Hasta La Creative!

Ford’s latest dive into original branded content is “Laugh Trek,” a web series starring comedians Moshe Kasher, Nick Thune, the 2014 Ford Fiesta with voice command something-or-other, and Made Man, the men’s lifestyle site from Defy Media (born from the merger of Break Media and Alloy Digital). Also, your aunt Judy may or may not have something to do with this.

Ford (who’s no stranger to the branded web series game) has made “Laugh Trek” into part road trip/part stand-up comedy competition hybrid, with this week’s episode challenging Thune and Kasher to make fun of a Korean pop song in front of Korean people. Now, to spare you from the 8-minute video, let’s just say that Kasher bombs pretty hard. The fact of the matter is that K-Pop is a pretty easy target, so spending a long amount of time making fun of something that’s mildly annoying isn’t very funny. Thune tries a different approach, pretending that the upbeat song is actually being played at a funeral and that he has been tasked with the eulogy to the deceased, a made up guy named Travis. It’s funnier, but, still, not great. As a fan of Thune, this made me a little sad.

If that somehow still sounded appealing, you can watch the first episode, “Retirement Home,” here and five more here as the season progresses. Credits after the jump.
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McCann and Lowe have put together a new global integrated campaign for Nestle’s espresso line Nespresso featuring good pals/Oceans Eleven co-stars George Clooney and Matt Damon.

The new spots follow in the footsteps of the eight part, award-winning campaign with George Clooney, who’s been the face of Nespresso–especially outside of the U.S.–since 2006. In this latest effort, “Nespresso: In the Name of Pleasure,” (featured above), Clooney is snubbed by an attractive female, which is supposed to be funny because he’s George Clooney. In the cheesy, not surprising “twist,” the woman tells a crowd “George Clooney’s inside,” causing a stampede.

In the shorter complement to the main Nespresso “Pleasure” ad, Clooney runs into his Hollywood colleague and informs everyone of the latter’s presence, causing a similar stampede. If you like the gimmick, or love the talent enough not to care either way, you’ll fall for it. Otherwise, you may be wondering what the appeal is (like me). Check out the Damon follow-up as well as credits after the jump. continued…

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We figured we’d kick things off by addressing tips we received on the Spy late in the day yesterday regarding the relationship between Coca-Cola North America and Hearst-owned digital agency, iCrossing. From what sources in the know tell us, due to “a shrinking budget,” it was a mutual decision for Coke to “streamline a small piece” of its North American paid search business with Starcom MediaVest Group. While SMG hasn’t responded to our inquiries as of yet, it appears that iCrossing, which actually expanded its search relationship with Coke NA nearly two years ago, is still very much in the mix.

According to sources, iCrossing is still managing the soft drink giant’s biggest North American paid search effort, My Coke Rewards, and remains Coke’s global search AOR. In addition, we’ve been told that Coke has tapped iCrossing to manage its supplementary search campaign to support its Sochi Olympics sponsorship.

Update: Well, the Coca-Cola camp has chimed in and wants to clarify its relationship with SMG. A spokesperson, who tells us the “shrinking budget” issue is actually not an issue, says, “Coca-Cola is extending our relationship with SMG to drive greater innovation, efficiencies and effectiveness across platforms. By integrating search into our overall connections plans, this further enables our Company to take a major step forward in building best-in-class connections plans scaling across owned, earned, shared and paid media channels.”

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Following a review, Pernod Ricard has expanded its relationship with London/Sydney-based indie creative agency AnalogFolk, which has now been awarded global digital/social media duties for its luxury whiskey brand, Chivas Regal, which the spirits giant lists as of one its two “global icons” (the other being Absolut). AnalogFolk, which just opened up shop in New York a couple of months ago, now adds to its existing Pernod Ricard portfolio that includes Malibu (which AF also serves as global digital agency for) as well as brands such as Luksusowa, Kahlua and Wyborowa.

In a statement, Chivas Regal global brand director Richard Black says, “This is an important development in our digital plans for 2014. During the digital review process, we were impressed with AnalogFolk’s strategic thinking and innovative creative ideas. We look forward to working closely together to make these ideas a reality.” No word yet on who else participated in the pitch, but AnalogFolk takes over for EVB (specifically the London office, which declined to participate) on the Chivas global digital biz. AF will now work closely with Havas Worldwide and Ketchum, which handle above-the-line advertising and PR, respectively, for Chivas on integrated projects.

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We’ve received confirmation that Bayer HealthCare, the pharma/medical products-focused subsidiary of 150-year-old German company, Bayer AG, has awarded U.S. consumer media planning duties for its Animal Health unit to Kansas City-based Consumer Orbit following a review. The Animal Health U.S. planning account, which sources say is worth approximately $30 million in spend, was previously handled by PHD.

According to folks on the Spy line, PHD did participate in the review for the biz along with MediaCom and Energy BBDO, though we’ve yet to receive confirmation on this. Consumer Orbit, a company that focuses primarily on media planning and analytics, referred all inquires to Bayer HealthCare, which just so happened to  open up its new U.S. headquarters (pictured above) on a 94-acre campus in Whippany, NJ a few weeks ago.

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Well, this slipped through the cracks while yours truly was on “vacation” last week. Sorry for the lag, but we should mention that Greek yogurt giant Chobani has continued fleshing out its agency roster as it’s now appointed 40-year-old, Southfield, MI-based MARS Advertising as its shopper marketing agency of record. According to those in the know, there was no review or incumbent on the Chobani shopper marketing account. Regarding the brand’s decision, though, Chobani SVP of marketing Brad Charron says in a statement, “When looking for a partner in the shopper marketing space, we simply wanted to work with the best shopper marketing agency in the industry. We found MARS’ ability to shape the consumer buying experience through its deep understanding of today’s shopper invaluable and look forward to a long-lasting relationship with their team.”

MARS, which has also worked with notable clients like Walmart, Pfizer and Diageo, now joins a Chobani agency roster that includes Droga5 and Weber Shandwick, which the brand tapped to handle creative and PR duties, respectively, two months ago.

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The onion alert is in full effect. Skype has been promoting their global capabilities with a “Stay Together” campaign produced by Pereira & O’Dell, and the fourth video in the series, “The Born Friends Family Portrait,” is a smart showcase of the program’s utility. Two girls, Sarah from Indiana and Paige from Auckland, were both born without fully developed left arms and formed a long distance friendship over the years. Sarah and Paige are now teenagers, and as you can see in the accompanying clip, finally met in-person. It’s touching and respectfully filmed.

The three prior videos cover similar stories – a father talking to his family still in Africa, a zookeeper in America keeping tabs on an animal family in Australia, and a two young cousins (common theme) closing the gap between Brazil and America. We should probably expect more tearjerkers from Skype, because these are the kind of tales that sell themselves. No misdirection or exploitation, just a documentary setup that has the right kind of appeal. Credits after the jump.

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It’s ironic that Regal, in an effort to get people interested in going to movie theaters, would ask popular Vine actors to star in a branded miniseries called Date Night Fails that is premiering on the Internet. There’s more mess beyond the irony, since Regal turned to Vine, which has, itself, plateaued in terms of popularity, much like the movie theaters. So, even though this campaign is harmless, it’s also kind of sad.

Created by LA-based digital agency Something Massive, Date Night Fails stars Jason Nash as Vince, a clueless buffoon who has occasional funny moments stemming from his loud, overbearing, and sometimes annoying personality. That Look at Me approach to humor can get old very quickly, as it does here, even though there are only five two-minute episodes. Vine does have a turtle named Quentin Taraturtle for whatever that’s worth. Other well-known Viners such as KC James and Arielle Vandenberg appear in some of the clips, which all have to do with convincing you that going to the movies is better than watching movies at home. Intuitively, that makes sense, even if the reasons, themselves don’t. Like in “Loading,” repeated streaming problems interrupt Vince and a date from watching a movie on his TV, even though those kind of buffering issues don’t exist long-term and can be fixed easily. Or in “Making Concessions,” where homemade and store-bought snacks are supposed to make you want to go to a theater and buy $10 popcorn, even though the dynamic actually works in reverse.

See, harmless and kind of sad. There’s probably a way to execute this miniseries more effectively, maybe with shorts about not being able to see new titles on Netflix, dealing with frequent commercials on cable, and encountering loneliness at home versus enjoying the theater experience with a crowd of people who laugh, gasp, etc. But that’s not what Date Night Fails is, and any person who stops to think for two seconds will see right through these straw men.

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“Epic Night Out,” the splashy new 90-second Call of Duty: Ghosts spot from 72andSunny for Activision, is indeed epic, and easily riffs on the four-guys-who-have-fun-in-danger motif made popular by The Hangover. There are a few celebrity cameos, a crumbling Las Vegas set, and classic music, Sinatra’s “Live Until I Die.” Very epic. But no baby, though. Instead, the four heroes and their dog travel from desert wasteland, to cityscape, to outer space, and then to a frozen tundra. With the music and quick editing, it’s hard to pay attention to anything else.

I’m all for first-person shooters, and I don’t think they are ruining kids. If this spot were for the U.S. Armed Forces, that would be different. But, it’s worth pointing out that guns, explosions, apocalyptic Vegas, Frank Sinatra, and Megan Fox is way past the boiling point of glorying violence for a TV spot. That’s sensory overload for all of the juiced up gamer-guys who are going to sit in the basements and pretend not to pee in empty soda bottles. It’s also brilliant misdirection.  And if not for the Grand Theft Auto V ads, this would be the best video game spot I’ve ever seen. Credits after the jump.

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They’ve done Balls. They’ve done Paint. They’ve done Zoetrope. They’ve done Bunnies. It’s done Pyramids. They’ve done Bubbles. So why not an entire town?

Yup, that’s exactly what Sony, with help from McCann London did to hype the new Bravia 4K TV. It’s a wonderfully colorful epic Which results in the covering of an entire town with millions colored pieces of paper petals, biodegradable, of course.

The ad is set to the track ‘Berlin’ which is the title of the debut release from LA-based Australian RY X.

Of the shoot, director Jaron Albertin commented, “I was really excited to be shooting this ad in 4K in such an amazing location. It was my first experience shooting with the Sony F65 and when I saw the final footage, I was stunned. It just produces really amazing, detailed images. Because there is twice as much data, it looks twice as crisp which means you can see even the tiniest detail.”

Of course, you have to watch the ad on the new TV to truly appreciate its beauty. For now, we have YouTube.