Walton Isaacson Slows Things Down for Cruzan Rum

Following on the heels of last year’s “Don’t Hurry” campaign, Walton Isaacson has created a series of follow-up ads for Cruzan Rum. Keeping that campaign’s tagline and focus on slowing down to live in the moment, this year’s iteration takes things off the metaphorical “Don’t Hurry” island to everyday life.

In the new series of ads, people are shown in common situations where hurrying really isn’t getting them anywhere, including speed dating (above) and speed chess. The digital campaign includes these two 30-second spots, as well as three 15-second pre-roll videos, and will be supported by social media, public relations and retail extensions.

“If you hurry through life, you could miss something big, and that’s what we really want people to take away from the campaign,” explained Brendan Lynch, senior director of rum & cordials at Beam Suntory. “We’re often so focused on what’s in front of us that we miss what’s going on around us. It’s important to slow down, take the time to enjoy the best things in life, like Cruzan Rum, one sip at a time – and our fans agree.”

Stick around for “Speed Chess,” a recipe for “Cruzan Life’s A Peach” and credits following the jump. Don’t forget to lightly slap your mint sprig. continued…

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In john st.’s World, Fear is Key to Great Brand Experiences

WPP-owned, Toronto-based john st. continues in its great annual tradition of taking the piss out of the industry as part of its pitch for Strategy‘s Agency of the Year awards (we covered fellow Toronto agency Lowe Roche’s entry earlier today). In its follow-up to last year’s introduction of a “professional clicking service” called Buyral, john st. gets more aggressive, scaring the bejeezus out of total strangers (well, at least let’s play along) as part of the a new marketing strategy that the agency’s christened “exFEARiential.”

It’s just as absurd/amusing, if not more so, than previous john st. AOY videos including Buyral as well as predecessors, Catvertising and Pink Ponies. It looks like we aren’t the only ones that get a kick out of “exFEARiential” as it picked up Best Agency Video at the Strategy awards, where john st. also took home gold for Agency of the Year and bronze for Digital Agency of the Year. FYI, if you stick around til the end of the clip, you can click on separate videos of the stress tests featured above (or if you’re just unwilling to wait, go here and here). Credits after the jump.

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