Hasta La Creative!

We’re glad to welcome yet another monthly contributor to the fold in the form of Chuck Hipsher, currently a Houston-based freelance creative director who’s worked at the likes of Campbell Ewald, TBWA and what was FCB back in the day. If you wanted a story from the trenches, here you go. We should note that these opinions don’t necessarily reflect those of AgencySpy’s, but feel free to love or hate in the comments thread. By the way, you can read Chuck’s blog here.

I was fortunate enough to have worked on the Chevy Silverado brand from 2005 –2008 at then-Campbell Ewald in Warren, Michigan. I was the Creative Director who led the charge on the “Our Country. Our Truck” campaign.

John Mellencamp’s song, “Our Country” played a decisive role in that campaign’s birth because, frankly, then-CCO Bill Ludwig slid the studio demo cd across the table to me one day during creative development and said, “See what you can do with this, Chuck.”

Coming from the guy who was instrumental in the famous “Like A Rock” and “Heartbeat Of America” campaigns for Chevy, I was nothing – if not obligated, to listen and try.

Early on, we had terrific research and planning information at our disposal on what the Silverado brand meant to the people who cared. It was work extensively mined by one Ted Klauber (the greatest planner in America, btw) and his team months in advance of the creative start.

Ted and team had travelled to a half dozen or so locales throughout the country and interviewed countless truck owners of all brands, not just Chevy. They came back to Detroit and crunched their info and finally decided this: “Chevy truck drivers are everyday heroes. And the Chevy Silverado is their Big Metal Dog.”

That insight immediately sparked the minds of myself and the creatives working with me. We had an early war room with ideas on the wall that rivaled anything I’ve ever seen produced by ANY agency on ANY automotive brand. EVER.

But then there was that Mellencamp thing.

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Everyone’s all abuzz about a recent Samsung video that details the benefits of the brand’s 840 EVO solid-state hard drive. The ad, which is said to feature “possibly the world’s worst actors,” aims to recount the trials and tribulations of owning a slow computer and how the 840 EVO can speed things up.

As many have said, the acting is certainly bad however we have seen much worse. But for this to come from a big brand like Samsung is a bit of a surprise.

One of the actors in the ad, the “businessman,” defends the ad and explains the reasons why it is perceived to have been so bad.

On Reddit, he writes, “Hi. So I’m an actor/model living in Seoul, and im playing the ‘businessman’ in this promo. now, admittedly its not my best work lol, but most people arent aware of just how many factors go into making it this bad. Allow me to elaborate. They force us to speak slowly since this will be dubbed over in Korean, and even when it isnt, most people viewing it will be Korean. They ask us to exaggerate since many Korean people feel thats how we ‘naturally’ act (most people here are not very expressive). Ive worked many jobs where I tried to act naturally only to be told by the director to act more ‘bright’ (ie exaggerate). its how the director and client (in this case, Samsung), WANT us to act. the script is brutal. written by non-native english speakers, and sometimes the PD or director wont even take our suggestions to change some parts so they sound like something a normal native english speaker would say. its a promotional video, not a tv commercial, meaning it will be shown at conventions and expos and in-house. most of the people watching it are korean and thats why they make us do all of the above. edit: almost forgot, shooting took place from 730am – 3am the next day, and by the time they shot the scenes with the girl, she was literally falling asleep in her chair, hence the stoned expression and tone :)”

Actors just doing their jobs, right? No big.

In CP+B’s new Roman Coppola-directed spot for Microsoft, sweet children sing in asparagus suits while their parents frantically capture every moment using their iPhones and Androids. A brawl ensues, with parents fighting for the perfect panorama, jostling one another to avoid phone photobombing, and climbing into the ceiling pipes for the ideal aerial shot. Of course, the couple with a Nokia Lumia 1020 sits calmly in the back with their superior cameraphone, knowing they got a great photo of their daughter dressed as a carrot.

This spot is in line with Microsoft’s last video, “The Wedding,” where the same scene occurs, but at a church. Both ads end, “Don’t fight. Switch.” Considering photo sharing has become one of the most important parts of owning a phone, it’s not a bad idea. Ad-wise, this spot is a great portrait of modern day life. If only an unintelligible child vegetable chorus could always soundtrack petty adult hysteria.

Credits after the jump.

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For the pre-launch and launch phases of the new Fiery Doritos Locos Tacos (DLT), DigitasLBi created an ambitious digital and social campaign involving young YouTube influencers. Taco Bell gave chosen creators early access to the new flavor and, 13 days later, incorporated the resulting videos in the official flavor launch. Of those video creators, the top 20 were chosen to compete in a second challenge: in 24 hours, they had to complete the entire filmmaking process, culminating in a promo centered on “taking a bite of the new DLT.”

It’s an interesting idea: harness the audiences of independent YouTube stars, gaining social media cred and creative content in the process. In practice, it’s less impressive. Watching the creator content, I had flashbacks to high school health class, when we had to make video PSAs about safe sex. Every Taco Bell “spot” has the same contrived, amateurish feel.The Alexa Losey Flip Book was cute, and “Selena Stalker” was fun mostly due to the actor’s hoodie and his little eating sounds. Otherwise, color me bored. Even reading this campaign’s press release left me overwhelmed and uninterested – if Digitas wants to build excitement around a fiery flavor, they should at least tell Taco Bell’s audience where to look. They could have hired three ambitious YouTubers, given them a bigger budget, and created actual worthwhile entertainment instead of clogging the space with cobbled-together content.

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Well, when a client “declines to comment,” one starts to wonder, but anyways, multiple sources have told us that Bank of New York Mellon “is going to put [its] entire account into review” according to folks on the Spy line. The BNY Mellon global creative biz has been handled by fellow Big Apple-based operation Doremus since fall 2011. From what we’ve been told, Doremus has “declined” to continue serving as global AOR on the BNY Mellon business, which at the time called for the agency to integrate the brand’s TV, print and digital advertising in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific.

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Ah yes, we relish the thrill of the chase, especially when even the client has “no comment” on the matter. But yes, as we delve further into the rabbit hole, multiple tipsters, sources and the like have told us over the last 24 hours that Erwin Penland has nabbed creative AOR duties for CIT, the 125-year-old, NY/NJ-based financial institution focused on small business and middle market companies. Yes, it’s that sexy. Anyhow, CIT has worked in the past with the likes of Mobile, AL-based Red Square Agency and NYC-based B2B shop, Desantis Breindel.

Folks on the Spy line tell us that following a review, Erwin Penland won AOR duties for CIT, including digital, branding, and retail. If it’s official, that would mark the second notable win for the Greenville, SC-based agency, which took over on sole ad duties for Denny’s last month. We’ll keep you posted if and when we hear more.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

StubHub’s Ticket Oak is back from hiatus with some advice for a bored couple, which for this particular plant means a concert ticket giveaway. “Not everyone has a Ticket Oak, but everyone has StubHub,” the ad from SF-based Duncan/Channon ends. In past, Ticket Oak has presented sports game tickets and orchestra-center tickets for a sold-out show. He’s a generous character, made even more loveable through his social media presence. He carried on a multiple-tweet conversation about kittens with @zachford2 and made lady oak jokes on Facebook.

Ticket Oak also showed up naked in ESPN’s Body Issue, on the side of StubHub food trucks, and will be appearing in pop-up shops for fans to take selfies with the big guy. It’s a sweet campaign for a ticket company, endearing users instead of estranging them. With help from their foliaged friend, StubHub will keep on growing.

Credits after the jump

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Oh how we love when a brand says FU to a cause group. When Kraft gave us Zesty Guy a couple of months ago, members of One Million Moms were none too pleased about an image of naked Zesty Guy with a table cloth over what appears to be the dude’s partially erect penis.

Rather than bend over, pull the ad and apologize, Kraft said, “Our Kraft dressing’s ‘Let’s Get Zesty’ campaign is a playful and flirtatious way to reach our consumers. People have overwhelmingly said they’re enjoying the campaign and having fun with it.”

Today, the brand once again flips the bird to ladies who don’t enjoy drooling over hot-looking, half naked models they way most men do and is out with a new print campaign fronted by Zesty Guy, aka Anderson Davis.

Created by Being and photographed by Douglass Friedman, Davis can be seen shirtless and pantless in new ads for Kraft’s Thousand Island, Classic Ranch, Classic Catalina and Rasberry Vinaigrette salad dressings.

Kraft played this one quite well. Besides, there aren’t enough hot men objectified in advertising. We need more to counteract all those objectified women, right?

Original Ad:

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Here’s a late but worthwhile entry for today as we’ve just received the announce that Butler, Shine Stern & Partners has been named general market AOR for U.S. Bank, which is the lead bank of Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp. According to the parties involved , Sausalito, CA-based BSSP beat out “several undisclosed agencies” in a national creative review that was managed by Blamer Partnership. Regarding her company’s decision, U.S. Bank CMO Jennifer Powell says in a statement, “Our goal was to find a collaborative, creative agency that would deliver innovative ideas for our brand advertising and digital communications. BSSP emerged as the passionate, strategic, creative company we were seeking. They are an ideal agency partner.”

BSSP takes over for the agency formerly known as Kaplan Thaler Group on ad duties for U.S. Bank, which is reportedly the fifth-largest commercial bank in the US. Along with its newest client, BSSP currently works with the likes of Priceline, MINI, El Pollo Loco and Greyhound.

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In this Call of Duty: Ghosts trailer, Jake and Amir from CollegeHumor give us a preview of the action-packed prestige edition of the game. It includes a paracord strap, a Steelbook, and an HD Tactical Camera. “Naturally, we’re going to do what you do when you have a badass tactical camera strapped to your head,” the boys say. I realize I’m definitely not a video gamer when I have no idea what the next step will be. Parkour? Surveillance?

“We’re going to breach some stuff!!” Jake and Amir proceed to burst through doors, elevator doors, garden gates, and bathroom stalls, entering unexpected scenarios as they go. The best part is when they’re the uninvited guests at a little princess’s tea party. “Hi guys!” she squeaks, and we see them taking a moment to sip out of miniature purple plastic cups. The whole thing is a fun idea, far better than watching a fictional character slaughter everything in his path while the new Eminem single “Survival” plays. If only we all had disposable screen doors and wacky neighbors worthy of tactical camera footage. As it is, mothers should prepare for the onslaught of their teenage boys trying to karate chop the front door.

Check out the credits after the jump

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