Hasta La Creative!

San Francisco agency Eleven has a strange new campaign for Virgin America centered around an extremely long online video.

The ad, entitled “Have you been flying BLAH Airlines?” depicts, in real time, a flight on the imagined rival airline from Newark to San Francisco: a five hour and forty-five minute flight. If that sounds boring, well, that’s the point. It’s also a bit strange and creepy, since the passengers are all mannequins. There are long shots of the mannequins doing absolutely nothing in their cramped seats, punctuated by occasional “action” such as a woman devouring some ribs.

“There’s a very distinct odor coming from somewhere nearby,” says a man on the flight, while the woman goes on and on about the ribs she’s eating. And that’s about as much action you can expect as you (inevitably) skip around. Still, there’s actually a kind of strange charm to the ad and its surreal humor when taken in small doses, and you kind of have to appreciate the great lengths Eleven went to to make its point.

“The passengers have no choice but to be on ‘autopilot’ to get through the tedious journey,” Virgin told Adweek. “Just trying to watch the video is downright painful—and that’s the point. If you wouldn’t sit through the entire film, why would you pay money to experience it in real life?”

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Earlier this month, Droga5 released the spot “Car Wash” as part of its “Get A Taste” campaign for Diet Coke. Now the agency is rolling out a new 30-second ad starring Taylor Swift and a whole lot of kittens.

In the spot, entitled “Kittens,” Swift is playing with a kitten when she takes a sip of Diet Coke and all of a sudden there are two kittens. She takes another sip and there’s an entire table full of kittens, and before the end of the spot the entire room is filled as the singer/songwriter is engulfed in a swarm of feline cuteness. “What if life tasted as good as Diet Coke?” says text at the end of the ad, before Swift works in a quick plug for her new album. Since everyone with a soul likes kittens, this one is sure to be a hit. Add in Swift’s star power, and a preview of a new track featured exclusively in the ad until the release of her new album on October 27th, and this is all but guaranteed millions of views.

The ad was launched online today and will make its broadcast debut this Friday. As part of the campaign, Diet Coke is also giving fans a chance to win “concert tickets and a flyaway trip for two to an upcoming performance through iHeartRadio.com, RyanSeacrest.com and other sites.” The brand is also sponsoring Swift’s co-host appearance on “On Air with Ryan Seacrest” on October 30th, the first time a celebrity co-hosts the entire program as well as the first time it is presented by a single brand. (more…)

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RPA is debuting a new online series promoting the Honda Fit with “Brad, the Lyft Driver,” a hidden-camera style video starring Nick Thune as Brad, an (overly) accommodating Lyft driver.

The series, directed by Fred Savage (Modern Family, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), shows Thune (in character as Brad) “maintaining a good vibe” while yelling obnoxiously out the window, rehearsing soap opera scenes with passengers, and creating creepy personalized mix tapes. While the antics can be amusing in small doses, the video stretches well past the three minute mark, overstaying its welcome a bit in the process.

As part of its “Fit For You” campaign, RPA is also teaming up with Vine stars Jordan Burt, KC James, Cody Johns and David Lopez for a series of Vine videos with each utilizing the Honda Fit in a video showcasing their individual style. (more…)

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72andSunny has unveiled a new campaign for Sonos’ wireless hi-fi system which playfully imagines what different genres of music would appear as visually.

Taking the notion that Sonos can transform your home literally, the spots each match musical genres with a distinct visual style. So, for example, in the ad set to “Nous Etions Deux” by La Femme, a home is taken over by pop art, starting with spots covering random appliances. In other spots the folk-pop of Sylvan Esso is rendered in claymation, the electronica of Mount Kimbie melts the walls and the croon of Isaac Hayes is paired to (what else?) liquid gold.

Music for the spots was curated by KCRW Music Director Jason Bentley prior to the shoot, informing the pacing, mood and feeling for filming. This approach seems to have payed off, as the music and visuals, created using a combination of practical and CG effects, combine seamlessly, as the sounds seem to transform the space. The homes pictured, “designed to represent people around the world in all kinds of living spaces” are also perfectly matched to the music and chosen form of visualization. Shot over the course of five days in Argentina, everything comes together for a series of ads that imaginatively illustrate the benefits of Sonos’ product and are a lot of fun to watch. (more…)

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DLKW Lowe teamed up with Ashton Kutcher for a series of offbeat ads promoting Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro.

In the spots, Kutcher engages in some unusual pastimes, including milking his goat for his morning cereal (while reading the tablet), painting beaver portraits with his toes and knitting. Offbeat humor is nothing new for the brand, which teamed up with Onion Labs for the ongoing satirical fantasy football series Tough Season. While this latest effort from DLKW doesn’t reach the comedic highs of Onion Labs’ creation, it certainly is memorable. (Who could forget Kutcher’s horrifying beaver portrait?) (more…)

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Anheuser-Busch InBev announced today the appointment of WPP’s MediaCom as its agency for media planning and buying in the U.S., following a review which began in July.

A-B InBev initially began searching for a new media agency in April, launching a review that also included media buying and planning over the summer. Starcom formerly handled media research and planning, while in-house group Busch Media handled buying. According to Adweek‘s sources, Publicis Groupe’s Spark was the other finalist. The brewing giant, whose brands include Michelob and Stella Artois, in addition to Budweiser and Bud Light, spends around $575 million in media annually. MediaCom’s appointment follows on the heels of the media agency’s winning of the Merck account at the end of last week.

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Publicis Kaplan Thaler recently launched a campaign for Wendy’s new barbecue offerings, entitled “#BBQ4Merica.”

The online campaign debuted with a kind of mock PSA, introducing Wendy’s new menu items as tackling the issue of “barbecue inaccessiblity” for people in places like Miami Beach, Cape Cop and Malibu. “Hi I’m a celebrity, and these are just a few of the geographically underprivileged places where millions of Americans don’t have easy access to quality barbecue,” says a solemn Carlton Alfonso Ribeiro in the ad. He’s joined by Ralph Macchio and Steve Austin for the effort, and the trio appear individually in a series of other videos for the campaign (stick around for a couple after the break).

In addition to the online videos, the digital effort includes a call to make barbecue the “National Dish of America” and an invitation to “sponsor” friends by tagging them on social channels using the hashtag “#BBQ4Merica” There was also a recent 24-hour tweet-a-thon event hosted by Ribeiro, in which participants helped unlock content and win swag. (more…)

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180 Amsterdam puts Replay’s Hyperflex jeans to the test in a new online video demonstrating the elasticity of the brand’s newest offering.

In the ad, which stars Brazilian supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio and features FC Barcelona players (including Neymar), Ambrosio’s alter ego — Doctor Ambrosio — conducts a series of tests designed to highlight the Hyperflex’s elasticity. The pants are put through such “modern lifestyle tests” as twerking, playing soccer, hip hop dancing, and some more twerking for good measure, ending with the tagline “Stretch your limits.” The 90-second online spot is certainly on the goofy side, but it does demonstrate the Hyperflex’s stretching capacity well, and it has the star power to generate a lot of views. In addition to the online spot, the campaign also includes print and OOH components.

“Replay’s Hyperflex is a revolution in denim,” said Al Moseley, president and chief creative officer, 180 Amsterdam. “Our task was to stretch it to the limits. The tests we put it through were extraordinary. The outcome, as people will see, is truly remarkable.” (more…)

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New York-based agency DiMassimo Goldstein crafted a broadcast spot for FreshDirect entitled “Lonely Shopping Cart.”

The whimsical 75-second spot follows a lone shopping cart, somehow transporting itself around town and picking up a bouquet along the way. It faces its share of dangers, almost getting hit by a car, before showing up at a woman’s door to find a FreshDirect delivery truck. The spot ends with the (grammatically incorrect — “breakup” is a noun) tagline “Breakup with your shopping cart,” which also functions as an explanation (in case it wasn’t clear) for the preceding scene. When hosted online (at Vimeo), the spot then offers viewers a digital coupon for FreshDirect. While the ad is not without its share of old school charm, it may suffer from viewers sympathizing too heavily with the shopping cart, who goes through an awful lot just to face rejection. (more…)

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john st. has crafted a new campaign in support of “below-the-waist cancer research” for Stanfield’s.

For the campaign, the agency brought back testicular cancer survivor, Mark McIntyre, who appeared in previous campaigns “The Guy at Home in his Underwear” and “The Gitchhiker” to promote the fundraising experiential event “#StreakWeek,” which runs from October 18-26. Mark introduces the idea, and appears to be promoting actual streaking until the end of the video, where he recommends wearing Stanfield’s underwear, “just to be safe” (and not get arrested). Viewers (both male and female) can support Mark on one of his streaks or participate in a streak of their own, or just use the #StreakWeek hashtag on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Each time it is used, Stanfield’s will donate a dollar to the Canadian Cancer Society (up to $25,000).

“We wanted to make sure people could get involved however they want.” said Angus Tucker, ECD at john st. “Whether it’s sharing Mark’s journey, donating to a streaker, raising money by going streaking yourself, or just using the hashtag, it all helps and it all goes to a very very good cause.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.