Hasta La Creative!

If you could magically turn your iPad into a much bigger tablet, would you?

Fuhu is promoting its giant new Nabi tablets. (They’re available in 24-, 32-, 43-, 55- and astonishing 65-inch versions.) To that end, it made a new reality-style video featuring magician Adam Trent, one of seven stars in stage show The Illusionists, pretending to transform random people’s iPads into Nabis, outside the glass-box Apple store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

It’s good, harmless, not-at-all earth-shattering fun, mostly offering a new twist on classic magic tricks, like Trent pretending to pull strawberries out of the popular video game Fruit Ninja—because duh, the resolution is just that good.

But the best part is by far when that one little kid basically tells the silly magic man to take back some of these freaking strawberries, idiot, because there are too many, and what is he, some kind of fruit sherpa?

As for the Nabi, we’ll leave it to you whether you want to carry a TV around and pretend it’s a tablet. Seriously, it’s so big it has a handle—but maybe that just makes it cooler.

Some companies might take exception to your scribbling all over its catalog. But not Ikea.

For a while now, British illustrator Sarah Horne has found the Ikea catalog to be an inspiring canvas on which to draw fantastical scenes—with mythical creatures all relaxing in minimalist Swedish homescapes. Well, Ikea saw the drawings—and loved them. And over the holidays they invited Horne to be an official children’s illustrator in residence at its Wembley store.

“As a child I was always doodling and dreaming up a never-ending number of fantastical dinner parties that featured fictional creatures from the pages of my favorite storybooks—imagining what it would be like to have dinner with a dragon or breakfast with Bigfoot,” Horne says.

“Although I’m all grown up, my mind runs riot with the fantastical meals I always wished I could be a part of, using pages from my favorite Ikea catalogue as a canvas to bring my mythical creations a little more into reality.”

Horne’s pictures gave Ikea an idea. They could use them to help reinforce the idea of the importance of family dinner times.

“We know how easy it is to get bogged down in the craziness of everyday life, so we hired our children’s illustrator in residence to put the wonder back into dining together,” says an Ikea rep. “At Ikea, we firmly believe that each and every mealtime is special in its own right, whether it’s a midweek supper for your partner, breakfast with the kids, or pizza at home on a Friday night. It’s all about spending quality time together and treasuring those moments as a family.”

Hear more from Horne below. Via PSFK.

Exercise is hard enough already without your arm fat flapping like a chicken wing to discourage you. But if we could learn to stop worrying and love the sweaty slap of our chubby thighs, we might never think twice about hitting the gym or the field.

At least, that’s the premise of Britain’s “This Girl Can” campaign. The wiggling, jiggling, sweaty anthem is getting press and shares for its honest depiction of what average women working out look like—so that women of all shapes and sizes will feel better stepping up the plate or the Zumba stick.

A bit clumsily cut to Missy Eliott’s “Get Ur Freak On” and having some of the worst typographic design you’ve seen in ages, the video has nonetheless racked up millions of views on Facebook and YouTube due to its inspiring, anthemic nature.

Sport England (a British government department previously known as the English Sports Council) funded the effort and did the research that found a serious gender gap in exercise. Some 2 million fewer women than men in the 14-40 age range regularly participate in sports. They tried to figure out why.

Was it because our ladyparts make it harder to lift weights? Nope. In other European countries, there’s no such gap. What was holding England’s women back?

Digging further, they found that body image issues were the main issue. This campaign is meant to be the solution—a website, a YouTube channel and an inspirational film series that celebrates the wiggling, jiggling and sweating that comes along with being a healthy active woman at any size.

It might encourage you to get out on the field. At the very least, it will fill your girl power needs until another anthemic video comes along next week.

CREDITS
Agency: FCB Inferno
Managing Director: Sharon Jiggins
Creative Director: Bryn Attewell
Art Director: Raymond Chan
Copywriter: Simon Cenamor
Planning Director: Vicki Holgate
Senior Account Director: Hollie Loxley
Producer: Ally Mee
Media Company: Carat
Production Company : Somesuch
Exec. Producer: Tim Nash
Director: Kim Gehrig
DP: David Procter
Producer: Lee Groombridge
Editor: Tom Lindsay at Trim
Post-production Producers: Andrew McLintock and Adam Sergant
Post-production: Framestore
Audio post-production: Wave Sound Studios
Music Company/Sound Design: Soundtree

Next time you’re at the supermarket scanning the shelves for whichever loaf of bread is on sale, because you don’t really care which brand you buy—because bread is bread is bread—imagine if the top shelf had a loaf slapped with a Fendi logo. Would you buy it?

Israel-based artist Peddy Mergui presents a fascinating fantasy world where luxury brand make various food products in his series Wheat is Wheat is Wheat.

“By infusing the packaging of our most basic commodities with values of prestige and luxury, Wheat is Wheat is Wheat explores the dynamic and often blurred ethical boundaries of design within consumer culture,” says his website. “This exhibition is meant to highlight the challenges a designer faces when tasked with promoting economic interests while remaining true to his or her own moral compass.”

It’s been a while since art school, but I think this project’s statement translates to: “There’s an ass for every seat. If you build it, they will come.”

Take a look below at these ludicrous collisions of commercialism. 

 
Tiffany yogurt: Because being regular isn’t good enough. 

 
Prada flour: We’ll just assume it’s white. 

 
Nike fruit: Just eat it.

 
Louis Vuitton sausage: Just don’t ask how it’s made. 

 
Gucci pickles: The silliest dill. 

 
Ferrari pasta: As if you even eat carbs. 

 
Dolce & Gabbana tea biscuits: Are we sure these aren’t real?

 
Chanel baby formula: It’s actually from the teat of Gerard Depardieu.

 
HSBC basmati white rice: This bag is actual size. 

 
Bulgari butter: When it melts, it turns into the Pope’s tears. 

 
Apple iMilk: That extra 1% is for the 1%.

Via Visual News.

Sleater-Kinney’s return from indefinite hiatus with a new album, No Cities to Love, due out Jan. 20, surprised and delighted many fans. And now that the album is just a few days away, the band is showing that, among their many talents, they’re great at PR. 

“To mark the release of their upcoming album, No Cities To Love, Sleater-Kinney asked some of their friends to film themselves singing the title track,” explains the description on the YouTube video below.

It’s a brilliant move. Even people who aren’t fans of the band (if you’ve only heard One Beat, that’s a mistake) will want to see Sarah Silverman, Connie Britton, Brie Larson, Norman Reedus and many more bopping along to the track.

Yes, there’s something deliciously, perhaps voyeristically satisfying about seeing famous people look just as dorky as you.

Tostitos would like you to know that Chip Kelly, head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, is not the official chip of the NFL—because Tostitos is.

Goodby Silverstein & Partners is out with a new series of 10 pre-roll ads, 15 seconds each, riffing on the pun. Chip Kelly, the story goes, is not happy about the lack of respect.

Overall, they’re pretty cheesy, which is appropriate, because who doesn’t love nachos? But the highlights are probably Kelly getting kicked out of a shopping cart, an Eagles player following calls from a bag of Tostitos, and a security guard strong-arming the campaign’s announcer.

The spots mark Kelly’s advertising debut, though—so at least he can add that to his résumé.

Martin Scorsese famously has two favorite actors, Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio. But De Niro and DiCaprio have never worked on a Scorsese project together—until now.

The trailer below, for a short film called The Audition, stars both actors and the director—and sets up a rivalry between De Niro and DiCaprio, with the two vying for the same acting role. The short film will reportedly be unveiled later this year—and will also feature Brad Pitt, for extra star power.

The catch? The whole thing is an elaborate advertisement for two casino resorts City of Dreams Manila in the Philippines and Studio City Macao in China.

It seems that old rascal Scorsese has gotten De Niro and DiCaprio to venture to Manila and Macao hang out with him at these resorts because these places are “incredible.” As you can imagine, this short has everything: drinking, glamorized gambling and hijinks. Plus, De Niro is menacing and DiCaprio is still sporting that dreadul man-bun-and-beard combo. 

Brett Ratner, a producer on the project, said in a statement: “This short film is a historic event because it is the first film ever to star such legendary actors as Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt in one film together.”

He adds: “The cooperation between Mr. Scorsese and the Melco Crown Entertainment brand is synergistic because of the fact that Mr. Scorsese directed the film Casino starring Robert De Niro. Mr. Scorsese has collaborated with Mr. De Niro on eight films and with Mr. DiCaprio on five films and is working with Mr. Pitt for the first time. Our hope is that the trailer for The Audition gives audiences an early look into what will surely be an important cinematic experience directed by one of the most culturally influential directors in the history of Hollywood films. I look forward to the global premiere of the film at the launch of Studio City in mid-2015.”

We live in a pretty amazing time. We can inhale information and imagery to the point where the excess spills over and blows away as fast as it arrived. This is great and all, but if you’re a parent trying to raise kids in this torrent of data, you know how hard it is keeping them safe from the deluge of inappropriate content.

And then there’s teaching them how to manage their own data. How do you give your children the right tools to understand the viral age?

Well, Leo Burnett Change in London (which also did that chilling Cosmo cover for another social cause) and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children present this rather candid anecdote of the implications of sharing personal data virtually. In this case, it’s a boy named Alex who’s taken a photo of his, erm, willy—and who is shown the potentially terrible consequences of Snapchatting the pic to someone he trusts.

Take a look below. And thanks a lot, Carlos Danger.

Via Ads of the World.

CREDITS
Client: National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
Agency: Leo Burnett Change
Copywriter: Alison Steven
Art Director: Liam Bushby
Creative Director: Beri Cheetham
Executive Creative Director: Justin Tindall
Planner: Kit Altin
Agency Producers: Abby Jenkins, Bruce Macrae
Media Agency: OMD
Planner: Alexandra Gill
Production Company: Hornet
Directors: Dan & Jason  
Editor: Anita Chao
Executive Producer: Jan Stebbins
Producer: Cathy Kwan
Storyboard Artist: Carlos Laura Murphy
Lead Character Designer: Adrian Johnson
Designer: Anna Bron
Animation Director: Mike Luzzi
Animators: Angela DeVito, Jacob Kafka, Keelmy Carlo, Krystal Downs, Mike Luzzi, Mark Pecoraro, Natalie Labarre, Nivedita Sekar, Sean Lattrell
Lead Compositor: Ted Wiggin
Compositors: Richard Kim, Stephanie Andreou
Postproduction: Prodigious
Audio Postproduction: Nick Angell

Following in the footsteps of other omnipresent consumer brands with something arty to prove, Pepsi MAX made a huge mess with mousetraps and Ping-Pong balls for a video it calls “Chain Reaction.”

With the help of London filmmakers HarrimanSteel, a perfect grid of mousetraps was laid out, with a Ping-Pong ball balanced on each one. After all that work, a single ball was launched under some of the most dramatic lighting I’ve ever seen to upset the whole display. The ball then rolls down a big science-museum funnel into another Ping-Pong ball/mousetrap installation, this one with colored spheres.

All this happens to the beat of music that sounds like Alvin and the Chipmunks’ take on dubstep, and I don’t know how to feel about that at all.

I shouldn’t like the more pretentious visual choices being made here, but I do, because it’s fun to watch huge companies clutch their pearls at the thought of being a constant, low-humming presence in the back of consumers’ minds. I’m not sure it justifies the filmmakers hugging at the end like they’ve landed a rover on Mars, though.

Social media moves quickly, and yesterday’s trending #KissAGingerDay is today’s #FiveWordsToRuinADate.

Mere mortals have been playing the hashtag game by tweeting quips like “A salad for the lady?,” “I’m an Android user,” and “Do they have WiFi here?” But brands are also hopping on board.

Some tweets are a little predictable, and some are more clever than others, but generally it’s good, clean fun for everyone. (Except it’s Twitter, so take what I said about good and clean and fun with a grain of salt, please.)

Got a favorite?

#FiveWordsToRuinADate “I don’t love the Olympics”

— US Olympic Team (@USOlympic) January 13, 2015

I’m not a music person. #SwipeLeft #FiveWordsToRuinADate

— JBL (@JBLaudio) January 13, 2015

What is the Stanley Cup? #FiveWordsToRuinADate

— NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) January 13, 2015

“Golf is just so boring.” #FiveWordsToRuinADate

— TaylorMade Golf (@TaylorMadeGolf) January 13, 2015

“I don’t wanna get married” #FiveWordsToRuinADate

— The Knot (@theknot) January 13, 2015

#FiveWordsToRuinADate I wear socks with sandals.

— Journeys (@journeys) January 13, 2015

“I’ve never seen Doctor Who.” #FiveWordsToRuinADate pic.twitter.com/EPEuOA3tqv

— Doctor Who on BBCA (@DoctorWho_BBCA) January 13, 2015

“Sorry, who is Michael Jackson?” #FiveWordstoRuinaDate

— Legacy Recordings (@SonyLegacyRecs) January 13, 2015

“I never had a Walkman.” #FiveWordsToRuinADate

— Sony (@Sony) January 13, 2015

Let’s share a small pizza #FiveWordsToRuinADate

— PizzaExpress (@PizzaExpress) January 13, 2015

I’m not a dog person. #FiveWordsToRuinADate

— Petco (@Petco) January 13, 2015

#FiveWordsToRuinADate I’m not really into cats.

— Tidy Cats (@TidyCats) January 13, 2015

I don’t share curly fries #FiveWordsToRuinADate

— Arby’s (@Arbys) January 13, 2015

I don’t like Waffle Fries. #FiveWordsToRuinADate

— Chick-fil-A, Inc. (@ChickfilA) January 13, 2015

I’m not a sports fan #FiveWordsToRuinADate

— NBC Sports Network (@NBCSN) January 13, 2015

I don’t like to read. #FiveWordsToRuinADate

— NOOK (@nookBN) January 13, 2015

#FiveWordsToRuinADate “I do not like hockey.” ¯_(?)_/¯

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) January 13, 2015

#FiveWordsToRuinADate: “I keep my dog outside.” pic.twitter.com/kNhTt8kG6Q

— PETA (@peta) January 13, 2015

Your sister was more fun. #FiveWordsToRuinADate

— Captain Obvious (@CaptainObvious) January 13, 2015

I cannot be of assistance. #FiveWordsToRuinADate

— Cliff Paul (@CliffPaul) January 13, 2015

#FiveWordsToRuinADate Pizza? Not in the mood.

— DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) January 13, 2015