Hasta La Creative!

FCKH8 attracted a lot of attention with its recent controversial video featuring young girls in dresses dropping “F-Bombs for Feminism,” addressing issues of gender inequality and violence against women for the for-profit activist t-shirt brand.

If you saw that video, you already know what to expect, as the new video, after a brief introduction from a young boy portraying a violent man stereotype, begins almost identically to its predecessor. The joke is less funny the second time around, but the video eventually differentiates itself when the girls take more of a focus on domestic violence. In the previous video, four girls counted off as a demonstration of the statistic that one in four women will be physically abused in their lifetime. They repeat the tactic here, only this time when the fourth girl counts off she’s wearing makeup to make it look like she’s a battered woman, which the rest of the girls also don for the remainder of the video.

Those who had a problem with the girls talking about violence and rape in the original video will be doubly offended here, but FCKH8 anticipates the backlash when two girls question viewers disturbed by the video, “Isn’t one out of four women beaten the real disgrace?” Those who accuse the company, which normally donates five dollars of every fifteen dollar t-shirt sold to charity, of child exploitation will have less fuel here, as according to the video, “100 percent of the profits from these ‘not a wifebeater’ tanks will go to domestic violence charities.” Viewers who found the shock humor in the original video refreshing or effective, however, may find that the same formula seems stale the second time around, despite the attempts to up the shock factor.

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Ogilvy teamed up with Coca-Cola Germany for “Make Someone Happy,” the brand’s holiday ad which notably replaces the polar bears of recent years with Santa, also a longtime holiday standby for the brand. According to AdAge, this “marks the first time since 2011 that the brand’s classic Santa character has been the centerpiece of its holiday TV campaign in the U.S.,” although that publication points out that the polar bears will still have “a supporting role for store-level retail executions.”

In the 60-second spot, set to the Jimmy Durante version of the song of the same name, we see Santa drinking a Coke while thumbing through a book called “How to Make Someone Happy.” The ad then focuses on a series of small good deeds performed by people to make others (often strangers) happy, such as a man giving up his umbrella to a passer-by during a snowstorm and a young man giving a stranger waiting for a train a bottle of Coke. At the end of the spot, Santa has a surprise for everyone. “Make Someone Happy’ manages to communicate a holiday-specific sentiment while also functioning as a continuation of Coca-Cola’s general “Open Happiness” campaign.

Andy McMillin, VP of the Coca-Cola trademark for North America, told AdAge that while the polar bears are ” a very important equity for us,” Santa was a better fit with the message to “look beyond the presents and focus on the true spirit of the holidays,” adding that the character “just fits that so well as the ultimate symbol of giving and caring and bringing joy to others.”

“Make Someone Happy” will debut on NBC Thanksgiving day, and will run until the end of December on broadcast and cable channels including NBC, ABC, ABC Family, USA, Lifetime, TBS and Food Network.

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john st. has a new holiday campaign for Future Shop that appeals to the selfish side in all of us by reminding viewers that tech gifts are “Gifts You’ll Want Too.”

The spot follows around a man as he gleefully tries out a variety of devices around Future Shop. “I thought he was shopping for your mom” says a confused retail worker, to which his embarrassed daughter replies, “He is.”

The obvious message of the spot is, while you could get your significant other some kind of clothing/jewelry/etc. that they, and only they, will enjoy, if you shop at Future Shop you can give them something that you’ll enjoy just as much. It may be kind of a selfish viewpoint, but its one john st. hopes wins viewers over with honesty.

“We’re all guilty of doing a little ‘me-shopping’ when doing our holiday shopping for our friends and family. ‘Gifts you’ll want too’ is a cheeky way of showing how you can make them and yourself happy
with the same gift.” said Angus Tucker, executive creative director at john st., in a press release

“What differentiates Future Shop from other gift-giving destinations is that when you give the gift of tech, other people get to enjoy it as well,” added James Pelletier, director of brand marketing, Future Shop…”It’s a win-win – for the gifter and the getter.” (more…)

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North Kingdom collaborated with Google and Warner Brothers to create a digital interactive experience entitled “A Journey Through Middle-Earth,” promoting The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, the final film in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy.

The project is the conclusion of a two year partnership between the parties and the result of eight months of work. Built around an interactive map of Middle-Earth, fans can then explore 21 new locations from the world of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and the updated map contains “3D animations, highlighting the paths of eight key characters in the films, including Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf and Aragorn.” North Kingdom also created “‘Hero’s Journeys’, an area of the platform that will allow people to relive all of their epic Middle-earth adventures, from Frodo’s journey to Mount Doom in The Lord of the Rings to Bilbo’s final battle in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.” There’s also a new, peer-to-peer social battle experience allowing visitors to challenge their friends.

“This was an overwhelmingly exciting project for us here at North Kingdom,” said David Eriksson, chief creative officer. “Our challenge was to really push the boundaries of what is possible in a digital experience, drawing inspiration from the world of Tolkien and the drama world that has been built up throughout 14 years of epic films.”

You can watch a trailer for “A Journey Through Middle-Earth” above and head to the site for the full experience. (more…)

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McCann New York has launched a campaign for Nikon targeted at millenials for the holiday season.

In a new 30-second online spot, the brand celebrates “Generation Image,” as a young woman states “My generation creates tens of thousands of images literally in the blink of an eye. Our images speak for us.” She then asks, “Are yours saying enough?”

The ad is aimed at addressing declining digital camera sales as young people are taking more pictures than ever, but taking them with their smartphones rather than cameras. “I Am Generation Image” is a plea for higher quality images, suggesting that if millenials really care so much about images they should step up their game to a Nikon digital camera.

“Many people who get started taking images on smartphones want to upgrade to a more advanced camera,” Larry Platt, an executive creative director at McCann Erickson New York, told The New York Times. “It’s really about the proper product to make sure you’re getting across your message.”

A second online spot outlines another campaign component: Nikon is giving out a Nikon D750 D.S.L.R camera to select recipients and hosting their images on the campaign site iamgenerationimage.com in an attempt to show viewers how a Nikon can help them take their images to the next level. Nikon and McCann New York certainly have their work cut out for them. A recent CNBC article characterized the digital camera market as in “free fall.” But Nikon is convinced the campaign, with a budget estimated at $5-7 million can help, with Lisa Baxt, associate general manager for communications of the Nikon Inc. division of the Nikon Corporation in Melville, N.Y. citing a “a shift from convenience to quality, in that a more authentic story is told with a better photo,” in The New York Times. (more…)

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FCB West created a campaign promoting the release of Electronic Art’s Dragon Age Inquisition, centered around broadcast and online trailers.

The trailers feature dramatic gameplay footage designed to pique viewers interest in the game, which was released this Thursday. In the 80-second broadcast spot, “The Breach,” for example, an epic battle ends with a dragon blowing fire at the screen, which turns into the title and release date, accompanied by the tagline “Lead them or fall.”

But FCB West’s campaign doesn’t end with the trailers, as the agency created a whole interactive experience which “both challenges and rewards fans with bonus content like no other advertising campaign to date.” The agency created “Quest for the Red Lyrium Reapers,” an interactive experience at DragonAge.com which challenges players with finding hidden content within the game’s campaign videos, and offers a unique incentive: an in-game weapons pack. It’s an interesting approach to get fans engaged with FCB’s campaign, and one that makes the content relevant past the release date. Stick around for the online trailer (along with credits) after the jump. (more…)

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Ubiquitous Big Bang Theory actor Jim Parsons stars in Intel’s new holiday campaign, the first work from agency McGarryBowen since being named agency of record in October.

The first spot for the holiday campaign (featured above) breaks Monday, and the campaign will run for six weeks as the other ads gradually roll out. In it Parsons plays himself, running amok a restricted access area at Intel and gawking at Intel’s RealSense technology, until he is eventually thrown out by a security guard who tells him not to talk about anything he saw. Parsons’ broadcast spots will be backed by a social media campaign featuring companion videos and photos.

“The decision to approach this in a comedic way was one that intrigued me from the beginning,” Gordon Bowen, chairman and chief creative officer of McGarryBowen, told The New York Times. The campaign “is really just the beginning,” Bowen added. “It sets us up for a campaign that tells you there’s a new Intel that is bringing things to market that will surprise and delight you.”

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Ogilvy & Mather worked with singer Kevin Ross on a holiday spot for Glade entitled “Feel Anticipation.”

For the spot, Ross wrote a song supposedly expressing how holiday scent Sparkling Spruce made him feel. Ross can be seen performing the song in an outdoor stage, surrounded by plenty of Glade candles ending with the “#FeelGlade” hashtag. While the “song inspired by a fragrance” premise can be a bit hard to swallow, it should appeal to fans of the emerging Motown singer, and maybe even net him — and the brand — a few new fans along the way. In addition to the 30-second broadcast spot, Glade also released a full-length music video for the song (featured after the jump), which is also available to download on iTunes.

It’s part of a larger rebranding campaign from Ogilvy for the brand, which is seeking to reposition itself as not just selling scents but the feelings they evoke. In another recent effort, Glade set up a pop-up shop, which they called the Glade Boutique, in New York’s meatpacking district. According to Adweek, the Glade Boutique saw “concierge” guide visitors through a “scent and emotion journey” in the Feelings Lounge, with scents such as Blooming Peony and Red Honeysuckle Nectar. The brand also teamed up with Cirque de Soleil for an October event in Madison Square Park. (more…)

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Poo-Pourri made waves last year with the viral “Girls Don’t Poop” video introducing its toilet deodorizer with pun-filled toilet humor that went on to garner over 30 million views on YouTube. While the follow-up, “Second Hand Stink,” didn’t draw quite as much attention, the brand’s latest, “Even Santa Poops” has the potential to attract attention to the brand once more with the holiday season right around the corner.

Written and directed by Pete Marquis and Jamie McClelland, who worked on HelloFlo’s “Camp Gyno” and “First Moon Party,” in collaboration with copywriter Joel Ackerman, who was behind the original “Girls Don’t Poop” spot for Poo-Pourri, “Even Santa Poops” should prove a success. The setup is new: Santa is delivering gifts when all the cookies and milk catch up with him and he has to retreat to the toilet for relief. His stench wakes three British sisters, who attempt to blackmail him for extra gifts and inform him of the Poo-Pourri which he should be using to mask his odor. Otherwise the formula is familiar: plenty of poo puns and a quick introduction of the product as a solution. Mostly the puns are pretty clever and while some may object to the premise, others will be all too happy to gleefully share this with friends and the timing of the release works to promote Poo-Pourri as a holiday (gag) gift while people are shopping for the season.

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BBH New York enlisted dancers from the New York City Ballet for a series of ads depicting victory celebrations for PS4, an extension of the “Greatness Awaits” campaign.

Each of the six spots begins with a group of dancers performing classic ballet moves in scenery/dress meant to evoke certain styles of games (sports, space, war, etc.) before a musical change signifies a shift in style and they perform a more modern victory dance. At the end of each 30-second spot, viewers are invited to contribute to the linked social initiative, calling on gamers to submit their own victory dance on Instagram for a chance at winning a PS4. At this point, any gaming advertising that tries something different is a welcome departure, and the social initiative has the potential to lead to some fun engagement with fans. We do wish, however, that they had managed a take of “Dunk” (stick around for it after the jump) where she actually makes the shot. (more…)

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