Hasta La Creative!

In other pizza-related campaign news, what is a professional baby? How does one go about becoming a professional baby? At what point does an amateur baby turn professional? These and other questions come to mind after watching mcgarrybowen’s “Baby Waterskiing” spot from their #GoForGreatness campaign.

The YouTube inspired spot, which Whitehouse Post editors Tim Warmanen and Carlos Lowenstein sliced together for Pizza Hut’s YouTube-inspired “Go For Greatness” Super Bowl campaign (which also features the spot “Grandma Drummer”) shows several seconds of a baby named Ryder waterskiing before flashing the warning “Do not attempt. Professional baby.” At this point it becomes hard to pay attention to the rest of the ad, which promotes Pizza Hut’s new hand-tossed pizza, because how you can you not dwell on the “professional baby” disclaimer? The 30 second ad ends by inviting viewers to “Upload your greatness” to Pizza Hut’s YouTube page. Especially if you have a professional baby in the house. Stick around for “Grandma Drummer” and credits after the jump. continued…

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Mekanism concluded their “Get Hyped For Halftime” campaign last night with “Pepsi: Sound Check NYC,” the lead-in to the Bruno Mars Super Bowl halftime performance which acted as a much-needed respite from the ridiculously one-sided game.

The 30-second halftime intro “sound checks” New York City, with giant hands strumming the Brooklyn Bridge like a guitar, playing the Guggenheim like drums, mixing levels on a NYC subway train board and scratching Columbus Circle like it’s a turntable. Other landmarks include the Empire State Building and surrounding skyline, and the East Side Pepsi sign. The spot ends at Met Life Stadium (as you know, located in East Rutherford, New Jersey) with Pepsi’s “Live For Now” tagline. It’s a simple, yet clever little introduction to the halftime show, even if the game itself didn’t take place in New York City. Because, let’s face it, no one wants to see East Rutherford’s top landmarks.

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Following the release of W+K Amsterdam’s “The Odyssey” last week, Heineken has released a tongue-in-cheek response to the comment section skeptics who questioned the spot’s authenticity.

The 2:10, presented as “the genuine response of our official PR representative Dymfke van Der Gaal,” replies directly to YouTube commenters who publicly questioned the authenticity of the individual talents in “The Odyssey.” As evidence, Heineken presents the casting calls for the guys in the ad, which are predictably goofy. In addition the PR response video, Heineken has also uploaded the casting calls for each of the talents featured in “The Odyssey.” The PR response fits well with the lighthearted tone of the campaign, and reinforces its core message. As Sandrine Huijgen, Global Communications Director at Heineken puts it, “When we saw the comments about The Odyssey TVC, we wanted to show that there are no boundaries between real and fake, proving that real men have unique skills, and everyone is legendary at something.” Stick around for the original “The Odyssey” spot and credits following the jump. continued…

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Ten years after Janet Jackson‘s “Nipplegate” fiasco (and 55 years after “The Day Music Died,” which reminds of simpler times when people were better at naming things), the Super Bowl has become one of the least controversial broadcast TV events. This year’s spots were, in two words, pretty dull. This morning, water cooler talk centered around what was perhaps Peyton Manning‘s worst performance in his storied career, with a few words spent on an adorable puppy befriending horses for Budweiser. Even GoDaddy, America’s idiot PG-rated smut peddlers, were commended by critics for this year creating a spot that was more about a harmless joke than it was about visiting their website to see if Danica Patrick really got naked. Booooorriiiinnnnnggg.

Now, imagine a world in which the above apparently “banned” commercial from Carl’s Jr. ran last night. Would that world be much different from the one that we currently reside in? Well, no, not really. But, at least some group of oversensitive moms in some rural town would have protested this commercial. I mean, do their five-year-olds really need to know that the world is a scary place where scantily dressed cowgirls suck on massive sausages for minutes on end without taking a bite? What about when that mayo or butter or whatever drops slowly onto her left breast? One might say it’s suggestive of semen, dripping slowly off of a large penis getting sucked off at a ranch. Yes, one might.

As for the origin of this spot, we’ve reached out to 72andSunny who tell us the spot was definitely not from them. Also, last we heard, Carl’s Jr. doesn’t make a breakfast sandwich with a comically large sausage stuck in its center. So, we assume it’s some prankster doing it on spec somewhere because he or she was bored. But, in the meantime, we’ll just pretend that this actually ran during the Super Bowl, and that we had something…ANYTHING…more to talk about today.

(Updated): We have no a brief statement from CKE Restaurants’ brand’s Carl’s Jr. on the spot:

On behalf of CKE Restaurants, Inc., parent company to Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s restaurants, They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But, we had nothing to do with this spoof ad.’”

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180 Amsterdam is a launching a new integrated campaign for ASICS, which continues to highlight the brand’s “Better Your Best” mantra.

The new campaign “will have an even stronger and more powerful focus on how ASICS products and technologies help athletes across the board continue to improve in their sport.” This is evident in the TV spot “Gotta Run” for ASICS: Gel. It features an obnoxiously always up athlete, running from sport to sport all day and saying “gotta run” when jetting from one place to the next, before coming home and collapsing into bed without a shower. His poor significant other removes the shoes (which must smell indescribably awful) from his feet, making the ad come full circle from the beginning, when the guy plops out of bed and right into his ASICS. It’s a bit over-the-top, but should appeal to ASICS’ athletically obsessed core audience.

180 Amsterdam’s campaign will run all year long and feature “a mix of TV and print advertisements, digital brand films, point of sale, event activation and online engagement to strengthen ASICS image as a True Sports Performance brand.” Look for the “Marathon Campaign,” “a print and film campaign that celebrates the special qualities, attributes and personality of one of the world’s most selective groups”; the “Advantage, You” tennis campaign, featuring Gael Monfils and Samantha Stosur; and the triathlon video featuring “Ironman World Champion Pete Jacobs and his wife Jaimi on location at their Noosa home” in the near future. And please, if you’re going to work out all day, remember to take a shower.

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Budweiser decided to get serious this year with their patriotic “A Hero’s Welcome” commercial from agency Anomaly.

The 60 second spot documents the homecoming of a single soldier, welcomed (with Budweiser as a sponsor) back from Afghanistan by the entire town of Winter Park, Florida. Winter Park’s celebration included “a full ticker tape parade, complete with marching bands, antique military vehicles, the VFW motorcycle club and an appearance by the world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales.” The 24 year-old Lt. Chuck Nadd, who was just happy to be reunited with his girlfriend, Shannon Cantwell, seemed genuinely surprised and touched.

If all that’s not enough to get you emotional, there’s the 5 minute behind-the-scenes documentary which features members of the Winter Park VFW who helped make the homecoming happen. Several of the veterans talk about their own experiences returning home from war, which were decidedly less pleasant than the welcome Nadd received, and how it really means a lot to feel appreciated. They get pretty emotional, as it clearly means a lot to them to help a fellow serviceman receive the homecoming that would have meant so much to them. Stick around for the behind-the-scenes footage after the jump, if you’re not worried about a case of the onions at work. continued…

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Secret Weapon Marketing and Horizon Media have a new spot for Jack in the Box set to run regionally during the Super Bowl.

The spot introduces the new Bacon Insider burger, a burger with bacon built into the patty, on top of the burger, and (in case that’s not enough bacon) bacon mayo. To introduce the new burger, the spot takes viewers to Jack’s fantastical farm, complete with a brioche barn, curly fry trees, and a creature called a bork — that would be the pig/cow hybrid. The cheesy spot, which feels the need to sing/narrate everything you see, ends with the creatures saying “Moink” (moo+oink, get it?).

Iwona Alter, VP of menu strategy & innovation for Jack in the Box, says in a statement, “What better way to honor America’s favorite pigskin tradition than by giving America a bacon burger unlike any they’ve ever tasted before? We didn’t just put bacon on the burger. We put bacon in the burger, on top of the burger, underneath the burger and mixed it in the special bacon mayo sauce!”

While America has the drunk munchies is clearly the right time to introduce your new bacon, bacon and more bacon burger, so the regional Super Bowl ad makes sense, even if it likely cost Jack in the Box a small fortune. And the ads’ cheesy antics and bork creature should appeal to kids, especially kids who really love bacon.

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In a campaign that launches tomorrow KFC Russia and agency Perfect Fools are offering KFC customers the chance to star in their own television commercial.

Perfect Fools created MovieMatic, a machine designed “to direct, shoot, edit and post the footage to YouTube.” KFC customers can use the MoveiMatic to insert themselves into a KFC ad that will be uploaded to YouTube. Once their video is uploaded, “a receipt is printed with the URL and a reminder to watch their creation, share and invite friends to vote.” A “panel of experts” (your guess as to what that means is as good as ours) will then select the best of the bunch to air on Russian television. Technology utilized in the MovieMatic includes: “professional photography lights, two Canon 5D Mark III cameras, computers with bespoke software, storage drives, wifi router and phidgets for the control buttons, plus smaller light emitting gadgets and microphones.”

Piotr Rozanski, marketing director for YUM! Brands Russia said, “KFC is the first brand in Russia to star a customer in a TV campaign. The aim is to captivate, inspire customers, generate lots of brilliant videos showing off their acting and dancing skills, then get them involved in a popularity contest to make them a hero across Russia.”

The MovieMatic will be in Moscow for the next week, and then make a two week tour of St. Petersburg starting on February 19th. Contestants have five days following the creation of their video to generate as many votes as possible. The television commercial featuring the winning contestant will air on March 31st. You can view results here. Credits after the jump. continued…

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CP+B’s funny new spot for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese examines the desperate lengths people will go to for a bite of Kraft’s signature macaroni and cheese-like-product.

Set to Marvin Hamlisch’s “What I Did For Love,” the 45 second spot shows individuals engaging in some questionable behavior to get their hands on Kraft Mac & Cheese, ranging from the everyday sneakiness of a grandfather stealing a bite from his grandson while the family says grace, to the potentially unsanitary exploits of a man who desperately destroys his child’s macaroni picture, to the utter illegality of a woman willing to steal a Kraft Macaroni & Cheese truck. Directed by Hank Perlman, “What I Did For Love” is the latest in CP+B’s “You Know You Love It” campaign for Kraft Mac & Cheese, and is a perfect example of what the campaign is capable of. The new spot is a lot more thought through than the “Noodle Reunion” promotion we covered back in October, and while they push the irreverent humor to new heights — for Kraft Mac & Cheese it’s downright edgy — they balance the irreverence with Kraft’s standard wholesomeness to make a fun spot that works for the brand. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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Toshiba just launched some pretty funny “field tests” on YouTube, including the cringe-inducing “Portege Ultrabook vs. Drooling Dog” featured above, in a series called “Field Testing with Matt & Jamie.”

In each of the videos, they mention a field test performed by Toshiba (for the dog drool one it’s a test to withstand 50ml of water), before Matt and Jamie perform their own, less scientific, more riduclous test, which Toshiba claims the products actually passed. Apparently, in another clip to be added later this week, the Toshiba product actually failed the test, which is refreshing to see from a company (and lends more credibility to the results of the other tests). Aside from the hard to watch “”Portege Ultrabook vs. Drooling Dog,” highlights from the (seemingly neverending) series include “Satellite Ultrabook vs. Paint Shaker”and “Encore Tablet vs. Block of Ice.” Stick around for these two after the jump. continued…

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