Starburst's "Unexplainably Juicy" ad series explores the mythology of how the chewy candy packs in so much juiciness. And the answers are quite a bit more adrenaline-fueled than you might expect.
The first explanation is that Starburst is imported from the Land of Intensity, where everyone is on a raging caffeine/steroids bender. It's the kind of place where President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho is reelected in a landslide every four years.
The second explanation is that a tiny fighter jet (complete with a custom '80s-esque theme song from composer Andrew Sherman at Butter Music and Sound) shoots juicy flavor into every individual Starburst candy before getting eaten by the family dog. Sounds legit. Besides, the real answer (corn syrup) is boring and sad.
Both spots from agency DDB Chicago and Hungry Man director Bryan Buckley follow up the previous "Miniminneapolis" ad, which explained how Starburst Minis get their juiciness. The answer, obviously, was from an uncomfortably tiny factory in an uncomfortably tiny town.
Maybe next time they can talk about why they went with an awkward nonword like "unexplainably" when "inexplicably" was right there waiting to be used.
It's such a great, simple idea: Young Brazilians want to learn English. Elderly Americans living in retirement homes just want someone to talk to. Why not connect them?
FCB Brazil did just that with its "Speaking Exchange" project for CNA language schools. As seen in the touching case study below, the young Brazilians and older Americans connect via Web chats, and they not only begin to share a language—they develop relationships that enrich both sides culturally and emotionally.
The differences in age and background combine to make the interactions remarkable to watch. And the participants clearly grow close to one another, to the point where they end up speaking from the heart in a more universal language than English.
The pilot project was implemented at a CNA school in Liberdade, Brazil, and the Windsor Park Retirement Community in Chicago. The conversations are recorded and uploaded as private YouTube videos for the teachers to evaluate the students' development.
"The idea is simple and it's a win-win proposition for both the students and the American senior citizens. It's exciting to see their reactions and contentment. It truly benefits both sides," says Joanna Monteiro, executive creative director at FCB Brazil.
Says Max Geraldo, FCB Brazil's executive director: "The beauty of this project is in CNA's belief that we develop better students when we develop better people."
CREDITS Client: CNA Project: "Speaking Exchange" Agency: FCB Brazil Executive Creative Directors: Joanna Monteiro, Max Geraldo Digital Creative Director: Pedro Gravena Creative: Vinícius Fernandes, Bruno Mazzotti, Daniel Alves, Mauricio Bina Creative Technologist: Márcio Bueno Digital Production: Brave.ag Project: Lia D'Amico Technology: Gerson Lupatini, Caio Mello Account: Mauro Silveira, Alec Cocchiaro, Pedro Führer, Thiago Figueiredo Planners: Raphael Barreto, Lia Bertoni, Pedro Schneider Media: Alexandre Ugadin, Tiago Santos, Fábio Tachibana, Sandra Carvalho, Fábio Menezes RTV: Vivi Guedes, Ana Flávia de Lucca, André Fonseca Production Company: Hungry Man Director: Ricardo Mehedff Co-direction: Fábio Pinheiro Photographers: Fernando Young (Brazil), Grant Weiss (Chicago) Production Company: Hungry Man Account Production: Mariana Marinho Editor: Rodrigo Resende Managing Partner: Alex Mehedff Executive Production: Alex Mehedff, Rodrigo Castelo Postproduction: Hungry Man; Psycho Postproduction Supervisor: Rodrigo Oliveira Sound Producer: Timbre Client Supervisors: Luciana Fortuna, Nicadan Galvão, Diego Marmo, Ricardo Martins
Royal London has been around since 1861, but the insurer decided to go even further back to explain its old-school values, like loyalty, care and "helping people hide their cheese from the Vikings."
In two new 60-second spots from agency VCCP, Royal London employs dark humor and a charmingly unfazed narrator to show how workplace hazards and priorities have changed over the centuries.
Both ads are filled with quirky moments, details and delivery, so you're bound to find at least one scene that will make you chuckle. I even laughed at the call to action: "Ask your financial adviser about it. … Or the Internet."
Euroleague ballers Shawn James, Kyle Hines, Robin Benzing and Sergio Rodriguez hoop it up poolside and make a big splash in Crispin Porter + Bogusky London's new Turkish Airlines spot that builds up to an amazing aqua-dunk.
In the making-of clip, executive producer Rob Steiner sums up the challenge: "It's a one-shot ad—30 seconds. We've got two cranes, 12 players—four pros—all of whom have to be synchronized and choreographed perfectly. We've got one day to shoot this, but in reality we've got four hours, because the professionals are only here for that time."
After 22 takes, it all came together, with the guys making improbable passes across, around and into a fancy outdoor pool in Madrid. Ultimately, the shot gets made thanks to an epic assist from a guy hovering on some sort of jet-sneaks. Boy, they sure play by different rules overseas!
Sadly, there's still a Nazi presence in Germany. Recently, an organization named Laut Gegen Nazis, or Loud Against Nazis, decided to combat the hate with lots of love—or rather, lots of likes.
On International Holocaust Memorial Day, the group encouraged a diverse group of Germans (recruited by ad agency Jung Von Matt/Elbe) to like the NDP (the country's neo-Nazi party) on Facebook and then swarm the page with positive, anti-racist messages like "For a colorful Germany." According to the case study below, more than 100,000 protesters participated in the "Like Attack," and the ensuing coverage generated some 7 million media impressions.
While it's a little unfortunate that participants had to take an action that, on its face, expressed enthusiasm for an awful political presence, the irony is obvious enough to anyone with a brain, and makes for a relatively small evil as a means for raising broader awareness of the issue.
Plus, there's the rich history in social movements of loving your enemies instead of hating them, including the work of revolutionary giants like Martin Luther King Jr.—even if the "Like Attack" doesn't have quite as much depth as some of his thoughts on the subject.
Credits below.
CREDITS Client: Laut Gegen Nazis Agency: Jung Von Matt/Elbe Chief Creative Officers: Tobias Grimm, Doerte Spengler-Ahrens Creative Directors: Hans-Peter Sporer, Henning Robert Art Directors: Thimon Machatzke, Canhur Aktuglu Writer: Luitguard Hagl Agency Producer: Dennis Wendt Sound Designer: Steven Hofmann Digital Multimedia Artist: Joscha Kadegge Producer: Anna Liem
Fulfilling the bucket list is a popular activity for brands to piggyback their message on. But how many of them are fulfilling the list for someone who's already died?
Expedia is helping fund Ty’s List, a documentary about three people (who had never met before) trying to live out a list of life goals created by their mutual friend, Tyler Lorenzi, as a way to find closure for his sudden death in a boating accident at age 23.
Although it doesn't spell it out in the trailer below, Ty's list of the best places in San Francisco is also completely achievable by the average Expedia customer, so this isn't a project that requires millions of dollars to fly to outlandish places and experience outlandish things. But while it might be affordable to accomplish, filming it is another matter, and the filmmakers continue to raise the funds needed to finish the movie. The video they made for Expedia was aimed at helping kick off the new round of fundraising, which also includes a new Kickstarter.
This expansion on the "Find Yours" campaign is far better than the stunt the brand pulled last year, sending random people to random places. That had surprise, but what we really travel for is other people—whether it's to connect with new ones or reconnect with those we already know.
And luckily for Expedia, that's also what we look for in a good commercial.
Jerram's waterslide ended up being 300 feet long, and any locals who managed to get tickets for the slide were allowed to use it. A whopping 96,000 people applied, but only 360 were selected at random to participate. Comparisons to the golden tickets from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory were made, and they're not wrong. The slide itself looks insanely fun, and a lot of people dressed for the event (the guy wearing a Flash costume is the most obvious, but there were others).
I don't know how many questions were raised about the intricacies and costs of urban planning, which was the original point of doing this, but whatever. It was a nice day and a lot of people enjoyed themselves. Sometimes that's enough.
Barbecue chefs and amateur pitmasters alike know that nothing truly useful ever comes out of a cookbook. But here's one hell of an exception.
To promote the Tramontina cookware line, JWT Brazil created a few meticulously crafted copies of a book called Biblia Definitiva Do Churrasco, or The Bible of Barbecue. Each page of the book is made to be used or destroyed in the process of creating an authentic Brazilian grilling experience.
One thick sheet shatters into chunks of charcoal, while another lights the fire and yet another fans the flame. Other pages work as an apron, sharpen knives, wrap meat, act as cutting boards and even serve the finished dish.
Only a few "master barbecue chefs" received the books, though the agency is creating a simplfied version to be sold in stores.
CREDITS:
Client: Tramontina Agency: JWT Brazil Title: The Bible of Barbecue Chief Creative Officer: Ricardo John Creative Directors: Erick Rosa, Diego Wortmann Head of Art: Fabio Simões Art Director: Lucas Reis Copywriters: Sleyman Khodor, Patrick Matzenbacher, Lucas Tristão, Fernando Duarte Photography: Régis Fernandez Illustration: Estúdio Olho Bala, Lucas Reis Production Company: Santa Transmedia Director: Gustavo Gripe Motion Designers: Guilherme Krolow, Filipe Birck Director of Photography: Raul Krebs Audio Production: Antfood
Hey, fellow morons. Just wanted to let you know the marketers are on to us.
"People want to want things. Consumers need you to go," says the Canadian Marketing Association's invitation to its 2014 national convention. As an added bonus, Toronto agency Cundari created some short, bad-on-purpose musical skits (see below) celebrating idiot consumers and their search for the meaning of life through brands.
The point of the snarky little vignettes is that no one would ever know what to buy or sell if marketers didn't tell us how to think and act. Don't know about you, but I'm craving some red soda pop right about now. Or maybe blue.
CREDITS Client: Canadian Marketing Association Agency: Cundari, Toronto Group Creative Directors: Brian Murray, Sean Ganann Art Director: Sean Ganann Copywriter: Brian Murray Director: Max Sherman / OPC Editor: Graham Chisholm / Married to Giants Colourist: Conor Fisher / Alter Ego Music: Grayson Matthews Published: May 2014
To highlight the global tragedy of children being sold into prostitution and hard labor, agency kbs+ has released three new spots for World Vision Canada's "No Child for Sale" initiative. Each spot starts with a beautiful childhood scene and ends with the stark reality of life for a child slave.
The videos are beautiful, moving and completely heart-wrenching. The "Bedtime" spot depicts lovely scenes of children falling asleep and being tucked in bed, and ends with a painful shot of a young child lying on a bed under the gaze of a pedophile customer.
The juxtaposition of the two very different childhood experiences is brutally effective. These spots—as well as the additional creative assets on the website—provide the viewer with some eye-opening awareness, and hopefully encourage all of us to take action to help end human trafficking and child slavery worldwide.
CREDITS
Agency: kbs+
TV: Director: Miles Jay Production House: OPC/FS Editor: Jackie Roda Editing House: School Editing Online Creative Credits: Fort York VFX Color: Eric Whipp, Alterego Music: Me&John, Pirate Toronto Broadcast Producer: Clare Cashman Chief Creative Officer: Matt Hassell Executive Creative Director: Dan Pawych Art Director: Travis Cowdy Writer, Creative Director: Lyranda Martin Evans Account Team: Marie Magnin, Chantelle D’Aoust
Print: Photographer: Hasnain Dattu Retoucher: Mark Jackson Chief Creative Officer: Matt Hassell Creative Director: Marketa Krivy Art Director: Braeden Laverty Writer: Alyssa Geffen Account Team: Marie Magnin, Chantelle D’Aoust
Interactive: Executive Creative Director: Dave Sylvestre Senior Art Director: Matthew May Art Director, Illustrator: Carlos Lopez Senior Copywriter: Lynne Valeriote Design Production: Matthew May Senior Development Consultant: Pat Lam Development: Lollipop Producer: Camelia Jitariu Account Team: Erin Abbatangelo, Tiffany To Business Lead: Robin Whalen Agency Account, Integration Lead: Erin Abbatangelo
Attractive models are great at being sexy in commercials—until the dialogue on the cue cards starts getting super weird and unsexy.
Have a look at this video without spoilers, then scroll down for more on the campaign.
Spoilers below…
Creative studio and production company Big Block Live created the video as a Mothers' Day campaign for Save the Children, which is on a roll lately with some great viral PSAs. Josh Ruben and Vincent Peone (Josh + Vince) directed the spot, having connected with Save the Children more than a year ago.
"We connected last year when Michael Amaditz from Save the Children saw our talk at SXSW about making funny content," Peone tells AdFreak. "They challenged us to come up with an idea that dealt with the subject matter in an evocative way."
"We essentially said, 'Let's take this a step further and add some organic reactions from our talent,' " Ruben adds. "Viewers respond to visceral material like that, and the turn really hooks you in such a fun, darkly awkward way. Save the Children already knew they wanted to use sexy content to drive attention to the cause, which is wise because, to put it bluntly, even the keyword 'sex' is an instant leg up for views."
So, how awkward did it get on the set?
"It certainly wasn't the most comfortable day on set," says Peone. "We had cast a 'director' character, Aubyn Gwinn, who did a great job at being supportive to our talent, encouraging them to give it their best shot. In the end, we were really happy with the level of commitment the models gave us, despite the ridiculous circumstances. Once the ruse was up and our models learned that they were in a Save the Children commercial, everyone was relieved and happy to have lent their performances to the cause. We were thrilled—we knew this piece could only work with genuine reactions, but we were highly sensitive about not ruining anyone's day in the process."
Gwinn, in fact, has done fashion ads, which was critical. "We made it a priority to run the set like a fashion shoot. It was crucial that it looked and felt legit," says Ruben. "We knew if we said we were directing it, there would be a slight chance we'd get recognized from CollegeHumor."
CREDITS Client: Save The Children Title: "The Most Important 'Sexy' Model Video Ever" Air Date: 5/6/14
Creative Director (Save the Children): Michael Amaditz Manager of Video Production (Save the Children): Suzanne Klaucke
Production Company: Big Block Live Directors: Josh + Vince Managing Director: Kenny Solomon Executive Producer: Mary Crosse Producer: Corwin Carroll Director of Photography: Joe Victorine
You're walking down the street and you see a giant 3-D mouth singing opera. Maybe you see an enormous, realistic rugby player taking a shower. Perhaps a gigantic Marilyn Monroe dress blowing in the breeze grabs your attention on your way to a bus stop that plays disco music if you touch the weird medallion-adorned hairy chest of a swarthy dude.
Well, if you're in France and you encounter any of these scenarios, you've probably come across the latest outdoor campaign from SNCF French Railways and agency TBWA\Paris. These crazy larger-than-life ads aim to inspire people to travel to places they are passionate about.
If you are not in France and you see these things, you may want to seek therapy.
"It's a refresh," says Kevin Vitale, marketing vp of creative and brand strategy. "It's more of a face-lift."
As part of that face-lift, the cable channel is changing its logo (its new image is "a stamp") and, as of last year, Independent Film Channel is no more—just three letters "that don't stand for anything but mean so much," Vitale jokes.
Still, film is a major part of the company's DNA, and so it's also making channel-approporiate trailers for quite a few of its most popular offerings.
Adweek responsive video player used on /video.
Among the gags: an Alien/Aliens marathon for Mother's Day; jokey content warnings that let the viewer know what he or she is in for (which is good, because IFC shows its movies uncut); and plenty of other fine-print jokes.
Vitale calls the large-font text "the hero" and the little joke above it "the sidekick," and there are plenty of both throughout the campaign. If it seems overthought, please note that it's pretty funny.
Adweek responsive video player used on /video.
It's important for IFC to have clear and clean brand imagery on its originals—and you'll see funny posters of Marc Maron (from Maron) and Reggie Watts and Scott Aukerman (from Comedy Bang! Bang!) over the course of the year—but comedy and movie networks alike must get used to sharing material and talent. Thus, little designations like "staff favorite" and "rewatch" make broadcasts of films like The Big Lebowski and Napoleon Dynamite something a little more than repeats.
Unload Your 401(k), a powerful three-minute film from Grey New York, takes aim at a new target in the debate over guns in America: the pocketbooks of firearms companies.
The video supports UnloadYour401K.com, a site where consumers can find out if their retirement portfolios include gun manufacturers. A coalition of 20 organizations, led by Campaign to Unload and States United to Prevent Gun Violence, is behind the initiative.
The film doesn't waste time trying to persuade gun rights advocates. Instead it makes its appeal to those already passionately opposed to gun violence, and perhaps those on the fence, imploring them to take action. The case for divestment, a tactic that played a role in ending South African Apartheid and changing U.S. tobacco policy, is mainly made by the parents, relatives and teachers of young people killed and maimed at by gun violence.
"They're making money off the backs of dead people," says Lori Haas, whose daughter was shot at Virginia Tech. "I just can't tolerate it. And I won't let my money support it."
"This industry is not going to respond to moral sentiments, that's clear," says Eric Milgram, the father of two Sandy Hook survivors. "They will respond to economic pain."
A simple, low-tech wall of remembrance with a timeline, photos and clips (starting at Columbine, 15 years ago) is a visual focal point in a presentation uncluttered by news footage or reenactments.
The most stirring testimony comes from trauma surgeon Dr. Sheldon Teperman: "I'm covered in blood. We've done everything we can do and someone has to go tell the family. So they are sitting in a waiting room, and I know how this works, so I steel myself for this, because I know that when I walk into the room … I'm going to snatch all of the light and all of the hope and all of the air from that parent's life.
"There is a lot of profit to be made for all of this sorrow, all of this death and all of this destruction. Ultimately, it is all about the money."
Taking your kid to the beach means worrying he or she will wander off when you're not looking. Enter sunscreen brand Nivea and FCB São Paolo with a campaign that basically provides you with a LoJack for your child.
Titled "Sun Band," the combination print-and-mobile execution lets you pop a bracelet out of the magazine ad, wrap it around your child's arm, download an app, sync them and set a perimeter. If your kid wanders outside the safe zone, an alarm sounds, so you can go chasing after him or her. (Presumably, if you lose your phone, too, just whip out your tablet and Find My iPhone to recover your gadget, and then your child.)
The ad ran in April in select copies of Veja Rio magazine sent to a group of subscribers. The bracelet is supposedly "humidity resistant" and reusable, though one has to wonder how much water it can really withstand.
Anyways, it's a fun idea that effectively signals the brand's devotion to protecting your offspring. If you're still not satisfied with the mechanics, you can always do it the old-fashioned way and get a harness and a leash—or, you know, just stay close and pay attention to your child.
Adweek responsive video player used on /video.
CREDITS Client: Nivea Agency: FCB Brasil, São Paulo Executive Creative Directors: Joanna Monteiro, Max Geraldo Digital Creative Director: Pedro Gravena Creative: Victor Bustani, Raphael Leandro de Oliveira, Andre Bittar Digital Production: Geek Group Art Buyers: Tina Castro, Daniel Gonçalves Photographer: Lucio Cunha Image Treatment: Boreal Graphic Production: Edgardo Pasotti, Diego Bischoff Graphic Design, Development: Companygraf Media: Alexandre Ugadin, Tiago Santos, Sergio Brotto, Rachid Antum, Caio Melo Project: Lia D’Amico Technology: Gerson Lupatini, Caio Mello Creative Technologist: Márcio Bueno Account: Mauro Silveira, Cristiane Pereira, Tania Muller, Mariana Mozzaquatro, Vitor Borragine Planners: Rapha Barreto, Lia Bertoni RTV: Viviane Guedes, Ricardo Magozo Production Company: Edit 2 Director: Rodrigo Fleury Account Production: Daniela Andreade Finishing Production: Priscila Prado Animation: Rodrigo Resende, Eduardo Brandão Composition: Eduardo Brandão Editor: Rodrigo Resende Finishing Production: Edit 2 Audio: Satélite Audio Sound Producer: Equipe Satélite Audio Account: Fernanda Costa, Marina Castilho Client Supervisors: Tatiana Ponce, Patricia Picolo, Beatriz Vale, Lilian Cruz, Ana Borges, Katia Margy, Julia Sabbag
John Oliver clearly wasn't out to make marketing friends when his show Last Week Tonight debuted on HBO last month. In addition to bashing the Cover Oregon ads by Portland agency North, Oliver also dismissed Pom Wonderful as snake oil and suggested putting stickers on Pom's juice bottles saying it contains dogs.
While North replied with a vehemently defensive blog post, the pomegranate juice maker took a different route. On Sunday night's episode, Oliver read a lengthy letter from Pom, which also sent the host a refrigerator and several cases of the drink.
The strangely stilted letter ("We like to think we're able to take a joke. It was very funny. We laughed hard") definitely accomplished its goal, getting Oliver to give the brand a bit of a fairer shake (though not quite a free pass).
If nothing else, it's good to know Pom hasn't totally dismissed the idea of a pomegranate enema.
Here's a powerful example of the potential of social media and brand charity.
Friends of an Ohio teenager who was born without a full right arm launched a #HandforTorri campaign on Twitter to get her a prosthesis. The effort led them to contact The Buried Life, the troupe of young guys who built a bucket-list-themed media franchise, including a couple of seasons of an MTV show and a book. They in turn persuaded Hanger Inc., a top manufacturer of prosthetics, to give Torri a $150,000 bionic arm.
It's an amazing story, reminiscent of Matthew James, the British teen and drag racing fan who a few years back convinced Mercedes to gift him a prosthesis. Thankfully, Torri's gift appears to come minus any talk of slapping a car marketer's brand on her new limb.
Check out the video below, and maybe keep a couple tissues handy.
As someone whose Facebook feed is roughly 70 percent pictures of people's kids, I feel comfortable saying they get boring after a while. Luckily, digital artist John Wilhelm is around to shake things up.
He made a whole series of manipulated photos in which his three daughters go about their everyday routines—like presenting flowers to huge bison, gnawing down trees, working as coal-smudged engine drivers and battling cephalopods in the bathtub. Some of the images look more natural than others, but they all have a weird storybook quality to them that's a welcome relief from the Instagram/Pinterest-induced sameness I've been seeing.
Check out this interview with Wilhelm at Bored Panda. Asked about the inspirations for his photos, he replies: "I guess I watched just a little too much TV and played too many video games when I was a kid."
Sounds like a perfectly acceptable tagline for ads promoting safe sex, right? Well, what if you were literally preserved like a slab of beef? Sounds a bit claustrophobic, no?
Condomania and Ogilvy and Mather Tokyo have binded forces to bring us some of the weirdest prophylactic ads to date. The Japanese artist known as Photographer Hal, who shot the work, finds "interesting couples" in bars and invites them into his studio to photograph them vacuum packed in plastic futon storage bags.
In the mini-documentary below, he explains his concept. "Human beings aren't completed if they're just by themselves," he says. "It's when they come together, when they come really close that they're finally completed. That's why I pack them together."
Imagine if Photographer Hal had shot John and Yoko instead of Annie Leibowitz.
UPDATE: The site was working earlier but seems to be having trouble now, making it even more unhelpful! Original item below:
Hearing sarcastic web-design appraisals delivered in dulcet, Siri-esque tones is everyone's idea of big fun. So Ryan McLeod, Grant MacLennan and David Park from Equator, a digital agency in Glasgow, Scotland, created Critique That Shit.
It's a bonnie time waster! Type in a URL and get a none-too-serious (read: totally random) site critique. Its judgment of AdFreak: "I am crying like a little sissy girl, but they are tears of utter joy. Your work is spectacular." Wait, did I say these critiques were random and sarcastic? That sounds spot on to me.
"In digital, everybody has an opinion on creative direction—be it the director, the marketing team, client services or the client—and therefore it's pretty easy to find the quotes," MacLennan tells AdFreak. "It was this we really wanted to have fun with, to take the silly quotes out of the context of their project."
Some other notable quips from the robo critic: "Your negative space is so dope, it should be more like positive space," "You targeted the shit out of that market" and "You are, like, so ahead of the trend."
"The Siri-esque voice just adds to the overall stupidness of the idea," MacLennan says. "It's super deadpan, but at the same time slightly patronizing."
Siri-inspired audio also rocks MacLennan's RapperWisdom.com. The voice reads pretentious Kanye West quotes—such as "I am Warhol … I am Shakespeare in the flesh" and "I am a God. Now what?"—accompanied by a celestial choir and pious "amens."
"I had a look through Kanye's tweet history and realized they are all absolutely amazing," says MacLennan. "I re-styled it as the church, with Kanye bestowing on you his wisdom."
Well, Grant, I think this quip from Critique That Shit sums up my feelings best: "I 100 percent appreciate your design efforts!"
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
