The increasing use of drones by media companies is one of the topics we’ll be discussing at the TVNewser Show April 29. This post’s author, attorney C. Andrew Keisner, will be among the guests discussing the issue.
From advertising of real estate and car dealerships to filming Hollywood blockbusters to media coverage of sporting events, examples of advertising & media companies using light-weight UAVs, or Drones, is all around. However, when it comes to using such light-weight UAVs in the United States, the legal risks are frequently misunderstood. And although a recent judge’s decision rejecting a $10,000 fine imposed by the FAA is a welcome outcome for UAV operators and the advertising & media companies that engage them, there are still several risks that advertising & media companies should address before engaging a UAV operator to capture aerial footage.
JWT Italia worked with director Antony Hoffmanand BRW FILMLAND Milano to create “Hexagon Huracan,” designed to unveil the new Lamborghini Huracan at the Geneva Auto Show in Switzerland.
The cinematic 3:55 video follows a James Bond-like spy as he is awakened by a bolt of thunder and receives a transmission “tasking him to reach a target amidst a hurricane that rages in Hollywood blockbuster fashion.” The agent braves the storm in a new, bright orange Lamborghini Huracan. From here out, the video is, understandably, heavy on the auto-porn, showing the new Huracan pulling off all kinds of impressive maneuvers. When the agent finally reaches his mark he says, “It’s good, I made it. Just next time, wake me up a little earlier,” followed by the “Instinctive Technology” tagline and Lamborghini logo.
“Hexagon Huracan” has impressively slick production, with Hollywood-style action — although there’s unsurprisingly not much to the story. The Huracan, of course, looks great performing all the stunts necessary for the video, which should certainly turn a few heads among the car nerd crowd. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…
Seattle-based agency Creature has put together a new campaign for DoubleDown Casino, “the world’s only place to play authentic Vegas games on Facebook and mobile devices.”
The campaign launch the social gaming platform with a series of videos that show the service bringing Vegas-style pizazz to boring, everyday situations. In the first spot, “Bedtime” a woman opens the gambling application after her partner falls asleep, spicing up what would otherwise be a night trolling the Internet for kitten photos (not that there’s anything wrong with that). When she opens up DoubleDown Casino, she prompts a cheesy, Vegas-style song and dance routine. The lyrics, of course are about how her romance novel isn’t making the cut and what she really want is slots. The similarly minded “Office” swaps out the bedroom for a bored man at the office who finds DoubleDown a better alternative to going out for fast food.
In addition to the videos, the campaign also features an interactive web experience called Hot Streak Finder. In Creature’s own words: “We asked ourselves, ‘This St. Patrick’s day, what’s the best way to drive traffic to DoubleDown Casino?’ And we answered that question with, ‘by exploding a live-action leprechaun through interactive tickling. Of course.’” Of course, it almost goes without saying.
Stick around for credits and “Office” after the jump. continued…
We’ve received confirmation that the decade-long relationship between Sears and Y&R Midwest (formerly Y&R Chicago) has basically come to an end this week as the agency has lost the retailer’s Kenmore Craftsman Diehard (or more commonly referred to as KCD) account. Here’s a statement from Y&R below:
“After a long and rewarding relationship, Y&R Midwest and the Kenmore, Craftsman and Die Hard brands have parted ways. With the strength of these three brands at their highest levels in 10 years, and having picked up Cannes Lions, SXSW Interactive and other awards in recognition of our campaigns, we feel extremely proud of our work throughout the past 10 years. We wish the Sears team the best in their future endeavors.”
No confirmation as of yet, but from what we’ve heard on a few folks on the Spy line, the KCD biz (which we hear has “shrunk’ somewhat over the years) has moved over to Havas Worldwide Chicago. We’re checking on agency appointment and will get back to you when we hear more.
It’s been six months since we first heard that Wells Fargo was looking for a new agency partner after working for nearly two decades with DDB. Now, the search has come to an end as fellow Omnicom agency BBDO has taken over on the financial institution’s agency of record duties.
In a statement regarding the decision, which marks BBDO’s return to the bank biz after losing Bank of America in 2012, Wells Fargo CMO Jamie Moldafsky says. “BBDO demonstrated exceptional creativity and big ideas, which made a compelling case for moving forward and officially establishing this new relationship. As our new brand agency of record, we’re confident that BBDO will bring world-class strategic expertise to tell the Wells Fargo story and communicate the value of our products and services to the consumer.”
The Wells Fargo account will be run out of BBDO San Francisco, which also counts clients including Gallo and Mars. The BBDO appointment, though, will not affect the rest of Wells Fargo’s agency roster as MRM will continue to lead digital creative, OMD and UM will continue to serve as media agencies, and the company’s specialist agency roster will remain unchanged.
Heat and their production partner Hungry Man have released a new spot for Xbox One crown jewel exclusive and E3 critical darlingTitanfall, which just had its North American release yesterday.
The new, 60 second spot (there’s also a 30 second version), entitled “Shadow,” imagines what it would be like to constantly be shadowed by a 25-foot Titan that obeys your every command. Following in the recent trend of inserting gamers into the real world, the spot attempts “to capture the ear-to-ear grinning invincibility you feel when you first climb into your very own Titan and start dominating the world.” “Shadow” follows a man with a shit-eating grin walking through a city trailed by his own personal Titan. Everything is just peachy until he runs into another Titan owner, at which time, as you might expect, shit goes down.
The spot manages to capture the overall “Life is Better with a Titan” theme of the campaign, while also demonstrating Titanfall‘s unique features, like verticality. What really makes the spot work, though, is the perfect transition to gameplay footage during the final 15 seconds. While there’s nothing revolutionary about Heat’s approach here, they find a balance between live action and gameplay footage that a lot of similarly minded ads miss. And they certainly succeed at making the game look like a lot of fun. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…
Back-to-back Saatchi-related posts, you say? Truly sheer coincidence. Anyhow, if you’ve ever shelled out the price of admission to see a movie in theaters only to have the experience ruined for you by some person loudly munching popcorn or slurping their soda, or if you’ve ever been that person, then you can probably relate to Saatchi & Saatchi Denmark’s latest stunt for Coca-Cola.
In an alternative to the usual PSAs discouraging people from making noise during film screenings, the agency had a surprise in store for Copenhagen film-goers. For the stunt, the creative team made their own genre films, while also capturing an unknowing audience with a green screen and hidden camera. As patrons “arrived at the cinema and settled into their seats, a retouch artist then quickly edited them into a bespoke film that was shown on the big screen to rapturous applause.” The two genre clips, directed by Christian Eagles Borg of Duckling Copenhagen, were “Gangster,” in which, “we see an actor, who represents a member of the audience, transported into a scene where a cop is being buried alive as she casually munches on her popcorn” and the romance “Stableboy” in which Coca-Cola slurping film-goers are inserted right into the middle of a love scene.
The stunt was not exactly easy to pull off. “We have seen real people in advertising before, but not — to our knowledge — so quickly after they have been filmed, and combined with previously shot footage in this way. It required a hell of a lot of prep to get it right on the night,” said executive creative director Jason Mendes.
You can check out the Coca-Cola slurp stunt above, and stick around for credits after the jump. continued…
Saatchi & Saatchi LA released the latest online video for their Muppets Toyota campaign yesterday, featuring Kermit and Pepe filling up at a gas station en route to the premiere of Muppets Most Wanted in Los Angeles. The campaign, which began with the Muppets at the Super Bowl and followed them on a schlep across the country as they posted images on Facebook and Instagram en route to their film’s premiere, concludes today as the Muppets pull up to the red carpet at the Muppets Most Wanted premiere.
The new video, one of four released for the campaign thus far (we imagine there may be one more filmed on the red carpet), sees Kermit and Pepe shooting the shit with gas station attendants, and even hitting on some ladies. Notably, when Kermit mentions that Miss Piggy will like it that they get the windshield cleaned, Pepe badmouths her and says she’ll just make the inside dirty anyway. Kermit can’t help but agree. Upon leaving the station, the pair realize they may or may not have actually filled up the tank.
The spot is kind of fun, but leaves a lot to be desired (it doesn’t help that they already did a gas station spot with Pepe). Maybe it’s just that I have high expectations for all things Muppets, but it feels like there was the opportunity for something more here. The other videos released for the campaign elicit much the same reaction, although Rolf and Rizzo’s video is a slight step up. It’s great to see the Muppets in action, and these are far from terrible, but I wish Saatchi and Toyota could have done more with the opportunity. Stick around for a pair of Saatchi LA’s other Muppet spots for Toyotoa, along with credits, after the jump. continued…
W+K’s trademark nonsensical humor is on full display in their latest, the new spot “Made by Kobe” promoting Kobe Bryant‘s Kobe 9 Collection for Nike, which launched on March 6th.
The spot imagines what it would be like if Kobe Bryant designed a piano: “It will turn piano boys into piano men. It will make Lionel Richie‘s tears cry tears.” Lionel Richie actually appears in the spot, tear slowly rolling down his cheek while he plays the piano, adding to the humorous tone. After talking up the hypothetical Kobe Piano, which looks pretty badass, the narrator introduces the “Made by Kobe*” Kobe 9 Collection. Although the product reveal comes 50 seconds into the 75 second spot, the sidelined Lakers star can be seen wearing his new line throughout the commercial.
The spot is exactly what we’ve come to expect from W+K, calling to mind some of their well-known past hits, like their famous work for Old Spice. The formula may be starting to show signs of age, but W+K still has a big leg up on the countless competitors attempting to imitate this kind of work. “Made by Kobe” will run until March 27th. Now if they’d only release that piano for real. Stick around for credits after the jump.
*Kobe is the name of a 12-year-old Chinese boy who works around the clock to handcraft the Kobe 9 Collection for 2 cents an hour. continued…
Grey New York is dabbling in the art world as it’s now been global ad agency for the Whitney Museum of American Art following a review. From what we’ve been told by sources, Grey beat out three other agencies in the pitch including Mother NY (Update: We’re now hearing from other sources that Mother actually declined to pitch. The saga continues). First up to bat for Grey, which is officially being dubbed “exclusive marketing partner” for the New York-based Whitney, is an integrated campaign breaking this week with the launch of the Museum’s 2014 Biennial.
In a statement regarding the agency decision, Whitney chief marketing/communications officer, Jeff Levine, says, “This is a transformational moment in the Whitney’s history and we are delighted to partner with Grey. Grey’s creativity, the strong,
clear tone of voice present in all of its work, strategic insights, integrated digital and social capabilities and global reach made Grey the ideal choice.”
In addition to the Biennial work, Grey NY will also provide marketing support for the Jeff Koons: A Retrospective exhibit that will be unveiled in late June and build brand awareness to hype the Whitney’s move to NYC’s Meatpacking District in spring of next year. The Whitney Biennial, by the way, runs through May 25 at the museum’s Madison Ave. space. Prior to Grey, the Whitney worked with the likes of Ogilvy, though there was no incumbent in this current review.
The great English writer Samuel Johnson once declared that, “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.” Johnson’s beef wasn’t with patriotism per se, rather the issue of it being coopted for the purposes self-interest. In the preceding several hundred years since he uttered the phrase, proof of Johnson’s quote is still readily seen in many pockets of society. Politicians often appropriate the love of country for a broad range of purposes; from securing smooth passage of legislation, to xenophobic fear mongering. To wit, patriotism often rears its head when any standalone merit is hard to find.
The American car industry has a complicated history with patriotism. Since Detroit industry workers smashing Toyotas in the 70s, the call to buy American over imported cars has been strong.
But this is 2014. The problem with American manufacturers evoking the nebulous notion of patriotism is that not only are a slew of affordable imported alternatives available, consumers have never been better informed. Aside from buying a house, a new car is likely the biggest purchase a consumer will ever make. Can (or should) a car buyer suspend rationality for the love of country? The idea of this is worth examining in light of a couple a couple of TV spots from American carmakers, Wieden + Kennedy’s GlobalHue’s Super Bowl spot for Chrysler, and Rogue’s recent spot for Cadillac.
Chrysler’s spot features America’s most revered living icon, Bob Dylan, expounding on the attributes of other nations against the backdrop of gorgeously shot Americana. The spot finishes with a call to action, “Let Germany brew your beer. Let Switzerland build your watch. Let Asia assemble your phone. But WE will build your car.” Dylan assures us that other countries are adept at plenty of other worthwhile endeavors, but cars are central to the American story. To buy a car from another country is treasonous.
The Cadillac spot is more polarizing. A love letter to unfettered self-reliance, the spot seems to know which way its bread is buttered. Unlike the Chrysler spot, it doesn’t acknowledge but rather demonizes the attitudes of other nations, even taking the well-worn path of French bashing, finishing with the phrase, “N’est-ce pas?” While the YouTube commenters formed two camps, one of the, “How insensitive, egocentric, and repulsive.” The other, “Hey butthurt foreigners in the comments: instead of crying, take notes. This is why our country is the greatest in the world and yours isn’t,” the spot reinforces what American buyers of this car will love the most about themselves.
Both spots evoke patriotism, but the Cadillac spot stays strictly in the visceral, emotional space, whereas Dylan’s Chrysler spot ends with a plea of rationality – it’s ok to buy foreign goods, just not cars.
The problem with this message is that is is patently untrue. By many independent (indeed, American) perspectives, Chryslers are a pretty middling choice. The jury is back in — Edmunds, Cars.com, Consumer Reports, and plenty of others suggest that all things considered, Chryslers aren’t a great buy. Chrysler is essentially asking us to sacrifice our decision-making rigor on the altar of patriotism. That’s a pretty big ask boys.
But by embracing only the emotional hot buttons and appealing to what makes them unique, Cadillac’s spot lovingly depicts those with the wallet and the will to buy the ELR. While controversial, this spot is much more relevant and appealing to the sensibilities of the self-made.
Jimmy Darmody from Boardwalk Empire cautions, “You can’t be half a gangster.” American carmakers would do well to take note. Evoking irrational yet powerful emotions can’t be tempered by a call to rationality. IF a brand feels compelled to evoke love of country (and it’s a big IF), then it needs to go hard or go home.
Amy Poehler shines as a boss with a pampered dog and an obsession with a prospective employee’s pants in Chandelier’s new spot for Old Navy, created in conjunction with Rock Paper Scissors and Sonic Union.
In the spot, the Parks and Recreation star/SNL alum Poehler is supposed to be conducting a job interview, but can’t get over the applicants’ Old Navy Pixie Pants. “Are all these questions going to be about my pants?” the girl asks. To which Poehler responds, “Uh, this is a law firm, so yes.”
When Poehler learns that the pants are only $25 and come with a free top, she hires the girl on the spot so that she can run out and buy a pair. All this is actually a good deal funnier than that synopsis sounds, thanks to Poehler’s signature deadpan humor. Poehler also helped write and direct the spot, which helps explain how it works so well with her brand of comedy. The :30 spot doesn’t waste any time getting to the funny, either, as Poehler opens the ad with a great throwaway line. Check it out for yourself above, and stick around for credits after the jump.
Hasan & Partners teamed up with production company B-Reel on a new integrated campaign for Helsingin Sanomat, the largest subscription newspaper in Finland. The new campaign highlights the paper’s journalistic strength and integrity, with the tagline “One story, all the angles.”
The campaign is based around a television spot of the same name, set in a birthing suite. “One story, all the angles” examines the moments directly following a birth from multiple perspectives — mother, father, doctor and nurse — with accompanying headlines like “Not enough potential workers in female dominated professions,” “Acknowledging paternity now easier,” and “Global birth rate declining.” To accomplish this, B-Reel and director Johan Perjus “moved through the Caravaggio-style still life scenery with a live camera, tracking and compositing info graphics, adding volumetric light and a delicate grade, among other things.” It’s an interesting approach that makes for a distinctly cinematic 34 second ad.
In addition to the television spot, the campaign also includes “two integrated formats, targeting rich media banners and out-of-home screens.” Credits after the jump. continued…
Cheil Communications and Harpoon Pictures’ director Anton Jøsef introduce the new Samsung Galaxy Duos with the new spot, “Forged.”
The 38-second spot, “alludes to the elemental power, the dexterous usability and the high-end performance that is wrought in the heart of the Galaxy S Duos.” If that sounds ridiculous, it’s because it kind of is. “Forged” opens on a blacksmith hammering away intently. The creation that “emerges from a fiery crucible, backed by an explosion of intense flames” is the new Samsung Galaxy Duos. That’s right, a blacksmith crafted phone. We then cut to a guy in an office goofily holding up the phone while a coworker gives him a “What the hell are you doing?” look and cough.
So, “Forged” makes fun of the ridiculousness of its concept, making the majority of the spot a buildup to a joke that really isn’t much of a payoff, eventually ending with the tagline “Forged with features” without telling us what those features are. Needless to say, this direction is a bit perplexing. The Galaxy S Duos, by the way, “allows users to keep their work and personal calls separate while also providing better coverage and a stronger signal” — which sounds an awful lot like a feature you would want to highlight in an advertising campaign. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…
IKEA is certainly no stranger to goofy promotional videos, and their latest centers around a cosplaying civil servant from Singapore named Frank.
Franks’s hobby is beginning to make life in his small apartment difficult. With “many costumes and lots of raw materials lying around,” there’s not room for much else in Frank’s room. So, in a stop-motion sequence featuring anime-tastic music, the IKEA crew comes in and cleans things up. Demonstrating IKEA’s storage solutions, all Frank’s costumes remain in his room, neatly stored away, and there’s room for him to, you know, walk around and stuff.
“Is this even my room?” Frank asks. As he walks around appreciating the transformation, the video highlights certain IKEA products responsible for the improvements, closing with the “Make Space Better” tagline. It’s a pretty clever way to show how IKEA’s storage solutions can transform a small space, although we suspect some may be turned off by the whole cosplay thing.
Despite Darden Restaurant Inc. executives’ reassurances to analysts Monday that they could bring about a ” ‘brand renaissance’ at the Italian chain with a new look and updated menu that presented food with ‘flair and sophistication’ ” the brand redesign has thus far been poorly received. CEO Clarence Otis acknowledged,”We certainly recognize that industry dynamics have changed considerably over past two years,” the AP reports.
The troublesome new logo met with its share of (quite fair, we think) criticism since its release, with shares reportedly down 5% the day of its unveiling. Additionally, according to our tipster, “many consumers are complaining about the new look and feel of the brand.” In case you were wondering, the menu changes include additional small dishes and an option to mix and match pastas and sauces. But we know you’re just there for the unlimited breadsticks anyway.
BlueRock, Spontaneous and Scarlett collaborated to create the “Give A Chuck” contest for BlueRock Spontaneous and Scarlett , asking entrants to submit photos and videos of their own, dressed-up versions of Converse’s classic Chuck Taylor sneakers. The three companies presented clients with an invitation to enter the contest as part of their holiday gift-giving. The winners of the contest — judged “by a panel including Olivier Wicki from BlueRock, Johanna Marciano from Scarlett and Brian Bowman of Spontaneous” — were just announced today on a special Tumblr page.
The grand prize (an all-expense-paid weekend trip to South Beach and a $1000 donation to a charity of the winner’s choosing) went to Y&R’s Abby Bralove, who submitted the above stop-motion video of her and her chucks. Abby chose St. Jude’s Research Hospital to receive the $1,000 donation. The contest, which “drew several dozen entries from agency creatives and producers” also handed out three runner-up prizes to Melanie Baublis and Jane Minehan of O&M, who won $500 donations in their names to Doctors Without Borders, and Brian Gonsar of Hill Holliday, who gave his donation to Teach for America.
In what may be the cutest advertisement you see today, ROKKAN teamed up with healthcare giant WellPoint to create “The ABCs of Disease,” “a creative extension of WellPoint’s Real Health campaign, a full scale digital & social initiative aimed at simplifying and educating Americans around the often complex landscape of healthcare and insurance.”
“The ABCs of Disease” is a fun video in which Forrest Kline, of powerpop band HelloGoodbye, leads a group from the imagined Florence Nightingale Middle School through a pageant depicting “26 reasons to protect your health” from A-Z. It’s an infectious little number that ROKKAN and WellPoint hopes will catch on and convince viewers of the need for health insurance. “The ABCs of Disease” features an original song, handmade costumes and adorable cast of characters from asthma to bacteria to narcolepsy. In addition to the long-form video, the campaign also includes “a range of elements from short form pre-roll spots and bite-sized video content to the website, which serves as the digital conversation hub.” You can check out the full length video above, and stick around for “The ABCs of Disease: Catch it Now!” after the jump. continued…
Ignited has a new social campaign promoting Bravo’s new series, Online Dating Rituals of the American Male, which premieres March 9th.
The new campaign is tied to a promoted post on Buzzfeed examining “The 10 Types of Guys You Find On Every Dating Website.” At the end of the post, readers are invited to take a short quiz to discover which of “six species of men that exist in the dating wild” they are or is their type. After completing the survey, @BravoDating will tweet one of six video results: Catchitis Perfecta (“Mr. Perfect”), Clinger Onis (“The Clinger”), Doublis Bookeris (“The Player”), Love Seekitis ( “The Romantic”), Liaris Apperancean (“The Liar”), and Predatorus Obnoxious (“The Predator”). As you can imagine (this is Bravo we’re talking about), these are pretty silly. The narrator treats the subjects like he’s narrating a nature documentary (thus the latin species names); it’s easy to imagine David Attenborough providing the narration. You can check out “Liaris Apperancean” above, and stay tuned for “Doublis Bookeris” and “Predatorus Obnoxious,” along with credits, after the jump. continued…
It’s funny how a logo change can incite more online hyperactivity than, oh, Russia invading Ukraine of the crisis in Syria. Actually, it isn’t funny. It’s just plain sad but that’s what we’ve turned into; a country that bitches about inane, meaningless bullshit rather than important world event.
But since we’re not CNN and our mission is to report on all things marketing and advertising, it’s out duty to cover the hubbub that surrounds Olive Garden’s new logo.
To say the least, the new logo has not been well-received. While the new logo now actually has an olive branch in it instead of a — WTF — grape vine, it’s, shall we say, lacking meat.
By lacking meat, we mean there’s no substance to the new logo. The previous logo, tacky as it was, at least had some substance to it, some texture. Some depth. OK, yea, now design is all about flat but it shouldn’t be all about 5th grade art class either.
In an effort to turn around declining visits, down 13% in December, and plunging sales, down 5.4%, the chain is grasping at straws (olives?) to turn things around. The new logo, in the words of Darden Restaurants executives is to create a “brand renaissance.”
More like a funeral march.
Much like the Gap logo change debacle four years ago which caused the brand to revert to a previous logo, Olive Garden likely should have left well enough alone. The original logo might have sucked but no one cared.
Perhaps heeding the “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it” mantra would have been the right decision for Olive Garden. At least that way, people could have gone on ignoring the brand much like they do every other brand that just stays its course.
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Despite Darden Restaurant Inc. executives’ reassurances to analysts Monday that they could bring about a ” ‘brand renaissance’ at the Italian chain with a new look and updated menu that presented food with ‘flair and sophistication’ ” the brand redesign has thus far been poorly received. CEO 
