Heat, Hungry Man Unleash ‘Shadow’ for EA’s ‘Titanfall’

Heat and their production partner Hungry Man have released a new spot for Xbox One crown jewel exclusive and E3 critical darling Titanfall, which just had its North American release yesterday.

The new, 60 second spot (there’s also a 30 second version), entitled “Shadow,” imagines what it would be like to constantly be shadowed by a 25-foot Titan that obeys your every command. Following in the recent trend of inserting gamers into the real world, the spot attempts “to capture the ear-to-ear grinning invincibility you feel when you first climb into your very own Titan and start dominating the world.” “Shadow” follows a man with a shit-eating grin walking through a city trailed by his own personal Titan. Everything is just peachy until he runs into another Titan owner, at which time, as you might expect, shit goes down.

The spot manages to capture the overall “Life is Better with a Titan” theme of the campaign, while also demonstrating Titanfall‘s unique features, like verticality. What really makes the spot work, though, is the perfect transition to gameplay footage during the final 15 seconds. While there’s nothing revolutionary about Heat’s approach here, they find a balance between live action and gameplay footage that a lot of similarly minded ads miss. And they certainly succeed at making the game look like a lot of fun. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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CP+B, Xbox One Take Different Approach with ‘Lost’

Last October/November, CP+B helped launch Xbox One with a series of TV spots designed to show off how with the next-gen system “games and entertainment are no longer separated.” Well, following a series of Playstation 4 ads that positioned that system as the one “For the Players,” CP+B and Xbox One return serve with a new television spot reminding viewers that, oh yeah, “first and foremost, Xbox One is a gaming console.”

The new effort, entitled “Lost,” focuses on the realism of Xbox One’s graphics, imagining them as so realistic that a young man playing Ryse: Son of Rome actually believes he’s sustaining injuries. That, or the dude is just tripping balls, in which case he should probably play something a little less intense. The spot concludes with the somehow familiar sounding tagline, “If it was any more real, it would be real.”

As mentioned, “Lost” does feel like a direct response to the PS4 ads that position it as the system for gamers, which makes a lot of sense for Microsoft. The Redmond, WA giant may have overestimated the appeal of the whole “gaming and entertainment in one” selling point, and now it seems they can’t let Sony claim the “For the Players” crown without a fight. It will be interesting to see how the advertising battles for the two systems play out as both fight to win the next-gen console war. With the systems selling at a pretty close rate, it doesn’t look like things will let up any time soon. and perhaps that’s a good thing. Credits after the jump. continued…

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McGarryBowen Chicago is Back with More From ‘The Denskies’

Last week, we introduced you to McGarryBowen’s new “Denskies” campaign for Sears, and it wasn’t pretty. The spots employed a tired “There’s a better way to…” gimmick and random offensiveness without any real humor attached. Now there’s a new spot in the campaign,”Chupacabra,” and it’s pretty much more of the same.

There aren’t any mouth-raping squirrels in “Chupacabra,” but there is a chupacabra. The Denskie patriarch accidentally beams the chupacabra into the house with a teleportation device he created to get products the family ordered there sooner (that’s the “There’s a better way…” tie in for this spot). What the husband, or any rational viewer, doesn’t expect is that the chupacabra isn’t bent on destruction but rather takes a fancy to Mrs. Denskie. (What is it with McGarryBowen, Sears and bestiality?) This ridiculousness is played up with the wife still deciding between Mr. Denskie and the chupacabra, in a “To be continued…” ending for the 1:10 spot. I’m not sure who decided this (or any of the “Denskie” spots) needed a sequel, as I can’t imagine anyone clambering for more after watching “Chupacabra.” Maybe it was just easier to run with this concept than to come up with a new, random idea incorporating zoophilia. Credits after the jump.  continued…

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McGarryBowen Debuts Three Ridiculous Holiday Spots for Sears

It seems that the fight for the craziest, most absurd holiday ad is in full force, with McGarryBowen Chicago being the latest agency to throw their hat in the ring with three new spots for Sears that introduce us to “The Denskies.”

While Draftcb’s currently causing controversy with its Joe Boxer jingle for Kmart (and let’s not forget the earlier Satan/Genghis Khan layaway spot), McGarryBowen makes that holiday effort seem tame in comparison to its “Squirrel Revolt” ad. It wouldn’t stand out from the other two “Denskies” installments, in its “let’s be as crazy as possible” humor, were it not for the line (assuming I’m hearing this correctly), “Oh god, it’s mating with my mouth.”

The aforementioned spot (which you can watch above, though you probably shouldn’t) begins with Papa Denskie explaining to his wife that he’s trained “those pesky squirrels” to cut coupons. Everything, though, soon goes haywire, the squirrels attack the man and elicit the crazy, over-the-top response from the above paragraph. (You know, the one where the guy gets orally raped by a squirrel with a rage boner.) If people were pissed off about Kmart’s “Show Your Joe,” I can’t imagine how they’ll respond to this one.

The other two “Denskies” spots for Sears have plenty of crazy to spare as well. In “Robo Granny,” the same man builds a robotic grandmother so that the family won’t have to go visit their real, living grandmother. Predictably, chaos ensues, dragging on for way too long, with the spot clocking in at 1:23 but seeming more like a 5-minute endurance test. Meanwhile, “Medium” sees agency and client portraying their subject as some kind of crazy, possessed witch lady. I’d almost feel bad for real mediums if it weren’t for the fact that they make their living by pretending to talk to dead people (sorry, Sylvia Browne, RIP). The message from Sears this holiday season seems to be the tired “Don’t do something crazy to save time and money, shop here” approach–just with the crazy pushed well beyond the point of reason. You can check out the other two after the jump, along with credits.

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New CP+B Spots for Xbox One Tackle Retirement, Relationship Issues


With the Xbox One’s November 22nd launch date looming ever nearer, CP+B’s marketing blitz for Microsoft’s next-gen system continues with two new spots. Coming on the heels of the “Invitation” spot released late last month, the two new short spots highlight the system’s diverse capabilities while otherwise taking different approaches.

The first spot, “Retirement Home,” features recently retired NFL linebackers Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher. Urlacher asks Lewis if he’s having any trouble adjusting to retirement as both watch football and play Madden 25 at the same time. Lewis claims not to be having any adjustment issues, but his actions say otherwise. It’s a funny little spot that will appeal to the (sizable) segment of the Xbox crowd who have always wished they could play Madden while watching the NFL.

The second spot, “His and Hers” addresses the apparent sexism of the “Invitation” spot (in which the only female featured uses the system only to watch movies, not play games). It highlights the voice recognition system by showing a woman command the Xbox One using her voice after arriving home to find her boyfriend watching soccer. She tells the system “Xbox go to Dead Rising 3″ and begins to play. Then she starts similarly commanding her boyfriend in a similar matter, telling him to get her a beer. It’s a bit over the top, but a welcome reversal of the gender stereotypes displayed in CP+B’s “Invitation” spot.

Credits and “His & Hers” after the jump.  continued…

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Microsoft, CP+B Send Xbox One ‘Invitation’

I may be something of a Sony loyalist, but I’ve got to admit CP+B’s new spot “Invitation” makes the Xbox One shine. Even some of Sony’s biggest fanboys might concede it looks a lot better than the recent PS4 spot.

Directed by Hungry Man’s Bryan Buckley, the commercial vet who recently helmed the R&B-inflected DirecTV spot starring the Manning bros (and who earned an Emmy nod for Grey Poupon’s “The Chase,” also from CP+B),  “Invitation” features users invited into the world of several different games, and one movie. The spot opens with a giant robot warrior crashing a business meeting and making a “come here” gesture to a man giving a presentation. Then we see soccer player Steven Gerrard inviting a fan down from the stands. Spock invites a girl along for some sci-fi adventures. A sports car parks itself in front of some dude’s car and opens its door for him. (This is the automotive equivalent of “come here” apparently.) A zombie attempts to cajole a student in a library to join him, loses an arm, and then tells him to come along with the other arm.

Emphasizing the immersive nature of the next-gen platform, the spot announces, “This is an invitation to a new generation: where your games and entertainment are no longer separated, but together, in one.” Showing Xbox One users utilizing the system’s voice activation to launch games like TitanfallDead Rising 3, and the movie Star Trek: Enter Darkness gives fans an idea of what they can expect on launch day. The spot also shows users making use of the motion sensitive Kinect. You know, the camera that might be spying on you.

Mixing live action with just the right amount of actual gameplay, “Invitation” is slickly produced and should have Xbox fanboys chomping at the bit for the console’s Nov. 22 release date. My biggest problem with the spot is that the one woman featured uses the Xbox One not for gaming, but to watch a movie. Aside from this perpetuation of the gaming industry’s prevailing sexism (which most people won’t even notice), it’s a really solid ad. The whole “invitation” approach works to emphasize both the immersive nature of the system and the all-in-one entertainment value it offers. The $499 starting price, however, is less inviting. Credits after the jump.  continued…

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VB&P, Audi Chase the White Whale in ‘Ahab Redux’

In 2012, a creative director fell into Herman Melville’s 720-page trap and reimagined Ahab as a tow truck driver, madly chasing his white whale, an Audi Quattro. “Sometimes, I actually think it’s mocking me,” Ahab says in a gruff voice, anxiously twisting his thermos as he waits in the arctic tundra.

Said creative director then got distracted by Cetology, but has now resurfaced to produce “Ahab Redux,” in which, obviously, our automotive whale has yet to meet his driver. Ahab has retired on an island “most folks would call paradise,” but he can’t escape his all-wheel drive demon. “There isn’t a road on earth that can stop it.”

Thankfully this ad is a departure from the old winding-mountain-road glamour reel, and I appreciate the attempt at literary allusion. We’re all familiar with Moby Dick, whether we became obsessed like Ahab or SparkNoted its entirety. “Ahab Redux” is a bit of a cop-out due to its repetition, but the general idea probably gives Audi’s target affluent audience a twinge of self-satisfaction: “Oh, I know that story!”

Credits and original Ahab after the jump continued…

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‘The Replacer’ Returns, with JB Smoove in Tow, in New ‘Black Ops II’ Clip

Nearly three months after 72andSunny introduced us to “The Replacer”–aka Fargo baddie Peter Stormare–in its campaign for Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops II – Revolution trailer, the agency has brought back the character, now with sidekick JB Smoove in tow, for its Black Ops II – Uprising promo. Jesus, how many entries are in this franchise? Anyhow, the newly formed dynamic duo embarks on several replacing adventures from serving as weatherman to fixing cable, with Stormare being his usual, somewhat menacing self and Smoove giving us the fast-talking delivery that we first came to know and love in Curb Your Enthusiasm. 

We’re not sure what the budget is here, but as the Black Ops franchise expands, so do seem the timeframe and scope of the clips promoting it. But, if you have the patience for it (it is lunchtime on the East Coast, after all), don’t let us stop you from taking in this slightly entertaining, slightly grating clip. Credits after the jump.

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