Hasta La Creative!

Rats and mice are not endangered species in New York City. (There are thought to be at least as many rats as people in the Big Apple, and there could be five times as many.) But d-CON, the rodent control company, is taking its small victories against our furry friends and publicly celebrating them in an amusing new campaign from Havas Worldwide.

As one part of the integrated campaign, the agency put missing posters for rodents all over the city, at mice level (though presumably not in the subway, where they'd be more likely to be proven wrong in an instant). Havas also created the darkly comic videos below, in which mice families deal with the horror of having ingested d-CON products.

Because if there's one advertising category where depictions of painful death are acceptable, even enjoyed, it's pest control.

   
CREDITS
Client: d-CON
Agency: Havas Worldwide, New York
Chief Creative Officer: Darren Moran              
Group Creative Directors: Dustin Duke, Jon Wagner
Creative Director: Eric Rojas
Creative Director: Gian Carlo Lanfranco
Creative Director: Rolando Cordova
Writer: Eric Bertuccio             
Global Chief Content Officer: Vin Farrell
Co-Head of Production, North America: Sylvain Tron
Executive Producer: Deepa Joshi
Producer Erin Jackson
Chief Strategy Officer: Tim Maleeny
Group Planning Director: Kerin Morrison                      
Senior Strategist: Chris Lake
Global Brand Director: Betsy Simons
Group Account Director: Joe Maglio
Account Supervisor: Darah Rifkin
Production Company: Bar 1
Director: Joe Barone                     
Mixer: Tim Leitner                    
Casting Director: Dawn Mjoen                  
Production Designer: Radek Hanak, Unit+Sofa                              
Editor: David Bartin, Studio 6

The only thing Subservient Chicken got on his 5th birthday in 2009 was a blog post about how the agencies involved in his creation bickered over who really deserved credit. For his 10th birthday, though, the chicken flies again.

Except, actually, he's been grounded. The initial idea behind the new campaign—which promotes the Chicken Big King sandwich—is that the chicken has gone missing. BK placed half-page ads in a handful of Sunday newspapers asking if people had seen him. The photo above was posted to Twitter.

The subservientchicken.com website is live again, too, but brings up a 2004-style error message, which you can see below, and also includes some crudely Photoshopped surveillance images showing the chicken's most recent whereabouts. A short movie about the fleeting fame of Internet celebrities is expected to hit the site on Wednesday morning, followed by more creative executions.

It's not too surprising that BK is going back to the well on this one—many fast-food joints tend to revisit their big successes at some point or other. And Subservient Chicken was the go-to example of innovate digital advertising for years. Also, it's been so long since his heyday that lots of younger people simply have never heard of the chicken. As one fan wrote on Twitter of the missing-person teaser: "You guys buy Chick-fil-a?"

For adult comic fans, superheroes and beer always go together. But Orlando, Fla.-based graphic designer Marcelo Rizzetto is taking that pairing to a new level by creating beers inspired by each member of D.C.'s Justice League.

His first six bottles honor Batman (of course), Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and the Flash. In addition to incorporating each hero's logo into their beer label, he's created varietal names that correspond with each character. For example, Batman is a dark ale, Green Lantern is a pale ale, the Flash is an Irish red ale, and Wonder Woman is a classic American lager.

Honestly, that last one should have gone to Aquaman, just to continue the old joke about American beer being mostly water.

Check them all out below:

Via Design Taxi.

Need a new reason to cry at weddings? Tosando, a Japanese company that offers musical instruments and lessons, is pleased to oblige with this intense, time-tripping tear-jerker.

The short film tells the story of a widowed, middle-aged father and his daughter on her wedding day. At the reception, dad sits at the piano and attempts to play Pachelbel's Canon, which opens the floodgates for memories both happy and sad. The flashbacks are a tad disorienting at first, but you'll get the gist. (RocketNews24 has a handy breakdown/translation for those in need.) There's a nice shot of the bride's hands playing along on the table as pop struggles with the song. Her pissy disapproval of his decision to play gives the scene an extra dose of reality and keeps things from getting too sentimental.

Judging from reactions around the Web, this finely crafted cinematic spot, clocking in at more than three minutes, has left more than a few viewers misty-eyed.

Indeed, emotion-stirring ads from Asia are a big deal these days. Thai mobile company TrueMove told an immensely popular sob story last year, and Thai Life Insurance has twice turned on the waterworks to impressive effect. In Japan, Intel recently pitched in with this epic 13-minute base-bawler.

All advertising is manipulative to some degree, but at least these weepers win us over with deft manipulation. Such spots broadly play on our emotions without stepping over the line into maudlin territory. These commercials truly make us feel something, which is a lot more than I can say for much of the self-consciously wacky ad campaigns still being trotted out for American audiences. Sometimes that crap is so lame it makes me want to cry.

It's been a good day for at least one clown on this Earth—Ronald McDonald, who received a fashionable makeover. But it's worth remembering that things aren't so great for all the nonfamous clowns out there.

For example: The clown in the ad below could be doing better. It's actually not client work—it's a short film by Cargo Collective director Crobin for the nonexistent British jobs website Jobbuilder.co.uk. (The URL links through to the director's website.) It's a rich minute of gorgeous despair, though not recommended for coulrophobes.

Via Reddit.

CREDITS
Director: Crobin
Producers: Grayson Ross, Joe Labbadia, Pudding Boy Productions
Writer, Editor, Production, Visual Effects: Crobin
Director of Photography: Ed David
Gaffer: Adam Uhl
Makeup: Miriam Robstad
Audio: David Perlick Molinari, YouTooCanWoo
Actor: Thomas Grube
Casting: Tom O'Hare

The trend toward branded out-of-home machines that actively hate humans might have reached its apex with this stunt by PlayStation, which shocked commuters in Antwerp's Central Station by, uh, literally shocking them.

To promote the PS4 game Infamous: Second Son, a mysterious booth was set up in the lobby. People were goaded to stick their fingers in two holes in the front. Those who did got an electric shock. If they could endure it for five seconds (like that one guy at the end, who is eerily nonchalant about it), they were rewarded with a free copy of the game—whose hero apparently has some kind of electricity superpower.

I wonder if the creatives behind this ad were Mr. Show fans, because the execution here isn't unlike a G-rated version of The Joke: The Musical.

Fifteen seconds is short for an ad, never mind a film. But Heineken and Wieden + Kennedy New York premiered just such a movie at the Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday night—based on a fan's tweet about an evil Abraham Lincoln clone.

"They clone Abe Lincoln's DNA and name the clone president for life…except there's one problem: the clone is evil," Dennis Lazar, aka @awsommovieideas, wrote as his winning submission to the brewer's #15secondpremiere contest, which asked for fans' their wildest movie ideas. Those 115 characters (he had to leave room for the hashtag) were then crafted by a Hollywood film crew into 15 seconds of film—called Linclone.

You can check out the mini-movie below. The credits take way longer than the film itself—luckily there are some outtakes to keep things interesting.

Lazar was flown to New York and given the green carpet treatment by the Tribeca sponsor at the festival. Guests included Robert De Niro himself, who really should have played Lincoln if we're being honest.

Credits and more below.

 
The movie poster:

 
Lazar and DeNiro:

 
A deleted scene from the movie:

 
An interview with the director:

 
CREDITS
Client: Heineken
Project: #15SecondPremiere

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, New York
Executive Creative Director: Susan Hoffman
Creative Directors: Eric Steele, Erik Norin
Copywriter: Mike Vitiello
Art Director: Cory Everett
Social Strategist: Jessica Abercrombie
Brand Strategist: Kelly Lynn Wright
Senior Interactive Strategist: Tom Gibby
Community Manager: Rocio Urena
Head of Content Production: Nick Setounski
Producer: Owen Katz
Print Producer: Kristen Althoff
Broadcast Traffic Supervisor: Sonia Bisono
Studio Designer: Chris Kelsch
Account Team: Patrick Cahill, Samantha Wagner, Kristen Herrington
Business Affairs: Lisa Quintela
Project Manager: Rayna Lucier

Production Company: Jefferson Projects
Executive Producer: Chris Totushek
Director: Eric Appel
Director of Photography: Mathew Rudenberg

Production Company: Whitehouse Post
Editor: Alaster Jordan
Assistant Editor: Matt Schaff
Executive Producer: Lauren Hertzberg
Producer: Alejandra Alarcon
Original Music: The Ski Team

Postproduction Company: Carbon VFX
Lead Compositor: Matt Reilly
Smoke Artist: Joe Scaglione
AE Artist: Maxime Benjamin
Executive Producer: Frank Devlin
Colorist: Yohance Brown
Surround Mix: Sound Lounge
Engineer: Justin Kooy
Executive Producer: Harrison Nalevansky

Cast and Crew
Abraham Linclone: Robert Broski
Dr. Satterberg: Eric Satterberg
Chief Justice: Paul Gregory
1st Assistant Director: Scott Metcalfe
2nd Assistant Director: Steve Bagnara
Production Supervisor: Megan Sullivan
DIT: Scott Resnick
Gaffer: Cody Jacobs
Key Grip: Kyle Honnig
Best Boy Electric: Brandon Wilson
Best Boy Grip: Ceaser Martinez
Set Decorator: Mark Wolcott
Prop Master: Eric Berg
Sound: Bo Sundberg
Boom Operator: Danny Carpenter
VTR: Carlos Patzi
Wardrobe Assistant: Beckee Craighead
Make-up Stylist: Kat Bardot
Make-up Assistant: Becca Weber
Production Assistants: Atif Ekulona, Eric Browning, Ewa Pazera, Julio Cordero, Desire Brumfield
Craft Services: Christina Gonzalez

Gloria Gaynor's disco classic "I Will Survive" gets remade as an anti-bullying anthem in this VH1 spot by Del Campo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi in Argentina, showing tormented boys and girls singing out their plans for sweet revenge in adulthood.

Expertly staged by music-video veteran Agustin Alberdi and boasting a great cast, the ad feels kind of like a musical number from Glee in its heyday. It opens with a kid enduring the indignity of a dual swirly/pantsing: "First I was afraid, I was petrified/They flushed my head several times, exposing my behind." Other tortured middle-schoolers soon pick up the thread. One looks ahead to the day when, "Oh my power, I will abuse/I'll be the CEO, you'll be the one who shines my shoes." Another promises, "I'm gonna call you night and day/And on weekends I'll send texts/Ask you for all kinds of things, making sure you never rest."

On one level, the video is a marvel of wish-fulfillment that anyone who's ever been picked on or put down during lunch period or study hall can instantly relate to. Believing you can turn the tables feels great, and the spot hits all the right notes in that regard.

Still, the tone and message ultimately fall flat. The revenge motif, though lighthearted, seems to perpetuate the cycle of bullying, with today's victims becoming tomorrow's oppressors. Yes, it's handled with a deft touch and good humor—and the jerks in the boy's bathroom using that kid's head as a toilet scrubber certainly have it coming.

Even so, breaking the cycle and discouraging the behavior should be the goal, shouldn't it? There's really none of that here. (Contrast VH1's approach with Everynone's short film on bullying from a few years back, which really captured the complexity of the issue.)

Also, ultimately, these bullies are free to go about their brutish business. Vague threats of corporate comeuppance 20 years hence seem pretty lame when victims ripe for pantsing are available in the here and now. Meanwhile, the terrorized kids tunefully suffer and bide their time, fated to wait decades for "revenge" which, let's face it, may never come.

Bullies grow up to be bosses sometimes, and nerds aren't always management material, no matter how earnestly kids in PSAs sing to the contrary.

Credits below.

CREDITS
Client: VH1
Spot: "I Will Survive"
Agency: Del Campo Saatchi & Saatchi
Executive Creative Directors: Maxi Itzkoff, Mariano Serkin
Creative Directors: Juan Pablo Lufrano, Ariel Serkin /Dani Minaker, Sebastian Tarazaga
Agency Producers: Andy Gulliman, Felipe Calviño, Adrian Aspani
Account Director: Ana Bogni
Production Company: Landia, Stink
Director: Agustin Alberdi
Executive Producers: Daniel Bergmann, Andy Fogwill, / Diego Robino
Producer: Nell Jordan
Director of Photography: Carlos Ritter
Post house: Electric Theatre Collective
Sound: Pure Sound

Humans generally consider themselves to be better than pigeons in all ways, significant or not. But are we, really?

JetBlue's "Air on the Side of Humanity" campaign from Mullen, which launched last fall in Boston and is now rolling out to New York and Florida markets, suggests we're actually quite pigeon-like ourselves—at least, those of us who don't fly JetBlue are.

Indeed, much like the humble pigeon, who flies in crowded spaces, gets crumbs for snacks and is generally ignored and/or despised, we tend to be unappreciated when we take to the skies aboard other airlines.

Along with the TV work, JetBlue has been running a new Web series from Funny or Die that extends this notion of pigeon-on-human empathy. Called "Shoo's Bird's Eye View," the series stars a pigeon named Shoo who watches humans go about their business—and wryly remarks on how odd people can be.

The idea is that, through his comical observations, we might come to see the errors of our ways—like flying those airlines that don't have JetBlue in their name.

"The idea of bringing these two brands together, JetBlue and Funny or Die, was really appealing from the start," says Tim Vaccarino, executive creative director at Mullen. "Both have great sensibilities and a unique perspective on things. A way of getting right at the truth in a smart humorous way."

He added: "The use of the pigeon POV was a conscious one. It allowed us a unique perspective on humans and all their quirks. It let us show things we humans do every day but may overlook or ignore. Through Shoo's simple yet comical observations, the hope is people will wake up and change bad behavior. Such as the behavior of accepting a substandard level of customer service when we travel, for example. Just a thought."

The "Air on the Side of Human Campaign" has also included custom homepage takeovers, branded Spotify playlists, an interactive mobile rich media game and lifelike Pigeon Props riding atop taxi cabs.

To promote its new summer line, H&M partnered with supermodel Gisele Bundchen to create a song that will be sold online as a Unicef fundraiser. Unfortunately, the song is really, really bad.

It's a cover of Blondie's 1978 hit "Heart of Glass," orchestrated this time around by French producer Bob Sinclar. The single debuted on Good Morning America this week and is set to be released on Ultra Records, with the royalties going to Unicef.

In the accompanying music video, Bundchen sings (with plenty of autotune backing) and dances in various pieces from H&M's new swimsuit collection. As you might expect, the swimsuits look great, especially on Gisele. 

But then there's the song itself, which is rather painful. I hate saying that because, you know, they're donating to Unicef and all, but surely they could have picked a different track? Or a different talent?

Normally I would just suggest muting the video and queuing up a better song, but it's the iTunes downloads that actually send dollar bills Unicef's way. So hopefully, for the kids, you disagree with me completely and think this track is amazing.

Or, as "Ethical Adman" Tom Megginson suggests, you could just buy Blondie's version and then make a donation to Unicef.