Hasta La Creative!

Singalongs can be messy affairs, like when that guy with the bad voice thinks he can hit soprano notes, or any Journey song comes on at a bar. A tweetalong, however, might be the perfect digital response to help us control our  unprofessional musical urges. Creatives from 360i and the Brooklyn band Rumors teamed up to create a website that might help promote “Slow Down,” a single off of the band’s album XOXO.

The site, essentially a digital singalong, compiles tweets from around the world that hashtag specific words in the song. As the song plays, different tweets pop up alongside the lyrics. And if you want to take a moment to read different tweets, scrolling over the hashtag automatically pauses the song. To continue the song, simply move the mouse again.

This isn’t the first time 360i took an innovative approach to ahead-of-the-curve content. During the Super Bowl blackout, the same Dentsu-owned firm’s creatives slid out some topical content for Oreo (more on it here). Brands have to use Twitter to stay relevant in our culture, but how they go about doing that has been hit-or-miss thus far (with more misses than hits). The success of Rumors will ultimately come down to the quality of music, but this blip on the social radar screen could earn them at least a fan or two.

FYI, Matt Wurst, director of digital communities at 360i, will be keynoting Mediabistro’s April Social Media Marketing Boot Camp. Go here for more info.

Credits:
Senior copywriter: Nick Panayotopoulos
Senior art director: Roberto Max Salas
Creative Technologist: Tore Holmberg from Your Majesty.

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We could use a little color–ok, a LOTof color–at this point in the day, considering what kind of day it’s been, and adidas and Champs Sports dutifully help the cause with this Originals effort from Portland-based shop, Kamp Grizzly that hypes the adiColor collection. While there’s no A-Trak to start the party this time around, we have the sounds of hip-production duo TNGHT and pro athletes like Knicks guard Iman “still kicking the House Party look” Shumpert and Broncos LB Von Miller to provide the freneticism.

Additionally, if you’re one of those folks who spend way more time than you should huddled at the end of the bar playing one of those photo hunt games, there’s an adiColor version tied into this campaign that can you try out here.

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And thus, W+K Portland and P&G bid farewell to Old Spice’s “Wolfdog,” who in the past week has garnered over 4 million views via videos such as this and this and who’s even produced a Tumblr as well as  a record. But alas, all good things must come to an end, and Wolfdog is now out as Old Spice’s director of marketing and you can see his resignation clip above. Some people, though, have told us that this campaign is fairly similar to the one from Atmosphere Proximity to promote “The Big Ad Gig.” What do you think? Check out one more clip from the week-long campaign if interested as well as credits after the jump.

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Ah, the 80s music video. Always open to parody. So moody and serious that the bands may have been secretly parodying themselves without telling anyone (Duran Duran), which is why it’s not even that strange when an anthromorphic unicorn finds its way into Fiat’s new spoof/commercial, “The Fatherhood,” directed by Matt Golding of Rubber Republic.

The spot may not go platinum, but its predecessor, a rap parody called “The Motherhood,” has close to 4 million views on YouTube. Apparently, people really eat up the parental-commiseration genre.

In “The Fatherhood,” a pale Gabriel Macht lookalike sings about his lack of sleep to a synth-pop beat. He spends his nights driving around in his comfortable Fiat 500L as his two babies cry in the backseat. I can’t tell you why a unicorn appears midway through the video, but I can tell you that it feels totally appropriate for the song. These Fiat spots can strike the corny nerve from time to time, but they’re salvaged by some risky humor and solid writing (“the one fun act that got me here/I don’t get that anymore.”) There’s even a subtle allusion to “The Motherhood,” which makes me think the creatives at krow communications actually had fun making this campaign.

And is it just me, or is the song catchy? I’d listen to it on the radio–it has better production value than half the songs the stations repeat anyway.

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What about the trucker who just had to sit there while a waitress poured fake coffee into an overflowing mug? Or the egg on top of a diner table? The guy swimming with sharks? The wind-up brain toy? The geeky guy playing with a giant ball of yarn? Aloe vera tissues? Yes, all of these things are in the same “Retrain Your Brain” Virgin Mobile commercial, created by Mother NY. The spot is certainly unique, but that doesn’t mean it will get customers to switch from other carriers to Virgin Mobile.

“Retrain Your Brain” was birthed out of focus group findings that suggested customers wouldn’t switch mobile companies even if they were specifically told how much money they could save. So, Mother and Virgin Mobile decided to go with Brazilian triplets, Colonel Meow, and The Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne.

Could it be that most customers just aren’t suited for short-term pay-as-you-go phone plans? (Shh, don’t tell Virgin Mobile). Regardless, the spot looks like a surrealist drug sequence from a bad student film. If you’re going to include Brazilian triplets, you might as well use them. Credits after the jump.

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Teens may sniff glue for kicks, but judging by the short spot from 22squared for furniture chain, Aaron’s, moms across the country will be releasing endorphins when they get a chance to sniff their newly leased furniture. Lonely housewife warning: Delivery men are not yours to sniff and/or keep.

Atlanta-based 22squared, which also counts clients including Buffalo Wild Wings and Baskin-Robbins, officially became the first AOR for Aaron’s this week (minus a formal review), and “The Smell of Ownership” is the third commercial they created for the furniture giant (the first two were created as part of a short-term project assignment). The title is a little misleading, though, since those leasing the furniture won’t actually own it, but some might call that effective advertising. We’ve seen better, we’ve seen worse, and we’ve seen Troy Aikman talking to Hulk Hogan in those Rent-A-Center ads.

Kudos to the actress for really committing to the sniffing and sacrificing chunks of brain cells. Credits after the jump.

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We’ve covered past john st. efforts, original campaigns that are usually quirky and honest without forcing the issue. The Toront-based agency’s newest fare, “Earth Hour Cheerspiration,” comes on the heels of a WPP takeover. And even though it’s too early to thumb the corporate acquisition for a change in creativity, ”Cheerspiration,” as you can see in the above video, lacks the off-beat humor we’ve come to expect from john st.

The spot is meant to promote Earth Hour for WWF Canada, when those interested will conserve energy by shutting off all lights for one hour on the night of March 23 (for reference, check out this previous Earth Hour work from TVF and Hot Chip). Associating the unwavering pep of five loud cheerleaders with an important cause seems misguided at best, especially since it’s not easy to understand their hollering and, well, they’re cheerleaders. They’re stereotypically dumb–not saying that’s true–and only likable to jocks and teenage girls who thought Bring It On was a great movie. Not sure what the connection is to Earth Hour–maybe there is no connection? But if that’s the case, then why?

Dare I say it…even couchgating was more entertaining, and that’s been my gold standard of witless advertising. Here’s to hoping for better work next time, john st. Two more “Cheerspiration” spots and credits after the jump.

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Ryan Lochte may wear that clueless grin in the new Nissan spot created by TBWA, but he’s still laughing to the bank on the heels of his impressive, yet imperfect 2012 Olympics. Ryan Lochte’s “Office Burn” shows car customers (remember, this is for Nissan) how to stay fit at the office: conference call calisthenics, coffee curls, and synergy sit-ups are just a few of the drills Lochte powers through in a buttoned sport coat. Nissan’s Innovation for Endurance might make sense, say, if we actually saw more cars in the commercial. But–like most Ryan Lochte moments–things don’t always make sense.

For those interested in a funnier example of Lochte’s senselessness, watch this Funny or Die video. There’s no product placement, and you get to hear an Olympic gold medalist say, “The pool is the biggest and most expensive toilet. And it’s all mine.”

If only these office exercises could’ve helped Lochte win more gold medals than Michael Phelps. There’s always 2016. A ridiculously long list of credits after the jump.

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So it would seem that the weird Lana Del Rey music video produced by Jaguar was merely a tease foreshadowing bigger things to comes. In fact, Del Ray’s four-minute warble-fest “Burning Desire” is actually the soundtrack to a new short-film that heavily integrates the Jaguar F-Type, Desire.

Starring Golden Globe-winning actor Damian Lewis (Homeland) and Shannyn Sossamon (who’s been kind of quiet since starring in such films as 40 Days and 40 Nights and Wristcutters: A Love Story), Desire is the result of a collaboration with Jaguar, Ridley Scott Associates and agency Brooklyn Brothers (the guys behind the Alec Baldwin/John Krasinski New Era spots). The short film has no official release date beyond “spring,” and a press release describes it as “a story of betrayal, retribution, passion and greed.”

In a statement, Lewis says of his involvement, “Working with the director Adam Smith from Ridley Scott Associates, it promises to be an adventure. Jaguar cars have played some iconic roles in film for many years and I’m looking forward to being the first to drive the F-TYPE in film.”

Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a car company give its marketing a turn for the cinematic. In fact, it’s been over a decade since BMW Films’s Clive Owen-starring series The Hire gained critical acclaim for its groundbreaking approach to car advertising. In 2013, will the same sort of execution move F-Types? I suppose we’ll find out soon.

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Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr. seems to be in a constant marketing tug-of-war between using half-naked girls to sell their menu and attempting to move away from sexualizing their products entirely. When David & Goliath won the biz at end of 2010/beginning of 2011, the agency starting producing spots for the fast-food chain that seemingly mocked the company’s usual over-the-top, sex sells approach while, simultaneously, not skimping on the bikini-clad models.

It seemed as though everyone was happy, that is until David & Goliath stopped putting sexy girls in the ads altogether. Rumor has it that this angered higher-ups at Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s parent, CKE, who were all like, “Where are the sexy ladies, dudes?” So, in less than a year, D&G lost the business.  72andSunny, which took over on the CKE account almost immediately, has proven their loyalty to the topless-girl-eats-a-sandwich-in-slow-motion style of execution with their ongoing TV spots. However, the above ad, “No Tomorrow,” seems to again be moving away from sexy people in favor of sexy ingredients.

As someone who tries to avoid fast-food UNLESS we’re talking about breakfast, Hardee’s Pork Chop ‘N’ Gravy Biscuits actually look very mouthwatering in this spot. I understand that Hardee’s advertising usually is a bit more conservative than Carl’s Jr.’s, but I wonder if this is the kind of execution that the latter could benefit from as well. As history has shown, a lack of sexy girls is a risky move for any agency working for these brands in particular. However, I hope this works out for 72andSunny, as they are able to do for Hardee’s what McGarryBowen tried (and failed) to do for Burger King. Credits after the jump.
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