Hasta La Creative!

Back in June, Cigna named McCann Erickson as its agency of record, following an extended review which also included finalists Grey and DDB. Now McCann has a new global campaign for Cigna, entitled “Together, All the Way.”

The campaign aims to introduce Cigna as a global health network in over 30 countries, with “one million doctors and health facilities, and 85 million customer relationships around the world.” In the debut spot, appearing in both 60-second and 30-second iterations, McCann presents Cigna as not just health insurance but “a partner who’s with you all the way.” The spot lists all the ways people try to stay well, such as exercising, looking both ways before crossing the street and choosing “the salad, occasionally” before stating that staying well is hard to do alone, and that you need a partner like Cigna, ending with the new tagline “Together, all the way.”

The broadcast spots are supported by digital and print executions. Additionally, ads will launch in China in October and India in November, followed by digital and social components extending the campaign into 2015.

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AMV BBDO, London has a new spot for Guiness Africa entitled “Made of Black” that gets a little awkward.

Well intentioned as it may have been, the spot comes across as a bit tone deaf, homogenizing a continent of diverse cultural groups with the term “black,” because that’s also the color of Guinness. Opening with the question “What is black?,” lines like “Black is an attitude” and “Black got swag” come across as either pandering or condescending. (Several YouTube commenters even go as far as to call the spot racist.) Add to that the poor soundtrack selection of Kanye West (why would you not select an African artist in a spot that supposedly celebrates Africa?) and you’ve got quite the headscratcher. To be fair, the spot’s visuals are quite impressive, but somehow we don’t think that’s what people are going to be talking about. (more…)

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72andSunny has just released a live action trailer for Activision’s new game Destiny, from the creators of the popular Halo franchise, which will be released on September 9th.

72andSunny and Activision went big for the trailer, teaming up with Academy Award winning VFX studio Digital Domain, Academy Award nominated FX studio Legacy Effects, and director Joseph Kosinski, who created most of the worlds for the ad in-camera, shooting at locations in Mexico, Arizona and Utah. The spot follows the adventures of Fireteam as they attempt to reclaim locations in our solar system from alien invaders. Levitating AI character Ghost is voiced by Peter Dinklage (who also voices the character in the game) and the spot mixes humor, action and Led Zeppelin’s iconic “Immigrant Song” to hype up the game and give a sense of its feel without any game footage. (more…)

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Ogilvy&Mather is unveiling a revamped Nationwide logo with a new campaign starring Peyton Manning.

The campaign will debut Thursday with a new spot (featured above) during the NFL’s first regular season game on NBC. Nationwide’s new logo, which features an eagle as a revamped nod to the company’s original logo, appears on a flag at the start of the 30-second spot. Entitled “Jingle,” the spot features Manning repeatedly humming Nationwide’s jingle, as well as setting it to different words in varying situations, such as calling an audible, taking an ice bath after a hard practice, and chowing down at home. It’s straightforward but memorable, allowing the focus to be on the new logo.

In addition to the logo change, AdAge reports that the rebranding effort from Nationwide also includes switching to a “one brand approach.” Services the company previously marketed under names such as VPI Pet Insurance, Allied Insurance and Harleysville Insurance will now all be sold under the Nationwide name.

“We need to align the entire company behind the most powerful brand asset we have, which is ‘Nationwide’ and ‘Nationwide is on Your Side,’” Nationwide Chief Marketing Officer Matt Jauchius told AdAge.

While McKinney remains Nationwide’s lead creative agency, Ogilvy & Mather was brought in to handle a multi-year marketing agreement with Manning which kicks off with this campaign. Last month, Nationwide also signed an agreement with the NFL, which allows for more authentic NFL imagery in the company’s advertising. (more…)

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M&C Saatchi is launching UGG’s first-ever global marketing campaign, entitled “This Is UGG,” which enlists the help of veteran brand ambassador Tom Brady in the brand’s latest effort to change its perception as the official fuzzy boot of Starbucks-toting girls everywhere.

Launching today, the campaign focuses on life’s smaller moments, centered around the 60-second spot “Time Out.” In the spot, Brady shares the message that in life you only get so many time outs and you need to make them count, because you can’t back pocket them or carry them over to another day. Tom’s voiceover plays out over a scene of him driving to play golf with his father, a pastime the two have shared since Tom was old enough to play. Another spot, featuring Brady and his mother, is set to follow in October, with a third entitled “Down Time” arriving in December.

“For the new UGG for Men campaign, we started with this premise: small moments can carry as much weight as the big moments,” explained Nancy Mamann, vice president of marketing for UGG Australia. “We conceptualized the spots to capture authentic moments that relate to men across the world. For Tom Brady in particular, we explored his life off the field, along with more personal settings, to show some of the moments that he considers meaningful.”

Whether that will convince men to rush out and buy UGG remains to be seen. Stick around for behind-the-scenes footage after the jump. (more…)

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CHI&Parnters is launching its latest animated campaign for TalkTalk, the fourth in a series of animated campaigns from the agency, entitled “The Mission.”

The 60-second spot tells the story of six household objects who come to life and embark on a journey in search of great TV. “The Mission” follows a doll, a garden gnome, a toy robot, a dog-lamp, and two slippers through a grand journey as they battle the elements, traversing the varying terrains of a neighborhood, before finally arriving through a doggy door to a house with TalkTalk TV. The well-animated spot pulls off the approach with style, making for a fun spot that feels like a mini-odyssey. It is the first of four new spots which will roll out between September and January.

“Our award-winning animations for TalkTalk have set a precedent over the years – and this year we’ve aimed to raise the bar again,” said CHI&Partners Creative Director Micky Tudor. “Everything about this little film is epic. Shot in cinemascope, voiced by Derek Jacobi and with a sweeping score from ‘Last of the Mohicans’, this spot is packed with the kind of extraordinary craft that is normally reserved for the world of feature films.” (more…)

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Today Leo Burnett’s London office launched a new campaign celebrating the 40th anniversary of McDonald’s arrival in the UK.

The campaign aims to portray the important moments in people’s lives…that just happened to occur at McDonald’s. In “Just Moved In,” (featured above) the most realistic of these scenarios, a family moves in to a new house. After a hard day of moving, they realize there’s nothing in the fridge to make for dinner and head to McDonald’s for a quick meal (which is just fine with the kids).

Other spots in the campaign feature an awkward first date, a rescue meal for a rainy camping trip, and a teen celebrating passing his driver’s test. Leo Burnett doesn’t overreach with the scenarios, instead choosing small moments that compliment larger ones — although the idea of taking a date to McDonald’s does seem a bit of stretch, no matter how young you are.

The broadcast spots are supported by an outdoor campaign “comprised of eight executions which also reminds people that McDonald’s has been there in the background of a myriad of moments all through their lives.” (more…)

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KBS+, Toronto have a new campaign for Bissell that gets a little gross. In the spot, promoting the Bissell Symphony, which vacuums and cleans hardwood simulateneously, Bissell Canada Senior Brand Manager Ravi Dalchand sets out to prove that he’s behind the product one hundred percent.

So he uses the Symphony to clean a subway floor and then takes things a giant step forward in the gross department and eats some saucy pasta right off the spot he cleaned, seemingly to the disgust of fellow subway passengers.

“Instead of just showing how it works at home, we felt the stronger message was to show how well it could clean, even in an extremely tough, dirty, messy situation,” Bissell Vice President General Manager Craig Emmerson told The Huffington Post.

As that publication points out, however, this was not a normal Toronto subway stop. The stop used was the Bay Lower Station, which TTC CEO Andy Byford said had been “closed off to the public six months after opening in 1966 due to passenger confusion and consistent delays.” It’s now mainly used as a set for movies and television. So while eating off of subway tile is still pretty gross, it’s not as disgusting as it originally appears. And those onlookers are almost definitely actors. But KBS+, Toronto and Bissell assume (probably correctly) that most people won’t reach that conclusion, and, staged or not, the gimmick is pretty memorable. (more…)

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W+K Portland launched the “Don’t Touch My Dart” campaign earlier this month, pairing comedians Craig Robinson and Jake Johnson. Well, it’s a few weeks later and the duo are back for several follow-up spots the agency has released for the campaign, along with a new interactive digital experience.

In the 30-second “Craig,” Johnson tries to get Robinon’s attention by repeatedly saying his name while he cleans and admires his Dart. Robinson spends the whole time ignoring him, leading into the “Don’t Touch My Dart” tagline (along with accompanying music, composed and performed by Robinson) and a prompt for viewers to “See what happens when you touch my dart.” Clicking on the link leads to an interactive digital initiative where you can move your cursor to “touch” Craig’s dart and see what happens. Try it for yourself here, and stick around after the jump for a couple for “Voice Touching” and “Birdhouse.” (more…)

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FCB Chicago keeps things weird for Kmart in their latest spot for the brand, “Shop Like A Boss,” although it’s nowhere near as strange as the brand’s Christmas campaign.

The spot opens on a grandma-type, billed as “Shop Your Way Member Julia Ruiz,” sitting at her computer. After clicking a button, she throws on her hoodie, shades and bling as the soundtrack shifts from serene birds chirping to a hip-hop beat. Soon she’s joined by the two other members of her entourage, and the rest of the spot (the full-length version runs around 95 seconds) is basically a music video. Ruiz and her crew roll up to Kmart, dance around, and pick up her order.

It’s a pretty simple idea, but it’s not without its moments. In the full-length version some of the humor lies just in how the idea is drawn out to such great length, and also how well this Ruiz character plays the part. The spot is meant to promote Kmart’s “shop online, pay in-store” feature, which is touted by a voiceover at the spot’s conclusion. While some viewers may not draw the connection from “Shop Like A Boss” to the service, the spot is at least (quite) memorable and ties the idea to the brand. We’ll add credits if/when we receive them.

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