Two L.A. Ad Guys Welcome Zombies to Their Midst With 'Cheer the Walking Dead'

“Just what Los Angeles needs. Fewer brains.”

Unfortunately, that’s not a tagline for Fear the Walking Dead, which premieres this Sunday on AMC as the second series in the cable-television-eating Walking Dead zombie franchise.

Rather, it’s a line from two freelance L.A. creative directors, Charlie Noback and Brian Engleman, who are launching an Instagam called Cheer the Walking Dead. The idea is simple: Celebrate the arrival of the undead in their fair city by zombifying classic L.A. images.

They’ve posted half a dozen so far, and are hoping to get submissions (via email) from other creatives. “There are so many overworked ad professionals right now, sometimes I think we’re the real zombies,” says Engleman.

But mocking up L.A. zombie scenes can be nourishing for the soul, and clean out those festering creative minds, can it not? Says Noback: “I hope by getting the word out, we’ll help turn some zombies back into ad professionals.”

VH1's New Ad for Dating Naked Is All About Jumping Naked (in Super Slow Motion)

Coming up with fun ad ideas for a show like Dating Naked isn’t exactly Pluto-level rocket science. You think of fun things naked people can do besides dating, and you film them doing it. Then you blur their privates and watch the YouTube count rise.

Last year, VH1 got Los Angeles agency Mistress to make a Dating Naked ad with people dancing naked. Now, agency and client have followed that up with an ad showing people jumping naked. The twist: It was filmed in super slow motion at 1,000 frames per second.

Check out the spot below, which the agency describes as “a graphic visualization of the insight that it is all about our true selves, finding true love—without all the bullshit.”

CREDITS
Client: VH1
Agency: Mistress
Production Company: Bastard
Director: Bob Hope
Editorial: Bastard
Editors: Kyle Stebbins and Ian Kalmbaugh
VFX: Kyle Stebbins
Sound Design: Lime Studios
Engineer: Sam Casas
Partner/CD: Damien
Art Director: Rachel Guest
Copywriter: Celine Faledam
Producer: Kay Lynn Dutcher
Brand Director: Tor Edwards
Brand Manager: Kylie Wu
Project Manager: Alex Clewell 

First to Tweet and Take Selfies? It Was This Horrid Family From a Century Ago

Kim Kardashian may be the queen of selfies, with a bestselling book to prove it, but she’s not the first over-sharing, narcissistic reality show star. That dubious title would go to the Bellacourts of the upcoming Comedy Central series Another Period.

They’re the debauched, filthy-rich members of a famous-for-being-famous clan that the cable channel is calling “the original ballers.” The Rhode Island bluebloods never fail to make an entrance (think upskirts and crotch shots), and they’re social media early adopters (credited with early, crude tweets and swipe lefts). They know a thing or two about virality, quite literally—they are 19th century celebrities, after all.

A handful of promo spots, created in-house, launched this week. They mix the show’s turn-of-the-century twisted Downton Abbey-esque setting with today’s tropes. “We wondered what these hilariously terrible people of another time would do with modern technology,” said Lu Chekowsky, the channel’s svp of brand creative, “and wanted to play with all the ingredients of the show that make it great—the gilded age, the reality show excess and the hip-hop sensibility.”

The 10-episode series, from writer-producer-stars Natasha Leggero and Riki Lindhome, also features Michael Ian Black, Christina Hendricks, Paget Brewster and Jason Ritter.

The show debuts June 23.



Fox Sports Had Quite a Surprise for the U.S. Women's Soccer Team on Mother's Day

Mother’s Day surprises were aplenty this weekend, including a big one for the U.S. women’s World Cup soccer team.

Due to their demanding schedules, it’s been years since many of the players have seen their moms on Mother’s Day. In a very sweet video uploaded to Facebook and YouTube by Fox Sports, the team sat down for a pre-game dinner, and their coach introduced special surprise guests—their moms.

The mother-daughter reunions are lovely to watch. Maybe even more remarkable is seeing the a second surprise happen—check out the video to see what it was.

“Abby’s been on this team for 14 years. For 14 years, I have not had you around for a Mother’s Day,” says Abby Wambach’s mom, Judy. The video cuts to the two of them standing side by side on the field.

The video closes with a request to “Cheer on our women this summer.” (Fox will be broadcasting the tournament across its networks, including 16 matches live on the flagship broadcast station.)

The team won the game 3-0 with their moms watching. Wambach scored career goals 179 and 180, and turned around after her second goal to point at her mom.

Heartwarming and inspiring all around.



Amy Schumer Unleashes a 'Big Booty' Anthem to Rule Them All

Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer is back for another season on April 21, but instead of a boring promo, she made a satirical music video offering an important cultural perspective on booty anthems, with the help of Method Man and Amber Rose.

If you don’t know the childhood rhyme about bodily fluids—”Milk, milk, lemonade, round the corner fudge is made,” where kids dance about the playground gleefully pointing to the relevant body parts—then I’m sorry. You missed an important part of American culture.

But your sad excuse for a childhood aside, we can all appreciate Amy bringing back this delightfully crass little jingle for a booty anthem that’s almost good enough to actually make it to the charts.

I think Schumer or Method Man or Rose or somebody realized it was a little too good, though, about halfway through, when you really get an urge to shake your rump along. So they decided that if you didn’t get that this is humor, they would start chanting, “This is where my poop comes out.”

It is this transcendent moment, my friends, where this promo becomes a viral piece in the making that you know you are going to send to all your friends. In fact, the video probably doesn’t need all the star power it’s got, which also includes Amber Tamblyn (from Two and a Half Men) and Jemima Kirke (from Girls).

Tegardless of how many rump-shaking celebrities you witness in this three-minute masterpiece, your main takeaway will be an unending refrain of “This is where my poop comes out,” stuck in your head for the rest of the day. You’re welcome.



HBO Punks Creator of 'Take My Money, HBO' by Sending Sopranos Guys to Shake Him Down

Last week, we saw HBO replying to 3-year-old tweets from cable cutters who wanted a stand-alone HBO option back then—something it is now launching with HBO Now. Today, the network unveils a companion video, in which it punks Jake Caputo—the guy who got people all riled up and demanding stand-alone service in 2012 by launching takemymoneyhbo.com—with help from some very special guests.

If Caputo really wants to give his money away to HBO, Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri and Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero will happily take it off his hands.



Justin Bieber Spoofs His Own Calvin Klein Ads in Promo for Comedy Central Roast

Justin Bieber is officially eating his own tail.

To promote his upcoming roast on Comedy Central slash desperate plea for respect, Canada’s cruel revenge on America participates in a parody of his much-buzzed about, possibly-but-he-swears-it-totally-wasn’t-Photoshopped Calvin Klein ads.

Jeff Ross dresses as model Lara Stone and does a good job of creeping hard on Bieber, who keeps playing the same drum fill over and over, like the greasy pop machine he is, posing as the real boy he seems to be.

It’s not as funny as Kate McKinnon’s SNL parody, but Bieber gets points for self-deprecation. And while he doesn’t really have to do anything special to be comical, he does up the ante a little, pretending to be anxious, rebuffing Ross’s grabs, and ultimately returning the favor.

The brief high point, though, might be the comedian’s jiggly beer-belly dance. Overall, the video makes for a pretty good teaser … or at least, a reminder that there might be some entertainment value in watching Bieber get chewed out.

And while it’s impossible not to wonder what Martha Stewart, Shaq and Snoop Dogg might have to say to Bieber, it can’t be a good sign—if not surprising—that Seth Rogen seems to have something better to do that night.



Parks and Rec Made a Bunch of Fake Ads for Last Night's Show, and They Were Great

NBC’s Parks and Recreation will soon come to an end, and the writers of the heartwarming, droll comedy have been knocking it out of the … well, park.

The first of last night’s two episodes featured Chris Pratt’s character Andy Dwyer saying goodbye to his kids’ program, Johnny Karate’s Super Awesome Musical Explosion Show. By using the bottle episode format, we got a glimpse at what fictional Indiana town Pawnee’s advertising might look like. 

Because this season of the show takes place in the near future, 2017, they can satirize what American companies Verizon, Chipotle and Exxon might be doing. 

But the earnest, well-intentioned messaging of the combined companies—one of “America’s eight companies”—is just the beginning.

 
Fast-food chain Paunch Burger—a stand-in for the McDonald’s, Burger King, Carl’s Jr. and Wendy’s of the world—practically bullies its customers into eating. 

 
Of course, we also got an ad from the Wamapoke Tribe, which shameless uses its heritage to get people to its casino. 

 
And we got to see Nick Offerman’s, er, Ron Swanson’s version of advertising, too, which you can probably guess is minimal and straight to the point. 



Anna Kendrick Meets Amy Schumer, and Won't Soon Forget It, in MTV's New Ad

We know how much you love Anna Kendrick, so here she is in yet another commercial where she gets to be funny and charming—this time at Amy Schumer’s expense.

Schumer is hosting the MTV Movie Awards in April, for which this serves as an early promo. Nothing too exciting happens, but it’s entertaining nonetheless. If nothing else, Kendrick has shown time and again that she can make something out of nothing.

“It was great to work with such a variety of comedians and actors in the campaign,” said the director, Kim Nguyen of Backyard, in a statement. “It’s fun leading them into different directions and providing an environment where they are willing to take chances and bring something different to each take. That collaboration really opened up so many funny possibilities that our entire crew was holding back laughter take after take.”

The MTV Movie Awards air on Sunday, April 12, at 8/7c.



Conan Tours Taco Bell HQ, Visits the Test Kitchen and Ends Up Convulsing on the Floor

If you’ve ever seen late-night mastermind Conan O’Brien venture into the real world and interact with the commoners, you know you’re in for a treat whenever it happens.

Turns out the head of Conan’s I.T. department, Chris Hayes, is a Taco Bell superfan, eating it at least three times a week. As Conan is a benevolent boss, he decides to make Mr. Hayes’ dream come true and take him to Taco Bell headquarters in Irvine, Calif.

We get an interesting glimpse behind the tortilla curtain, where we see how the magic happens. But more important, comedy ensues as Conan and Hayes rollick through the chalupa palace, interacting with food taste testers, trying new creations in the “Innovation Kitchen” as well as inventing new ones like Conan’s Irish-inspired concoction, “The O’Taco.”

It’s not all flattering to the brand, but it ends up putting the chain in a good light just because it’s so entertainingly honest. So, sit back and enjoy this hilarious tour of Taco Bell HQ, with your guide, Conan O’Brien.



Rob Lowe Talks About the Awesome Randomness of His DirecTV Characters [Video]

Grey has gotten a lot of buzz out of its DirecTV campaign featuring oddball versions of Rob Lowe as a cable subscriber. After shooting the first five ads last year, the agency’s global chief creative officer, Tor Myhren, thought Lowe might have completed his run. But the actor’s zeal for the role convinced the shop to produce another five ads, two of which (see below) have already rolled out this year.

“On set, he’s totally engaged,” said Myhren. “He’s so into it. He’s so passionate about it.”

That enthusiasm is clear in the interview below—filmed during the last shoot—in which Lowe describes with amusement how he saw people dress up as Super Creepy and Painfully Awkward on Halloween. Not since St. Elmo’s Fire in 1985 does he remember being the inspiration for a Halloween costume, which he believes is the ultimate sign of fame.

Lowe also shares what his kids like about the campaign and his favorite character so far.

Adweek responsive video player used on /video.

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Also, here’s a look at the most recent ads:

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Adweek responsive video player used on /video.

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Mad Men's Final Episodes Get a Premiere Date: April 5

The end is nigh, as AMC on Saturday announced the premiere date for the final Mad Men episodes. The second half of season 7 will begin on Sunday, April 5, at 10 p.m.

“What an incredible journey this has been,” showrunner Matthew Weiner said in a statement. “We sincerely thank the fans for joining us on this ride and hope it has meant as much to them as it has to us.”

Weiner and several of the advertising drama’s stars—Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser, John Slattery and Christina Hendricks—will be on hand Saturday at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, Calif., to talk about the final run.

Moss recently spoke about the pain of filming the final scenes. “The last three days were kind of like a funeral,” she said. “It was just everybody crying all day long—these big, giant men bursting into tears.”

The image above, of course, is from the very first time we saw Don Draper—the first scene of the pilot episode, which aired on July 19, 2007.



Carl's Jr.'s Latest Sexed-Up Burger Eater Is Less Classically Beautiful Than You Might Expect

If you thought there was no way to top a Paris Hilton-Hannah Ferguson slow-motion car-washing, sex-eating burger-palooza, you’d be wrong, Carl’s Jr. want to tell bros.

Supermodels and celebutantes don’t have the market cornered, after all, on using their scantily clad bums, stripper moves and garden hoses to hawk fast food. Along comes Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s Carl Brutananadilewski, a husky, hirsute late-night star, to show everybody how it’s done.

Just don’t eat that burger before you see the new commercial, airing online and during Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, where Aqua Teen Hunger Force anchors the block and Carl regularly heckles his neighbors Meatwad, Master Shake and Frylock.

Though lacking in the bronzed beauty and sex appeal of the burger joint’s former brand ambassadors—Padma Lakshmi, Heidi Klum and Kate Upton among them—Carl “brings a certain willingness to the role and a unique interpretation of fresh baked buns,” said Steve Lemley, svp of field marketing and media at Carl’s Jr. and sister chain Hardee’s.

The animated character is willing to wear a physique-inappropriate banana hammock, in other words, and writhe around on a Dodge Spyder while chomping a burger and slapping his ass.

The spot, written and produced by Aqua Teen Hunger Force creators with assists from 72andSunny and Initiative, promotes the chain’s bread, baked fresh in stores, which makes its buns “denser and a little sweeter” than competitors’ products, according to the press release.

Make that connection between the food and Carl’s lumpy posterior at your own risk.

Hungry yet?



Adult Swim's Rick and Morty Get Muppet-ized in Promo for Season 1 DVD

Adult Swim has put its back into marketing Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland’s insane science fiction cartoon Rick and Morty. And well they might: It’s one of the best shows on the air, and last year it occasionally got more demo viewers than Harmon’s broadcast sitcom, Community.

So, it follows that the network would have a mild blowout around the release of the first season of Rick and Morty on Blu-Ray, too.

Accordingly, Roiland called on Ben Bayouth, puppet maker and costumer to the … well, to the very weird. (Seriously, the “creature suits and puppets” page alone is a huge productivity suck.) Bayouth made Rick, Morty and Meeseeks puppets and a giant Meeseeks suit (from this episode) in order to tell the world about the show.

Here’s the 90-second spot. It starts airing Wednesday evening on Adult Swim.

 

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When the cartoon premiered, Adult Swim erected a crashed spaceship in front of the Flatiron Building in New York, and the show got all kinds of attention at Comic Con, with a panel and a booth for its production company, Starburns Industries. (I don’t even want to tell you about the lines to get Harmon to sign things.) So, there are interestingly high standards for anything R&M-related over at Adult Swim, and they keep coming up with new tricks to promote it, not unlike FX’s various shenanigans around Archer.

We figured we’d also do an unboxing Vine (see below) so you can see the contents of the Blu-Ray, because another fun piece of the campaign is inside the box: Like the Jim Mahfood-drawn Kickpuncher comic book in Community’s Season 1 DVD set, Roiland and series writer Ryan Ridley collaborated with storyboard artist Erica Hayes to make a very cool little Jack Chick-style comic book fleshing out some of the show’s stranger sci-fi plot points.



Bryan Cranston Acts Out Baseball's Greatest Moments in Fantastic Ad For the Postseason

As the Baltimore Orioles became the first Major League Baseball team to clinch a division last night, baseball fans, fairweather and hardcore alike, are gearing up for the most exciting time of year—the postseason. 

And TBS, which plays a major part in bringing the games into our homes and sports bars, has tapped Bryan Cranston to star in this amazing tribute to baseball’s big dance. 

Clocking in at almost six minutes, this extended ad is a delightful watch as Cranston impersonates some of the game’s great players in a comically earnest one-man theater show—citing his muse to be everyone’s favorite cartoon rabbit: “You never know when inspiration will hit you … the Bugster … Mr. B. Any actor that tells you that he is not inspired by Bugs Bunny is a liar, frankly—or just a hack.”

As an added bonus, Misty Copeland and Pedro Martinez make cameos, too, as we follow the former Walter White in his entertaining rollick around the diamond. 

Check it out, and someone please start a petition to get this on Broadway. 

Via Bleacher Report.



Missing Mad Men? Here's Christina Hendricks Trying to Work in a Modern Office

The final half of the seventh and final season of Mad Men won’t premiere until next spring (although filming has wrapped—and according to Elizabeth Moss, there was a lot of crying going on as the cast shot the finale).

For now, Mad Men fans have to snack on whatever measly morsels they can get—like Jon Hamm goofing around on Fallon, or Christina Hendricks trying to navigate a modern office in the Funny or Die video below. And good old Joan, she’s still the sharpest person in the room even when she can’t find the phone.



Mad Men Stars Pose for Vintage-Style Product Ads in ‘For Your Consideration’ Campaign

AMC serves up a fun Emmy Awards campaign for Mad Men, casting its stars in print work that has the look and feel of classy period advertising from the Sterling Cooper era.

Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner and The Martin Agency helped craft the well-realized ads, which capture the flavor of the show with a credible '60s vibe, and mark the first "For Your Consideration" effort the series has ever done. "In the past, we’ve campaigned for Mad Men by letting the show sell itself," says AMC marketing chief Linda Schupack. "This year, we wanted to be a little more fun and playful."

We get Jon Hamm as Don Draper himself wearing cool shades and an enigmatic expression, along with the headline, "Behind every pair of our glasses is a man with winning character … and much more." Redheads get more nods (Emmy nods), according to the fiery ad with henna-haired Christina Hendricks as Joan Holloway. And Kiernan Shipka, who portrays Don's daughter Sally, looks all set to frug on Hullabaloo or Shindig in her mod minidress. (The copy touts "Statuette's. For the young girl who has ALMOST everything.")

My favorite is the ad with John Slattery as a dapper Roger Sterling, attired by "The Madison Avenue Collection." This might be the most period-conscious execution of the lot, with dead-on detail and art direction. (Is that pristine airport ashtray Sterling silver? No butts about it!) His smoldering stare, directed at the fishnet-stockinged legs of a woman nearby, speaks volumes, while the copy is pure '60s: "You move through life with ease, and sometimes people take your quick mind, sharp wit and wry sense of humor for granted. But those who know, know—you always give your best."

Named outstanding drama series in each of its first four seasons (in addition to numerous other awards), the show hasn't won an Emmy over the past two seasons, and some critics say its poignant pathos has slid into sappy soap opera shenanigans. Well, even if Season 7 isn't vintage Mad Men, its Emmy campaign sure is.

See all the ads below. Via THR.




Canal+ Makes Clever Use of Its + Symbol in Redesigned Movie Posters

This Canal+ campaign, which uses the French TV channel's trademark "+" symbol as a visual cue in a series of reimagined movie posters, sure has lots of positives.

The work was created by BETC Paris to celebrate the 67th Cannes Film Festival (which runs May 14-25) and will appear as outdoor and print advertising during the event. Nine movies screening on Canal+ are featured, including Despicable Me 2, Fast & Furious 6, Star Trek Into Darkness and Man of Steel. The "+"s on these particular posters work extremely well, replacing, respectively, a Minion, tire tracks, stars in outer space and the stylized "S" on Superman's chest.

Canal+ has produced notably offbeat advertising in recent years, including ads with bears and dwarf clowns (via BETC) and a mockumentary about the guy behind Hollywood's most famous scream (via FCB).

The original poster artwork for many of the films in this latest campaign was intricate and memorable. (Trek's was quite dynamic, casting the outline-shape of the Star Fleet uniform badge as a dramatic "window" framing device.) Even so, the simplicity of Canal+'s sleek, stripped-down approach offers an uncluttered, clever homage that ultimately amounts to addition by subtraction.

CREDITS
Client: Canal+
Brand Management: Alice Holzman, Élodie Bassinet, Anne-Gaëlle Petri, Coline Andre
Agency: BETC, Paris
Agency Management: Bertille Toledano, Guillaume Espinet, Elsa Magadoux, Hugo Chavanel
Executive Creative Director: Stéphane Xiberras
Creative Director: Olivier Apers
Art Director: Jordan Lemarchand
Copywriter: Julien Deschamps
Traffic: Coralie Chasset
Production: Sarah Belhadj




The World Cup Is All Anyone Wants to Talk About in ESPN’s New Ad

If World Cup fever is getting to you, well, you're not alone.

This new 30-second spot from Wieden + Kennedy in New York, shot mostly in New York, shows American soccer fans talking obsessively about their team—and not just the American team, but their national teams of their ancestral homelands. The tagline is: "Every 4 years the conversation starts again."

The ad uses real U.S.-based soccer fans, including a German butcher, an Italian barber and a cabbie from the Ivory Coast. These guys are passionate.

I don't want to spoil anything, but I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the pessimistic Englishman, who feels like a punch line (of course this guy's a downer) as he mentions penalty kicks toward the end of the spot.

ESPN has also unveiled the first posters from what will be a series of 32—one for each team—designed by Brazilian artist and graphic designer Cristiano Siqueira. Check those out below, too, and get excited for the tournament, which runs from June 12 to July 13.




Twitter Fans Make DirecTV’s New ‘Get Rid of Cable’ Ad One of the Bleakest Yet

When you leave people to their own devices, they tend to get nihilistic. When they get nihilistic, they make darkly comic scripts for DirecTV.

Case in point: the satellite-TV company's Twitter-sourced fable—created in the style of Grey's long-running "Cable Effects" campaign—of what happens if you don’t cut the cord.

The satellite giant asked its fans to contribute a story line to the campaign by tweeting one-liners with the hashtag #GetRidofCable. The company then selected the best ideas and made a cohesive, disturbing story—read like a storybook in the video below—of getting addicted to cheese during lab experiments, going back in time and undoing your own birth … all because the protagonist refused to say no to cable.

It's actually a pretty good entry in the campaign, even if the last line is a bit long-winded. Then again, despite the medium's limitations, people on Twitter aren't really known for keeping it short, are they?