CP+B’s New Hotels.com Ad Introduces the Obnoxious Captain Obvious

For what we believe is CP+B’s Hotels.com debut, the agency decided to turn the “Captain Obvious” of middle school insults into an actual person, and boy is he annoying.

The risk in trying to make a humorous ad is that when it misfires it usually comes across as irritating, and this is a textbook example. Captain Obvious spends the 60 seconds given (there’s also a 30-second version) roaming around a hotel — “the best place to talk about hotels” — pointing out obvious things like what “all you can eat” means, that “gym is short for gymnasium” and that Hotels.com is on the Internet. Does this sound mildly irritating to you? Because it should. Clearly, the ad is attempting to say that Hotels.com is the obvious choice for booking hotels, but instead it will just make most people want to punch Captain Obvious in the face and/or change the channel after about three seconds.

As mentioned, tipsters tell us that “Captain Obvious” marks CP+B’s first work for the brand since taking over for Y&R Chicago on the account last October. If it’s any indication of what’s to come, we’re really going to miss Y&R’s approach, such as with this clever skydiving effort from a few years back. Maybe CP+B will change up their strategy to something less obnoxious, but we’ve got a bad feeling we’ll be seeing this character for a while.

 

 

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Memorial Sloan-Kettering Taps P&O’D for AOR Duties

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After a “competitive review” (overseen by Joanne Davis of Joanne Davis Consulting, Inc.) that concluded earlier this month, 130-year-old private cancer center Memorial Sloan-Kettering has awarded creative agency of record and media AOR duties to Pereira & O’Dell New York and Media Storm, respectively. In a statement, Sloan-Kettering’s SVP/chief communications officer Avice Meehan, says, “For 130 years, Memorial Sloan Kettering has focused relentlessly on  a singular mission: discovering better treatments for cancer and improving the lives of those who are touched by cancer. Pereira & O’Dell and Media Storm showed outstanding insight into our mission during the review process. We have every confidence that our new agency partners will help us deliver compelling communications that will benefit and educate individuals and their family members in responding to a cancer diagnosis.”

The MSK win marks the first major step into the healthcare sector for P&O’D, which of course already works with clients including Skype, Intel, Airbnb and Fox Sports 1. P&O’D NY succeeds fellow Big Apple agency DiMassimo Goldstein (DIGO) on the Sloan-Kettering account and will launch new work for the center later this year. From what sources tell us, Pereira & O’Dell beat out Berlin Cameron United and SS&K in the final pitch.

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Mila Kunis Makes Bourbon Sexy

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Perhaps an odd choice as Jim Beam spokesperson, indeed, but we’re sure glad the folks at FutureWorks — StrawberryFrog, The Works and Jung von Matt — decided to choose Mila Kunis. We’ve tired of the stereotypically fat, balding, Southern distiller dudes…and Kid Rock so we’re all for something a bit sexier. And Kunis delivers, all softly and sultry-like. Never has a whisky barrel received such sensuous caress.

Of course, it’s all a play to get Millenials to stop drinking hipper brands like Sazerac and Bulleit. While that may not work, watching the extended video of 7th generation distiller Fred Noe giving a tour of the Jim Beam operation to Kunis, you can’t help but sense the historical importance and longevity of the brand.

The campaign consists of two :30’s and several :15’s. In one :30, Kunis takes viewers through the 200 year history of the brand. In the other, she presents us with the barrel she branded with her name that she will come back for in 4 years.

Grey Takes Over Papa John’s Biz

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Well, the official word trickled into the inbox a bit late on this, but nonetheless, in case you haven’t heard, Grey has taken over as national AOR for Papa John’s (will this affect his Peyton Manning bonding sessions? Only time will tell). From what we’ve been told, Grey beat out Arnold, BBDO and Doner for the pizza chain’s biz , which calls for a refresh of TV creative as well as integration of digital advertising and social media. Approximately 20 agencies in all participated in the initial RFP process, which kicked off last November. Grey takes over on Papa John’s biz for Ft. Lauderdale-based, Omnicom-owned Zimmerman, which chose not to defend.

In a statement, Papa John’s CMO Bob Kraut says, ” Everyone was impressed with the Grey team and their in-depth understanding of our brand and the QSR pizza category. Grey provided keen insights and strategy, which, combined with excellent creative, will help take the Papa John’s brand to the next level. We’re looking forward to working closely with them and welcome them to the Papa John’s team.”

Papa John’s spending is valued at $120 million.

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Moscow Havas Digital Crew Creates URL Lengthener to Promote Russian Bookstore

A group of Russian Havas Digital creatives have created an intriguing new digital campaign for Russian bookstore, Respublica.

The self-branded “humble project” is a site called “URLiterature,” which promotes reading with a URL lengthener. Yes, you read that correctly, a URL lengthener. Created to promote reading and combat the assault on language resulting from acronyms and social media-promoting short messages, URLiterature uses a URL lengthener to add text from a selected book to the link you want to send. Simply paste “your boring URL,” choose your book and share, pleasing literature professors everywhere. Check out the video above for a better look at the project, and head on over to the site to give it a try for yourself. Credits after the jump. continued…

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New Lowe Campbell Ewald Campaign Marks Beginning of the End for ‘Got Milk?’

Lowe Campbell Ewald marks the end of an era today, with their campaign for Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP) offering up a new tagline that shifts away from the iconic “Got Milk?” line that seems like it’s been around forever.

Although the “Got Milk?” tagline will still be used in some markets, such as California (where the processors are reportedly still with Goodby), the campaign is largely fazing out the popular tagline in favor of “Milk Life” — which may or may not be inspired by “Thug Life.” Lowe Campbell Ewald’s multi-million dollar integrated campaign focuses on milk’s health benefits (fitting the new tagline), most notably as a strong source of protein.

“Got Milk has very high awareness,” Sal Taibi, president at Lowe Cambell Ewald, New York told AdAge, “But we have a new strategy. We have a new message and we just felt we needed a new approach.”

At the heart of the “Milk Life” campaign is the new anthem spot featured above, which “spotlights everyday moments of accomplishment, achievement and enjoyment, showing milk with the latest in graphic and animation technology to bring to life how families who include milk’s protein at breakfast make the most of their day.” The obviously high-budget visuals are impressive enough, and the spot is fairly well put-together, but I’ve got to say I really miss the milk mustaches. In addition to the 30 second anthem spot, the campaign also includes “print, TV and digital advertising, consumer and retail promotions, public relations and social media” — presumably also devoid of milk mustaches. The “Milk Life” campaign also marks the first work to come out of Lowe Campbell Ewald’s recently opened New York office. Stick around for credits after the jump, and let us know what you think of the new direction in the comments section. continued…

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Tragically (And Stupidly), “Got Milk” Is (For the Most Part) Retired

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This is one thing I can never figure out about marketers. When you’ve got a good thing going — even if you are bored out of your mind with it — why must you change? The Milk Processor Education Program will no longer use “Got Milk” in its marketing and will, instead, go with “Milk Life” in a new campaign created by Lowe Campbell Ewald.

The “for the most part” part of this story comes from the fact the California Milk Processor Board will continue to use “Got Milk” which was created decades ago by Goodby Silverstein and Partners. Confused yet?

This is like Coke coming out with New Coke. Coke was fine. No one wanted New Coke. No one needed New Coke. New Coke was a marketing disaster of epic proportion.

Now confused people are going to be like, “Wait, what? Does Hayden Panettiere have a milk mustache or is she livin’ life with milk?”

Deutsch Creates Branded Gas Price Prediction App For Esurance

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In the content/inbound marketing vein of providing useful and informative information instead of screaming “buy now” crap, Esurance is out with Fuelcaster, a website (desktop and mobile) that promises to predict gas prices allowing one to decide whether or not to fill the tank today or wait until tomorrow.

The app, upon entering a zip code, will present a “buy” or “wait” response along with 10 local gas stations with the lowest prices.

If this all sounds moderately familiar, it’s because Fuelcaster is powered by the gas price app GasBuddy but is said to incorporate algorithms from industry pricing sources to make predictions.

The work is part of Deutsch LA’s Inventioni.st program which aims to create digital inventions for brands.

Africa, Brahma Bring Brazilian Soccer, Beer Closer Together

Brazil is already known as the land of beer and soccer, but now A-B InBev brew brand, Brahma, in conjunction with the Rio de Janeiro-based branch of agency, Africa, is bringing the country’s passions closer together than ever before with Brahma Selecao Especial, a new limited-edition beer brewed for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Brahma Selecao Especial’s big selling point is that it is brewed with “barley planted, grown and harvested on Granja Comary, home to the Brazilian national soccer team,” which should score major points with Brazilian soccer fans. Literally bringing together beer and soccer by planting on the Brazilian soccer teams’ decades-long training grounds, the “same soil where [the] five-time world champion team was conceived” brings the World Cup-sponsoring brand even greater appeal to Brazil’s soccer-loving faithful.

Sergio Gordilho, Africa’s co-president and CCO, says, “Creating and developing such an innovative idea in partnership with such a legendary brand shows a new frontier for advertising, where the agencies stop thinking about the media and start focusing on the idea. We developed this project with Africa Lab, an innovation arm of the agency, and we are looking forward to see the results on shelves around the entire country.”

Africa collaborated with Brahma at every step of the process — they even “accompanied the planting of the barley, its growth and harvest, the development of the product, and helped with the promotion and launching strategies,” claims Africa co-president and CEO Marcio Santoro.

The new beer, complete with “packaging [which] leaves aside the brand’s traditional red color for black, subtle green and yellow lines paying homage to the arrival of the World Cup to Brazil” will be available beginning next month, but you can pre-order it now on Brahma’s website. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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72andSunny Launches Campaign for Square Featuring Little Dudes, Shih Tzus

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.

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1stAveMachine Explores Human Sight for Vision Express

1stAveMachine, who made their first foray into television last month with the new show Thingamabob, featuring director Bob Partington, are behind this visually striking new spot for, aptly enough, Vision Express.

The 60-second clip takes a journey into the world of human sight, Magic School Bus style, relying on its unique visual portrayals of vision to keep the viewer intrigued and carry its message. Evocatively set to Roberta Flack‘s version of the Ewan MacColl penned classic, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” (with well-utilized sound effects mixed in), it’s not until the last 10 seconds that the narrator delivers this message: “When you take your eye health seriously vision can last a life time,” he says as the camera switches from a smiling baby to the close up of an old woman’s eyes that opened the spot. The parallelism works really well as a subtle, aesthetically pleasing way to reinforce the spot’s message and end things where we began, but with a new appreciation of what we’ve just seen.

Director Roman Rütten took “a predominately  ’in-camera’ approach,” to creating the spot’s desired effects, mixing “live-action, special effects tank shots, high-speed filming, macro photography” with supplemental CGI to bring the spot to life. For a better look at his process, stick around for the intriguing behind-the-scenes video featured after the jump. continued…

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Tiffany’s Appoints Ogilvy as Global Agency Partner

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.

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Radley Carves Out Hilton Olympic Campaign

With the 2014 Sochi Olympics slowly making their way toward their conclusion, we thought we’d share an Olympic campaign you might not have seen yet. Radley launched “Be A Weekender” for Hilton with four mini-documentaries honoring American Olympic athletes for Hilton’s Honors program.

The four videos were designed to “provide an energizing look at the forever-on-the-move lifestyles of Olympic hopefuls,” exemplified by “Weekend By Ashley,” the 2:16 video starring U.S. skater Ashley Wagner featured above. In the video, Wagner talks about her crazy, always on the move lifestyle in which she sometimes forgets what country’s hotel room she is in, growing up at the ice rink, and all the trips to warm places she’d like to take. Other athletes featured in the series include speed skater Patrick Meek, hockey player Meghan Agosto-Marciano and Paralympic ski racer Alana Nichols.

Creating these documentaries was no easy feat, as finding the extra time to film with athletes whose days typically begin with training at 3 A.M. is a big challenge. As Radley CCO/Director Kurt Spenser explains, “Fitting into the lives of Olympic hopefuls in the middle of an Olympic year is not an easy task. Detailed planning with the Hilton team allowed us to stay on schedule for the athletes and to be spontaneous when opportunities presented themselves. We did not want to interrupt their training or their travel, so we had to tailor our production as much as we could while still staying on budget and on time. It was a great team effort and we are all very proud of the results.”

Check out “Weekend By Ashley” above, and stick around for Alana Nichols‘ video, along with credits, after the jump. And for the full experience, head over to the campaign website. continued…

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BBH NY Teams Up with The Corner Shop to Plug Playstation Plus

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…

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Olson Notches Another Win with wet n wild Beauty

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Well, the Olson camp did the math for us as the Minneapolis-based agency’s wet n wild Beauty win marks its seventh AOR assignment since Sept. 1, following the likes of Sharp Electronics, Supercuts and Commerce Bank. In case you didn’t know, wet n wild, which signed Fergie from Black Eyed Peas as its spokesperson in 2012, is a 35-year-old, L.A.-based division of Markwins Beauty Products and one that has never maintained an AOR relationship before but tapped Olson after a national search.

Markwins president Bill George says in a statement, “Our brand is in a great position to reach out to a broader audience. Of all the agencies we talked to, Olson’s team best understood our circumstances and laid out the most compelling vision for our future.” From what sources tell us, other agencies in the final round were Mekanism and DDB West. As wet n wild AOR, Olson will now handle broadcast, digital, social media and data analytics for the brand.

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Shaq, Shawn Kemp Return in Ep. 2 of Decon’s ‘Retro Shop’ Series for Reebok

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…

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Care to ‘Share the Sofa’ with Champions League Stars for Heineken?

DDB and Tribal Worldwide Amsterdam have an interesting social campaign brewing for the beermeisters at Heineken.

Entitled “Share the Sofa,” the campaign invites fans to join star UEFA Champions League players on Twitter for a chat during select games. Players involved include Ruud Gullit, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Owen Hargreaves, Hernan Crespo and Fernando Morientes. Owen Hargreaves was featured recently, with his “Share the Sofa” generating 2,600 tweets and 55.6 million social impressions. Dutch star Patrick Kluivert was the most recent player to be featured, during Tuesday’s Manchester City Vs. Barcelona match.

Fans questions need not be about sports, but can range from “What’s your favorite sandwich?” to just about anything. While it’s easy to be cynical about the overcrowded social media marketing space, this seems like a fun initiative offering fans real insights into their favorite players (even if it’s just their favorite sandwich) with a unique opportunity to ask them just about anything. The initiative makes good sense for Heineken as well, offering a large part of their fan base (those looking for watery beer to guzzle during matches) a unique second screen experience they’ll associate with the brand.

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Draftfcb, KFC Make History with Two-Man Chicken Sled

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.

 

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MLB Selects BBDO NY as Creative Agency Partner

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With spring training in full swing, Major League Baseball has appointed a new multimedia creative agency partner, minus review, in BBDO New York, which will not only handle advertising/marketing for brand but also MLB Jewel events such as Opening Day, the All-Star Game and postseason. Tim Brosnan, MLB EVP/business, says in a statement, “This is an incredibly exciting time for Major League Baseball, and BBDO is exceptionally well-suited to help us bring the best game in the world to our fans in uniquely creative ways. We look forward to having them apply this creativity to further fuel the unprecedented success that baseball currently enjoys by creating innovative ways for fans to connect with MLB.”

While BBDO NY takes on MLB brand/Jewel duties (which were previously handled by a few different agencies), IPG-owned, Boston-based Hill Holliday will remain on as agency of record for MLB Fan Cave. This marks the second notable account win this month for BBDO NY, which added to its Pinnacle Foods roster by winning Wish-Bone duties.

 

 

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VB&P Nabs Reebok Biz

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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.

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