Hasta La Creative!

Late last week, we received a few tips that Optimum would no longer be working with Mother, the latter of which was tapped nearly a year ago to work on a rebranding assignment for the former that eventually culminated a few months later into this. Well, slow down tipsters. A spokesperson for Optimum parent company Cablevision has clarified the brand’s agency relationships with this statement:

“Cablevision does not employ a traditional ‘agency of record’ structure, rather we work with a variety of different agencies at any given time. We expect to work with Mother NY as we continue to evolve the Optimum brand.”

If you recall, Mother’s most recent work for the brand, which includes the clip below starring crooner Michael Bolton, launched just a couple of weeks ago.

Along with Mother, which of course has now taken the creative helm for Burger King, Optimum’s agency roster has included the likes of fellow NYC shop, Gardner Nelson & Partners.

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Taco Bell wants you to live mas. Corona wants you to live mas fina. If the trend continues, we’re one year away from Walmart telling us to live mejor.

Corona’s Canadian rebranding comes from Toronto-based Zulu Alpha Kilo and its Quebec agency partner, TANK. Let’s tackle all the moving parts: an English campaign with a Spanglish slogan for a Mexican company created by a Canadian agency. If you ever needed proof of NAFTA, there you go.

The debut spot, which runs sixty seconds, clearly targets younger demographics of drinkers and asks them to live life without regret. Surf, protest deforestation, look at aurora borealis, etc. While you’re experiencing the etc., you should also drink Corona. It’s silly to associate Corona with “the finer life,” but the commercial is well done and effectively sentimental, according to the viewer response on Youtube. I’d have to agree, even if there are no beaches.

Credits after the jump.

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We’re still awaiting full credits on this one, but in the meantime, feel free to view Goodby Silverstein & Partners’ latest spot for Doritos, which was helmed by actor/writer/director Jon “You’re So Money” Favreau and features music from Philly-based DJ/producer, Diplo. Maybe it’s just us, but this clip feels like a deleted scene from Superbad–though considering we dig said flick, it’s not too bad altogether. Better this valet than this one, we say.

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Yesterday came reports that Sara Arnell, CEO of Omnicom’s once-heralded Arnell Group, which was founded by her ex-husband Peter Arnell (read interesting post-Tropicana logo fiasco piece here), made the decision to close the agency’s doors for good. One of the items of note from the Crain’s report about the shuttering yesterday was that the business for Arnell’s last remaining AOR client, utility/power brand ConEdison (sometimes the bane of many a New Yorker’s existence), was being shifted elsewhere.

Well, sources familiar with the matter tell us that following a review, The Gate Worldwide, which has office space from New York to London to Singapore will taking over on what we’ve been told is the $15-20 million ConEd account. From what we’re hearing, The Gate beat out the likes of SS+K and Cramer-Krasselt in the review, which was launched in December and actually wrapped up last month.

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In case you were wondering, the domain name www.superimportanttest.com is no longer available, thanks to W+K and Oreo, who bring us, yes, a “Super Important Test,” which as we imagine was the intention is hardly a test. You have two options (cookie or cream) and you’re correct either way. Get it?

“Super Important Test” marks not only the conclusion of W+K’s Oreo’s “Cookie vs. Creme” campaign that began with the buzzed-about “Whisper Fight” spot from the Super Bowl and the subsequent “Separator Machine” clips, but the relationship between W+K and the Mondelez brand itself. As you may know, Draftfcb and now the Martin Agency work primarily on the Oreo account.

Anyhow, W+K curated quite a bit of content for the website–more than 30 different videos may play after you click cookie or creme–but this type of limited platform really begs the question: What’s the point? How does this sort of advertising advance the OREO brand in any meaningful way? I’m asking a serious question, not just trying to be glib, so if there is an answer, please post a comment.

Virality for the sake of virality is turning into a common approach for most creatives, and a website full of 30 unrelated internet videos that may or may not be funny seems like a great way to waste an advertising budget. Oreo was never going to choose cookie over cream or vice versa, but it didn’t have to choose. This is a case of a clever idea that simply ran out of ingredients.

Stills and credits after the jump.

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We’ve been hearing about it for days now and here you go. We’ll keep you posted on goings-on if and when they progress, but read on below. As mentioned before, GM is undergoing a major agency shift including most likely shifting Cadillac duties from Fallon to Campbell-Ewald. As for Commonwealth, the Detroit-based operation that was the brainchild of then-GM CMO Joel Ewanick and united Goodby and McCann was formed in nearly a year ago and just put out this effort. Anyhow, see McCann’s messsage:

“McCann Worldgroup, an Interpublic Group company, today announced it will assume sole responsibility for Commonwealth, Chevrolet’s global advertising agency, assuming the 50-percent joint ownership share held by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, an Omnicom Group company.

Commonwealth will continue to serve as Chevrolet’s global advertising agency of record and work in conjunction with both IPG and Omnicom resources, including Agency 720 and Fleishman-Hillard.

All current employees of Goodby’s Detroit office will be offered employment consistent with their current employment terms.”

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Three guys walk into a bar with The Hangover‘s Ken Jeong. That’s all you need, because Jeong will take care of the rest with his ridiculous facial expressions. No punchlines necessary. Give him a pig and a cabana, and he’ll deliver the goods. Even though Miller Lite makes terrible beer, their new campaign from Saatchi & Saatchi, which also features Roots/Late Night with Jimmy Fallon drummer Questlove and UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell, provides a blueprint for integrating celebrities into advertisements. It’s easy and boring to let John Krasinski do voice-over work for a Coke commercial, but with a little thought and some strong writing, you can get Ken Jeong into a cowboy costume.

Liddell may be irrelevant to the public at this point in his career, but Jeong and Questlove are recognizable and likable. Most guys would love to have either celebrity in their crew, even if it meant using the word “crew” and having to drink Miller Lite. And in some twisted way, that will probably sell more Miller Lite. But now that celebs want to hang out with regular guys, can we get James Harden to trade his friend D for Ken Jeong, setting up possibly the greatest commercial of all time? Now, that would be Miller Time.

“Questlove” and credits after the jump.

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Ah, the 80s music video. Always open to parody. So moody and serious that the bands may have been secretly parodying themselves without telling anyone (Duran Duran), which is why it’s not even that strange when an anthromorphic unicorn finds its way into Fiat’s new spoof/commercial, “The Fatherhood,” directed by Matt Golding of Rubber Republic.

The spot may not go platinum, but its predecessor, a rap parody called “The Motherhood,” has close to 4 million views on YouTube. Apparently, people really eat up the parental-commiseration genre.

In “The Fatherhood,” a pale Gabriel Macht lookalike sings about his lack of sleep to a synth-pop beat. He spends his nights driving around in his comfortable Fiat 500L as his two babies cry in the backseat. I can’t tell you why a unicorn appears midway through the video, but I can tell you that it feels totally appropriate for the song. These Fiat spots can strike the corny nerve from time to time, but they’re salvaged by some risky humor and solid writing (“the one fun act that got me here/I don’t get that anymore.”) There’s even a subtle allusion to “The Motherhood,” which makes me think the creatives at krow communications actually had fun making this campaign.

And is it just me, or is the song catchy? I’d listen to it on the radio–it has better production value than half the songs the stations repeat anyway.

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What about the trucker who just had to sit there while a waitress poured fake coffee into an overflowing mug? Or the egg on top of a diner table? The guy swimming with sharks? The wind-up brain toy? The geeky guy playing with a giant ball of yarn? Aloe vera tissues? Yes, all of these things are in the same “Retrain Your Brain” Virgin Mobile commercial, created by Mother NY. The spot is certainly unique, but that doesn’t mean it will get customers to switch from other carriers to Virgin Mobile.

“Retrain Your Brain” was birthed out of focus group findings that suggested customers wouldn’t switch mobile companies even if they were specifically told how much money they could save. So, Mother and Virgin Mobile decided to go with Brazilian triplets, Colonel Meow, and The Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne.

Could it be that most customers just aren’t suited for short-term pay-as-you-go phone plans? (Shh, don’t tell Virgin Mobile). Regardless, the spot looks like a surrealist drug sequence from a bad student film. If you’re going to include Brazilian triplets, you might as well use them. Credits after the jump.

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With the new “MY ASICS” training app, runners can log workout times, post motivational content to Facebook, and create a comprehensive exercise diary. There are digital timelines and unlockable articles, videos, pictures, and all this is great for athletes who are in need of a capable app. However, in 2013, this type of technology isn’t new. Although the design may be slicker than similar apps, “MY ASICS” could struggle to have an impact in a field where RunKeeper and MapMyRun have already been go-to social exercise platforms for the past few years.

The app is the latest addition to the “Journey of Improvement” campaign, and if it catches on, you’ll be able to scroll through your newsfeed and ridicule all the people sharing their running times and making you hate yourself for watching The Big Bang Theory instead of improving your cardiovascular health. Maybe, just maybe, it will force you to go for a jog and buy ASICS sneakers. Then, you can continue the cycle by downloading the app and posting your own workouts to Facebook. Then someone else can secretly despise you and start jogging. People helping people, it’s a beautiful thing.

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