Mondelez Gives Middle Finger to Agencies, Moves to 120 Day Payment

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Get a load of this insanity. Mondelez, that packaged goods company all the social media whiz kids love so much because it’s behind Oreo, has now decided it will take 120 days to pay agencies and other suppliers. And get a load of this buzzword-laden bullshit a Modelez stament gives as reason for the move:

“We’re continually looking to drive efficiency and improve our processes on a global basis. Extending our payment terms allows us to better align with industry and make sure we compete on fair grounds, while simultaneously improving transparency and predictability of payment processes.”

Um, what?

You meant to say you’re doing this to make your books look better, are able to spend more than you have and don’t give two shits about how this will affect your agency partners.

If you don’t have the money and can’t pay for something then don’t buy it in the first place. That’ll make your books look better. Not fucking vendors up the ass by making them wait 120 days for payment.

And we wonder why this country is in so much debt.

On an up-note, this is great news for FastPay

‘Leaked’ Microsoft Ad Parodies Google, Says Chrome Spies on You, Sells Your Info

Arguably the best part of the ongoing tech wars is just how catty all of these Silicon Valley giants are when it comes to their competitors. While a Microsoft spokesperson allegedly told Mashable that the above spot was “not meant for public consumption,” it’s an obvious continuation of the brand’s “Don’t Get Scroogled” campaign, which started running late last year. Perhaps all they needed to add before it went live was a Microsoft logo. Oh, and if you’ll notice after the jump, it’s a direct parody of Chrome’s “Now Everywhere” spot from early March.

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Your Porsche Update, Part Deux: It’s Down to Two

Well, you asked for it, and we’re giving it to you. To follow up on our Porsche review post from yesterday, we’ve heard from very reliable sources that the pitch for the automaker’s North American creative account is indeed down to two: Chicago-based incumbent Cramer-Krasselt and, you guessed it, Minneapolis-based Olson. Consider us surprised as we thought everyone’s darling agency Droga5 would be in the mix, but not so. Anyhow, we’re hearing Porsche’s decision is imminent and that the brand is getting more digitally focused in terms of its creative efforts. The other two finalists as mentioned before were CP+B Miami and McKinney. We’ll keep you posted.

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Holland Wants to Show You Why It’s a Cool Country

Pim de Koel is not the most interesting man in the world, but he may be interesting enough to make you want to travel to Holland. Koel headlines a new Dutch travel spot, “Holland. The Original Cool.” that was put together in a joint effort from Mustache, the Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions, KLM Airlines, Schiphol Airport, and Amsterdam Marketing. The commercial focuses on how Holland is fun, quirky, pretty, forward-thinking, artsy, and generally better than wherever you live. They also like to say Van Gogh in thick accents. I can’t argue against their sophisticated European sensibilities, Holland is cool. You should visit there just so you can meet the one old, bitter Dutch dude who doesn’t speak English. And there’s no need for weed jokes or Red Light District quips, because Pim keeps it clean. The pitch has worked thus far, racking up close to 125,000 views in only one day (see how it’s blown up this week on Reddit after the jump).

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The Porsche Review Might Be Coming Down to the Wire

Since tipsters were scolding us for not talking about it much, here’s a quick update on Porsche North America’s creative review, which was launched five months ago. From what we’ve been told, it’s basically down to a few finalists and sources familiar with the matter confirm that Chicago-based incumbent Cramer-Krasselt is still very much in the mix.

We’re hearing that C-K, which has handled the account since 2007, is now battling it out with just a couple of the other finalists reported by Adweek in February including Droga5, CP+B Miami, Olson (when reached, wouldn’t comment, referred inquiries to client) and McKinney. Yep, it’s still a crapshoot, but we hope you’re appeased for now. As has been reported, you probably shouldn’t expect anything until end of month/early next, but who thinks C-K will retain? Feel free to weigh in.

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Pre-Injured Russell Westbrook Stars in New Champs/Jordan Brand Spot

As you may know, Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star Russell Westbrook suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first round of NBA Playoffs. Instead of flying in for dunks, Westbrook has watched the rest of his team’s games with crutches by his side. And even though the Thunder are one game away from playoff elimination, Champs and Jordan brand have decided to launch a new Westbrook campaign, created by L.A.-based agency Zambezi and filmed pre-injury, as perhaps a sign of solidarity for their hobbled endorser. The above commercial will run for the next few weeks during the Conference Finals.

In the spot, a high school basketball player transforms into Westbrook on and off the court when he gets new Jordan gear from Champs Sports. The on-the-court part is great, but the off-the-court part may not be a good look for a high school kid – or any human being with two spoonfuls of self-respect, for that matter – since Westbrook is the guy who wears this in his free time. Regardless of the fashion lampooning or the fake glasses he wore regularly to post-game press conferences, the decision to keep the campaign alive after Westbrook’s injury is a cool gesture from the brands involved. Be on the lookout for more Westbrook spots as we head into the never-ending stretch of NBA Playoff basketball that precedes summer.

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‘Family Guy’ Scribe Makes Nice with DiGiorno on Twitter

And this, friends, is how an unlikely bond on the Twitters begins. Last Friday, digital agency Resource, which houses offices in Columbus, Cincinnati, Chicago, etc., decided to continue its habit of engaging/baiting Twitter celebs. Not sure Shawn Ries is quite a “celeb” per se, but the guy’s been a staff writer on Family Guy for a couple of years, so that at least says something. Anyhow, Resource, which handles all digital properties for the “It’s not delivery” pizza brand, DiGiorno, decided to strike up a Twitter convo, and above and below, you can see how the chat evolves from snippy to sappy in no time (and now, we’ve been told Ries follows DiGiorno..aww). Think we all learned something today, though we’re not sure what yet. You can check out larger, squint-free image after the jump…

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Audi Shows Us How ‘It Couldn’t Be Done’ Got Done

Audi has been busy lately, pumping out ads for their newest cars in sponsorship deals with Iron Man while simultaneously pitting past and present versions of Spock against each other. The automaker seems to be at it again, now with longtime agency Venables Bell & Partners, for a 60-second spot that traces back to the origin of the company. Retro footage of Audi’s founder, August Horch, and old-school automobiles plays for most of the spot, set to narration of the children’s poem It Couldn’t Be Done, written by Edgar Albert Guest. I guess Dr. Suess was busy.

By design, most of the commercial feels like it belongs to pre-1980, but the dissonance of the kid’s poem and the speeding-car shots strikes a cool chord. While previous car spots may be clever or topical when full of movie stars, this one stands out in a good way. It’s smooth and engaging, presumably, like a ride in a new Audi. Credits and a couple of :15 second spots after the jump.

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Here’s the Dunder-Mifflin Spot That’ll Run During ‘The Office’ Finale

On Thursday, NBC’s long-running U.S. version of The Office will celebrate its series finale after nine seasons on air, the last three of which everyone would like to pretend never happened because they were pretty boring and shitty.

The end of The Office also means the end of free product placement for Dunder Mifflin, the fictional-turned-real paper company licensed from Comcast by Staples two years ago to sell under the latter’s Quill brand. What might have seemed like a clever business venture at the time is now looking a bit silly as, with no more episodes of The Office on the horizon, Dunder Mifflin’s charm as a gag gift is fading quickly. Soon (as in probably about a year a so), if someone gets you a ream of Dunder-Mifflin paper, you will not laugh knowingly at the brand, thus depreciating the only value it offers. Instead, you will marvel at the fact that a friend got you a ream of paper as a gift, and likely consider them a total asshole.

Hopefully, Staples will put Dunder Mifflin out of its misery faster than NBC did with The Office, but in the meantime, we’re still getting spots produced by LA-based crowdsourcers Tongal that are even worse than the last season of the show they’re based on. Luckily for America, the above spot is only running during the series finale’s telecast in five Dunder Mifflin “branch” markets (Scranton, Utica, Akron, Albany and Syracuse), so you would most likely be spared if you hadn’t visited AgencySpy today. Sorry about that, but hey, at least we get Steve Carell back for the two-hour finale on Thursday, right?

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Mash+Studio NYC Makes Metaphors with Children’s Story (for Adults)

“Jenny and the Chicken,” a Mash+Studio slideshow illustrated by Danny Mcclain, is one of those metaphorical stories that lets you know it’s metaphorical halfway through the narrative. A boy named Brand wants to befriend a a girl named Jenny, but he can’t figure out how to make her like him. He tries all of the usual friendly activities, like connecting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., but Jenny doesn’t seem interested in a guy who talks about himself all the time. Remember, his name is Brand. Get it?

This type of wink-wink story is typically not as clever as its creators think it is. Anthropomorphic chickens aside, engaging with consumers effectively is a lot more complicated than showing how a brand sees the world. I’m not sure who Mash plans to target with this slideshow, which is partly why it feels disjointed, but unless they start teaching brand equity to second graders, you might want to turn the page.

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DraftFCB Finds Success with Felines, Cash Prizes

DraftFCB Chicago has invoked the cuteness theory for their latest Del Monte Foods work, which suggests that people will always respond positively to cats or babies. The Facebook campaign lets users personalize a digital cat avatar with pet photos and create a jingle. Aside from the obvious cooing and awwing, those who play along could win a $100 daily prize or a $10,000 grand prize. I can almost hear the creaky bones of cat ladies crunching as they try to get up from their rocking chairs and walk to their computers without stepping on one of their 47 cats.

The app has been so successful thus far, according to echoes from the Chicago office, that the agency’s needed to add more servers to accommodate the traffic. That means cat ladies are probably making 47 entries for each of their kittens, giving them more chances to win and less chances to ever reclaim a normal life that involves other human beings.

Credits after the jump.

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ASICS Prepares Us For ‘What’s Next’

Over the past few years, VITRO’s work for ASICS has been consistently high-quality, doing a remarkable job of depicting products’ ability to allow athletes achieve the impossible but not quite the unbelievable. I’m talking, of course, of popular spots that feature athletes out-running arrows and kind of walking on water, which I would link here but I know you’ve seen them hundreds of times already.

Because of this history, a new spot, “What’s Next” is a bit surprising. There’s nothing superhuman or jaw-dropping here. Just some good ol’ fashioned working out. In a note from VITRO, they mention that the spot was “shot in three days, in two countries, 4 parks, 3 gyms and an Italian restaurant, using 3 Olympians (Bryan Clay, Andy Potts & Ms. Lolo Jones) 12 elite US athletes in all — a hurdler, shot putter, javeliner, golfer, tennis star, triathlete, decathlete, pole vaulter, and track star. Cool Stuff: Our creative director wrote the lyrics for the song which provides the backbone of the piece.” Even more cool stuff: “Javeliner” is apparently a word. Try to use it in a sentence sometime this weekend!

While “What’s Next” certainly looks beautiful, and is very well directed (by some dude named “Xander”), it doesn’t exactly employ an execution brand new to the area of sports apparel. Perhaps as a results of heavy marketing, ASICS feels it doesn’t need to be different to stand out, having gained that brand recognition of the last few years. In short: It’s great, but not the groundbreaking work we’ve come to expect. Credits after the jump.

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Op-Ed: Commercial Appall

Recognizing mistakes retroactively is easy. After the damage is done, heads roll downhill as people ask, “Who could’ve let this happen?” At times, the criticism can be unfounded. The political correctness machine does not care much for different sides to an offensive story. But sometimes, in cases of extreme public blunders, the story only has one side.

In the past few weeks, we’ve seen two thoughtless content blunders – one from Mountain Dew, the other for Hyundai – that resulted in serious and immediate public backlash. Mountain Dew’s goat spot was developed by rapper Tyler, the Creator, and was quickly pulled by Pepsi Co. after viewers complained of racism and misogyny. As you’ll see in the above ABC News clip, it’s also being referred to as “the most racist commercial ever” for the way it reinforces black stereotypes. The Hyundai spot, which aimed to pull humor and brand equity out of a failed garage suicide attempt, may go down as one of the most insensitive commercials ever. Hyundai reached out to AgencySpy, hoping to distance itself from the bad press about an hour after we published excerpts of a heartfelt blog post from Holly Brockwell, a London-based copywriter whose father died in a similar manner to what was portrayed in the ad.

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AT&T Taps More Kids for Youthful Publicity, Adds Mother’s Day Theme to ‘It’s Not Complicated’

Let’s kill two birds, shall we? AT&T must really like little kids. First, we had the Beck Bennett commercials that ran incessantly during March Madness (and still run; check out the newest Mother’s Day-themed “It’s Not Complicated” clip from BBDO after the jump). Now, the telecom giant seems to think we want more, more, more. The latest work from Dallas-based multicultural agency Sanders\Wingo shows young’ns on their mobile devices, saying things like, “In my day…our connection was so slow, we had to take turns online.”

Some viewers may find this cute, others may find it scary, but as kids become more and more comfortable with the latest technology, these types of spots should become the norm. We already have videos of babies who can swipe a page on an iPad, but can’t turn the page in a book or magazine. Regardless, kids will always have to eat the trope-filled Brussels sprout before they get to use any of these devices, and that’s how we get the thirty-second “Veggies.”

Check out the second spot, “Haircut,” the aforementioned “It’s Not Complicated” Mother’s Day effort and credits for all after the jump.

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Gaming Site Places Ad For Seer

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On a tiny island island outside Finland called Aland where, reportedly, nothing interesting ever happens, a gaming company, Paf, placed a help wanted ad looking for a seer. Now, we hope they aren’t hiring this this future teller to game the system. Rather, we hope, like any well-run business, they’d just like the ability to predict how their business will be doing in, say the next year, five for ten.

Apparently, there are a lot of clairvoyants in Aland as the company tells us they have received hundreds of applications.

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So, Should You Go to Costa Rica?

“Anthem” the latest effort from Atlanta-based 22squared and the Costa Rica Tourism Board, may look like the rough cut of a Coldplay music video. The one-minute spot features shots of sherbet sunsets, beautiful landscapes, and even a frog jumping in slow-motion. The music is actually from M83 (from their Oblivion score), not Coldplay, but the point is that the commercial has the big sounds and simulated importance of something we’re used to seeing in music videos. That’s not a bad thing.

A few of Costa Rica’s recent tourism pitches have tried to capture this splashy substance. Patrick Pierson, who directed “Anthem,” also made the colorfully moody “Get Living.” And two years ago,  there was the Effie-winning Million Dollar Happiness campaign. In the travel ad arms race, Costa Rica is destroying those clumsy Ocean City commercials with the lifeguard who has frosted hair. Slow-motion frogs beat inserts of standard beaches every time. Credits after the jump.

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Campbell Mithun Cuts Some Media Staff in Wake of SuperValu Sale

We’ve received word straight from Campbell Mithun itself, which tells us, “As one of many marketing partners affected by the recent sale and restructuring of SuperValu, we subsequently eliminated fewer than ten positions across all levels in our media department last week.” Folks on the Spy line are adding that a few senior members in the Minneapolis-based agency’s media department were affected by the cuts, which happened approximately a week ago. As noted, CM’s staff reduction was directly due to SuperValu recently unloading 877 of its grocery stores including Albertson’s, Jewel-Osco and Acme to AB Acquisition LLC for $100 million and the assumption of $3.2 billion in the former’s debt. In turn,, the grocery/retail brand eliminated 1,100 positions nationwide.

Campbell Mithun has been serving as media agency of record for SuperValu for five years and will continue to work on media efforts for the corporation’s discount supermarket chain, Save-A-Lot, which spans well over 1,000 stores in the U.S. (SuperValu has worked with the likes of Publicis Kaplan Thaler on the creative end).

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Audi Gives Us Spock Vs. Spock

Audi has switched gears from commuting with Iron Man to inject some ad gusto into another blockbuster franchise about to hit theaters: Star Trek into Darkness. The latest spot – produced by PMK-BNC – pits the wily veteran against the smooth newcomer. Spock v. Spock. Leonard Nimoy against Zachary Quinto in a battle of intellect, trash-talk, and automobile semantics. Quinto may be prettier, but Nimoy has an old-man game full of tricks up his sleeves.

The two-minute video promotes the new Audi S7 as the perfect vehicle for anyone in need of a smooth ride with technological toys. This may not be the USS Enterprise, but it can get Quinto to the golf club faster than Nimoy’s Mercedes, at least until the twist ending. The response has been overwhelmingly positive on YouTube thus far, and it’s a safe bet that sci-fi geeks will get a kick out of the Spock-off in the coming weeks. Can those geeks buy Audis? Probably not, but at least they’ll chuckle at the playful banter. Credits after the jump.

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Mother, Acer Introduce Us to Vernon, Assistant to the ‘World’s #1 DJ’

After showing us Kiefer Sutherland/Jack Bauer’s, er, softer side and making a case for Megan Fox as a marine biologist, Mother London and Acer have teamed up again for another fairly amusing web film to promote one of the computer brand’s Ultrabooks. This latest collaboration stars the globe-trotting Dutch progressive house DJ/producer now simply known as Tiesto and his hapless assistant, Vernon, who perhaps resembles a hybrid of Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen.

One would think that Tiesto, who probably earns at least six figures a gig in a million exotic destinations and has been lathered up by the likes of DJ Magazine and Rolling Stone as the “world’s #1 DJ” over the years, would hire someone a bit less befuddled than Vernon to run his affairs. But, as you can see, being adept at using an Acer Aspire P3 Ultrabook can turn even the most awkward of characters into a model-luring, scene-stealing star. We can all dare to dream. Credits after the jump.

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5 Iconic Ad Campaigns Reimagined

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Oh have we got something fun for you! It’s a little bit Mad Men and a little bit Google Glass. What would happen if iconic ad campaigns like VW’s Think Small, Clairol’s Does She or Doesn’t She, Keep America Beautiful’s Crying Indian, Wendy’s Where’s the Beef and Brooke Shield’s sexually-suggestive Calvin Klein campaigns were to play out today?

Working with HubSpot’s Shannon Johnson, I co-authored a report entitled Traditional Turned Inbound: Re-imagining 5 Iconic Ad Campaigns From the Past. But first, let’s be honest. While I came up with the five campaigns, reached out to the industry for comment and took a stab and re-imagining the campaigns, it was the brilliant Shannon Johnson who brought this report to life with uber-intelligent insight on how these iconic campaigns from yesteryear would play out in today’s very different media landscape.

In addition to commentary from Shannon and I, you will hear from super-intelligent industry folks including The Perlorian Brothers, 360i Director of Emerging Media David Berkowitz, Tattoo Projects Creative Director Buffy McCoy Kelly and School of Thought Co-Founder Tom Geary.

The report is a beautiful marriage between yesterday’s “big idea” approach to marketing and today’s socially-focused, data-driven approach.

Download the report now and find out what it might be like if Don Draper were creating ad campaigns today.