Hasta La Creative!

May we now call Alex Bogusky the anti-Draper?

Lumenati, which Bogusky himself describes as “a not-very secret society of film makers in Denver,” just released an answer of sorts to the old McCann ad that your dad kept singing after last month’s Mad Men finale.

You know this isn’t the first time Bogusky has attacked Coca-Cola: back in 2012 he and Jason Mraz introduced us to “The Real Bears,” and this time the Center for Science in the Public Interest wants to make sure the message hits a bit closer to home.

This latest stop on Bogusky’s apologies for advertising tour follows the March launch of Fearless, a sponsored content project created in partnership with media company Fusion. The question preceding “Change the Tune” is simple: what happened to the millions who chose to sing in perfect harmony with Coca-Cola and its competitors over the past 40-plus years?

The answer is even simpler: obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Hear the choir sing: “Please drink soda less/this is not happiness.”

From CSPI Executive Director Michael F. Jacobson:

“For the past 45 years, Coca-Cola and other makers of sugar drinks have used the most sophisticated and manipulative advertising techniques…It’s a multi-billion-dollar brainwashing campaign designed to distract us away from our diabetes with happy thoughts.”

No word on the promotion of these sugary drinks by other corporations like, say, Burger King.

For context, Big Soda officially peaked in 1998, and per capita consumption of carbonated syrup water has declined consistently every year since then. A majority of Americans now actively avoid the stuff even though 20 percent of us still drink (and, hopefully, recycle) at least one can every day.

We may debate how much advertising influenced this change and how many people thought twice about drinking a Coke after watching the Real Bears. We can, however, agree on one thing: “Change the Tune” is better than the Oasis version of Matthew Weiner‘s favorite ad.

GIF logo via Colorado designer Dan Lehman

Former agency executive Alex Bogusky is about to start something a little different.

Here’s a semi-cryptic tweet from yesterday:

Excited to launch new social-good agency platform very soon. Imagine an agency with a community (millions) and media distribution built in.

— Alex Bogusky (@bogusky) February 23, 2015

You may notice a pattern in his recent tweets: beyond sharing the “Save the Bros” campaign from “ad startup Humanaut,” he’s been posting quite a few links to Fusion, the joint media venture of Disney/ABC TV and Univision that ended 2014 by launching a cable network and signing a slew of journalists from more traditional publications like The Atlantic, Forbes, New York magazine, and Reuters.

The reason behind that trend, it seems, is that Bogusky’s newest project is a collaboration with the people at Fusion…a sharing of the assets, as it were.

Our contacts at Fusion were mum, and a CP+B spokesperson confirmed that this is NOT a Crispin Porter joint. But thanks to a Denver Egotist reader (hat tip), we can tell you that the new project is Spiffly, a Boulder-based “community for the natural and socially conscious goods industry” set to launch any day now.

It would seem, based on the vague descriptions given, that the baseline community of which Bogusky tweets is comprised of Fusion’s viewers, readers, and followers. It would also seem that he, former CP+B senior strategist Jim Moscou, and a few others will use these pooled assets to bring attention to area nonprofits and, eventually, global companies doing what people in the PR field call “corporate social responsibility” or CSR.

Spiffly reads like a combination agency/B2B social network. From the group’s LinkedIn page, which classifies it as a “partnership”:

“Launched in Boulder, CO. in January 2014 by a small group of entrepreneurs, strategists, and designers, Spiffly believes in the power of products that do good. In turn, Spiffly aggregates online for the first time one of the fastest growing, most innovative, and most influential business communities in today — companies and professionals making and supporting a new generation of consumer products that take into consideration people, planet and profits.”

Here’s more from the Spiffly Facebook page:

“At Spiffly, we believe in transparency and authenticity; a fun and festival atmosphere; to help fledgling and established brands alike to thrive and succeed; and to bring to market the first ever natural products ‘pro deal’, sampling, social/discovery shopping platform (and much more) at Spiffly.is.”

Regarding the venture’s mascot:

“…to manifest this unique vision, we really had to start from scratch and be our own animal. Thus, introducing the one and only, Spiffly!”

The Spiffly Twitter account currently follows one person: Boulder-area “healthy living market expert” Carlotta Mast. As we know from his past work with SodaStream and others, Bogusky is a big fan of sustainability, and Spiffly looks like a network created to help people who work at similarly-minded companies connect and further one another’s business goals in the process.

What’s not yet clear is what Spiffly will create beyond the network itself — and how it will partner with green-themed companies looking to exchange their goods and services for some form of legal currency via that social/discovery shopping platform.

But at least it’s not advertising.

UPDATE: Throwing around words like "uncensored" and "banned," SodaStream has now posted the original cut of its Super Bowl spot on YouTube. Watch it below.

In what has apparently become an annual tradition of feigned outrage, SodaStream says its proposed ad for this year's Super Bowl has been rejected for mentioning Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

The marketing team behind the do-it-yourself soda brewing machine tells USA Today that Fox is forcing the advertiser to remove a scene in which celebrity spokeswoman Scarlett Johansson says, "Sorry, Coke and Pepsi." A similar demand was made by 2013 Super Bowl broadcaster CBS, leading to the removal of all Coke and Pepsi logos from last year's SodaStream ad.

As with last year's spot, SodaStream will still appear in the Super Bowl but will need to provide an edit that doesn't mention competitors by name.

Advertising icon Alex Bogusky, who has been working on this year's Super Bowl spot for SodaStream, tells the newspaper he's disgusted "that Fox protects its big advertisers to the detriment of the environment and consumers." (Known these days for his vocal social consciousness, Bogusky has a soft spot for SodaStream because it produces less plastic waste and uses less sugar than traditional sodas.)

One could reasonably infer that the decision was made by Fox as a favor to halftime sponsor Pepsi. (Coke says it did not request any limitations on competitor ads.) And while SodaStream is right to be annoyed, it's also a bit silly to hear the brand's CEO, Daniel Birnbaum, sounding shocked, SHOCKED to find that his attempt at prodding competitors failed for the second year in a row.

Birnbaum even went so far as to tell USA Today, "If I could get my money back, I'd be happy to be out of that deal." Right. I'll believe that when Scarlett Johansson shows up at my house to make cranberry sodas and talk trash about Dr Pepper.