Hasta La Creative!

You’ll want to wipe that smile off his face.

Lowe Campbell Ewald’s chilling new public-service campaign for Haven, a Michigan nonprofit that assists victims of rape and domestic violence, strips away the “Mr. Nice Guy” veneer to reveal the threat lurking behind the disarming grins and sweet talk that abusers use to confuse and control their victims.

“I’ll be really nice,” begins a happy-faced dude in the spot, below directed by Oscar winner Angus Wall. But he turns out to be anything but. His mood swing is understated and utterly convincing, especially in the Ray Rice era, when heroes can be revealed as villains in the few seconds it takes for a surveillance camera to capture their shameful acts.

“This highly emotional approach will resonate with our audience,” says agency creative chief Mark Simon. “Our hope is that it reaches those who are suffering and provides them with the knowledge that help is out there.”

The tagline is “Live without fear,” yet for a campaign all about escaping terror, there’s plenty of it here. Still, the message—across all media—is powerful. One print ad entwines the phrase “I’m crazy about you” with “You crazy bitch,” while a bus-shelter poster (perhaps the campaign’s best execution) features the headline “I Love You”—which, upon closer inspection, is actually composed of hundreds of tiny threats like “You’re gonna pay for this” and “If I can’t have you, nobody can.”

By focusing on the mind-set of perps, Haven puts the blame in the only place it belongs. “It is the choice and actions of the abuser that causes abuse,” says Beth Morrison, the organization’s CEO. “The victim is never at fault.”

CREDITS
Client: Haven
Agency: Lowe Campbell Ewald
Chief Creative Officer: Mark Simon
Group Creative Director: David Bierman
Art Director: Kelly Warkentien
Copywriter: Nancy Wellinger
Producers: Mary Ellen Krawczyk
Account Executives: Joe Gaulzetti, Nicole Reincke, Alyssa DeYonker
Production Company: Elastic
Director: Angus Wall
Director of Photography: Eric Treml
Executive Producer: Jennifer Sofio Hall
Line Producer: Shanah Blevins
Editing House: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: David Brodie
Audio Mix: Lime

It’s nothing fancy—just some particle boards and nails. But it ought to keep out those bloodthirsty zombies.

Yes, just in time for this weekend’s return of The Walking Dead to AMC, Century 21 (with help from the little mad scientists at its social agency, Mullen) is auctioning off a “Home Zombie Proofing Kit” on eBay.

Here’s part of the description on eBay.

• Strong enough to withstand hurricane force winds or prying dead fingers.
• Sealing prevents edge swell from liquid damage or tainted blood.
• Galvanization guaranteed to outlast even long-lasting outbreaks.
CAUTION: Loud noises caused by installation of Century 21 Zombie Proofing Kit may attract more zombies.

Bidding goes until next Wednesday, with all proceeds donated to Easter Seals.

It was the best of times, it was the … well, literally the best of times. Van Halen was the greatest band in the world. George Orwell was totally right about the future. And the Edmonton Oilers were the world champions of hockey.

It was 1984. And speaking of oil, that’s the year Shell started refining in Alberta. To celebrate, eight Shell stations in the area reduced their prices on Wednesday to match their 1984 levels—39 cents per liter.

With gas costing way more than that nowadays, Canadians were surely happy to fill their gas-guzzling vehicles without hurting their wallets, even if just for one day.

Via Global News Canada.

It’s like we’ve gone back in time! #1984Pricing #80smoment #yyc http://t.co/An8PSXB0FO

 

— Shell Canada (@Shell_Canada) October 8, 2014

Shell employees at Wye Rd station are ready for #1984Pricing!! #80smoment pic.twitter.com/hsXZJSDXMv

— Shell Canada (@Shell_Canada) October 8, 2014

You’re lost somewhere on the planet and freaked out for a second. But then, you remember. Uncle Google can lead you home. Or can he? What if you’re in the Arabian desert?

Well, now you’re in luck. Google strapped its Trekker camera to the lovely hump of a 10-year-old camel named Raffia and went and mapped the Liwa Oasis area of Abu Dhabi—and documented the journey in the video below.

So now, if you’re in Liwa and your phone has service, you can get your bearings. Or you can just check it out from the comfort of your couch.

Take a look at this fascinating clip of a camel making history. 

Via The Verge.

Nestlé’s Fitness cereal brand, which last year brought us the tweeting bra, has upped the ante with the hidden-camera bra. Watch below as a woman walks around London capturing footage of men and women furtively (they think) checking out her boobs.

It’s a fun little social experiment from McCann Paris—and one, predictably, that has caused a bit of a flamewar in the YouTube comments. But it turns out the point of the video isn’t really to comment on objectification at all.

Also, check out the behind-the-scenes video here:

CREDITS
Client: Nestlé Fitness
Agency: McCann, Paris
Creative Director: Sarah Clift
Art Directors: Kate Pozzi, Sarah Clift, Caroline Gozier
Copywriter: Kate Pozzi
TV Producers: Sasha Mantel, Arnaud Lemens
Social Strategist: Mariam Asmar
Account: Cédric Vanhoutte, Cynthia Decant, Laurie Chappel, Leslie Adam, Julie Colombani
Production Company: Outsider | The Corner Shop
Director: Ellen Kuras
Producer: Mel Nwanguma
DOP: Ellen Kuras
1st AD: Julian Higgs
Costume Designer: Lydia Kovacs
Edit: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: Ted Guard
Post Production: MPC LA
Music: Human

Google has been running a lovely ad campaign promoting its rebranded mobile app. But some of the best executions have been pretty hard to find—because they’ve been woven into the fabric of New York City.

72andSunny created the wonderfully site-specific ads below, working with a variety of organizations and proprietors to bring little mini-installations to life. While the reach is probably fairly low, the playful factor is high—and it’s great to see a giant company doing such joyfully detailed work on the ground.

“Google search has always been about inspiring curiosity and enabling discovery,” a Google rep tells AdFreak. “This is the inspiration behind encouraging New Yorkers to re-look at familiar landmarks—both big and small—in a new light. By pairing interesting questions with visually intriguing placements we hoped to cut through all the sights and sounds of the city that compete for attention.”

She adds: “Our outdoor campaign aims to spark curiosity about the breadth and depth of New York, and the types of information you can ask of the Google app. Where possible we tried to make the work feels as natural to the environment as much as possible—from custom bowling balls in Brooklyn Bowl to cappuccino cups in Cafe Reggio.”

Americans sure have some interesting regional accents. Whether you’re from New York, Baltimore, Philly, Chicago, Houston—dialects are fascinating, ya know?

So, there’s this character on YouTube named Pittsburgh Dad, who’s been starring in his own web sitcom since 2011, in which he mostly sits in front of a camera and watches his terrible sports team lose or The Price Is Right. His comedy hinges on his Pittsburgh accent almost as the punch line itself, which we’re sure is funny to someone. 

So, now Pittsburgh Dad is promoting a local beverage brand, Turner’s Iced Tea. He’s done a 30-second spot, but really, it’s the extended cut below where you get to enjoy his Pittsburghese in all its glory. So, Pittsburghers, is this guy actually funny or not?

Skye’s the limit for Danny MacAskill. And he doesn’t need a plane to soar. He flies just fine on a mountain bike in this seven-minute dazzler called “The Ridge.”

The gorgeously shot vdeo finds the cyclist back home on Scotland’s Isle of Skye, his epic adventure captured by helmet-cam, drone and lenses that are seemingly everywhere.

This outing shares the spirit of the exhilarating clips that made him a star, while supplying MacAskill with an infinitely more stunning visual canvas. It provides an intriguing contrast with his “Imaginate” film from last year, where he performed stunts in a fantasy recreation of his childhood bedroom with giant toys, books and loop-de-loops for props.

That voyage was internal, a trip through MacAskill’s mind to share the cyclist’s youthful dreams. But in “The Ridge,” we’re treated to the ethereal but very real grandeur of the Cuillin Ridge, a fog-bound, craggy stretch of mountains, 3,255 feet at its peak, that resembles the terrain of some distant planet. That effect is heightened by MacAskill’s row-boat arrival at the hauntingly beautiful spot.

No other humans are in site, strange creatures splash in the shallows, and Martyn Bennett’s hymn-like vocals ring out on the soundtrack. It’s as if MacAskill trekked across the void, or perhaps journeyed back into prehistory to perform and explore.

MacAskill’s exploration of Cuillin’s awe-inspiring topography is sure to thrill fans (the clip’s already approaching 10 million YouTube views in less than a week) and delight brand sponsors (Five Ten, Enve Composites, Red Bull and Santa Cruz Bikes among them). Which is all for the best, since the shoot was an intense labor for everyone involved.

“It was a serious effort to just get to the filming locations,” says Stu Thomson, who directed both “The Ridge” and “Imaginate.” “The Cuillin Ridge is seven miles long, and to get to the easiest summit is at least two hours of hiking up, and then two hours back. We had to carry food, water and all our camera gear, including the drone and eight batteries for it, in and out each day. The longest day on the mountain was 8 a.m. until 1 a.m., and included a total of seven hours of hiking for five shots in the film.”

A Swedish subway ad got a lot of attention earlier this year by showing a woman’s hair blowing beautifully in the wind whenever a train arrived. And now it has inspired another attention-grabbing display.

Since there’s not much to it beyond the reveal of this new digital ad, also from Sweden, I’ll spare you any spoilers. Credits are below the video.

Via Ads of the World.

brightcove.createExperiences();

CREDITS
Agency: Garbergs, Stockholm, Sweden
Creative Director: Petter Ödéen
Art Director: Sebastian Smedberg
Copywriter: Sedir Ajeenah
Photographer: Daniel Griffel
Account Manager: Ida Tenggren
Digital Director: Micke Ring

Feeling a little down? Don’t worry. Ikea’s new piece of furniture thinks you’re amazing.

The Swedish retailer has introduced a prototype of a mirror in Britain that looks you up and down and (thanks to Kinect technology and some “complex coding”) gives you a robo-compliment, which people appear to be as thrilled to receive as the real thing.

This “Motivational Mirror” is based on very scientific information, commissioned by the retailer itself, which found:

• 49% of Brits receive no compliments in an average week
• 43.6 million people in the U.K. are self-critical of their appearance
• 33% of the nation feel they look their worst before 9 a.m. on a Monday morning

But this mirror tries to fix all that.

Ikea also did research into which specific compliments people would like to hear. Among the top choices were “Your eyes are mesmerizing,” “Have you been working out?” and “Your skin is glowing”—all of which are incorporated into this mirror’s uplifting robo-repertoire.

The retailer demo-ed the mirror in its Wembley store to” raise awareness of how simple solutions in the home can make our daily routines better,” according to the release.

“We all know how that first look in the bathroom or bedroom mirror can determine whether we have a good or bad day,” says Myriam Ruffo, head of bedrooms and bathrooms at Ikea U.K. and Ireland. “That’s why we thought—wouldn’t it be great if the mirror actually told you something positive for a change!

It is a little funny that Ikea is trying to jump into Dove territory. (And yes, the inspirational talking mirror idea has been done before—most notably by the all-female Austin band The Mrs., but also by other marketers.) Still, no real harm done, I suppose?

Just as long as they don’t mass produce this thing. (Worst actual bedroom mirror ever.)