Barton F. Graf 9000?s New ‘Clash of Clans’ Spots Are Already Viral

Barton F. Graf 9000 has two new spots for Supercell’s massively successful Clash of Clans game, and each of the 30-second videos have already racked up over six million views on YouTube since being uploaded yesterday.

While last year’s spot from the agency took a broader approach, this year Barton F. Graf 9000 chose to spotlight a single character, the wizard. In “Preparation” we get a view into what the wizard does to psyche himself up for a day of fireball throwing, as well as a look at his explosive hair. In “Magic” he takes a break in the midst of fighting to pull a rabbit from his hat, but things are soon back to normal.

The new spots will break on television this weekend, according to Adweek, which should rack the view count up even higher. At this rate, it won’t be long until the ads eclipse last year’s 60-second spot’s 22 million views. The broadcast and digital spots will be further supported by an out of home component. (more…)

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GSD&M Named Hampton Inn’s Creative Agency

Hampton Inn has named Austin-based agency GSD&M as its new creative agency, following a review, AdAge reports.

The three finalists in the review were revealed to be GSD&M, Chicago-based Cramer-Krasselt and Los Angeles-based David & Goliath. Incumbent agency Y&R Chicago participated in the initial stages of the review, which included six agencies but was not selected as a finalist, Hilton Garden Inn & Hampton Hotels Vice President, Global Brand Marketing Judy Christa-Cathey told AdAge. Y&R Chicago remains on the Hilton roster, however, via its recently-won DoubleTree duties.

Christa-Cathey explained that the brand chose GSD&M because it “wanted an agency that had a clear understanding of the Hampton Inn brand and what makes it special,” also citing the agency’s “strong consumer insights and strategy, fresh creative and problem-solving skills.”

A new campaign is expected in early 2015, which will be aimed at millenials and “celebrating Hampton’s culture and hospitality.” Hampton Inn spent approximately $23 million on national measured media last year, according to Kantar Media.

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Deutsch NY, Ad Council Team Up for FEMA PSA

Deutsch, New Yorkteamed up with The Ad Council to create a PSA campaign for FEMA, in time for National Preparedness Month, reminding families to have a plan in the event of a disaster.

Since, according to FEMA, 50 percent of families have not discussed an emergency plan in the event of a disaster, the organization wanted to stress what a difference having a plan can make when such an event occurs. So the broadcast and digital PSA at the center of the campaign (released in both 30-second and 60-second formats) attempts to illustrate this through a harsh depiction of two families dealing with a disaster. One of the families, who presumably designated the shelter as a meeting place, huddle together, visibly shaken up but glad to have each other. They overhear another couple, who stress out over their missing child, powerless to do anything to locate him. It’s tough to watch, but that’s intentional, as it drives home the point that you don’t want to be the second family should anything go wrong. The spot ends by directing viewers to Ready.gov and www.Listo.gov where they can find resources for developing their own emergency plan. The campaign also includes radio and print components. (more…)

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BBDO NY Has Some ‘Ideas’ for GE

BBDO New York’s latest offering for GE continues to celebrate innovation, but marks a stylistic departure from the agency’s recent work for the brand.

While “What Would Happen” and “Childlike Imagination” looked at innovation from a sense of childlike wonder, “Ideas” takes a sharp sidestep, personifying those ideas and focusing on how they often emerge as rough around the edges but grow into something beautiful. In the 60-second online spot, ideas are presented as an odd-looking creature that looks like something that could have crawled out of the reject pile at Jim Henson’s workshop.

Starting from birth, we follow an idea as it has a pretty rough time of things. Continually facing rejection, it resorts to sleeping on the streets until it is finally taken in by GE. “Ideas are scary, and messy, and fragile,” says a voiceover, “But under the proper care, they become something beautiful,” and then we see the fully-transformed idea, followed by the “Imagination at work” tagline.

Following the success of BBDO’s recent work for the brand, the shift in approach comes as a little off-putting, and the idea seems a bit dragged out at 60 seconds. But then maybe the spot being a little rough around the edges actually fits the concept. (more…)

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Leo Burnett Celebrates 40 Years in the UK for McDonald’s

Today Leo Burnett’s London office launched a new campaign celebrating the 40th anniversary of McDonald’s arrival in the UK.

The campaign aims to portray the important moments in people’s lives…that just happened to occur at McDonald’s. In “Just Moved In,” (featured above) the most realistic of these scenarios, a family moves in to a new house. After a hard day of moving, they realize there’s nothing in the fridge to make for dinner and head to McDonald’s for a quick meal (which is just fine with the kids).

Other spots in the campaign feature an awkward first date, a rescue meal for a rainy camping trip, and a teen celebrating passing his driver’s test. Leo Burnett doesn’t overreach with the scenarios, instead choosing small moments that compliment larger ones — although the idea of taking a date to McDonald’s does seem a bit of stretch, no matter how young you are.

The broadcast spots are supported by an outdoor campaign “comprised of eight executions which also reminds people that McDonald’s has been there in the background of a myriad of moments all through their lives.” (more…)

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Toth+Co Enlists Drew Brees for Wrangler

With football season around the corner, Toth+CO enlists Drew Brees in their latest spot for Wrangler’s new Advanced Comfort Jeans. And the results are…exactly what you’d expect from a Drew Brees Wrangler ad.

Brees sits on a cooler on the back of a truck, plays some football with his buddies and his son, and takes his lady out to dinner. Pretty generic stuff. Interspersed with this footage are graphics of Wrangler’s “4-way flex technology” which offers “20% stronger” reinforced fibers. And the spot ends, of course, with Brees delivering the longtime tagline of “Real. Comfortable. Jeans.” There’s nothing fresh here, but fans of Brees, and football fans who can’t wait for the new season, should still find it a welcome sight. (more…)

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DDB’s Rodgers Townsend Agency Livens Up the Office for The Hartford

DDB’s Rodgers Townsend agency, St. Louis, pumps some life into the office (via jams) for The Hartford, in the latest iteration of its “Play On” campaign.

The agency collaborated with The Hartford, which provides insurance to small companies, for the interactive YouTube video. Viewers choose a genre of music, and then the office breaks into a spontaneous dance party, before promptly returning back to work. It’s well worth a view for a quick chuckle. We recommend “Retro Tech” and “Renaissance,” although you can’t really go wrong.

“We wanted to connect people to the message, when the unforeseen happens, The Hartford helps businesses prevail,” Steve Jones, assistant VP-marketing, small commercial at The Hartford, explained to AdAge. “This time, we wanted to do something fun and engaging that’s right for social channels and online.”

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Doner’s Latest Effort for Fiat Turns from Cute to Threatening

Doner’s latest spot promoting the Fiat starts out cute and sweet before taking a menacing turn.

The 54-second animated effort, entitled “Helpful Critters,” opens on a group of woodland critters talking up the Fiat 500?s gas mileage in a casual, conversational tone. “Do you get such crappy gas mileage, they know your name at the gas station? a bunny rabbit asks in a squeaky voice. “Why you hatin’ on the earth? With the Fiat 500, just think of the money you’d save,” adds a squirrel.

Things take a sinister turn around the midway point with the rabbit saying, “We think you should get a Fiat, if you know what’s good for you,” as her face suddenly changes from a smile to an evil glare. The critters then suggest that they know several members of the bear community and you could go missing (presumably murdered) if you don’t buy a Fiat.

It’s both reminiscent of Italian mafia stereotypes and the classic South Park episode “Woodland Critter Christmas” for its cuteness-turned-evil tone. Needless to say, threatening to murder potential customers is an odd approach for a car commercial.

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Intel Begins Creative Review

Intel has just launched a creative review, which is being held internally, AdAge reports.

Sources close to the matter told the publication that Intel, “reached out to a small number of agencies.” While incumbent agency Venables Bell & Partners is believed to be participating in the review, the agency declined to comment. VB+P was named Intel’s lead global agency back in 2009, although Intel has worked with a number of agencies since then. Last summer, VB+P was once again named Intel’s lead agency, and launched the “Look Inside” campaign for the brand earlier this year.

The review follows the appointment of a new chief marketing officer, Steven Fund, in May. While it’s unclear whether Intel’s other agency relationships will be changed, one executive suggested to AdAge that other reviews could be forthcoming. Intel spent $85 million on measured media last year, according to Kantar Media, and has already spent $44 million in the first half of 2014.

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McCann Compares Internet to Escalators for Verizon

McCann, New York has a new campaign for Verizon FiOS, touting the brand’s “Speed Match” — matching download and upload speeds.

To do so, McCann set up an experiment slowing down an up escalator. When riders finally reached the top, a spokeswoman asks, “Shouldn’t up be as fast as down?” and then continues to make the point that the same should true of Internet connection speeds. It’s a pretty obvious visualization of the feature, and may help those who have trouble understanding tech issues appreciate FiOS’ “Speed Match” (even if they still don’t quite understand what they’re talking about). (more…)

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KBS+ Takes Bissell to the Subway in Gross Spot

KBS+, Toronto have a new campaign for Bissell that gets a little gross. In the spot, promoting the Bissell Symphony, which vacuums and cleans hardwood simulateneously, Bissell Canada Senior Brand Manager Ravi Dalchand sets out to prove that he’s behind the product one hundred percent.

So he uses the Symphony to clean a subway floor and then takes things a giant step forward in the gross department and eats some saucy pasta right off the spot he cleaned, seemingly to the disgust of fellow subway passengers.

“Instead of just showing how it works at home, we felt the stronger message was to show how well it could clean, even in an extremely tough, dirty, messy situation,” Bissell Vice President General Manager Craig Emmerson told The Huffington Post.

As that publication points out, however, this was not a normal Toronto subway stop. The stop used was the Bay Lower Station, which TTC CEO Andy Byford said had been “closed off to the public six months after opening in 1966 due to passenger confusion and consistent delays.” It’s now mainly used as a set for movies and television. So while eating off of subway tile is still pretty gross, it’s not as disgusting as it originally appears. And those onlookers are almost definitely actors. But KBS+, Toronto and Bissell assume (probably correctly) that most people won’t reach that conclusion, and, staged or not, the gimmick is pretty memorable. (more…)

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Translation Goes Back to School for Champs Sports

Translation has a new back-to-school campaign for Champ Sports, entitled “Game Loves An Audience.”

That phrase appears on screen, leading in to the brand’s “We Know Game” tagline following short vignettes in several 30-second spots. For the most part, Translation keeps things pretty simple. “Practice,” for example, is a montage of players training for the upcoming season at football practice, ending with the coach riling the team up with a chant. “Joy Ride” and “First Period” (which we’ve included after the jump) are similarly straightforward (and self-explanatory) eschewing any dialogue for a focus on Champs Sports’ products. You have to wonder if maybe they could have benefited from a little more substance, though. (more…)

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BBDO Wants to Get You in the Kitchen for Uncle Ben’s

Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO has a new UK campaign for Uncle Ben’s, called “Ben’s Beginners,” based on the insight that one in four parents never cook with their children.

In a two minute spot — entitled “Where’s The Kitchen” — a supposed real estate agent shows families a house without a kitchen. Invariably, the families notice and complain, to which he replies that people aren’t really cooking anymore and kitchen-less houses are the wave of the future. It’s a bit of an odd way to illustrate how people are cooking less, but lets the brand avoid seeming overly preachy. Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO probably could have made the point in less time however, as the two-minute format really stretches the premise thin.

Another part of the campaign will see Uncle Ben’s launching a YouTube cooking channel. Designed to encourage parents to cook with their children, the show is hosted by DJ BBQ shows kids how to cook simple meals using Uncle Ben’s products. It’s a nice extension of the campaign, and could foster some real brand loyalty in kids who learn to cook with the program. Additional videos will feature actress and celebrity chef Lisa Faulkner teaching basic cooking skills. (more…)

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One Trick Pony Unites Branson, Goldsmith for Virgin Hotels

One Trick Pony got together Virgin billionaire Richard Branson and Jonathan Goldsmith — the actor perhaps most well-known for playing “The Most Interesting Man in the World” in the ongoing Dos Equis campaign — to promote the launch of Virgin Hotels, starting with a single location in Chicago.

In the spot, Branson recites some supposed rumors about the hotel — “The beds are so springy, they had to lift the ceilings 16 inches,” for example — while Goldsmith acts them out. Goldsmith’s involvement leaves no doubt from where One Trick Pony took its inspiration, and Branson’s acting can be a bit stiff, but the 55-second spot is not without its charm. Where the campaign really shines, though, is its social component, which invites consumers to tweet their own rumors about the hotel from the Virgin Hotels site. Users who submit some of the best tweets will be entered for a chance to win a two-night stay at the first Virgin Hotels location, where it’s rumored that Richard Branson tucks everyone in at night. (more…)

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W+K Portland, Craig Robinson Return for Dodge Dart

W+K Portland launched the “Don’t Touch My Dart” campaign earlier this month, pairing comedians Craig Robinson and Jake Johnson. Well, it’s a few weeks later and the duo are back for several follow-up spots the agency has released for the campaign, along with a new interactive digital experience.

In the 30-second “Craig,” Johnson tries to get Robinon’s attention by repeatedly saying his name while he cleans and admires his Dart. Robinson spends the whole time ignoring him, leading into the “Don’t Touch My Dart” tagline (along with accompanying music, composed and performed by Robinson) and a prompt for viewers to “See what happens when you touch my dart.” Clicking on the link leads to an interactive digital initiative where you can move your cursor to “touch” Craig’s dart and see what happens. Try it for yourself here, and stick around after the jump for a couple for “Voice Touching” and “Birdhouse.” (more…)

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Honda Gets Kind of Gross with ‘Efficiency’

Honda chooses a less than savory way to display the Honda Fit’s gas mileage with the new 60-second spot “Efficiency.”

The spot, created in collaboration with production company A2F Pictures and, apparently, without Honda’s usual agency, RPA, shows a guy returning form what appears to have been a long road trip. He gets out of his Fit, yawns and stretches. Then he reaches into the back seat and takes out a giant jar of what we can only assume is piss, followed by the message, “The Honda Fit can travel over 400 miles without stopping.” Why advertise your actual gas mileage numbers, when you can just show a jar of human urine to illustrate miles traveled? We’re going to assume this guy has some kind of extreme, deep-seated aversion to rest areas, or he was traveling through Pennsylvania. (more…)

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FCB Chicago Helps Grandma ‘Shop Like A Boss’ for Kmart

FCB Chicago keeps things weird for Kmart in their latest spot for the brand, “Shop Like A Boss,” although it’s nowhere near as strange as the brand’s Christmas campaign.

The spot opens on a grandma-type, billed as “Shop Your Way Member Julia Ruiz,” sitting at her computer. After clicking a button, she throws on her hoodie, shades and bling as the soundtrack shifts from serene birds chirping to a hip-hop beat. Soon she’s joined by the two other members of her entourage, and the rest of the spot (the full-length version runs around 95 seconds) is basically a music video. Ruiz and her crew roll up to Kmart, dance around, and pick up her order.

It’s a pretty simple idea, but it’s not without its moments. In the full-length version some of the humor lies just in how the idea is drawn out to such great length, and also how well this Ruiz character plays the part. The spot is meant to promote Kmart’s “shop online, pay in-store” feature, which is touted by a voiceover at the spot’s conclusion. While some viewers may not draw the connection from “Shop Like A Boss” to the service, the spot is at least (quite) memorable and ties the idea to the brand. We’ll add credits if/when we receive them.

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Ricky Gervais Jumps into Netflix Originals for Emmy Spot

Netflix rolled out a new broadcast spot featuring Ricky Gervais to promote its original series during the Emmy’s last night (for which Netflix original series were nominated for 31 awards). It’s unclear at the moment which agency is responsible for the 60-second “Superfan,” but we can confirm that it was not Deutsch, who have worked with Netflix in the past.

In the spot, Gervais asks “You know when you’re watching your favorite Netflix show and after five straight episodes, you want to be in it?” He then imagines himself in starring roles of Netflix original series including House of CardsOrange is the New Black, and Lilyhammer. Gervais interacts with other actors from the shows, on real sets, adding to the feeling that he’s actually leaped into each show’s respective universe. It’s a fun premise, and with Gervais, himself a star of Netflix original Derek, it should be a recipe for success. But somehow the spot never finds its comic footing and falls kind of flat. Stick around for outtakes after the jump, including, of course, Gervais laughing uncontrollably. (more…)

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Ogilvy & Mather NY Hypes ‘The Chase’ for NASCAR, ESPN

Ogilvy & Mather New York hypes NASCAR Sprint Cup’s “The Chase” elimination series with a new campaign for NASCAR and ESPN entitled “Battle of Nations.”

The campaign spot, entitled “The Hype,” which will run in 15, 30 and 60-second formats, documents fan and commentator excitement for the new “Chase” format to the Sprint Cup, which pits 16 drivers against each other in a tough elimination playoff format. “The Hype” imagines the drivers — and their respective fans and support teams — as nations preparing to face off in rounds of challenges to determine an ultimate champion. Ogilvy’s campaign will also include radio, print, social, and digital elements — including “Spreading The Word,” an educational video which we’ve included after the jump.

“The campaign celebrates this bold and transformational moment in NASCAR’s history, taking fans along for the ride and accentuating the drama and intensity of the new elimination format as each round unfolds,” said Scott Parker, vice president of marketing at ESPN.

(more…)

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Van Damme Sculpts Ice Bar for VCCP, Coors Light

Jean-Claude Van Damme is back for Coors Light, sculpting an ice bar in the Rocky Mountains with his bare hands in a new UK spot from VCCP.

Following in the footsteps of last year’s “Epic Split” for Volvo, Van Damme is now synonymous with advertising gold, and the VCCP spot capitalizes on his image in a way reminiscent of that ad. The 60-second “Ice Bar” has just about everything you’d expect given Van Damme’s involvement: Van Damme’s signature mullet/ponytail, cheesy 80s synths, ice block breaking (with bare hands, of course) and a tongue-in-cheek sense of intentionally over-the-top humor. It all makes for a pretty fun spot, which makes you wonder why this isn’t running stateside as well. (more…)

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