Hasta La Creative!

CHI & Partners latest for Lexus’ “Amazing in Motion” campaign is a visually stunning look at performers in LED suits exploring the Kuala Lumpur skyline.

The LED suits were created by costume designer Vin Burnham and technical director Adam Wright, with inspiration from Lexus’ “iconic spindle grille and LED headlights.” Director Adam Berg and his team then utilized a “purpose built computer system and complex DMX software” (which, we imagine, stops, drops, and opens up shop), “created to wirelessly trigger the suits to strobe on demand” and captured a group of stunt men and acrobatic performers as they made the Kuala Lumpur skyline their playground. It’s a simple concept, but it makes for a visually intriguing 60 seconds, even if viewers are left wondering what they’re watching an ad for until right before the “Amazing in Motion” tagline. Since it’s so hard to take your eyes off of, that might not even be a problem. Stick around for credits after the jump. (more…)

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With summer movie season approaching, BSSP created a cinematic preview spot for Greyhound featuring the fictional heavy metal band MüttonGüt.

The 60-second spot sees the tour manager for MüttonGüt (who bear more than a passing resemblance to Spinal Tap) booking the band for Greyhound’s dollar fares rather than their usual tour bus. Initially reluctant, the band soon appreciates Greyhound’s amenities while also enjoying interacting with other passengers. The drummer, for example, teaches his seatmate how to apply eye liner to get “that smoldering effect.” While not the most original approach, its lighthearted tone fits the brand and the summer blockbuster placement.

“When we can communicate a product benefit in a relevant and rewarding way for the consumer, we’ve succeeded,” said Creative Director Steve Mapp. “Who better to experience the expanded service and onboard amenities of Greyhound than a hard-working, continually touring metal band, like MüttonGüt? Besides, they’re really big in Japan.”

The spot will run nationally in cinemas starting tomorrow, and continue through the summer blockbuster season, and a “cinema poster touting the service and band will also run in over 90 theaters in top Greyhound markets starting in October.” A 30-second version of the spot will air online on channels including ESPN, YouTube, Xbox, Vevo and Hulu.

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Elizabeth Hurley gets vulgar in the latest addition to Droga5?s “If We Won” campaign for Newcastle, which imagines how much better America would be if Great Britain had won the Revolutionary War.

The campaign kicked off last week, with a humorous spot featuring Stephen Merchant. Hurley’s spot borrows a bit from that one, as it devotes quite a bit of time to how many great curse words we’d have at our disposal had we remained British, something Merchant touched on in the original “If We Won.” Still, we suppose the subject doesn’t hurt from further exploration, and the video has over 300,000 views since being uploaded earlier today as people seem to be amused by seeing Hurley stringing together British expletives. Hurley’s 39-second video is just part of the wealth of material put out by Droga5 for the campaign, which also includes Zachary Quinto in a pair of spots and a second appearance from Merchant, who explains how his British accent helps him appear intelligent and get laid. If you’re wondering what American actor Zachary Quinto is doing in this campaign, you’ll just have to watch the video, along with the second Merchant spot, after the jump. (more…)

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Saatchi & Saatchi New York introduces Internet phenomenon Grumpy Cat to Honey Nut Cheerios in a new 30-second broadcast spot for the brand designed to appeal to younger audiences.

For the spot, entitled simply “Buzz Meets Grumpy Cat,” Saatchi & Saatchi teamed up with California-based production company Backyard and director Rob Pritts. If you count yourself among Grumpy Cat’s legions of fans, you’ll probably just be happy to see him make an appearance here. Otherwise, there’s not a lot going on beyond “Oh, you’re that Grumpy Cat,” as Buzz tries to make the feline crack a smile. His strategy consists entirely of talking about how much people like Honey Nut Cheerios.

Established brand + established meme = eyeballs.

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After briefly rejoining the Dachis Group–a firm he helped start in 2008–as chief solutions architect last year, Peter Kim has found a new home at Cheil Worldwide, where he joins up in the newly created role of chief digital officer. In his new role, Kim will be work out of Cheil’s Seoul HQ, and will be charged with building the agency network’s digital business platforms and expanding digital capabilities, both at home and abroad. Kim, though, is perhaps best known for his stint as managing director, business information at R/GA, where among other things he helped set up the agency’s Austin office and served on its leadership team.

During his career, the 15-year digital strategy vet also served as global head of digital marketing at Puma and principal consultant at Razorfish. In a statement, the new Cheil CDO says, “I’m delighted to join Cheil and integrate talent across its diversified network into a powerful world-class digital offering. In the current era of digital disruption, Cheil’s global positioning offers unmatched opportunities for clients to benefit from our creativity and expertise. I look forward to working closely with our clients to deliver great work by capitalizing on emerging technology trends, drawing on Cheil’s impressive heritage of delivering innovative ideas. I’m also thrilled to work with the management team and offices to integrate, enhance, and advance our digital capabilities across all disciplines worldwide.”

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Full-service brand response agency Hawthorne Direct has launched a new campaign rebranding entalPlans, “the largest dental savings plan marketplace.”

The result of “an intensive creative and customer insight research process performed by entalPlans over the past year,” the campaign includes a television spot and branded videos, as well as a new logo, tagline, and iconography. Their approach is perhaps a little too shaped by the insight research, as the video stretches well beyond the two minute mark in an attempt to squeeze in information. That the video is a bit on the dry side to begin with makes the extended duration a bit of an ordeal to sit through, although you may be glad you came across it if you are in fact in the market for a dental plan.

“The challenge of helping a company communicate their offerings while driving response is one that our team at Hawthorne excels at,” said John Pucci, chief creative officer at Hawthorne Direct. “This endeavor was made much more rewarding by the willingness of the entalPlans team to work closely with us as an active, engaged partner. Our goal here was to develop a contemporary TV campaign that would bring new life to the entalPlans brand. The commercials were created to be simple and uplifting. The look, feel and tone of the new brand are translated across all of the commercials and videos that Hawthorne created.” Stick around for credits after the jump. (more…)

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Infiniti Motor Co. will meet (or has already met) with seven agencies before selecting finalists to pitch for its global creative account, Adweek reports.

The meetings took place this week, and leave Infiniti “on track to complete its search by August,” according to Adweek. Infiniti’s initial request for proposal reported that the brand spends approximately $450 million annually. Among the agencies in the running are Publicis, FCB, Havas Worldwide (pitching with sister shop Arnold), Bartle Bogle Hegarty, M&C Saatchi and Crispin Porter + Bogusky, according to Adweek‘s sources. Interestingly, also pitching is Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, partnering with incumbent Omnicom agency TBWA. After the initial meetings, Infiniti will narrow the field to three or four agencies, a cut that “could come as soon as next week.” Infiniti’s RFP noted that “alternative approaches are paramount as Infiniti cannot outspend its competitors in broadcast,” and identified the U.S., China and Hong Kong as priority markets.

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You might not associate a sex toy battle with gun safety, but McCann New York ties the two together in a new 30-second video entitled “Playthings” that (finally) takes a different approach to the familiar gun safety PSA, created for gun responsibility organization Evolve.

In the spot, a woman goes to pick up her son at a friend’s house and finds him locked in heated sex toy battle with his friend. The friend’s mother, of course, looks horrified, and just when you thought things couldn’t get any more awkward one of the kids turns on the vibration feature. Around this time the voiceover intones the message, “If they find it, they’ll play with it. So always lock up your guns.”

The humorous approach is a welcome departure from the typical gun safety PSAs — which we see a lot of. “Playthings” is a lot more memorable than those efforts, and a lot harder to ignore, which makes it more likely to effectively communicate its message and even reach people who might just tune out the more serious, stern warnings of other gun safety PSAs. Of course, some of those people will just find the suggestive humor packed on “liberal propaganda” that much more offensive. But then McCann and Evolve didn’t really have any hope of reaching them anyway. While this isn’t the first time Evolve has employed humor in its PSAs — Saatchi & Saatchi New York’s February effort “The Bill of Rights for Dumbasses” took a similarly lighthearted approach — it is definitely the most effective. “Playthings” has already generated a fair share of buzz, approaching one million views since being released Wednesday and eliciting mentions in myriad media outlets.

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Digital agency Modus Operandi has completed their first initiative for client Belvedere vodka, including both a new campaign and completely redesigned website.

The new website hosts the campaign brand videos, conceived by Modus Operandi and directed by Christopher Ferguson via sister company ModOp Films. Belvedere’s new site and brand videos implore viewers to “#knowthedifference” between terms like “dirty,” “wet,”and “dry,” as in the above “Luxury Vodka State of Mind,” which is set at an upscale pool party. Another video features Belvedere’s Claire Smith, “the First Lady of Vodka” celebrating the vodka martini, which we’ve featured after the jump.

“?The goal of the website redesign was to modernize Belvedere’?s digital presence as more of a luxury lifestyle brand,”? says Modus Operandi Creative Director Jay Gundzik. ?”We use creative social campaigns to activate and drive their consumers to the global Belvedere site. Once there, they can get a feel for the brand through a series of creative branded videos and short documentary-style films. Consumers can also find new cocktail recipes and take a deeper dive into Belvedere?s culture and character.?”

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With the US-Germany World Cup showdown getting underway in a matter of minutes, we figure it’s rather timely to mention the man above, who’s going by the name of “Teddy Goalsevelt” but is actually one Mike D’Amico, an ACD at Chicago-based, WPP-owned agency, Cavalry. Those who watched the US-Portugal stunner on Sunday may have seen D’Amico hamming it up as his Teddy Roosevelt character and rallying U.S. soccer fans on the telly (he even joined in on a pic with Super Bowl XLVIII MVP/Seahawks linebacker Malcolm Smith earlier in the week according to Deadspin commenters). Now, the very optimistic D’Amico, who’s also president of the Chicago chapter of US soccer fanatics the American Outlaws, wants to continue in his efforts as the USMNT’s unofficial mascot down in Brazil should team USA (fingers crossed) make it to the knockout round.

How? Well, with the aid of his cohorts at Cavalry (who count clients including Coors Light), Mr. D’Amico has launched a GoFundMe site asking for fan help to keep him and his character in Brazil through the tournament…or as far as the US goes, we imagine. We’ll see what transpires in the next couple of hours, but thus far, D’Amico and company have raised nearly $2K in less than 24 hours and will match the first $2,500 donated. You can check out the Facebook page here for more info and go to the GoFundMe site to donate here. Now, who’s ready to join in on the by-now-familiar “I believe that we will win!” chant?

Also: here’s a supportive tweet from Listerine (and AOR MRY):

Huge match today. But #USA should like their chances—especially with #TeddyGoalsevelt leading the charge. #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/VSmCR4TMYS

— Listerine Global (@ListerineGlobal) June 26, 2014

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