We still can’t quite wrap our heads around the simple concept of book trailers.
That said, this short from Aardman Animations–the studio behind “Wallace and Gromit”–reminds us why stop motion animation will never get old:
We can’t promise that we’ll actually buy and/or read the book in question, though the fact that this city mouse-to-country mouse memoir involves “Abbie’s Liverpudlian grandparents — dedicated followers of Liberace, sleek in scented mohair and patent leather” certainly makes it more intriguing.
Team One has launched a new digital scrapbooking app for JW Marriott called CUR8.
CUR8 is described as “an experience-oriented app that allows guests to share their favorite travel moments through digital videos on their social media networks.” Simply download the app at the Apple store, upload photos and videos, choose a few of JW Marriott’s property images and the app will automatically create a sharable digital video of your vacation. Users of the app also have the option of customizing their videos with music and added text and can then share the video on social media networks using the hashtag #CUR8byJWM. CUR8 is currently available free of charge at 65 locations. Check out the video above to learn more and stick around for credits after the jump. continued…
Where’s the ball park? That’s one question that comes to mind after viewing Y&R New York’s patriotic spot for Ball Park’s new premium hot dog, Park’s Finest, the latest iteration of the “So American You Can Taste It” campaign. The other being: “Hey guys, are you sure you want to celebrate the invention of the cotton gin? It did kind of lead to the expansion of slavery in the Antebellum South.”
The goofy, 30-second spot, called “Greatest Invention Ever,” sees a man holding an eagle positing that Ball Park’s Park’s Finest are America’s greatest invention, much to the chagrin of Eli Whitney and Benjamin Franklin. Its ridiculous brand of humor seems somewhat studied, and mostly fails to hit the mark. The spot ends with a group of guys grilling up the new premium dogs, and, in a nice touch, the smoke forms a map of the United States. That there isn’t a ball park at any point in the spot feels like a miss though, as it’s a clear association with the brand. (And, hey, ties right in with the whole “greatest American invention” thing.)
The new Park’s Finest ads will air across broadcast and cable networks, as well as on Pandora radio, beginning this week. The larger “So American You Can Taste It” campaign also includes digital, social, shopper marketing and PR elements. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…
Well this is kind of weird. Remember when Victor & Spoils first launched and they made a really big deal about the fact they’d crowdsource cool, new digital work for their clients? Well apparently they’ve come full circle and are now creating traditional offline campaigns for banks.
The agency has launched a TV, radio, print, OOH campaign with, yes, some online landing pages, for the Community Banks of Colorado and Bank Midwest divisions of NBH Bank.
The gist of the campaign will focus on the bank’s “common-sense banking relationships” which treat individuals and small businesses like they matter. Wow. We’ve never heard that from a bank before now have we?
The TV spots are set to run in Colorado and the Kansas City metro area during shows including NBC’s Saturday Night Live, CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman, NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, ABC’s Modern Family and FOX’s American Idol.
The OOH is running in and around Denver and Kansas City, and the print ads will run in 5280 and KC magazines.
In the somewhat cheeky TV spot “Listening,” a banker is seen at his desk, intently listening while a client talks on the phone. As the banker gets comfortable, the words “Listening! Still available. At a bank.” flash on the screen with a voiceover.
The theme of listening continues through the radio, print and OOH work. In one of the radio spots, the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey is heard while the announcer says, “When you call, we will actually answer. When you talk, we will actually listen.”
What the theme to 2001 has to do with listening, we know not. But it is dramatic so we guess it can be used for just about anything.
And as if brands attempting to treat humans like, well, humans was a new thing, Victor & Spoils Creative Director Chris Cima said,”In a time when so many businesses have stopped focusing on consumers, it’s really exciting that we get to help celebrate the fact that our client, NBH Bank, N.A., still treats people like people. This makes for some pretty revolutionary work.”
In a world with Starbucks at every corner and small, fancy artisinal coffee shops sprouting up everywhere, it would be counterproductive for an instant coffee brand to try to compete. So W+K starts a different conversation for Maxwell House, asking, “Whatever happened to good?”
The new “Say Good Morning to a Good Day” campaign features a series of broadcast and web spots centering around an affable, middle-aged everyman (everydad?) who laments that with all the attention on phrases like “Awesome,” “Amazing,” and “That’s epic, bro!” people have forgotten about “good.” In the 30-second spot, he goes on to explain that good is “Swinging to get on base” or “choosing not to overshoot the moon, but instead to land right on it.” This all makes “good” seem pretty appealing, with the spot ending with the resurrected “Good to the Last Drop” tagline.
While some may question the choice of admitting your product isn’t “amazing,” the strategy makes sense for Maxwell House, whose coffee is, at best, “good enough,” and whose best bet is to convince the older generation that all the fuss over fancy coffee just isn’t worth it. W+K pull off the execution really well, making the “good” approach about as persuasive as it can be. Credits after the jump. continued…
BBDO New York continues its ”Approved” or “athletes not taking themselves too seriously” series for Foot Locker with “No Rings.”
The spot follows “All Is Right” and stars Damian Lillard and a crew of veterans–including Barry Sanders, Chris Webber, Karl Malone and a guy we’re too old to recognize–whose undisputed greatness never led to a title.
We mostly appreciate Lillard’s decision to enter the YouTube comment thread, which is something we will never ever do.
Echoing a couple of the commenters: where’s Charles Barkley? Patrick Ewing? Dan Marino? If we’re going edgy, why not Barry Bonds? That one would have rattled a few cages.
Last year, Amsterdam Worldwide was tapped to lead the Warsteiner Beer business, and their work with the brand can now be seen in their recent global brand platform, intended to “refresh the brand in its existing markets, and firmly establish it in emerging markets.”
The campaign, which kicked off in Germany on the 10th and will roll out gradually in over 60 markets worldwide, features television, print, and “high levels of digital media activity across the board.” Amsterdam Worldwide clearly wants to target the young and the young at heart (such as the 45 year-old skateboarder in the “Do It Right” television spot featured above), as evidenced by the online documentaries meant to supplement the television campaign which include profiles of a skydiver and a graffiti artist.
“Traditional beer advertising is cluttered with a lot of clichés and not particularly inspiring insights – we had a chance with Warsteiner to break away from that mould and celebrate a brand culture that lives and breathes an intense commitment to creating a truly premium beer,” explains Amsterdam Worldwide’ s Strategic Director, Uli Kurtenbach. “It was a natural step to inspire Warsteiner’s consumers to take on their own lives with the same enthusiasm.”
Stick around for credits and a profile of “Freefly Rob” after the jump. continued…
In December, Saatchi & Saatchi Belgrade launched a provocative campaign called “Chronicles of Threats” for Serbian Commission for the Investigation of Murders of Journalists and Office of the OSCE’s Representative on Freedom of the Media.
The campaign featured a threatening letter in one of the country’s most widely circulated newspapers, with an accompanying video on the news outlet’s website, intended to shake public indifference to violence against journalists and rally “media outlets and journalists to document real and threatened acts of violence towards editorial staff, writers and photographers.”
“Chronicles of Threats” succeeded in getting the public’s attention. Thousands called the police in response to the threat, and soon it was featured on the news. When the stunt was revealed, it sparked debate about the kind of threats journalists receive daily. But the campaign also led to the reopening of three cases of murdered journalists, and in one case — Slavko Curuvija, “the most influential independent journalist reporting during the Milosevic regime,” who was murdered 15 years ago — to the arrest of the perpetrators of the crime.
Saatchi & Saatchi Belgrade’s executive creative director Veljko Golubovic commented: “I think the “Chronicles of Threats” campaign is a great example of true power of modern communications. Even one simple idea can move mountains and push the whole society forward. What was impossible yesterday is today’s reality. Our idea was initiation of the chain reaction that led to solving a murder case. And more than that it changed the way people feel and think about journalists.” Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…
Having watched a couple of horror films on the cable channel FEARnet (currently on FiOS at least) over the weekend, figured why the hell not ride the blood-soaked waves and mention this little promo from the network, which to be honest offers a great slate of old-school, cult and slasher films mixed with a total bevy of garbage. Still, us horror fans can’t play choosers in this and so we support whatever medium the genre gets exposed. Above is a brief promo as part of a new TV image campaign for FEARnet from L.A.-based Stun Creative’s graphics/animation division, Buster, which tries to offer a quick manual on the do’s and dont’s of horror films. Think Jamie Kennedy‘s character Randy in the first couple of Scream films and there you have it. Don’t worry, as long as idiots still won’t listen, the genre will be very much alive and kicking. Credits after the jump.
Duval Guillaume has launched a new international print campaign for TNT. The agency developed 4 new images which ask us to imagine how life becomes more interesting when you add some drama to it.
If you recall, the agency famously launched the Add More Drama with a stunt in Belgium that literally added all kinds of drama when people pushed a button.
These new images will initially be used in Germany and Mexico, and later in a number of other countries.
Duval Guillaume has launched a new international print campaign for TNT. The agency developed 4 new images which ask us to imagine how life becomes more interesting when you add some drama to it.
If you recall, the agency famously launched the Add More Drama with a stunt in Belgium that literally added all kinds of drama when people pushed a button.
These new images will initially be used in Germany and Mexico, and later in a number of other countries.
Digital Kitchen worked with Cards Against Humanity, “the party game for horrible people,” to satirize gamer marketing at the Pax East conference in Boston. The resulting 30 second video is absolutely disgusting.
Digital Kitchen and Cards Against Humanity launched a fake, caffeinated oatmeal called “PWNmeal,”which they dubbed, “The official porridge of e-sports.” The project was meant to satirize the onslaught of marketing targeting gamers are targeted with at conventions, from caffeinated gum to beef jerky (which don’t combine so well). In addition to the above video created by Digital Kitchen, Cards Against Humanity also put together an @pwnmeal Twitter account and pwnmeal.com to make the product seem legit. Gross enough just as an idea, the 30 second video takes things to the next, breakfast evacuating level. Proceed with caution.
W+K Amsterdam have a launched a new, global World Cup 2014 campaign for Powerade, “the official sports drink of FIFA.”In addition to television, the campaign also includes print/out of home, digital, and online documentary films (more on that later).
“There’s Power in Every Game” centers around Andrés Iniesta, the Spanish star who scored the winning goal in the 2010 World Cup. He takes center stage in the 60-second spot (featured above), which also features five amateur athletes from around the world. Each of these athletes has “overcome challenges in their lives and in the process have lifted their teammates, rallied supporters and inspired communities through their dedication and achievements in the sport” — which exemplifies the campaign’s #PowerThrough message.
Each of these amateur athletes will be featured in their own documentary, starting with the inspirational story of Nicolai “Nico” Calabria. Debuted at the Kicking + Screaming Football Festival in New York last week and being released as a television spot in addition to its online release, the two minute film tells Nico’s story growing up with one leg and defying expectations to succeed as an athlete. Incorporating an impressively-edited mix of home video footage and live action film, it’s a powerful telling of Nico’s story, and well worth a watch.
“Nico’s story is one of unwavering determination,” said Brynn Bardacke, global group creative director for Powerade. “He truly embodies what we mean when we say there’s power in every player and power in every game.”
Stick around for “Nico & Powerade,” along with credits, after the jump. continued…
Yes, this spot from Paris agency La Chose is tres French–but its message is clear enough.
Created for drunk driving advocacy group Victimes et Citoyens, the spot recounts an all-too-familiar narrative with the help of an audio track and some dramatic use of the zoom lens.
The firm’s PR team also came up with unusual ways to promote it.
Back in January, high school student Muthana Sweis tweeted to Netflix, “Hey @netflix, if this gets 1,000 retweets will you go to my junior prom with me?” One day later, he already had 1,000 retweets and Netflix said yes.
This of course begs the quetion, “How does Netflix take someone to prom?” The agency involved isn’t allowed to claim credit for the stunt, but they came up with a pretty clever answer. Netflix gave Sweis a series of three choices to make: suit, ride and driver — all, of course, coming from movie and TV references. Sweis went with James Bond’s suit from Skyfall (good choice), the 55 Buick from Grease (dude, you could have had the Breaking Bad Winnebago, what were you thinking!?), and Danny from Grease for the driver (apparently the guy really likes Grease). To see how it panned out on prom night, check out the video above. It seems like Sweis had a very memorable prom experience.
W+K have just unveiled their latest FIFA World Cup 2014 spot for ESPN, raising excitement for the event with just about 2 months left until it kicks off in Brazil on June 12th.
Entitled “I Believe,” the 60-second spot attempts to pump up Americans for the event, which has gained popularity nationally in recent years. Shots of Team USA in action and crowd footage are accompanied by a chant of “I believe that we can win.” Given the odds against the American squad, “I believe that we can make it past group stage” seems a bit more realistic. Around the 53 second mark of the ad, a Nike “Just Do It” stadium billboard is clear in the background of the in-game action. Given that Nike is (of course) a W+K client, we can’t help but wonder if this was an intentional (and rather slick) move on W+K’s part.
Created in collaboration with production company Decon and directed by Claire Cottrell, the series features “Oreo hacks,” with the chefs repurposing the sandwich cookies in inventive, delicious ways. Choi, who you may remember was recently featured in a Google Glass spot, crumbles Oreos into a chicken tender crust that seems like a delicious late night snack. Voltaggio, meanwhile, transforms the cookies into dessert tortillas, accompanied by a shandy created with Lemon Oreo creme. Chan comes up with an “impulse hack” based on other items found in a convenience store, combining Oreos with pound cake, cherry soda and salted peanuts to make a kind of bread pudding. Before introducing their recipes, each chef waxes nostalgic on eating Oreos growing up and shares their different methods of consumption (Voltaggio is an Oreo puller, while Choi is more of a traditionalist). It’s a fun campaign, and should help shed a different light on the brand — especially since the videos point viewers to Oreo’s Tumblr, where they can get the recipes for the Oreo hacks. Stick around for Voltaggio and Tran’s Oreo hacks and full credits after the jump. continued…
Toronto-based Grip Limited have a new campaign for Testicular Cancer Canada that’s, well, ballsy.
The agency employed risque humor to raise testicular cancer awareness and get more guys to self-examine regularly. Built around the tagline, “No one’s going to check them for you,” Grip’s two TV spots, directed by Matt Swanson, show men receiving testicular exams from unexpected sources, resulting in some pretty ridiculous (and funny) situations. In the first, and more successful spot, “Cop,” a guy is pulled over for a broken taillight. “Let me see your driver’s license,” says the cop, “….aaaand your testicles.” The humor in the spot comes from the resultant avoidance (and non-avoidance) of eye contact and awkward looks during the exam. “Mechanic” is basically the same idea, but with a mechanic in an auto body shop instead of a cop. It could just be that I viewed “Cop” first, but something about it just wasn’t as funny. Nevertheless, both spots make admirable use of humor to make a message that’s all too often forgotten memorable, an admirable accomplishment, especially when you consider the prevalence of testicular cancer.
“Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men ages 15-29”, explained Testicular Cancer Canada founder Cheryl Perry explained . “If you try to sit these guys down and teach them something, they might tune you out. But if you make them laugh, they’ll remember what you’re saying”.
In addition to the TV spots, the integrated campaign, which is timed to coincide with Testicular Cancer Awareness Month, also features radio advertising from Pirate Toronto and an online testicular cancer “remote scanner.” As you might have guessed, the remote scanner asks dudes to place their balls on their phone screen only to display an error message telling them to check their balls themselves. Stick around for credits and “Mechanic” after the jump. continued…
“So what do you think, you gonna take it?” asks a BMW salesman in KBS+P and production company O Positive’s new spot for the BMW 3-Series. This sends the man into a reverie of past regrets, from dumping a nerdy Brooklyn Decker in high school to passing up a chance to get in on the ground floor of Twitter. The 60-second spot, directed by David Shane is certainly memorable, showing the 3-Series in the beginning of the spot and linking passing up the opportunity to own it to some pretty poor decision making skills. Spoiler alert: the guy decides to buy it. “Regrets” is well produced, paced, and acted, effectively using humor to make a lasting impression. Just one thing though: Does anyone else find nerd Brooklyn Decker hotter than runway Brooklyn Decker, or is that just me?
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
