Hasta La Creative!

BBDO New York has unveiled a new GE commercial, part of the brands “Brilliant Machines” campaign, which takes on a Back to the Future theme and is voiced by Michael J. Fox. It would appear the agency and the brand are sticking with their movie-themed approach which kicked off earlier this year with a Matrix-themed commercial featuring Hugo Weaving. Hmm, what’s next, a Terminator-themed ad featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger?

The Michael J. Fox ad touts GE’s ability to use data to predict power needs for entire cities.

In the ad, Fox says, “1.21 gigawatts? Today, that’s easy. GE is revolutionizing power, supercharging turbines with advanced hardware and innovative software; using data predictively to help power entire cities.” He closes with, “So the turbines of today will power us all into the future.”

Advertising aside, what we’re really looking forward to is Fox’s new show, The Michael J. Fox Show, which pulls no punches and gleefully, boldly and without apology, pokes all kind of fun at Parkinson’s Disease.

From the Daft Punk meets Philip K. Dick meets Steig Larsson collection comes the Nismo watch, essentially a smartphone on your wrist that provides car-related data. Do drivers need reminders of speed or heart rate accompanied by suggestions to slow down? Probably not. Do they need reminders to get oil changes? Probably (even though most new cars can tell you this on the dash). But either way, the watch looks like a cool gadget and should retail for an expensive enough price, so it becomes a sleek status symbol.

The 100-second promo, created by TBWA G1 + TBWA Helsinki, is just as shiny and metallic as the watch itself. The music sounds like a leftover track from the last Transformers movie, and although this may not be an intended consequence, might make you want to drive fast. I’d prefer to spend however much the watch costs on gas, but if you have some excess income and want to purchase the watch equivalent of wearing sunglasses indoors, this product is perfect for you.

Credits after the jump.

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When we last wrote about GoDaddy, it was to report they had taken a new direction with several Deutsch-created commercials that, while they didn’t completely leave behind the salaciously prurient approach to marketing, they did, at least, focus on the substance behind the service.

This week, the brand is taking another step away from it formerly sexed-up, raunchy and, let’s be honest, childish ways (hmm…perhaps they finally took our advice) with an ad featuring none other than Jean-Claude Van Damme. Yea, you read that right. The B-movie legend can be seen in “The Baker” which debuted during last night’s NFL season opener on NBC.

Of the shift, GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving said,”This is the radical shift we knew we had to make and it’s more than just marketing. A brand is a promise to our customers and a commitment to understand their needs. Our mission is to ‘fight the good fight for the go getter’ … the small business owner … or anyone who labors for the love of it and wants the benefits of the latest technology without having to be an expert.”

Long time CMO Barb Rechterman added,”This is definitely different for us, but you’ll see we still have a sense of humor. We think Jean-Claude is hilarious. ‘The muscles from Brussels’ certainly helps make the commercial memorable, but the story also illustrates the struggles and time constraints many small business owners face every day. Our job is ‘to be there’ for these small business owners who want to attract more customers with beautiful websites that are easy to create and affordable to maintain.”

In the ad, which is, by far, one of the strangest we have ever seen, Van Damme can be seen in various acrobatic poses playing the bongos, shaking maracas and playing the pipes. His antics represent the motivation and support GoDaddy can bring to small businesses.

Part of this new approach also includes a site redesign. The brand has launched a simplified website with a minimal design, a more intuitive interface and a streamlined checkout process. It has also re-built its Website Builder product which allows people to quickly create a website.

It would appear Bob Parsons has been put out to pasture.

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.

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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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