Hasta La Creative!

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…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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.

Dollar Shave Club CEO Michael Dubin has a family history of colon cancer. So when his doctor recommended a colonoscopy, he decided he wanted to live-stream the procedure to help raise awareness about the importance of early screening.

It’s, well, not exactly riveting viewing, but that’s not the point. Mike has partnered with Colon Cancer Alliance, who have doctors standing by to answer any questions you might have about the procedure. You can tweet your questions with the hashtag #DSColon, and follow along for informative posts on colon cancer and the procedure. The stunt, by the way, is timed to coincide with Colon Cancer Awareness Month. Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death, so this is really an important cause. Hopefully Mike can raise awareness and get some guys to schedule an early screening. If you’d like to learn more about colon cancer and how getting a colonoscopy can help lead to an early diagnosis, head on over to the Colon Cancer Alliance website.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The Onion.com, known for its deadpan humor and mock-news network, has been expanding beyond its namesake site. Onion Inc. now boasts The A.V. Club, its entertainment-based sister site and Onion Labs, its advertising/marketing layer.

Onion Labs has created campaigns for everyone from Microsoft to Ford to Home Depot. Mike McAvoy, president of The Onion, recently talked with Mediabistro about this new branch of the company. McAvoy says: “It became our pitch really as a business [to] evolve with the whole native-advertising movement, as well as advertisers’ decision to change how they tried to reach millennials.” McAvoy talks about the most successful campaign they’d had so far:

I think we’ve had quite a few that have been good and have gotten good plays. We haven’t had the Old Spice viral campaign just yet, you know, where we’ve gotten 100 million [hits]. But we’ll let you know when we do. I think our most successful piece, our most viewed piece was [an] April Fool’s joke for YouTube [last year about the social-media site selecting the best video on YouTube], which has been seen by [over 11 million people]. We do a lot of work that is behind the scenes, white label or work for hire, where we’re creating content for a brand and the audience, or the world, doesn’t know it.

To hear more from McAvoy, including how he deals with native ads on his own site, read: So What Do You Do, Mike McAvoy, President of The Onion?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Bacardi has launched “Good Spirited: Building a Sustainable Future,” described as an “environmental initiative for sourcing, packaging and operational efficiencies across the entire Bacardi family of premium spirits brands.” The new initiative builds on existing programs and efficiencies in an attempt to “reduce water and energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.”

One aspect of the in-house campaign, highlighted in the above online video, is recycling of oak barrels used for aging Bacardi rum. Bacardi ages their rum in American white oak barrels, in some cases for many years, to instill their product with “richness, aroma and smoothness.” Usually these barrels are used continuously for about 20 years or so until they are retired. But even at this point, they haven’t become useless. At the Bacardi Corporation in Puerto Rico, “old barrels are ground into woodchips that are then spread as mulch for landscaping.” This commendable recycling effort helps beautify Bacardi’s 127-acre campus, while also supplying employees with nutrient rich mulch for their own lawns and gardens. “If we didn’t recycle, our barrels would eventually go to a landfill, which is not the best option for a small island like Puerto Rico,” explains Lissette Sepulveda, environmental health & safety coordinator for Bacardi Corp.

The “Good Spirited” campaign is built around specific goals in three areas: responsible sourcing, global packaging, and operational efficiencies. Bacardi pledges to source “all raw materials and packaging from sustainably sourced, renewable or recycled materials while maintaining or enhancing the economic status of growers and suppliers,” to “use eco-design to craft sustainability into its brand packaging and point-of-sale materials,” and has pledged to reduce water use and greenhouse gas emissions — with a “2017 goal to cut water use by 55 percent and GHG emissions by 50 percent.” To learn more about Bacardi’s “Good Spirited” campaign, head on over the the campaign website and check out the video above for more on their barrel recycling efforts.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Saatchi & Saatchi NY are helping Walmart in their bid to get you to please not hate them, delivering a an emotionally effective (some may say emotionally manipulative, given how Walmart treats their own employees) online spot for their “Work is a Beautiful Thing” campaign telling the story of Patrick.

Patrick introduces himself by saying, “When I was born the doctor said I had a condition that affected every part of me, from my body to my brain.” His whole life, Patrick is treated differently: sent to a different school, put on a different team, talked to “a different way.” But Patrick doesn’t let his disability stand in his way, as his fierce determination to be independent leads him to learn how to drive, to learn to walk again when his condition causes him to lose feeling in his legs, and to get a job at a local factory where he’s part of a team.

“My whole life, people have been telling me I have a learning disability,” Patrick says in a line turning that phrase on its head, “I guess they’re right, because I’ve never learned how to give up.” This great line is followed by the “Work is a beautiful thing” tagline and Walmart’s message: “It’s why we’re committed to the American factory, and all the people who work there.”

As you’ve probably gathered, it’s impossible not to like Patrick, so Saatchi & Saatchi hopes that by aligning Walmart with him, it’s a little harder for people to hate Walmart, too. Patrick’s poignant story is already making waves on YouTube, where it’s garnered over 600,000 views in five days. If it wasn’t for people’s reluctance to have anything to do with WalMart (let’s say this was an ad for Target, for example) that figure would probably be even higher. As is, Saatchi & Saatchi NY did a fine job here, with a conversation changer that just may get a few people to rethink their views on the retail giant, and which stands as great work regardless. Credits after the jump. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Wow, talk about efficient. Fresh off winning the AB InBev Harbin Beer business back in November, BBH China has launched a series of ultra-short television spots for their Harbin Beer World Cup 2014 campaign.

Harbin, the official World Cup sponsor in China, will run the blink-and-you’ve-missed-them spots every night on CCTV1 news and OOH media, where they are expected to reach hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers. As might be expected given the short duration, the ads keep things simple. The above “Freedom Time” exemplifies the approach here: the spot sees a Harbin drinker ignore a call from the boss during the big game, instead using the phone as a coaster. There’s something admirable about the efficiency required of the format, especially in contrast to the lengthy online spots that we see on a daily basis. Check out “Red Card” below, and stick around for the lengthy (7 seconds) “Slide Tackle” after the jump. It won’t even take a minute.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Well, touché. In case you need a refresher, less than a month ago, we received our usual monthly op-ed from Huge, this time from Andrew Kessler, founder/CEO of Togather, a startup out of Huge Labs. Kessler, whose Togather operation serves as a platform that helps clients deploy event marketing programs with “the same control and measurability of a digital ad buy,” seemed to have sounded the death knell for experience marketing. Well, someone has taken issue, namely Eric Murphy, former VP of marketing/promotions at RCA Records who’s now head of his own experiential/music marketing agency, Pop2Life. Murphy has taken some issue with Kessler’s piece as you’ll see below. Carry on, sir.

“The ‘experience marketing’ trend is close to extinction.” -Andrew Kessler, founder/CEO of Togather

I’ll be honest. When I first caught wind of Kessler’s Op-Ed piece, I wanted to punch him in the face. After all, he was basically labeling the very thing that’s made my agency successful a joke … a waste of time and money. Or more specifically, nothing more
than a “dazzling physical installation,” heavy on pointless, big-budget items like “colored lights, a giant logo,” lots of “freebie swag,” and little more to measure success than a fuzzy count of gift bags and “total impressions.”

So I put on a Jason mask™, gathered a few key clients, and headed over to Kessler’s house with a truck full of colored lights and giant logos.

Just kidding.

Actually, I channeled that initial surge of outrage into some deeper thinking about how and why someone as intelligent and successful as Andrew Kessler would conclude that the best possible outcome of experience marketing was “a large crowd … lots of
product interest … [and] photo albums of smiling fans.” (Which frankly is what a lot of brands hope to accomplish with the majority of their marketing efforts, experiential or otherwise. More on that later.)

To be fair, Kessler posed some worthwhile questions regarding the value and impact of experience marketing campaigns:

-”Are we providing the right kind of value to give us a return on brand favorability?

-”What kind of action did this drive?

-”Can we deliver an experience that also lives beyond the actual event?”

All of these are excellent questions. Every marketer worth their weight in swag should apply them to every marketing investment they make. Still, proclaiming the pending extinction of a species [of marketing] that, when done right, checks off all four boxes of the ubiquitous “AIDA” acronym (Awareness | Interest | Desire | Action)  with a big fat marker seems … well … a bit un-evolved.

Here’s why.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.