Hasta La Creative!

Grey, BBH, Wieden + Kennedy and Crispin Porter + Bogusky will battle it out for Best Commercial at the Emmy Awards in September, it was announced Thursday—nominated for Canon, Google Chrome, Nike and Grey Poupon ads. Should Wieden + Kennedy win, it would be the agency's fifth straight Emmy, having previously triumphed with Procter & Gamble's "Best Job" (2012), Chrysler's "Born of Fire" (2011), Old Spice's "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" (2010) and Coca-Cola's "Heist" (2009). This year's four nominees are all solid. BBH and W+K might feel slightly aggrieved that Axe's "Susan Glenn" and Southern Comfort's "Beach" aren't on the list as well. See the 2013 nominees below.

Video Gallery: 2013 Emmy Nominees for Best Commercial

The only thing scarier than a 12-foot-tall Colin Firth in a British lake is a 40-foot-long dragon skull washed up on a British beach. Beachgoers in Dorset were surprised to come across the latter on Monday—as a skull the size of a London bus suddenly appeared on Charmouth beach, part of Dorset's Jurassic coast, famous for its dinosaur fossils.

Alas, it's not a real dragon skull—it's an ad from movie and TV streaming service BlinkBox, which is celebrating the arrival this week of the third season of HBO's epic Game of Thrones on its site. It took a team of three sculptors more than two months to design, construct and paint the skull, which was dreamed up by Taylor Herring, the same PR company that built the giant Mr. Darcy earlier this summer.

The skull—perhaps the coolest Game of Thrones-related marketing since the dragon-shadow newspaper ad—was inspired by the scene in the series when Arya Stark discovers a dragon skull in the dungeons of King's Landing, the capital of the Seven Kingdoms.

More images below and here. Via Copyranter.

The new man-in-a-furry-suit-and-big-ass-jeans incarnation of Smokey Bear is all about huggin' and lovin' strangers he meets in the woods. These days, who isn't? (Well, OK, Purity Bear for one.) Draftfcb in Los Angeles created this integrated Smokey campaign for the Ad Council and the U.S. Forest Service, and as always, the goal is conveying information on how to prevent forest fires. There are TV and radio spots, as well as print, outdoor and digital elements, including the hashtag #SmokeyBearHugs. Past versions of the iconic bear—and there have been many since the character was introduced in 1944—would cry, nag, lecture or simply stare down campers while brandishing a shovel to make a point about fire safety. (The recent CGI Smokey was a preachy douche.) Now, Huggy Smokey Bear literally embraces those who act responsibly, holding them lovingly in his ursine arms. At least he doesn't grin and bare it. The hugees mostly look uncomfortable and make weird faces. Perhaps they're mortified to be in such goofy PSAs.

CREDITS
Campaign: Smokey Bear/Wildfire Prevention

Client: The Advertising Council
Senior Vice President, Group Campaign Director: Michelle Hillman
Vice President, Campaign Director: Amy Gibson-Grant
Campaign Manager: Ricki Kaplan
Assistant Campaign Manager: Kristin Ellis

Client: U.S. Forest Service
Fire Prevention Program Manager: Helene Cleveland
Acting Fire Prevention Program Manager: Gwen Beavans

Client: National Association of State Foresters
Director of Communications: Genevieve O’Sullivan

Agency: Draftfcb, Los Angeles
Chief Creative Officer: Eric Springer
Executive Vice President, Executive Creative Director: Michael Bryce
Senior Vice President, Group Creative Director: Jeff Maerov
Copywriter: Nick Micale
Art Director: Patrick Moore
Vice President, Executive Producer: Thomas Anderson
Producer: Jeffrey Perino
Executive Vice President, Group Management Director: Yolanda Cassity
Vice President, Management Director: Leila Cesario
Account Executive: Jennifer Levin

Production: Park Pictures
Directors: Terri Timely (Ian Kibbey, Corey Creasy)
Creative Consultant: Lance Acord
Executive Producer, Owner: Jackie Kelman Bisbee
Executive Producer: Mary Ann Marino
Head of Production: Anne Bobroff
Producer: Valerie Romer

Editing: Butcher
Editor: Teddy Gersten
Assistant Editor: Leah Turner
Producer: Chrissy Hamilton
Executive Producer: Rob Van

Effects: D Train (Smokey)
Creative Director: Ben Gibbs
Effects Supervisor: Jan Cillers
Producer: Shelby Wong
Coordinator: Chelsea Brewer

Effects: Alterian (Smokey)
Creature Effects, Smokey Suit Designer: Tony Gardner

Talia Castellano, the 13-year-old honorary CoverGirl who inspired and entertained hundreds of thousands with her fighting spirit and her YouTube makeup tutorials, died Tuesday at age 13. "It is with a heavy heart that we share with all of you that Talia has earned her wings at 11:22am," reads a post on the Angels for Talia Facebook page. "Please lift her beautiful soul, her beautiful light to heaven and please send your love and prayers to her family during this most difficult time. God speed little one, may you be free from pain and suffering, may your soul feel the light and love that you brought to so many of us on this Earth during the short time you were her with us. We will miss you more than you will ever know baby girl." Talia's dream was to meet Ellen DeGeneres, which she did last September—and where CoverGirl surprised her by unveiling the poster above. Her last post on YouTube, where she had 760,000 subscribers, was posted a month ago. See it below.

Up for a hot-dog bun full of worms? A pair of firecracker Speedos? How about a skewer through the nipple? You can get them all at Pittsburgh's Warhol Museum—in its summer 2013 ad campaign from MARC USA. The new work features traditional summertime imagery retooled to be more provocative, in keeping with much of the Warhol Museum's collection itself. (In fact, the ads are tame by comparison—which is just as well, since they need to get people in the door, not running from it.) "Summer's Different Here," says the copy on the vintage-postcard-style ads, which promote summer exhibitions spotlighting the work of three artists—musician and visual artist Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, photographer Caldwell Linker and sculptor/tattoo artist Nick Bubash. "In looking at what unites all these very different artists, we quickly understood that their works are meant to provoke and make you uncomfortable," says MARC USA creative director Josh Blasingame. "Our campaign built on that idea by looking at ordinary icons of summer and showing how they could be made more than a little uncomfortable." The campaign, running June through September, includes outdoor, print ads, digital banners and actual postcards. More images below.

CREDITS
Client: The Andy Warhol Museum
Agency: MARC USA, Pittsburgh
Chief Creative Officer: Bryan Hadlock
Creative Director, Art Director: Josh Blasingame
Associate Creative Director, Writer: Greg Edwards
Associate Creative Director, Art Director: Craig Ferrence
Copywriter: Alyssa Davis
Art Directors: Tyler Bergholz, Dave Slinchak
Photographer: Russ Quackenbush
Retouching: Chris Bodie

It looks like Rebecca Black finally decided which seat to take—a seat in a Honda. The "Friday" singer just popped up in a Vine video from the automaker—part of a campaign by RPA that sends personalized Vines to Honda fans on Twitter who use the hashtag #wantnewcar.

"We were promised flying cars. I don’t see any … #wantnewcar," wrote Nick Miners. To which @Honda replied: "Hey @nickminers, we don't have those at the Honda Summer Clearance Event. But we have @MsRebeccaBlack!" In the Vine, Black suggests visiting a Honda dealer on Friday—"or whenever."

Check out more of the Honda Vines here.

Hey @nickminers, we don't have those at the Honda Summer Clearance Event. But we have @MsRebeccaBlack! http://t.co/SYKywDClZ5 #wantnewcar

— Honda (@Honda) July 15, 2013

In addition to the Vine promotion, the campaign features TV spots in which Honda dealers humorously respond to real tweets. The "Super Fan" spot replies to an actual tweet from actor Neil Patrick Harris, who asked for advice on selecting a minivan. Check out those ads, and some print work, below.

CREDITS
Client: Honda
Agency: RPA

Executive Vice President, Chief Creative Officer: Joe Baratelli
Senior Vice President, Executive Creative Director: Jason Sperling
Senior Vice President, Executive Producer, Content: Gary Paticoff
Vice President, Creative Director: Chuck Blackwell
Creative Director, Copy: Ken Pappanduros
Art Director: Ariel Shukert
Copywriter: Jen Winston
Senior Producer: Fran Wall
Production Coordinator: Grace Wang

Production Company: Recommended Media
Director: Chris Woods
Founder, CEO: Stephen Dickstein
Partners, Executive Producers: Phillip Detchmendy, Jeff Rohrer
Producer: Darrin Ball

Editing Company: The Reel Thing
Editors: Lance Pereira, Val Thrasher
Flame Artist: Moody Glasgow
Executive Producer: Doug Kleckner

Telecine: The Mill
Colorist: Adam Scott

Audio Post: Lime Studios
Mixer: Dave Wagg
Music: Wojahn Brothers

PRINT CREDITS
First insertion date: July 15, 2013

Agency: RPA
Executive Vice President, Chief Creative Officer: Joe Baratelli
Senior Vice President, Executive Creative Director: Jason Sperling
Creative Directors: Ken Pappanduros, Chuck Blackwell
Art Director: Suzie Yeranosyan
Copywriter: Jen Winston
Photographers: Civic: Joe Carlson; CR-V: Tony LaBruno; Accord: Springbox; Pilot: RPA CGi; Odyssey: Fulvio Bonavia
Art Buyer: Ginnie Assenza
Production Manager: Stephanie Speights

Old Spice had a couple of hits back in April with its "Shower" and "Watermelon" ads for its Fiji Bar Soap. Now, the brand's Swagger Bar Soap gets some play in this amusing spot from Wieden + Kennedy called "Architect." Again, it's a parody of '80s bar-soap commercials, complete with cheese-spirational song lyrics and meaningful brow-sweat-wiping moments … and a comically sideswiping ending. Nice slippy product shot at the end, too.

The fur flew, painfully, in Lowe Roche's recent street promo for Toronto's Fuzz Wax Bar. A guy almost completely covered in wax strips walked around town and invited people to tear them from his skin. Cartoon smiley or frowny faces on the strips indicated the level of pain the guy would feel. They were also emblazoned with copy such as "From bear arms to bare arms" and "We'll take the monkey of your back," along with the salon's slogan, "So good, it hurts." Yeee-ouch! Each strip could be redeemed for a 25 percent discount at Fuzz Wax. (Personally, I'd want to keep mine as a hairy, sweat-stained waxvertising souvenir.) Last year, the zany madcaps at Lowe Roche photographed a local dealership's Porsches in people's driveways to create ads targeting those very homes. That was clever, but this body-hair stunt was less creepy and provided an oddly memorable product demo. Congrats to the agency for pulling it off. More photos and credits below.

CREDITS
Project: Street Waxing
Client: Fuzz Wax Bar
Agency: Lowe Roche
Executive Creative Director: Sean Ohlenkamp
Copywriters: Jeremy Richard, Eli Joseph 
Art Directors: Ryan Speziale, Kunaal Jagtianey
Producer: Shannon Farrell
Makeup: Alyssa McCarthy
Account Director: Frederic Morin
Director: Dean Vargas
Postproduction: Motion Pantry

Here's an airport stunt from Heineken that truly embodies the brand's adventurous spirit. Twice this week, Wieden + Kennedy in New York set up a board at JFK's Terminal 8 and dared travelers to play "Departure Roulette"—changing their destination to a more exotic location with the press of a button. They had to agree to drop their existing travel plans—without knowing the new destination first—and immediately board a flight to the new place.

On Tuesday, a man played the game and ended up going to Cyprus instead of Vienna. (He had been planning a six-week visit with his grandparents, but soon learned he would be headed to Cyprus on a 9:55 p.m. flight. Heineken gave him $2,000 to cover expenses and booked him into a hotel for two nights.) W+K set up the board again on Thursday, and brought cameras along to document the gameplay. The game is inspired by "Dropped," the new Heineken campaign that launched a month ago from W+K Amsterdam in which four men are sent to remote destinations and film their adventures. We should have footage from Thursday's event next week. For now, Heineken should set this up in the Moscow airport. There's a guy there who would welcome any chance to fly to oblivion.

David Fincher's Calvin Klein commercial starring Rooney Mara exists in a dreary, dreamless dimension beyond banality and cliché. It occupies a zone so soullessly stylized that "style" loses all meaning … a wasteland so unironic that irony screams for release, only to go unheard. This 60-second black-and-white spot introducing CK's Downtown fragrance plays like an unfunny parody of its putrid genre—yet it's very real, which makes irony scream all the more. In other words, it's like every other pretentious, faux-artsy perfume and fashion commercial. Maybe more so. Fincher previously directed Mara in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Social Network. "Runaway" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs plays on the soundtrack. The ad features puppies, buses, rain, subways, earbuds and a press conference. A lot of stuff happens in slow motion. Mara cracks a smile, which The Huffington Post seems to think is a big deal. I'm not sold on the name of the perfume, either. How does downtown usually smell? In my experience, it stinks. Print ad below the video.