I took a speed reading class once when I was in college. It seemed the smart thing to do, given the intense workload. But I couldn’t train my eye to skim. Then one day the teacher asks, “by chance are you a writer?” Writers can’t speed read, she told me. They care too much about […]
The post Honda Wants To Push You To Read Real Fast appeared first on AdPulp.
Pennsylvania-based Yuengling often casts itself as “America’s oldest brewery,” and over the past couple of years it has enjoyed a PBR-style renaissance amongst those who shall not be named (it has topped many past lists of potential successors now that everyone drinks the Pabst unironically).
If you live in the Boston area, you may have heard rumblings of the brew’s return to area stores in 2013; later reports held that the company would invest “millions” in its relaunch. Way back in 2010, trendsetter Barack Obama even declared it his “favorite beer” and sent a case to friends in Canada (though we don’t quite believe him considering the White House’s own much-hyped affinity for brewing).
Now the sudsy company has chosen an agency of record: Allen & Gerritsen, the Boston shop that merged with Philadelphia’s Neiman Group in 2013. The coming campaign will attempt to “bring its history to life while reaching a younger generation” via a documentary-style video, a print campaign, and tattoos from diehard fans.
The campaign is not live at the moment; it will launch in March/early April and run east of the Mississippi with a focus in Pennsylvania. But we do have the “making of” spot here:
That’s enough to get a good sense of how the down-home campaign will turn out. Chris Reif, SVP of creative and innovation at A&G, writes:
“It’s awesome to have the opportunity to partner with such an iconic American brand – and one that we happen to be huge fans of. It’s rare to be able to work in such a great category with a family-owned company that has a cult-like following nationwide, and it makes our job a lot of fun. We’re psyched to continue our relationship with Yuengling and can’t wait to see fans’ reactions to the Respect campaign.”
Now pardon us while we sample the case we may or may not have received earlier this week.
Business results. ROI. Clients love it; ergo, agencies must provide it to remain essential. Enter the Warc 100, an annual ranking of the world’s 100 best campaigns and companies, based on their performance in effectiveness and strategy competitions. The rankings are compiled based on the winners of 87 effectiveness and strategy awards from around the […]
The post Tame Your Lion And Pencil Worshipers, Effectiveness Is The New Black appeared first on AdPulp.
Today we can confirm that CP+B has lost the Vitaminwater account after nearly four years.
Crispin won the Coca-Cola property’s business in early 2011, leading AdAge to declare that the agency had achieved “a stronger foothold” on the parent company’s roster. That headline referenced the Coke Zero account, which went to Droga5 in 2012; Ogilvy won that business last August.
The matter of where the work will go next is less clear, but a source close to the matter tells us that, as in the case of Coke Zero, WPP can claim victory.
We cannot confirm which specific agency will handle creative, but Coca-Cola did recently expand its relationship with the WPP organization by both giving its Coke Zero account to Ogilvy (which had worked on the brand in the past) and assigning all PR/marketing work for the upcoming Uefa Euro 2016 football tournament to a group of WPP firms including Possible, Geometry Global, and Media-Com.
Also: this move only concerns the primary Vitaminwater account and not Smartwater or Fruitwater, which ran ads created by Zambezi last year.
CP+B’s most recent notable campaign for the now-former client starred Kevin Hart and debuted in May 2014.
In case you needed a refresher, Exposure is a London-based ad/marketing/PR agency with offices on the Eastern edge of Manhattan’s TriBeCa. Past and current clients include Nike, Converse, G-Shock, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft, and notable campaigns include the “redesign” of the classic Coke bottle and the introduction of Netflix to the UK.
Since TriBeCa hosts more than its share of agencies and Exposure already occupied the second, third, fourth, and fifth floors of the building at 393 Broadway, its principals recently decided to complete their takeover of the entire structure by turning its ground floor into an “idea gallery” called The Supermarket.
What will happen in this space? The agency’s answer is, effectively, “something new and different every month.”
We stopped the unofficial soft opening party last week and, between rum and cokes and conversations with sculptors, spoke to Exposure global CEO Raoul Shah and New York Creative Director Tom Phillips to learn more about the project.
Phillips says, “Very simply put, we’ll be combining commerce with culture.” The agency also created its own font for the facade.
Shah notes that the space will be “open to all” and that anyone in the world can see what’s going on there at any given moment by visiting thesupermarket.nyc.
The very first exhibition housed in the space will be a collection of film and photography sponsored by Exposure client G-Shock. For the next project, Shah tells us that several British fashion brands that remain obscure to American consumers plan a “retail installation” in which they partner with other, unnamed creative parties.
“There’s no formula and we’re not going to try to replicate what happens here,” Shah says. Exposure won’t be “restricted to working only with clients,” and Shah wants to encourage others bold enough pitch their own ideas.
Other possibilities include:
The last idea might prove problematic given New York’s notoriously strict liquor license application process, but the point is that the space allows the agency to place the more daring work of clients and partners “directly in front of the consumer.”
As Phillips puts it, “The Supermarket has to reflect the diversity of the work we do as an agency.”
In fact, Exposure’s principals see the project as their agency’s own “brand” — but it’s certainly not a nonprofit venture. From Shah:
“It would be crazy to make this a self-indulgent space for us to feature things because we like them. It’s not a space for young designers who don’t have any money.”
While Shah and partners want to make sure that each project presented at The Supermarket is financially viable, Exposure is an independent business — which means there’s no need to prove its ROI to a holding company or a formal group of investors.
Shah and Phillips both tell us that they hope The Supermarket will, in time, inspire clients to take more risks in their own work because “we don’t want to be playing catch-up.”
Here’s a short intro video…
Phillips adds, “to be able to create a brand from scratch is exciting. It’s a physical space, but we will be creating products.”
The Supermarket opens on March 26th.
Chicago-based international agency Leo Burnett will close its New York office after approximately four years.
The office, which opened in February 2011 with a staff of 15 full-time employees, earned an extensive profile by Rupal Parekh of AdAge and coverage from Stuart Elliott of The New York Times; Elliott noted the crowdsourced “New York writes itself” campaign that served as Leo Burnett’s formal introduction to our city.
Here’s the official statement:
“Leo Burnett has decided to close Leo Burnett New York to focus on growth opportunities with Rokkan, Leo Burnett Business, Leo Burnett Chicago and the broader global network.
Leo Burnett New York created some of the most awarded, unconventional and talked-about work in the industry during its five years on Park Avenue. The company is very proud and thankful for the creativity and innovation that Leo Burnett New York put out into the world.”
The closing follows the April 2014 departure of Jay Benjamin, chief creative who led the New York team and now serves as EVP/CCO at Saatchi & Saatchi New York. During his time in the CCO position, Leo Burnett won Chobani and produced work for Bacardi, Samsung, and Harris Tweed (among others).
Other top executives left after Benjamin: EVP/ECD Michael Canning accepted the GCD role at 72andSunny in July, and Managing Director Tom Flanagan, who helped launch the New York location and led the agency’s entertainment efforts, departed in January.
In his 2011 article, Elliott noted that Burnett “has had service offices in New York, but never a full-fledged operation.”
Here’s a bit of catnip for our regulars: we recently posted on StrawberryFrog’s plans to advertise European (eyebrow) waxing in a campaign tied very, very tightly to the blockbuster softcore film 50 Shades of Grey.
Here’s the ad viewers saw over the long weekend:
//
Yesterday, however, the ‘frog’s new MD Chris Perkins told MediaPost that the agency’s new direction isn’t just about promoting nice eyebrows via pop culture touchstones…it’s about fomenting a “cultural revolution.
“The agency is “rebooting” itself. The problem, as Perkins explains it, is that most agencies “see what works from the past and then they just continue it.”
“You develop the creative brief, work against it for six months, and doing round after round of work. At StrawberryFrog we have a better way to do it, a new way of looking at it.”
What is this new way?
“We look in society, into insights that strike a nerve, that are highly relevant, that are passions…Then we connect these powerful forces to the brand benefit, purpose, and value set — and BANG.”
Perkins elaborates, telling MediaPost that the agency’s responsibilities moving forward are more about turning “big cultural movement ideas into sustainable activation” that drive sales…while winning as many industry awards as possible.
In an effort to more effectively sell itself, StrawberryFrog will soon launch a new website; Perkins has more in the MediaPost story, but here’s one topic on which he will almost certainly agree with our readers:
“Right now, Pharma ads are so awful. And they really don’t need to be.”
New, revolutionary work to come.
Have you ever been tasked with selling mattresses? It’s the stuff of newspaper circulars and badvertising on late night TV. Which makes me like this Serta brand campaign from Doner even more. An agency with retail chops can butter its bread with work like this. It’s humorous, offbeat and memorable. The challenge here is to […]
The post He Wants An Alpaca Farm, But You’re Not Losing Any Sleep appeared first on AdPulp.
Remember Partners + Napier? The Rochester-based agency has appeared on this humble blog for an animated Kodak campaign, the wooing of a “big agency” Ogilvy executive, and the usual staffing reductions.
This week, members of the shop’s Manhattan office did a bit of OOH trolling and managed to score local press mentions thanks to a PR push that amounted to Tweeting the image below at everyone from Gawker and BuzzFeed to Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian (in addition to dropping some mentions in our anonymous tip box).
@AgencySpy This is how @pnycagency welcomed @KanyeWest to Flatiron Plaza for his performance tonight. #AllStarWeekend pic.twitter.com/uUS4uVdMNQ
— PNYC (@pnycagency) February 13, 2015
Congratulations, PNYC: you did it (note the double URL there).
Pitchfork mentioned the stunt yesterday, and local blog Gothamist talked to the single-name duo Matt and Jason (who would be aforementioned executive Matt Dowshen and ECD Jason Marks, veteran of Ogilvy, CP+B and R/GA).
Here’s their pitch:
“We are an agency actively researching the effects of Out of Home (OOH) advertising. We found out Kanye was playing outside of our building and we wanted to make a point about being in the right place at the right time with the right message and how that can be amplified through digital channels. And… don’t fuck with Beck.”
Neither pop music’s self-appointed savoir nor his super-cheeky bride have responded to this blatant act of provocation, but the agency’s social media manager had a fun 24 hours:
.@KimKardashian when she eventually sees all of our crazy tweets. pic.twitter.com/Xl3uU5pLgY — PNYC (@pnycagency) February 13, 2015
Michael McDonald put us up to it. — PNYC (@pnycagency) February 13, 2015
Just kidding. It was McDonald, Tswift, Beck, and a random assortment of crowd-hating, noise-averse residents in the Flatiron District.
— PNYC (@pnycagency) February 13, 2015
Score one for persistence, then.
McKinney has recently been pushing its creatives to work on projects that have nothing to do with clients in an effort labeled “McKinney Ten Percent.” Past work has included the Twitter influencer tool Crows Nest and SPENT, an interactive game simulating homelessness. (Tagline: “It’s Just Stuff. Until You Don’t Have It.“)
The agency’s latest such work is a Valentine’s Day-themed stunt to help bitter exes get over their recent breakups. The idea is that you send a pic to @ShredYourEx and watch it get, well, shredded.
Here’s the first contextual video, which appears to be a case study of a failed relationship between a copywriter and an account manager (just kidding):
Because this project is all about charity, here’s a mention of cat poop:
McKinney Copywriter Dylan Meagher told us more about the project:
“We realized that Valentine’s Day sucks for a lot of people. We created ShredYourEx.tv to give all those cold hearts the chance to warm up by a fire — a fire fueled by spite.”
Sounds perfect for our readers.
“Using Instagram or Twitter, simply send @ShredYourEx a picture of your ex tagged with #ShredYourEx to watch it print directly into our commercial-grade shredder on ShredYourEx.tv. And if that wasn’t enough, all shreds are donated to Paws4Ever, a local animal shelter, and used as litter for their kittens.
Just let that visual sink in.
McKinney’s #ShredYourEx provides a public service to the broken-hearted living in a digital world. In the old days, you could burn or rip those pictures of your ex stashed under your bed. You can’t do that with a digital photo, and simply deleting it doesn’t offer the same satisfaction as physically destroying it. So on a day when you’re bombarded with sad reminders of old flames, we’re here to help.”
On the “how we did it”:
“In order to take Instagram and Twitter information from the Web directly to a printer, we hacked the printer API, which uses the Common Unix Printing System (or CUPS).
A thin PHP wrapper checks Instagram and Twitter user information for three things: mention of the @ShredYourEx handle, the hashtag #ShredYourEx and an image. If a post contains all three, ShredYourEx sends the image directly to the printer.
True heartbreak deserves more than deletion. Experience the kind of catharsis possible only through physical ruin with #ShredYourEx.”
The project unfortunately appears to have grown a bit too popular for its own good:
Annnd we’re back up and running! You guys almost broke the machine last night with all the posts. Keep it up! pic.twitter.com/SJuN8LEHA1
— ShredYourEx (@ShredYourEx) February 12, 2015
And so our lonely stock photo of Mila Kunis waits to be shredded.
Maybe the algorithm doesn’t consider what we had together a “relationship.” Our faith in artificial intelligence has been restored.
JWT’s London office won lead creative duties on the Ribena account.
Never heard of it? Ribena is a UK-based bottled juice company that was once #4 in that market before being acquired from GlaxoSmithKline by Japanese group Suntory. It now claims to be the most popular such brand in the United Kingdom, so it’s like a mix of Naked Juice and Sunny D.
The client, which announced an agency review back in October 2014, is big enough to attract Grey London (which runs global creative), Mother, and VCCP to pitch alongside JWT. Incumbent M&C Saatchi had run the account in the UK and Ireland since 2005 but was not involved in the pitch “given the opportunities…within the soft-drinks category.”
The client’s marketing director on why JWT won:
“As well as showing some strong strategic thinking, the pitch team demonstrated a deep understanding of the brand’s rich history, its wonderful personality and the great opportunities that lie ahead.”
From London CCO John Cherry:
“Quite simply, Ribena is great. It holds a special place in the hearts of the British public. To get the opportunity to move it forward and make it even more loved is truly fantastic.”
This was Saatchi’s last work for the client:
Conventional wisdom says agencies are not supposed to have a style, or a consistent “look and feel” across its body of work for a variety of clients. Wieden + Kennedy isn’t big on conventional wisdom. Thus it’s no surprise that the agency’s new Turbo Tax Super Bowl spot shares a lot in common with a […]
The post Wieden + Kennedy Rolls Out the Stars & Stripes. Again. appeared first on AdPulp.
An agency based in Los Angeles is hosting its fifth anniversary party this week in Venice Beach. We don’t live in Los Angeles and don’t personally know anyone at Mistress, so our interest level was hovering near zero until we saw the pictures.
Here’s Scott Harris — current Mistress partner and former CD at Mother London/senior copywriter at Ogilvy New York — surrounded by his fellow creative professionals at last year’s event:
…and here’s the host of said event, Mistress Anastasia.
We don’t know what “ribbon bondage” is and we don’t quite care to find out.
There’s a bit of the usual PR blah blah in the release about agency growth, etc., in addition to this quote from the agency’s “Culture Mistress” aka head of operations Aya Nishimura:
This bordering-on-TMI story isn’t quite as juicy as the blind item we received regarding an executive who was so fond of one particular adult entertainer that he went and married her.
But it is distracting, no?
Jack rides his motorcycle into the sunset, like so many outlaws before him. Except this time something savory happens. Jack smells garlic butter. Post by AdPulp. According to Ad Age, David&Goliath and lead agency Secret Weapon both created regional Super Bowl ads for Jack in the Box. David & Goliath’s spot (shown above) is […]
The post David&Goliath Drench Jack in Butter appeared first on AdPulp.
Fresh off Anomaly’s Budweiser Super Bowl win, America’s other favorite sport confirmed that the agency will be its new creative AOR. There was no review.
Less than a year ago, we reported that the league had chosen BBDO New York, also without a review. Here’s that agency’s first work for Opening Day 2014:
This big score follows Anomaly’s Johnnie Walker global win in December. From the MLB’s COO to Maureen Morrison of AdAge:
“We are very excited to work with Anomaly, whose work speaks for itself, and will look to them to capture the game, its stars and major events in new and creative ways.”
No word on whether the Budweiser work led to this win.
FCB held a global meeting in Chicago this week, and its theme involved changing behaviors.
We don’t have much in the way of details regarding the event itself, but the agency did produce a Bosco page full of GIFs from the meeting.
Looks like everyone had a good time and drank a few Michelob Ultras:
Here’s another group shot:
The meeting wasn’t all about beer and camaraderie, though: it looks to be the start of a strategic repositioning effort for the agency.
The larger FCB organization — specifically its Chicago office — has witnessed several changes in recent months/years: FCB/West CCO Eric Springer left the agency in September to land at Ignited, and some major accounts changed hands.
MillerCoors went to WPP back in 2012, and last week KFC surprised many by leaving the agency for Wieden+Kennedy after more than a decade. FCB posted some wins as well, scoring Ghirardelli and Choose Chicago in April 2014, Nestle in October and Michelob Ultra less than one week ago.
Sources tell us that some major accounts will soon come up for review and, lest we forget, it was only last March that FCB dropped the “draft” from its name to become Foote, Cone & Belding.
Should be interesting to see where the agency goes from here.
Brands need YouTube content and advertising, but where do they turn to procure this modern form of communications currency? Ad agencies are changing, but few have crossed the bridge from making TV for a passive audience to making video for an active, empowered audience. One way to find a video provider is to discover who […]
The post Holy Tongue Cleaners, Orabrush Team Spins Off appeared first on AdPulp.
Thanks to this article in Arkansas Business, I came across news that the Cranford brothers of Little Rock, Arkansas have banded together to form a new agency called Cranford Co. If you’re not up on Arkansas advertising industry history, let it be known that Jay, Ross and Chris Cranford are sons of Wayne Cranford, who […]
The post In Little Rock, It’s A Family Affair appeared first on AdPulp.
Last week sources told us that household chemical behemoth Unilever plans to launch multiple creative reviews for its various brands, and today the corporation made a big change on the AXE account.
Various trade pubs report that creative for the client, which has been with BBH for nearly a decade, will now be run by 72andSunny with the agency’s Amsterdam office playing lead.
BBH’s “Hotel,” which debuted just over a month ago, looks to be the agency’s last work for the client; sources tell Adweek and others that 72 beat out R/GA, Lowe, 180, and the incumbent for the business.
2014’s “Make Love, Not War” Super Bowl campaign marked a large shift for the brand, which previously specialized in sexually-charged ads targeted to pimple-popping teenage boys. Sources claim that the new agency will focus on re-positioning the brand, so we assume that 72andSunny’s work for the Unilever client will not resemble its stateside campaigns for Carl’s Jr.
From ECD Carlo Cavallone:
“Axe is a legendary brand which has consistently impacted culture. As men and manliness change and progress, Axe will be at the forefront of the next evolution. We’re very excited to be at their side.”
We’ve reached out to 72andSunny for more details; updates when we receive them.
The acquisition of the Sapient organization by Publicis Groupe, which first made headlines back in November, has hit yet another rough patch.
According to this morning’s press release from Paris, the $3.7 billion offer will now expire at noon, EST on February 5th “unless it is further extended.” Hardly definitive.
Publicis has given no particular reason for this latest delay; the previous stall was attributed to complications stemming from Sapient’s relationships with United States government entities and the added scrutiny that comes with such deals.
Publicis’ own shareholders may well be part of the holdup as the Groupe agreed to pay 150 percent of Sapient’s current market value per share despite the fact that analysts at the time said the deal would add “little” to the overall value of the organization.
Sources within Sapient weren’t so fond of the idea, either: a reader told us in November that many employees were “taken aback” by a deal that seemed to directly contradict Sapient’s desire to be “the anti-holding company.”
Two major staffing changes are now on hold as well: Sapient CEO/Co-Chairman Alan J. Herrick would be CEO of the new Sapient.Publicis organization and Chairman/Co-Founder Jerry A. Greenberg would ascend to a spot on the Groupe’s advisory board.
No word on the odds of this deal going the way of Publicis/Omnicom. We’ll find out next month.
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.
