Hasta La Creative!

Yes, word is out that Bob Winter, former Y&R (what was then Chicago) CCO who left for Crispin Porter + Bogusky in late 2012, has found a new gig at VSA Partners. Winter, who helped create the Bud Light “Real Men of Genius” campaign while at DDB and led wins on Dave & Buster’s and Famous Footwear during his stint at Y&R, will now take on the role of partner/executive creative director at VSA, which houses offices in its homebase of Chicago as well as Detroit and NYC.

In a statement, said agency’s CEO, Dana Arnett, says, “The addition of this world-class marketing talent just continues to advance VSA’s legacy of designing powerful, human-centered experiences across channels that are realized to the highest creative and strategic standards. When those dots are effectively connected, clients and consumers always benefit.”

As mentioned before, during his career, Winter also served as a creative director at Goodby and an SVP/CD at Leo Burnett.

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And now, for something, er, lighter. These back-to-school posts almost make me wistful for the days when a new pencil case was the joy of my September. But as I have grown, so has the sophistication of academic shopping. To keep with the times, Best Buy is branding themselves America’s go-to “Techfitter” of the season.

To show that they’ll equip students with not only the best technology, but the right technology for their pursuits, CP+B and Best Buy found real students and surprised them with personalized Best Buys, “tech-fitted” to their academic interests in a pair of new Paul Hunter-directed spots. Greg, Aerospace Engineering Major, gets a semi truck parked in front of his house. It opens, and he’s presented with the planetary system, plus a launchable rocket (sadly not available at a Best Buy near you). Lidia, a Marine Biology major, gets an underwater tech experience complete with dolphins and jellyfish. Both personalized surprise scenarios are scattered with Windows 8 laptops and tablets.

Additional spots will air later this month, and my guess is the lucky students will not include an English or PoliSci major, because those experiences would involve sheafs of paper and alcohol. Let’s expect an aspiring architect and an ambitious pre-med; they provide ideal landscapes for Best Buy’s eager urban tech-fitter to make a difference. Credits after the jump.

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A classic rock ballad, "Beth" by KISS, that inspired a thought balloon—"Wouldn't it be funny to hear Beth's  side of the story?"—is now a short film. The four-and-a-half-minute piece from Bob Winter, executive creative director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky in Miami, centers around a 1970s-era phone call between Beth and an actor portraying Peter Criss, the band's original drummer and co-writer of the song.

Beth is home, cooking meatloaf and wondering when Peter will get home. Peter is in the studio, unable to commit to a time (he keeps repeating a refrain in the song, "What can I do?") and anxious to get back to recording. He and his bandmates are inexplicably dressed in full costume and face paint, despite being nowhere near a concert hall. Ah, but hey, what says KISS more than makeup and platform boots?

The back and forth turns hostile when Peter, who said he'd be home in a few hours, shifts to another line in the song: "I hope you'll be all right 'cause me and the boys will be playing all night." "What?" Beth replies, stunned. "Peter, you just said you were going to be a couple of hours. I made dinner. It took me all afternoon to make. You know what? … I might as well just throw it into the garbage." Rather than reply, Peter sighs, leaves the phone cord hanging and returns to the boys, sits down behind a piano and belts out the song. Beth doesn't hear it, though. She glumly hangs up and sits down to eat with her two children.

Directed by Brian Billow of Anonymous Content, the film feels part Behind the Music and part Saturday Night Live, with just enough '70s home décor (beige stone, dull wood cabinets, a toaster oven) to make you yearn for The Brady Bunch. Winter first got the idea for the spoof when he was chief creative officer at Young & Rubicam in Chicago. As he told Adweek previously, "I was thinking that it might be fun to create a series that's like the made-up stories behind real songs."

Asked this week what's next, Winter replied, "Maybe the next song is 'Jump' by Van Halen, and it turns out it was really about one band member helping another band member avoid stepping in dog poop. Something serious like that."

CREDITS
Director: Brian Billow
Production Co.: Anonymous Content
Sr. Exec Producer: Eric Stern
Exec Producer/Production: SueEllen Clair
Producer: Paul Ure
Writer: Bob Winter
DP: Darran Tiernan
Editor: John Dingfield/Beast Editorial
Actors:
Beth: Lilli Birdsell
Peter: Steven Olson
Kid #1: Michael Hamilton
Kid #2: Robert Hamilton
Ace: Roy Green
Paul: Alec Paul Cartinian
Gene: Rocco Fonzarelli
Roadie: Jason Lee Beckwith
Performer Beth Piano Intro: Coleman Zurkowski