Hasta La Creative!

“Blazed,” a two-and-a-half-minute anti-drug PSA from New Zealand shop Clemenger BBDO, is one of the best ads of the year. It’s also one of the best anti-drug spots I’ve ever seen. As Americans, we are used to seeing anti-drug PSAs that force themselves on us as deterrents – a smoker talking after living with a tracheotomy, an incomplete text message leftover from a vicious accident. All of these pleas are important, but it is easy to say, “That’s sad,” and look the other way if you’ve never experienced any of those specifics.

“Blazed” isn’t confrontational like those commercials. A brief synopsis: three kids sit in a car, talking about what it’s like when their fathers are high and driving. It has a full narrative, some humor, great acting from kids, and almost doesn’t resonate as a PSA until the very end. In fact, it could even stand alone as a very short film, probably an extension of the influence from director Taika Waititi (an episode or two of Flight of the Concords and an Academy Award nomination for short “Two Cars, One Night”). But the subtlety and form makes it all the more powerful for the New Zealand Transport Agency. Definitely worth a watch.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

To celebrate the end of NFL training camps and the start of the regular season, Gillette and BBDO NY released “Training Tracks” a music video using only the sounds of NFL players and other athletes training.

Who could pull of such an unusual, even avant-garde concept? Probably only Academy Award-winning director Michel Gondry. So that’s who they got. Gondry directs the spot, based on a track conceived by Phil Mossman of LCD Soundsystem fame. The “music experiment” was produced at the acclaimed Ocean Way Studios in Hollywood.

“Training Tracks” features NFL stars Champ Bailey, Kayvon Webster, BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Giovani Berard, as well as former Notre Dame offensive guard Mike Golic, Jr., all of whom participated in Gillette’s  “Built for Training” program this summer. You may not recognize all the athletes as they come into and out of focus, but the sounds they make work surprisingly well. The spot is also expertly shot (obviously) and a much-welcome departure from Gillette’s normal blase approach to advertising (or worse yet, that terrible Adrien Brody/Andre 3000/Gael García Bernal campaign). Let’s hope they continue putting out more interesting and unique (an overused word in the ad world for sure, but one that definitely applies here) work like this spot with new agency Grey in the future. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Comercial de banco quase nunca se destaca. Atualmente vivemos a fase do coro infantil com músicas em inglês, ou da velha receita do garoto propaganda celebridade falando sem parar. Ah, e claro, também tem o gerente e suas ofertas maravilhosas sobre como banco pode resolver a sua vida.

Esse ótimo comercial do Bank of New Zealand está aí pra provar que dá pra fazer diferente. É uma aventura visual através da vida de uma moeda de 1 dólar, que percorre o país de mão em mão, até ser perdido atrás do sofá. Ou não.

O conceito do BNZ é dizer que o dinheiro é um trabalhado duro, está sempre se movimentando, e por isso mesmo você deve cuidar bem dele. A criação é da Colenso BBDO.

A estética não é nova, mas aqui se encaixa com propriedade. Outra boa cena assim é a abertura do filme “O Senhor das Armas”, só que com munição, lembra? Reveja abaixo:

Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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Robert De Niro narrates this new spot for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, encouraging viewers to "take a day to remember" that morning 12 years ago, when thousands of men and women died in the heart of New York City—and "to honor the best in humanity that overcame the worst." The spot, created pro bono by BBDO, New York, will air on donated media throughout the week. The campaign also includes print, outdoor, digital and video advertising and points to 911memorial.org to learn more. Credits below.

CREDITS
Client: The National September 11 Memorial & Museum
Spot: "Day to Remember"

Agency: BBDO, New York
Chief Creative Officer: David Lubars
Executive Creative Directors: Greg Hahn, Mike Smith
Associate Creative Director, Art Director: Marcel Yunes
Associate Creative Director, Copywriter: Rick Williams

Group Executive Producer: Julian Katz
Senior Integrated Producer: Neely Lisk
Executive Music Producer: Rani Vaz

Account Director: Neil Onsdorff
Account Executive: Jennifer Sullivan

Production Company: Brand New School
Executive Creative Director: Jonathan Notaro
Managing Partner: Devin Brook
Head of Production: Julie Shevach
Art Director: Kris Wong
Animators: Morten Christensen, Peter Harp, Jim Forster
Flame Artist: Mark French
Producer: Joe Balint

Music: AKM Productions
Recording Studio: The Kitchen
Mixing Engineer: Corey Bauman

Just over a year after joining Chicago-based Energy BBDO as SVP/group creative director, Leon Wilson has headed back home Down Under. From what we’ve been told, though, Wilson is staying within the Omnicom-owned network and assuming the chief creative officer role at Proximity Melbourne, aka Clemenger Proximity.

During his yearlong stint at Energy BBDO, Wilson helped serve as a lead creative on the agency’s Wrigley account in his GCD role, working on efforts such as this anthropomorphic spot for Orbit from earlier this year. From what we’ve been told, Wilson’s last day at Energy BBDO was actually Aug. 30 and that the agency does plan to replace him. Prior to Energy, Wilson spent two-and-a-half years as a GCD at Fallon, working on accounts including Travelers and Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. During his career, the Kiwi native also served in senior creative roles at the likes of Publicis Mojo and Colenso BBDO.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We’ve received word that Jeff Puskar, who’s spent the last two years at BBDO New York and the last nine months as its VP/user experience design, is parting ways with the agency. No word yet on his last day at BBDO NY, but we’re hearing on the Spy line that Puskar is heading west and joining up with Deutsch LA. Prior to BBDO, where he’s worked with clients including AT&T and FedEx, Puskar spent several years as a UX design lead and/or director at Schematic.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Sources familiar with the matter confirm that Denis Griffith, who’s spent the last 18 months as head of user experience/experience CD at Atmosphere Proximity/BBDO, is parting ways with the agency. No word yet on his last day or if there are plans to replace, but from what we hear, Griffith is heading to Rupert Murdoch‘s turf to serve as VP of product and experience at News Corp (still awaiting confirmation on this). Prior to BBDO NY, Griffith spent a year as head of the UX department at Euro RSCG Life, which is now known as Havas Life, of course.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Mountain Dew's "Living Portraits" series is one of the most innovative and intricate short-form campaigns of the year. Who'd've thunk it, especially after the brand's high-profile ad missteps a few months ago? Created by BBDO and Psyop, each 30-second "Living Portrait" spotlights a different Dew endorser—Nascar driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., skateboarder Paul Rodriguez and snowboarder Danny Davis. Fun, freaky symbolism is used to capture the essence of each and, for lack of a better term, mythologize their lives. The spots all take a similar approach, with the endorsers seated on stylized thrones and the shot slowly pulling back to reveal bedazzling details.

Davis sits on ornately sculptured ice, slurping Dew and strumming a guitar. The camera pulls back to reveal a wintry jam session with members of his crew, the ice sculptor, birds of prey and wolves in attendance. A yeti plays drums. Snowboarders soar in a rainbow sky. A cute, briefcase-sized eyeball lounges by the fire, diggin' Danny's vibes.

Components move at different speeds, mixing 3-D layering and 2-D animation with live action and matte effects. Yet there's no discord, and the elements combine to create harmonious representations of the endorsers' lives and achievements.

Fans can visit Mountain Dew's website to unlock the secrets behind each portrait's imagery. The outsized eyeball in Davis's spot refers to FrendsVision, where the snowboarder and his crew share information about the Frends brand and disseminate clips of themselves "performing skits, snowboarding, playing music and entertaining the public the best way they know how." So, basically, the eye opens onto another ad. I didn't see that coming.

And we learn that the crew is jamming around a "peace fire," because "Danny lives his life preaching peace." That's a bit precious for me—sounds like an overblown piece of you know what—and I wonder if perhaps the symbols should have been left unexplained, adding to the mystery, allowing fans to debate their deeper meaning.

The yeti's presence isn't explained at all! Smelling a Pulitzer, I sent an email, and a rep for Mountain Dew parent PepsiCo explained: "The Yeti was included as it's part of mountain folklore." Rock on, noble yeti! That furry dude really keeps the beat.

See the other spots below.

Em um comercial da Nike para o início da temporada, o Boca “Amarilla” Juniors fala sobre a tradição do batismo no futebol argentino.

Quando um jogador chega a ser titular pela primeira vez em um time, ele tem o cabelo raspado. No filme, até os jogadores veteranos do Boca passam por isso, já que sempre vão a campo como se fosse a primeira vez.

Ouvi dizer que se tiver uma mãozinha (ou seria mãozona?) do juiz, a tradição pode ser deixada de lado.

Criação da BBDO Argentina.

Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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Uma das importantes lutas da Anistia Internacional está ligada à abolição da pena de morte ao redor do mundo. Apesar da redução no número de países que praticam este tipo de punição nos últimos dez anos – segundo a entidade, apenas cinco ainda ainda a aplicam oficialmente, entre eles Estados Unidos, China, Irã, Iêmen e Arábia Saudita – o número de execuções continua alarmante.

Para representar isso tudo graficamente, a agência Contrapunto BBDO, de Madri, criou quatro impressos que mostram o problema de maneira simples e direta, usando o nome dos países que ainda praticam a pena de morte e aqueles que a aboliram nos últimos anos.

Vendo esse material, é impossível deixar de pensar naqueles países praticam a pena de morte extra-oficialmente, com os próprios executores servindo de juízes, júri e algozes, ou ainda naquelas pessoas que defendem a pena capital como se ela resolvesse alguma coisa. Aqui no Brasil, isso acontece muito das duas coisas. Enfim, é um material interessante que propõe uma ótima reflexão.

Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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