Tired of all the nasty anonymous attacks in the comments section of ad blogs? Mullen has a festive solution this holiday: the Hater Translator, a fancy Dr. Who-style machine that rewrites obnoxious comments as nice ones—and even turns the word "fuck" into real fudge!
Check out the video below for more, featuring some great cameos from a ton of agency people. Apparently the Hater Translator did some translating of comments on AgencySpy—until its commenting handle was blocked. If it's unwelcome over there, it can certainly take a stab at cleaning up some AdFreak stories.
Whether you think it's a long-awaited ad hybrid or just a high-cost gimmick, this upcoming interactive print ad for Motorola's Moto X is definitely pushing people's buttons.
Running in 150,000 New York and Chicago editions of January's Wired magazine, the ad lets readers change the color of the handset on display by tapping controls located at the bottom of the page.
The ad's functionality, achieved via wafer-thin LEDs and batteries and created by Digitas, mimics the more full-featured MotoMaker site that allows you to browse the device's customizable options. Bloggers and viewers of the preview video seem mixed on whether this is truly innovative or just a stunt that would be too expensive to be widely replicated in print. Others just seem happy they don't have to pull out their smartphones to play with the ad: "The future of print advertising?" one YouTube commenter jokingly asked. "Can't be—there's not a freakin' #QRcode in sight.?"
The world-traveling Molson Beer Fridge became famous for being exclusive—when it visited European cities earlier this year, only people with a Canadian passport could open it. Now, the fridge is back, and being even nicer to one Canadian guy, with help from his friends.
This new spot, from agency Rethink, tells the tale of two friends who surprise a third friend—a rabid hockey fan who for some reason has fled Canada for the remote Gili Islands in Indonesia—by bringing him a red fridge of his own to keep in his little hut, which may or may not have the electricity to run it. The friends also bring a satellite system so the other guy catch the Olympic Games this winter.
It's a fine stunt, as far as it goes, though the surprise isn't quite as delightful as the premise of the earlier video (which was apparently the second most viewed commercial online in Canada this year). Plus, the emotion remains mostly bottled up. Unlike some other heartwarming ads, where people weep only, the fridge recipient here claims he's actually "sweating" and not in fact getting weepy over his buddies' thoughtful gesture.
A 30-second version of the ad will begin airing in Canada on Dec. 26.
CREDITS Client: Molson Canadian Title: "The Beer Fridge: Project Indonesia"
Agency: Rethink Creative Directors: Aaron Starkman, Chris Staples, Dré Labre, Ian Grais Art Directors: Aaron Starkman Joel Holtby, Vince Tassone, Christian Buer Writers: Aaron Starkman, Mike Dubrick, Account Director: Ashley Eaton Broadcast Producer: Dave Medlock
Production Company: Untitled Films Director: Tyler Williams Executive Producer: Lexy Kavluk Line Producer: Tom Evelyn Director of Photography: John Houtman
Postproduction: Rooster Post Executive Producer: Melissa Kahn Editor: Marc Langley Assistant Editor: Nick Greaves
Postproduction: Fort York VFX Music, Sound Design: RMW Music
How do you one-up Jean-Claude Van Damme doing splits atop two Volvo trucks? With Chuck Norris doing splits on two airplane wings, of course.
Hungarian production house Delov Digital created the insane parody clip below to mark the holidays, with Norris and a crew of tactical airborne comrades creating a festive formation in the skies.
While it might lack the subtlety of our other favorite "Epic Split" parody, the clip definitely gets points for both its star power and its over-the-top embrace of CGI shenanigans. Via Mashable.
If you had a modest budget of $25,000 to create a promotional clip for a feature film, how would you spend it? Unless you're viral video director Casey Neistat, it probably wouldn't occur to you to donate it all to the Philippines.
20th Century Fox contacted Neistat to ask him to make a video promoting The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Neistat proposed that the studio instead let him use the budget to help recent victims of the typhoon in the Philippines, and somewhat surprisingly, Fox agreed.
Exactly as promised, Neistat flies to the Philippines, buys two buses full of supplies and hands out more than 10,000 meals, a bunch of tools and some medicine to 35 villages. What's amazing is that while relief organizations have said they're having trouble mobilizing, finding transport and getting supplies to those who need them in the Philippines, Neistat just waltzes in and, with one tweet, gets the connection he needs to deliver food to those in need. The longish film has over 600,000 views in just a few days. So, unlike Walter Mitty, how would you live your dreams?
The original Yule Log television broadcast dates back to 1966, when WPIX-TV aired footage of a cozy fireplace to cheer up New Yorkers who lived in apartments without one. But Netflix really gives it a modern spin this year, humorously advertising its streaming Yule Log channel with a faux-epic trailer and two-minute behind-the-scenes director's commentary video. It's all perfectly stupid and hilarious, particularly the longer video, in which the auteur picks out the right logs on a farm and marvels at particularly serendipitous "ashing" in footage of the burning wood. Great holiday cheer by ad agency Muh-Tay-Zik | Hof-fer.
CREDITS Client: Netflix
Agency: Muh-Tay-Zik | Hof-fer Director, Executive Creative Director: John Matejczyk Head of Production: Michelle Spear Associate Creative Directors: Josh Bogdan, Tony Zimney Copywriter: Jonathan Hirsch Account Supervisor: Carolina Cruz-Letelier Assistant Account Manager: Emily Mee
Production: Muh-Tay-Zik | Hof-fer Director of Photography: Chris Wilson Art Director: Jonathan Nicholson Producer: Alex Smith
Editing: Beast Editor: Matt O'Donnell Colorist: Eric Pascua Motion Graphics: Spencer Seibert Executive Producer: Jon Ettinger Senior Producer: Kristen Jenkins
Audio: One Union Senior Engineers: Andy Greenberg, Eben Carr
Sometimes, the combination of creative talent and too much free time can lead to some truly odd projects. Case in point: designer Phil Jones, who has been replacing realtor ads around town with his own meticulously reproduced photos.
Using wigs and wardrobe changes, Jones reenacted each realtor's pose as closely as he could, then pasted the results over the original images on benches around Minneapolis.
While it could (accurately) be described as vandalism, the project's rapid explosion in popularity since Jones posted it on Reddit is also helping to bring national attention to a few local real estate agents with modest ad budgets.
Yes, he's truly offering a service—helping to drive record traffic to their websites … their crappy,crappy,crappy websites.
It's easy to get swept up in the consumerism of the holiday season, and just as easy to get swept up in the crushing cynicism and contempt for people that passes for opposition to that consumerism. When either of those things occur, it's nice to be reminded that people are sometimes decent to one another during this time of year.
Retired Irish pensioner James Gray has spent the last 10 Christmases by himself, much like almost half a million seniors annually if British charity Age U.K. has its numbers right. Tired of the solitude, Gray, 85, decided to put out a personal ad of sorts, asking for someone to come and have Christmas lunch with him.
Responses were slow until the Irish Post ran a story on Gray, and now he's getting responses from all over Britain, and even some from America. "It is so touching to me, after all these years alone, to see this response from people," Gray tells the Post in a follow-up to the original story. "I should have done this years ago."
Speaking of Christmas miracles, The VIA Agency would like to make one of its own happen. The Portland, Maine, agency's house band recorded a six-track album of holiday music, and has launched a campaign to get David Bowie to cover one of the songs. Hey, it could happen.
The "Get It to Bowie" site is full of cheerful strategizing, including ways to tweet at Bowie's famous friends and get them to put the pressure on. There's also an amusing "Are you David Bowie? Click here" link, which populates a tweet field with the message, "@TheVIAAgency Yes! I'm in. #gotittobowie." (The project also has a charity element, as VIA is also asking for donations to support Maine veterans living with PTSD—and one of the songs is about a homeless veteran at Christmastime.) You can also, of course, listen to the songs, which are solid—a good mix of funny and heartfelt.
For now, the hashtag is the present-tense #getittobowie. It's a long shot, no doubt, especially now that Bowie is on the comeback trail with his well-received 2013 album, which got him three Grammy nominations. But who knows. Throw in an Angela Adams sea bag—actually, make that Louis Vuitton—and he might just go for it.
Looking for a good way to spend the next few minutes? May I recommend … (looks at camera and grins cultishly) … this amazing recruitment video for Monash College?
In a coup of ironic low-budget filmmaking, a group of students, faculty and alumni from the Melbourne, Australia, university have created "A Dave in the Life of Monash," possibly the most oddly endearing recruitment video since their fellow countrymen at Central Institute of Technology attracted students with gruesome teleportation deaths.
In the Monash video, a student named Sam wanders across campus, searching for his friend Dave. Each student he meets is glowing with over-the-top praise for the school's amenities. "He could be at one of our … (looks at camera) … many social sport competitions!" "He was heading off campus to give back to the community and get invaluable life experience in one of our … (looks at camera) … many volunteering opportunities!"
I was sold a minute in, when the student manning the cookout grill says, "I hope you like your sausages delicious and your peer groups supportive!" (One current student has taken issue with some of the claims, noting that opportunities for volunteering and joining student groups can be more limited than the school lets on. But I suppose such criticisms are the price you pay when you go so cheekily hyperbolic in your sales pitch.)
Somehow balancing superlative sarcasm with actual campus pride, the video goes to show that colleges don't have to take themselves too seriously to earn serious consideration from potential students.
Nelson Mandela was Google's No. 1 global search in 2013, followed by the late film actor Paul Walker, Apple's iPhone 5S (suck it, Samsung, how does it feel to be No. 8?), the late TV actor Cory Monteith and the Harlem Shake.
Google's latest effort to chart, catalog and curate our collective zeitgeist is impressively immersive, to say the least. There's a video collage that lets you explore the top 100 searches in no particular order; a global 3-D map of top trends in cities around the world; and the 90-second video below, done in the familiar G-style with soothing white space, clack-clack typing in search boxes and image/music edits designed for maximum emotional impact. Batkid gets the final frame.
I clicked 10 collage images at random, just zipping around with the cursor and not looking at the pictures, and came up with an intriguing mix: Jodi Arias No. 25 … Typhoon No. 14 … Oblivion No. 66 … Kim Kardashian baby No. 44 … Cube World No. 53 … Pacific Rim No. 27 … Jennifer Lawrence No. 23 … Gareth Bale No. 62 … Man of Steel No. 15 … North Korea No. 10. I like how people, places, things and events are weighted on a single scale, mirroring the marvelously creative, chaotic way we tend to index data in our brains.
Earlier this month, Yahoo said Miley Cyrus led its searches for 2013, while Beyoncé topped Bing's ranking of the year's most-searched celebrities—with the British royal birth leading its list of most-searched news stories.
Some commentators try to find deeper meaning, make connections and draw philosophical conclusions about society from such findings. I think it's pretty simple. We're always searching, in every sense of the word. Searching for something, nothing, anything, everything. For information, distraction, inspiration, novelty, friends, family, facts, figures, kicks, titillation. Searching for something more. Something new. Something to add meaning, if only for a few seconds, to the sum total of who and what we are.
Even when we don't type in our own names, we're still basically searching for ourselves. That or the Harlem Shake.
You may not have known that shipping containers can dance.
To promote GE Transportation, agency The Barbarian Group teamed up with Reuben Wu of British electronic band Ladytron to create a song and video featuring the company's intermodal products—which help choreograph millions of containers of freight being carried by railroads, trucks and boats—at work at the CSX Intermodal Terminal in North Baltimore, Ohio. Wu recorded some of the sounds in the song at the terminal itself, a trick we've already seen applied to athletes by brands like Gillette and Coca-Cola. The GE video, part of its "Brilliant Machines" campaign, though, is basically industrial-grade technophilia, struggling to make freight logistics anything but incredibly boring. At its heart, the idea is a little silly, but the result itself actually ends up being pretty hypnotizing.
It's especially nice given the subject matter. Creating any kind of emotional connection to complex, dull-at-first-blush technology is a perennial problem for GE. This, at least, creates some interest. But its got some pretty stiff competition in machines you didn't know were powered by GE—especially Marty McFly's DeLorean.
Process this: The "Intel Inside" logo has made its way inside the jerseys of Spanish soccer team FC Barcelona in a reported five-year, $25 million deal.
The emblem is visible only when players pull their shirts up over their heads, which they've been known to do when celebrating a goooaaal! Intel vp of sponsorship David Haroldsen says the placement "authentically tells the story of who we are rather than just being another brand that is visible with all the other logos that exist. We believed we would have more value with the symbolic placement with occasional pop-up moments within the game."
Fair enough. Cool concept. Still, I wonder … doesn't this send a tacit message that big corporate bucks are all that's "inside" these players, driving them like robots of commerce? Aren't champions supposed to be motivated by something more, like their fierce love of the game and burning desire to win? Doesn't that competitive heart, beating deep inside, truly make a great team tick?
And when Santa Claus comes to my house next week, will he bring the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy along for the ride?
Jerry Seinfeld has written eight new Acura commercials in collaboration with Boston ad agency Mullen as part of the brand's title sponsorship of his Web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. The faux-vintage spots—all eight are posted below—will bookend new episodes of the show, coming Jan. 2. They were directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and inspired by actual old car commercials from the '60s.
But while those old spots sound a bit ridiculous these days (Seinfeld ran actual vintage Acura ads as pre-roll on Comedians in Cars last season), these new ads are intentionally silly—playing off the old style but taking it in absurd directions.
Seinfeld spoke with AdFreak on Tuesday about the creative process behind the ads, his experience with Super Bowl spots and what he thought of Will Ferrell's Dodge work.
So, these are fun spots. This must have been an exciting project for you. You know, I have done a bit of advertising over the years. But I have never been given the creative freedom that I was given on these by Acura. They're gutsier than any other company I've ever worked with. Not that I've worked with that many, but I've worked with a few. Because this work, as you can see, is not like any other work that they've done. And usually—as you well know, being in the ad game—the clients tend to get nervous, especially when they're spending a lot of money. But [Acura marketing chief] Mike Accavitti, I've never seen a guy like this guy. Nerves of steel. It's pretty rare. But I think that's why they came out so good. I would give him all the credit.
Tell me about the creative process—how you worked with Mullen on these. Mullen and I sat in a room together. Now, we ran vintage Honda and Acura stuff from the '60s and '70s last season on Comedians in Cars. And everybody kind of enjoyed that. And I said, Yeah, I've looked at everything that exists of the old advertising, and I picked out all the good ones. And I don't have any more. And I thought, Why don't we make new old advertising … that's bad. Because that's what's fun. A lot of the lines are stuff we actually found. We would put our little spin on it.
A lot of the advertising in the old days focused on the size of the car. People felt that you were really getting your money's worth if the car had a big trunk. Which of course is something that no one cares about now. No one buys an SUV and goes, "Well, how big is the trunk?" Because they're all big.
So, it's about taking the old tropes and pushing them a little bit. Yes. And you know, to me, a lot of things have gotten worse that you could point to in our culture. A lot of advertising has gotten worse. I think it's kind of lost its nerve, to be honest with you. I feel like the advertising of the '60s, they were nervier. You know why? Because there was less at stake. It always worked. There were three networks. Everyone's going to see this. They're going to buy the car. And now, everyone's more nervous. Eyeballs are harder to get. And everyone's less inclined to take a risk.
You've seen those high stakes firsthand, having done Super Bowl ads for American Express and, of course, Acura. Yeah. I've done a number of Super Bowl ads. And that is the best advertising of the year. That is when people realize they're going to be compared directly against other ads.
What did you think of Will Ferrell's ads for Dodge? I like anything Will Ferrell does, so I was a fan of those. But it didn't seem to be a different type of car advertising. It seemed to be a different type of movie advertising. But different is always good.
So, you wrote a lot of the jokes for these Acura ads? I did. We just wanted to get that feeling of "Hot, handsome and a honey to handle." Nobody says things like that anymore. Or "The perfect car for the big-car man." And the "Yesterday, today and tomorrow" thing. I like the little tension between the spokesman and the spokeswoman, that we can see that they aren't quite getting along.
My favorite thing is: "MDX. Three letters that stand for 'Earth, style and you.' " That's just like, nobody read that over and went, "What do you mean? Why does it stand for that? The letters don't even match up to that. Why are we saying that?" So, it's also part of the drunken, lazy ad culture of the '60s.
What better way to cap off the year in which agencies were obsessed with prankvertising than with an agency pranking its own staff?
Baltimore shop Planit created the amusing video below after luring unsuspecting employees to sing holiday songs on camera. When a Leatherface-masked elf jumps out of the large present next to them, their reactions range from sprinting panic to cool-headed indifference.
There's not much more to it than that, but the wide array of staff responses make it worth a watch. Planit also deserves points for giving the clip a strategic message, ending with the kicker, "We believe the best ideas should scare you."
Anyone who has lived next door to a motorcycle owner knows that "Harley-Davidson" and "sleep in heavenly peace" rarely go together. But this special holiday video for the brand creates a clever exception.
In a clip called "The Sound of the Festive Season," U.K. agency Big Communications uses a Harley to play the notes of "Silent Night." The agency tells AdFreak that the entire idea was created, sold and executed in just 72 hours.
CREDITS Agency: Big Communications, London Creative Team: Katie Bradshaw, Ryan Griffiths, Stuart Perry Director: Paul Griffin Producer: Blue Gecko Studios
In a lot of ways, 2013 was an amazing year for the portrayal of women in advertising. Ogilvy's "Real Beauty Sketches" for Dove sparked a massive discussion of self-image and the definition of beauty. UN Women's "Autocomplete Truth" campaign brilliantly highlighted inequality worldwide. GoldieBlox created a viral anthem for girl empowerment (while admittedly fostering some avoidable ill will along the way). And a Pantene ad from the Philippines took issue with gender hypocrisy in the workplace.
But not every ad in 2013 was a coup for feminism. Today, we look back at some of the more egregious examples of negative stereotypes about women from ads around the world this year. Some might bother you more than others, but either way, it's a debate worth having.
Forget about those famous Internet felines in Friskies' Christmas spot. The real holiday supergroup is in this campaign from Forsman & Bodenfors for Unicef Sweden.
I'm talking about Jesus, Gandhi and Mother Teresa—dubbed "The Good Guys"—who get together to discuss the sacrifices they made to benefit humanity. They're joined by a typical party dude, who gets to hang with the hallowed do-gooders simply because he clicked on a Unicef banner to help save kids' lives.
The three spots in the series strike just the right tone. They're mildly irreverent and amusingly low-key, with lots of cute exchanges and details. You've gotta love Gandhi's mod yoga mat; the slacker complaining that Jesus's story, while possibly the greatest ever told, drags on a bit; and Christ accidentally clicking through to an ab-blasting offer when He initially tries the Internet.
It's a good thing Jesus is on board, since it usually takes a miracle to get folks to click on banner ads, even for a good cause.
CREDITS Client: Unicef Director of Communication: Petra Hallebrant Senior Marketing Officer: Jim Carlberg Marketing Officer: Åsa Lee
Agency: Forsman & Bodenfors Art Directors: Johanna Hofman-Bang, Agnes Stenberg-Schentz Copywriter: Marcus Hägglöf Account Supervisor: Jacob Nelson Account Manager: Lena Birnik Agency Producers: Magnus Kennhed, Helena Wård Public Relations: Desirée Maurd Designer: Nina Andersson Original: F&B Factory
ACNE Production Directors: Torbjörn Martin, Tomas Skoging Executive Producer: Petur Mogensen Producer: Fredrik Skoglund Account Manager: Jacob Englund Director of Photography: Christian Haag Costume: Patrik Hedin Makeup: Sanna Riley Set Designer: Cian Bournebusch
Special Thanks during the film production Postproduction: Chimney Pot Camera and Lights: Ljud & Bildmedia Casting, London: Aston Hinkingson Casting, Los Angeles: Stone Casting and Location, Sweden: Röster (voices, places, faces)
Stills Photographer: Pelle Bergström, Skarp Agent Stylist: Lotta Agaton, Link Deco Retouch: Bildinstitutet
Radio Production Company and Casting: Flickorna Larsson
It's agency holiday-card season, and we're going to start posting some of the more interesting and amusing examples—beginning with this one from Victors & Spoils. It's a parody of Tim Piper's "Body Evolution" video showing a model being airbrushed within an inch of her life. (Piper also did Dove's earlier "Evolution" video.) The results of the parody are not as attractive—but are undeniably more festive. Via The Denver Egotist.
Visual effects studio Cinesite produced this crazy-good mock commercial as a way to show off its creature animation skills. And one hell of a creature it is—a marauding beast who takes umbrage at being awoken from its cave by some astronauts, who take a serious beating for their transgressions. Except one guy gets away … or does he?
CREDITS Client: Cinesite Written and Directed: Alvise Avati Producer: Eamonn Butler VFX Supervisor: Richard Clarke Art Direction: Jean-David Solon Concept Art: Andrea de Martis Modelling and Rigging: Grahame Curtis, Royston Willcocks, Richard Boyle Animation: Alvise Avati, Eamonn Butler, Peter Clayton, Tom O'Flaherty, Adam Bailey Texture Artists: Nicolette Newman, Gary Newman FX Animation: Andreas Vrhovsek, Luke Wilde Lighting and Compositing: Zave Jackson, Nikos Gatos, Jonathan Vuillemin, Dan Harrod, Joel Bodin Editorial: William Marshall-Wilkinson Christopher Learmonth
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
