Hasta La Creative!

Here’s yet another item from W+K today, as the agency has debuted its latest campaign for Old Spice, introducing a creepy new android character.

The new character makes his debut in the 30-second “Soccer” (featured above). When the robotic man goes to kick a soccer ball at the beach, he falls directly onto a sunbathing woman, crushing her ribs. Initially irked by the painful injury, she then notices that he smells amazing. When the android says that he can’t get up, she replies, suggestively “Maybe I don’t want you to.” Coming on the heels of the funny Terry Crews-filled World Cup spot, it’s pretty disappointing. It also marks something of a creepiness trend in W+K’s Old Spice work, with the campaign featuring anthropomorphic hair getting the creepy ball rolling earlier this year. Its “our products will make women want you” message is also vaguely reminiscent of Axe’s strategy of marketing to pubescent boys — the only demographic desperate/gullible enough to swallow such a claim. Either approach is irksome enough on its own, but combined they’re truly troubling. W+K’s latest campaign for Old Spice also features the 30-second online spot “Nightclub,” which takes a similar (but possibly even more ridiculous) approach. We’ve featured it after the jump for any interested parties. (more…)

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Sean Astin reprises his role as Rudy in a new spot W+K New York created to hype the new college football playoff format for ESPN.

In the spot, Astin apes his inspirational speech from Rudy, this time riling up the locker room with the promise of a playoff format for college football. When he reveals that the format won’t take effect until 2014 however, the reception falls somewhat flat. Filmed at St. Joseph High School in Brooklyn, New York, the spot takes place in 1975, the year Rudy Ruettiger played for Notre Dame. While the famously cheesy movie certainly deserved a satirical send up, W+K’s spot fails to really hit the mark and feels a bit drawn out at 90 seconds. Stick around for credits after the jump. (more…)

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Photographer Gregg Segal is fascinated by the trash we make. 

In his artist statement about this ongoing series, he explains “‘Seven Days of Garbage’ is a series of portraits of friends, neighbors, and other acquaintances with the garbage they accumulate in the course of a week. Subjects are photographed surrounded by their trash in a setting that is part nest, part archeological record. We’ve made our bed and in it we lie.”

“Of course, there were some people who edited their stuff. I said, ‘Is this really it?’ I think they didn’t want to include really foul stuff so it was just packaging stuff without the foul garbage. Other people didn’t edit and there were some nasty things that made for a stronger image,” Segal said in an interview with Slate. 

This series is a beautifully executed, albeit sordid case study on what we consume, and the products we polish off and discard—a veritable brand graveyard. There’s a truly poetic quality about these images; they really boil us down to the insatiably ravenous animals we are and the relationships we have with all of the crap we buy.

Via Slate.

Adweek described Deutsch LA’s “MicroRave” for Pop Secret perfectly as “like a sad, seizure-inducing nightclub for corn,” in a post that also questioned whether it was the worst ad of the year.

Deutsch LA points out, defensively, “This wasn’t intended as an ad, but as a quickie video for social media meant to celebrate the EDC festival happening the weekend we launched it,” which may disqualify it from that title. The premise of the spot (or “quickie video” or whatever you want to call it) is simple: popcorn attend a “MicroRave” complete with blasting electronic music, seizure-inducing lighting, beads of butter-sweat (which doesn’t exactly make Pop Secret seem appetizing) and a trail of kernels sadly waiting to get in. As if that wasn’t enough already, there’s also a 20-minute long “Extended Party Version,” which we’ve included for anyone masochistic enough to attempt to sit through it after the jump.  (more…)

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Incontinence.

There’s nothing fun about this problem, other than the millions of dollars it brings in. As the Baby Boomers of America get older and older — according to the U.S. Census, there are 76.4 million of them — the need for related products increases.

Unfortunately, biological things happen to the human body that forces companies to consider how to make money off those isses help resolve some of those pressing (and often embarrassing) ailments for aging denizens of the world.

That’s why Proctor & Gamble has decided it may be a profitable good idea to get back in the incontinence advertising game for the first time in more than 15 years.

We’re sensing a trend here.

(more…)

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W+K New York tapped young Washington Nationals star Bryce Harper for their latest “This is SportsCenter” spot for ESPN, choosing to go an unexpected route with the outfielder.

In the 30-second spot, Harper sits in an office watching Field of Dreams with SportsCenter host Hannah Storm. During the movie’s concluding scene, both Harper and Storm get emotional. When Harper leaves to call his dad, he passes hosts John Anderson and Bram Weinstein in the hallway, who remark on Harper’s intimidating eye black — although by now viewers know better. It follows in the successful “This is SportsCenter” formula of toying with a star athlete’s perceived persona, and while it doesn’t add anything new to the approach it feels like a welcome addition, especially with the All-Star Game right around the corner. Stick around for credits after the jump. (more…)

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DDB Toronto has a new campaign for Neutrogena discouraging men from washing their junk and their face with the same soap (and offering up Neutrogena Men Face Wash as the perfect solution).

As Adweek points out, the Canadian campaign “assumes that men start low and move up in the shower,” a somewhat dubious assumption. Still, the 60-second spot is not without its (heavily influenced by W+K’s Old Spice) charm. While “Junkface” explains the cause of Junkface, there is little description of the symptoms, although we can reasonably assume they include junk particles in the facial region.

The goofy humor continues on www.stopjunkface.com, which contends that 72% of Canadians have junkface, with Alberta having the most Junkface sufferers at 86%. Men with chinstraps are especially prone to Junkface, and all bounty hunters suffer from it. The site also offers the important reminder to keep knees, owls, and footballs away from your nether regions. No word yet on whether Neutrogena plans to offer a separate line of soap for your junk.

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Southwest Airlines has reason to celebrate following the repeal of the Wright Amendment, “an amendment to the International Air Transportation Act of 1979, restricting passenger flights out of Love Field to locations within Texas and to four neighboring states — Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.”

To help celebrate, GSD&M has launched a new campaign for the airline, while promoting their new non-stop flights. Set to a version of “All You Need Is Love” by the band Echosmith, GSD&M keeps things relatively simple, relying heavily on the song licensing in the series of spots. One spot includes a colorful water cannon salute, while another features a slow-motion moment in the newly renovated Love Field. Each 30-second ad informs viewers of the new non-stop flights resulting from the repeal of the Wright Amendment, while offering up a different take on celebration. Stick around after the jump for “Love Moment” and “Fireworks,” along with credits. (more…)

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Red Lobster has named Publicis Kaplan Thaler as its lead creative agency, reports AdAge.

The appointment follows a review, which Red Lobster started in April, after Darden decided to sell off the brand. Grey had been the brand’s creative agency after winning agency of record duties from The Richards Group back in 2010. According to AdAge, Grey did not participate in the review process, but retains creative duties for Darden brands Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse. They also report that Olson, Barkley, and Interpublic’s Martin Agency were the other finalists in the review process, which was overseen by Pile & Co.

Mark Gilley, senior vice president, marketing at Red Lobster told AdAge that “the chain chose Publicis Kaplan Thaler because of its creative pitches, its existing work and digital and social strategy, the last of which is [a] particularly important element for Red Lobster as it moves more marketing dollars into digital,” adding that he admired how the agency’s recent work for Wendy’s “‘broke conventions’ in the fast-food category.”

Publicis Kaplan Thaler’s first campaign for Red Lobster, which spent around $156 million on measured media in 2013, is expected in the first half of 2015.

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Wieden+Kennedy have a clever new spot for U.K.-based mobile provider Three, in which the company makes a timely apology.

The 60-second spot sees Three apologize for the rash of “holiday spam” resulting from the company allowing users to utilize their phone in 16 worldwide destinations without any extra cost for calls. texts or data. Three “thought this was a good thing,” but “failed to consider the consequences: the holiday spam,” says a contrite Three representative. It’s a clever approach, employing dry British humor to let Three brag about their coverage while leveraging a cultural phenomenon anyone can relate to. “Holiday Spam” also manages to be memorable without spending much money (it’s basically just one actor and a series of backgrounds). At the conclusion of the spot, viewers are prompted to visit the campaign landing site at stopholidayspam.com, which includes a heat map of spam levels in various locations. The campaign is also supported by the #holidayspam hashtag, a pretty seamless social integration.

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