo
Senior Associate Brand Manager: Kerri McCarthy
Senior Associate Brand Manager: Elise Burditt
Senior Brand Manager: Lauryn McDonough
North America Director: Janda Lukin

Agency: 360i
Chief Creative Officer: Pierre Lipton
Group Account Director: Sandra Ciconte
Group Creative Directors: Aaron Mosher, David Yankelewitz
Art Director: Kelsie Kaufman
Copywriter: Jessy Cole
Associate Producer: Ethan Brooks
Senior Producer: Amanda Kwan
Account Director: Josh Lenze
Senior Strategist: Maggie Walsh
Account Manager: Megan Falcone
Community Manager: Sarah Wanger
Community Supervisor: Namrata Patel

Production Company: Shadowmachine (LA) http://www.shadowmachine.com
Executive Producers: Alex Bulkley, Corey Campodonico
Director/Producer: Jed Hathaway
Lead Animator: Sapphire Sandalo
Animator: Iana Kushchenko
Animator: Sean Nadeau
Character Designer: Matt Garofalo
Background Designer: Emilio Santoyo
Storyboard Artist: James Gibson
Animatic Editor: Peter Keahey
Sound Design: Pendulum Music (Ryan Franks, Scott Nickoley
Commercial Rep: Honky Dory (Gisela Limberg, Ali Tiedrich)

360i has launched a new campaign promoting the latest installment in Toyota’s teen driving safety initiative, TeenDrive365.

Based on safety research by Toyota and the University of Michigan Transportation Institute (UMTRI), the campaign aims to influence teens by targeting the number one influence on how they drive: their parents. The latest additions to the initiative include online tools, expert advice, local events and social media elements. To promote the effort, 360i worked with Toyota on a series of videos targeting parents of teen drivers.

Two of these videos focus on “Parents Who Drive Bad Anonymous,” a fictional (and grammatically challenged) support group for parents who drive poorly and are worried that they’re passing on their questionable practices to their children. In the above video, Deb attends a meeting and admits to texting while driving. “I know I’ve been a bad example. I’ve been texting while I drive and it’s got to stop,” she says to a mannequin wearing headphones, presumably a stand-in for her son. Another “Parents Who Drive Bad Anonymous” video focuses on a dad obsessed with checking on his fantasy team. Another video, part of the “Masters of the Wheel” series, focuses on NHRA driver Antron Brown and his teen daughter.

“As a mother of a teenager, I often remind myself that the things I do behind the wheel go a long way in setting a powerful example,” said Dr. Tina Sayer, Toyota Collaborative Safety Research Center principal engineer and teen safe driving expert. “Experience and education certainly help your teen become a safe and more confident driver, but our research shows us that the biggest factor in how teens will drive is their parents.” (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

360i announced that it has named Pierre Lipton, a founding partner and chief creative officer at M&C Saatchi, as the agency’s new chief creative officer. He succeeds Adam Kerj, who first joined the agency in 2012 and will depart in the coming weeks. Lipton will be based out of 360i’s New York headquarters and will report to CEO Sarah Hofstetter.

While chief creative officer at M&C Saatchi, Lipton oversaw creative while working with brands such as Schiff Nutrition, Birchbox and Ballantine’s. Prior to M&C Saatchi, Kerj served as executive creative director at AKQA, overseeing the 125 person creative team at AKQA’s flagship San Francisco office where he worked with clients including Audi, Visa, Jordan and YouTube. Prior to joining AKQA in 2010, Lipton worked with Fallon, TBWA and BBDO. Some of his more recognizable work includes the launch campaign for Microsoft Xbox’s Halo 3 and “Everyone Has Something to Hide” for HBO‘s Big Love. He has worked with brands including Virgin Mobile, Absolut, Time Magazine, Best Buy, Red Bull, Target and The Economist, and his work has been recognized at major awards shows including Cannes, The One Show, The Art Director’s Club and the CLIOs. (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Been to New Orleans lately?

It truly is a tale of two cities. The lower wards are still — yes, still — trying to recover from Katrina. However, if you stroll down Bourbon, Canal, Freret, and Frenchmen (mark it down), it is arguably the best French Quarter ever.

The New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation (That’s CVB to you and me) proudly lays responsibility for that rebound at the feet of 360i. The New York-based ad agency (a branch of Dentsu Inc. based in Toyko) began running the city’s tourism advertising campaigns in 2012 with much fanfare and bead-throwing.

Its success and payoff after the jump…

(more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.