Hasta La Creative!

How did Target really feel about Mike Melgaard posing as a Target customer service rep on Facebook and caustically replying to angry messages left by haters opposed to Target’s gender-neutral product labeling?

The retailer issued a pretty dry statement after AdFreak broke the story yesterday. (“Clearly this individual was not speaking on behalf of Target,” it said.) But behind the scenes, the brand was apparently loving it—at least judging by this Facebook photo that Target posted on Thursday evening.

The photo showed a couple of toy trolls. The caption read: “Remember when Trolls were the kings of the world? Woo hoo! They’re back and only at Target stores.”

Not only was this a clear reference to Melgaard’s antics, but Melgaard himself responded in the comments—under his own profile—writing, “Target. Seriously. You are AWESOME.” (With almost 2,500 likes, that is the most-liked comment on the photo.)

Following Melgaard’s expert trolling, Target’s post is pretty devious as well. And it confirms Melgaard’s earlier hunch that, yes, Target’s PR people are smart enough to know that a guy like Melgaard is their friend, not their enemy.

Kevin Durant may be a basketball star, but he knows how to cheer for the little people, too.

In this new co-branded ad for Nike and Foot Locker, the Oklahoma City Thunder player gets so excited while sitting courtside at a street game that he throws his legs—and his namesake KD 8 Nikes—into the air.

It’s just one part of an epic crowd reaction when a player—wearing the same Joker-esque purple and green shoes—lands a reverse dunk. Other highlights from the stands include a super slow-mo “Oh no!” face, a sax solo and even a kid blasting off with a jetpack (which doesn’t really seem like the safest idea given the crowd below, but anyways).

In fact, the only spectator who doesn’t lose his mind is Zach LaVine of the Minnesota Timberwolves—the NBA’s 2015 slam dunk champion—who barely bothers to look up from studying a copy of a book titled The Funk on Dunk (which sadly doesn’t appear to be a real title … or at least, not one that’s currently in print).

Though to be totally honest, the move itself doesn’t come close to Blake Griffin’s latest for Jordan—or even Marvin the Martian’s.

CREDITS
Clients: Nike & Foot Locker

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Creative Directors: Chris Groom, Stuart Brown
Copywriter: Sheena Brady
Art Director: Mike Warzin
Producer: Kevin Diller
Interactive Strategy: Reid Schilperoort
Strategic Planning: Brandon Thornton
Media/Comms Planning: Charles Lee, John Furnari
Account Team: Jordan Muse, Katie Gurgainus, Chase Haviland, Luke Purdy
Business Affaires: Alicia Willett
Project Management: Emily Norman
Executive Creative Directors: Joe Staples / Mark Fizloff
Head of Production: Ben Grylewicz

Production Company: MJZ
Director: Steve Ayson
Executive Producer: Emma Wilcockson
Line Producer: Mark Hall
Director of Photography: Philippe Le Sourd

Editorial Company: Exile Editorial
Editor: Kirk Baxter
Post Producer: Toby Louie
Post Executive Producer: CL Weaver

VFX Company: Saint
Flame Artist: Robert Trent
VFX Producer: Helen Park

—Digital/Interactive
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Creative Director: Chris Groom, Stuart Brown
Copywriter: Sheena Brady
Art Director: Mike Warzin
Producer: Kevin Diller
Interactive Strategy: Reid Schilperoort
Strategic Planning: Brandon Thornton
Media/Comms Planning: Charles Lee, John Furnari
Account Team: Jordan Muse, Katie Gurgainus, Chase Haviland, Luke Purdy
Executive Creative Directors: Joe Staples / Mark Fitzloff
Agency Executive Producer: Ben Grylewicz
Digital Designer: Justin Morris
Exec Interactive Producer: Ben Oh
Content Producer : Keith Rice
Art Buying: Amy Berriochoa

The 2016 election may be more than a year away, but things are already getting weird.

One of the first places the strangeness is showing is in candidates’ campaign stores, so we decided to compile a few of our favorite fundraising oddities.

(For the purposes of this list, fan-created merchandise is left off, though there are some truly laudable puns and other bits of wordplay out there like the Christie Creme t-shirt, “Feel the Bern” and “I’m Ridin’ With Biden.”

As with any time you see election coverage, just remember: this is our circus, and these are our monkeys. We’ve gone through all 22 declared candidates’ campaign stores to find you the strangest things that are offered:

5. The Trump Party Cup ($20)

Official description: “Trump for President! Show your support while you sip your favorite beverage out of our campaign party cups.”

These 16-ounce cups aren’t quite big enough to get you through a predential debate drinking game, but at least you’ll be making your allegiances known (for better or worse). 

But for $20, I could buy a 50 pack of actual Solo cups and a fifth of Old Grand-Dad bourbon—a purchase sure to bring more lasting happiness than three cups I have to wash by hand.

Ted Cruz’s store’s drinkware category gets an honorable mention. If you’re tailgating the R.N.C., check out his stadium cups. In comparison to Trump’s, these are a steal at six for $20.

4. Scott Walker’s Biography, at a Mere 2,250% Markup ($299)

Official description: “Don’t miss your chance to get Governor Scott Walker’s book, ‘Unintimidated,’ signed with a personalized note from the Governor. This exclusive item would make a great gift or memorabilia for the Scott Walker fan. Secure your book today while supplies last.”

Unintimidated is currently selling for $12.74 on Amazon. But if you’ve been bitten and smitten by the Walker virus, you can spend a considerably steeper $299 for a signed and personalized copy. If you’re looking for some Republican memorabilia on a tighter budget, a signed version of Ted Cruz’s tome is $85 ($16.79 unsigned on Amazon), and an unsigned copy of Rand Paul’s is $30 ($18.79 on Amazon).

3. A U.S. Constitution Signed by Rand Paul ($1,000)

Official description: “It’s hard to find a greater defender of the U.S. Constitution in the Halls of Congress than Rand Paul. As a Constitutional conservative, he makes it the core of everything he does in Washington. If you would like a signed Constitution in a neatly bound book, contribute $1,000 and we will send you one. It’s [sic] size is perfect for comfortable carrying in the pocket of a sport coat, a purse, laptop bag or in the back pocket of some worn out jeans.”

Unless it’s dipped in gold and hand delivered to me by Rand Paul, I’m not spending $1,000 on a copy of the Constitution, a document I can print off the Internet. Even if I had the money and wanted a copy, I’d pass on principle: if you’re going to ask for that much money, at least pay someone to fix your grammatical errors. 

2. (TIE) Hillary’s Everyday Pantsuit Tee and the “Yaaas, Hillary” T-shirt ($30 each)

Official description (Pantsuit Tee): “Bringing a whole new meaning to casual Friday. Pantsuit bottoms not included. American Made. Union Printed.”)

Official description (Yaaas, Hillary T-shirt): “Need we say more? American Made. Union Printed. 100% Cotton.”

I’m all for not taking yourself too seriously. But the former secretary of state’s campaign website appears as though her PR team recruited a bunch of college kids, threw a kegger, and let them throw darts to determine which products made it into the shop.

Other highlights include: a coozie emblazoned with “More like Chillary Clinton, amirite?” and a “Grillary Clinton” spatula.

1. Jeb Bush’s Guaca Bowle ($75)

Official description: “Jeb and Columba love whipping up guacamole on Sunday Funday. Now, you can get in on the act with this ‘Guaca Bowle.’ Jeb’s secret guacamole recipe not included…yet.”

Seriously? Jeb, Williams-Sonoma carries the same thing for less than $50, and it actually comes with a recipe. It’s like someone in the campaign Googled “how to be folksy lol” and then used the search results to write the description for this guacamole bowl.

It also puts a bit too much faith in the shopper catching that it should be pronounced “Guaca Bowl-ee,” unlike its golf-clap-worthy competitor, the Marco Polo.

Brands can’t be as honest as they might like in dealing with haters on Facebook. But sometimes other Facebook users can do it for them.

That dynamic played out in particularly rogue fashion on Target’s Facebook page this week. As the retailer received a steady stream of nasty comments from people upset about its move toward gender-neutral in-store labeling, Facebook user Mike Melgaard posed as Target with a fake Facebook account—Ask ForHelp, with a bull’s-eye profile pic—and began excoriating the haters with comically sarcastic replies.

He got away with it for about 16 hours, too, commenting on about 50 posts before the fake account was shut down. Here are a few of his greatest hits:

Melgaard tells AdFreak that he was just surfing Facebook on Sunday night when he noticed that Target was moving away from gender-based labels in both the toy and children’s bedding sections.

“Immediately, I knew there would be your typical outraged American spouting emotional reactions on their Facebook page,” he says. “After taking a look, I was literally laughing out loud at my computer. A few more minutes in and it struck me how hilarious it would be to portray myself as a parody customer service rep. So, I did just that, and the rest was history. Honestly, it was like striking comedy gold. Every one of these people gave me the ammunition I needed for a great response.”

A self-described “pot-stirrer,” Melgaard says his stunt was more about the comedy than taking a stance on the issue. “I definitely side with Target and support their decision wholeheartedly,” he says. “That being said, this was, for me, more about the laughs. I absolutely love satirical humor, and I think America could use a little more laughter.”

Target is aware of Melgaard’s behavior but has not yet responded to AdFreak’s inquiries about it. For his part, Melgaard says he probably wasn’t doing the retailer any harm.

“Of course they could get upset,” Melgaard says, “but in this day and age I’m willing to bet their marketing team is intelligent enough to predict people like myself who come along to ‘stir the pot.’ I actually suspect that what I did shone an overall positive spotlight on Target.”

See more of Melgaard’s trolling below.

Bic continues to have trouble talking to women.

The pen maker, which was the object of ridicule a few years ago for its absurd “Bic for Her” pens, failed spectacularly in South Africa this week, posting a tone-deaf ad on social media for national women’s day that drew swift criticism—and soon led to an apology.

The “Look Like a Girl” and “Think Like a Man” lines were both pretty infuriating, and the Internet reacted mercilessly to the brand’s misstep. Bic made things worse by trying to defend itself in one half-apology before deleting that (further angering people who’d commented on it) and posting a second apology.

That one read: “Hi everyone. Let’s start out by saying we’re incredibly sorry for offending everybody—that was never our intention, but we completely understand where we’ve gone wrong. This post should never have gone out. The feedback you have given us will help us ensure that something like this will never happen again, and we appreciate that.”

what fresh hell is this pic.twitter.com/KctXjvWAHp

— Caroline CriadoPerez (@CCriadoPerez) August 11, 2015

Wheaties is wheat cereal. Hefeweizen is wheat beer. Now, General Mills has done the inevitable and created a Wheaties-branded Hefeweizen in partnership with Minneapolis craft brewery Fulton.

“We were intrigued from the get-go on this idea for many reasons, including that we’re both Minneapolis companies, and that the beer and the cereal both started from the same place in terms of raw ingredients and the same city,” Fulton president and co-founder Ryan Petz says in this General Mills blog post.

“We had been sampling a number of Hefeweizens, so we had been discussing with the Wheaties team what we liked,” says Petz. “Someone on the team said HefeWheaties, and it kind of sprung out from there.”

Everything from the recipe to the can design was a collaboration, which came about simply because some General Mills employees are friends with some of the folks at Fulton. (Petz even worked at General Mills for a while.)

At least for now, you’ll have to travel to Minnesota to sample the stuff. Beginning Aug. 26, it will be available in the Twin Cities market in 4-pack cans of 16oz. tallboys. it won’t be available for shipment or purchase outside Minnesota.

“We’ll see how people react to it,” says Petz. “If it’s something everybody loves, we’ll obviously consider doing it again in a bigger and more widely distributed way in the future.”

Subtlety is a valuable thing in advertising, as consumers will always feel better about a brand that lets them connect the dots instead of hammering them over the head. But there is such a thing as too subtle, as well.

Mercedes-Benz rides that line in these ads from BBDO Chile. We stared at them for a few minutes trying to work out the message, and not just because the copy has been translated.

We spoke to BBDO art director Leonardo Rocha about the ads. But before we give away his explanation, let us know what you think they’re about.

Click to enlarge. Via Adeevee.

CREDITS
Client: Mercedes-Benz
Agency: BBDO, Santiago, Chile
Executive Creative Director: Jorge Espinoza
Creative Director: Rodrigo Peralta
Art Director: Leonardo Rocha
Copywriter: Felipe Araya
Photographer: Javiera Eyzaguirre

Volkswagen Netherlands aired a TV spot in April in which VW owners had great expectations for their other possessions—including one mother who couldn’t understand why baby strollers don’t have automatic braking.

The automaker posted the ad on Facebook, and the most-liked comment came from a fan who suggested that VW actually build just such a futuristic stroller.

And so, VW did.

Check out the video above, in which a joke from a commercial (by ad agency Achtung!) becomes a prototype in just a few short weeks. It includes a cameo from the Facebook fan himself, and also shows some humorous footage of the stroller in action.

Sorry, moms, it seems lazy dads will be the biggest market for this new vehicle.

What are we all but a bunch of emoji with arms and legs and a hankering for McDonald’s?

An insane new French ad for fast-food chain shows a city full of people going about their daily lives—driving around with friends, getting a shave at the barber, break dancing in the streets. But instead of human heads, they all have giant, 3-D, cartoon faces.

The soundtrack—a bubbly electro pop cover of the Buggles’ 1978 classic “Video Killed the Radio Star”—almost makes the ad feel like a music video. But the song, a rendition apparently created specifically for the ad, when coupled with the visual concept, which feels fresh in and of itself, seems to imply a critique of technology that’s more contemporary than the one baked into the lyrical hook, and a bit out of place for a major fast-food marketer.

McDonald’s and agency BETC Paris have explicitly created a world where digital communication reduces facial expression—a wildly subtle and complex phenomenon—to a series of shiny yellow orbs representing monolithic and equally monochromatic feelings. That’s a pretty excellent premise for a video, but the brand presents it here without any of the real anxiety about change that defines the text of the original synth pop song—or the deadpan theatricality with which the Buggles promoted and performed it; or, say, the more explicitly ironic bitterness and dissatisfaction of the 1996 alt-rock cover by the Presidents of the United States of America.

Instead, McD’s presents everyone being a stiff caricature of their own ids as a good thing. And that only really makes sense if you’re a faceless corporation that deals in cardboard platitudes like Happy Meals peddled by a brightly colored clown mascot, and other overly processed hamburgers that can save the doomed love lives of awkward young adults.

It probably doesn’t help the brand’s case that the tagline, “Venez comme vous êtes,” which translates to “Come as you are,” inadvertently bastardizes the spirit of another classic song about the tension between individuality, conformity and perception. (To be fair, that tagline has been around for years—and McDonald’s France has used it to, among other things, promote gay rights.)

Within the emoji ad’s own construct, it includes clever little tidbits—some of them perhaps more deliberate than others, like the kid who turns from angel to devil, as opposed to the weatherman with the smarmy, oafish look on his face. The spot also deserves credit for doing a distinctly better job of getting its message across than some other emoji-driven attempts at marketing. (In fact, it’s way simpler and more accessible—if less delightful—than some of the brands that decided to try to invent their own emoticons.)

It’s also worth noting that BETC Paris is experienced in creating absurd viral sensations, having graced the world with Evian’s classic roller-dancing babies, and the agency appears to be swinging for the fences again here. But the idea, for all its potential, suffers as a result of its attempt to be broadly appealing to what’s seen as the perpetual sunshine ethos of millennials. In that, it turns into a nauseatingly saccharine panacea—without near enough sarcasm or skepticism about what it’s actually saying.

In fact, the insistence on framing a fundamentally disturbing set of images as lighthearted and upbeat can’t keep the dark subtext and implicit social critique at bay. So, the whole thing ends up seeming unintentionally dystopian, like the Kia hamsters tossed into a meat grinder with a deadmau5 helmet and Katy Perry fever dream, with the resulting slime squeezed out into a bunch of circular, cookie-cutter nuggets, baked golden and plopped onto a bunch of necks.

Ultimately, it mostly adds credence to Taco Bell’s case that Ronald McDonald is actually a Stalinist looking to control all aspects of your life—only he’s way more insidious than you thought, mostly interested in brainwashing us into grinning idiots by defining happiness in terms of Big Macs and faces made of pixels.

Plus, you know the spot can’t be trusted because it doesn’t show anyone who just gobbled a McDonald’s burger and turned into the emoji for “I have a stomach ache and I wish I hadn’t eaten that”—which isn’t available yet, but is slated for release in 2016.

As if the hipster havens of Brooklyn and Austin weren’t already funky—and beery—enough, Leinenkugel’s has transformed vacation properties in each location into Northwoods, Wis.-style “Leinie Lodges,” and made the units available for rent on Airbnb.

The promotion is designed to help the Chippewa Falls, Wis.-based brand (owned by SABMiller) gain extra visibility in those markets, where it has been testing its brews of late.

“We wanted to create a space where people can relax and enjoy beer,” founder Dick Leinenkugel told Austin Fusion. The two-bedroom Brooklyn property (above) can accommodate six guests, includes a roomy roof deck and rents for $449 a night. Down in East Austin (below), you’ll pay $375 for three bedrooms with space for eight.

The rentals are available through the end of August.

Airbnb has become renowned for offbeat promotions, both for itself and in tandem with other brands. Stunts range from hosting a sleepover in an Australian Ikea store to tricking out an Alpine ski lift as a mountaintop crash pad.

The “Leinie Lodges” provide more down-to-earth accommodations. Renters get thoroughly modern, upscale digs—with lots of Leinenkugel’s-branded extras. These include bean-bag toss games, bar signage, canoe paddles, Adirondack chairs and plenty of crimson throw-pillows embroidered with the brewer’s name. At each location, the fridges come packed with Leinenkugel’s brews such as Summer Shandy, Grapefruit Shandy and Canoe Paddler.

So, you’ll basically be living inside a huge ad, stocked with toys and free beer. You’ll be living the American Dream. Cheers!