Hasta La Creative!

A new campaign from Denver-based Cultivator Advertising & Design for e-cigarette company FIN Branding Group touts the brand’s smokeless, tobacco-free cigarette. A new commercial entitled “Rewrite the Rules” aims to illustrate that e-cigarettes are acceptable in places were regular cigarettes are not; in bars, bowling alleys, the office and restaurants.

Two versions were created because even though e-cigarettes only emit water vapor, some broadcasters do not allow images of the vapor on air.

The campaign targets current adult smokers and will run nationally on cable channels including ESPN, Comedy Central, Discovery, FX, History, AMC, Speed, SyFy, TNT, Game Show Network, ReelzChannel, OWN, Velocity, ION Network, Military Channel, among many others. It will also appear online, on networked financial, fashion, sports, fitness and entertainment media websites, plus Facebook, YouTube. Additional support media include radio, magazines and newspaper (with couponing). The media agency is Women’s Marketing, Inc., in Atlanta.

Since 1944, the United Negro College Fund has operated under the banner “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” Today, they’re updating to the too-long slogan “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste But a Wonderful Thing to Invest In.”

Regardless of its verbosity, Y&R New York and the Ad Council’s new campaign is a smart, relevant adaptation. Instead of accepting donations for their fund, UNCF is “taking the cause straight to where the money is,” and has created the first-ever stock for social change. Columbia University economist Clive Belfield created an algorithm to determine the value of a share, which investors can purchase via Better Futures’ website.

The Better Futures campaign puts concept into practice, and shows people that they’re not just giving money, they’re investing in future generations. Y&R’s pro bono work will include print and TV PSAs that “use real stories from real UNCF students to show how that investment will pay dividends for all our futures,” says Michael L. Lomax, president/CEO of UNCF, in a statement. If investors are inspired to get involved, the Better Futures stock could be Wall Street’s most meaningful.

Credits after the jump.

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Sure, 72andSunny and Samsung have had some fun comparing the latter’s smartphones to Apple’s in recent years, but in the last several months, it seems like the brand’s finally getting over their complex and showcasing the product line on its own. First, they highlighted the Galaxy S4 with a graduation-centered campaign. Now, they’re showcasing new features for Father’s Day with “hip dads in action.”

In “Swaddle Master,” a befuddled father learns the tricks of the swaddling trade via Smart Pause YouTube. With “Quick Snooze” (below), meanwhile, the same cardigan-wearing dad watches the game with his little one at the end of the day. As his eyes droop shut, the game pauses. He reopens them and it picks up where he left off.

Though this creative work may not go viral or win awards, showing the practical (and less glamorous) application of the S4’s features will perhaps win the hearts of young parents everywhere. On a special occasion like Father’s Day, maybe hitting your target audience is enough?

Credits after the jump.

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In light of the “no homo” press conference from Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert, this new Boost Mobile basketball spot from 180LA may strike some sensitive nerves. However, the humor is handled with enough subtlety to tiptoe around accusations of offensiveness. There’s also a really well-timed nuts joke that might make you chuckle if you are into such sectors of comedy.

In the commercial, one unlucky defender gets posterized on in a pick-up basketball game, and to make things worse, his face gets an up-close view of the sweaty dunker’s crotch. For those who aren’t basketball aficionados, there was actually a name for such a move – balls on your head – that became popular in the 1990s when young NBA players like Darius Miles would dunk on a guy. After the dunk, the player would run down the court celebrating like this (I’m not making this up). Whether Boost Mobile knows it or not, they are bringing back forgotten basketball treasure. The commercial is probably making some subconscious statement about the intersection of black, gay, and youth cultures, but as a consumer product, it’s really just funny. You see, Tyler, the Creator, it’s possible to make an effective ad without relying on stereotypes. Credits after the jump.

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The Martin Agency is proud to present its first work for Benjamin Moore since winning the account in February. Entitled Main Street Matters, the new campaign features a television commercial voiced by Brad Pitt with support from social media and digital ads.

The campaign urges Americans (or anyone, really) to vote for their favorite Main Street to be entirely repainted by Benjamin Moore. It’s not very clear at first how to vote. (Click a state or provence on the map and then select a town within.)

Voting will be open through June 30 and painting and renovations will commence in 20 cities from July 2013 through May 2014

I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, so you’ll have to forgive me if I’m lacking a certain prowess, but I’ll try my best to cover the latest commercial from the hotel brand and Fallon. The “Stay Smart” campaign launched in 1998 and is back after an extended hiatus. We briefly covered the revival in April, and now, Holiday Inn is re-releasing the second spot to Youtube after it had a successful run in movie theaters.

In the ad, a mayonnaise whiteboy holding his dry-cleaning walks up to a couple of dudes freestyling on a New York street corner. One of the dudes takes the opportunity to diss the whiteboy with a few lines. Instead of recoiling, the whiteboy hands his clothes to his adversary, then drops an impressive verse, subverting every white/black stereotype in the book. Some of his verbal gems include: “But how you gonna let a marketing rep rip your rep/ And slip a depth rhyme scheme your mind only dreams in.” If that’s how one can gain rapping ability, then Lil Wayne may want to consider staying at a Holiday Inn Express while working on his next album. Think about the marketing possibilities of that celebrity/brand marriage…

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When the word “free” is involved, people will do anything. They’ll even stare at a new phone with eye-tracking software for an hour to win that phone for free. We can file this under the Must Be a European Thing Club, not because people will complete strange tasks to win free products, but because they did so as crowds of people cheered on the contestants. And it’s not as if they were just staring at a phone, they were staring at a phone secure in a tall box as chefs pretended to be on fire and motorcyclists drove by for distraction. If a contestant stayed focused on the phone for more than one minute, he/she received a 100 SFr (Swiss Franc) discount. If he/she looked away for a millisecond, their turn ended. One dude, looking very European in his sleek jacket with infinite pockets, won the grand prize, a Samsung S4, in the above video (go here for more). People cheered. He now has to pay for a monthly plan.

The campaign comes from Switzerland, where creative studio Perfect Fools and Swisscom agency Heimat incorporated the smartphone’s new eye-tracking abilities to generate some buzz. The original video was filmed in Zurich, and crews will also travel to Lucerne, Bern, and Lausanne for similar showcases. If you are a guy who owns a jacket with too many pockets, you may also be able to have an opportunity to stare at a smartphone for an hour. On your mark, get set, F-R-E-E.

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Changing one of the most iconic products in the world could backfire. We’ve seen Coca-Cola add new flavors and alter their signature bottle contour before: New Coke fizzled out quietly after a decade, and Coca-Cola Blak didn’t even last two years. Now, McCann Milan is making the slightest of changes to Coke cans in Italy, redesigning the mouth, so when someone opens a new Coke, it looks as if the can is smiling back at them. McCann is calling this product the “Happy Can.”

The adjustment is so subtle, folks may not even realize anything has changed at all. The campaign is meant to cheer up Italians after a year of controversial press focusing on Silvio Berlusconi, a new Pope, and a troubled economy. Will the Happy Can make any difference? Probably not, since the can has yet to go into production. At the moment, it is only being hyped for promotional purposes, popping up on billboards in major Italian cities while the Coca-Cola brand goes over the legality of a widespread tweak to their traditional design. If McCann’s can modification could actually remedy Italy’s 36% youth unemployment rate, then people may be more inclined to buy a smiling pop-top. But for now, it’s just a very minor gesture in a country with some very major problems. Credits after the jump.

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From Apple and TBWA/Media Arts Lab comes the spiritual sequel to last month’s “Photos Every Day” spot for the iPhone.

“Music Every Day” uses the exact same formula as its predecessor, with similarly excellent execution. We’ve come a long way from Apple’s original iPod commercials. No longer do we have silhouetted dancers projected against green screens with a loud, indie-rock soundtrack. Instead, just like “Photos Every Day,” we have a simple concept that, more than anything, humanizes iPhone users. What are these people listening to? It doesn’t matter; the important thing is that they’re enjoying it. We see them smile, nodding their heads along to a beat, something that we see occur is real life every single day.

Again, it ends with a single-sentence VO: More people listen to music on the iPhone than any other phone. The entire concept seems obvious, but sometimes it’s the obvious that needs to be said. Credits after the jump.

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Now that the dust has settled around the overplayed Windows smartphone wedding commercial directed by Roman Coppola, there’s a void in Windows-bashing-Apple negative campaign ad territory. Well, with some help from CP+B, the brand is back to tackle a new comparative subject: tablets.

There are actually two new spots, first covered over at Mashable, both taking not-so-subtle digs at iPad products. The spot above even goes as far as to use Siri against Apple – in short, iPads can’t do as much as Windows 8 tablets. But you can play chopsticks on an iPad for whatever that’s worth. And if you watch the commercial, it’s apparently not worth much. You have to respect the brash stance Windows is taking here. They are clearly playing catch-up in the publicity game, and going after Apple in such a direct fashion could be the right way to make up the distance. And the best part is, since both companies are so rich, suing each other over copyright infringement and/or libel won’t even make a difference. Ding, ding. Time for the next round to begin. You can watch the more informational attack ad after the jump.

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