Hasta La Creative!

180 LA crafted a holiday effort for Expedia entitled “Santa Flies Coach,” where Kris Kringle ditches the sleigh and travels around the world via more conventional means.

Santa visits Honolulu, Tokyo, Dubai, Paris and Dublin en route to his final destination. Everywhere he goes people are, of course, delighted to see the jolly, white-bearded symbol of Christmas, but viewers may be wondering by now why exactly Santa has ditched his sleigh. The spot takes a heartwarming turn with that reveal as Santa arrives at his final destination: “For one week Santa flew around the world, because now the points we earn traveling can be donated to St. Jude Children’s Hospital” appears onscreen as Santa visits patients at the hospital. It’s a heartwarming message, made all the more so by its unexpectedness in the wake of the cheery beginning of the ad. And the reveal, rather than feeling cheap, offers a satisfactory explanation furthering our understanding of what preceded it. A lot of holiday efforts shoot for this kind of feeling, but few attempt to actually motivate viewers toward specific charitable action, which makes “Santa Flies Coach” all the more admirable. (more…)

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If you prematurely ejaculate, blame that burger you had for lunch. At least, that’s what PETA would have you believe with their new (yes, batshit crazy) “Another Cuban Missile Crisis” spot, developed along with creative agency Matter.

The spot opens with a guy and his attractive girlfriend in the throes of passion. As things get heated on the couch, he pictures Fidel Castro‘s head on her body, (“Focus on my mustache,” he says) in a desperate attempt to keep from blasting off too soon. His efforts are to no avail, however, as he’s soon lost it. PETA’s tagline “If you go vegan, you can last longer. Try thinking about that.” comes on screen, to accompany the disappointed girlfriend.

Wait, what? Is PETA really trying to use fears of premature ejaculation to get men to go vegan? What could the rationale be for that?

“Any man who lacks stamina between the sheets should look at what’s on his plate—and resolve to do better in 2014 by choosing healthy vegan meals,” explains PETA SVP/certifiably insane person Lisa Lange. “Unlike cholesterol-laden meat, eggs, and dairy products, vegan food such as beans, rice, tortillas, fruits, and vegetables keep the blood flowing to all vital parts of the body.” Okay, so that may actually be true, but where’s the connection to premature ejaculation? Well, apparently the fear of impotence can lead to premature ejaculation in some men, so there may actually be a tiny shred of truth to this crazy load of shit PETA is trying to feed you. Still, there’s a large jump from meals high in cholesterol contributing to impotence, to fears of impotence leading to premature ejaculation, to “eat vegan so you last longer in bed.” None of these strings, obviously, are tied together during the ad — so when you watch it you just think “What the fuck just happened?”rather than considering cholesterol’s contribution to impotence and the link between impotence fears and premature ejaculation.

While we should know by now not to be surprised by any of the batshit crazy things PETA does, somehow we never saw premature ejaculation being used as a fear tactic to sell veganism. Because, what the fuck? But then PETA also likes to kill perfectly adoptable pets. So the lesson here, once again, is to never be surprised by anything PETA does. Because they could do pretty much anything. Credits after the jump. continued…

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To be fully experienced, this spot has to be watched at your nearest Sony Store or Magnolia Home Theater at Best Buy. That’s because it’s made specially for the 4K Ultra HD TV it advertises, which raises definition to four times that of a standard HD TV.

The ad still looks pretty on YouTube, with its New Zealand ocean setting, bright blue bird, and red-dressed woman. And it doesn’t hurt that filmmaker Garth Davis (a commercial director himself) narrates it all in his soothing Australian accent.

In addition to showcasing new HD technology, the ad features the largest asset ever made for TV: a random looming spaceship, created by VFX company MPC. Pretty sure Sony agreed to it just because they could.

“This is part of our Visionaries campaign for Sony,” 180LA creative director Dave Horton says. “The idea is to bring together two industry leaders to collaborate on a creation that brings Sony’s technology to life.” In this case, Garth Davis worked with Oscar-winning cinematographer Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi). I look forward to seeing who’s next. I watch almost nothing on TV, but this technology is tempting.

Credits after the jump

continued…

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