Hasta La Creative!

Yesterday we brought you news of Adidas’ World Cup spot from TBWA featuring Lionel Messi, a host of other international stars, and a Kanye West track. Now here’s a look at the latest in W+K New York’s World Cup campaign for ESPN.

The charming 60-second spot, entitled “Time Zone,” examines how the World Cup creates “one time zone,” as the whole world rearranges their schedule to watch the World Cup premiere. “Time Zone” opens and ends in Brazil, stopping over in destinations around the world as everyone prepares for the match. Some have an easier time adjusting to “Brazil time” than others. A businessman in Seattle is seen rushing out of the office while updating his voicemail to reflect that he will be “out of the office for the rest of the afternoon” — an accurate portrayal of kickoff times in the states — while an old woman falls asleep watching the game in Russia and in Japan a group congregates before the sun rises. The spot ends with the tagline, “Every 4 years the world has one time zone,” which is reminiscent of the earlier “Every 4 years the conversation starts again.” This newer spot reflects the heightened anticipation for the World Cup kickoff, which is just over two weeks away. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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Yet another German BBDO office is at it this week as the agency’s Berlin branch has unveiled the above case study clip to show off  the smart DJ, which is being billed as “the world’s first turntable test drive” for the smart electric car.  Sure, it’s not built for the open road for obvious reasons, but the somewhat nifty game experience (which made its debut on German game show, Schlag den Raab–or, you know, Beat the Raab) essentially tests a driver’s DJ skills. How? Well, by having participants reach a certain speed in their smart cars in order to find out what’s providing their driving soundtrack. If we had to go through all this to hear “Macarena,” though, we’d rather just gun it to get a more sped-up version for shits and giggles. Anyways, while we await a better playlist, we’re wondering how one can procure one of those sweet turntable tracks. Credits after the jump.

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Maybe this isn’t the ideal spot for those with vertigo and the like, but it nonetheless offers an array of snapshots of what essentially makes New York City New York City through the lenses of Lumias. The various rotating images come quickly in what Nokia is dubbing the “Multi Lumia Arc of Wonder,” which controls 50 Lumia 1020 smartphones simultaneously, creating a “bullet effect” photoshoot. Your move, photogs. The “Arc of Wonder” is the handiwork of the Lumia creative lab team at Microsoft along with filmmaker Paul Trillo, who explains, “We used a Microsoft Surface tablet to control the shoot and a special app which was designed for the Windows 8 mobile platform. We captured a total of 30,000 images across Manhattan, including Union Square, Allen St. and Central Park West.” You can check out a behind-the-scenes clip from this nifty effort after the jump.

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Stun Creative put together the 5th annual “Summer by Bravo” multi-platform promotional campaign for that network. The campaign, which imagines the Bravo universe as a circus complete with 35 Bravolebrities and James Lipton as a human cannonball, debuted last night with its first, 60-second spot, with five additional spots planned to roll out over the course of the summer.

Fans can check out the first spot at Bravo’s website, where they will be forced to sit through an ad while waiting to watch another ad. The promo spot is pretty much what you’d expect from the “Summer by Bravo” series, with the network’s trademark campiness in full force. Still, it’s hard to imagine even the most diehard Bravo fan going to the site to seek out the promo, when they could just, you know, watch it during commercial breaks on Bravo.

The spot was auto-play, so you’ll have to click through to watch it.

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To drive traffic to the website of MásporMás, Mexico’s largest free newspaper, FCB México created “Paper Towel Dispenser News.”

They placed special paper towel dispenser machines in several corporate bathrooms, malls and cinemas, that printed a paper towel with news straight from the site’s newseed in special ink. To lead interested parties to the site, the printouts also included a QR code. The unusual approach proved a success, with unique visitors to the site increasing by 37% in the first two weeks. Check out the case study video above to learn more, and stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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Yesterday was Victoria Day in Canada, a May bank holiday up north, and Toronto-based agency Entrinsic has released a timely spot for Victoria gin, celebrating its namesake Queen Victoria.

The 30-second broadcast spot, “That’s The Spirit” was created by Entrinsic in collaboration with production company Revolver Films and director Christopher Wahl. It relates a series of unexpected but true facts about Queen Victoria: She ruled the British Empire at 18 while still living with her mom; she married her first cousin and had nine children; she was almost assassinated seven times. “If you were Queen Victoria,” the spot concludes, “you’d be ready for a drink, too.” The visual approach is straightforward, showing Queen Victoria gradually walking toward the camera and then sitting at a bar enjoying some gin. Entrinisic and Wahl also teamed up for the accompanying print campaign, which will roll out later in the year. Credits after the jump. continued…

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It’s almost becoming standard practice to trash the crap out of a brand for making even the slightest change to its brand. In some cases the changes are big and in some cases they are small but it seems as though every change is followed by an onslaught of social media outcry from people with nothing better to do than craft a witty Tweet that is then featured in the news which then causes the whole thing to spiral out of control.

Sometimes the reaction is warranted. Most times, it’s just bitching. A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, there used to be a time in which brands could do whatever the hell they wanted to when it came to their brand and there’d be little to no outcry, at least publicly.

Today, a brand’s CEO can’t take a shit in private without someone tweeting about it. The Gap was publicly chastised into changing back to its old logo when it attempted to create a new one in 2010. Olive Garden changed its logo earlier this year and no one liked that move either. And now, McDonald’s is out with a new character named Happy and no one is happy about it.

While Happy has been around since 2009 overseas, he’s making his debut in America this week. And he’s brought with him the usual collection of “epic fail” headlines and angry tweets.

While the new character is supposed to be about “bringing more fun and excitement to kids’ meals, including eating wholesome food choices like low-fat yogurt,” according to a statement, many are saying Happy’s teeth are too big or he scares children or “this makes me crave Burger King.”

We’re not going to join the parade of embedded tweets simply to give those tweeters an ego boost but we are going to say this; It’s a fucking brand mascot. Who gives a shit? Is it really worth getting your panties and jockstraps in a bunch? Do you really care what the hell McDonald’s does to lie through its teeth telling you its food is healthy?

Go take a walk. Leave your computer and phone behind. Enjoy nature. Kiss your girlfriend/boyfriend/mother/father/mistress and tell them you love them. And don’t hold it against us when we get on our high horse in the near future and rail against something as equally inane as McDonald’s introducing a brand mascot.

Team One and Lexus have launched a new series on Lexus’ broadband channel L/Studio, entitled “It Got Better.”

“It Got Better” is a six-episode docuseries telling “the inspiring personal stories of a diverse group of LGBT actors, athletes and musicians including Jason Collins, Jane Lynch, Tim Gunn, Tegan & Sara, George Takei and Laverne Cox.” A collaboration between Team One, executive producers Lisa Kudrow and Dan Bucatinsky, and the It Gets Better Project (executive producers Dan Savage and Brian Pines), the docuseries just launched with its first episode, featuring Jane Lynch, star of Glee and, more importantly, Party Down. Lynch tells her story of growing up identifying more with boys, discovering her sexuality and treating it as something she was afraid her peers would discover, to finally embracing and accepting it and finding a supporting community. It makes for compelling viewing, well worth the time if you have six minutes or so to spare (yes, this runs a bit long), and a promising start to the “It Got Better” series, which has the potential to do a lot of good for struggling teens. We look forward to upcoming installments (especially from George Takei).

Credits and video after the jump. continued…

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Following on the heels of last year’s “Don’t Hurry” campaign, Walton Isaacson has created a series of follow-up ads for Cruzan Rum. Keeping that campaign’s tagline and focus on slowing down to live in the moment, this year’s iteration takes things off the metaphorical “Don’t Hurry” island to everyday life.

In the new series of ads, people are shown in common situations where hurrying really isn’t getting them anywhere, including speed dating (above) and speed chess. The digital campaign includes these two 30-second spots, as well as three 15-second pre-roll videos, and will be supported by social media, public relations and retail extensions.

“If you hurry through life, you could miss something big, and that’s what we really want people to take away from the campaign,” explained Brendan Lynch, senior director of rum & cordials at Beam Suntory. “We’re often so focused on what’s in front of us that we miss what’s going on around us. It’s important to slow down, take the time to enjoy the best things in life, like Cruzan Rum, one sip at a time – and our fans agree.”

Stick around for “Speed Chess,” a recipe for “Cruzan Life’s A Peach” and credits following the jump. Don’t forget to lightly slap your mint sprig. continued…

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When AdFreak’s Roo Ciambriello, who is our favorite new ad writer, said the new Cornetto Cupidity ad entitled 40 Love “is totally worth the watch” and is “a bit like a softer and sweeter Judd Apatow movie” and that there might be “Pabst Blue Ribbon in there somewhere,” we were hooked.

We grabbed a cup of coffee and tuned in for the ride. And a beautiful ride it was. We’ve discussed the Cornetto Cupidity series before, most recently here and in out Marketingland Creative of the Day column here, and this one did a fine job extending the notion love is, well, like eating a soothing bowl of ice cream.

Or something like that. After all, Cornetto isn’t doing this just for fun. They would, of course, like to sell some ice cream along the way otherwise they should just close up shop, move to Hollywood and start making movies.

This 8 minute video features English singer/songwriter/actress Lily Allen who falls (literally) for for a beautiful professional tennis payer who, at first, isn’t so keen on Allen. But after drinking in some of Allen’s coyly sweet playfulness, she’s hooked. And so are we.

It’s an endearing love story that has as much fun exploring young love as it does toying in internet memes. Watch. You’ll see what we mean. Whether or not any of this is selling ice remains to be seen. But the series, out for a year or two, certainly has captured the attention of the press and viewers.

By the way, Roo, we were drinking PBR in college long before the hipsters discovered it. Yet it was just as hip back then and tasted just as shitty as it does today. Nothing really ever changes.