Hasta La Creative!

People who use cell phones in movie theaters are annoying. So annoying, in fact, that some other people argue that cell phone use in movie theaters should literally be punished by death, though that may be a bit extreme according to law enforcement and those that cherish human life.

For some reason, otherwise rational human beings have a tendency to abandon logic upon entering movie theaters. Perhaps it’s the cover of darkness that detaches individuals from their transgressions, as otherwise measured requests like “Hey, will you shut the fuck up?” are routinely answered with, “Why don’t you come over here and make me, fuckface?” Then children cry and Cars 2 is ruined for everyone, which wouldn’t have been such a big deal had we not spent $30 on concessions. (That’s where they get you.) Thus, our nation’s fine cinema chains are forced to accept the fact that humans loses empathy for one another once the previews start. That’s where America’s favorite anthropomorphic M+M’s come in.

Not only is this mini-movie from BBDO NY groundbreaking because it’s “the first time all six beloved M&M’S spokescandies have been featured together in one spot,” but it actually features accompanying fake movie posters (see after jump) plastered around theaters that will surely disappoint your children when you have to explain to them that it’s only an ad. (“But you said you wanted to see Cars 2! What the fuck!”) Credits after the jump.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

More and more companies are starting to implement strategies and systems to leverage influencers to become marketing and brand allies. And they are doing it with great success. Whether it be content marketing, social media or word of mouth, often times your employees are your best brand advocates. In this article, we will touch on:

1. Why employees make a good sales and marketing channel
2. What employees can do to drive sales and marketing productivity
3. The benefits of activating and automating employees to become brand advocates
4. Why now?

1) There are many reasons why employees have the potential to be a powerful sales and marketing channel for your brand. First, in today’s connected world, employees can reach their social networks on the brands behalf, easily and often. They have a strong voice. In addition, employees are typically very knowledgeable about your products and services and a good percentage of them are passionate about the company. Lastly, their friends listen to them and they can drive your brands message.

More than ever before, buyers look to a trusted source before making a purchase decision. Employees can and will reach out to their social networks and spread a brand’s message, especially if they are encouraged and enabled to do so.

2) Employees do many things that are very important to the brand. They can:

– Refer their friends.
– Recruit new hires and great talent
– Amplify marketing messages
– Forward content about new products and promotions
– Write testimonials

Even better? They can do these things at scale.

3) The benefits are impressive. Leads are the lifeblood of all companies and by enabling and encouraging employees to refer their friends, brands can:

– Build brand awareness and build a highly positive reputation
– Generate the highest quality leads – leads that drive new customer acquisition
– Create higher levels of employee enthusiasm and loyalty to your company
– Save money and lower risk when compared to traditional advertising and marketing initiatives.

4) Why now? Although employee advocacy isn’t a new concept, in the past it has been an operational nightmare to create and manage these programs. But today’s technology has made it easy for administrators to set up, support and manage advocacy programs. Technology makes it easy to:

– Enroll employees into the program
– Provide employees the tools to easily reach out to their networks
– Track and manage all the workflows and controls so brands can measure results
– Automate the process of brands thanking and nurturing employees for their contributions so they continue to advocate on behalf of the brand

This is not a future pipedream. Mobilizing employees, customers and 3rd party influencers to leverage their trusted relationships is happening everywhere because it is smart business: they are a sales and marketing channels of the future.

This guest post was written by Dick Beedon, CEO of Amplifinity.

In exchange for a lifetime supply of Doritos Los Tacos, Tyler agrees to get a tattoo…of a taco…on his arm. It’s relevant because Toronto Taco Bells decided to keep DLT on their menus permanently after a trail run. Aside from the unintended sexual connotations of a taco tattoo, Tyler fails to realize that in a few decades, it’s possible that Taco Bell takes the tacos off their menu (though we’ve been told they’re “permanent” in Canada). Not guaranteed, but possible, and then he has a tattoo of an obsolete offering from Taco Bell. Tyler is maybe 50 or 60 at this point and thriving as an MP in Toronto. If this scenario plays out, does Tyler still get the tacos for life? Would love to get a copy of his contract.

The spot itself, from Toronto shop Grip Limited, is not as exciting as the idea behind it. Fairly simple, guy walks into tattoo parlor, gets tattoo, confirms stereotypes by saying things like, “I’ve been a fan of Taco Bell since I was ten years old,” even though he looks about 26. I’d have to imagine the kind of person who finds this spot cool already eats Doritos Los Tacos regularly, has half-serious plans to move to Colorado or Uruguay, and is probably between the ages of 15-19. If not, then I’ve really overestimated the collective common sense of humanity. Credits after the jump.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

In case you missed its multiple airings during the NFL playoff games over the weekend, here’s a new anthem ad for the iPad Air, which perhaps interestingly enough is not a TBWA\Media Arts Lab joint according to folks on the Spy line. (we’re checking on this)

That may come as less of a surprise after viewing the spot, which is something of a departure from Apple’s recent tone and style. The 90 second long “Your Verse” attempts to inspire via an ode to poetry and beauty, while documenting a wide range of different ways people use their iPad Air. While the device is never mentioned during the ad, it is shown in action during almost every shot, in locations around the world. The title of the ad comes from the Walt Whitman poem, “O Me! O Life!” (you may recognize it from the movie, Dead Poets Society) which it directly quotes from. “Your Verse” ends by repeating the final line of the poem — “That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.” — before asking, “What will your verse be?”

The visually impressive, Whitman quoting spot is, while a departure from recent advertising strategies for Apple, also something of a restatement of the company’s supposed core values. Instead of telling you about device functionality, or attempting a sentimental family scene, the spot instead tells you about what Apple stands for, or at least what they’d like you to think they stand for. For Apple, that’s something of a return to the fundamentals. Whether that’s inspiring or overblown and pretentious will depend largely on the viewer.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Okay, so we’ll start this one by admitting we have no idea what cricket is all about, but Saatchi and Saatchi New Zealand are behind a new campaign for Tui beer, called “Catch A Million,” giving fans the opportunity to win their share of one million dollars.

Fans can win $100,000 by making a one-handed grab in the stands while wearing a special orange Tui t-shirt. So far the campaign has been a big success, says William Papesch, Tui marketing manager, with “a sea of Tui orange at grounds and the first one-handed winner, Michael Morton in Hamilton on Jan 8th.” The promotion is  a pretty clever way to get a bunch of people to advertise your product for free, even if it comes with a potentially hefty price tag. Now if only someone could explain the rules of cricket to us… Credits and footage of the first winning catch after the jump. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Goodby Silverstein and Partners‘ latest work for Frito-Lay is a new campaign promoting Tostitos fajita flavored scoops! tortilla chips and Tostitos queso blanco dip — two products launched around last week’s 2014 Tostito’s Fiesta Bowl — as well as Tostitos cantina thin and crispy toritlla chips and Tostitos cantina chipotle salsa. Entitled “Bring The Party,” the campaign is centered around two new television spots: “Grandma” and “Speaker Dancer” (featured above).

Both spots focus on the over-the-top “O’Hare’s Party Repair” company, who bust in on boring parties to save them with their party expertise. It’s a goofy  jab at classic, local home-repair ads that finds the company taking obvious measures like replacing lame snacks with the aforementioned Tostitos products, as well as more drastic ones, like removing grandma from the house for a day or installing a speaker dancer. I think someone forgot that grandmas buy Tostitos, too.

What sets the ads apart is the engagement they offer after the commercials are over. Both the phone number provided and the website are fully operational. At the Bring The Party website, you can find “Pocket Party Repair Tools” such as Conversation Escape Call, Pocket Dancer, and Party Foul Cards, as well as a list of other services. I think we’ve all been to a party that could have benefited from a few Party Foul Cards being handed out. The “Bring The Pary” campaign “also includes digital, social media, in-store activations and public relations.” Stick around for “Grandma” after the jump. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

To promote The Power of Movement, Canada’s largest yoga fundraiser, Lowe Roche wanted to show that not only would the event raise money for arthritis, but that yoga can bring increased mobility to arthritis sufferers as well.

To link these ideas, Lowe Roche crafted a 30 second spot featuring yogis lined up to resemble “shapes of the human bone system.” The spot uses this as a striking visual representation of the ties between yoga, arthritis and mobility, accompanied by text explaining how you can help those with arthritis simply by doing yoga. All of this is accompanied by the obligatory new age music you’d hear at a typical yoga studio.

For Lowe Roche creative director Jane Murray, this was a very personal project. Murray suffers from a rare form of arthritis called Ankylosing Spondylitis, which causes the spine to fuse. When client Sabrina Young approached her asking if she knew any agencies who would take on pro-bono work for the Arthritis Research Foundation, she volunteered and made it her pet project.

Print elements of the campaign launched last month, while the television component of the campaign was only recently unveiled. The Power of Movement event is scheduled for March 2. Credits after the jump. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Well, Havas-related news is definitely on our radar today. Just to clarify for the tipsters out there, we received word from sources familiar with the matter that Arnold, which had worked on Unilever brands including Nexxus, Simple and St. Ives (from Alberto Culver, which were sold to Unilever in 2011 and awarded creative duties to Arnold and Mullen back in summer 2010), has been relegated to a project basis. While coping with the Unilever loss, Arnold is somewhat balancing the scales by picking up brand work for Sanofi and Regeneron cholesterol drug,  alirocumab. We’ll keep you posted when we hear more.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Mountain View-based Symantec Corporation has awarded its global creative and brand strategy duties to Grey San Francisco for its anti-virus brand, Norton. In addition, Grey SF will join forces with sister WPP shop Mediacom to handle global media buying/planning/strategy duties for both Symantec and Norton. Regarding Symantec’s decision, VP of brand, digital and advertising Alix Hart says, “As part of Symantec’s company-wide transformation, we are changing the way we market our brands, and have sought a creative partner to help strengthen our brand messaging and ensure we are communicating our brand value propositions in an integrated fashion around the world. Grey’s creativity, strategic thinking, strong digital capabilities and deep understanding of our Norton brand were unbeatable when coupled with Mediacom’s media management sophistication, scale and buying power.”

No word on who else participated in the review, but the Norton biz was previously handled by Leo Burnett. Expect first work from Grey SF for Norton to launch in spring of this year. As far as Symantec creative duties go as a whole, fellow Bay Area shop Godfrey Q retains duties for the brand, which includes identity and naming.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

A&E hasn’t been the serious “Real. Life. Drama.” channel it once presented itself as for a long time, and the current network bears little resemblance to its former self, so a rebrand only seemed obvious. Troika, who also recently rebranded the Encore channels, delivered a more appropriate brand image for the network now most know as the channel to turn to for marathons of Duck Dynasty.

In addition to Duck Dynasty, sadly the most-watched nonfiction series in cable history, the rebrand also focuses on recent hits Bates Motel and Longmire. Touting the network’s “100% original programming lineup” and recent successes makes sense for the network, which really couldn’t be more different from the channel that  called itself “Arts and Entertainment.” “Be Original” works as both the tagline and “internal brand platform,” anchoring the rebrand while simultataneously touting the 100% original content of the network and the distinct characters of its most-watched shows. You can get a good idea of the rebrand from the montage above, but for the full experience head here for an in-depth case study.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.