Hasta La Creative!

Envy makes advertising go round—when creatives aren't busying copying ideas, they're coveting them. D&AD celebrates that dynamic with a series of new spots, created by Wieden + Kennedy in London, to promote the awards show's 2014 call for submissions.

In the videos, industry heavyweights including Dan Wieden share their picks for work from the past year that they "wish they'd done." In Wieden's case, it's an ad by Barton F. Graf 9000 that proposes changing the titles of devastating hurricanes from apparently random names like Katrina and Sandy to names like Marco Rubio and Michele Bachmann, in an attempt to lay blame for the natural disasters on politicians who deny climate change. It's sort of like an "Oh, diss, gotcha dummy" on the dilapidated playground of American politics—but done in a way Wieden hopes will actually have some positive effect.

The other spots focus on media beyond straight advertising. For the digital category, W+K alum Iain Tait, now at Google Creative Lab, praises Philips's Internet-connected, color-changing lightbulbs. For the design category, Jessica Walsh of Sagmeister & Walsh spotlights the new "W" logo for the Whitney Museum, in what may be, perhaps unsurprisingly, the most opaque explanation to the uninitiated—because design work that looks good doesn't always translate to the most down-to-earth or persuasive argument.

The parts of the promos most worth envying may be the opening zoetrope animations that Nexus's Productions Factory Fifteen developed. The spinning toys pack in quick references to past standout work—the advertising bit, for example, includes the Guardian's "Three Little Pigs" opus (BBH), Honda's flying motors (W+K) and Cadbury's famous Phil Collins gorilla (Fallon). For insiders, the presence of such greats should amp the challenge to submit—or maybe just render it moot. Nobody is ever going to make anything half as good as a big-feeling simian beating the crap out of a drum kit.

Since late last week, when we pointed out the not-so-positive reaction many people had to Target's homepage redesign, we've been trying to answer two seemingly simple questions: Who did the redesign, and why?

Now, Target has finally responded to our inquiries, and while the retailer defends the redesign as a way to highlight a larger number of holiday deals, it has declined to reveal whether it was an in-house project or assigned to a digital agency.

"Over the last two weeks we have unveiled several new home pages on Target.com to support the increased number of deals on our site this holiday season," a Target spokesman wrote in an email to AdFreak. "User testing prior to launch, and actual site traffic and sales performance since, have been very positive. We plan additional changes to our design and features, and will track guest response and make adjustments along the way."

Asked specifically whether the redesign was managed internally or by an agency, the rep replied, "Nothing further to share."

AdFreak reached out to four of the largest digital agencies that have high-profile relationships with Target—Olson, SapientNitro, Huge and Razorfish—and each denied any involvement in the redesign. Several said they believed the work was all managed in-house by Target.

Meanwhile, though the initial surge of criticism seems to be fading, most of the feedback to the site redesign remains pretty negative.

"With all the boxes outlining deals and specials," writes Jezebel, "it's like some unholy cross between Pinterest and a supermarket circular."

What do you get for the designer who has everything? How about nothing?

Helvetica The Perfume is literally just water, or "modernism distilled." Created as a gag gift by creative collective Guts and Glory, each bottle costs $62 plus shipping. If you're interested, you might want to hurry, because all shipments go out by Dec. 5.

As you might expect, most of the copywriting around the pseudo-perfume is pretty entertaining, capturing the best of black-turtle-neck designer speak with an implied wink.

"This typeface was to have no intrinsic meaning, allowing the content to convey the message. … It is in this spirit that we have created the ultimate Modernist perfume–a scent distilled down to only the purest and most essential elements to allow you, the content, to convey your message with the utmost clarity."

The Twitter feed is pretty good, too. We've dropped in a few of our favorite posts below.

For those who dare to be the same. http://t.co/JCiY20ULCr— Helvetica Perfume (@HelveticaParfum) November 26, 2013

Even in the dark… you won’t know it’s there. http://t.co/JCiY20ULCr— Helvetica Perfume (@HelveticaParfum) November 25, 2013

The way f meets f and almost forms a ligature, but then doesn’t, much like lifetime partners in separate twin beds. http://t.co/k4gxRESldM— Helvetica Perfume (@HelveticaParfum) November 21, 2013

You have just been served a small cup of clear broth made from a trout and a carrot boiled together in glacial run-off.— Helvetica Perfume (@HelveticaParfum) November 21, 2013

What is the taste of light, the color of time, the tone of forever? What is the sound of the far reaches of space?— Helvetica Perfume (@HelveticaParfum) November 21, 2013

Sure, they're homicidal, but do zombies also make good petty criminals? Apparently they do, swarming the Los Angeles suburbs and snatching anything not nailed down from careless residents' vehicles.

That's according to this intentionally cheesy video from one of the Los Angeles Police Department's San Fernando Valley divisions. Cops, many of them doing double duty as makeup artists, directors, writers and actors, created the seven-minute PSA to tell people to lock their cars and hide their valuables. There are some 400 vehicle break-ins a week in the area, a number that usually jumps during the holidays. What better way to capture attention than using zombies to prove the point?

Capt. Jeffrey Bert described the video to the L.A. Times as an attempt to coattail The Walking Dead in a "G-rated comic style." The undead thieves, for instance, drink 40-ouncers out of brown paper bags and shed their limbs at crime scenes. Talk about being caught red handed. The good guys don't even have to drop their donuts or use their department-issued chain saws to solve these cases.

Gavin McInnes has come a long way since his days at Vice. He rebranded himself as an adman (creative director at Rooster), and now he's even comfortable rolling around with his baby for the cameras. But of course, he still has an edge—so it's not just rolling around with the baby, it's fighting the baby. And Gavin has good moves, too. Predictably, there's some griping in the YouTube comments about whether he could hurt the baby, though of course Gavin is the one bandaged up at the end.

A year ago, State Farm released a wonderful commercial from agency Translation suggesting NBA star Chris Paul had a twin brother, Cliff, who happened to be a State Farm agent—because he was "born to assist." In April, agency and client released an amusing follow-up spot. And now, they're cleverly extending the campaign all the way into product design through a deal with Nike's Jordan Brand.

Yes, the Los Angeles Clippers star's Jordan CP3.VII sneaker is now available in an argyle design—inspired by Cliff, who is always seen in an argyle sweater in the State Farm spots. (The CP3.VII sneaker is also the first Jordan brand shoe with iD customization on the Nike website.) A new State Farm spot, posted below, shows Chris and Cliff brainstorming ideas to bring their fans together—and landing on the custom shoe idea. Paul, as always, is doubly great in the new ad playing both himself and his nerdy alter ego, even if the plot line of the new :30 isn't as magical as the two previous :60s.

"I am always amazed at how people have connected to Chris and Cliff," Paul said in a statement to AdFreak. "I enter an arena and people call out 'Where's your brother?' Working with State Farm and Jordan on the argyle customization of my new shoe adds another level of creativity to marketing both the shoe and State Farm."

State Farm marketing chief Tim Van Hoof said the argyle iD customizations are "an exciting and cool way to connect with NBA fans and increase our relevance within the NBA culture." And Translation creative director Emily Sander said the agency wanted to "dig deeper and give fans a culturally relevant way to own a piece of the story. … We found the perfect way to organically continue infusing State Farm into sports culture, while adding more dimension to the character and his story."

See the previous spots below:

Here's an inspired (if morbid) bit of viral movie marketing: Marvel has created a site called TheBentBullet.com that chronicles supervillain Magneto's role in assassinating President John F. Kennedy.

Flipping the "magic bullet" conspiracy theory on its head, the site reflects an alternative history in which mutant mastermind Erik Lehnsherr used his powers over metal to shift the bullets fired by Lee Harvey Oswald on Nov. 22, 1963, ensuring they hit their target. "According to the Warren Commission," a fictional article on the site recounts, "there was no second gunman on the grassy knoll that day, as some conspiracy theorists believe. There was only Lehnsherr, trying to bend the bullet."

The article obviously sets up the backstory for the events of the upcoming film, X-Men: Days of Future Past. And the site is certainly not comical fare; both the trailer below and the article treat the story line with a level of gravity that's compelling but also occasionally unsettling. When Jackie Kennedy screamed, "They've killed my husband! I have his brains in my hands!" I doubt she could have anticipated that her heartbroken panic would be quoted to sell a blockbuster action movie.

Via Reddit.

Behold this strange ad-like object, which is half internal joke and half attempt to prove baseball is still down with the hip kids.

It's a fictional ad for a fictional law firm created by Michael Shur, the head writer on Parks and Recreation. Shur used to write a lot about baseball, and made fun of one player in particular—David Eckstein, who got a lot of praise for being scrappy but whose stats were mediocre. Shur named the fake Parks and Rec firm after three sabermetric instruments used to analyze baseball performance: BABIP, PECOTA, VORP and combined them with Eckstein to create the law firm of Babip, Pecota, Vorp & Eckstein.

Recognizing the inside joke when it aired on Parks and Rec in October, MLB.com had Eckstein film a fake commercial for the fake law firm. In it, Eckstein talks about his "scrapitude" and tells those obsessed with statistics, "I have a number for you: four. It's the number of chambers in the best law book money can buy: my heart."

So, if you like baseball, or inside jokes, or fake ads about baseball's inside jokes, I'm pitching this one right down the pike.

Century 21 and its agency, Mullen, have been doing some offbeat stuff together lately—pretending to sell Walter White's house on Craigslist; urging Twitter's mascot to upgrade to a bigger birdhouse after the company's IPO. But this new video is truly out there—a Thanksgiving ode to the soporific effects of turkey meat called "Tryptophan Slow Jam." It's available on iTunes, and Century 21 will donate all proceeds from the sales to its philanthropic partner, Easter Seals. It doesn't seem to have much to do with real estate—nor does the #Tryptophan hashtag, which Century 21 is also pushing this week. But hey, amusing content doesn't always have to double as a sales pitch. (Right?)

It wouldn't be the holidays if some cheeky company didn't release a men's personal-care product that smells like meat. In the grand tradition of Burger King's Flame fragrance (with "a hint of meat"), J&D's Foods—makers of bacon everything—has announced a new bacon-scented deodorant. Such a thing probably exists already (I mean, it has to), but Power Bacon's marketing angle of targeting people who sweat like pigs is clever, especially by the standards of bacon humor.

"Using Power Bacon will probably make everyone drawn to you like you were the most powerful magnet on Earth," says the website copy. "And by everyone, we mean friends, acquaintances, beautiful strangers, dogs, bears, swamp alligators, lions and even pigs. It’s like an aphrodisiac for your armpits. But use your new power wisely, because with great bacon power comes great baconsibility."

Of course, anyone who smells like cooked meat after a workout is probably having some kind of medical emergency, so expect some concerned stares if you try this stuff. Likewise J&D's other holiday gag gift—Sriracha candy canes. "There's a reason Santa comes down your chimney," says the marketing copy on that one. "He likes it hot!"