Hasta La Creative!

Cheil Communications and Harpoon Pictures’ director Anton Jøsef introduce the new Samsung Galaxy Duos with the new spot, “Forged.”

The 38-second spot, “alludes to the elemental power, the dexterous usability and the high-end performance that is wrought in the heart of the Galaxy S Duos.” If that sounds ridiculous, it’s because it kind of is. “Forged” opens on a blacksmith hammering away intently. The creation that “emerges from a fiery crucible, backed by an explosion of intense flames” is the new Samsung Galaxy Duos. That’s right, a blacksmith crafted phone. We then cut to a guy in an office goofily holding up the phone while a coworker gives him a “What the hell are you doing?” look and cough.

So, “Forged” makes fun of the ridiculousness of its concept, making the majority of the spot a buildup to a joke that really isn’t much of a payoff, eventually ending with the tagline “Forged with features” without telling us what those features are. Needless to say, this direction is a bit perplexing. The Galaxy S Duos, by the way, “allows users to keep their work and personal calls separate while also providing better coverage and a stronger signal” — which sounds an awful lot like a feature you would want to highlight in an advertising campaign. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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BlueRock, Spontaneous and Scarlett collaborated to create the “Give A Chuck” contest for  BlueRock Spontaneous and Scarlett , asking entrants to submit photos and videos of their own, dressed-up versions of Converse’s classic Chuck Taylor sneakers. The three companies presented clients with an invitation to enter the contest as part of their holiday gift-giving. The winners of the contest — judged “by a panel including Olivier Wicki from BlueRock, Johanna Marciano from Scarlett and Brian Bowman of Spontaneous” — were just announced today on a special Tumblr page.

The grand prize (an all-expense-paid weekend trip to South Beach and a $1000 donation to a charity of the winner’s choosing) went to Y&R’s Abby Bralove, who submitted the above stop-motion video of her and her chucks. Abby chose St. Jude’s Research Hospital to receive the $1,000 donation. The contest, which “drew several dozen entries from agency creatives and producers” also handed out three runner-up prizes to Melanie Baublis and Jane Minehan of O&M, who won $500 donations in their names to Doctors Without Borders, and Brian Gonsar of Hill Holliday, who gave his donation to Teach for America.

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Ignited has a new social campaign promoting Bravo’s new series, Online Dating Rituals of the American Male, which premieres March 9th.

The new campaign is tied to a promoted post on Buzzfeed examining “The 10 Types of Guys You Find On Every Dating Website.” At the end of the post, readers are invited to take a short quiz to discover which of “six species of men that exist in the dating wild” they are or is their type. After completing the survey, @BravoDating will tweet one of six video results: Catchitis Perfecta (“Mr. Perfect”), Clinger Onis (“The Clinger”), Doublis Bookeris (“The Player”), Love Seekitis ( “The Romantic”), Liaris Apperancean (“The Liar”), and Predatorus Obnoxious (“The Predator”). As you can imagine (this is Bravo we’re talking about), these are pretty silly. The narrator treats the subjects like he’s narrating a nature documentary (thus the latin species names); it’s easy to imagine David Attenborough providing the narration. You can check out “Liaris Apperancean” above, and stay tuned for “Doublis Bookeris” and “Predatorus Obnoxious,” along with credits, after the jump. continued…

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It’s hard to relate to, as below freezing temperatures continue here in the northeast US, but in New Zealand people are just returning from summer holiday. Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand has launched a new campaign for L&P in an attempt to help Kiwis hold on to that summer feeling as they return to work and school.

Beginning this week, L&P is offering people in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch “the chance to swap their shoes for jandals, bring a bit of summer to their workplace, or even take an impromptu urban dip to cool off.” It’s an interesting outdoor campaign for a product that many associate with summer. And who wouldn’t want a free towel or flip-flops (jandals if you’re in New Zealand, apparently)?

As Saatchi & Saatchi creative director Guy Roberts explains, “We’ve all experienced that sinking feeling when the holidays are over and we’re forced to hang up our togs, get back into our work clothes and re-join the commuter crowds to work or Uni. You’re back at your desk and reduced to watching the best days of summer from your office or classroom window. For many kiwis, L&P and summer go hand in hand and we hope this campaign will help kiwis hold on to that great summer feeling just a little bit longer.”

The campaign will roll out over the next six weeks, with “a range of customised ad-shels, street posters and promotional partnerships.” As the brightest thing we have to look forward to in this region is a weekend with temperatures in the 40s, I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels a little envious hearing about this campaign. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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Creative agency Don’t Panic realized the hardest part of getting people to care about a crisis going on in another part of the world is to remove its remoteness and make it feel relevant and immediate, closer to home. So, to promote Save the Children UK’s initiative supporting child refugees in Syria, Don’t Panic created the above 90 second video imagining how a similar conflict in the UK could sink a London child’s life into despair over the course of a year.

The video shows one second a day (okay, so some days are skipped since the 90 seconds wouldn’t add up to a year, but that’s not important right now) of the child’s life as she goes from a comfortable middle class existence to a homeless and fatherless refugee haunted by the horrors of war. It is brilliantly shot, and the second a day format delivers the message with maximum impact, showing how quickly war devastates children’s lives. It opens with the child happily celebrating a birthday, and closes on her despondent stare the following year as she is presented with a rather sad looking birthday cake in a refugee tent. The harrowing footage is followed by the message, “Just because it isn’t happening here doesn’t mean it isn’t happening” — a perfect call to action that shakes the complacency all too easy to feel about a far away problem.

“It’s easy to forget that Syria was a middle income country, where children enjoyed the benefits of education, healthcare and the other basic rights our children take for granted—not to mention Facebook accounts, video games and youth culture,” Jack Lundie, director of brand and communications at Save the Children told Adweek. “We hope the video will resonate with the public, particularly those who don’t know much about the situation in Syria, and offer a new perspective on the devastating impact this conflict is having on innocent Syrian children.”

The PSA is timed to coincide with “with the buildup to the third anniversary of the Syrian crisis, which has left 100,000 people dead and 2 million more as refugees.” You can learn more about the Syrian child refugee crisis on Save The Children’s page here.

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Chobani debuted the new spot “Farmland” (presumably from Droga5) during the Oscars Sunday night.

The new, 60-second spot takes on competitors who use artificial ingredients in their 100 calorie yogurts. “Farmland” opens on men in white coats plucking brightly colored test tubes from a tree and dumping a bucket of something (probably artificial sweeteners) into an artificial cow. “Most 100 calorie yogurts are made with artificial ingredients and sweeteners,” intones the voiceover. The camera then follows the flight of a butterfly to show how things are done differently over at Chobani. “You know a cup of yogurt won’t change the world, but how we make it might,” says a Chobani farmer, followed by the product introduction for Chobani Simply 100 and the “How Matters” tagline.

Chobani, already the nation’s largest seller of Greek yogurt, could attract even more attention from increasingly health-conscious shoppers with their new product, so pushing the “healthier alternative” angle makes a lot of sense for the company. The “How Matters” tagline seems a great encapsulation of the strategy, so long as audiences don’t consider all its implications. However, calling attention to the yogurt making process could bring increased scrutiny to Chobani for their sourcing of GMO cattle feed, something that could lead to more savvy customers picking up smaler, non-GMO brands. But that’s apparently a gamble Chobani is willing to make, and one that’s still likely to pay off with all but the most informed consumers.

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With 100 days to go until the start of World Cup 2014, ESPN has debuted a new ad called “True Beauty,” which celebrates the World Cup returning to Brazil.

The 30-second spot, “developed by ESPN’s award-winning marketing team,” features voiceover (in Portuguese) from Brazilian musician Seu Jorge, extolling the beauty of Brazil and their five-time World Cup champion soccer team which is the pride of the nation. “True Beauty” is soundtracked by tropicalia band Os Mutantes’ song “Bat Macumba” from their classic debut album. The spot is perfectly edited to fit the pace of the song and celebrate different aspects of the World Cup’s host nation. ESPN will also be celebrating with special programming over three days, including “extensive digital content on ESPNFC.com, coverage of seven FIFA matches and more…”

As you may recall, ESPN’s World Cup campaign kicked off during half time of their Rose Bowl coverage on New Year’s Day. We’ve included it after the jump in case you need a refresher. Expect to see more from ESPN promoting the World Cup leading up to kickoff on June 12th. continued…

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These BBDO New York-created ads for Lowe’s will give anyone who has ever engaged in a bit of home improvement a big chuckle. If you’ve been there, you know it never goes as swimmingly as you thought it would at the outset.

Three new commercials, Ceiling Fan, Bathroom Tile and Bench Swing, acknowledge this truism and promise to offer help.

In Ceiling fan, all goes well until the on switch is flipped. In bathroom Tile, it’s all smiles…until it’s not. In Bench Swing, those left over screws are a problem.

The spots aim to let young male do-it-yourselfer that Lowe;’s is there when you find your self in a home improvement pinch.

Chances are you’d give up your car for a Porsche, right? The folks over at independent Dutch agency ACHTUNG! are betting on it, delivering an interesting an interesting new campaign where they ask people to trade their car for an unrevealed new Porsche model.

Driven by the insight that “40% of Panamera’s had been pre-ordered before the model had even hit the road” and enthusiasts often pre-order a new Porsche model based on little more than Internet photos, ACHTUNG! has introduced the new interactive platform “Blind Trade,” to see if people show the same enthusiasm for a completely unknown Porsche.

Starting today, car owners can offer their current vehicle for trade at www.porsche.nl/blindtrade. During the first phase of the campaign, the new model’s identity will remain a mystery, with a new feature of the new model revealed every two days for three weeks. The earlier you decide to trade, the greater your chances to bring home the new model. 2,000 cars were offered as a trade for the new Porsche model in the first hour alone, so there are no shortage of takers. In addition to how early it is offered, the value of your trade will also determine your chances of bringing home the new Porsche model. On March 31st, the winner will drive off in the new ride, “without having to pay any additional costs,” at which time the Dutch Porsche importer will take ownership of the winner’s trade-in. “Blind Trade” has to be one of the more interesting online initiatives we’ve seen in recent memory, and serves as a powerful illustration of the strength of Porsche’s brand. Head on over to the site now if you want to have any chance of taking home the new Porsche (or if you’re just curious to learn more about the campaign), and stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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Karmarama created “The Boss” in a new campaign for Cobra Beer (not to be confused with Anheuser-Busch’s disgusting King Cobra brand of malt liquor, something of an undergraduate staple in the states).

The titular character is an always on the job owner of Cobra Beer and a successful brassiere company BraCo by night. (It’s an anagram, get it?) As you may have already gathered, the concept is more than a bit reminiscent of Havas’ popular “The Most Interesting Man in the World” character for Dos Equis. While Karmarama are certainly not alone in borrowing from Dos Equis, their “The Boss” is probably closer to Jonathan Goldsmith‘s character than anything else we’ve seen. (Perhaps a little too close?) He shares with Dos Equis’ spokesman both an underlying elegant cool, and seemingly superhuman capabilities — “The Boss,” the spot elucidates “never sleeps, because he’s living the dream.” Like Dos Equis’ campaign, “The Boss” also relies on tongue in cheek humor (such as when employees rearrange the Cobra letters above the entrance) to deliver its message with “broad appeal to their target audiences.”

“This was a sprawling international shoot and it was such a fun concept and a great team – Dave Buonaguidi, Rich Connell, Clem Woodward and Jenny O’Connell of Karmarama were great to work with and very involved in all the right ways,” says Biscuit director, Mike Maguire. “The concept was always about The Boss and his two companies, but the simplicity of this great play-on-words, it just took the humor to a new, wildly absurd and fun place.”

Stick around for credits after the jump, and let us know what you think of the spot in the comments section. continued…

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