Hasta La Creative!

To be fully experienced, this spot has to be watched at your nearest Sony Store or Magnolia Home Theater at Best Buy. That’s because it’s made specially for the 4K Ultra HD TV it advertises, which raises definition to four times that of a standard HD TV.

The ad still looks pretty on YouTube, with its New Zealand ocean setting, bright blue bird, and red-dressed woman. And it doesn’t hurt that filmmaker Garth Davis (a commercial director himself) narrates it all in his soothing Australian accent.

In addition to showcasing new HD technology, the ad features the largest asset ever made for TV: a random looming spaceship, created by VFX company MPC. Pretty sure Sony agreed to it just because they could.

“This is part of our Visionaries campaign for Sony,” 180LA creative director Dave Horton says. “The idea is to bring together two industry leaders to collaborate on a creation that brings Sony’s technology to life.” In this case, Garth Davis worked with Oscar-winning cinematographer Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi). I look forward to seeing who’s next. I watch almost nothing on TV, but this technology is tempting.

Credits after the jump

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Back in the 80s, some ice cream sandwich-makers asked, “What would you do-oo-oo-oo for a Klondike bar?” Then, a balding businessman made monkey sounds. Today, reaching greater heights of sophistication, we’re crowdsourcing challenges via social media to humiliate washed-up celebrities. The new question is, “What would you want _____ to do for a Klondike bar?”

In the Klondike Celebrity Challenge hosted by comedian/The Soup host Joel McHale, the blank is filled first by Alfonso Ribeiro, otherwise known as the Fresh Prince of Bel Air’s cousin, Carlton. The contest submission period has ended, so Klondike’s Facebook page has no evidence of people’s weird ideas. But on July 15th, we’ll presumably have a new video featuring the winner.

For now, watch Joel McHale wandering his ice cream museum. The videos are directed by Tristram Shapeero and written by The Soup writers Boyd Vico and Brad Stevens. It’s not half bad, actually. Maybe we have evolved since ’83.

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As everyone laments the conclusion of a great NBA season, we’re all reminded that it’s almost vacation season. Some of us find a beach, others opt for a refreshing hike. You may only think of Colorado ski resorts as a winter vacation hub, but with some creative guidance from Seattle-based Wexley School for Girls, the Copper Mountain resort wants to remind vacationers that it’s still looking to thrive as the summer gets sweaty. Three new Copper Mountain spots will be airing in the coming months. “Golf Triathlon” will be released first on June 24.

The ads are a continuation of Wexley’s “Everyone Deserves a Snow Day” campaign, somewhat puzzling considering school is out and there aren’t snow days to be had. The set-up is overly simple: a standard nuclear family trading uncomfortable banter on a skilift. The premise of a gold triathlon is a dynamic idea in theory, ripe with potential humor, but here it is rendered boring. Showing the golf course to the viewer may have fixed the boredom. The two unreleased spots, “Events,” and “Woodward,” are much of the same: jokes that don’t make you laugh. Same background, same skilift, no variety. A bland campaign for a bland Friday.

You can see the other two spots and credits after the jump.

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In a cute take on motion controlled games, Stride Gum invites you to enter the world of Gumulon, where you’re represented by a “rebellious miner” named Ace. Ace, a strange green helmet-wearing thing, can only control the “intergalactic action” and ultimately vanquish the prehistoric cave beast if you concentrate on chewing while staring at your iPhone. When your jaw finally collapses after the strain of coercing Ace around the mine, the monster will eat Ace/you after seasoning you and taking a photo for posterity.

Watching the gameplay video makes this activity look like the dweebiest way to spend your day. I hope I never see someone sweating as they chew emphatically on the subway. This game should be played at home, if at all. Thankfully, Gumulon also comes in a touch version, should your mandibles tire of mining.

I will, however, give Stride’s effort points for novelty and its do-good nature. If we collectively achieve better breath through gamification, I can’t complain.

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Before I wrote this, my editor jokingly told me I’d been typecast as the Rooster Guy, but I won’t complain. Jason Statham has been typecast as the Rooster Guy of the film industry, and he’s probably worth $50 million. We’ve covered a few Rooster side projects recently, and now they’re back in the news, teaming with Microsoft for a co-ideation Windows 8 skateboarding app.

The project allows users to build a digital Vans skate park – would you expect anything else from Rooster? – while on Skype calls. The callers can then watch a Vans Pro skater board across the customized park on their phones and tablets. The app will include the inevitable links to merchandise and social media pages. Let’s hope the Microsoft money will let Rooster continue to make their quirky skateboard-related projects, so in turn, I can continue to be the Rooster Guy. And if you’re keeping score, let’s also hope Gavin McInness has finally seen an episode of Game of Thrones.

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This three-minute Samsung spot played during halftime of the NBA Finals last night, and it ran before my YouTube videos this morning. It’s Jay-Z, playing with sweet beats, so of course I didn’t click “SKIP AD.” You better not either, because at 1:20 you’re going to bob your head emphatically as Jay and his team recreate the sound of the speakers blowing out. If you skip the ad, you’ll also miss Pharrell’s face, looking incredulous and smiley as he assists Jay’s genius. You’ll miss uber-producer Rick Rubin hanging out on the couch barefoot.

Just as we were getting worked up over Yeezus, HOV comes through with Magna Carta Holy Grail and perhaps the greatest (or at least highest-profile) marketing coup in Samsung’s history. On July 4, the first million Samsung Galaxy users to download a customized app will receive the album for free. Three days later, other drabby people–i.e. iPhone users–get access. It’s a tantalizing prospect, and one that depends on avoiding the lately inevitable leak. Or maybe not–if the app’s “personalized stories and inspiration” really consist of never-before-seen content, then it’s an asset even if (when) the music sweeps the Internet in advance.

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From the power trio of Atmosphere Proximity, The Parternship at Drugfree.org and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy comes the above spot for the “Above the Influence” campaign which asks the question, “Who better to convince kids not to drugs than their peers?”

Of course, this begs a second question. “Wait, which of your peers is the BEST at not telling you to do drugs?  That is the peer we need.” And so, things got interesting. After all, what’s more American and capitalistic than making this shit into a contest? This isn’t about the message anymore. No sir, this shit is about TALENT. You got talent? Stand up, let’s hear it. No talent? SIT DOWN. Do some drugs until you’re able to talk about them in a raw, powerful way that is better than that other kid’s way of talking about drugs. Then, you win.

Before you submit your awesome ad idea at Above the Influence on Facebook, start strategizing. What kind of shenanigans will your peer group use to their advantage? Perhaps they lost a family member to drugs. Perhaps they’re recovering addicts themselves. Remember, this isn’t about drugs. This is about winning, and being the most popular kid at school for appearing in an anti-drug commercial. This is about fame. This is about being the best.

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“Designed by Apple” is the third and newest spot in TBWA\Media Arts Lab’s recent reinvention of Apple’s TV ads. The first two, “Photos Every Day” and “Music Every Day” offered a refreshing take on the iPhone, moving it out of Apple’s white world and into the real world. It seemed as though Apple was hitting its stride, until today.

Now, it’s difficult for tech companies to do sentimentality, but it’s not unprecedented (see Google). But, “Designed by Apple” is trying so damn hard to make you feel anything that it misses the mark by a mile. Perhaps it’s watching grown men absolutely lose their shit when Tim Cook mentioned “Finder windows” during yesterday’s Worldwide Developer Conference yesterday, or have the press react to Jonathan Ive‘s pastel-tinged redesign of iOS as though it was 2013′s answer to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. This is so saccharine that it’s silly.

Maybe the most misguided part is the tagline, “Designed by Apple in California” (check out the web video here). After all, as anyone who’s ever owned an Apple product knows, the words “Assembled in China” always immediately follow that statement on every device.

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Not exactly filled with the same panache of the original, Wieden + Kennedy is out with a new Southern Comfort “Whatever’s Comfortable” commercial in which a man finds comfort in an unlikely place. The original ad has been credited with increasing sales 6% during the first year of the campaign. We’re not sure what this second one will do for beauty parlor revenue.

The campaign, which launched last August, encourages a devil-may-care, be yourself sort of attitude. The first spots from the campaign (“Beach”, “Patio”) and website (comfortableweatherguy.com) highlighted a man who embodied the campaign’s tagline, “Whatever’s Comfortable”.

The campaign now continues with “Shampoo”, a :60 spot launching online today. In “Shampoo” we meet a character who also exudes this same devil-may-care attitude. The song featured in “Shampoo” is called “The Beat” by Lou Johnson.

Of the campaign, Southern Comfort SVP Mark Bacon said, “We want to champion consumers to ‘be their awesome selves’ and that attitude comes out through this work. We’re comfortable being Southern Comfort and we want our consumers to embody that same attitude about themselves.”

A :30 version of the spot launched last night (6/9) on ESPN during the St. Louis Cardinals vs. Cincinnati Reds game on Sunday Night Baseball and is set to launch globally across key Southern Comfort markets this summer. The campaign also features print/OOH/point of sale and online banners, which will be running globally.

A few months ago, we covered the announcement for the 3rd annual Saatchi & Saatchi Music Video Challenge. Well, the time has jumped by – maybe you noticed, maybe you didn’t – but we’re back to report the 12 finalists and one People’s Choice winner. The contest asked interested directors to create an original music video for OK Go’s new single, “I’m Not Through.” You can check out the finalist entries here. On June 20, the winner will be announced as part of the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors’ Showcase.

As you’d expect with an OK Go contest, there is an abundance of quirk and artistic shenanigans. The parties involved say the finalists come from all corners of the globe, but really, they just come from western countries, mostly the US and UK. One finalist is from the Bahamas. It’s now that we’re reminded that globes don’t have corners. Not to show favoritism to my personal preferences when it comes to abundances of quirk and artistic shenanigans, I’ve randomly selected two finalist videos (one below the jump) for your viewing pleasure on this dreary Friday afternoon. Enjoy.

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