Hasta La Creative!

A safe-driving PSA for Northern Ireland’s Department of the Environment by Belfast agency LyleBailie International has created an international stir with its disturbing imagery. The 60-second PSA, which only airs after 9 P.M., has been criticized for going too far to make its point, “and some news outlets have posted ‘trigger warnings’ about the strong content,” Adweek reports.

The PSA, entitled “Classroom” begins with a classroom of children preparing for a field trip and exploring a serene natural environment, with an ominous cover of “Sweet Child of Mine” hinting at the violence to come. At around the 30-second mark we see footage of a driver carelessly speeding along a country road, and around 10 seconds later the segments converge as the driver loses control of his vehicle, and launches off the road, killing the group of children. Although the scene is not particularly graphic, it has been met with varying criticism as being over-the-top, unrealistic, and even traumatizing. “Since 2000, speeding has killed a classroom of our children,” says the voiceover at the PSA’s conclusion. “You can never control the consequences if you speed.”

Whatever you think about the spot’s approach, it is gaining international attention for the issue of speeding, with over 1.5 million views on YouTube since being uploaded a week ago and plenty of media coverage. (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The Effies Effectiveness Campaign recently named New York agency The Terri & Sandy Solution as one of North America’s 15 most efficient.

Don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard of them; they’re used to it.

And they’re humble, too: after learning about their Effie win, T&SS created a hyper-local campaign designed to extend a congratulatory hand to their fellow Most Effective Manhattan agencies: Droga5, Mekanism, Mother NY and Wieden+Kennedy.

In order to make sure the message was received, T&SS created four different layouts and contacted the buying gurus at Media Worx to score placements reading “Congratulations (from the agency you had to Google)” at the subway stops closest to other winners’ offices.

That’s not all, though.

(more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

DigitasLBi and Tide leveraged Twitter’s two-month-old pinned tweet feature to highlight a new Game of Thrones themed infographic, Adweek reports, the latest sign that the brand isn’t afraid of a little blood.

Blood, of course, was the number one stain for the fourth season based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, with a whopping 530 stains (as the infographic shows). That’s enough to finish well ahead of the runner up, dirt, which comes in at 156. The infographic also shows the “Most Used Stain Makers” — nail/cross, followed by sword — and a slew of least used stain makers that nontheless left a lasting impression (and probably never came out), such as mammoth, wolf, and a frying pan. Tide’s infographic ran with the title “A Season of Stains,” while referring viewers to Tide’s Stain Brain app. It was a fun diversion for fans of the show (who isn’t?) and has thus far received 1,351 retweets and 1,575 favorites. The infographic follows in the spirit of Tide’s Carrie-themed Halloween Vine video and last summer’s Vine for Shark Week, positioning the brand as the antidote to bloody messes. As Adweek pointed out, this makes a lot of sense for a brand attempting to appeal to parents, for whom blood and grass stains (which accounted for just one of the Game of Thrones stains this season) are an everyday reality.

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Estée Lauder has chosen Johannes Leonardo for global creative assignment, including both traditional and digital ads, Adweek reports.

The decision follows a creative review in which Sid Lee was also identified as a finalist, and also included McKinney in initial presentations. While global spending figures were not available, Adweek reported the brand spent around $100 million in media last year in the U.S. alone. Estée Lauder has historically opted for regional campaigns, but looks to create global campaigns going forward. While “Johannes Leonardo referred calls to the New York-based Estée Lauder,” and Estée Lauder refused to comment, Adweek sources “said that the company had told the finalists of its decision.” Johannes Leonardo will not be responsible for global media, which will remain at Omnicom Group’s OMD.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

As we mentioned back in April, Mike’s Hard Lemonade has decided to concentrate exclusively on digital advertising, also choosing to shop around for agencies on a project-to-project basis after parting ways with Grey last year. Chicago agency Tris3ct, which also led a recent 15th anniversary spot, worked with the brand to celebrate their one millionth Facebook fan.

To commemorate the milestone, Tris3ct and Mike’s Hard Lemonade developed a 24-hour rebrand to Paul’s in honor of the millionth fan. The brand marked the name change with updated Facebook and Twitter pages, and a revamped website. They also printed out a bunch of Paul’s swag, had a Paul’s cake made and surprised Paul at his place of work to celebrate. Of course, they also documented the whole thing, posting a 90-second video to YouTube and the brand’s Facebook page. You can catch the video above, which marks at least the third effort from the Chicago agency for the brand, starting with “Shandymatic” last summer.

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California-based production company Lucky Treehouse got the world’s best free climber, Alex Honnold, to climb the Goodby, Silverstein, & Partners building & The Palace of Fine Arts for Stride Health.

Alex picked out his first health plan with Stride Health and then headed to San Francisco for a day of urban free climbing. While a veteran rock climber, urban climbing is relatively new territory for Alex, and he expresses his enthusiasm for the change in scenery. Lucky Treehouse captured the day’s events in a documentary video, running approximately five minutes. They also created a 30-second teaser spot for Stride Health. That 30-second video and more information on Alex and his chosen health plan are hosted at a Stride campaign landing site, https://www.stridehealth.com/alex. You can view the teaser above, or stick around after the jump for the full version, along with credits. (more…)

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W+K New York introduce a new character for Southern Comfort in the new, 60-second spot entitled “Young Gun.”

Apparently, the real name of the “Young Gun” is Stephen, “an accomplished bartending journeyman,” with a self-described “not neat” style. “If you can’t be comfortable with yourself, how can you expect to make anyone else comfortable?” is his very brand-appropriate motto for aspiring bartenders. None of this is evident in the spot, however, which keeps things simple.

“Young Gun” shows its titular character emerging from the back room to man the soda guns. He does so with extreme speed, albeit not great neatness, even managing to throw in some dance moves to the song “Love Me” by The Phantom while servicing a large group of drinkers. The approach is simple and straightforward, but it’s pulled off well and the results are entertaining. “We’ve cultivated a true appreciation for the brand by encouraging consumers to be exactly as they are, rather than pushing them to be something they are not,” Gwen Risdale, marketing manager for Southern Comfort UK, told Marketing Week. Stick around for credits after the jump. (more…)

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Today we can confirm that StrawberryFrog has reduced the size of its New York office.

Details remain unfortunately sparse at this time. A statement from parent company APCO Worldwide reads:
“We are always looking for ways to create greater efficiencies and streamline the business at StrawberryFrog in order to deliver the best value to our clients.  After a recent review of the business, we decided to reduce some layers in management.  As a result, some staff will be leaving StrawberryFrog’s New York office.”
No confirmation on the number of staffers who will be leaving, though our tipster says the move affects “many.”

Some of the agency’s most visible work in 2014 to date has been the Jim Beam “Make History” campaign, starring Mila Kunis and created with the other shops in the FutureWorks collective: Sydney’s The Works and Hamburg, Germany’s Jung von Matt.

Updates as we receive them.

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W+K Portland and Terry Crews are back, dialing up the mishigas in a new spot for Old Spice entitled “Drill to Brazil.”

In what may be the craziest Old Spice spot yet, Crews attempts to drill to Brazil by spiraling himself into the ground, because Terry Crews is magic. After a few failed attempts see him end up in Egypt, an office, and a snowcone, Crews finally gets to Brazil, where he meets what appears to be Brazilian Crews. In Brazil, Crews shares (screams) the message, “Old Spice thinks you’re amazing and is now available in Brazil!” before heading off to an unexpected location. If you’ve seen any of the previous Crews spots you already know the drill, just expect even more random craziness than usual from this one.

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RKCR has launched a new campaign entitled “Can and Will,” which celebrates the “go anywhere” attitude of the Land Rover brand.

The campaign is centered around a 60-second television spot featuring individuals who embody the “Can and Will” spirit, including Mike Goody, who lost a leg in Afghanistan and aims to represent the UK in the Invictus Games this September (which Land Rover will be sponsoring), and 68-year-old competitive surfer Gwyn Haslock. “Don’t tell me I can’t,” these individuals state, “because I can and I will.” The spot recently began broadcasting on terrestrial, cable and satellite channels, in addition to ITV advert breaks during World Cup games. The stories behind the individuals in “Can and Will” can be found on the campaign website, www.canandwill.co.uk. Additionally, a “series of mini-documentary films have been commissioned in partnership with Channel 4, with Paralympic hero Ellie Simmons and actor Richard E. Grant talking about their ‘Can and Will’ stories,” which will be broadcast during breaks in Channel 4 programs and through C4’s digital platforms. The campaign will run throughout the summer.

“Our new ‘Can and Will’ brand campaign is a celebration of the spirit of determination,” said Jaguar Land Rover UK Marketing Director Laura Schwab. “It’s about embarking on new challenges, but also never quitting when the going gets tough. It’s an attitude which has seen Land Rover vehicles conquer some of the world’s most inhospitable locations.” We’ve got credits after the jump. continued…

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