Hasta La Creative!

BBDO New York recently launched a pair of 30-second broadcast spots for FedEx, directed by O Positive’s Jim Jenkins, promoting the brand’s ecommerce offerings. Both aim for comedy, but each has a distinct tone.

In “Passive Aggressive,” a man announces at a meeting that since FedEx helped the company simplify its ecommerce, they can “focus on bigger issues, like our passive aggressive environment.”

“We’re not passive aggressive,” a co-worked argues. The remainder of the ad, however, proves her wrong, as the co-workers trade passive aggressive lines back and forth.

The spot has a kind of entertaining dry office humor, which is an accomplishment for an ad about FedEx’s ecommerce offering

“Goofy Glasses” employs a different kind of comedy, relying instead on a visual gag that’s not quite as precise a fit for the brand. On the other hand, the spot addresses a business being helped by the offering more directly, as owners of a novelty shop discuss how they’re shipping goofy glasses all around the globe.

Credits:
Agency: BBDO New York
Client: FedEx
Chief Creative Officer Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director: Gianfranco Arena
Executive Creative Director: Peter Kain
Senior Creative Director: Tom Kraemer (“Goofy Glasses”)
Senior Creative Director: Jens Waernes (“Goofy Glasses”)
Creative Director: Scott Mahoney (“Passive Aggressive”)
Creative Director: Dan Oliva (“Passive Aggressive”)

Director of Integrated Production: David Rolfe
Group Executive Producer: Amy Wertheimer

Group Planning Director: Sangeet Pillai
Senior Account Director: Kathryn Brown
Account Director: Dan Langlitz
Account Manager: Cailin Gibbons
Account Executive: Billy McLellan

Production Company: O Positive
Director: Jim Jenkins
Director of Photography: Roberto Schaefer
Executive Producer: Marc Grill

Edit House: Mack Cut
Editor: Ian Mackenzie
Assistant Editor: Mike Leuis
Audio Post: Sound Lounge
Mixer: Tom Jucarone
Post VFX: Method
Colorist: Tim Masick

BBDO New York launched the latest phase of its “Insure Carefully, Dream Fearlessly” campaign for American Family Insurance with a pair of new spots featuring retired Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, NBA All Star Kevin Durant and Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt. The two new ads take a very different approach than April’s “Free to Dream” spot.

Each ad opens with the question “What does it mean to be a champion?” as Jeter, Durant and Watt appear onscreen. Viewers are then introduced to a charitable organization run by people with dreams of bettering their communities.

In “School on Wheels,” it’s the organization of the same name, which helps homeless children succeed at school by providing tutoring services and supplies. Regional director Charles Evans is surprised and delighted when Jeter, Durant and Watt show up to help out one afternoon, almost as excited as his students. The experiences is “something these kids are going to remember for a lifetime,” Evans says near the conclusion of the sport, expressing gratitude that the star athletes are there helping with fractions and reading.

In “With Love Market,” With Love Market & Café gets the spotlight, a charity providing fresh produce and juice in a community where the only quick and easy option is fast food. In addition to the long-form online versions, the ads will also appear as 30-second broadcast spots and radio ads support the efforts. The celebrity causevertising approach makes sense for a brand with “Family” in its name. While the resulting spots may not make for the most captivating viewing, they certainly champion deserving causes.

Another spot from Elite Media, “Hometown Hero,” sees Durant surprise a young boy from his hometown who thinks he is about to appear on a talk show to discuss how his single mom is helping him achieve his dreams. 

Credits:

American Family Insurance “Insure Carefully, Dream Fearlessly” Creative Credits

Agency: BBDO New York
Client: American Family Insurance
Spot: “With Love Market” “School on Wheels”

Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer, New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director: Susan Golkin
Senior Creative Director: Eric Goldstein
Senior Producer: Becky Burkhard
Assistant Producer: Ali Gladstone
Head of Music Production: Rani Vaz
Music Producer: John Melillo
Business Manager: Matt Friday
Senior Account Director: Christine Smith/Neil Onsdorff
Account Director: Lindsey Wasson
Account Executive: Justin Choy
Assistant Account Executive: Emily Schade

Production Company: Smuggler
Executive Producer/ Co-Founder: Brian Carmody
Executive Producer/ Co Founder: Patrick Milling Smith
Executive Producer: Allison Kunzman
Executive Producer: Carole Hughes
Director: David Frankham
Line Producer: Bernard Rahill
Director of Photography: Ken Seng

Editorial Company: Crew Cuts
Executive Producer: Nancy Shames
Producer: Michelle Bellaff
Editor: Sherri Margulies (SOW) / Matt Shapiro (WLM)
Assistant Editor: Matt VanDaniker

Telecine Company: Company 3
Telecine Artist: Tim Masick
Executive Producer: Rochelle Brown

Conform / Finish Compnay / VFX: Suspect
Senior Frame Artist: Suzanne Dyer
Frame Artists: Chelsea Galen / John Yu
Assistant Frame Artist: Jae Park
Creative Director: Hoon Chong
Art Director/ Animator: Minna Choung
Producer: Tsiliana Jolson / Alex Decaneas
Executive Producer: Robert Appelblatt

Music Company: Beacon Street
Composer (Arranger): Andrew Feltenstein / John Nau
Producer: Leslie Delillo

Mix and Record Company: Sonic Union
Engineer: Mike Marinelli
Producer: Patrick Sullivan

“I Know Better” Song Credits:
Composer: John Stephens / Lyricist: John Stephens / Composer: Blake Mills / Lyricist: Blake Mills / Composer: Will Oldham / Lyricist: Will Oldham
Published By: John Legend Publishing.
All rights admin. by BMG Rights Management (US) LLC (BMI)
Performer: John Legend
Vocals: John Legend
Piano: Larry Goldings
Hammond Organ: Larry Goldings
Guitar: Blake Mills
Bass: Blake Mills
Keys: Blake Mills
Rec Period – January 2016

Agency: Elite Media
Client: American Family Insurance
Spot: “Hometown Heroes”

Creative Chairman: Christopher Crawford
Creative Director: Eunique Jones Gibson
Art Director: Mohammed Alsaadi
Account Manager: Christina Brantley
Account Coordinator: D’Amber Allen
Project Coordinator: Jordana Jarrett
Production Company: CMS
Director: Eunique Jones Gibson
Director of Photography: Paulius Kontijevas
Supervising Producer: Amy Greenleaf
Line Producer: Jessica Toscano
Still Photographers: Sarah McClogan, Elton Anderson
Editorial: In House
Editor: Don Setzer
Graphic Design: In House
Music Company: Beacon Street
Composer (Arranger): Andrew Feltenstein / John Nau
Producer: Leslie Delillo

“I Know Better” Song Credits:
Composer: John Stephens / Lyricist: John Stephens / Composer: Blake Mills / Lyricist: Blake Mills / Composer: Will Oldham / Lyricist: Will Oldham
Published By: John Legend Publishing.
All rights admin. by BMG Rights Management (US) LLC (BMI)
Performer: John Legend
Vocals: John Legend
Piano: Larry Goldings
Hammond Organ: Larry Goldings
Guitar: Blake Mills
Bass: Blake Mills
Keys: Blake Mills
Rec Period – January 2016

BBDO New York launched a new campaign for Foot Locker featuring Houston Rockets star James Harden, who the agency teamed up with last September for the “Play My Tweet” effort.

The campaign features a series of spots starring Harden, centered around the spot “James Harden’s Inner Voice.” It seems that some strangeness from Periscope and Harden’s whacky work for Trolli may have seeped into the effort, as said “inner voice” sounds a lot like Colin Farrell.

When approached by two fans, Harden’s gives out a little nugget of advice: “Look fresh and always trust that little voice in your head,” to which the fan nods along…until Harden adds, “you know, that little voice that kind of sounds like Collin Farrell.” The guys look thoroughly perplexed as Harden’s inner Farrell voice tells him it’s time to get going so he can “shower and wait for the president to call.”

The other spots follow the strange formula, with Farrell providing Harden’s inner monologue for a practice session, a strange car entry method and, in both “Treadmill” and the self-referential “Greatest Pre-Roll Ever” a workout session.

Harden is a natural choice for such a strange approach, even if the scenarios in which he interacts with his inner Colin Farrell voice are a little run-of-the-mill. Harden’s presence and the sheer strangeness of the ads should be enough to at least help them stand out from the pack, however — especially at a time when other brands seem focused on the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The New York and Atlanta offices of BBDO launched a new campaign for AT&T, introducing the network’s new Ticket Tuesdays offer, which allows AT&T customers to bring a friend to the movies for free on Tuesdays.

A series of comedic spots promote the new program, showing how the deal lets you bring along any type of friend.

Maybe it’s just that we find it the most relatable, but the approach works best in the down-to-earth “Married Friend.” In the ad, a chef calls up his married buddy and asks if he can join him at the movies on Tuesday, describing the Ticket Tuesdays deal. He asks his wife, who tells them they made plans to “sit on the couch together on Tuesday,” but then tells him to go anyway. The decision waffling then continues until the man eventually decides to go.

Two 15-second spots, “Sentimental Friend” and “Impulsive Friend” apply a similar approach to an overly-sentimental friend and a friend who impulsively decides to leave his hospital bed to go to the movies. In the 30-second “Boyfriend,” a college guy asks a girl to the movies, but she decides she’d rather borrow his phone and bring her boyfriend. It kind of feels like a scene that would  go down in a modern version of Undeclared. Each ad manages to fit in a description of the offer in a fairly convincing way while also getting to the point with its comic narrative, even if the humor doesn’t always land as intended.

The campaign arrives amidst a U.S. creative and media review, which AT&T launched last month. It launched today on AT&T’s social channels and will roll out soon on broadcast, pre-roll and, naturally, in cinemas. Digital and social components from BBDO and Organic will support the effort.

Credits:
Chief Creative Officer Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director: Matt MacDonald
Creative Director//Copy Writer: Kevin Mulroy
ACD//Art Director: Bianca Guimaraes

Head of Integrated Production: Dave Rolfe
Group Executive Producer: Julie Collins
Senior Content Producer: Whitney Collins
Executive Music Producer: Melissa Chester

Managing Director, BBDO North America: Mark Cadman
Managing Director: Doug Walker
Group Account Director: Lesley Brown
Account Director: Khari Mpagazehe
Account Executive: Jenn Wang

Production Company: Arts & Sciences
Director: Matt Aselton
Director of Photography: Corey Walter
Executive Producer: Marc Marrie
Managing Director: Mal Ward
Head of Production: Christa Skotland
Producer: Zoe Odlum
Production Supervisor: Bailey Reeves

Editing Company: Arcade Edit
Editor: Dave Anderson & Sean LaGrange
Executive Producer: Sila Soyer
Assistant Editor: Elizabeth Parsons

Visual Effects: Spontaneous
Head of Production: Chris Decker
Executive Producer: Bryce Edwards
VFX Supervisor: Andy Milkis

Sound Design (Impulsive Friend): Trinitite
Sound Designer (“Impulsive Friend”): Brian Emrich

Audio Mixing: Sonic Union
Audio Engineer: Steve Rosen

BBDO New York launched a new spot for GE about the benefits of seeing things from a different perspective, entitled “Time Upon A Once”

“Time upon a once, people approached problems the way same,” says a man exiting an elevator at the start of the ad, introducing the backwards-talking schtick that sticks around for the rest of the spot. While it makes for some awkward and distracting dialogue, the approach also allows for some interesting visual tricks, such as when the man appears to shrink walking down a hallway after the line “improvements small.” It follows in the same vein as previous spots for GE, celebrating innovation, imagination and ingenuity, and ending with the tagline, “New solutions turn big companies into fast companies.” It’s an interesting addition for GE, falling somewhere between the lighthearted “Invention Donkey” and BBDO New York’s work for the brand last year. “Time Upon A Once” will make its debut tomorrow during the Tomorrowland premiere and will run during showings of the movie until the end of June. It will also run on broadcast and online until the end of the year.

Credits:

Agency: BBDO New York
Client: GE
Spot: “Time Upon a Once”

Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer, New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director: Michael Aimette
Creative Director/Copywriter: Tim Roan
Creative Director/Copywriter: Levi Slavin
Director of Integrated Production: David Rolfe
Group Executive Producer: Diane Hill
Executive Producer: George Sholley
Head of Music Production: Rani Vaz

Worldwide Senior Director: Brandon Fowler
Senior Director: Peter McCallum
Account Director: Lindsey Conklin
Assistant Account Executive: Joslyn Dunn
Group Planning Director: Tom Naughton

Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks
Director: Andreas Nilsson
Executive Producer: Shawn Lacy
Executive Producer: Colleen O’Donnell
Executive Producer: Holly Vega
Line Producer: Vincent Landay

Editorial: Rock Paper Scissors
Executive Producer: Eve Kornblum
Post Producer: Jen Milano
Editor: Mikkel E.G. Nielsen

Visual Effects: A52
Executive Producer:  Patrick Nugent
Producer:  Heather Johann
VFX Supervisor: Andy Rafael Barrios

Mix House: Heard City
Executive Producer: Gloria Pitagorsky
Producer: Sasha Awn
Sound Design/Mixer: Mike Vitacco
Mixer: Keith Reynaud

Music: The Ski Team
Composers: The Ski Team

Animation: Renegade Animation

BBDO New York created an integrated campaign for Autism Speaks to promote MSSNG, “a new open-source research platform that will house the world’s largest database of sequenced genomic information on people with autism.”

On Wednesday BBDO New York and Autism Speaks teamed up to host “The MSSNG Lab,” an exhibit of fine art by photographer and biochemist Linden Gledhill, who created “10,000 one-of-a-kind DNA posters, each available for purchase to directly fund the 10,000 DNA sequences needed for the MSSNG project.” Once complete, the MSSNG project plans to host the data on the Google Cloud platform, where it will be available to scientists around the world. BBDO was responsible forbranding and staging the event and creating materials for purchase, including posters and coffee-table books.

“MSSNG has the potential to change the future for millions of people with autism, and this event is designed to heighten its awareness,” said Liz Feld, president of Autism Speaks. “We thank BBDO for helping to brand the program and raise awareness of this cutting-edge project among a vast and diverse audience.”

Credits:

Client: Autism Speaks
Agency: BBDO New York

Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer, New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director: Matt MacDonald

Art Director/Copywriter: Bianca Guimaraes
ACD/Art Director/Copywriter: Siavosh Zabeti
Biochemist/Photographer: Linden Gledhill
Senior Creative Technologist: Sermad Buni
Director of Integrated Production: David Rolfe
Director of Interactive Production: Clemens Brandt
Asso. Dir. of Interactive Production: Joe Croson
Senior Producer: Howard Howell
Video Producer: Koji Yahagi
Interactive Producer: Courtney Fallow
Director of Creative Engineering: JD Michaels
Sr. Creative Engineer: Casey Adams
Executive Art Producer: Betsy Jablow
Director of Music: Rani Vaz

Global Account Director: Mark Mulhern
Account Director: Phil Brolly
Account Manager: Catherine Wright
Account Executive: Miranda Hardy, Jen Sullivan
Engagement Planner: Cody Levine
Dir. Business Affairs: Phyllis Greenwald
Talent Manager: Bernadette Naughten

Digital Production Company: Media Monks

Film Production Company: BBDO
Film Director: Koji Yahagi, Bianca Guimaraes, Siavosh Zabeti
Director of Photography: John McCabe
Editorial House: Cut and Run
Music: The, Singing Serpent

Radio Music House: Human
Radio Producer: Courtney Fallow
Executive Music Producer: Melissa Chester
Mixer/Audio Engineer: Corey Bauman
Sound Editor: John Cabrera

Press Project Producer: Donna Mendieta
Associate Director of Press: Desiree Principe

BBDO New York gets self-referential in its latest spot for Foot Locker, starring Manny Pacquiao.

Back in November, the agency ran an ad featuring Pacquiao as part of its “Week of Greatness” campaign for the brand in which Pacman is tricked into believing he’s finally going to fight Floyd Mayweather. Since then, the boxers and their camps have agreed on terms and the event — billed as “The Fight of the Century” — is scheduled for May 2nd.

BBDO New York’s “It’s Really Happening” references the series of events, with Pacquiao’s agent telling him Mayweather has agreed to the fight. “I know, two guys at the gym told me,” Pacman replies, referencing the previous spot. His agent explains to him that was just a Foot Locker commercial, but now the fight is on for real, even though this is also a Foot Locker commercial. The ad ends with a confused Pacquiao watching the preceding ad on TV.

While referencing previous campaigns can always be a little dicey — five months is sort of a long time to expect your audience to remember an ad — Pacquiao’s playful acting helps hold everything together. It also helps that both ads reference such a high profile event, and some have even suggested “It’s Happening” helped bring the fight to fruition. “It’s Really Happening” will make its broadcast debut next week and continue to run throughout the week leading up to the fight.

Credits:

Agency – BBDO New York
Client: Foot Locker

Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide – David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer,  New York – Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director – Chris Beresford-Hill
Executive Creative Director – Dan Lucey
Copywriter – Mike Motch
Art Director – Austin Mankey
Director of Integrated Production – David Rolfe
Executive Producer – Anthony Curti

WW Senior Account Director – Troy Tarwater
Account Director – Janelle Van Wonderen
Account Manager – Nick Robbins
Account Executive – Samuel Henderson

Production Co – O Positive Films
Director – Kenny Herzog
Exec Producer – Ralph Laucella
Exec Producer – Marc Grill
Line Producer – Grayson Bithell
Director of Photography – Marc Laliberte
Editorial – MackCut
Editor – Erik Laroi
Executive Producer – Sasha Hirshfeld
Assistant Editor – Patrick Blumer

Sound – MackCut
Sound Mixer – Sam Shaffer

Online – Smigital
Flame – Jim Hayhow
Asst. Flame – Joseph Miller

Color– Company 3
Colorist – Tim Masick