Hasta La Creative!

Droga5 takes a simple approach in its latest ad for Google’s Android, entitled “Friends Furever,” employing unlikely animal pals to deliver the message, “Be Together. Not the Same.”

The 60-second spot is set to Roger Miller‘s “Oo-De-Lally” from Disney’s animated 1973 version of Robin Hood and forgoes any voiceover. Instead, Droga5 lets the animals do the talking (figuratively), with the song tying together footage of frolicking odd couples. These include a dog proudly standing next to an orangutan, a cat nestling baby chicks, an elephant playing with a sheep and many more unlikely pairings, ending with the now familiar tagline. It’s a simple approach, but one that fits the brand’s message well. And, thanks to its undeniable cuteness, “Friends Furever” is all but guaranteed to go viral. Uploaded to YouTube yesterday, the spot already has over 250,000 views.

DDB Chicago is taking a break from reviving old Saturday Night Live characters to remind viewers that State Farm offers financial services, life and home insurance.

Two weeks ago, DDB Chicago launched the campaign with the sentimental spot “Never” (featured after the jump), depicting a man who says he’ll never get married getting married, having kids, moving to the suburbs and buying a minivan. Now, the agency has unleashed the next ad in the campaign, the similarly-minded “At Last.” The spot continues aiming for the heart, depicting a second marriage between a man and a woman who each have children. “Sometimes at last doesn’t happen at first,” says a voiceover as the couple tie the know. “Your dad just kissed my mom,” says the daughter and hugs her new brother as the voiceover ties the scene to State Farm: “Turning two worlds into one takes love, helping protect that world takes State Farm.” The spot debuted yesterday on ABC.

“It’s important for us to shift the way people think about us instead of just reinforcing what they already think,” Patty Morris, director-marketing and brand content at State Farm, explained to AdAge. “It’s all about the balance.”

The campaign will continue to roll out over the next 6-8 weeks, with at least two additional ads planned. According to AdAge these include a spot about a young man leaving home and a woman retiring early thanks to savvy financial planning. “They show things working out, but not how you planned,” said John Maxham, chief creative officer at DDB. “Theres a great human truth to that. And State Farm is there with you to handle these twists and turns.” (more…)

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Grey London created one of the more off-the-wall Christmas spots you’ll see this year with “Christmas Choir,” promoting McVitie’s Victoria cookies.

In the spot, a family sits around on a sleepy holiday evening when the father decides to open up a box of McVitie’s biscuits. Upon opening the container, a chorus of tiny, adorable animals begins barking, meowing, quacking and otherwise vocalizing to the tune of 80s hit “Only You” by Yaz. The chorus of cuddly critters is, clearly, meant to evoke the happiness evoked by digging in to a box of McVitie’s (in this case punctuating a case of holiday doldrums), but that’s not important right now. What’s important is that around the 44 second mark a tiny narwhal whale emerges from the depths of a punch bowl. For that, Grey London, we thank you. (more…)

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TD Bank gave 24 of its customers $30,000 to contribute to a community cause of their choosing, with just one stipulation: they had to complete the project in 24 hours.

Created in collaboration with Leo Burnett and Diamond Integrated Marketing, the campaign is captured in the above four-minute video (which fell through the cracks here last week). The video release was perfectly timed for Thanksgiving and easily went viral, having past the 3.5 million views mark on YouTube in under a week. “#MakeTodayMatter” shows surprised TD Bank customers learning they’ve been awarded the money for a cause of their choosing and then getting to work on making a difference in just one day.

The majority of those nominated for the campaign were chosen by TD employees, TD Chief Marketing Officer Dominic Mercuri told Adweek, with a few “chosen based on random live interviews in branches and stores with random customers.” Mercurri added, “We didn’t know if this idea would work. Would people drop everything to bring to life their idea? Turns out—yes, they would.”

Those ideas are on full display in the “#MakeTodayMatter” video, from buying all-new gear for a local youth football team, to making a woman’s home wheelchair accessible (allowing her to leave for the first time in years), to a gala event to boost the self-esteem of foster children. It’s hard to not be at least a little touched with people making their charitable ideas a reality. There are also separate videos for each project, hosted on a campaign website, as well as a social component. As you may remember, Leo Burnett and TD Bank went viral with the similarly charitable, “Automated Thanking Machines” this summer, and TD also collaborated with Philadelphia-based Tierney to commission “Art For Trees,” promoting eco-initiative MillionTreesNYC back in October.

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BBH London has crafted an ambitious online spot for British Airways entitled “The Welcome of Home.”

The four minute long ad tells the story of a Canadian woman named Chitra visiting her grandmother in India, and bringing along a bit of a surprise. It is an emotional journey, perhaps a bit too saccharine for some, dealing with themes of family, love, culture and the true meaning of home. “No matter how many years I’ve been away, home will always be India,” Chitra says at the spot’s conclusion, before the message, “We know how important home is appears onscreen.” There’s little overt branding in the ad until its conclusion, with BBH London instead tying British Airways to the idea of home and the emotional tone of the ad. It’s well produced and, unlike a lot of long-form ads, doesn’t feel stretched beyond its limits. Still, getting people to sit through a four minute long ad for an airline is an uphill battle, making the attempt perhaps too ambitious for its own good. (more…)

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72andSunny combines Alice in Wonderland with holiday sweetness in the holiday ad “Alice in Marshmallow Land” for Target.

The 60-second spot opens on a young girl following Target’s official mascot Bullseye (a Bull Terrier) down a giant Target logo into “Marshmallow Land.” Once there, the girl, presumably named Alice, eats a mini marshmallow and shrinks to join a group of popular toys at a table as they enjoy hot chocolate. From here, Bullseye and Alice continue on their holiday-themed adventures, set to a cover of the holiday classic “Marshmallow World” by Karen O and mostly removed from any of the malice of Carroll’s classic, of course — the one threatening moment involving a giant robotic dinosaur is easily resolved — until the girl wakes up. It’s a cute and imaginative approach that should appeal to families with small children, while featuring a number of popular holiday items at the giant retailer. Although since it’s debuting so early, it certainly runs the risk of wearing out its welcome by the end of December.

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Publicis Kaplan Thaler has released a new campaign for Crest testing “The Effects of Halloween Candy” on children.

The test is performed by a deadpan moderator who basically lets a group of children in Halloween costumes (the highlight being the little girl dressed as a piñata) binge on candy and records the results. And the results are? “It seems when presented with candy kids exhibit a pathological fixation bordering on psychosis,” according to the moderator. Oh, also, “Piñata has anger issues,” and one little boy threw up in the toilet. Whether you find this cute or annoying (or both) will depend largely on your tolerance for loud children. But then, this is targeted squarely at parents, with the payoff tagline being “Thanks to Crest their teeth are covered” following the message “Halloween candy may have an effect on your kids but not on their teeth.” Now where can we get a piñata costume? (more…)

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CP+B has just launched the first ever marketing campaign for home automation company WeMo, taking aim at viewer’s sweet sides with a 60-second broadcast spot.

The spot, entitled “The Big Anniversary Rig” tells the story of a couple separated on their first wedding anniversary. To celebrate, the husband sets up an “anniversary rig” using WeMo’s automation, surprising the wife when she gets home with a series of romantic gestures accomplished using WeMo. Depending on your tolerance for sweetness, the spot may or may not be overly saccharine, but it’s a clever way to show WeMo in an emotional context. “The Big Anniversary Rig” debuted online today, prompting viewers to watch three separate “How Dan Did It” videos. It will make its broadcast debut on network television next month. (more…)

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Earlier this month, Droga5 released the spot “Car Wash” as part of its “Get A Taste” campaign for Diet Coke. Now the agency is rolling out a new 30-second ad starring Taylor Swift and a whole lot of kittens.

In the spot, entitled “Kittens,” Swift is playing with a kitten when she takes a sip of Diet Coke and all of a sudden there are two kittens. She takes another sip and there’s an entire table full of kittens, and before the end of the spot the entire room is filled as the singer/songwriter is engulfed in a swarm of feline cuteness. “What if life tasted as good as Diet Coke?” says text at the end of the ad, before Swift works in a quick plug for her new album. Since everyone with a soul likes kittens, this one is sure to be a hit. Add in Swift’s star power, and a preview of a new track featured exclusively in the ad until the release of her new album on October 27th, and this is all but guaranteed millions of views.

The ad was launched online today and will make its broadcast debut this Friday. As part of the campaign, Diet Coke is also giving fans a chance to win “concert tickets and a flyaway trip for two to an upcoming performance through iHeartRadio.com, RyanSeacrest.com and other sites.” The brand is also sponsoring Swift’s co-host appearance on “On Air with Ryan Seacrest” on October 30th, the first time a celebrity co-hosts the entire program as well as the first time it is presented by a single brand. (more…)

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In case you missed it, Jerry Seinfeld won an honorary award at last night’s 55th Annual Clio Awards. He then took the opportunity to (generously) label the ad industry “a bunch of nonsense” and commend the agency folk in attendance for their ”phony careers and meaningless lives.”

If we didn’t know better, we’d think he were an AgencySpy commenter rather than a comedian who did his best work 20 years ago. His opener was a little familiar:

“I love advertising because I love lying.”

Before you roll your eyes, he did elaborate on that premise:

“Spending your life trying to dupe innocent people out of hard-won earnings to buy useless, low-quality, misrepresented items and services is an excellent use of your energy.”

While recounting the infamous 1991 “trophy run”, he even tackled one of our readers’ favorite topics: the inanity of awards shows themselves.

“…I got this. I didn’t really win it, but I got it.”

Now you’ll have to click through to watch the whole thing.

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