Hasta La Creative!

Philadelphia-based agency Tierney just launched the follow-up to their “Bank Human” campaign for TD Bank,  with “Human Truths.”

“Human Truths” follows much the same vein as “Bank Human,” with four new, 30-second spots each pointing out a flaw with the inhumanity of most banks, and then positioning TD as the alternative. If you caught any of the “Bank Human” spots you know what to expect: someone enters a bland, generic looking bank with a problem and instead of helping to solve it the bank just gives the customer a logistical headache. It’s a straightforward, no-frills approach that speaks directly to TD Bank’s image as a customer-centric bank. The new spots tackle issues such as hold music, getting a new debit card (“Almost Magic,” featured above), running late, and maintenance fees.

“TD Bank’s focus is to create a very human and convenient banking experience,” explained Vinoo Vijay, chief marketing officer, TD Bank. “These new commercial spots speak to the pain points consumers too often face with their banks. They also highlight how TD’s approach to banking is different. This includes our unparalleled service and convenience, as well as our customer-first culture.”

The “Human Truths” campaign kicked off yesterday and will run through mid-August, with a strong presence on the four major networks in all scheduled markets. In addition to broadcast, the campaign will contain additional elements across digital, social media and PR. Stick around for “Maintenance Guy” and credits after the jump. continued…

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Berlin Cameron United’s new campaign for Gilt features a chase scene and some unusual disrobing.

Upon sighting a model in a sleek yellow dress, a woman decides she can’t live without the outfit and chases after her. The model frantically runs away, because that’s what you do when you’re pursued by a woman with a crazy look in her eye. Appropriately set to the song “Suit” by Boom! Bap! Pow!, which features lyrics like “You’re so cute, I want to wear you like a suit. I think you’d look pretty good on me,” the chase concludes with the woman accessing Gilt’s site on her smartphone. This causes the dress to seamlessly slide off the model and on to the chaser, leaving the model in her underwear. While a tad on the ridiculous side, the spot shows off the instant gratification of shopping on the designer fashion site in a fun way. The 30-second ad, which went up on YouTube today, will spread to television on Monday, reports Adweek. Credits after the jump. continued…

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New York digital agency Rokkan has launched “Owners Circle,” described as “a Tumblr dedicated to haute horology lovers” for luxury watch brand TAG Heuer.

The launch is timed to kick off the brand’s presence at Basel World, the world’s largest luxury watch and jewelry show. Drawn by the visual nature of Tumblr, TAG Heuer is one of the first luxury brands to explore the possibilities of the platform. “Owner’s Circle” features photos and GIFs “to inspire fans to share, collect and learn more about each model,” as well as “videos [see above] that weave in stories of precision craftsmanship and history, immersing viewers in the brand’s rich heritage.” TAG Heuer is hoping their foray into relatively new social territory (only 31% of the Interbrand Top 100 Brands have created Tumblr accounts) helps them to engage their audience in new ways and wins them a few converts.

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The cabinet office has named RKCR/Y&R as lead strategic and creative partner for the GREAT Britain campaign, which “unites government departments in promoting Britain oversees.”

Last summer RKCR/Y&R won a GREAT tourism initiative working with Visit Britain, developing the “Sounds of GREAT Britain” campaign. Apparently the campaign impressed the Cabinet Office, and now the agency will partner with central GREAT Cabinet Office “to grow the brand, develop increased and deeper relationships with supporting brand partners and to evolve the GREAT campaign.” RKCR/Y&R will be tasked with creating an extended multi-disciplinary team to deliver brand and digital strategy, develop and manage partnerships, secure talent and drive PR.

“We are honoured to be supporting the GREAT team in developing this fantastic and ambitious brand and be able to reinforce our commitment to marketing  British brands here and overseas,” said Vicky Jacobs, managing sirector, RKCR/Y&R.

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Maxus Partnerships has teamed up with Factory Media and their creative agency Prime & Fire for “Original Freedom,” a new campaign targeting extreme sports fans for Jeep Wrangler.

The campaign launches today with a road trip and mountain biking video (featured above), hosted on Factory Media’s digital action sports network MPORA. In addition to mountain biking, the campaign will also focus on snowboarding and surfing, “utilising major sporting athletes from these fields, including seasoned mountain bikers James Hughes and James McKnight.” Two more video edits will be released over the course of the campaign, which runs until the end of the year, via MPORA’s specialist sports brand social platforms. The campaign also includes three competitions to be hosted on the Jeep Wrangler website, giving visitors the chance to win snowboarding, surfing, and mountain biking equipment.

“Our target audience is made up of young adventure-seekers who are looking for a vehicle that can tackle tough terrain,” explained Damien Dally, head of brand at Jeep Wrangler, Fiat Group. “Maxus Partnerships offered a different, integrated solution for communicating the freedom of adventure message of the Wrangler. The agency has also added value by helping the brand move into territories which create great content that communicates to a younger audience and which can be pulled through-the-line.”

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Google, which recently published a report on government requests for user information following last year’s FISA lawsuit, wants its users to know that they’re doing everything they can to protect their privacy while still complying with government programs. So they tapped California-based agency Enso to create a stop-motion animation explaining how Google responds to U.S. search warrants.

The 3:24 video explains in detail Google’s standard response to U.S. search warrants for user information; from upholding the fourth amendment upon information requests; to a screener, who sorts and prioritizes search warrants; to the producer, who examines warrants and determines what info to provide; to the custodian of records representing Google in court. Enso depicts the whole process as a game board, with individuals involved as game pieces, as a way to go about simplifying what can seem like a very complex process. They do a good job at showing Google going through great lengths to protect user privacy whenever possible, while still complying with government demands when those demands are reasonable and constitutional, positioning the company on the right side of users’ outrage over the U.S. governments’ invasion of Internet privacy. It’s a bit of tightrope walk, as Google wants to appear to serve its users privacy interests without risking coming across as an impediment to legitimate inquiries, but, luckily for Google, Enso is up to the task.

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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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