Hasta La Creative!

Rooster NY has teamed up with Vans for a new series called “How to Do Everything in the World,” starring Gavin McIness, of baby-fighting fame.

The series marks the third straight season Rooster has teamed up with Vans for their “Off The Wall” programs, a common sense match considering the agency/production company’s skateboarding proclivities. “With all the life hacks and listicles available on the web, we wanted to make sure that the really, really, really important things people need to know didn’t slip through the cracks,” says Arzi Rachman. The new series promises to teach viewers how to “fight, drink fly, and more.” And if Gavin McIness’ involvement is any indication, we can probably expect it to be pretty funny. Check out the trailer for yourself above, and keep your eyes peeled for the new series starting on April 23rd at the Off The Wall site.

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There seems to be a consensus that referrals are the best form of leads. They close faster, buy more and stay longer. In fact, great sales people have been good at generating referrals for what seems like forever.

Until recently, large corporations have struggled to figure out how to scale the success of individual sales reps to systematically and proactively drive large volumes of referrals. But that is all changing as technology is now coming to market that can help large brands automate the best practices of sales reps and institutionalize the process of generating referrals from customers, employees and other people who influence the buying decision.
Good technology systems typically are designed to automate manual best practices. Let’s take a look at key functions that great sales people all tend to have in common:

1. They build referral channels. The majority of salespeople are excellent networkers. Whether meeting people via the local rotary club, the area chamber of commerce or at the local pub, great salespeople can be very good at telling everyone about what they do – their friends, family, customers, other employees and even strangers. Great salespeople also know that the more people who know what they do, the better the chance of that specific network spreading the word.

2. They ask their channel for referrals. Most great reps never leave a meeting, business or personal, without asking for a referral – and they are skilled at handling it with a gentle approach. One of the most staggering statistics that I have recently heard is that between 70 percent and 80 percent of all people are willing to refer leads if asked, yet less than 15 percent of individuals and companies ask for them. The great ones ask, and they ask often.

3. They motivate the channel. Compensation is a great motivator (just ask the majority of the 17 million commissioned sales reps in the U.S.) and many of the great ones build professional referrals networks where they compensate people and companies for leads referred to them that can eventually lead to business. There are both monetary and non-monetary ways to incent people to do things that actually work.

4. They nurture the channel. They always thank their network for referrals, they compensate their network in a timely fashion for referrals and they keep them in the loop.

The good technology solutions should help replicate and facilitate those processes to “institutionalize” and scale the process of driving referrals. These solutions must:

– Make it easy to enroll customers, employees and influencers into the referral program. The idea is to build a referral community.
– Provide them with the tools to make it easy to refer.
– Track and manage all the workflows so you can measure results.
– Automate the process of thanking and nurturing these channels for their contributions so they continue to perform.

While the marketplace is changing at a pace that is liable to cause even the top salespeople to question their sales strategy, there is one thing that will not change. Networking will always be #1 for driving quality leads that must be nurtured, thanked and motivated.

The only real difference today, is that these steps can be completed at a faster, more efficient pace, generating exponentially more leads and closed deals – and enabling the best salespeople to be even better.

This article was written by Dick Beedon, CEO of Amplifinity.

BETC Paris has just released a teaser trailer for their follow up to the viral success and award-winning spot “Baby and Me” they produced for evian last year.

Entitled “The Amazing Baby and Me 2,” the new spot will feature none other than Spider-Man, along with, we’re told (it’s not clear from the trailer), “a special guest star” (you guessed it…Frank Stallone). The trailer teases the new spot by showing Spider-Man swinging his way through New York when he’s suddenly struck by seeing Baby Spider-Man reflected in a window. So we can expect much the same concept as “Baby and Me,” it would seem, but with a Spider-Man tie in. That certainly could be fun, the best word to describe last year’s “Baby and Me,” which has racked up over 73 millions views on YouTube. Stay tuned for the release of “The Amazing Baby and Me 2″ on Wednesday, April 2nd, and stick around for a refresher of last year’s “Baby and Me” spot after the jump. continued…

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Taco Bell and DigitasLBi San Francisco (their digital AOR) are launching their new breakfast menu (the proper response: “Gross”) with a different kind of social campaign.

DigitasLBi and Taco Bell are sending out 1,000 burner phones across the country as part of a teaser campaign for Taco Bell’s largest menu expansion in their 50 year history this Thursday with the introduction of the new breakfast menu, offering people the opportunity to make a terrible decision on their way to work. The phones serve as “a direct line to Taco Bell Breakfast and a chance to win epic swag by challenging fans to create social content.” Preloaded text messages on the phones offer usersinstructions on how to activate the phones and accept the terms and conditions.

Then, throughout the week, “phones will be called and texted at various times throughout the day, prompting participants to complete missions” using the hashtag #wakeuplivemas, for a chance to win prizes (like a waffle taco hoodie). Tumblr will act as the hub for all the created content, while winners will be notified via their phone and Twitter. Mobile marketing firm Hipcricket was responsible for powering the voice and text messages on the phone. The idea is to create a “retro guerilla social network that generates excitement to create compelling social chatter and content.” We’ll give DigitasLBi and Taco Bell this: the breakfast menu launch is certainly unusual. You can follow along with this campaign on Tumblr, Instagram and Twitter, and if you feel like being sick by lunch, head to Taco Bell for breakfast this Thursday.

Oh god, is he pouring maple syrup on….eeew

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72andSunny have launched a new campaign for Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s’ X-Tra Bacon promotional tie-in for 20th Century Fox’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, which premieres May 23rd.

The X-Men themed campaign from 72andSunny features appearances from iconic characters using their mutant powers to take down the extra bacon on the  Western X-Tra Bacon Cheeseburger and X-Tra Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit. 72andSunny’s campaign kicks off with “Mystique” in which Mystique takes on the Western X-Tra Bacon Cheeseburger, morphing into just some dude who loves Carl’s Jr. and back over the course of the spot. Additional spots starring two more characters yet to be revealed will be unveiled this April.

In addition to the broadcast campaign, Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s are inviting fans to engage in “X-Men Digital Makeover.” By submitting a photo of themselves eating or drinking at a Carl’s Jr. or Hardee’s, on Instagram using the hashtag #EatLikeYouMeanIt (#That’sWhatSheSaid, replies @MichaelScott) fans get a chance of receiving a mutant makeover transforming them into an X-Men character. Stick around for campaign credits and the actual trailer for X-Men: Days of Future Past after the jump. continued…

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Figliulo&Partners, who partnered with Sprint in November, have just launched the new integrated campaign called the “Frobinsons,” promoting the Sprint Family plan, a new pricing plan allowing consumers to decide who they consider family.

“The American family has changed. Our families today are more than our relatives, but also our friends, our neighbors – basically all the people we love,”explains Jeff Hallock, Sprint’s chief marketing officer.

The “Frobinsons” campaign, which was created in partnership with DigitasLBi and MediaVest, will unfold as an episodic story over the coming months and, we’re told we can expect “surprising cameos from stars of sports, music, screen and stage” in the future. For now, the campaign has launched with two, 30-second spots introducing the framily Frobinsons. The first, “Meet the Frobinsons” introduces all the different friends and family making up the group, as well as the word “framily” itself, and should give us an idea what to expect from Figliulo&Partners in the future. The Frobinsons, we learn in the spot, are a strange bunch. There’s the daughter, constantly surrounded by animated birds, who appears to only speak French. Then there’s the son with the southern accent who spends his time crafting miniatures.

Strangest of all, though, is the father, a hamster voiced by Andrew Dice Clay who objects the “framily” term. Yeah, a hamster. Obviously they’re going for the “families come in all shapes and sizes” message here, but is having a hamster dad really the way to go about this? The mother is presented as the sane voice of reason in the group, despite the fact that she is married to a frucking hamster. “Framily Portrait” spends some time examining each member of the extended framily, including a few characters you don’t meet in “Meet the Frobinsons.” The characters (especially the new additions) in the spot and the way they’re presented give “Framily Portrait” a quirky Wes Anderson quality, probably the direction this campaign will take going forward.

The two broadcast spots will air tonight across national network and cable TV, with an angry rant from One Million Moms expected by the end of the week. In addition to broadcast the campaign also includes “in-store along with a number of digital and social extensions,” with print and out-of-home extensions of the campaign in the coming weeks. Stick around for “Framily Portrait” after the jump. continued…

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Mekanism has just launched a new campaign for San Francisco-based shop, Method, “the premier disruptor of the home care category,” featuring a “romantic comedy-style series of TV and online ads, content and social media programs” which will run from March 24 – June 7.

The ads tell the story of Charles and Francine, two opposites who, over the course of the spots, meet, fall in love, and have a baby. Mekanism and Method buck conventions a bit by making Francine the messy one and Charles clean (even if they feel the need to point out that he’s “pretty neat for a guy”). In the first of the spots, the 30-second “They Meet,” Charles finds Francine asleep on his toilet after a night of partying, and Charles wonders how to break the ice. From there, their domestic tale evolves with a series of relatable messes marking milestones in their lives. While not laugh out loud funny, the spots have a pleasant kind of light humor and are quite watchable. The voice over by a man with a strong French accent definitely helps things along, especially in the 15 second “Super Pregnant” where viewers are treated to hearing the words “super pregnant” in said French accent.

“Our story is about opposites attracted to one another,” said Tommy Means, Mekanism founder and executive creative director. “Francine is charming, stylish, impulsive and a bit of a mess not unlike Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Charles on the other hand is clean and orderly. Telling the Method story through the eyes of this odd couple falling for each other is something everyone can relate to.”

Method is also partnering with digital agency Essence to develop and execute its media plan, which marks Method’s first significant foray into online advertising. Stick around for “Easy” after the jump. continued…

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Ah, yes. The logo. That emblem which represents the essence of a brand in a way that communicates its purpose in mere seconds. Or at least that is the hope. Over the years, brands have evolved their logos as both the times and the brand, itself have changed.

Taking a 100+ year look, this infographic from Graphic Design Degree Hub examines the transformation of logos from Pepsi, Coke, Shell, Mercedes, Kodak, IBM, Chevrolet, BP, UPS, Ford, Xerox, Canon, Walmart, Apple, Microsoft and others.

Some early logos from Kodak, IBM and UPS look nothing like their current iterations.

Also explored are logo screw up like the London 2012 Olympics and the Arlington Pediatric Center, both of which connoted something completely different from their intended goal.

Havas Worldwide Chicago has launched a new March Madness campaign for DISH Network featuring a new kangaroo mascot, which also marks Havas’ first campaign for the company since being named lead digital agency last summer.

The kangaroo mascot, voiced by Rebel Wilson, makes her debut in the TV spot “Mobile Basketball.” In the 30-second spot, the kangaroo shows off the DISH Network’s capabilities by watching college basketball at work, only pretending to be engaged in actual work when the boss walks by. While the spot never quite hits the humorous mark it’s aiming for, it’s still world’s ahead of the campaign’s painful digital spot, “Fight Song.” As you might have guessed, the 30 second spot is built around a “fight song” for DISH Network (in the style of college team’s fight songs) extolling the Network’s ability to let you watch March Madness games anywhere. “Fight Song” will run on sites like ESPN.com, where it will most likely be muted after approximately 1.2 seconds. Havas’s campaign also includes social media activations on Facebook and Twitter featuring the new mascot. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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We’ve been told that this has transpired in a matter of the last 24 hours, but yes, DigitasLBi has  been appointed as digital agency partner for Memorial Sloan Kettering, the 130-year-old private cancer center based in NYC. We’ve been told by sources familiar with the matter that work will be handled out of the New York and Boston (mostly Boston) DigitasLBi offices. We should have more info forthcoming, stay tuned.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.