Hasta La Creative!

Venables Bell & Partners launched a new spot promoting the Audi S5 entitled “Monster.”

The “Monster” in question is a particularly large and angry bull, pent up in its cage and about to be released in a ring. After driving into the arena in the S5 (and thus displaying his power, we suppose), the bullrider, steps out and confronts the animal. Its reaction is certainly atypical, leading into the line, “Progress is never backing down.”

Coming on the heels of “Daughter,” VB&P’s poltically-minded Super Bowl spot for the brand, “Monster”certainly comes as an unexpected departure. The spot’s stereotypcially masculine approach is intended to highlight the vehicle’s power, and its 354 horespower is refereneced near the end of the ad. While its execution and production are stylish, the approach itself feels a bit off following the direction VB&P took for the brand with “Daughter.”

Credits:
AGENCY: Venables Bell & Partners
FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN: Paul Venables
PARTNER, EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Will McGinness
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Justin Moore
ASSOCIATE CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Matt Keats
ASSOCIATE CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Matt Miller
COPYWRITER: Scott Ginsberg
ART DIRECTOR: January Vernon
DIRECTOR OF INTEGRATED PRODUCTION: Craig Allen
PRODUCER: Gabby Gardner
DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS AFFAIRS: Quynh-An Phan
HEAD OF BRAND MANAGEMENT: David Corns
GROUP BRAND DIRECTOR: Chris Bergen
BRAND SUPERVISOR: Jessica Lo
BRAND MANAGER: Brianne Jones
BRAND MANAGER: Hope Stadulis
GROUP STRATEGY DIRECTOR: Tonia Lowe
PROJECT MANAGER: Leah Murphy
SENIOR TRAFFIC MANAGER: Jermelia Holling

PRODUCTION COMPANY: Smuggler
DIRECTOR: Jaron Albertin
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Patrick Milling Smith, Brian Carmody, Allison Kunzman
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: Andrew Colon
LINE PRODUCER: Erin Wile
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Darren Lew

EDITING COMPANY: Final Cut LA
EDITOR: Crispin Struthers
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Zoe Schack
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Suzy Ramirez
PRODUCER: Barbara Healy

VFX/FINISH: MPC
VFX CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Michael Gregory
VFX LEAD ARTIST: Jim Spratling
CG SUPERVISOR: Zach Tucker
VFX EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Karen Anderson
VFX PRODUCER: Jamie Loudon
COLORIST: Mark Gethin
COLOR PRODUCER: Rebecca Boorsma

MUSIC COMPANY: Squeak E Clean Productions
COMPOSER: Adam Kootman
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Rob Barbato
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Amy Crilly
PRODUCER: Stephanie Gocke

SOUND DESIGN AND MIX: 740 Sound
LEAD SOUND DESIGNER/MIXER: Chris Pinkston
SOUND DESIGNER: A Josh Reinhardt
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Scott Ganary
PRODUCER: Jeff Martin

Hyatt consolidated its creative account across its brands by naming MullenLowe as its global AOR nearly a year ago.

Now the agency is launching a new campaign for Hyatt with a 30-second anthem ad entitled “For A World of Understanding.” Set to a version of the oft-covered Burt Bacharach/Hal David-penned “What The World Needs Now Is Love,”originally a hit for Jackie DeShannon in 1965, the spot opens with a woman wearing a hijab sitting across from a blond woman on a train. While the blond woman initially appears skeptical of the woman, if not silently judgmental, they smile warmly at each other when the woman hands her a scarf she dropped on the floor. Similar small moments of understanding are highlighted throughout the effort.

“For A World of Understanding” will make its broadcast debut during the Academy Awards on Sunday, which are guaranteed to have a political tinge this year. The spot manages to promote travel as a means of cultural understanding, a relatively noncontroversial statement that still sees the brand attempting to make a stand for multiculturalism. Adweek recently asked, “Will Brands Risk #Boycott With Socially Conscious Ads This Awards Season?“and Hyatt seems find a way straddle the line with a socially conscious stance that should be mild enough to avoid any major backlash.

The brand is supporting the message with a new initiative in partnership with Afar on a curated trip to Tokyo (from New York) and sponsorship of a charitable education program allowing youth from Chicago to experience a trip to Costa Rica.

While it may be hard to relate on this sunny, unseasonably warm February day, JWT Canada found a way to turn disgruntled obscenities hurled at the weather into something productive with its “Winter Swear Jar” for Hotels.com.

So how does it work?

Every time a really fucking cold Canadian tweets cursing about the winter weather, Hotels.com will add a quarter to its “Winter Swear Jar.” Every time the total reaches $1,000, they’ll send a Canadian a gift card for that amount so they can escape to someplace warm and forget about the fucking snow for a bit.

It’s a fun stunt that invites plenty of social engagement with the brand, along with the promise of a chance to escape the harsh northern climes. The tweets shared in the spot are funny and relatable (even if you don’t live in Canada) and give an idea of what the campaign is all about while encouraging disgruntled Canadians to join in the fun.

While the function of a swear jar is normally to dissuade people from swearing, Hotels.com’s effort is intended to have the opposite effect, as the more people swear about the weather on Twitter, the more likely another Canadian will escape to someplace warm for a vacation. While it may not be quite as cold down here in the states, especially at the moment, we’re pretty taken with this swear jar idea. And we assure you we’ve done plenty of cursing this winter.

“Social media provides us with the most culturally relevant environment to engage our consumer beyond a more traditional one-way dialogue,” JWT associate creative director Laurent Abesdris told AdFreak. “We plan to measure the shift in brand sentiment over the course of the campaign.”

Credits:
Client: Hotels.com
Project Name: Swear Jar
Agency: J. Walter Thompson Canada
Chief Creative Officer: Ryan Spelliscy
Associate Creative Directors: Denise Cole & Laurent Abesdris
Art Director: Jose Rivas
Copywriter: Kyla Galloway
Brand Engagement Director: Victoria Radziunas
Digital and Social Strategy Director: Adam Ferraro
Community Management and Influencer Relations: Jolie Featherstone, Rannie Turingan
VP, Integrated Broadcast: Andrew Schulze
Senior Project Manager: Joanne Sincich
Account Team: Darrell Hurst, Chitty Krishnappa
Client Team: Melissa Postier, Mike Wolfe, Josh Belkin
Executive Director, Digital and Agency Technology: Kawal Singh
Group Technical Director: Kevin Tam
Group Director – User Experience: Stuart Thom
Production Company: Sauce
Post-Production: Think Tank
Editing House: Saints
Audio House: TA2
Media Agency: MEC

FCB/SIX launched a PSA campaign for Drug Free Kids Canada targeting high driving amongst teens, entitled “The Call That Comes After.”

The campaign features a customizable video which allows parents to send tailored messages to their teenage sons and daughters that amount to a take on “Don’t get high and drive.”

“The Call” depicts a scene of a group of friends sitting around and sharing a joint, with one girl informing them “I don’t smoke” when it comes around to her. Still, she gets in the car with her stoned friend (Why didn’t she insist on driving!?) en route to a party and things, predictably, go horribly wrong. That’s where the customizable aspect comes in, with the teens receiving a text from mom or dad addressed to them at the same moment that the scene depicts the character receive a text from her mom following a car crash.
Intended to start a conversation between teens and their parents about the issue, the campaign was launched following a study commissioned by Drug Free Kids Canada which found that around 25 percent of high school seniors admitted to riding in a car with a high driver. The pro-bono campaign, which achieves its customization by utilizing a combination of “IBM’s Marketing Cloud, Oracle Marketing Cloud, SMS, YouTube and an on-demand video rendering engine,” will run through June and arrives as Canada is taking steps toward legalizing cannabis for adult recreational use.

“Starting a conversation is the most important step parents can take toward helping their children make better life choices,” Drug Free Kids executive director Marc Paris said in a statement. “Education and ongoing communication are essential.”
“Research shows that parents are one of the biggest influence on their kids when it comes to drug abuse, so we took an approach of reaching out to parents directly to help get the message to their kids, with an innovative use of technology that we thought would best grab their kid’s attention,” added FCB/SIX managing director Vicki Waschkowski.

Credits:

Project: The Call That Comes After
Url: https://thecallthatcomesafter.com

Client: Drug Free Kids Canada
Executive Director: Marc Paris

Agency: FCB/SIX
Executive Creative Director: Ian Mackenzie
Associate Creative Director: Krystle Mullin
Associate Creative Director: Graham Tingle
VP, Group Account Director: Vicki Waschkowski
Account Supervisor: Shannon Harvey
Project Manager: Gillian Largey
Lead Developer: Dov Atlin
Campaign Manager: Andrew Yang
VP, Data & Technology: Jacob Ciesielski
President: Andrea Cook
Agency Producer: Kelly Cavanaugh

Media Planning: UM
Director Connection Planning: Cynthia Steele

Production Company: Circle Productions
Executive Producer: Andria Minott
Director / Cinematographer: Jesse Blight
Line Producer: Robbie McNamara

Editorial: School Editing
Editor: Lauren Horn
Exec. Producer: Sarah Brooks

Post Production: Red Lab
Executive Producer: Laurie Kerr-Jones
Producer: Pallavi Joshi
Visual Effects Artist: Andy Hunter
Colourist: Jason Zukowski

Music & Sound Design: Vapor RMW
Producer: Ted Rosnick

Casting: Shasta Lutz, Jigsaw Casting

72andSunny launched the latest in its long-running anti-smoking campaign for truth, this time telling tobacco companies to “#StopProfiling” in a new 30-second spot.

The ad opens with correspondent Amanda Seales sharing that a recent study found that low income neighborhoods are more likely to have tobacco retailers near schools than other neighborhoods. She adds that tobacco companies took their case to keep advertising tobacco near schools to the Supreme Court, referring to a 2001 case. “It’s not a coincidence,” she says near the spot’s conclusion, “it’s profiling.”

The new effort manages to raise an issue with tobacco companies that young viewers may not have considered. That’s a welcome departure from the painful attempt to be hip we saw with “#Squadless” last summer and a more compelling argument than last year’s “#CATmageddon.” By concluding with a call for viewers to “call it out” with the hashtag “#StopProfiling” the spot also manages to invite engagement and spread the message beyond viewers who see the ad. It’s certainly a step in the right direction for the campaign and hopefully one 72andSunny can build on going forward.

Is advertising art? Can it ever be?

Before you tell us how tired you are of people asking this question, some context: the Association of Independent Commercial Producers is promoting its upcoming awards events AICP Show and AICP Next Awards with a campaign hyping its collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art’s Department of Film. This work plays on the idea that most creatives in the ad industry are former fine arts majors who had to find a way to make a living. (So are many of us in media, btw.)

Specifically, it compares some prominent creatives to big name artists by tallying the works they have housed in the MoMA.

First, it’s FCB’s Susan Credle versus that guy with one ear:

FACT CHECK: Credle did not, in fact, post 50 selfies in one day. We rate that claim #FakeNews.

Jeff Kling and Jeff Koons are also running neck and neck, though the pop artist manages to beat out the Fallon CCO by one.

We like how Kling hammed it up there. And of course, many “traditional” artists have always disliked Koons and pop artists like him for supposedly commenting on the shallow nature of our culture by celebrating it.

Now for perhaps the most shocking statistic: Gerry Graf and Paul Cezanne have the same number of works in the MoMA. No, you probably won’t see Snyder’s of Hanover ads airing on the wall next time you walk into the museum. But you get the point.

OK, OK. Slow clap. And that paternity suit thing is a joke. We Googled.

You can thank R/GA for the idea behind this one as Nick Law and Jay Zasa came up with it. Law is also 2017 AICP Next Awards Judging Chair. R/GA creatives Mike Donaghey and Chris Joakim contributed, and the subject of each short wrote its respective script—which explains the Graf entry.

Your press release quote from AICP president and CEO Matt Miller:

“The conversation about art and advertising is over—its now about Art vs Advertising as creative rivalries percolate across media platforms. The archive at MoMA is a huge achievement, offering unequaled prestige to artists of all walks as they strive for creative recognition.”

Is the conversation really over, though? If you want to get all technical, “art” is a creative endeavor that has no specific commercial purpose. So advertising, by definition, can never be art, no matter how groundbreaking it is or how many boxes of cereal it sells or how many Adweek covers it inspires. This is also why “art” in the traditional sense is dead, because who the hell can afford to spend countless hours creating stuff without the assurance that there’s money to be made? Remember how Van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime?

The MoMA does have at least one thing in common with ad agencies, though: both organizations (allegedly) overwork employees while paying them peanuts. It’s barely a living, but the health benefits might be described as “kind of generous!”

The deadline to enter the AICP Awards is next Friday, March 3, 2017. Here’s your link.

CREDITS

Creative Concept
R/GA
Nick Law, Vice Chairman, Global Chief Creative Officer R/GA
Jay Zasa, SVP, Executive Creative Director, R/GA
Mike Donaghey, Creative Director, R/GA
Chris Joakim, Creative Director, R/GA

Writing Credits
Susan Credle, Global Chief Creative Officer, FCB Global (“Van Gogh vs Credle”)
Gerry Graf, Chief Creative Officer, Barton F. Graf (“Cezanne vs Graf”)
Jeff Kling, Chief Creative Officer, Fallon (“Koons vs Kling”)

Editorial
No6
James Duffy, Editor
Nick Schneider, Editor
Lucas Spaulding, Editor
Renn Cheadle, Assistant Editor
Connie Chuang, Assistant Editor
Malia Rose, Producer
Yole Barrera, Producer
Corina Dennison, Executive Producer

Production
Fallon
“Koons vs Kling”
Collin Goodspeed, Director
Valeska Bachauer & Lauren Carpenter, Art Direction
Jeff Kling, Talent

Music
JSM Music
Joel Simon, CCO/CEO
Jeff Fiorello, Executive Producer
Norm Felker, Producer

Audio & Voice Over Recording
COLOR
Josh Abbey, Engineer / Partner
Kevin Halpin, Engineer / Partner
JD Heilbronner, Engineer / Mixer / Tech Producer
Jeff Rosner, Executive Producer / Partner

Voice Over Artist
Alex Warner

DDB & Tribal Worldwide Amsterdam turned to former wrestling personality, amateur adult film star and Gawker slayer Hulk Hogan for the latest in Dutch insurance company Centraal Beheer’s “Just Call Us” campaign.

“Hulk” is the 60th spot in the campaign, which has run for some three decades. Set in Hogan’s hometown of Clearwater Beach, Florida, it sees Hogan come to the rescue when a thief grabs a woman’s purse.

Or does he? Hogan appears more concerned with hamming it up for the crowd than making sure the purse is returned safely.

“We’re very proud to work with Centraal Beheer on one of the longest-running campaigns out there, and one that is so firmly part of Dutch culture and vocabulary,”  DDB & Tribal Worldwide Amsterdam co-CEO Ivo Roefs said in a statement. “We hope people enjoy the Hulk’s smooth moves as much as we do.”

“By continuing on the same consistent path, Centraal Beheer will bring brand and sales ever closer together,” added digital and marketing communications manager Peggy Spaapen. “No matter what happens, we want to show that we are here for our customers, day and night.”

The campaign launched recently online and will make its broadcast debut in the Netherlands on February 25.

Credits:
Agency: DDB & Tribal Worldwide Amsterdam
Business Director: Milo van der Meij

Production Company: In Case of Fire
Executive Creative Director: Dylan de Backer
Director: Sven Super
Producers: Yuka Kambayashi, Arjan Easterfeather

Carmichael Lynch launched a pair of new spots for Subaru which chart familiar territory for the brand.

The sentimental “Moving Out,” shows two parents watching their young child packing up his stuff into their Subaru Impreza, apparently moving out. When the spot pivots to the reveal, accompanied by the line, “We always knew that our Subaru Impreza would be there for him someday, we just didn’t think that ‘someday’ would come so fast,” it certainly doesn’t come as a surprise.

Still, the approach has worked for the brand in the past and highlights the family friendly vehicle’s durability in an emotional way.

Another spot focuses on another key brand selling point and advertising staple: its safety features. In this case, “Rewind” takes a look at how a nasty accident could have been avoided with the vehicle’s obstacle detection feature. A third spot, “More,” will rollout next week and feature both a puppy and a baby.

“The all-new Impreza advertising campaign focuses on the intimate experiences that unite us all,” Subaru of America senior vice president, marketing Alan Bethke told Adweek. “With major gains in handling performance, crash safety and ride comfort, the 2017 Impreza offers customers a smooth and trusted ride, ready for wherever the road takes them.”

Credits:
2017 Subaru Impreza Launch TV

—Spot: “Moving Out”

Client: Subaru of America
Senior Vice President-Marketing: Alan Bethke
National Advertising Manager: Brian Cavallucci
Advertising Production Specialist: Michelle Shoultes

Agency: Carmichael Lynch
Chief Creative Officer: Marty Senn
Exec Creative Director: Randy Hughes
Sr. Copywriter: Justin Prichard
Sr. Art Director: Chris Carlberg
Head of Production: Joe Grundhoefer
Senior Content Producer: Lisa Keljik
Business Manager: Vicki Oachs
Account Management Team:Brad Williams, Adam Craw, Liz Jenkins
Sr. Project Management: Meredith Paul

Production Company: Arts & Sciences
Director: Sean Meehan
Executive Producer: Mal Ward
Line Producer: Sam McGarry
Director of Photography: Sean Meehan

Edit House: WAX
Editor: Stephen Jess
Producer: Evan Meeker
VFX House for Rewind: Framestore LA
Online Artist(s): Volt Studios/Steve Medin
Telecine: Co 3 Tim Masick
Audio Mix: SisterBoss/Carl White
Sound Design: SisterBoss/Carl White
Post Production Audio Producer: Annie Sparrows
On-Line Editor: Volt Studios/Steve Medin
Post Producer: Volt Studios/Amanda Tibbits

Track Title: Blue Eyed Girl
Music Company/Artist: Mikal Cronin
Music Supervisor: Jonathan Hecht/Venn Arts

VO talent: Justin Beere
OCP Talent:
Tricia Donahue: Mom
Adam Edgar: Dad
TK Weaver: Young son
Nick Costello: Teen son

—Spot: “Rewind”

Client: Subaru of America
Senior Vice President-Marketing: Alan Bethke
National Advertising Manager: Brian Cavallucci
Advertising Production Specialist: Michelle Shoultes

Agency: Carmichael Lynch
Chief Creative Officer: Marty Senn
Exec Creative Director: Randy Hughes
Sr. Copywriter: Justin Prichard
Sr. Art Director: Chris Carlberg
Head of Production: Joe Grundhoefer
Senior Content Producer: Lisa Keljik
Business Manager: Vicki Oachs
Account Management Team:Brad Williams, Adam Craw, Liz Jenkins
Sr. Project Management: Meredith Paul

Production Company: Arts & Sciences
Director: Sean Meehan
Executive Producer: Mal Ward
Line Producer: Sam McGarry
Director of Photography: Sean Meehan

Edit House: WAX
Editor: Stephen Jess
Producer: Evan Meeker
VFX House for Rewind: Framestore LA
Online Artist(s): Volt Studios/Steve Medin
Telecine: Co 3 Tim Masick
Audio Mix: SisterBoss/Carl White
Sound Design: SisterBoss/Carl White
Post Production Audio Producer: Annie Sparrows
On-Line Editor: Volt Studios/Steve Medin
Post Producer: Volt Studios/Amanda Tibbits

Track Title: Reminiscence
Music Company/Artist: Samuel Karl Bohn
Music Supervisor: Jonathan Hecht/Venn Arts

VO talent: Justin Beere

OCP Talent:
Tongayi Chirisa: Husband
Hilary Ward: Wife
Tom McCormas: Truck Driver (in accident)
Ashley Cusato: Car Driver (in accident)
Amanda Christensen: Pedestrian
Paul Bortoli: Ambulance Driver
Deon Sams: Tongayi’s voice

Many citizens of Earth would tell you that our planet is a bit of a mess right now, what with our pending environmental calamity, a series of intractable conflicts destabilizing entire continents, and the global political malaise embodied by whatever last night’s vice presidential debate was supposed to be.

But maybe they’re missing the forest for the trees … and the forest really is quite impressive.

Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam just released what is undoubtedly its most epic effort for S7 (formerly known as Siberia Airlines) since winning the business back in 2014. The anthem spot effectively argues, via disparate footage of the Earth’s extremities, that ours is still a pretty great planet. One can determine by process of elimination that it is, in fact, the best one we have.

Nice strategy in terms of depicting S7 as a global entity before zooming out to reveal the source of the voiceover and reaffirm the client’s status as Russia’s largest domestic airline.

The summary reads:

We’ve been given two wonderful gifts.
Without argument, the best world there is.
And a life to experience that world.

This is true, and it’s also true that—as the VO tells us at the opening—that no copy can really do justice to great footage of natural wonders like the cave that appears around the :17 mark.

The client’s group deputy general director Tatiana Fileva says, “With this campaign we wanted to show our planet from a new, unexpected perspective to inspire passengers to travel, discover and explore amazing places. Travel is the opportunity to experience new sensations, to see the beauty and feel the energy of Earth.”

Beyond this spot, the campaign will include print, OOH, radio and various digital activations. It will also feature “building wraps and billboards across Russia,” which sounds intriguing given the GIF-ified work W+K Amsterdam did for Nike last year.

The theme is in keeping with W+K’s past work for this client, which encouraged viewers to see it as an international carrier with the tagline “Fly anywhere you can imagine” and moved into VR territory by allowing certain lucky participants to visit exotic locations without leaving their seats.

But, again, there’s also a bit of national pride there via Mr. Borisenko, who “spent 164 days away from Earth on his last expedition,” in an attempt to appeal to the brand’s key Russian demographic.

CREDITS
S7 AIRLINES
Deputy General Director Tatiana Fileva
Marketing Communications Director Eleonora Romanova
Brand Manager Alexandra Komarova
Head of Production Group Alexey Krasnov
Head of Online Group Elmira Agaeva
PR Director Irina Kolesnikova
Head of Media Group Natalia Kozlova

WIEDEN+KENNEDY AMSTERDAM
Executive Creative Directors Mark Bernath, Eric Quennoy
Creative Directors Joe Burrin, Evgeny Primachenko
Art Director Jordi Luna
Copywriter Scott Smith
Head of Content Joe Togneri
Broadcast Producer Michael MacMillan
Planner Martin Weigel, Alexandre Janneau
Group Account Director Clare Pickens
Account Director Jorge Fesser
Account Manager Yulia Prokhorova
Head of Studio Saskia van Zwieten
Head of Art Production Maud Klarenbeek
Studio Artist Noa Redero
Project Manager Cory Chonko
Business Affairs Kacey Kelley

FILM PRODUCTION
PRODUCTION COMPANY PARK PICTURES
Director AG Rojas
Director of Photography Michael Ragen
Executive Producer Stephen Brierley
Head of Production Sophie Hubble
Producer Tim Kerrison

EDITING COMPANY TRIM EDITING
Editor Dominic Leung

AUDIO POST WAVE AMSTERDAM
Sound Designer/Mixer Alex Nicholls-Lee

MUSIC
Composer / Title Philip Kay / There’s No Place Like Earth
Music Company Woodwork Music

POST PRODUCTION MPC AMSTERDAM
Flame Toby Aldridge
Telecine Jean-Clément Soret
Producer Thijs Klaassen

SECOND UNIT
Cameraman Gustavo Alcocer
SERVICE FILM PRODUCTION
PRODUCTION COMPANY (THAILAND) INDOCHINA PRODUCTIONS
Producer Nicholas Simon
PRODUCTION COMPANY (Croatia) Blue Sky Films
Producer Mario Zvan
PRODUCTION COMPANY (Russia) Bazelevs
Producer Sofia Maltseva

PRINT PRODUCTION
PRODUCTION COMPANY WEBBER REPRESENTS
Photographer Thomas Prior
Executive Producer Holly Barder
Photographer / Retoucher Primary Photographic
Type integration Loupe Digital Imaging
Stock imagery Shutterstock

In its latest effort for FirstBank, TDA Boulder portrays the U.S. presidential campaign as two puppets on stage saying a whole lot of nothing in “Puppet Business.” Not entirely inaccurate!

“My fellow Americans, blah blah blah,” opens one candidate, a green puppet guy in a suit and tie. “Blah Blah, Main Street, not Wall Street!” retorts his opponent, a purple she-puppet (this is a word, trust us) with curly blonde hair. This (painful) format continues throughout the spot, with the candidates’ points (arriving in-between blah-blahs) boiling down to “backward economy,” “America,” “business” and “Job creation, innovation, stimulation!” before the ad finally arrives at the line, “They talk about jobs. You create them.”

The presidential election is undoubtedly at the top of viewers minds, though we wonder if this effort will stand out among the many related campaigns.

The puppet format allows TDA Boulder to mock the general spectacle of American presidential politics without targeting either side — although we can’t help but notice that one of the puppets bears a stronger resemblance to an actual candidate than the other one (hint: the qualified one). The approach is presumably intended to promote the bank’s offerings for small businesses, though it’s not quite clear why this bank would be better at that than its competitors.

If this ad had been shot after last night’s VP debate, it would have been pretty funny to see one puppet say, “Your running mate claimed ‘blah blah blah’” before the other responds “No he did not” and then we cut to a close up of a third puppet’s inflammatory tweets.

Credits:
dvertising Agency: TDA_Boulder, New York, USA
Creative Director / Copywriter: Jeremy Seibold
Associate Creative Director / Art Director: Barrett Brynestad
Exec. Creative Director: Jonathan Schoenberg
Director of Client Services: Christi Tucay Clark
Account Supervisor: Colleen Callahan
Director of Strategy: Constance DeCherney
Agency Producer: Susan Fisher
Production Company: MJZ
Director: Perlorian Brothers
Director of Photography.: Sebastian Pfaffenbichler
Executive Producer: David Zander, Eriks Krumins
Line Producer: Jay Shapiro
Puppets Created by: Legacy Effects
Puppet Supervisor: Alan Scott
Shoot Location: Pasadena
Editorial / Post: Cosmo Street
Editor: Katz
Assistant Editor: Nellie Phillips
Executive Producer: Yvette Cobarrubias – Sears
Producers: Marie Mangahas, Chelsea Spensley
Color Correct: Apache
Telecine Operator: Steve Rodriguez
Mix / Sound Design: Lime Studios
Engineer: Zach Fisher
Animation: Bernard Tan
Business Manager: Tricia Krasnesk