Hasta La Creative!

Slam poetry nights can be awkward, but Los Angeles Clippers star Blake Griffin makes it look easy—his specialty in any environment—in a new series of videos for Vizio.

The ads, by David&Goliath, have the basketball star waxing poetic about his bobblehead, his tearaway pants and even his mouthguard. He’s got the requisite pauses and sighs down to an art. Still, he probably shouldn’t quit his day job.

The clips are part of Vizio’s slam dunk poetry campaign, which also includes a nifty feature on its microsite where it will compose a Griffin-esque poem based on your name and an item of your choice. Unfortunately, the power forward isn’t available to recite these ditties. (He is available in gif form on this Tumblr, though.)

So, grab yourself a seat at a dimly lit table, order a stiff drink and appreciate these works brought to you by Griffin.

Credits below.

CREDITS
Client: Vizio

Agency: David&Goliath
Founder & Chairman: David Angelo
Chief Creative Officer: Colin Jeffery
Group Creative Director: Ben Purcell
Group Creative Director: Steve Yee
Art Director: Mike Cornell
Copywriter: Andy Sciamanna
Head of Production: Carol Lombard
Agency Executive Producer:  Curt O’Brien
Agency Executive Producer: Christopher Coleman
Group Account Director: Jennifer Mull
Account Supervisor: Kammie Dons
Assistant Account Executive: Karolyne Crowe
Director of Business Affairs: Rodney Pizarro
Associate Business Affairs Manager: Camara Price

Production Company: RSA Films, Inc.
Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Director of Photography: Mike Berlucci
President: Jules Daly
VP/Executive Producer: Marjie Abrahams
Executive Producer: Philip Detchmendy
Line Producer: Alejandra Quesada
Head of Production: Elicia Laport
Sales Representative: Shortlist

Editorial House: Spinach
Editor: Tony Orcena
Producer: Jonathan Carpio

Online & Color: Fell VFX
Flame Artist: Russell Fell
Executive Producer: Rachel Koch

Music: Human Music
Sound Design & Mix: Margarita Mix
Sound Engineer: Nathan Dubin

Nike doesn’t want Brazil to linger on its loss in the World Cup. Instead, the brand’s new ad aimed is aimed at pumping up the passionate nation of sports fans for their next global event: the 2016 Olympics.

“Tomorrow Starts Now” is a beautiful tribute to the outstanding athleticism of a country whose chances at glory were abruptly and embarrassingly snuffed out by a 1-7 World Cup loss to Germany.

But instead of trying to tend the wounds of Brazil’s futebol fan base, Nike is instead looking ahead to the many events where the country is expected to do well when the world returns to Rio de Janeiro’s for the next Summer Games.

The spot from Wieden + Kennedy São Paulo is a solid minute packed with diverse talent like track athlete Ana Claudia Lemos, beach volleyball siblings Clara and Carol Salgado, basketball players Leandrinho and Anderson Varejão, and Yane Marquez, a bronze medalist in the modern pentathlon at the London Olympics.

As usual, Nike is on top of its game, finding those perfect moments that celebrate the unparalleled power of the world’s best athletes. It’s also a moving reminder that the soul of sport lies not in winning, but in the passion it takes to keep going after a defeat. You can make it, Brazil. You can get past this.

If you wanted to see clearly into how all the various components of the modern media ecosystem interact, you could not come up with a better real-time experiment than the Donald Sterling story.

Voici le nouveau travail de Franck Bohbot, un photographe français vivant à New York. Avec The Game We Play, il s’amuse à recenser les terrains de basket-ball et de street-ball qui se trouvent dans la ville, permettant de dévoiler différentes ambiances. Une belle série à découvrir en images dans la suite de l’article.

Le photographe parisien Adrian Skenderovic présente sa nouvelle série « Lost Hoops ». On y découvre des terrains de baskets vides, dans une nature luxuriante. Même si personne ne joue, chaque panier bricolé a sa propre personnalité et témoigne d’une passion pour le basketball, dans les endroits les plus reculés.

"He can't ball, he just tall." With smack talk on his sneering lips, 5-foot-9 forward Anton Barrels makes his commercial debut in this Nike Basketball spot from Wieden + Kennedy, set during a shirt vs. skins draft in the Maryland hometown of real-life 6-foot-9 superstar Kevin Durant. The ad, directed by David Gordon Green of Chelsea Pictures and edited by Geoff Hounsell of Arcade Edit, introduces Durant's KD VI Nike shoe, and he gets chosen first for the local game. It's all a big in-joke, because Durant was famously taken second in the 2007 NBA Draft, trailing Greg Oden, who's probably worn casts more often than sneakers during his injury-riddled pro career. (Where's Greg's new footwear line, you heartless bastards!? Dude's got doctor bills to pay!) The commercial is amusing even if you don't know the backstory, though it helps. Frankly, I was rooting for Barrels, a sweat-soaked, tie-and-tank-top-wearin' everyman, to be the top pick, because his misplaced moxie steals the show. Sorry, Kevin, but in my book, you're still No. 2. Credits below.

CREDITS
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Global Creative Directors: Alberto Ponte, Ryan O’Rourke
Art Director: Jason Campbell
Copywriter: Nathaniel Friedman
Account Supervisor: Jordan Muse
Account Executive: Jessica Shaw
Executive Producer: Matt Hunicutt
Producer: Chris Capretto

Production Company: Chelsea Pictures
Director: David Gordon Green
Director of Photography: Eric Treml
Executive Producers: Allison Amon, Lisa Mehling, Pat McGoldrick
Head of Production: Adam Guliner

Editorial: Arcade Edit
Editor: Geoff Hounsell
Assistant Editor: Sean LeGrange
Managing Director: Damian Stevens
Executive Producer: Nicole Visram
Visual Effects: Airship Post
Visual Effects Producer: Greg Heffron
Color: Sean Coleman at Company 3
Sound: Jeff Payne at Eleven Sound
Color Company: MPC
Colorist: Mark Gethin

The outpouring of support has been impressive for NBA player Jason Collins, the first openly gay male athlete in a major U.S. professional sport. Marketers, though, have been largely silent about Collins since yesterday—except for Nike, of course, whom he already endorses. (In a statement, the company said: "We admire Jason's courage and are proud that he is a Nike athlete. Nike believes in a level playing field where an athlete's sexual orientation is not a consideration.") About an hour ago, though, JetBlue posted an image created by its ad agency, Mullen, showing a rainbow image of the "i-people" from the company's "You Above All" brand campaign—to show support for Collins. "Thanks Jason, today we're all on the same team," reads the caption on the image, which was posted to Twitter and Facebook. Response has been mixed, with many fans and followers lauding the airline for supporting Collins and others wishing it had stayed "neutral." The brand's courage here is but a shadow of the player's courage, but it's brave nonetheless. Have other brands come out in support of Collins? Let us know in the comments.

MSG Network had two videotapes that contain Game 5 of the 1973 N.B.A. finals restored and will televise the game as part of its commemoration of the Knicks’ last title.

La société allemande ABS Systembau a pensé ce « GlassFloor », un système d’éclairage LED au sol permettant d’installer facilement des lignes de terrains pour différents sports et de changer la configuration en l’espace d’une seconde. Une création ingénieuse à découvrir en images dans la suite.