Hasta La Creative!

Recent years have seen a slew of hidden camera prank ads, and many of them are of dubious authenticity. But this new effort from Bosch in Belgium might take the prize for most laughably fake stunt commercial yet.

(You can watch the clip below before reading further, if you don’t want us to spoil the supposed twist for you.)

The plot line, such as it is, goes like this: Apparent cat burglars turn out to be creepy do-gooders (a.k.a. Bosch representatives) who just want to break into homes so they can vacuum downstairs while the owners are upstairs sleeping. The takeaway here is, of course, that the vacuums are surprisingly quiet.

Come daybreak, the owners are met at the door by strange men with video footage from within their homes while they slept. You know, the stuff of horror movies. But instead of slamming the door and calling the police, each homeowner seems quasi-delighted about the whole thing.

Sure, it’s a cute idea tailored to the merits of the product. But they couldn’t even get one or two of the residents to pretend to be indignant? Instead, the brand and agency BBDO Belgium in Brussels seem to have abdicated any sense that they were trying to make the illusion seem real.

In the end, ads like this need to go one way or the other: Either go for vaguely realistic (if largely questionable) reactions or just take a hard turn and let audiences enjoy the ride.

Today we confirmed that BBDO is in the process of enacting staffing changes in its Atlanta office. An unspecified number of employees are no longer with the agency as of this afternoon.

Specifics are very light, though we hear that hirings may follow these dismissals and that the purpose of the larger reconfiguration, which involves personnel changes across departments, is to better align the agency’s offerings with the needs of its current and future clients.

Tips mention both digital creatives and senior staffers, so this looks to be part of an office-wide strategic shift.

For context, the most visible recent move at the Atlanta office was the departure of President/CEO Gill Duff and subsequent appointment of Drew Panayiotou to replace him. The move was significant in that Panayiotou was then new to the agency game, having previously served as SVP of US marketing at Best Buy after running in-house marketing and media buying teams at  Walt Disney, Coca-Cola and others.

Updates as we receive them.

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BBDO New York solemnly pays tribute to servicemen in their Fourth of July spot for Guinness, entitled “Empty Chair.”

The spot, the latest U.S. installment of the brand’s “Made of More” campaign, was created in collaboration with Biscuit Filmworks and director Noam Murro. Its patriotism-stoking approach is nothing new to beer advertising, as Anomaly’s “A Hero’s Welcome” Super Bowl spot for Budweiser this year (to cite just one example) also celebrated American veterans in a somewhat cheesy fashion. How you view the ad will depend largely on your opinion of such an approach (as either a welcome homage or emotional manipulation) but the 90-second “Empty Chair” is certainly well-crafted. It opens on a bartender pouring a Guinness and leaving it at an empty table, an act she repeats many times over the course of the ad, at one point even stopping someone from taking a chair from the table. A delayed reveal at the spot’s conclusion puts everything into perspective, followed by Guinness’ “Made of More” tagline, which syncs well with the ad’s message.

It’s worth noting that between this solemn spot from Guinness and the opposite approach taken by Newcastle, the most memorable ads of the Independence Day season came from non-American brewers. Stick around for credits after the jump. (more…)

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We last encountered the #UpForWhatever tag in Bud Light’s spoof of the viral Mullen “World’s Toughest Job” ad (SPOILER: it was being a mom). That work came from Boston shop Relevant 24, but the newest sort-of-related spot comes to our inbox via BBDO’s Chicago and New York offices.

Here’s “Surprise Guest”:

You may notice that the spot is something of a tease: it’s only the latest in a series…

(more…)

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Want to watch a few top creatives at Australian agencies have some straight-faced fun at the expense of current industry trends? Sure you do.

Yes, the video is a little long–but it does manage to allow CCOs and ECDs from Ogilvy, BBDO, JWT, etc. to get some camera time and drop a few inside jokes.

Of course, it’s all about promoting a Creative Fuel conference in Sydney next month, at which speakers like RGA founder Bob Greenberg will apparently encourage agency professionals to “cut the bullshit and refocus on creativity.”

Still, “The World’s First Crowd Sourced 3D-Printed QR Code Live Streamed Via Go Pro To A Smart Phone Or Tablet Device Drone Delivery Ticket System Project” almost sounds believable, doesn’t it?

If you’re really pressed for time, skip ahead to 4:00 for a bit of light slapstick.

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There’s nothing worse than waiting for something to download on your phone, especially if you are a 14-year-old boy waiting for sexy models to appear in your Instagram feed. 

BBDO Moscow and Russian telecom MTS collaborated to baffle the crap out of followers of popular Instagram bloggers Victoria Bonya, Alena Vodonaeva and Anna Sedokova. In one of the troll-iest social media plays ever, these attractive Insta-celebrities posted photos captioned with the following hashtags: #sexy #oiled #myself #six #hot #naked #pumpedup #guys #red #latex #ass #withanimals #cat #bear #horse #experimenting #crazy #positions #wow #amazing #ohmygod.

Except the photos never loaded. In fact, they were just images of the loading screen.

Comments and engagement went through the roof as horny teens, animal lovers and basement dwellers freaked out upon realizing the images weren’t going to load at all. The models followed up by posting ads promoting MTS’s new 4G service and apologizing for the false expectations. 

What is unclear is how the users reacted to having their dreams shattered.

CREDITS
Agency: BBDO Russia
Nikolay Megvelidze, creative director
Alexey Starodubov, creative group head /  director / editor
Vladlena Obukhova, group account director
Luiza Vasyutina, account manager
Boris Anisonyan, head of tv production
Valery Gorokhov, producer
Kristina Malberg, celebrities producer (TMA)
Ekaterina Komolova, managing director (TMA)
Alexander Lubavin, art-director / composer
Elina Yaroslavskaya, digital account director

“Mobile Telesystems” (Client)
Natalia Glagoleva, director of marketing communications department
Maria Yakovleva, head of marketing communications department
Yaroslav Smirnov, head of marketing communications group
Anastasia Terekhova, marketing communications manager
Valery Kopytin, marketing communications manager

FreeParking (Production)
Alexander Polishuk, DOP
Maria Yakushina, producer
Andrey Rubtsov, head of production group

Yet another German BBDO office is at it this week as the agency’s Berlin branch has unveiled the above case study clip to show off  the smart DJ, which is being billed as “the world’s first turntable test drive” for the smart electric car.  Sure, it’s not built for the open road for obvious reasons, but the somewhat nifty game experience (which made its debut on German game show, Schlag den Raab–or, you know, Beat the Raab) essentially tests a driver’s DJ skills. How? Well, by having participants reach a certain speed in their smart cars in order to find out what’s providing their driving soundtrack. If we had to go through all this to hear “Macarena,” though, we’d rather just gun it to get a more sped-up version for shits and giggles. Anyways, while we await a better playlist, we’re wondering how one can procure one of those sweet turntable tracks. Credits after the jump.

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BBDO New York and its Diversity Council teamed up with Marvel Comics to create Heroes Welcome, a new Avengers comic timed to coincide with Marvel’s 75th anniversary, and available in its entirety online. The comic book was written by Eisner Award-winner Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by artist Mark Brooks, and “tells the story of what can happen when people of different backgrounds, talents and abilities come together and champion one another.”

BBDO New York and Marvel partnered with the Police Athletic League of New York to help share the comic book with children each of New York’s five boroguhs via interactive educational sessions. The first of these sessions took place today at the Police Athletic League’s Harlem center, and featured a surprise visit from Iron Man. You can view a photo from the event, along with credits, after the jump. continued…

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AMV BBDO mourns the passing of David Abbott, our co-founder and friend. May he rest in peace. #DavidAbbott pic.twitter.com/voetwEI18o

— Abbott Mead Vickers (@AMV_BBDO) May 18, 2014
Ad legend and AMV BBDO co-founder David Abbott passed away this weekend at the age of 75. He launched the agency in 1977 after years of copywriting success and

Fellow founder Peter Mead paid tribute in a statement released to The Drum blog, writing:
“He meant more to me than I can possibly express in words…His talent catapulted AMV into the advertising stratosphere.”
Current BBDO Worldwide CEO Andrew Robertson had some words of his own–and this morning, Campaign Live shared some of Abbot’s most memorable creative work (pics after the jump)…

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Quick BBDO update: our source confirms that Steve Rutter, a longtime presence in the agency’s Manhattan offices, has moved to the West Coast.

The reason for the move concerns the Wells Fargo account. Rutter will oversee creative on Wells while fellow ECD Craig Mangan—who left GS&P in 2012 to take the executive position–maintains creative oversight on all the office’s other accounts.

A tiny bit of backstory: the ink has just dried on the Wells Fargo deal, signed in March. Rutter officially joined the SF team in April and, prior to this move, he spent a majority of his career (a whopping 24 years) at BBDO New York, most recently holding the EVP/ECD titles. During that time, he managed the E*TRADE, Bank of America and AIG accounts (among many, many others).

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