Hasta La Creative!

"Maddie," a minute-long commercial by young Canadian director Lloyd Lee Choi, didn't win Chevrolet and Mofilm's Oscars competition. That honor went to a whimsical exploration of creativity by Jude Chun, whose ads about kids making a movie with a 2014 Chevy Cruze aired during the Academy Awards on ABC.

Choi's entry, however, clearly has legs—four of them, to be precise, belonging to the ad's titular Golden Retriever, whose heartrending story unfolds in reverse chronological order. (Three dogs were actually used to portray the pooch.) "Maddie" opens at the end of the dog's life, closes in puppyhood, and makes the point that your Chevy—seen throughout—can also be "A best friend for life's journey."

Shot for $7,000 in less than three days, it's an emotional tail-chaser that's proven to be popular yet polarizing. Some commenters seem to both love and hate various aspects of the film. (AdFreak's Gabriel Beltrone called it "beautifully written and produced," then smacked Choi with a rolled-up newspaper for making folks angry "when you realize Chevy is a dick who has shamelessly manipulated love for a dying dog to get you to buy a car.")

The ad has fetched more than 1.4 million views on YouTube, compared to 33,000 for Chun's winning entry. It's the best of both worlds for Chevy, which reaps publicity from both spots but still maintains some distance from the mildly controversial "Maddie" ad.

Of course, it's up to each viewer to decide whether any commercial is best in breed … or just a dog. To gain some insight, AdFreak chatted with Choi about "Maddie."

Where did you get the "Maddie" idea? Is it based on something from your own life or the experience of someone you know?
Chevy is a very family-oriented brand, so we came up with an idea that followed a girl and her family—their life together told in reverse. But I felt it was missing an emotional thread, and I thought back to my childhood growing up with pets and how they provide us with unconditional love and affection that is so unwavering … and that's a beautiful thing. I wanted to capture that truthfully, which is why we showed a multitude of moments, big and small.

What was the major theme or message you were trying to get across for the Chevy brand?
I think viewers nowadays prefer subtlety versus messaging that's in your face. Our generation tends to skip commercials that blatantly advertise something, and we are quick to forget about it and move on to the next thing. Chevy wanted young filmmakers to create content that focused on authenticity and narrative that evoked an emotion. In the end, our main goal was to create a narrative that told a compelling story in one minute.

Why shift into "reverse"? Did using reverse chronology present any problems?
A reveal is more exciting!

The spot took me a couple weeks to edit, trying to find a flow that worked. Always a bit more challenging when you have to film and edit against your natural inclination of moving forward in time.

Where did you get the dogs, and how many did you use? Did they cause any problems during filming?
We used three dogs and a litter of puppies, all found through friends. Stanley (young pup), Maddie (main dog) and Lily (old dog) were the stars. They had their moody moments, but we all do in our different ways. Filming a couple times before with animals, I've come to realize you just have to let them be and sometimes film around them. And to be patient. Oh, and they dictate the washroom breaks.

What was the toughest or most surprising thing about the production?
On our search for our main dog—and type of dog—I was in a coffee shop waiting in line. I looked across the street and I saw a beautiful Golden Retriever sitting at the heels of its owner. In my memory, his fur was literally shimmering in the light. I pointed and said to my girlfriend, "That dog is perfect!" She laughed and told me that was her friend and her dog. We walked over and said hi and I was introduced to the Golden Retriever, whose name was Maddie, and that is the main dog you see in the spot.

[On the set] we made sure to set aside an hour in the production schedule to play with all the puppies.

I was operating the camera during the vet office scene, where in a few takes we all started to tear up. Parts of those takes were unusable due to camera-shake.

Were you surprised you didn't win the competition?
We weren't surprised we didn't win, and kind of knew going into the competition we wouldn't. We wanted to create a short film, and our tone was too bittersweet for commercial purposes. Chevy definitely chose the right spot. Jude's ad is incredible!

Are you surprised by the intense reaction, with "Maddie" going viral?
The reception of "Maddie" has been insane and amazing so far. The cut that we released was a director's cut that was mainly to showcase our work online for reel purposes, so we could get more work. We never expected more than a handful of industry people to watch it, but the spot grew online organically and just exploded.

I think people are gravitating toward it because they can relate so closely to the story. In the end, it's a story about the life we live with a friend who loves us unconditionally, really the only ones that surpass human judgment and emotion, and give us pure love. Many people have felt that, and can see themselves in that story. And I can see why others aren't so fond of the spot, either being reminded of something that they will have to face one day, or feeling as if they were cheated by a car commercial.

What's the big takeaway … the main lesson you've learned?
People really connect with content that hits a different chord than all the other content out there. So much is being created and shared daily, and what stands out is what is authentic and meaningful in that person's day, at that time in their lives.

I've received a few heartwarming emails from people on how the spot has really affected them on a deep level, not just making them emotional and shedding a tear, but reminding and inspiring them to appreciate and cherish their loved ones (animal and human) just a little more. Those emails meant the world to me.

The spot would never have worked using a cat. Because cats suck … right?
Ha! I do love cats and dogs equally. And maybe cats could've worked—it would just have a different tone, full of attitude and sass. Cats tend to be divas, harder to work with, and usually ask for too much.

Kobe Bryant doesn't just play pianos. He makes them.

Or so it would appear from the opening scenes of this new ad from Wieden + Kennedy pitching "The Kobe Piano," from which "every note [is] a comedy and tragedy that would make Shakespeare laugh and weep. It will turn piano boys into piano men. It will make Lionel Richie's tears cry tears."

Turns out it's an elaborate metaphor for a line of shoes designed by Bryant for Foot Locker and Nike. The collection, the ad informs us, is the "grandest grand collection of grand collections." And yes, Richie himself makes a cameo—adding to his own commercial lore in the process.

While the voiceover copy is a bit Old Spicey, the ad blends the winking melodrama of "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" with a healthy heaping of mock pretension, à la Bryan Cranston selling an iPad, and a dash of good old-fashioned Ron Swanson style woodworking.

It has the obligatory sports-stats reference. It's beautifully shot and well paced, and entertaining enough. It makes its point, however circuitously, that the product is like a finely crafted instrument.

A second spot, meanwhile, likens the collection to the invention of a better, stronger lightbulb—complete with a shattering sledgehammer and the ability to make even Judah Friedlander look dapper. Sorry, ladies. It's just another metaphor for sneakers.

Credits below.

CREDITS
Clients: Nike and Foot Locker
Campaign: "Made by Kobe"

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Creative Directors: Don Shelford, Rob Thompson
Copywriter: Adam Noel
Art Director: Jon Kubik
Producer: Shannon Worley
Executive Agency Producer: Matt Hunnicutt
Account Team: Jordan Muse, Heather Morba
Executive Creative Directors: Mark Fitzloff, Susan Hoffman, Joe Staples

Production Company: Traktor Towers
Director: Traktor
Executive Producer: Rani Melendez
Line Producer: Rani Melendez
Director of Photography: Bojan Bozelli

Editing Company: Stitch Editorial
Editor: Andy McGraw
Assistant Editor: Alex Tedesco
Post Producer: Chris Girard
Post Executive Producer: Juliet Batter

Visual Effects Company: The Mill
Visual Effects Executive Producer: LaRue Anderson
Flame Artists: James Allen, Glyn Tebbutt
Visual Effects Producers: Dan Roberts, Antonio Hardy
Titles, Graphics: Justin Morris

Music, Sound Company: Beacon Street Studios
Composers: John Nau, Andrew Feltenstein
Sound Designer: Mike Franklin
Songs: "Out of the Woods" ("Piano"), "The Wunder r3" ("Lightbulb")
Executive Producer: Leslie Dillullo

Mix Company: Beacon Street Studios
Mixer: Mike Franklin
Assistant Engineer: Dewey Thomas
Producer: Caitlin Rocklin

The surest sign that you've created a viral juggernaut is that the parodies quickly come flowing in. This will be especially true of Wren's "First Kiss" ad, which is so stripped down visually that it will be easy to spoof. First out of the gate is a British brand with a reason to jump all over this—Snog frozen yogurt. (A "snog," of course, is British slang for a makeout session.) Check out the parody below, and wait for the onslaught of about 5,000 more by tomorrow. Agency: Krowd.

Betabrand, an online retailer of crowdsourced clothing, just launched its spring line, and the company decided to take a different approach to marketing the new looks: Each of the models would have a Ph.D.

"When you look beyond the ranks of the professionally beautiful, photography becomes a lot more fun," Betabrand founder Chris Lindland said in a statement. "Our designers cooked up a collection of smart fashions for spring, so why not display them on the bodies of women with really big brains?" 

So they did just that. The new collection features women (yes, thin and attractive women, which some critics are sure to point out) with a Ph.D. or who are working toward a Ph.D. The retailer's spring gallery refers to them as "our ravishing roster of Ph.Ds and doctoral candidates." You can check out the full gallery here.

Lindland tells AdFreak that the brand's models are almost always his team's friends, relatives and colleagues. This year, he asked a Stanford neuropsychology graduate student if any of her friends would be interested in modeling. 

"The next thought, naturally, was to have only Ph.Ds and doctoral candidates model our spring collection," he says. "So we wrote our customers and Facebook followers, searching for Ph.Ds. Sixty women from around the world applied."

Some of the photos were shot at Betabrand's headquarters, while some models were shipped prototypes to wear in photos shot at their location.  

I asked Lindland what the response on social media has been from Betabrand's followers and customers. "Great so far. Plenty of tweets. Plenty of sales. Doctors, lawyers and MBAs have written in demanding a fashion focus of their own," Lindland said.

UPDATE: Some commenters have complained the campaign only features white models. While we can't vouch for the ethnicity of all the women involved, we've added a photo of the campaign's one African-American model, Asha, to the examples below.

The Italian government is taking aim at Illinois gun manufacturer ArmaLite, which offended Italy's entire cultural ministry by using Michelangelo's David in an ad for the AR-50A1 rifle.

Italy's culture minister, the Historical Heritage and Fine Arts Board curator, and the director of Florence’s Accademia Gallery (where David is currently on display) have all denounced the ad, and ArmaLite has been issued a legal notice to retract the image because the statue is considered government property and can't be used commercially without the proper rights and fees.

Part of me wonders if the offended party might have let this go if the ad hadn't been for an American gun manufacturer. Or if the gun in question were a bit less over-the-top. I grew up with GI Joes and even I think that thing is overdesigned.

Considering that Dos Equis' "Most Interesting Man in the World" has become a meme with thousands of crowdsourced iterations, the bar is set pretty high for new official ads in the series. But this one seems up to the task.

In "Dogsled" from agency Havas Worldwide, His Interestingness valet parks a team of huskies, rescues man and fish alike from a blaze, second-guesses a surgeon and, uh, gives a young lady a pearl necklace.

It's probably one of the campaign's better spots in recent memory. And speaking of memory, there's another brief new ad after the jump about the Most Interesting Man's take on (of all things) memory foam mattresses.

CREDITS

DOGSLED :30
MEMORY FOAM MATTRESSES :15

Advertising Agency: HAVAS Worldwide NY
Chief Creative Officer: Jason Peterson
Chief Creative Officer:  Darren Moran
Executive Creative Director:  Jim Hord
Creative Directors: Paul Fix, Jamie Overkamp
Associate Creative Director:  Matthew Hock, David Fredette
Writer: Marty Bonacorso
Art Director: Rick Cohen
Writer: Christian Beckett
Art Director: Jon Vall
Global Chief Content Officer:  Vin Farrell
Co-Head of Production:  Dave Evans
Co-Head of Production:  Sylvain Tron
Executive Producer: Jill Meschino
Director of Broadcast Business Affairs: Cathy Pitegoff
Senior Broadcast Business Manager: Susan Schaefer
Talent Affairs Manager: Dawn Kerr
Talent Manager: Hilary Olesen
Managing Director: Kersten Mitton Rivas
Group Account Director:  Chris Budden
Account Director: Jamie Sundheim
Account Supervisor:  Sara Heller
Account Executive: Katie Moore

Production Company: @radical.media
Director: Steve Miller
Director of Photography: Eric Schmidt
Executive Producer: Gregg Carlesimo
Producer: Barbara Benson

Editorial Company: Arcade Edit
Editor: Jeff Ferruzzo
Assistant Editor:  Dave Madden
Audio Engineer: Eric Thompson
Music Composer: Brett Fuchs
Executive Producer: Sila Soyer

Postproduction:  Studio 6
Visual Effects Supervisor / Flame Artist: Johnny Starace
EP:  Tricia Higgins / Rich Rama
Producer:  Anna De Castro

Colorist: Company 3
Colorist: Tom Poole

If you ever need to outrun an elaborately exploding array of wooden tongue depressors, a remote-controlled Subaru might just be the vehicle for you.

The brand's two-minute spot, "WRX STI vs. StickBomb" is packed with dramatic visuals of the miniature car drifting around curves and jumping over ramps while the wooden sticks fly into the air all around. It's like Fast and Furious for kids—a playful idea that seems to let the brand hint at the car's street racing abilities without showing off a bunch of dangerous driving scenarios that could land the automaker in court.

It also took an absurd amount of work to pull off, if the making of video below is any indication. For starters, there's the time required to assemble the "stick bomb," a tension-based stick pattern that comes apart in dramatic fashion when a single stick is removed.

Overall the concept is a cool gimmick, though there's not quite enough excitement to drive the casual viewer through two minutes. Even the uptempo music can't always maintain the illusion that something is actually happening.

In the end, it's a pretty compelling ad for an RC Subaru, but I've got bad news: The car was a one-of-a-kind created via 3-D printer just for the ad. So here's hoping all the effort was worth it and moves some of the $35,000 full-size models.

Here's a clever ad that starts off as a preview for a horror movie called Schizo and ends with Glenn Close talking about BringChange2Mind, the organization she founded.

Watch the video for more. Since horror movies often use mental illness as an easy diagnosis for their villains, not to mention the number of fictional serial killers who wear plaid shirts, the juxtaposition here is rather astute.

Via Laughing Squid.

Google Glass videos are notable for their seamless first-person perspective, which puts you not only in someone else's shoes but in their eyes. You see what they see. No wonder, then, that the empathy-rich form is being hijacked by a PSA effort—to show you something you wouldn't want to see in the first place.

A group of London creatives put together the unbranded video below for International Women's Day on Saturday, according to Osocio. Google was not involved.

The video has been polarizing on YouTube so far. As awareness messages go, it is blunt and unpleasant—which is the point of all shock videos, although the trend lately, of course, is toward more uplifting and empowering work.

As a distressing reminder of an intractable problem, it works well enough—though it will have its critics who see it as gimmicky and gratuitous. It would help if they spelled the #womensday hashtag correctly at the end.

Warning: Video contains violence and may be upsetting.

Sadly, these Diet Coke ads from Animal New York aren't the real thing, but they are pretty amusing spoofs of Droga5's new campaign, which is being interpreted by some as one big cocaine reference. 

Created to mimic the look and feel of current posters with the new tagline "You're On," these parodies mock the campaign's brief aspirational vignettes, which include lines like: "You moved to New York with the clothes on your back, the cash in your pocket and your eyes on the prize. You're On. (Diet Coke)"

In Animal New York's version, we get coked-out internal monologues, like: "You haven't been able to sleep, eat or orgasm in three days, but good luck on that client meeting." You can check out the rest of the parody ads below. 

With so many snorting at the soda's new campaign, I wonder how much longer the brand will decide to ride this long strange trip before it fizzles out.