Hasta La Creative!

Diamond Foods has selected San Francisco-based integrated, independent agency Duncan/Channon as agency of record for its Pop Secret and Diamond of California nuts brands, following a competitive review.

The agency will lead branding, advertising strategy, creative and media efforts for the brands. Duncan/Channon will also be tasked with creating a new brand platform and national campaigns “designed to support Diamond Foods’ focus on building and energizing its premium snack food and culinary nut brands.” These campaigns will feature both traditional and non-traditional components, such as social media, and will be informed by the agency’s brand strategy department. Initial campaigns focusing on Pop Secret and Diamond of California are expected early next year.

“We were very impressed by the ideas and creative presented by Duncan/Channon, but it was the team itself that clinched this decision,” said Burke Raine, vice president of marketing, snacks, at Diamond Foods. “There’s something special going on at this agency and we can’t wait to put our teams together to build on the great momentum across the Diamond brands.

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In adam&eveDDB’s Christmas spot for Mulberry, a grandmother “wins Christmas’ with a Mulberry bag, trumping some pretty stiff competition in the process.

The ad follows a young woman as she opens a series of presents, beginning with a pointillist portrait of her painted by her sister. Each gift gets more over the top and ridiculous, verging into the absurd, until the girl’s reaction to the Mulberry bag from her grandmother reveals it to be the best gift of all. It’s an interesting approach, forgoing the typical sentimentality of holiday advertising for a tongue-in-cheek celebration of materialism. adam&eveDDB pulls it off well, slowly ramping up the absurdity and not taking itself too seriously while still effectively promoting the brand. That the agency was able to produce both the heartwarming “Monty The Penguin” ad for John Lewis and this, pretty much its polar opposite, shows impressive range. (more…)

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180 Amsterdam has launched a new campaign for Sony’s PS4 holiday push entitled “Welcome to the Future of Play.”

In what has long been the standard for gaming advertising, players are thrust into the action of a game. “I don’t want to die…again,” says one of the players, as he and a friend hide during a fierce battle. The friend decides they have three options: check YouTube and hope someone shared how to get past the stage via the PS4?s “Share” button; ask their friend Dave how to survive the Viking attack; or invite Nick to join them in the game, even though he doesn’t own the game. The last option illustrates one of the PS4?s big selling points, that you can join a friend’s game remotely, even if you haven’t purchased the title. The way the ad arrives at this point, however, may seem a little forced to some viewers.

The campaign is launching simultaneously in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa and Middle East, as the holiday season approaches. In addition to the broadcast spot, the campaign also includes print and OOH elements, each focusing on one of the key new features for the PS4 promoted in the spot. (more…)

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MUH-TAY-ZIK | HOF-FER has launched a campaign for Zoosk entitled “First Comes Like.”

Instead of hard-selling the percentage of matches who end up married or implying that Zoosk can be used as a hookup site, the agency takes a middle ground, showing a couple’s misadventures on their first date and beyond. It’s an interesting approach that positions the brand as an alternative to both dating sites that push marriage (such as Match) and more hookup-centric sites like Tinder. Instead, Zoosk appeals to young people looking for a relationship, but not ready to think of marriage.

The way the spot portrays the excitement and awkwardness of a budding relationship is charming and feels more honest than the typical portrayals of couples in the category. There’s also a 60-second online version (featured after the jump), offering a more complete glimpse of the relationship.  (more…)

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Following a string of viral digital ads, Dollar Shave Club is making the leap to broadcast television.

The move follows the company’s recent success, as, according to founder and CEO Michael Dubin, the brand “finished October with 1.1 million active subscribers, $7.2 million in monthly sales and what the company estimates as a 10% volume share of U.S. cartridges.” Dollar Shave Club also recently raised $50 million in venture capital funding.

“It’s no secret that advertising on television is a great tool in building your brand,” Dubin told AdAge. “Some of the messages we wanted to communicate felt really right for television.”

Dubin declined to specify if the budget for the broadcast campaign came from revenue or the recent round of venture capital funding. A former improv comic, Dubin co-wrote the ad, entitled “Security” with Alec Brownstein, Dollar Shave Club’s creative director. Radical Media’s Steve Miller, who has worked on the “Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign, directed the spot. “Security” pokes fun at the extreme lengths many stores go through to keep their razors from being stolen, often placing them under lock and key. “It’s almost like they don’t want you to buy their razors,” the ad jokes. A second spot, “Free Gift” takes a similar approach, employing mocking humor. (more…)

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Dick’s Sporting Goods has launched its holiday campaign with an ad meant to tug at viewer’s heartstrings via a basketball hoop, presumably from Anomaly.

Said piece of sporting equipment is given as a gift from a father to his daughter at the beginning of the spot. We then see the girl grow up via a montage of moments with the basketball hoop in the background, until, finally the family packs her up for college and the father is left to shoot hoops alone. The ad does a great job of building emotion and seamlessly leading into the “Give a gift that matters” tagline. At any other time of year, this kind of approach would run the risk of being deemed to sentimental, but that sentimentality fits pretty perfect with the holiday season.

The ad will run on 19 networks beginning this Sunday and running for several weeks. It kicks off Dick’s “Gifts That Matter” campaign, which will also be supported by social media and digital elements.

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360i has launched a new campaign promoting the latest installment in Toyota’s teen driving safety initiative, TeenDrive365.

Based on safety research by Toyota and the University of Michigan Transportation Institute (UMTRI), the campaign aims to influence teens by targeting the number one influence on how they drive: their parents. The latest additions to the initiative include online tools, expert advice, local events and social media elements. To promote the effort, 360i worked with Toyota on a series of videos targeting parents of teen drivers.

Two of these videos focus on “Parents Who Drive Bad Anonymous,” a fictional (and grammatically challenged) support group for parents who drive poorly and are worried that they’re passing on their questionable practices to their children. In the above video, Deb attends a meeting and admits to texting while driving. “I know I’ve been a bad example. I’ve been texting while I drive and it’s got to stop,” she says to a mannequin wearing headphones, presumably a stand-in for her son. Another “Parents Who Drive Bad Anonymous” video focuses on a dad obsessed with checking on his fantasy team. Another video, part of the “Masters of the Wheel” series, focuses on NHRA driver Antron Brown and his teen daughter.

“As a mother of a teenager, I often remind myself that the things I do behind the wheel go a long way in setting a powerful example,” said Dr. Tina Sayer, Toyota Collaborative Safety Research Center principal engineer and teen safe driving expert. “Experience and education certainly help your teen become a safe and more confident driver, but our research shows us that the biggest factor in how teens will drive is their parents.” (more…)

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In an attempt to boost holiday sales, GSD&M enlisted the services of one Weird Al Yankovic on behalf of the struggling Radio Shack.

The resurgent Yankovic, of course, just had the first number one album of his career with his fourteenth full-length, Mandatory Fun. Radioshack CMO Jennifer Warren cited Yankovic’s resurgent popularity and “cross generational appeal” in explaining the decision to enlist the King of Parody, telling MediaPost, “He’s had a resurgence, including a No. 1 album, and an appearance on the Grammies, as well as a recent tour of the talk shows.”

And, indeed, Yankovic has appeal from everyone from those introduced to the parodist in the eighties, to those of us who bought Bad Hair Day on compact dist in elementary school, to the kids just being introduced to him today through the music videos he released to promote the new album. But does GSD&M make it work?

Kind of. Yankovic’s quirky, nerdy charm is certainly on display in the ad, and Radio Shack could benefit from the association, but the spot stops short of fulfilling its comedic potential. When a customer asks if Radio Shack carries HeliQuads, Shack employee Yankovic bursts into song about how it is the perfect place for holidays toys for, boys, girls, and your cousin Bob who is 43 and lives at home. GSD&M worked from a script, collaborating with Yankovic from there, according to GSD&M President Marianne Malina. Given Yankovic’s distinct personality (which is what you got him for), it may have made more sense to just let him come up with his own ideas.

Interestingly, the ad will debut in cinemas, where viewers can use the Shazam app to download a longer version. The ad is part of GSD&M’s larger “Gift Smart” campaign as the agency continues to attempt to start conversations around the sinking Radio Shack brand. Recent efforts include the suggestive back-to-school campaign, which ruffled a few conservative feathers with its innuendo.

“Everything we’ve done together…is about getting buzz, and getting back into the conversation,” Warren told MediaPost. (more…)

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Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO has launched a new campaign for Guiness celebrating the “Irrepressible Spirit” of some lesser-known rugby greats for Guiness, just in time for the sport’s end of year Autumn Internationals.

The campaign is composed of four spots celebrating Jonny Wilkinson, Shane Williams, Bill McLaren and the Munster rugby team of 1978, which debuted yesterday in the UK and Ireland. Each ad focuses on “the inspirational character and integrity that is central to the sport,” Stephen O’Kelly, marketing director, Guinness (Western Europe) at Diageo, said in a statement.

In the spot above, for example, Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO tells the inspiring story of Bill McLaren who was diagnosed with tuberculosis and told he would never play rugby again. Rather than accepting defeat, McLaren found his way back into the game as an announcer and became the “voice of rugby.” It’s an emotional approach that should appeal to diehard rugby fans and casual viewers alike, which should be a winning combination for Guiness. (more…)

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JWT London teamed up with production company th2ng (pronounced “Thing 2,” even though the number 2 looks nothing like an “I”) and directorial team “The Queen” (Dan Lumb and Crinan Campbell) for a new spot for Listerine.

The ad is based around the idea that, since teeth only make up a quarter of your mouth, brushing only cleans 25 percent of your mouth. It opens on a man holding balloon receiving a pizza delivery. When he opens the box he finds only two slices and exclaims “25 percent!?” This opens up with concept for a series of sight gags showing how unsatisfying 25 percent is: including a mini martini, unfinished haircut, an incomplete spray tan and a punchline-less joke. It ends with the man walking in on a woman brushing her teeth and informing her she’s only cleaning 25 percent of her mouth, really hammering home the ad’s message.

The ad was filmed over the course of just two days on a crowded beach on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Despite having to conted with throngs of beachgoers, land to water shots, children and cats, the crew enjoyed the shoot.

“This was a fun and challenging shoot,” said Dan Lumb. “We were determined to hit all of the humor notes on this one, which was so contingent on comedic timing and working around the elements. With such a limited shoot time, we had to rely on the talent and preparedness of the team to make this a success. I think everybody did their part to make it come together in a hysterical way.” (more…)

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