Some folks are finding Barton F. Graf 9000's latest advertising excursion for travel site Kayak.com a less than uplifting experience.
In the 30-second spot, a middle-aged man commandeers his elderly mother's stairlift for a ride as he pecks away at his laptop, searching for a good hotel. He explains that he can't waste a second doing anything else, including walking up the stairs. Meanwhile, his mother grasps the bannister, gasping for air, as Sonny Boy glides past, bragging about the great deal he's just found.
"Forcing an elderly woman to struggle up stairs while her son uses her electric stairlift. Do you think this is funny? It's not. It's mean and juvenile," says one viewer on the company's Facebook page. A YouTuber on the opposite side of the argument writes, "For those that are offended: lighten up. It's funny precisely because it is insensitive." (In an odd twist, some commenters have actually praised the spot for raising stairlift awareness.)
Stirring controversy never gets old for Kayak, whose 2012 brain surgery commercial was banned in the U.K. over perceived insensitivity toward brain surgery patients. Clearly, ads like "Stairlift" and "Brain Surgeon" are designed to be somewhat over the top and elevate Kayak's buzz. Are they mean-spirited or offensive? That's a gray area.
Here's a feel-good moment from Swiffer. A new ad for the brand stars an interracial family, which deserves some credit, if lamentably, in light of the idiotic controversy around last year's Cheerios ad. But also, Zack Rukavina, the husband and father in the documentary-style spot, also lost an arm to cancer—a fact that is central to the ad's narrative about how the brand makes cleaning easier, and which seems to be earning the P&G-owned brand extra points.
Zack is also cast as an active participant in the cleaning, unlike Morty Kauffman, the husband in the geriatric Swiffer-endorsing couple from last year, who only does the laundry and leaves the rest to his wife, Lee. In fact, Rukavina even cracks wise about how much better he is at cleaning than his wife, Afi.
The ad, by Publicis Kaplan Thaler, pulls so many progressive levers at once that it risks feeling contrived or opportunistic, but ultimately ends up coming across as real enough to actually warrant a rare bit of respite from cynicism. Enjoy.
And speaking of Subaru, here's another new spot from Carmichael Lynch for the automaker, and it's a whole lot more sobering than that snogging-dogs one.
This one's about safety, and it boldly shows something you rarely see in car commercials—the twisted wreckage of what's left of one of the automaker's vehicles after a horrendous accident. The wrecked Subaru Outback here is not a prop—it's a real car that really got totaled. But the driver survived, and that's the point of the ad (directed by Lance Acord of Park Pictures). "They lived," the characters say—from the policeman at the crash site to the workers at the junkyard. "Subaru. Five 2014 IIHS top safety picks," says the on-screen copy at the end.
Extending the reality theme, a companion website features actual letters from Subaru owners explaining how the vehicles helped save their lives.
Safety spots almost always imply danger rather than graphically showing the effects of it. And indeed, it's a bold move to leave viewers pondering a pile of your own disfigured steel. What do you think—good move, or over the top?
Credits below.
CREDITS Client: Subaru of America Spot: "They Lived"
Agency: Carmichael Lynch Chief Creative Officer: Dave Damman Executive Creative Director: Randy Hughes Writer, Associate Creative Director: Conn Newton Art Director, Associate Creative Director: Michael Rogers Head of Production: Joe Grundhoefer Executive Producer: Brynn Hausmann Business Manager: Vicki Oachs Account Service Team: David Eiben, Krista Kelly, Kate Moret
Production Company: Park Pictures Director: Lance Acord Executive Producer: MaryAnn Marino Line Producer: Aristides McGarry Director of Photography: Lance Acord
Editing House: Whitehouse Post Editor: Stephen Jess Assistant Editor: Tim Quackenbush Visual Effects: Steve Medin, Volt Telecine: Sean Coleman, Company 3 Audio Mix, Sound Design: Carl White, BWN Music
"Clear Moment" Composer: Miles Hankins, scoreAscore Music Supervisor: Jonathan Hecht
On-camera talent: Tim Lane, Diane Luby Lane, Millie Lane, Charlie Burrows, Aaron Norwell, Frederick Lawrence, Stephen Taylor, Kevin Bowers Voiceover Talent: Tim Lane, Justin Beere (announcer)
Even lawyers not named Scott Hoy tend to have trouble coming up with good advertising. Here's an exception—a clever new campaign from Rockville, Md., law firm Esteban Gergely from Grey's Hispanic agency, Wing. The three spots advertise the firm's divorce services through a pretty awesome use of YouTube. Just make sure you let the videos run.
Credits below. (And thanks to @irenyofirene for the headline help.)
Note: Don't be fooled by the message that the videos have been removed. Keep watching.
CREDITS Agency: Wing Chief Creative Officer: Favio Ucedo Senior Copywriter: Facundo Paglia Copywriter: Marc Duran Senior Copywriter: Facundo Paglia, Copywriter: Marc Duran Brian Novoa, Art Director Producer Keyla Hernandez Editor: Alejandro Ussa Director of Business Development: Daniel Gergely AAE of Business Development: Andrés Tello
The BBC's official trailer for its coverage of next month's Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, has its champions and detractors, with some applauding the 90-second clip's epic sweep and others lamenting its dark tone and dearth of emotional appeal.
Created by RKCR/Y&R and director Tomek Baginski, the film focuses on hyper-realistic winter desolation, its frames filled with frozen peaks, dagger-like ice formations and majestic pines toppling in plumes of snow. A booming narration by actor Charles Dance, as the voice of nature, begins: "I am the dreadful menace. The one whose will is done. The haunting chill upon your neck. I am the conundrum." And he gets even more intense, warning: "The ones that came before you. Stood strong and tall and brave. But I stole their dreams away. Those dreams could not be saved."
Athletes appear around the one-minute mark, trekking across a lonely mountain pass, like some lost party of explorers inexplicably hauling skis, skates and hockey sticks in a haze of hypothermic delirium.
Response has been decidedly mixed. Mostly I applaud the BBC for trying something a bit unexpected. If nothing else, the approach is sparking conversation and debate, fueling the promotional fires, while a more aspirational/feel-good spot, no matter how marvelously executed, would've been predictable and perhaps left some viewers (and reviewers) feeling a bit numb.
Yes, a focus on individual athletes or specific events might have been compelling, but the clip does well in positioning the Winter Games as an outsized, soul-stirring challenge, a war waged against almost mythic forces poised to smite us at every turn. The voiceover, from Tywin Lannister himself, drives home the point that the Olympics can be the ultimate game of thrones.
Planet Fitness is back with the latest spot in its campaign against "gymtimidation."
This time, we peek in on an unnamed competitor, where an insanely pumped-up instructor is leading a class of "Pilatatumba," which appears to a combination of zumba-like jumping, twirling and dancing. A newbie can't keep up, and she later explains to a Planet Fitness employee: "And that's why I don't like gyms." The employee explains that Planet Fitness isn't a gym, and a voiceover takes over, promising "No gymtimidation. No lunks. Unlimited fitness training. Just $10 a month."
As was the case with Crunch's old "No Judgments" positioning, it's never fully clear (at least to me) quite how Planet Fitness is different from other fitness chains. But enough people must feel uncomfortable at gyms to be open to the mere suggestion that this place is somehow mellower. Three more national spots will break soon.
The 2014 One Show Automobile Advertising of the Year awards are being presented today at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. And Honda has grabbed the top prizes in both the TV and online video categories.
Fiat won in the print category, Hyundai in interactive, and BMW and Toyota shared the prize in experiential.
Check out all the winners (and the finalists) below. Some solid work here, but where oh where is the RAM "Farmer" spot?
Category: TV Commercials
Winner: Honda "Hands," Wieden + Kennedy, London
Other finalists: Dodge "It Comes Standard," Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore. Honda "Illusions," mcgarrybowen, London Daimler/Smart "Offroad," BBDO Germany, Dusseldorf Land Rover "Roam Free," Young & Rubicam, New York
Category: Online Video
Winner: Honda "Sound of Honda/Ayrton Senna 1989," Dentsu, Tokyo
Winner: Fiat "Letters," Leo Burnett Tailor Made, São Paulo, Brazil Fiat created its own typeface for posters warning people against texting and driving.
The iconic M&M's candies call for filmgoers to turn off their cellphones and respect their fellow theater patrons in this mock blockbuster action-movie trailer from BBDO that marks the first time all six characters have appeared in a single spot.
Speed and Die Hard-type flicks are among those deftly spoofed in the 40-second PSA, which will run in theaters nationwide. "Cellphones ruin movies. Please turn them off" is the tagline. Lobby posters starring the Red and Yellow M&M's are also part of the push.
Sugar-coating the theme in such fashion is pretty sweet, and the approach actually makes me want to see the M&M's cast in a feature for real. They're always hanging around movie theaters anyway, usually in the snack case. And judging by the "trailer," the Blue M&M could out-act Vin Diesel any day of the week (though an M&M's wrapper could probably do that, come to think of it).
Credits below.
CREDITS Agency: BBDO, New York Client: Mars/M&M's
Video Credits Chief Creative Officer: David Lubars Executive Creative Directors: Tim Bayne, Lauren Connolly Senior Art Director: Eduardo Petersen Senior Copywriter: Christopher Cannon Senior Producer: Regina Iannuzzi Junior Producer: Samantha Errico
Senior Account Director: Susannah Keller Account Director: Carrie Lipper Account Manager: Tani Nelson
Production Company: Traktor Director: Traktor/Sam Producer: Richard Ulfvengren Head of Production: Rani Melendez
Visual Effects: Laika/House President, Executive Producer: Lourri Hammack Animation Director: Kirk Kelly Producer: Zilpha Yost Producer: Julie Ragland Editing House: PS260 Editors: Maury Loeb, Ned Borgman Assistant Editors: Matt Posey, Colin Edelman Senior Producer: Laura Patterson
M&M'S 2013 Cinema "Teeth" Poster Creative Credits
Print Credits: Chief Creative Officer: David Lubars Executive Creative Directors: Tim Bayne, Lauren Connolly Art Directors: Jonathan Bjelland, Vanessa Castaneda Copywriter: Tifanni Lundeen
Executive Art Producer: Betsy Jablow Print Production Manager: Michael Musano Retoucher: Steve Lakeman
Senior Account Director: Susannah Keller Account Director: Carrie Lipper Account Manager: Tani Nelson
CGI Rendering: Laika Animation Director: Kirk Kelly Producer: Zilpha Yost
As huge of an advertising juggernaut as the NFL is, commercials starring NFL players often feel interchangeable. Here, though, is a great piece of work from Duracell starring Derrick Coleman, the 23-year-old Seattle Seahawks fullback who happens to the be the first legally deaf player to be part of an NFL offense.
Bravely narrating the ad himself, Coleman tells his own story of being picked on as a kid, being told he could never make it—and being passed over by the NFL draft. "They didn't call my name, told me it was over," he says. "But I've been deaf since I was 3, so I didn't listen." That's a great line. The tagline: "Trust the power within."
Coleman seems enamored with that line. He tells the Sporting News of his Duracell deal: "They came to me, and said they liked my story, and I said OK, I want to join up. I just hope to inspire people, especially children, to trust the power within and achieve their dreams."
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, New York.
CREDITS Client: Duracell
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, New York Executive Creative Director: Peter Moore Smith Creative Directors: Garrett Jones, Billy Leyhe Chief Production Officer: Tanya LeSieur Director of Content Production: John Doris Senior Producer: Danny Miller Senior Art Director: Nathan Wigglesworth Senior Copywriter: Lincoln Boehm
Production Company: Park Pictures, Los Angeles Director: A.G. Rojas Director of Photography: Linus Sandgren Executive Producer: Mary Ann Marino Line Producer: Gabrielle Yuro
Editing House: Whitehouse Post, Los Angeles Editor: Shane Reid Assistant Editor: Keith Hamm Producer: Jonlyn Williams Executive Producer: Kristin Branstetter
Sound Design: 740 Sound Design, Los Angeles Sound Designer, Mixer: Rommel Molina Executive Producer: Kate Vadnais
End Animation: Mass Market, New York Executive Producer: Louisa Cartwright
Getting ripped at a luxury gym will make you want to get more naked everywhere, says luxury gym Equinox.
OK, if your prerequisite for being comfortable getting more naked everywhere is having the body of a super-fit fashion model, sure, makes sense. Getting ripped at a luxury gym will also make you want to get a black eye, though, or stow away with your buddy in the trunk of a luxury Mercedes, says Equinox. That makes less sense, because it's dumb to get punched in the face, or cram two people into the trunk of a sedan.
The images in the new print and digital campaign from Wieden + Kennedy in New York, shot by photographer Robert Wyatt, feature the tagline "Equinox made me do it," because writ large, getting ripped at a luxury gym will make you feel like a badass, says the company. That means all kinds of new confidence and adventures with your high-end fashion accessories.
It's not dissimilar in spirit to a highly sexualized campaign, shot by Terry Richardson, that the brand pulled amid criticism late last year. It's just toned in favor of a more ambiguously suggestive and playful sort of mischief, which makes it right on target for a health club that likes to hire fashion photographers to give it that vague haute glow.
The new campaign even approaches direct relevance to the brand's actual product—fitness—with the shot of the guy in the ice bath, assuming he's recovering from a particularly intense workout … though he probably doesn't really need to bring that fancy watch into the tub with him.
More images, a video and credits below.
CREDITS Client: Equinox Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, New York
Print and OOH credits Executive Creative Directors: Colleen DeCourcy, Mark Fitzloff, Ian Reichenthal, Scott Vitrone Creative Directors: Gary Van Dzura, Stuart Jennings Copywriter: Nick Kaplan Art Director: Cyrus Coulter Designer Director: Serifcan Ozcan Account Team: Patrick Cahill, Jacqueline Ventura Creative Services Director: Chris Whalley Project Manager: Yann Samuels Art Buyers: Michelle Chant, Molly Dowd, Hillary Frileck Print Producer: Kristen Althoff Photographer: Robert Wyatt Wardrobe Stylist: Simon Robins Hair Stylist: Owen Gould Makeup Artist: Jo Strettell Business Affairs: Quentin Perry Brand Strategist: Erik Hanson Retouching Agency: Loupe Digital Imaging Retoucher: Mark Baxter
Video credits Executive Creative Directors: Colleen DeCourcy, Mark Fitzloff, Ian Reichenthal, Scott Vitrone Creative Directors: Stuart Jennings, Gary Van Dzura Interactive Creative Director: Gary Van Dzura Copywriter: Nick Kaplan Art Director: Cyrus Coulter Head of Content Production: Lora Shulson Producers: Luiza Naritomi, Kristen Johnson Brand Strategist: Erik Hanson Account Team: Patrick Cahill, Jacqueline Ventura Business Affairs: Quentin Perry
Director, Director of Photography: Hugo Stenson
Editing Company: Rock Paper Scissors Editor: Carlos Arias Post Producer: Lisa Barnable Post Executive Producer: Eve Kornblum Editing Assistants: Chris Mitchel (senior assistant), Alex Liu (assistant)
Telecine Company: Company 3 Colorist: Tom Poole
Mix Company: Heard City Mixer: Eric Warzecha Assistant Engineer: Jeremy Siegel Producer: Sasha Awn
Christian singles in the U.K. seeking like-minded partners to share romantic dinners of fishes, loaves and vino on Saturday nights might want to check out these cheeky posters launching today in London's Underground that use headlines like "Christians make better lovers" and "Another dating website? Thank God!"
The work, by ad agency Noah for Christian Connection, contends that, for the faithful, " 'Love one another' is written into their code. So if you are a single Christian person, why not give our award-winning dating site a try?"
Agency creative director Chas Bayfield, who designed the retro ads with artist Alex Fawkes, tells Co.Create that he strove to take the message "away from cloying sentimentality and into the mainstream through wit and [by] tapping into popular culture, with a campaign that is contemporary and relevant—something many church organizations aren't always known for."
Twitter is a tough crowd during any high-profile live TV programming, when snark levels always spike. Cheerios learned that the hard way during the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday when it aired a six-month-old commercial from Saatchi & Saatchi in New York that aimed for heartwarming but came off, to many, as depressing.
The ad shows a mom and her son having breakfast, when the boy pipes up and asks, "Did Nana ever give you Cheerios when you were a little kid?" This seemingly innocent question leads to an exchange that's supposed to be cute, though it leaves Mom practically in tears by the end—and got Twitter fuming.
Check out some of the reactions below. The spot is, of course, super manipulative—but that's hardly out of line with what Cheerios always does in its advertising. The General Mills brand blatantly manufactures emotion, sometimes more deftly than other times. We didn't think this one was actually that bad. (And in fact, a number of people praised the ad on Twitter last night, or at least said it made them teary.) But the difference is, during an event like the Globes, you're much more likely to get abused on Twitter for that kind of manipulation.
When Nissan offered to sell its Versa Note on Amazon last fall, it promised to ship the cars to three lucky buyers in actual Amazon boxes. Well, this weekend it was delivery day!
A Reddit user on Monday posted this photo from Madison, Wis., noting: "What's the largest item you can have shipped from Amazon? Because I think my neighbor just got it." A commenter soon pointed out the Nissan partnership, which seemed to be the most obvious explanation of such an epic delivery. AdFreak then reached out to Nissan, and Erich Marx, the automaker's director of interactive and social-media marketing, confirmed that the Redditor had captured the delivery—which was meant to be kept under wraps until a video could be released next week.
The original idea, he said, came from Nissan agency TBWA\Chiat\Day. "They mentioned it, and we all kind of laughed and thought, 'Wouldn't that be funny?' " said Marx. "But over the course of a few days, we kept coming back to it and said, 'Why not deliver a car in an Amazon box?' … It's never really been done. I think the visual is pretty hilarious. Everybody knows the Amazon box. We thought it would capture people's imagination. It certainly captured ours." In the end, Marx added, Nissan decided to deliver just one Versa Note, not three as originally planned.
The Redditor's photo, which hit the site's front page on Monday, came as a surprise to Nissan. "We were filming the video this weekend and a neighbor noticed what we were doing and posted what amounts to a spy photo," said Marx. "The best laid marketing plans, right? We were going to do a press release and a video and this whole thing next week. But the photo got out there, and people started buzzing about it. So we had to scramble."
The first 100 people to order the Versa Note on Amazon got $1,000 gift cards. Nissan contacted many of them, and then chose the Madison customer as the winner. "Quite frankly it was the enthusiasm of this winner—they were so thrilled and thought it was hilarious," said Marx. "We were all voting for someone in Hawaii. We were like, 'Madison, Wisconsin, in January? That's going to be cold.' But this winner was so into it, we knew it was going to be great."
Nissan is keeping the winner's name private for now. He or she will be revealed in the video, which is still set to be released next week. "We wanted to keep some of our original plan intact," said Marx.
Does Marx envision a day when a Nissan could be delivered by a fleet of Amazon drones? Laughing, he replied, "No, I think this a really fun onetime execution. We have a great dealer network, and we want our dealers to be involved in the marketing and delivery of our cars. We certainly don't want to step on their toes."
This eerie safe-driving PSA from New Zealand employs an Outer Limits-style time freeze to impressive, heartbreaking effect as we watch two drivers, poised to collide in a matter of seconds, emerge from their vehicles and discuss the situation.
One driver, with his small son in the back of his SUV, has misread the other's excessive speed while pulling into an intersection. Both concede it was "a simple mistake." But as the oncoming car creeps ominously ahead, shattering the otherwise frozen backdrop, they realize with mounting horror that there may be nothing they can do to avoid the inevitable. They walk back to their cars, and we share their sense of anguish and helplessness.
"This campaign aims to reframe the way people look at their speed when they're driving," the New Zealand Transport Agency says. "We usually get to learn from our mistakes, but not when driving—the road is an exception. Even the smallest of mistakes on the road can cost us our life, or someone else's."
The spot, by Clemenger BBDO, marks a departure from the agency's recent work for the client, which successfully used humor and charm to highlight the dangers of driving while stoned. Here, the tone is intensely serious, and the riveting results are memorable and stand up to repeat viewings. Amid the terrifying prospect of a side-impact crash, this ad's power hits you head on.
Mercedes-Benz USA puts the "demo" in demolition derby for this fun 60-second spot by Merkley + Partners touting the latest high-tech safety features of the automaker's M-Class vehicles. All hell breaks loose when a woman drives her shiny silver SUV into a crash-crazed competition of mangled metal and screaming steel. Smash! Bang! Screeeech! This particular carmageddon, pulse-pounding but also played for laughs, was impressively staged at an old California factory where the final confrontation in Terminator II: Judgement Day was shot.
Naturally, the M-Class emerges unscathed and its driver unharmed. Her ordeal was fiery and fierce, but notably less stressful than the wars waged for parking spaces at malls across America on any given Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!
This holiday, McCann Helsinki is seeking to make copywriters and creatives everywhere hate them with the fire of a thousand slightly burnt gingerbread men. They're offering free, tailor-made slogans in a two-hour turnaround time with their Lean Mean Slogan Machine, backed by a photo of a shirtless guy in a cowboy hat (Liquid Plumr, your ideas are leaking—PUN!). Visit the site, type in your business name, and within two hours you'll have your own slogan.
Some taglines from their gallery: • Mayer/McCann Erickson: "But ma! Mayer came in last! Why can he always sit in the front?" • Google: "Don't just doodle." • Anitotes: "For anyone without a bag." • FP7/CAI: "Kind of like AC/DC, only advertising." • Leo Burnett: "Porn to be wild." • Starbucks: "Covering up mermaid boobs does not make us a sellout."
OK, so maybe the slogans aren't billboard worthy, but it's a fun idea nonetheless. Jyrki Poutanen, one of the creative directors at McCann Helsinki, spoke with AdFreak about the campaign:
What's the story behind the Lean Mean Slogan Machine? We wanted to give our clients, affiliates and fans something for Christmas. Something that we think we're good at and that they'd hopefully enjoy. Something that would show excessive commitment to plain silliness. And it does, you know—we've been responding to the requests almost 24/7. Especially when the requests started pouring in from your continent; your day is our night. During the first 48 hours we had written about 300 slogans. And there's only three of us writing.
Do you have hate mail coming in? As a copywriter, I'm working on my draft to you now. Not yet. You'll be the first then. Sure, mail it in, we'll stamp it with a fitting slogan, and you'll have your hate mail back in two hours. 🙂
Shouldn't you guys look for new jobs if it only takes you two hours to write a slogan? We've always been good, or at least enjoying, verbal acrobatics. So yes, there may be a better future for us in professional athletics—gymnastics, that is. And if you're referring to the slogan machine mocking the copy profession, luckily there's so much more to our work nowadays than just taglines. And naturally the really, really great ones, the ones to live with us for decades, take a bit more than two hours to create. But I'm also a big believer in spontaneous stupidness that just might become some greater universal stupidness just because it wasn't so analyzed, chopped to pieces through and through.
What's your favorite slogan ever? Hmmm. Tough one. I remember really liking Honda's "The Power of Dreams" when it first came out. Having said that, it really doesn't portray my typical favorite slogan. I usually like them 40 percent rebellious, 40 percent stupid and 30 percent clever. Yeah, I know, the math's not right, but I may have proven a point there? But I can't think of any of that sort right at the moment. So maybe my favorites really aren't that good, then. Oh, there was this slogan once for PeakPerformance (I think) … "Boredom Comes to Those Who Wait," which really stuck to my mind.
Santa needs a new slogan. Any ideas? A rebel with a claus.
It's getting down to the wire, but we're still finding little gems of Christmas cheer in holiday ads on YouTube. This one's for Meijer, the superstore chain, and it should bring a smile to even the most Grinch-like viewer. Sadly, it's only gotten 6,000 views in over a month. Let's help lift that number a bit. Agency: The Distillery Project in Chicago.
These are a couple of years old, but new to us—some amazing, beautifully simple print ads for a bookstore in Brazil. Delightful idea, gorgeous execution. It's stuff like this that makes people fall in love with advertising and want to work in the industry. Agency: Lápisraro Comunicação. Full credits below. Via @Brilliant_Ads, which is doing a Twitter countdown of 100 great ads through the end of the year.
CREDITS Client: Corre Cutia Bookstore Agency: Lápisraro Comunicação, Belo Horizonte, Brazil Creative Directors: Carla Madeira, Cristina Cortez Art Director: Francisco Valle Copywriter: Gustavo Costa Illustrator: Francisco Valle
The original Yule Log television broadcast dates back to 1966, when WPIX-TV aired footage of a cozy fireplace to cheer up New Yorkers who lived in apartments without one. But Netflix really gives it a modern spin this year, humorously advertising its streaming Yule Log channel with a faux-epic trailer and two-minute behind-the-scenes director's commentary video. It's all perfectly stupid and hilarious, particularly the longer video, in which the auteur picks out the right logs on a farm and marvels at particularly serendipitous "ashing" in footage of the burning wood. Great holiday cheer by ad agency Muh-Tay-Zik | Hof-fer.
CREDITS Client: Netflix
Agency: Muh-Tay-Zik | Hof-fer Director, Executive Creative Director: John Matejczyk Head of Production: Michelle Spear Associate Creative Directors: Josh Bogdan, Tony Zimney Copywriter: Jonathan Hirsch Account Supervisor: Carolina Cruz-Letelier Assistant Account Manager: Emily Mee
Production: Muh-Tay-Zik | Hof-fer Director of Photography: Chris Wilson Art Director: Jonathan Nicholson Producer: Alex Smith
Editing: Beast Editor: Matt O'Donnell Colorist: Eric Pascua Motion Graphics: Spencer Seibert Executive Producer: Jon Ettinger Senior Producer: Kristen Jenkins
Audio: One Union Senior Engineers: Andy Greenberg, Eben Carr
Speaking of Christmas miracles, The VIA Agency would like to make one of its own happen. The Portland, Maine, agency's house band recorded a six-track album of holiday music, and has launched a campaign to get David Bowie to cover one of the songs. Hey, it could happen.
The "Get It to Bowie" site is full of cheerful strategizing, including ways to tweet at Bowie's famous friends and get them to put the pressure on. There's also an amusing "Are you David Bowie? Click here" link, which populates a tweet field with the message, "@TheVIAAgency Yes! I'm in. #gotittobowie." (The project also has a charity element, as VIA is also asking for donations to support Maine veterans living with PTSD—and one of the songs is about a homeless veteran at Christmastime.) You can also, of course, listen to the songs, which are solid—a good mix of funny and heartfelt.
For now, the hashtag is the present-tense #getittobowie. It's a long shot, no doubt, especially now that Bowie is on the comeback trail with his well-received 2013 album, which got him three Grammy nominations. But who knows. Throw in an Angela Adams sea bag—actually, make that Louis Vuitton—and he might just go for it.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
