Hasta La Creative!

What better way to spend the dumbest fake holiday ever than listening to a bro spitting rhymes, yo?

Earlier this week, RPA released a new PSA for longtime client Honda that takes a new approach to an old problem: texting while driving. As you guys know, agencies have released a wide variety of work addressing this serious societal issue, from “Don’t Be a Zombie” to this messed up emoji sculpture by Magnacom Worldwide and, of course, BBDO’s “It Can Wait” for AT&T.

But this one is all about how you need a “Designated Texter” while riding in your fly auto and trying to refresh your FEED.

The little Instagram review moment was fun.

And who hasn’t asked someone else to jump on their response to a group text because they really need to focus on making that left turn ahead without wrecking mom’s ride? Nobody?

This might be the first awkward white people doing hip hop spot we’ve seen since Periscope’s January effort for the Minnesota Lottery. And there’s no better way to get The Kids hyped up on your viral campaign than having the five-oh share it.

Great video @Honda put out for #DistractedDrivingAwarenessMonth. Be a #DesignatedTexter #DontDriveDistracted #JustDrive https://t.co/xAb313bYfY

— Mesquite NV Police (@MesquiteNV_PD) April 19, 2017

Yeah, the second dude isn’t white. But he doesn’t do much rapping, either.

CREDITS

Agency: RPA
Client: Honda
EVP, Chief Creative Officer: Joe Baratelli
SVP Executive Creative Director: Jason Sperling
Creative Director: Fabiano de Queiroz
Creative Director: Mike Van Linda
Art Director: Lexi Rodriguez
Copywriter: Megan Leinfelder
SVP Chief Production Officer: Gary Paticoff
VP Executive Producer: Isadora Chesler
Producer: Angela Pascal
VP Executive Digital Producer: Linda Kim
Associate Digital Producer: Jackie Fuhrman
VP Director of Business Affairs: Maria Del Homme
EVP Management Account Director: Brett Bender
VP Group Account Director: Adam Blankenship
Account Supervisor: Kaelin McGill
Assistant Account Executive: Wynt Curliano
Senior Specialist Digital Strategy: Tyler Sweeney
Music: Walker Music
Executive Producer: Sara Matarazzo
Music Supervisor: Stephanie Pigott
Assistant Producer: Marissa Hernandez
Production Company: Hound Content
Director: Bo Mirosseni

A couple of years ago, we posted on ECD and co-founder Brian Ford leaving Zambezi after more than 8 years to go his own way.

In case you wondered what he’s been up to, now you know: he’s been freelancing on a bunch of projects, one of which involves some guy named Kobe … you know, the one who helped launch Zambezi in 2006 and left that venture around the same time as Ford. (The agency’s first project was his own website.)

Bryant’s first investment after he retired was sports drink BODYARMOR. He dropped “millions” on the brand, became its #3 shareholder, and ultimately acted as creative director on its first broadcast campaign, which debuts tonight during the playoffs on TNT.

You may have caught the AdAge writeup yesterday. Here’s the spot.

For context, Ford and Bryant have worked together before when he was a copywriter at Wieden+Kennedy and Bryant was a spokesperson for Nike.

You remember “Love Me or Hate Me,” which was in keeping with this spot’s “Kill or Be Killed” theme.

Not only did Bryant direct the ad, he also did the voiceover, picked the composer and came up with the concept behind the tagline. And the athletes featured—Dustin Johnson, Mike Trout, James Harden, Andrew Luck, Anthony Rizzo, Dez Bryant, Richard Sherman, Skylar Diggins and Kristaps Porzingis—are all fellow BODYARMOR investors.

Beyond the ad itself, the campaign will include social and individual clips for each of the athletes. Here’s James Harden discussing hydration.

“I’m grateful to work with BODYARMOR and collaborate with Kobe again,” Ford said today. “BODYARMOR has a strong roster of athlete partners who are all obsessed with their training, and we wanted to capture that in a natural way.”

The big question is whether BODYARMOR can compete with Gatorade. One of its co-founders also launched Vitamin Water, which was acquired by Coca-Cola for several billion dollars before 50 Cent became its number one fanboy.

Does TBWA L.A. need to worry about this new upstart upsetting their biggest client? We have no idea, of course. From a 2014 Grantland review of the beverages: “Gatorade sells a story as well as its product, and the story is its greatest asset.”

Kobe himself is BODYARMOR’s story now.

Deutsch L.A. launched a new campaign for Zillow brand Trulia, highlighting how the service can help find not just the right house, but the right neighborhood.

To illustrate the importance of finding the right neighborhood, a series of spots show some pretty awful ones. In “The Coburns” that involves neighbors that get a little reckless with their charcoal grill.

Another spot focuses on some nightmarish traffic in a city neighborhood. (We’d rather deal with the pyromaniac neighbors). Each of the ads ends with a look at the Trulia features which allow users to quickly assess neighborhoods based on things like the location of playgrounds nearby, schools, demographics, crime and more, which is a nice brand differentiator.

“We talked to many consumers in thinking about this campaign,” Trulia vice president, marketing Alissa Reiter told MediaPost . “What we heard over and over was that they love Trulia for the ways it helps them figure out not just the house they want to buy, but the neighborhood around the house. Getting that right was just as important to them as the house itself.”

The campaign is based on insights from research conducted by Harris Interactive which found that 84 percent of respondents said the neighborhood was as important or more important the house itself, according to MediaPost.

Omnicom’s McDonald’s-dedicated We Are Unlimited shop launched a new campaign featuring broadcast spots starring Mindy Kaling (The Mindy Project, The Office).

The unusual thing about the campaign is that Kaling never mentions the fast food chain by name. Instead, in its introductory spot, she instructs viewers to Google “that place where Coke tastes so good,” while wearing a yellow dress against a red background in a nod to the McDonald’s color scheme. Another spot sees Kaling talking to a “Beverage Technician” with the brand name being bleeped out.

The broadcast campaign, which launched last week, is intended to capitalize teens and young adults’ propensity for second screen use while watching TV, outgoing McDonald’s CMO Deborah Wahl told The New York Times.”They are very influenced by word of mouth and what their peers say,” she said, claiming the campaign also addresses “how they’re discovering information.”

While fast food competitor Burger King stirred up some controversy with its spot lat week which attempted to trick Google Home devices into describing the Whopper, there’s no such trickery in the Google integration here.

“Google didn’t give us any tricks on search or anything,” Wahl told The New York Times. “What they’re helping us do is understand if people are really searching as a result of this, and offering close feedback and collaboration in terms of what’s happening with this with real behavior.”

That the search results bring up the chain seems to be the result of genuine conversation regarding Coca-Cola served at the chain.

The campaign also includes a social media component, with Kaling sharing tweets about her involvement, while playfully avoiding naming McDonald’s by name.

I partnered with a brand w/o being able to say the name of the brand. Is that normal? If so, can I be paid in fries? https://t.co/MNgGp23nP6

— Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling) April 14, 2017

When [REDACTED] partners up with you to sport a yellow dress and drink Coke, you do it. Thanks [REDACTED]! https://t.co/lIN7UpYTDt

— Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling) April 18, 2017

Last October, Havas New York gave its new “Most Interesting Man” character for Dos Equis a full introduction, following a teaser the month prior in which Jonathan Goldsmith‘s successor, Augustin Legrand made his debut.

With Cinco de Mayo less than three weeks away, Havas launched a spot in which Legrand’s character “Spices Things Up” — and meets his match in the process. The spot opens on Legrand’s character’s Cinco de Mayo party, and, more specifically, the character making short work of the competition in a pepper-eating contest. Then an unexpected, Scoville-adept challenger emerges to give “The Most Interesting Man” a run for his money.

As with past years, Havas keeps things relatively simple for the Cinco de Mayo effort. Something about the pacing feels a bit off, with too much time spent on the opening and the cut from the new challenger to the end of the ad coming abruptly, robbing The Most Interesting Man’s female foil of a chance to actually share the spotlight.

Still, we’ll take just about anything over a lecherous Goldsmith creeping on two women and telling us to “start with dos.”

Credits:
Advertising Agency: Havas New York
Chief Creative Officer, Americas: Toygar Bazarkaya
Executive Creative Director: Keith Scott
Executive Creative Director: Paul Johnson
Creative Director: Jonas Wittenmark,Tobias Carlson
President, Havas New York: Laura Maness
Managing Director, Chief Performance Marketing Officer: Jon Dupuis
Group Account Director: Chris Budden
Account Director: Michelle Garrard
Account Supervisor: Wendy Hu
Account Supervisor: Jenny Maughan, Elaine Purcell
Senior Social Strategist: Rachel Korenstein
Global Chief Content Officer: Vin Farrell
Head of Content, North America: Dave Evans, Sylvain Tron
Executive Producer: Jill Meschino
Junior Producer: Alex Zubak
Director of Broadcast Business Affairs: Cathy Pitegoff
Senior Broadcast Business Manager: Deborah Steeg
Senior Talent Specialist: Yvette Aponte

Production Company: Rattling Stick
Directors: Traktor
Executive Producer/Partner: Joe Biggins
Executive Producer: Jeff Shupe
Head of Production: Richard McIntosh
Producer: Paul Ure
Director of Photography: Tim Maurice Jones
Production Designer: Tim Moen
Stylist: Liz Botes

South Africa Production Company: AFS Productions
Executive Producer: Dale Kushner, Brin Kushner
Head of Production: Jayne Rodgerson
Line Producer: Gail Warner

Editorial Company: Work
Editorial Editor: Rich Orrick
Executive Producer: Jane Dilworth, Erica Thompson
Producer: Jamie Perritt

VFX: The Mill
Chief Creative Officer NY/Shoot Supervisor: Angus Kneale
VFX Producer: Clairellen Wallin
2D Lead: Mikey Smith
2D Assists: Blake Druery, Yoon Kim, Heather Kennedy

Telecine: Company 3
Colorist: Tom Poole, Stefan Sonnenfeld
Producer: Clare Movshon

Audio: Sound Lounge
Sound Engineer: Tom Jucarone

Music: Beacon Street
Music Composers: Beacon Street Studios
Principal: Andrew Feltenstein, John Nau
Executive Producer: Adrea Lavezzoli

Sound Design: Yessian
Sound Designer: Weston Fonger
Executive Producer: Marlene Bartos
Senior Producer: Emily Smith

Production Consultant: APR
Senior Broadcast SME: David Quartararo

Chief creative officer Tommy Henvey and executive producer Patti McConnell launched Brooklyn-based independent creative marketing agency Something Different last year as “an alternative to traditional advertising agencies whose rigid structures can slow the creative process and get in the way of the work,” according to a release. The agency’s approach involves assembling creative, production and media planning teams for specific projects, working with clients on an assignment basis.

This week, Something Different debuted its first work for Charter Communications with a broadcast campaign featuring fictional monsters such as a werewolf, mummy and the Grim Reaper. What does this have to do with a cable company? Well, it takes a while to get around to the brand pivot, but even these monsters have complaints about satellite TV.

You see, while satellite TV might go out during bad weather, death is
“out there rain or shine, harvesting souls.”

The debut spot, directed by O Positive’s David Shane, concludes with the message, “TV that cuts out in the rain is evil. Spectrum is reliable” and the tagline, “Satellite TV bad. Spectrum good.”

“We all just laughed at the idea of these evil people thinking someone else was horrible” Henvey said in a statement, “and it gave us a way to make our point that felt a little more unusual.”

“It was fun to take tropey clichés of 30s and 40s movie monsters and dimensionalize them for the modern world,” explained Shane. “We gave them everyday problems and below the surface emotions to create a sense of long-standing relationships between old friends, co-workers, wives and husbands.”

“This is what we set out to do when we started the company,” added McConnell. “We felt that there was a better, simpler way to make stuff and this campaign showed us that we weren’t actually out of our minds. We can bring in the most talented people, do big campaigns with great directors, and deliver great results. And, have a good time doing it!  That’s all we ever wanted.”

Credits:
Credits:
Client: Charter Communications.
Joe Leonard, SVP, Marketing & Creative Strategy
Jim Obermeyer, VP, Marketing & Creative Strategy
Amy Kantrowitz, Sr. Director, Marketing & Creative Strategy Lindsay Hittner, Sr. Manager, Marketing & Creative Strategy

Brand: Spectrum

Agency: Something Different.
Tommy Henvey, Chief Creative
Patti McConnell, Managing Partner/Executive Producer
Richard Ryan, Group Creative Director
Garrett Crabb, Senior Producer
Christine Dodd, Marketing Director
Jamie Eisman, Production Coordinator

Production: O Positive.
David Shane, Director
Ralph Laucella and Marc Grill, Executive Producers
Ken Licata, Producer
Marc Laliberte-Else, Director of Photography
Dan Ouellete, Production Designer.

Edit: Crew Cuts.
Jake Jacobsen, Partner/Editor
Jake Trill, Assistant Editor
Sara Arnold, Producer
Stephanie Norris, Post EFX Producer.

Music: JSM Music
Joel Simon, Chief Creative Officer
Jeff Fiorello, Executive Producer
Joel Simon and Seamus Kilmartin, Composers

With Mother’s Day now a month away, Ogilvy & Mather launched a spot for Dove celebrating “Real Moms” with a look at how “Moms are redefining what it means to be a ‘good mom.’”

There’s a stay-at-home mother named Jazzie, a dance instructor and breakdancer named Elise, a cattle rancher named Cassidy, a tech manager and single mother named Seung, rock climber Jackie and transgender grad student Shea. Each has a different approach to parenting that shows the expansiveness of the “real mom” title.

“We are both his biological parents,” Shea explains. “You get people that are like, ‘What do you mean, you’re the mom?’ We’re like, ‘Yep, we’re both going to be moms.’”

Shea’s role in the ad has already generated both praise and controversy for Dove. While it’s perhaps a fair criticism that Shea’s partner seems to be the only mother in the ad not given a name or speaking lines, some viewers have taken offense that she refers to herself as a “mother” at all.

Adland’s “Dabitch” claims that “By applying it to a person who is the biological father of the child, Dove is not introducing us to #Realmothers, or broadening the word to include more people, Dove is helping to nullify what the word ‘mother’ actually means.”

A cursory glance at Twitter finds that others share that (and far more ugly) criticisms of the ad.

As Elise puts it at the beginning of the spot, “Most people feel like they have a license to tell you what they think it means to be a good mom.”

After being acquired by Deloitte Digital in late February of 2016, Heat launched its New York office last May. This January, the shop brought on executive creative director Evan Slater to lead its creative department. Now, the New York office of Heat has released its first campaign, a global effort for LG, promoting its new G6 smartphone.

“This is the first work from our New York office and for it to be a critical launch for a global brand like LG is an exciting first to have accomplished after establishing the office last year,” Heat CEO John Elder said in a statement. “It was also an incredible creative challenge for the team and allowed us to tap into the intellectual prowess of Deloitte and Deloitte Digital as we developed our global campaign thinking.”

The campaign is centered around a 30-second broadcast spot focused on the phone’s key selling point: a large screen that actually fits in your hand — whether it be a slim one or a hefty werewolf paw. Set to the Etta James song “Something’s Got A Hold On Me,” it concludes with the to-the-point tagline, “The big screen that fits in your hand.”

“Quite frankly, we were tired of all the overindulgent, often dialogue heavy and celebrity driven work that is pervasive in the industry, but forgets to focus on what’s going to work for both the brand and consumer,” Slater explained. “So, we created a campaign that is visually driven. It requires no language to convey its most important message – the LG G6 was made to actually fit into your hand.

“Our concept, our message and our visuals intended to stand out from an overcomplicated industry with a bit of human innovation, and we think we’ve accomplished that,” he added.

As for its intended audience, Slater told AdFreak, “The sweet spot for our audience is anybody who has ever had trouble using a modern smartphone because of its size. The toilet-droppers, two-handers, smash-scratch-n-denters are who we’re talking to. That’s pretty much all of us.”

A series of supporting 15-second spots put the phone to the test, whether it be a “Meatball,” “Milk” or “Astronaut.” The spots promote various features of the G6, such as its wide angle lens, water resistance, “class-leading” sound processor and full-vision display.

Credits:
Agency: Heat
Chief Creative Officer: Steve Stone
Chief Executive Officer: John Elder
President: Mike Barrett
ECD / Head of Creative – Heat NY: Evan Slater
Creative Director: JB Byrne
Creative Director: Elaine Cox
Senior Writer: Jon Korn
Art Director: Justin Hargraves
Head of Integrated Production: Joyce Chen
Senior Producer: Andy Rosenthal
Producer / Post Production: David Cardinali
Associate Producer: MacKenzie Huff
Group Account Director: Matt Huntington
Account Director: Elaine Feinstein
Assistant Account Executive: Paris Clark
Director of Strategy: Justin Cox
Senior Strategist: Apo Bordin
Director of Business Affairs: Jenn Kennedy

Advertiser: LG Electronics
Global MC President: Juno Cho
VP Global Marketing Communications: Suyoung Kim
Director Global Marketing: YH Kang
Global Senior Marketing Manager: DK Seo
Global Marketing Manager: Leine Kim
Global Marketing Manager: Hayley Jun
Global Marketing Manager: Sunny Kim
SVP Marketing, US: Chang Ma
Director US Marketing: Romi Yoon
Sr. Marketing Manager, US: Jin Choi

Production Company: Gentleman Scholar
Directors: William Campbell & Will Johnson
Executive Producer: Jo Arghiris
Head of Production: Rachel Kaminek
Line Producer: Richard Kaylor
DP: Rebecca Baehler
Design & Animation: Gentleman Scholar
Creative Directors: William Campbell, Will Johnson, Chace Hartman
Associate Creative Director: JP Rooney
Executive Producer: Jo Arghiris
Head of Production: Rachel Kaminek
Senior Producer: Sue Yee Hubbard
Producer: Gregory Behrens
2D Animation & Design: Dennis Go
Designer: Trish Janovic
Designer: Christina Barna
Designer: Mike Tavarez
Designer: Chris Finn
CG Supervisor: Adam Burke
3D Modelers: Adam Rosen
Rigger: Lee Wolland
3D Animator: Nick Dubois
3D Lighting Artist: Mike Papagni
3D Texture Artist: Adnan Hussain

Editorial: Lost Planet
Editor: Charlie Johnston
Assistant Editor: Steven San Miguel
Executive Producer: Gary Ward
Producer: Tim Kirkpatrick

VFX/Finishing: Carbon VFX
Executive Producer: Frank Devlin
Senior Producer: Paul O’Bierne
Lead Flame/VFX: Kieran Walsh
Flame: Matt Reilly
Flame: Chris Wiseman
Flame: Peter Charles
Flame: Jamie Scott
After Effects: Max Benjamin

SDX + Mix: Heard City NY
Engineer: Keith Reynaud
Executive Producer: Sasha Awn

Music Production: Beta Petrol
Song: “Something’s Got a Hold on Me” by Etta James
Remix by: Fabio BOI Angelini
Executive Producer: Brent Asbury
Music Supervisor: Bryan Turcotte

Color: Company 3
Colorist: Dave Hussey

McCann London launched a new campaign promoting Subway’s new BBQ Beef Burnt Ends sandwich in the U.K. and Ireland with a look at “A More Adventurous You.”

The spot opens on a man staring inside a Subway, where he sees another version of himself ordering the BBQ Beef Burnt Ends sandwich. Taking advice from the voiceover (and his more adventurous self) he walks up to the counter and orders the new menu item, and is perhaps a bit overenthusiastic about it.

The spot made its broadcast debut today and will run through May 23, with support from print, OOH, digital and radio components. It’s part of a broader “Keep Discovering” brand platform launched last year to encourage customers to order new things.

“We had a lot of fun coming up with another concept to bring to life that ‘order-fear’ moment we are all familiar with,” McCann London co-president and chief creative officer Rob Doubal said in a statement. “This will hopefully encourage Subway customers to abandon their irrational caution and enjoy more of what’s on offer.”

Credits:
Client
Sacha Clark – Marketing Director for the SUBWAY® brand UK and Ireland

Head of Integrated Production: Sergio Lopez
Executive Producer: Sophie Chapman – Andrews
Agency Producer(s): Lois Newcombe, Michelle Prinsloo
Executive Creative Director: Rob Doubal and Laurence Thomson
Creative Director: Alexei Berwitz and Rob Webster
Creatives: Dom Butler and Liam Riddler
Business Affairs Executive Producer: Nicholas Mugridge
Business Director: Jason McNamee, Katie Morris
Account Director: Francois d’Espagnac
Planners:Nathaniel Hill, Matt Saunders

Production Company: Blink Productions
Director: Max Sherman
DOP: Stephen Keith-Roach
Production Co. Producer: Patrick Craig
Production Co. Executive Producer: Ben Sharpe
Editor: Saam Hodivala @ Work TV
Production Co/Publisher: Chris Graves @ FRUKT

Sound Studio: Craft
Composer: Adam Smyth & Andy Allen

Media Agency: Mediacom
Media Planner: Dan Sear

Philadelphia-based agency 160Over90 is expanding with a new office in Columbus, Ohio, The Philadelphia Egotist reported.

The Columbus office will be the agency’s fourth location, including its Philadelphia headquarters and outposts in Gainesville, Florida and Newport Beach, California. 160Over90 principal and chief strategy officer Carey Schmitt and chief creative officer, managing director Matt Yuskewich will share leadership duties for the new office.

The expansion follows a string of new business for 160Over90, including Bimbo Bakeries USA, a rebranding assignment forLouisiana State University and a partnership with NYU. Last year, private equity firm Searchlight Capital Partners bought a majority stake in the agency, in a deal valued at around $175 million.