Delta Jumps Into Political Fray with a Lofty Patriotic Meditation from the Sky

Overwhelmed as we are with wacky politicals, terrorist hysteria, a looming police state and social media’s unending attacks on our peace of mind, more than a few of us feel outsized pressure to do something—or at least say something—even when we normally wouldn’t.

This apparently applies to brands, too. In “This Land,” Delta and SS+K dive into the moral fray with a meditation on America from 30,000 feet up. 

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A Real Estate Brand Turned Kids' Drawings of Their Dream Homes Into VR Experiences

When Swiss real estate website Homegate.ch asked kids to draw pictures of their dream houses, it wasn’t an empty gesture. It was the first step in a marketing collaboration with the Bandara agency and film production company Frame Engine to give three of those kids virtual tours of the houses they drew.

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Slip Into a Blanket Fort of Chocolate Walnut Absurdity In This Strange Nutchello Ad

When this Nutchello ad popped up in my feed, it melted my brain into a delicious puddle of chocolate pouring onto a gold cougar statue. You know, in a good way.

The ad, from Fallon, throws one quirky headline after another at you while you stare at giant type superimposed over impressively weird CGI. You are assailed by alternately relaxing and terrifying images.

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We Tested This South Park Fart-Smelling VR Device, and Now We Can Never Unsmell It

The inside of my nose smells like South Park, and I’m worried it will never go away.

If you weren’t following the Olympics—which saturated all media—too closely, by now you probably know about Nosulus Rift, a bizarre odor-VR product created for Ubisoft’s latest South Park game by Paris agency Buzzman and its product arm, Productman, which launched in June.

Some background: The game, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, will be released in December, so it’s deep in promotions period. Demos are already circulating at conferences like Paris Games Week and Gamescom in Cologne, Germany. 

In the story, all your favorite South Park characters have formed a superhero squad, and you’re the new kid, trying to fit in. You are also blessed with a unique superpower—magical farts, which enable you to fight enemies, piss off Cartman … and also travel in time.

Enter the Nosulus Rift, Productman’s first-ever product. 

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Props No More, Ikea's Catalog Models Have Become Delusional Fame Seekers

The humans sprinkled throughout the Ikea catalog traditionally have been pure background material, a supporting cast to the furniture and other brand goods for sale. But no longer!

In this spot from DDB Brussels, they speak out, during the photo shoot for the new catalog, about their hopes and dreams, display their impressive thespian chops, and most of all, are thrilled to be poised on the cusp of what will surely be worldwide fame on the A-list level.

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How Copywriter David Burd Became Rap Star (and Hilarious Trojan Man) Lil Dicky

Lil Dicky, the chart-topping MC, is back with more comedy gold for Trojan condoms.

David Burd, whose 2015 debut studio album Professional Rapper hit No. 1 on both Billboard’s rap and comedy charts, anchored a clever, nervous, long-form PSA earlier this year, sponsored by the condom brand, about the dangers of unprotected bathroom sex.

Now, he’s starring in two much slicker but plenty ridiculous new TV commercials, created with agency Colangelo, slated to first air this Sunday during the MTV Video Music Awards. (Trojan has a broader partnership with the youth-focused network, funding its how-to guide on sex and relationships.)

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Even Sexy People Get Skid Marks in This Grossly Funny Attack on Fashion's Dirty Secrets

Today in things you shouldn’t watch on a full stomach: In an ad for organic clothing brand PACT, agency Denizen reprises the aesthetics of old Calvin Klein ads, producing something that is sometimes funny, mostly damning and completely uncomfortable. 

“Skidmarks” features people lounging around nearly nude, making passionate love to the camera and touching each other the way beautiful people in fashion industry ads do—possessively, reverentially, like they’re caressing an art form and need you to watch. 

There’s just one problem: The unsightly fruits of what we can only imagine were a stunning amount of sharts (did they have chili before the shoot?), staining the backs of their otherwise pristine white skivvies. 

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This Meta PSA About LGBTQ Suicide Ends Much More Happily Than You Expect

LGBTQ youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers, but a creative outlet can help stem the tide while time does its work. This is the insight, brought to life, in a PSA bluntly labeled “Suicide,” from nonprofit Mythic Bridge. 

Directed by Xander of Backyard Productions, it opens with a young man stumbling onto a rooftop, clutching his phone and walking toward the edge as accusing hisses and whispers swirl around him. He approaches the ledge and looks down, and for a minute we can see his phone messages: They’re all from him to his family—an apology for existing that doubles, in this case, as a suicide note.

He climbs the ledge, and the city spreads out below him, dark silhouettes against a gray sky.

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See the Colorful House an Agency Built for These Eye-Catching Heating and Cooling Ads

Brunner stages a colorful open house in its first major campaign for Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating.

To dramatically convey the idea that Mitsubishi systems allow different temperature settings for various zones of a home, the agency built a life-size mock-up house, facilitating a seamless commercial shoot with no CGI required.

The dwelling consists of two huge 22-by-35-foot open-faced sections, each containing five fully furnished rooms across their respective upstairs and downstairs levels.

The rooms are color coded to represent different “Shades of Comfort”—e.g., the heating and cooling preferences of different family members. For example, Grandma likes it warm—76 degrees—so her room is rendered in deep coral tones, while Dad’s mancave elsewhere in the house is set to 68 degrees and decorated in cerulean hues.

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DavidAndGoliath.com Is Held for Ransom by Masked Villains. Will David Angelo Pay Up?

Ever since Los Angeles ad agency David&Goliath opened its doors in November 1999, it has suffered the indignity of not being able to get its hands on davidandgoliath.com, which was being used by another company. Founder David Angelo and his shop—best known for its Kia advertising—were forced to settle for dng.com, a depressingly acronymic substitute for such a mythic name.

But it looks like Angelo might finally be able to seize the prized URL—for a price.

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Meet Leo, the World's Creepiest, Hungriest, Most Lecherous Gambling Mascot

It isn’t often you watch a 30-second spot that leaves you with feelings you can’t understand.

For online casino Leo Vegas, London ad agency Now has released “Carcass,” the first of a two-part series featuring client mascot Leo, the “undisputed king of mobile casino.” 

The spot opens with Leo leaning against a bar and eyeing some (literal!) fresh meat across the way. It’s an irresistible lure: He saunters over and takes its stub of a hand, leading it to the dance floor, where the pair get familiar in ways that leave us, well, queasy at best. 

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These Brilliant U.K. Posters Ask Pokemon Go Players to Help Find Missing Persons

British nonprofit Missing People wants some of the millions of Pokemon Go players traipsing the country to be on the look out for something other than cartoon creatures: actual humans.

An outdoor campaign from the organization, which helps search for missing persons and provides support to them and their loved ones, repurposes iconography from the popular augmented reality game, which requires users to rove their cities for digital creatures in real-world locations.

The campaign, launched during a Pokemon Go event in Trafalgar Square, drew a crowd some 4,000 strong. Working with BBH Barn, the Publicis agency’s internship program, Missing People created posters featuring the faces and names of those “missing near here,” wrapped inside Pokeballs, the imaginary tools used to trap Pokemon.

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These Ads Show Beautiful Views of Connecticut, but It's Not a Tourism Campaign

Don’t you just love a room with a view?

Connecticut’s licensed realtors are betting you do in this soft-sell pitch that subtly promotes their services, but plays more like an upscale tourism campaign. Crafted by ad shop Sleek Machine, the commercials employ a distinctive visual device that kicks in about halfway through each spot.

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Uber Hands Out Breathalyzer Cards You Can Lick to See If You're Too Drunk to Drive

A clever campaign from Russia adds new utility to the dead-tree branding tool of the business card, by turning it into a blood alcohol test that can let bar patrons know whether they’re sober enough to drive safely—or should arrange for a ride to come pick them up.

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Die Young, but Look Pretty Doing It, Says This Existential Clothing Ad With a Twist

There’s not much anyone can do to avoid life’s little indignities. But if you’ve got some money in the bank, you can at least be well dressed while facing them.

That, at least, is the upshot of a new ad from Middle Eastern clothing retailer Centrepoint and agency Impact BBDO Dubai. 

Shot in black and white, it features a young man driving a flashy vintage sportscar while a stunning woman stares out the window from the backseat (perhaps reflecting the marketer’s audience). The party drips with ennui. Despite the trappings of success, this gent can’t escape banal little tragedies—a stone in his shoe during a meeting, a piece of gum left on his seat by some thoughtless predecessor, a baby on the airplane he’s riding in.

The uncaring universe, it turns out, does not love him like his mother does (assuming the universe recognizes he’s there at all). His scruples eventually reach a high point when the car breaks down on a set of railroad tracks. 

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Nationwide's Jingle Gets a Modern Tune-Up in Ogilvy's Olympic Spots

Brad Paisley and Rachel Platten are on your side, performing expanded versions of Nationwide’s iconic jingle in the insurance company’s new spots from Ogilvy & Mather.

Launched during NBC’s Olympics coverage, the work presents “Songs for All Your Sides,” striving to tell “the whole story of what Nationwide is and how we can support our members through their life stages,” says client CMO Terrance Williams.

Both Paisley and Platten contribute to the lyrics in their respective spots, touching on issues like banking services and retirement plans. First up, country star Paisley works the frets, waxing poetic about man caves and RVs (which, let’s face it, wouldn’t seem out of place in most country songs):

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Amy Schumer Isn't All That Great With Kids in Old Navy's Back-to-School Ad

Amy Schumer may be the world’s worst babysitter, but she will take her nephew and niece back-to-school shopping at Old Navy.

A new 60-second ad marks the star’s debut for the clothing chain as its spokescomic. In it, she demonstrates her total ineptitude at looking after children, like feeding her charges by slopping milk into a box of cereal, and handing them each a fork.

Luckily, she knows enough to call some cool kid and get his advice on where to take them to buy clothes. Unluckily, she sweeps them out of the house without finding them shoes to wear—and knows too little to avoid making a total fool out of herself.

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Elegant Split Screens Balance On-Board With On-Shore in This Cruise-Line Ad

Figliulo & Partners doubles your pleasure through elegant use of split-screen technique in the agency’s first major push for Carnival’s ultra-luxury Seabourn Cruise Line.

Targeting affluent millennials, a playful, visually arresting anthem spot titled “Extraordinary Worlds” presents a series of complementary images on opposite sides of the screen. One panel shows on-board amenities, while the other displays highlights from exotic cruising destinations such as New Zealand and Iceland. Throughout the minute-long commercial, the frames work together to create an optical feast of color, flow and composition.

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Flo? Whoa! Progressive's Icon Swaps Her Apron for Attitude in Motorcycle Insurance Ads

Like a true nature’s child, Flo was born to be wild. Or something.

Progressive’s iconic ad character, played by Stephanie Courtney, revs up the va-va-vroom in this tongue-in-cheek motorcycle-themed print campaign created by Arnold Worldwide with Buffalo Art Co. and custom bike builder Chase Stopnik. (The work marks another departure for Flo from her familiar white-and-blue aproned commercial appearances, following her ectoplasmic turn in spots touting the insurer’s sponsorship of the Ghostbusters reboot.)

Now, Flo goes the sexy/rebel biker-chick route—which, of course, yields some high-octane kitsch, as she poses on custom-built “Chrome Thrones” made from motorcycle parts designed to represent different rigs.

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Voiceover Narrator Totally Loses Control of This Awesome Nike Ad for the Olympics

Nike athletes do such great things, even voiceover artists are surprised.

The athletic wear brand’s “Unlimited” campaign, which launched last week with this baby-themed spot, really kicks into high gear today with “Unlimited You”—a long-form spot running as a 2:30 online and as a :60 on NBC’s coverage of tonight’s Opening Ceremonies of the Rio Olympics.

The spot, created by Wieden + Kennedy Portland and directed by The Daniels (aka, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), has fun in particular with the voiceover, by actor Oscar Isaac. After talking up the potential of everyday athletes, in a playfully freewheeling way, for the first 60 seconds, Isaac tries to wrap up the spot—but the athletes have other ideas.

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