VCCP, Airbnb Animated by Cold War Memories

In case you haven’t heard, advertising for “startups” in the “sharing economy” is all the rage. Uber, Lay’s and BBDO Energy recently joined forces to help us plan a picnic, and subletting service provider Airbnb signed TBWA as its creative AOR after launching its first-ever ad via Pereira & O’Dell back in May.

Today brings a very different sort of spot, created by VCCP Berlin and based on an Airbnb customer’s family connections to the Cold War.

Protagonist, antagonist, revelations facilitated by the product being advertised…this must be the thing they call “storytelling.”

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Energy BBDO Debuts Cannibal Potato Spot for Lay’s

Chicago-based Energy BBDO are behind this new cannibalistic spot for Lay’s, featuring the classic Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head characters.

The 30 second spot, which was created in collaboration with production company Psyop and directed by Lauren Indovina and Borja Pena, shows Mr. Potato Head arrive home from work unable to find his wife. When he finally locates Mrs. Potato Head, he discovers her hiding in the pantry eating Lay’s. Mr. Potato Head overcomes his initial trepidation at delving into cannibalism immediately after trying a potato chip, accompanied by the tagline, “One taste and you’re in love.” Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head’s abhorrent crime against nature becomes their “little secret” in what, in a bizarre way, is something of a Valentine’s Day themed ad. The choice of Mr. and Mrs. Potato is something of a curious one, since Energy BBDO and Psyop had little chance of competing with Pixar’s likeness of the characters in the Toy Story series, and viewers will undoubtedly make that unfavorable comparison. Chalk this one up as a head spud scratcher. Credits after the jump.  continued…

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Susan Sarandon, Psyop Spread Malaria Awareness with ‘Nightmare: Malaria’ Game

This past Tuesday saw the release of the first game developed by production company Psyop, “Nightmare: Malaria.” Susan Sarandon lent her vocal talents to the game, developed in partnership with Against Malaria Foundation, for the iOS and Android operating systems. “Nightmare: Malaria” hopes to draw attention to the malaria epidemic that claims around one million lives a year, around 70% of them children under five; and that much of this can be prevented with insecticide treated mosquito nets. But don’t think this is another public service advertisement masquerading as a gaming experience.

“This is not another advergame,” said Brian Kehrer, Technical Director of “Nightmare: Malaria. “We focused our efforts on creating a visually rich and enjoyable, if disturbing, experience.” Kehrer, co-founder of Muse Games, was brought in to help Psyop develop their penchant for visual storytelling into their first ever video game. While at Muse, he helmed the award-winning Guns of Icarus Online.

In “Nightmare: Malaria” the player is dropped “into the bloodstream of a young girl infected by malaria. Players make their way through 18 levels of fever-dream visuals, avoiding killer mosquitoes and collecting hard-to-reach teddy bear tokens along the way.” While I can’t say anything about the gameplay, not having played the game yet, the trailer hints at striking, occasionally disturbing visual design — not surprising coming from the Emmy-winning Psyop.

The game was inspired by a Susan Sarandon-narrated PSA created through Psyop’s non-profit initiative, Establishment for the Greater Good, called “Nightmare.” In fact, “Nightmare: Malaria” borrows footage from the PSA for its trailer. If you’re interested in playing the game, you can download it for iOS or Android. And if you’d like to donate to help stop malaria, you can do so here. Stick around for “Nightmare” and credits after the jump.  continued…

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