Hasta La Creative!

It’s clear Kenneth Cole doesn’t give a crap about what pundits, the media or his customers think about his attempts to leverage major news events to his brand’s advantage. Just today, after having been lambasted for a tweet about Cairo (and plenty of other similarly stupid tweets), Cole, who runs his own Twitter account, tweeted, “Boots on the ground” or not. Let’s not forget sandals, pumps and loafers. #Footwear”

"Boots on the ground" or not, let's not forget about sandals, pumps and loafers. #Footwear

— Kenneth Cole (@KennethCole) September 5, 2013

Responses to Cole’s tweet are unilaterally negative with followers dubbing it the “dumbest tweet of the month” and asking “Mocking war to sell fashion?”

Clearly, the man either doesn’t want our advice or, more likely, couldn’t give a shit.

With a video that would appear to be announcing the coming of a new age God, Yahoo! unveiled their new logo today at 12AM. The new logo keeps the signature purple along with the exclamation point. The biggest difference, aside from the creation of a proprietary new font, is the increasing size of the “O” letters leading up to the large exclamation point which visually aligns with the brand’s yodel.

Of the new logo, Yahoo! CMO Kathy Savitt said last night,”We’re excited to share the new Yahoo logo with you. It will begin appearing across Yahoo properties globally tonight. We wanted a logo that stayed true to our roots yet embraced the evolution of our products.”

Continuing, Savitt added the usual bluster only true marketers can appreciate, “You’ll notice a chisel to our logo that’s very architectural. What we’re saying is our logo is the foundation upon which our brand and products and user experience will continue to be built.”

The change is the brand’s first since 1995.

Interestingly, the new logo, created in-house — and with help from Marissa Mayer over a weekend — by the brand design team and product designers, was not one of the 30 shared over the course of the past month as Yahoo! built towards the unveiling.

At least on YouTube, the new logo is, how shall we say, not garnering much love. Sample comments include:

“Not only does it not feel new, it looks like it was made by someone’s nephew that just learned how to use photoshop for the first time ever.”

“You? paid money for this? Wow. Welcome back to 1998.”

“Damn it looks like a downgrade.”

“Wow. The current design trend is the most boring shit I’ve ever seen. What about putting some effort into the logos instead of just using some font and write “yahoo!” in Photoshop?”

“Did someone in engineering make this logo? I’d suggest they google ‘graphic design 101′”

There will always be haters.

In an apparent move to better identify with the Millennial generation’s positive outlook on life, Mentos, with help from the brand’s new agency, McKinney, has launched a new campaign that veers dramatically from the brand’s lovably hokey “the freshmaker.”

The new approach is fronted by a decidedly less hokey commercial that carries the brand’s new tagline, “Roll With It.” The old jingle is replaced by new music from Beacon Street Studios and the antics are slightly less goofy. But true to the brand’s heritage, it’s still all about getting the girl as the guy does in this ad.

The brand will spend $30 million over the next year to promote its mints along with Mentos Pure Fresh gum.

Innocean and Hyundai try to cash in on the Vine craze with their latest campaign for Hyundai’s Genesis R-Spec, releasing several spots in the social video format for those with short attention spans.

Unfortunately for both,  the quick videos do little to capture that attention in the first place. Their predictable shorts mostly fall flat, seemingly put together on the spot with a creative process that couldn’t have lasted much longer than the Vines themselves. Examples include a jockey in the backseat, a flight attendant in the backseat, an astronaut in the back seat… I think you get the picture. The one Vine that even hints at being clever is when a medical professional with a box labeled “Human Organ For Transplant” says, “Not the deli, the hospital! Drive!” While Innocean’s idea of using the Vine’s 6-second platform to show how fast the Genesis R-Spec is makes a lot of sense, the execution just isn’t there. Perhaps others will follow their lead, hopefully utilizing the platform more effectively.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

From DDB Chicago comes the latest spot for Skittles which encourages young girls at go-kart tracks to “French the Rainbow,” thus stealing sugar-coated dentures away from shy boys nationwide.

The last time we saw a non-adult steal a kiss in a nationwide campaign was with “Prom,” Audi’s Superbowl spot from earlier this year which some people called “rape-y” and positioned Audi as “promoters of sexual assault.” Will a similar outcry occur at the defense of the candy-toothed victim in this spot? No, of course not, and feel free to get all outraged about that in the comments if that’s how you feel like spending your Wednesday.

But, before you do, I invite you to consider the true crime in this spot: Taking advantage of the young boy’s obvious dental disability to sell candy. It’s obvious that his family was unable to afford adequate dental care, and the boy must live his whole life frowning so that his sweet secret isn’t revealed. Ridicule at that age from classmates can really mess a kid up. Credits after the jump.

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For the third year in a row, Nissan is helping college football-obsessed viewers imagine what it would be like if Heisman Trophy Winners all lived in the same house for some reason.

Why would these former star college athletes live in the same house? Is it because traditionally, Heisman Trophy winners go on the middling (or worse) NFL careers that, in the best case scenario, are ignored when ESPN College Gameday offers them a job as a special correspondent? Or is it just because the “imagine the conflicts that would arise if X kind of people were forced to live together” formula still tantalizes us two decades after the  Real World debuted. TV viewers love reality show parodies, after all.

Anyway, starring in the first spot for this year’s run are former Baylor Bear and current Redskins QB Robert Griffin III teaming up with former Oklahoma Sooner and current Rams QB Sam Bradford to portray themselves as two young cool kids who race around in expensive cars and blast hip-hop. Of course, the idea that Bradford is cool in any way, or imagining him routinely participateingin this sort of activity may be the funniest aspect of this commercial. Sorry, Sam, but you’re like the Billy Joel of the NFL—beloved, respected and skilled, but not exactly “cool.”

Starring as the aging veterans are Oklahoma State Cowboy, Barry Sanders, joined by former Michigan Wolverine and current ESPN NCAA football anchor Desmond Howard, who in tandem remind us how far away the late ’80s/early ’90s seem now. Those were the days, huh? Finally, playing the even older guys are the legendary former Texas Longhorn Earl Campbell and Pittsburgh Panther Tony Dorsett, both new to the campaign this year. The campaign, which will feature a traveling Heisman House that will visit college campuses throughout the country, will run through the rest of the NCAA season. Also, Ron Dayne will be in one of these episodes, which I must mention as a Wisconsin Badger fan.

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A new series of online videos from Farmers Insurance and RPA (who also handle Honda) highlights the insurance company’s partnership with PGA golfer, Rickie Fowler. But instead of just having Fowler appear as himself, they transform him into Dick Fowler, P.I., dispenser of golf course justice. The series is an obvious homage to the 70s, with the full mustache, and the kind of jerks you’ll meet on the golf course.

In the first video, “Backswing Sting,” Fowler deals with a problem everyone has faced, whether on or off the course: the loud cell phone talker. Fowler deals with the loud talker in somewhat predictable fashion, but there is a nonsensical explosion you probably didn’t see coming.

In the follow up, “Divot Dummy,” Fowler deals with a problem more specific to the golf course: a golfer who doesn’t replace his divot. This is perhaps the more amusing of the two, with Dick Fowler forcing the “divot dummy” to eat his divot, served on a silver platter. This new, lighthearted series from Farmers is a welcome departure from the tiresome “University of Farmers” campaign.

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When the Doritos Locos Taco came to America, envious fans north of the border had to content themselves with the knowledge that while Americans had a taco with a Doritos shell, they still had universal healthcare and a lack of violent crime. Still, many Canadian Taco Bell fans grew bitter and disheartened as they waited, now for nearly two years, for Doritos Locos to make the trip north. Many lost hope. Some tweeted or posted on Facebook angrily. (Yes, apparently people  in Canada do occasionally get angry over something other than hockey.)

So Taco Bell and agency Grip Limited chose to target those Canadians who tweeted or posted angrily to be the first to try the Doritos Locos Tacos in Canada. But they took things a step further, actually etching the angry tweets and posts (in at least one case containing an expletive) into the coveted taco shell with a laser. The disgruntled fans were then invited to a “special fan event,” presented with the tacos and asked to “eat their words.” Those who thought that Taco Bell would never roll out Doritos Locos north of the border were more than happy to be proven wrong. One fan even said, “This is one of the greatest moments of my life,” which is kind of depressing, really.

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Oil brand Shell really needs no help embarrassing itself. Their 2012 Arctic drilling program was so inept (including a rig grounding and a ship fire) that even the U.S. government said they screwed up. But Greenpeace decided to go ahead and give them a hand anyway.

Following their disastrous Alaskan campaign, Shell packed up and moved their Arctic drilling program to Russia, in a joint venture with state owned energy company, Gazprom. Greenpeace wanted to get the word out that Shell’s assault on the Arctic was far from over. What better place to do that than at Sunday’s F1 Shell Belgium Grand Prix, Shell’s biggest PR blitz of the year? Greenpeace International set up remote-controlled banners. The banners, which read “SaveTheArctic.org,” then popped up during the winner’s ceremony, as the German national anthem played. The second banner popped up just after an angry official removed the first one. Much angry crumpling of the second banner followed.

Video of the incident, entitled “Shell’s priceless F1 moment” went viral on YouTube, before F1 management demanded it be removed for “copyright complaints” just before it hit 240,000 views. The reaction to the video should only fuel Shell’s embarrassment. As Greenpeace International Arctic campaigner Ben Ayliffe put it, “Bernie Ecclestone and Shell might know how to fill a racetrack, but they clearly have no idea how social media works. Hundreds of thousands of people have seen the moment Shell’s Arctic plans were uncovered at the Grand Prix, and removing the video will only encourage thousands more to laugh at the company too.”

Indeed, the video has been reposted by myriad other users, and is available at Vimeo and on countless blogs. Shell’s miscalculated reaction to the YouTube post will only add fuel to the fire of public ridicule. You’d think that a company that spends million on branding and PR would know better, but I guess there’s no underestimating Shell’s incompetence.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

English fashion consultant, author and television presenter Gok Wan recently signed 12 month a deal to appear in Target advertising in Australia. Wan happens to be gay and likes to refer to women’s breasts as “bangers,” a term he uses frequently on his UK show How to Look Good Naked. Additionally, he is being taken to task for referring to breasts as “assets.”

Predictably, the Australian public…OK, a very vocal minority…hasn’t taken kindly to Target’s selection of Wan as spokesperson for the retailer and are particularly miffed over his use of the term “bangers” in a recent Target commercial. The Advertising Standards Bureau has received several complaints about the ad.

One complaint sent to the Authority reads,”I find it distasteful that he uses the term ‘bangers’ to describe women’s breasts. If a straight man were to use similar language during prime-time TV, there would be a huge outcry by women claiming sexist behavior. There should be no different standards of acceptable language simply because a man appears to be gay.”

Another commenter was a bit more “vocal” writing, “A female body is a beautiful thing, not to be cheapened by a poofter calling breasts “BANGERS”!!!,” a third wrote. “I WAS BREAST FED, NOT BANGER FED! It’s an insult to sooooo many Aussie men and woman to see poofs on tv but you let it happen. I haven’t even started stirring up the national [Country Women’s Association] clubs yet so look out!”

For its part, Target is standing by their man and has issued a statement.”Target strongly believes that a person’s sexuality is irrelevant to their worth as a person. Target makes no apology for using a gay man in its advertising and we do not believe that this should be grounds for upholding a complaint.”

Regarding the use of the term “bangers,” Target insists they did not intend to be derogatory, rather the use of the term is meant as an “irreverent term of affection.”

Despite complaints, the Advertising Standards Bureau cleared the ad, in which Wan says “your bangers will never feel more loved,” for distribution indicating the overall tone of the ad was positive and lighthearted.

Of the term “bangers,” the Bureau stated, “The board considered that the word is not commonly used in Australia in this manner but that in this instance, it is not used in a derogatory way and that the use of the term bangers is one that is used by Gok as part of his programs and persona. The board considered that the term ‘bangers’ is not inappropriate and not strong or obscene language in this context.”

That said, the retailer did change the wording from “bangers” to “boobs” in later airings of the commercial.