Hasta La Creative!

For its latest campaign for Subaru, promoting the 2015 Outback, agency-of-record Carmichael Lynch teamed up with director Lance Acord (best known for his cinematography on films such as Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Lost In Translation) and production company Park Pictures for a couple of 60-second spots emphasizing that the Outback can “go anywhere.”

In “Memory Lane,” a family picks up a hippie grandmother for a road trip to Woodstock. The grandmother imparts some questionable teachings on her granddaughter and finds the spot where she met her grandfather, in a cute moment that also shows the Outback’s off-road capabilities.

“Bison” also features a road trip, as a father attempts to wow his tween son with major American landmarks. The bratty son is unimpressed with Redwoods and The Grand Canyon, more interested in his smart phone than anything outside the car, but the father does eventually get through to him, followed by the voiceover, “There’s nothing I can’t reach in my Subaru.”

Both spots are impressively shot (which shouldn’t come as a surprise, given the director) while delivering their message in a way that should appeal to parents (always a target demographic for Subaru). And if they cross the line into cheesiness, it’s in a way that fits the brand well. (more…)

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Parisian agency Les Gaulois has a new spot for Citroën aimed squarely at canine fans.

In the spot, a Citroën makes a pit stop in the middle of a road trip. The mutt, aware that there won’t be another stop for some time goes through a lengthy stretching routine. It’s a simple, cute way to show the vehicle’s fuel efficiency and what’s not to like about a dog going through a human-like stretching routine? It also acts as something of a thematic follow-up to last year’s “Dog Romance.”

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TDA Boulder shifts approach with its latest campaign for FirstBank, seeking to inspire local businesses.

The campaign launches with the 30-second spot “Legacy,” which emphasizes the distinction between modern Internet “fame” and a real legacy. In the spots first 15 seconds viewers are barraged with viral Internet “fails” such as a balance beam gymnast landing on his crotch and a man cannonballing onto an iced-over pool. “Since when did ‘leaving a legacy’ mean ‘going viral?’” the voiceover asks. At the spot’s midpoint the text “Let’s Grow Business” appears onscreen, accompanied by voiceover, as its shifts to a focus on what a true legacy is, accompanied by images of business and commerce. The way in which the spot seamlessly incorporates humor (via the Internet-culled clips) into its message marks a step forward from previous efforts such as the recent Amish-themed campaign and the creepy “Bargain Dummy” spot.

The spot will run during live sports and new programming on major networks, as well as twenty cable channels, including ESPN, USA, and The History Channel. Other media for the campaign will follow in the coming weeks and months. (more…)

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David&Goliath launched a new campaign for VIZIO featuring Los Angeles Clippers star Blake Griffin cast in a different light.

Griffin spends the spots dishing out poetry on subjects like the mouthguard, tear-away pants and bobbleheads in what looks like a slam poetry cafe. Griffin’s “Slam Dunk Poetry” features an elementary rhyming scheme as he tackles his goofy subjects with apparent earnestness/seriousness, leading into the “see the beauty in everything” tagline. The campaign is timed to get basketball fans excited for the new season, which starts in October (and convince them to upgrade to a VIZIO Ultra HD). The videos launched on YouTube and VIZIO’s website Monday, and GIFS of Griffin’s performances are also available via Tumblr. (more…)

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Saatchi & Saatchi gets emotional in its latest spot for Cheerios, entitled “3rd Shift.”

The 30-second broadcast spot tackles the harsh reality of juggling family life with an unorthodox work schedule for hardworking Americans. At the beginning of the spot, a man sighs as his wife says, “I know, this third shift is rough” and their son watches in the background. In the next scene we see a light flicker on as the boy reaches into the refrigerator for milk, a box of Cheerios under his arm. When his father sternly asks him what he’s doing up so late he replies, “I just wanted to have breakfast with you.”

“3rd Shift” comes as something of a shift to a more down-to-earth approach for the brand, following on the heels of recent spots featuring celebrities both human and feline. The emotional tone attempts to highlight the cereal’s function as a quick, yet somewhat healthy, option for families too busy for a more involved breakfast. We’ve reached out for credits and will add them if/when we receive them.

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McKinney has launched a new campaign courting millenial ears for Sennheiser, focusing on the company’s Urbanite brand.

The campaign is centered around  series of videos featuring a man with a German accent in a Sennheiser Urbanite costume and a giant ear. Both the headphone costume and the giant ear (which weighs in at 200 pounds) were created by Legacy Effects. In the 90-second launch spot, the Urbanite-dressed man professes his love for ears, and things get a little creepy as he demonstrates the various ways he pleasures ears on the giant ear prop. He assures viewers that he will lavish just as much attention on their ears. Other spots, all of which are hosted at Sennheiser’s campaign landing page, see him singing to an ear and explaining that he’s often asked to leave public places.

Starting today, Sennheiser will also be giving away 1,000 “Golden Ears,” which they’ve hidden around New York City, “on 11”x17” posters hanging in record stores, restaurants, boutiques and other locations frequented by millennials.” Each poster contains a removable golden ear, which can be redeemed for a pair of Urbanites “at the Ear Love Palace, a pop-up experience store at 1 Rivington Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.” Participants can also visit http://sennheiser-urbanite.com and share one of the campaign videos using the hashtag #EarLove for clues on the whereabouts of the Golden Ears. So what is listening to music on Sennheiser Urbanite’s like? Stay with us after the jump to find out. (more…)

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NASCAR signed Ogilvy as its creative AOR back in Summer 2012 in an attempt to expand the league’s appeal and win younger fans.

As the current Sprint Cup series approaches its November finish line, the league and its agency are working to increase the hype. Most recently, Ogilvy debuted “The Chase”, a campaign designed to promote a new Westeros-style race format that casts the 16 finalists as individual nations competing against each other. (The campaign was one of the last with credits headed by now-former CCO Calle Sjoenell.)

Yesterday we received several tips about ways in which the Ogilvy New York office is celebrating the event: one tipster writes that the reception area is “decked out with flags of the 16 nations of NASCAR drivers” while another (who may well be the same person) claims that someone at Ogilvy has been “handing out moonshine on behalf of [the new campaign].”

The agency also wants its employees to participate in the UGC version of the “battle” by creating profiles and registering as members of the Ogilvy Nation.

While we regret missing the “battle of nations” deadline and the moonshine (if it did indeed exist), we do have an internal email from president Adam Tucker after the jump.

(more…)

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Today in Pitches That Worked news, WWM or We Were Monkeys is an agency based in Montreal.

Yesterday they sent us a video that their creative team made in order to promote the agency. It is very, shall we say, interesting.

(We would warn you that it’s NSFW but you all work in advertising, soooo….)

Well, then. After watching that clip we had questions — many burning questions.

Thankfully, a WWM spokesperson answered our queries, though you’ll have to click through to read the answers and click here if you want to see the creative credits..

(more…)

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In celebration of National Life Insurance Month (yes, this is a thing), CP+B created a campaign for MetLife asking customers who they live for.

They then shared the results in a series of two online videos, called “Who I Live For” in an attempt to show the positive, human side of life insurance. The videos, as you might expect, attempt to pull on the heartstrings as people share photos of their children, grandchildren and significant others. Mixed in with the more predictable answers are a couple who share their love for their bulldog, Huey. Both spots end by inviting viewers to share who they live for with the hashtag #WhoILiveFor, as a social extension of the campaign.  “Who I Live For”  puts a premium on spontaneity, with seemingly unscripted responses from those interviewed and in the longer of the spots (featured above), one respondent offering up a seemingly improvised song as a soundtrack. (more…)

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Budweiser teamed up with AKQA for a new social campaign allowing Facebook users to send beers to their buddies via the social media outlet. While right now the service is exclusive to those living in Chicago and Denver, it will soon roll out nationally.

The campaign debuted with a pilot on Facebook, in feeds for adults 21 and older in Chicago and Denver. Facebook users in those locations (and soon the rest of the country) will be prompted to share  a Budweiser with a friend when wishing them a happy birthday or celebrating other occasions. If they choose to share a Budweiser, the friend will be sent an online voucher, to be redeemed at a local bar or restaurant (with a valid ID). The service functions without any type of external download, as users are simply “taken to a customized mobile or desktop experience to send or claim a beer.”

“Beer is the original social network,” said Lucas Herscovici, Anheuser-Busch vice president of consumer connections. “This new campaign focuses not on a gift certificate or credit, but on bringing people together to celebrate life’s most anticipated moments. Whether you’re toasting your birthday, a job promotion, an engagement, or simply the end of a long work week, we want to encourage everyone to bridge the physical and digital worlds by allowing you to send your friend a beer over Facebook.”

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