Hasta La Creative!

adam&eveDDB crafted what is sure to be one of the most talked about holiday ads of the year with “Monty The Penguin” for John Lewis.

Of course, this hardly comes a surprise, given the pair’s track record with holiday advertising. But “Monty The Penguin” still manages to stand out. The two-minute ad tells the story of a boy and his best friend, a penguin named Monty. We follow them through scenes of their day-to-day activities, and get an idea of their relationship through a charming montage set to a cover of the John Lennon-penned “Real Love” by Tom Odell. Somewhere along the way it becomes apparent that Monty is missing something, as he wistfully watches couples in the park and in movies. The conflict reaches its adorable conclusion on Christmas morning, coupled by a reveal that is effective even if it doesn’t come as a surprise.

The broadcast spot, which cost around $1.6 million dollars to make, is part of John Lewis’ overall $11 million holiday campaign. It is supported by a children’s book called Monty’s Christmas, an audio app version of the book narrated by Dermot O’Leary, a single release of Tom Odell‘s version of “Real Love,” and an in-store experiential event called Monty’s Den, created in partnership with Samsung and including Monty’s Goggles, an Occulus Rift like technology created using Google Cardboard.

“At John Lewis, this time of year is all about helping our customers create their dream Christmas,” Craig Inglis, marketing director at John Lewis, told Adweek. “We hope this uplifting tale of Sam’s love for his friend Monty will remind people of the magic of Christmas through a child’s eyes and inspire them to think how they can make the festive season extra special for their friends and loved ones.”

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JWT London teamed up with production company th2ng (pronounced “Thing 2,” even though the number 2 looks nothing like an “I”) and directorial team “The Queen” (Dan Lumb and Crinan Campbell) for a new spot for Listerine.

The ad is based around the idea that, since teeth only make up a quarter of your mouth, brushing only cleans 25 percent of your mouth. It opens on a man holding balloon receiving a pizza delivery. When he opens the box he finds only two slices and exclaims “25 percent!?” This opens up with concept for a series of sight gags showing how unsatisfying 25 percent is: including a mini martini, unfinished haircut, an incomplete spray tan and a punchline-less joke. It ends with the man walking in on a woman brushing her teeth and informing her she’s only cleaning 25 percent of her mouth, really hammering home the ad’s message.

The ad was filmed over the course of just two days on a crowded beach on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Despite having to conted with throngs of beachgoers, land to water shots, children and cats, the crew enjoyed the shoot.

“This was a fun and challenging shoot,” said Dan Lumb. “We were determined to hit all of the humor notes on this one, which was so contingent on comedic timing and working around the elements. With such a limited shoot time, we had to rely on the talent and preparedness of the team to make this a success. I think everybody did their part to make it come together in a hysterical way.” (more…)

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Stopp, “an integrated production company that combines creativity, technology and VFX disciplines to create innovative work with emotional connections” has launched a new broadcast and digital campaign for Adidas Outdoor promising the brand is “Open All Winter.”

For the campaign, Stopp partnered with extreme sports stars Hayley Ashburn (slackliner), Jean-Baptiste Chandelier (paraglider) and Junhee Han (ice climber) to show off Adidas’ range of Climaheat products boasting an insulation design that keeps the wearer warm in extreme winter conditions. The spot opens on a seemingly abandoned town as a sign reading “Closed for winter” swings in the breeze. A group of determined runners bust through, undeterred. Then the spot focuses on ice climber Junhee Han as he takes on a steep slope, followed by the other featured extreme athletes showing off their skills, before ending with the “Open All Winter” tagline.

In addition to the broadcast spot, which also runs online, the campaign is supported by digital elements and a competition running over the course of twelve weeks, inviting participants to share winter pics on Instagram and Twitter. A new winner will be picked every week, with an athlete jury selecting one grand prize winner to receive a winter road trip across Canada with four friends.

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Coca-Cola has chosen MediaCom to handle the company’s media account in Mexico, sources told Adweek. MediaCom succeeds Publicis Groupe’s Starcom, who have handled the account for over a decade.

Mexico remains Coca-Cola’s largest market per capita, despite a recent tax on high-sugar beverages that led the company to introduce a mid-calorie cola. Annual media spending was estimated at around 100 million dollars. The assignment comes a year after Coca-Cola awarded MediaCom media planning and buying account in the U.K. It also follows MediaCom’s recent win on the 575 million dollar Anheuser-Busch InBev media planning and buying account.

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SapientNitro recently debuted a new campaign for Britain’s Beer Alliance entitled “There’s a Beer for That.”

Playing on the ubiquitous (and often toyed with) Apple catchphrase “There’s an App for That,” in a broadcast spot in both 30 and 60-second iterations, the agency shows that there’s a beer for every occasion. The spot, which marks the commercial debut of director Michael Winterbottom, opens with the line “If you’re a bit partial to soups with noodles, sharing a burger with your pet labradoodle, or treating yourself to cakes and strudels, there’s a beer for that.” The ad goes on to show different groups of people, young and old, in different situations, enjoying a brew. As beer lovers, it’s hard not to get behind this one, as the message seems pretty on point — there really does seem to be a beer for just about any pairing of food and surroundings you can think of. And while the Apple reference seems a bit obvious at this point, it certainly is catchy and a quick way to make a point about beer’s versatility.

The ad broke nationally during the debut of Downton Abbey on Sunday, and is supported by an integrated campaign including digital, PR and social media elements.

“Our goal was to present an honest depiction of the incredible diversity of both people and beers found in this country,” explained Mark Hunter, executive creative director at SapientNitro. “Given his brilliant work on The Trip, there really was no one better to bring that story to life than Michael Winterbottom.” (more…)

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m:united has a new ad for Microsoft’s Lenovo Yoga Pro 3 that takes aim squarely at a laptop from a certain popular competitor.

“Let’s Dance” opens with shots of the MacBook Air and Yoga Pro 3, as a “dance off” is staged between the two computers, set to the song “Neckbrace” by Ratatat. The spot then proceeds to tout the Yoga Pro 3?s superior thinness, tablet versatility, ability to form “the tent,” and touchscreen capabilities. “Game over” reads text at the end of the spot as the MacBook Air flips shut while the Yoga Pro 3 is going strong, deemed the winner of the “dance off.” Apple bashing is becoming one of the more tired trends in tech advertising, but m:united handles the strategy well enough here, finding an approach that’s a little more fun and less in your face than most by imagining the laptops squaring off on the dance floor. Still, m:united may want to change things up going forward, as this tactic can’t possibly have much more mileage. (more…)

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Los Angeles-based agency Ignited continues its “Never Uncomfortable” campaign for shoe brand Sanük with two new spots promoting the brand’s upcoming spring collection.

Both spots (“Drummer Boy” and “#1 Fan”) depict what may very well be the world’s worst rock band as the band’s drummer and their number one (and only) fan stay comfortable as the band plays to an empty room. They mark a continued effort to popularize the brand beyond its core audience of surfers. Unfortunately, the spots are pretty difficult to watch — not just for the awful band (which could have been a pretty decent gag if handled well) but the awkward way in which the characters narrate the action as it’s happening. Additional campaign elements include “Pandora and Spotify radio spots, search, and influencer partnerships with YouTube personalities.” (more…)

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In case you missed it yesterday, Publicis Groupe attempted to make up for its own performance issues over the weekend by snapping up Sapient for $3.7 billion in cold cash (and so close to Christmas, too!).

It’s true that these talks could fall through just as the Publicis/Omnicom merger did last year, but for now it seems that the next phase in the group’s “transformation into a digital-technology company” will indeed go through this week.

As a reader put it this morning, “Idea engineers own the ad industry” — and Publicis is very interested in engineering as many ideas as possible. Moving forward, does this mean less focus on the work and more on the data behind it?

So far, the move has been good for business: USA Today notes that Sapient stock rose more than 40% this morning, largely because Publicis agreed to pay nearly 150 percent of each share’s most recent value.

(more…)

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Cramer Krasselt launched a campaign promoting Knott’s Berry Farm’s annual Knott’s Scary Farm event with a series of short horror videos for broadcast and online.

Created in collaboration with production company Vitamin Pictures, the gritty videos are populated by creepy clowns, demented dentists and hungry zombies, giving viewers an idea of what to expect at Knott’s Scary Farm. In “Clown,” for example, the camera follows a woman as she makes her way through a creepy abandoned room with children’s toys and balloons strewn across the floor. As she turns a corner, a demonic looking clown pops out to greet her. The spot ends with the tagline, “Whatever you’re imagining, it’s here.”

“It was great to be hired to make these little horror films for Knott’s,” Vitamin Creative Director Danny DelPurgatorio says. “There were severed heads, body parts, blood and gooey stuff all over the place. It was a dream come true.” (more…)

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Instead of trying to scare you this Halloween, Droga5 decided to go a different route for Chobani.

“We made a scary video,” reads the text at the video’s opening, set to ominous music, “this is not it.” The remaining 30-seconds are, instead, devoted to dogs in funny costumes eating Chobani. It’s cute stuff, to be sure, but we’re not sure how dogs eating Chobani are supposed to make people want to eat Chobani. But then the point is probably more to raise awareness for the brand with a video Chobani and Droga5 hope people will share on social media. The video will be pushed out on the brand’s social channels throughout the weekend, supported by social media posts and a Chobani sampling (presumably for humans, not dogs) at the Chobani café in SoHo. (more…)

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