Hasta La Creative!

To promote YouTube Music, which launched in the U.S. in November, YouTube is putting the spotlight on its biggest competitive advantage—its diversity. 

Sure, Spotify has musical diversity. But YouTube is the No. 1 streaming music site in the world, which means it’s got an especially diverse user base. And it’s those people, and their unique and personal tastes, that the brand is focusing on. 

Working with Lance Acord, the director behind a slew of hits including the NFL’s Super Bowl babies choir, YouTube has released a series of ads that embody the private moments in a day that music transforms into something special, even personally revealing. 

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Stats might be a big deal in baseball, but four-time all-star Bryce Harper wants young players to know there’s something more important—their feet.

Under Armour is out with a new campaign from Droga5 titled “It Comes from Below,” promoting the brand’s shoes. It launches this week with an ad for the Washinton Nationals’ new namesake Harper One cleats (which, naturally, the Nats’ right fielder will be wearing at Tuesday night’s All-Star Game).

In the commercial, Harper stands at the plate in an empty field, practicing his swing. The voiceover rattles off his impressive accomplishments by the numbers—precocious gains as a teenager, impressive averages, a unanimous MVP selection—all while his bat cracks against the ball again and agin, punctuating each data point.

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Who are the faces of Meals on Wheels? 

For its first national integrated campaign, created by Anomaly and supported by the Ad Council, Meals on Wheels is seeking volunteers to serve the elderly population in the U.S. The commitment isn’t big, and they’re not asking for mone. What they want is your lunch hour. 

“America, Let’s Do Lunch” puts a warm and upbeat spotlight on the people who benefit from Meals on Wheels. You’ll meet a retired school psychologist with a contagious laugh, a woman who surrounds herself with flowers, a couple who’ve knitted their wedding photo onto a pillowcase, and more. 

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Years into its ongoing and successful “Love” campaign, Subaru has been named Kelley Blue Book’s 2016 Most Trusted Brand and Best Overall Brand. And to look ahead, it’s looking back—at scenes from its most beloved Carmichael Lynch spots, in a warm commemorative message for the people who love it best … and maybe for some new drivers, too. 

“Proud to Earn Your Trust” kicks off with a throwback to “Subaru Heaven” (itself already nostalgic and heartfelt) but also features that glorious sunset shot from “Welcoming Party,” as well as moments from “Baby Driver,” “Honeymoon” and “Back Seat.”

Its storyline explores the times when people especially appreciate having a Subaru—road trips, childhood benchmarks, even accidents. It warmly concludes, “Every Subaru is built to earn your trust … because we know what you’re trusting us with,” followed by closing copy that winks to the campaign’s theme: “Love. It’s what makes a Subaru a Subaru.” 

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Perhaps unsurprisingly, six out of 10 Spaniards think mechanics are liars, according to the Spanish Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU). The country’s economic crisis has only exacerbated that belief. 

Midas, though, claims to have built its reputation on transparency and sincerity. To give that notion salience, Proximity Madrid subjected its mechanics to a Minority Report-style lie detector test. 

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Playing on research suggesting fragrance can lift one’s mood, a new ad for British fragranced soap and gel brand Radox shows a sullen, black-clad teenager going crazy, Broadway style, to the tune of Summer Twins’ “I Will Love You.”

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Thanks to a new promotion from AT&T Wireless, you can bring even your most annoying friend to the movies for free—because someone’s gotta take that extra seat. 

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Ready for a sunscreen-shitting seagull?

Sir John Hegarty, co-founder of Bartle Bogle Hegarty and all-around advertising legend, was jury president of the Titanium and Integrated Lions at Cannes this year. And his jury recognized plenty of brilliant work, including the Titanium Grand Prix winner, REI’s #OptOutside campaign.

But at the press conference announcing the winners, Hegarty didn’t open his remarks by talking about the top-notch work. He opened by mentioning a Nivea campaign that was so shockingly wretched, it’s a wonder it was entered at Cannes at all. In fact, it’s a wonder it’s not a parody.

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“To love America is to love all Americans.”

It’s a simple proposition—and an urgent one this Fourth of July, when the U.S. has rarely seemed more divided. And it’s delivered in bracing fashion by John Cena, who muses on the meaning of patriotism, and the things should unite rather than divide us, in this remarkable new interation of R/GA’s “Love Has No Labels” campaign for the Ad Council.

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A man who can’t keep the lights on for his family leaves home on a five-year quest, and returns as a human firefly who lights up his entire village. 

That is the bizarre, ultimately tragic plot of this “Firefly Man” ad for Ocedel Lighting in Japan. It won a silver in Film and a bronze in Film Craft last week at Cannes Lions, and before that, it was the Grande Film winner at this year’s Asia Pacific AdFest.

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