Hasta La Creative!

W+K Portland went all out in getting celebrity talent for “Winner Stays” the latest iteration of their “Risk Everything”campaign for Nike.

The 4:12 film plays off the idea of pretending to be your favorite star players while playing a pickup game with friends. “Winner stays” says one side of one such pickup game, and soon players are claiming to be famous soccer stars and taking on their unique skill sets. It’s a fun idea, although it’s stretched a bit thin at over four minutes long. W+K is betting that with World Cup fever spreading people will stay around for the star power, which includes the return of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr. and Wayne Rooney, a host of other soccer stars from around the world, and a few unexpected cameos. During the action, the spot offers the first glimpses of Nike’s new Magista and Mercurial Superfly.

“We connect to players’ passion for the game, whether it is the world’s best in Brasil or players in the park or street, explains Davide Grasso, chief marketing officer for Nike. “‘Winner Stays’ taps into an experience that every young player around the world will recognize – competition with friends and the idea of playing with your heroes or pretending to be them.”

While it may be fun and expertly crafted, it’s pretty hard to get over the run time for the full-length “Winner Stays.” Four minutes is just a really long time to expect people to sit through an advertisement and the new product reveals are relatively deep into the spot. Thankfully, there are abridged versions, with run times of 3 minutes (still pretty long), 90 seconds, 60 seconds, and 30 seconds. Stick around for full credits after the jump. continued…

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You’ve gotta love any country that has a game called Princess Tossing to celebrate the crowning of a new king.

Until recently it was custom in the Netherlands to celebrate the Queen’s birthday. From 1890 to 2013, the day was known as Koninginnedag or Queen’s Day and celebrated on April 30th. The prominent opportunity for “orange madness”, the day the sober Dutch let down their hair and dye themselves orange. Flea-markets, music and games on the street are traditionally part of this madness. This year marks the first Kingsday ever with the crowning of a new Dutch King: Willem-Alexander.

And to celebrate that crowning, on April 26, the Dutch will have a chance to toss princesses. Well, little stuffed dolls that look like princesses. Which is really too bad because the promotional video which features a real toss of three little guys looks like it was way more fun.

Actually the whole thing is just a promotion for Amsterdam-based agency Kingsday.

Only Child, aka the directorial project of former DDB creatives Mike Andrews and Daniel Mabe, is one of the many parties merging to form newly launched L.A. production studio Joinery.

Principals include veteran director Paul Dektor, producer Richard Gladstein (“Pulp Fiction”, “The Bourne Identity”), and Leslie Dektor, all of whom will work under former Believe Media executive producer Gerard Cantor.

On the directorial front, the lineup also includes Lasse Hallstrom (“What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”) as well as John Curran, Rob Feng, David Masters, Bo Platt, filmmaking/motion design studio ‘weareflink’ and video artists ‘Objective.’

Peter Mertz and Alvaro Chacon, both of whom spent time at TBWA/Media Arts Lab, will serve as digital producers.

The agency’s name comes from the tradition of “joiners” who used carpenters’ raw material to create new pieces without using nails, screws or other fasteners.

Current clients include HP, Bayer, Bombay Sapphire and McDonald’s.

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The chair of Choose Chicago, Chicago’s official tourism marketing organization, Desiree Rogers and CEO Don Welsh announced today that Choose Chicago has selected FCB Chicago as its new creative agency of record and the Chicago office of Starcom USA as the city’s media planning and buying agency of record. The appointments come following an eight week review process, conducted in partnership with Chicago-based search consultancy R3:JLB. Choose Chicago’s review focused on agencies with strong Chicago ties, as well as proven global brand building capabilities and strong traditional and digital communications channels expertise. FCB Chicago and Starcom USA will work together “to build fully integrated, multi-channel marketing programs to significantly increase leisure and business travel to Chicago from domestic and international markets.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Choose Chicago to share the stories that make our city great,” said Michael Fassnacht, CEO and president of FCB Chicago. “This is a humbling opportunity to make a true impact on Chicago.”

Starcom USA CEO Lisa Donohue was equally enthusiastic, adding, “Chicago is our hometown, and we are thrilled to bring our talent, expertise and strong digital focus to showcase all that this great city has to offer. This is a truly special city, and along with Choose Chicago and FCB, we look forward to enticing countless others to visit and experience it along with us.”

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Kentucky-based agency Cornett IMS (who you may remember from Beardvertising or “Kentucky Kicks Ass“) has created the world’s longest hashtag to promote the release of A&W’s new chicken tender sandwich.

While most brands see the hashtag as something that fans will hopefully share on social media, Cornett chose to create a hashtag so long that the chance of it being used are pretty damn low. The extra-big hashtag is, presumably, meant to coincide with the extra-big nature of A&W’s Hand-Breaded Chicken Tender Texas Toast Sandwich. Like that sandwich, the hashtag is quite the mouthful. As Cornett’s Whit Hiler puts it, they were going for a “hashtag so long, our consumers would say ‘man that’s a really long hashtag, that Hand-Breaded Chicken Tender Texas Toast Sandwich must be freaking delicious.’” You can view the TV spot introducing the hashtag above. That hashtag, by the way, is: #supertastylargeandinchargetexastoasttwohand-wichmadewithdeliciousonehundredpercentwhitemeathandbreadedchickentendersandyourchoiceofclassicorspicypapasauceeitherwayyoucan’tgowrongwowthatsoundsgoodyouneedtotryoneit’sonlyavailableforalimitedtimeI’mgoingtohavetogogetonemyselfareyoustillreadingthisseeyouatAandW. Credits after the jump. continued…

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Zurich Insurance is launching “Gator Golf,” an online video tutorial series, created by McCann Worldgroup, instructing golfers on how to deal with playing in close proximity to alligators.

The series was created to build buzz around the upcoming PGA Tour, Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where an alligator famously wandered onto the course during last year’s games. While not everyone finds alligators on the golf course a laughing matter, the series is tied to the larger “For Those Who Truly Love” brand platform, the idea being that those who truly love golf won’t let an alligator on the course stand in their way.  The “Gator Golf” series features “golfing and alligator expert” Jim Shanks offering up absurd solutions to gator-filled golf course problems. In the above video, for example, he recommends turning around and driving left-handed so that the gator behind you is “out of sight, out of mind,” while adding that if you’re attacked you should follow course etiquette and “die quietly.”

Gator Golf” is the social component of a larger integrated campaign including TV, print, online advertising and a microsite, and will appear on YouTube and on saud microsite in the lead up to the tournament, which takes place April 24 – 27.

Of course, when we read “Gator Golf,” we can’t help but think of this…

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Are you a young college aged student hoping to land a dream internship in a New York ad agency? If so, you may have noticed a creepy looking dude named Donald Buscando has visited your LinkedIn profile.

At first you may freak and lock things down like a 13 year old hiding their social media profiles from their parents. But don’t. You might miss out on a sweet gig. You see, Donald is the creation of Mother New York and it’s all part of a summer internship recruiting program.

If you make it to Donald’s profile, you’ll see some oddities sprinkled with a basic recruitment message:

“I spent a few hours on your profile looking deep into the soul of your business related online identity. From what I saw, you should apply.

Are you a copywriter or art director? I’ve closely examined your portfolios and you should apply.

Are you a designer? You have beautiful with bezier curves. You should apply.

Are you a strategist looking deep into what makes people tick? Yes. You should apply, too.

Do you want to work in the shop? Don’t know what that is? Sounds like you should apply.

Are you a producer who makes things happen? I’ve seen your profile and yes you are. Yes, apply.”

Chicago-based marketing and advertising agency Walton Isaacson have debuted the first ever television campaign for premium (and, we think, rather tasty) bourbon whiskey brand Knob Creek.

Walter Isaacson worked with  bi-coastal digital production and creative design studio Brand New School on the campaign, entitled “Bookerisms” for the sayings of Knob Creek founder Booker Noe, which are featured in the campaign. The debut 30-second spot, “Booker Said,” centers around one such Booker quote, which is actually pretty funny:  ”If you’re not completely satisfied with the big, full flavor of our bourbon, just send back the unused portion and we’ll drink it for you.” continued…

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Minneapolis-based agency Martin Williams, fresh off rebranding Mall of America, has teamed up with Mary Beth Mueller (widow of Soul Asylum bassist Karl Mueller) in a campaign launching Kill Kancer, “a nonprofit aimed to raise awareness for preventable types of cancer.”

Following her husband’s death approximately nine years ago, Mueller started The Karl Fund at the University of Minnesota “to support breakthrough cancer research.” Kill Kancer is an extension of The Karl Fund, “a nonprofit positioned to inform the younger generation to take proactive measures on preventing cancer.”

“Cancer is the leading cause of death in Minnesota and since I have been personally affected by the terrible disease, I’ve made it my life’s mission to support the fight. After much research, I found there is a lot information on diagnosing cancer but limited information about prevention,” explained Mueller. “Through Kill Kancer, I hope to give our younger generation information that is useful to them concerning prevention as well as an outlet to have open dialogue about the illness.”

The backbone of Martin Williams’ campaign is the Kill Kancer website the team designed providing cancer prevention information and a community portal where visitors can post content. At the center of the site (and the campaign) is the above video, directed by Dan Huiting. The video features appearances from Minneapolis-based artists such as Slug from Atmosphere, Ashley Dubose from NBC’s “The Voice,” street artist HOTTEA, and rapper/community activist and teacher Toki Wright. Martin Williams will also be hosting a benefit concert for Kill Kancer today at The Cedar Cultural Center, including performances by by Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum, Silverback Colony, Communist Daughter, Willie Murphy & Special Guests, and Taj Raj. Irksome intentional misspelling of “Kancer” aside, this is an important campaign that differs from countless other cancer awareness campaigns by providing important information about preventative measures people can take to reduce the risk of certain cancers. Since most people don’t even realize there are cancer prevention methods, this is an invaluable cause that could do a lot of good.

“Pro Bono work is extremely important to us,” said Tom Moudry, CEO and chief creative officer, Martin Williams. “Working on Kill Kancer from the ground up has been an unforgettable experience, especially for someone who gave the Minneapolis music scene so much and was such a lovely guy.”

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Just in time for the playoffs, Sid Lee has launched a new spot for the Toronto Raptors which the Starks could totally get behind (there’s even a wolf). The new spot stokes fans’ anticipation of the upcoming games and northern pride with the tagline, “#WeTheNorth.”

The 60-second, Stark-approved spot starts with the line “We the north: In many ways we’re in a league of our own; one step removed; just beyond the boundaries…” and uses the Raptors’ distance from other NBA teams as a point of pride, a rallying call. “If that makes us outsiders, we’re in,” concludes the voiceover before a “Let’s go Raptors” chant emerges from the background. “#WeTheNorth,” which just launched yesterday, is part of a larger rebranding effort for the Raptors. If fans weren’t already excited for the Raptors’ bid in the NBA playoffs (starting tomorrow, against the Nets), the well-produced spot, which mixes game footage with stylized shots of a snowy Canada, should do its part to psyche them up. Credits after the jump.  continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.