Hasta La Creative!

Happy Monday! Since today is unofficially Apple Week, here’s yet another brand trying to co-opt a bit of that company’s publicity.

M: United has a new campaign for the HTC One in which the agency once again takes on Apple.

Following on the heels of its August campaign promoting the Surface Pro 3 comes a spot in which the agency takes aim at Apple’s Siri, or “Robot Scarlett Johansson.”

The spot opens with Siri looking into a mirror and repeating that classic line “I feel pretty, oh so pretty” before engaging in a conversation with HTC One’s Cortana. Obviously, the conversation is intended to make Siri look silly by comparison, both via Cortana’s less computerized-sounding voice and the HTC One’s fancy features (including not one but two speakers).

This spot works better than most in its surprisingly large family, but how many more Apple-bashing ads can viewers stomach? (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

AMV BBDO, London has a new spot for Guiness Africa entitled “Made of Black” that gets a little awkward.

Well intentioned as it may have been, the spot comes across as a bit tone deaf, homogenizing a continent of diverse cultural groups with the term “black,” because that’s also the color of Guinness. Opening with the question “What is black?,” lines like “Black is an attitude” and “Black got swag” come across as either pandering or condescending. (Several YouTube commenters even go as far as to call the spot racist.) Add to that the poor soundtrack selection of Kanye West (why would you not select an African artist in a spot that supposedly celebrates Africa?) and you’ve got quite the headscratcher. To be fair, the spot’s visuals are quite impressive, but somehow we don’t think that’s what people are going to be talking about. (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The Los Angeles Clippers have announced the hiring of Santa Monica-based RPA as its new lead agency, tasked with heading strategy, creative, media planning and buying, digital/social marketing and branded entertainment, following a review launched in August.

The review was launched in search of an agency with experience “rebuilding an established, well-known brand” in the wake of the Donald Sterling scandal. Boston-based Pile & Co led the review, with a focus on agencies based in the area. New work can be expected soon, as the Clippers “will start the 2014–2015 season with a new creative platform that will be promoted across media channels.”

“The Los Angeles Clippers are poised for greatness. RPA will help the franchise become a first-class sports and entertainment brand,” said Kirt Danner, SVP, group account director at RPA. “The soon-to-launch campaign will help the franchise stand out and seize this unique opportunity to gain a competitive edge and increase its fan base.”

The team spent $433,500 in measured media last year, according to Kantar media, but that number could increase with the demands of the new campaign.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

To promote the October 17th Channel 4 and Cancer Research fundraiser Stand Up To Cancer 4Creative reimagined the typical disaster film with a twist: instead of human’s facing extinction, it’s cancer cells.

A project over a year in the making, 4Creative and production company Nexus create a world of cancer cell blobs inhabiting a modern city, created utilizing 2D paintings and 3D models. The overpopulated urban environment is disrupted by a mysterious blue orb and soon inhabitants are spontaneously combusting left and right. At the end of the spot, it the environment is finally revealed as a microscopic world which a scientist is testing new anti-cancer drugs on.

As directors Smith & Foulkes explained to Creative Review, personifying cancer posed some distinct challenges. “We wanted to steer away from the obvious route of showing cells as a bunch of grotesque alien germs, but we were also acutely aware of not making them too human or cute,” the pair said. “We also had to find a way to illustrate the new therapies, drugs and scientific breakthroughs that are fighting cancer. We wanted their arrival to be initially magical and mysterious, so we used a glowing blue orb, an unexplained light descending upon a shadowy world.”

The result is a highly unusual approach to raising cancer awareness. While the spot risks viewers sympathizing with the cancer cells (before they are revealed as such) it does make for a visually striking effort that stokes the imagination and entertains while raising awareness for a good cause. (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

At the end of last month we brought news of Lincoln’s partnership with Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey for a new campaign promoting the Lincoln MKC, to be handled by a shop within WPP’s Team Detroit division.

Now, Team Detroit and Lincoln are rolling out the new campaign with a series of (purportedly unscripted) spots that take a somewhat unorthodox approach. In the 60-second introductory spot (featured above), McConaughey drives around pontificating on what it means to “go back” and how some people say you can’t do it but really you just have to look in the right places. What is he talking about exactly? How does it relate to the MKC? Your guess is as good as ours.

In the similarly strange “Bull,” the actor admires the majesty of a large bull blocking the road, before deciding to turn around and take the long route. The 30-second “I Just Liked It” is a little more straightforward, with McConaughey explaining that he drove a Lincoln long before he was paid to, not to look cool or make a statement, but because he “just liked it.” (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

R/GA reunites David Hasselhoff and talking car KITT from Knight Rider (voiced by William Daniels) in a new spot for Samsung Smart Home.

Hasselhooff talks up the features of the Smart Home, calling it “literally the smartest thing ever,” which causes a fit of jealousy in KITT. The remainder of the two-minute spot deals with the fracture in the relationship between KITT and The Hoff, as KITT attempts to enact revenge and sabotage the shoot. Hasselhoff also has some fun playing on his own character, at one point referencing Knight Rider while attempting to flirt with a boom mic operator — to which she responds, “I think my dad might have mentioned it.” It’s all about as goofy as you’d expect, given Hasselhoff’s involvement, and has some fun moments, although it could have benefited from being edited down a bit from its two minute run time.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Arnold Worldwide is launching a new multimedia campaign for Jack Daniel’s entitled “The Few and Far Between,” which celebrates, “the quirky stories told by the proprietors, bouncers, barflys and patrons who frequent…fine establishments and questionable joints.” Or, in other words, drinking stories. The brand avoids accusations of promoting excess with the disclaimer, “You can’t tell a story you don’t remember. Please drink responsibly.”

In addition to short videos, the website hosting the campaign also features “tales of whiskey, revelry and mischief” in the form of written stories, audio and mixed media. You can take a look at a teaser video above, and head to the campaign site for the full experience. The launch features thirty bar stories gathered from around the country, but the brand plans to release even more later this year as part of this massive digital campaign and has also partnered with Vice Media for a user-generated photo contest. (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Sources told Adweek that Sprint is seeking a new lead creative agency.

According to the publication’s sources, the review will be focused on above-the-line marketing, most of which is spent on television. Sprint spends approximately $800 million on measured media annually. According to Adweek, it’s still unclear if the review also includes digital work, which is currently handled by DigitasLBi.

Sprint has a somewhat unusual history of agency relationships. In 2011, the company unexpectedly shifted its advertising duties from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to a team consisting of various Publicis Groupe agencies, led by DigitasLBi, who worked in conjunction with Leo Burnett on broadcast advertising. However, last year Sprint assigned those duties to Figliulo & Partners, who created the recent “Framily” campaign. (With Sprint abandoning that plan, and now searching for a new agency, it seems the Frobinsons may have seen their moment pass.)

The move doesn’t exactly come as a surprise, given these comments made by Masayoshi Son, CEO of Sprint parent company Softbank:

“Sprint spends a large amount of money on advertising every year, but its effects have been almost negligible. I directed the Sprint executives to terminate all existing contracts with the company’s advertising agencies. We will shortly start from scratch on advertising, with new agents also making proposals.”

Dream client?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

RPA recently debuted a new campaign for recently-won client ARCO, following Tesoro’s purchase of ARCO from BP.

The campaign celebrates ARCO’s “top tier” designation, as its gasoline “exceeds EPA minimum detergent requirements to help clean engines and maintain optimal vehicle performance.” To highlight the benefits of treating your car right with ARCO gasoline, RPA chose to show some of the ways mistreat their vehicles in a series of four 30-second broadcast spots.

The light-hearted approach works best in “Treat” (featured above), when a woman decides “If top-tier gas at ARCO helps clean my engine, maybe I should clean the rest of my car.” She then imagines all the hard work inherent in undoing the neglect, including some pretty gross tasks, before tossing an empty coffee cup in the backseat and deciding “I’ll do that another time.”

Other spots in the campaign take a similar approach, with “Embarassing” focusing on some of the moments your car shouldn’t have to witness and “Mishap” taking on minor vehicular abuse. “Try It” changes things up, focusing instead on a couple’s misguided decision to go somewhere other than ARCO for gas. Each spot ends with the tagline, ““Your car puts up with a lot. Help protect it from harmful engine deposits. ARCO has quality TOP TIER® gas for less.” emphasizing ARCO’s quality and top tier designation. The campaign began last month with one broadcast spot and an outdoor component, and currently supports the four broadcast spots with online and radio elements, as well as a revamped website.

“We have a long history working on the ARCO brand, and appreciate the challenges of the competitive motor-fuel category,” said RPA EVP, Management Account Director Tom Kirk. “The agency’s goal is to further support ARCO’s brand positioning, and this new work focuses on ARCO’s holistic value proposition around product quality and affordability.” (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

CHI&Parnters is launching its latest animated campaign for TalkTalk, the fourth in a series of animated campaigns from the agency, entitled “The Mission.”

The 60-second spot tells the story of six household objects who come to life and embark on a journey in search of great TV. “The Mission” follows a doll, a garden gnome, a toy robot, a dog-lamp, and two slippers through a grand journey as they battle the elements, traversing the varying terrains of a neighborhood, before finally arriving through a doggy door to a house with TalkTalk TV. The well-animated spot pulls off the approach with style, making for a fun spot that feels like a mini-odyssey. It is the first of four new spots which will roll out between September and January.

“Our award-winning animations for TalkTalk have set a precedent over the years – and this year we’ve aimed to raise the bar again,” said CHI&Partners Creative Director Micky Tudor. “Everything about this little film is epic. Shot in cinemascope, voiced by Derek Jacobi and with a sweeping score from ‘Last of the Mohicans’, this spot is packed with the kind of extraordinary craft that is normally reserved for the world of feature films.” (more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.