Hasta La Creative!

72andSunny has unveiled a rather minimalist new campaign for Square, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey‘s mobile payments company.

The campaign is made up of 15-second spots, each of which begin with a dual colored screen with text on each side representing a merchant and a customer, followed by a card swiping through Square Register. In “Surf Instructor” (featured above), for example, the left-side of the screen reads “Dude,” while the right side reads “Little Dude.” The card is swiped through the Square Register on the right side of the screen, followed by a short scene of an enthusiastic young surfer in training. All of the spots follow this basic formula, demonstrating the kind of small business transactions Square’s product can open up for people in a simple, easy to understand way that perfectly matches the campaign’s message about the simplicity of using Square. Check out “Stylist” below to see a shih tzu getting a haircut, and stick around for “Designer” after the jump.

  continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

After a four-month search, New York-based luxury jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co., which had previously handled marketing internally, has found a global agency partner in Ogilvy & Mather, whose NYC and Paris offices will serve as the creative and strategic hubs for the brand. In a statement regarding Tiffany & Co’s decision, the retailer’s SVP/CMO Caroline Naggiar says, “We were impressed by Ogilvy’s experience in luxury, creative approach to solving consumer challenges in a new era of brand building and proven ability to implement integrated campaigns across the globe. We believe they will be instrumental in further enhancing our global business.”

Sources familiar with the matter, meanwhile, tell us that Ogilvy, which will handle print, digital, video and out-of-home for Tiffany’s in tandem with the latter’s in-house marketing team, beat out BBDO and TBWA\Paris in the retailer’s review that was managed by Ark Advisors. From what we hear, other agencies in the mix were Grey, Sid Lee and M&C Saatchi.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

BBH New York have teamed up with production company The Corner Shop to produce this new spot promoting Sony’s new Playstation Plus network.

The 1:19 spot continues the trend of depicting gamers in real-life situations mirroring the games they’re playing, in lieu of actual gameplay. In this way, the spot shows a group of friends transition among a series of games (at one point one of the players says, “Guy’s it’s me,” but they’re no longer playing on the same team and just laugh), displaying the Playstation Plus’ “New Games Monthly” and “Next Gen Multiplayer” features simultaneously. It’s something of a spiritual successor to BBH’s lauded “Perfect Day” spot from October, although it doesn’t have quite the same swagger. Credits after the jump. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New York-based production company Decon has launched the next episode in its funny new web series promoting Reebok Classic

To refresh memory, Reebok commissioned Decon to run with a strategic content approach to promote its new retro Classic product line. So, Decon came up with the mini web series, “The Retro Shop,” and the results are pretty hilarious. The first item in the Reebok Classic launch is the Shaq Attaq Retro sneaker, which made its debut on the 14th, so naturally everyone’s favorite Kazaam star is featured heavily in the first two episodes. “The Retro Shop” is set, appropriately enough, at an old school barber shop, where patrons discuss argue about some of the NBA’s greatest players. It’s a formula that works really well, especially since Decon keeps things on the shorter side, and makes for an eminently watchable experience. So grab some popcorn and in case you need a rewind, check out episode 1 starring Shaq and his horrible wig, along with credits, after the jump. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Last month, Bryce Harper performed the first ever chicken-eating backflip for KFC as part of Draftfcb Chicago’s “How Do You KFC?” campaign. Now, Draftfcb continues the campaign of people eating chicken in situations where it doesn’t make sense for people to eat chicken, making history with the first ever two-man chickensled. The campaign is well-timed, coming on the heels of the U.S. men’s first two-man bobsled medal since 1952 and a two medal performance by the U.S. women’s bobsled team.

Draftfcb and KFC tapped Team USA Bobsled brakeman Jim Carriel, and retired Team USA Bobsled pilot Landon Phillips for the historical event. Carriel ate chicken from the KFC Go Cup from a customized cup holder while speeding down the track at 70 miles per hour and five Gs. “No other bobsled team out there is pulling five Gs while eating chicken. More casual fans of chicken sled racing may not know the physical demands five Gs puts on an athlete. Do you know how much an Extra Crispy Strip ‘weighs’ at five Gs?” Carriel asked. “It’s almost a half pound. Seriously. Don’t try this at home, kids.”

Draftfcb’s new video is supported by a tongue-in-cheek social campaign calling on fans to like or share a petition on the brand’s Facebook page to make chicken sled racing a Winter Olympic event in 2018.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Well, that didn’t take long. Just a week after word spilled out that DDB and Reebok were parting ways (yet again), the sports apparel/shoe brand has found a new lead global agency in San Francisco-based Venables Bell & Partners. VB&P won the assignment after a review conducted by SRI. In a statement, Yan Martin, head of global brand marketing for Reebok, says, “VB&P demonstrated a deep understanding of our brand purpose and culture and developed thinking and creative that excited everyone involved in the process. We’re confident that VB&P will help maintain the brand’s forward momentum and raise the strategic and creative bar for the Reebok brand.”

Reebok now joins a VB&P client roster that includes Audi of America, Intel and SKYY vodka.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

McCann Buenos Aires makes winning the lottery seem not that great in their creepy new spot for ZonaJobs, called “Lottery.”

The 1:19 ditty offers a surreal take on the winning the jackpot fantasy, positing that “before you can count all the zeros” people will be clambering for a piece of the pie. In the spot, these people are symbolically (and creepily) depicted as crows. “Lottery” does an admirable job of making falling into a lot of free cash seem unappealing, in a dark, twisted way. It succeeds at getting your attention and making you rethink some basic notions of what it means to be lucky, before finally revealing what “Lottery” is advertising with the line, “Lucky is doing what you love everyday,” followed by the ZonaJobs logo. The risk here, though, is that “Lottery” is so dark and twisted (blackmail and adultery even factor in) that people may be too uncomfortable to stick around that long, opting instead to flip channels or go to the kitchen for a snack.

“Lottery” marks McCann’s debut campaign for ZonaJobs, and includes graphical work in addition to the television spot. Chavo D’Emilio, general CD at McCann Buenos Aires, says that he hopes “Lottery” will “be the first of many more” for ZonaJobs, adding, “There are films that manage to bring together everything we like in advertising. It doesn’t happen very often but this is one of those films.” Credits after the jump. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Vanilla Ice appears as a grocery store worker stocking shelves and rocking out to his own “Ninja Rap” in a new spot from CP+B promoting Kraft’s ubiquitous macaroni and cheese-like food product, now with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shaped pasta.

The spot plays on the nostalgic humor surrounding Vanilla Ice when a mom starts singing and dancing along with him. Her son is not pleased by this turn of events, and he angrily puts the box of Kraft Mac+Cheese in the cart and walks away as Ice–aka Rob Van Winkle–utters his trademark “Word to your mother” line. CP+B will run with several #WordToYourMother memes over the course of the new campaign, and also plans to reward the brand’s “most fervent Facebook & Twitter fans with Golden Autographs –limited edition boxes of Kraft TMNT Mac & Cheese that were props featured in the commercial and signed by Vanilla Ice himself.” Because Vanilla Ice autographs are still something people want, apparently.

The new campaign is a fun continuation of Kraft’s “You Know You Love It” and a fond reminder of TMNT days gone by for those of us who grew up with the turtles. Now, before Michael Bay ruins the franchise, let’s all take a moment to remember this wonderfully terrible moment in cinematic history:

If you still haven’t had enough of Vanilla Ice (You’ve had over 20 years to have enough of Vanilla Ice, what’s wrong with you?) stick around for a behind the scenes video, along with credits, after the jump. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

W+K Portland has unveiled “The Power of Hair” for Old Spice, the “newest, never-been-done-before interactive digital experience.”

The new site is an extension of W+K’s “For Hair That Gets Results” campaign promoting Old Spice’s new haircare and styling products, featuring the same anthropomorphic hair, and comes on the heels of the “Boardwalk” and “Meeting” spots Old Spice debuted late last month. Visitors to “The Power of Hair are greeted by a testimonial video with a young man extolling the virtues of Old Spice’s hair products. Predictably, this includes attention from the ladies and respect around the office. Less predictably, this includes Huey Lewis songs. “When you’ve got great hair like this, you’d be surprised by how many Huey Lewis songs it can play on the piano,” the now bald man says.

Visitors to the site are then asked to pick a Huey Lewis song, and the hair (which by now has slithered off of the guy’s head) will play them on piano, occasionally adding in some percussion. You can pick from among 29 of Lewis’ greatest hits, including “The Power of Love,” “I Want a New Drug,” “The Heart of Rock n’ Roll,” “Bad is Bad” and “Doing It All for My Baby.” It’s a pretty absurd idea (and yeah, we’re pretty sure no one has done this before), but then this is the kind of silliness we’ve come to expect from W+K’s work for Old Spice and a fitting extension of the “For Hair That Gets Results” campaign, complete with a perfect title. Give “The Power of Hair” a try above or at the site, and stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

L.A./Seattle-based The Pitch alum Wongdoody crafted a new campaign for the nation’s largest take and bake pizza chain, Papa Murphy’s.

The new work from Wongdoody, who have served as Papa Murphy’s AOR since October 2012, promotes the chain’s “HeartBaker” pizza with an ad celebrating family-friendly Valentine’s Day celebrations. “Remember when you were just dating and Valentine’s Day was all about romance and flowers and fancy dinners out?” asks the new spot. Well, then, to paraphrase Louis C.K. “people [came] out of your vagina and [stepped] on your dreams.” Now, according to the “HeartBaker” spot Valentine’s Day is about “the really good stuff.” The online version (featured above) interrupts the sentimentality with a disclaimer that the “good stuff” may include things like “itchy tutus, “getting hand-made Valentines out of the dog’s mouth,” “glitter everywhere,” “mysterious carpet stains” and “nightmares about cupid.”

As Wongdoody chairman and executive creative director Tracy Wong explains, “The original HeartBaker spot is a sweet, poignant take on the family Valentine’s Day dinner…That said, for every 15 seconds of wonderful, ‘I’ll-remember-this-moment-for-the-rest-of my life’ parental bliss, there’s often a lot of funny, messy, chaotic stuff that happens along the way. So we’re poking some fun at ourselves and the perfect angelic child-filled Valentine’s we’ve portrayed in the original spot concept to remind couples that love, romance and humor play a role no matter how they celebrate Valentine’s Day.”

Here’s a free culinary tip: disregard Papa Murphy’s “Love at 425 degrees” tagline. For pizza, you want the oven as hot as possible, so crank that shit up to 500 (or higher). Stick around for the original TV spot after the jump. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.