W+K New York isn’t the only agency that’s been focused on football recently — and for good reason.
Not only is the NFL about to start things up again, but this year’s college football season will be the first in history to discard the traditional Bowl Championship Series for a true four-team seeded playoff.
The first spot in W+K’s new campaign to promote client ESPN’s college coverage casts fandom as a universal experience…something everyone has “in common”:
A second :15 spot, which also debuts today, highlights some possible shakeups in the world of collegiate pigskin: will the new format allow an underdog to win the day?
Yesterday we brought you news of Adidas’ World Cup spot from TBWA featuring Lionel Messi, a host of other international stars, and a Kanye West track. Now here’s a look at the latest in W+K New York’s World Cup campaign for ESPN.
The charming 60-second spot, entitled “Time Zone,” examines how the World Cup creates “one time zone,” as the whole world rearranges their schedule to watch the World Cup premiere. “Time Zone” opens and ends in Brazil, stopping over in destinations around the world as everyone prepares for the match. Some have an easier time adjusting to “Brazil time” than others. A businessman in Seattle is seen rushing out of the office while updating his voicemail to reflect that he will be “out of the office for the rest of the afternoon” — an accurate portrayal of kickoff times in the states — while an old woman falls asleep watching the game in Russia and in Japan a group congregates before the sun rises. The spot ends with the tagline, “Every 4 years the world has one time zone,” which is reminiscent of the earlier “Every 4 years the conversation starts again.” This newer spot reflects the heightened anticipation for the World Cup kickoff, which is just over two weeks away. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…
Wieden + Kennedy New York’s latest World Cup spot is a welcome departure from their previous World Cup work, foregoing focusing directly on the on-field action in lieu of the conversations and connections among fans sparked by the World Cup, leading into the “Every Four Years” tagline.
The new 30-second spot, called “Global Issues,” follows a linear conversation between soccer fans from diverse backgrounds. “Global Issues” stars real soccer enthusiasts — including a German butcher, an Italian barber, and a cab driver from the Ivory Coast, who support a vast array of teams, but all reside in the U.S. It’s a clever direction, executed well thanks largely to the precision editing, from editorial company Final Cut, necessary to pull off such an approach, and illustrates the excitement leading up to the World Cup well.
Wieden + Kennedy New York also debuted eight of its 32 original World Cup posters for ESPN, designed by Brazilian artist and graphic designer Cristiano Siqueira. Each features a likeness of key players and stories from the featured country competing in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Stick around after the jump for a look at several of these posters, as well as campaign credits. continued…
Berlin Cameron United’s new campaign for Gilt features a chase scene and some unusual disrobing.
Upon sighting a model in a sleek yellow dress, a woman decides she can’t live without the outfit and chases after her. The model frantically runs away, because that’s what you do when you’re pursued by a woman with a crazy look in her eye. Appropriately set to the song “Suit” by Boom! Bap! Pow!, which features lyrics like “You’re so cute, I want to wear you like a suit. I think you’d look pretty good on me,” the chase concludes with the woman accessing Gilt’s site on her smartphone. This causes the dress to seamlessly slide off the model and on to the chaser, leaving the model in her underwear. While a tad on the ridiculous side, the spot shows off the instant gratification of shopping on the designer fashion site in a fun way. The 30-second ad, which went up on YouTube today, will spread to television on Monday, reports Adweek. Credits after the jump. continued…
Unilever, the international conglomerate producing over 400 products, hasn’t always had a sterling environmental and social record. In 2007, Greenpeace targeted the corporation for the deforestation of Indonesian rainforests linked to its sources of palm oil. The UN Environmental Programme called palm oil plantations the leading cause of deforestation in Indonesia. Then, in 2011, Unilver partnered with Proctor and Gamble in a European washing powder price-fixing scheme. About the best thing you could say about Unilever was “at least they’re not Nestlé.”
But in recent years Unilever has been doing a lot to change public perception and at least appear to work toward sustainability. They were a founding member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and in 2012 announced that its sustainable palm oil target would be reached three years ahead of schedule, as well as promising “100% palm oil from certified traceable sources by 2020.” But a report issued last week by the International Labor Rights Forum and Sawit Watch found ”flagrant disregard for human rights at some of the very plantations the RSPO certifies as ‘sustainable.’” These human rights violations included “labor trafficking, child labor, unprotected work with hazardous chemicals, and long-term abuse of temporary contracts.”
So here we are a week later, on Universal Children’s Day, and Unilver has a new campaign called “Project Sunlight,” which it describes in a press release as appealing to everyone, but particularly parents, “encouraging them to join what Unilever sees as a growing community of people who want to make the world a better place for children and future generations” and “a new initiative to motivate millions of people to adopt more sustainable lifestyles.”
At the center of Ogilvy London’s campaign is the video, directed by Academy Award-winning director Errol Morris, and scored with the worst Pixies cover you’ve ever heard, ”Why Bring A Child Into This World?.” which answers that question by stating that our grandchildren will live in a better place than we do. It’s a slick, well-produced 4:26 clip charged with sentimentality and promise, especially if you’re a new or expectant parent.
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