Hasta La Creative!

Are you concerned about the possibility that an incompetent Commander in Chief could lead us to the brink of nuclear disaster? Does the fact that the Doomsday Clock is now the closest it has been to midnight since 1953 give you anxiety? Do you like sushi? What do these questions have in common?

TDA_Boulder launched a campaign for Colorado sushi chain Hapa Sushi playing on apocalyptic fears, entitled “Eat Well Before It All Ends.” The campaign looks no further than the president’s twitter feed for inspiration. In fact, it more or less provides the creative for the agency, as there’s perhaps no better source to stoke existential fears of humanity’s demise. The tweets in question include a 2015 pre-presidential run rant about the “only global warming we should fear” being caused by “nuclear weapons” in the hands of “incompetent pols” and Trump’s recent baiting of North Korean leader Kin Jong-Un, naturally leading into the “Eat Well Before It All Ends” tagline. Might as well try the fugu!The campaign is running across social media outlets, in OOH and in Colorado-focused print publications such as Yellowscene, Out Front, 5280 Magazine, The Rooster, Boulder Weekly and Denver Hotel Magazine, ColoradoBiz Magazine.“Unfortunately, our president is Trump. Fortunately, he makes a joke out of himself so we don’t have to,” RDA_Boulder executive creative director Jonathan Schoenberg said in a statement. “We decided to use his tweets as a scary indication that the world as we know it might end under his power. But, let’s eat some really good sushi before it does.”

Suggesting you should go ahead and go for it since we all might die is certainly a bold strategy for a sushi restaurant about 1,000 miles away from the nearest ocean, but it is certainly attention-grabbing. Taking a stand against Trump will likely not scare away too many local patrons for Hapa Sushi. According to a November poll, 64 percent of Coloradans held an unfavorable view of the president.

It’s not the first time TDA_Boulder has played on recent events for the Denver-based sushi outlet. Following Colorado’s legalization of cannabis in 2014, the agency developed a pairing menu for cannabis strains and types of sushi.

And since we may not find a better excuse to include it in a post, here’s the most beautiful song ever written about the nuclear apocalypse, “Final Day” by Young Marble Giants.

MullenLowe LA launched its first campaign for Whole Foods since winning creative duties last October, following a review.

“Whatever Makes You Whole” takes a humorous approach in promoting the Austin-based grocery store chain, which of course was acquired by Amazon last year. A series of 15-second spots promote various aspects of the Whole Foods shopping experience, from free samples to cheese experts to wine and tapas bars.

Each ad in the campaign manages to highlight a different section of Whole Foods, such as its meat or pasta selection or the fact that you can claim to be “grocery shopping” while hanging out at the wine and tapas bar. The humor doesn’t always land as intended, ranging from the not quite funny but sort of charming situation in the dad joke-fueled “Pastabilities,” which hints at Whole Foods’ range of pasta selections, to the cringey vegan-turned-paleo guy in “Paleo,” a spot that manages to support the types of stereotypes about Whole Foods shoppers the campaign should be looking to counteract.

Maybe you heard that there’s a football game happening on Sunday. It will involve two teams from cities we don’t live in and, frankly, we don’t really care who wins AS LONG AS IT’S NOT THE PATRIOTS.

Just kidding, they are very good and it’s not just because Tom Brady decided to abandon his career as a Calvin Klein model to make millions of dollars by avoiding the crushing blows of other, larger men.

Wieden + Kennedy New York knows which team to root for. Or at least which team is closer to its client Duracell (headquarters in Bethel, Connecticut). So the agency and the brand made a little tribute to one Bill Belichick, best known for his signature hoodies, his flustered press conferences and his endless collection of Super Bowl rings.

As the campaign copy reads, “If batteries played football, Duracell would be the coach you want next to you in a Foxborough hole.”

(We are not too smart, but even we know that’s a New England joke.)

The release also tells us that the brand will be engaging in witty social media banter leading up to and during the game. For example…

It’s a true underdog story.

— Duracell (@Duracell) February 1, 2018

pic.twitter.com/yloIxZLc9l

— Duracell (@Duracell) February 2, 2018

This is going to be a blowout, isn’t it? UUUGGGGGGHHHHHH.

Burns Group is bringing wine to a beer party.

More specifically, the agency is launching a Super Bowl spot for wine brand Yellow Tail which is running throughout most of the country via 80 regional media buys. Yellow Tail’s regional ad last year made it the first wine brand to run a spot in the Super Bowl in 40 years.

The 30-second spot, directed by Harald Zwart, focuses on a surprise party and, like last year’s ad, features the brand’s kangaroo mascot. It suggests that any party with Yellow Tail is a good party and the brand’s distinction as “America’s #1 imported wine.”

According to a press release, the ad will reach around 100 million viewers. The total media spend, with media buying handled by Havas Media Group, added up to around $10.3 million, around $5 million of that on broadcast. The integrated campaign also includes online and social media components, as well as a Yellow Tail Food Truck Tailgate Tour featuring celebrity chef Jeff Mauro, which was handled by agency French/West/Vaughan.

A lot of people are going to feel the need to call in sick on Monday morning, and not because of the particularly bad flu season.

Whether it’s due to a hangover, fatigue, or just because the goddamn Patriots won the Super Bowl again, a lot of Americans are going to want the Monday after the Super Bowl off from work. You know it, I know it, Reckitt Benckiser brand Mucinex and its agency of record McCann know it. So McCann New York/McCann Humancare worked up a spot slated to run after Super Bowl LII with a wink at the “#SuperSickMonday” phenomenon. It features the brand’s animated (and pretty gross) mucus character chiding viewers for faking it before ending with the line, “When you’re really sick, take Mucinex.”

The campaign was inspired by a recent survey by Mucinex and The Workforce Institute at Kronos Incorporated which found nearly 1 in 5 employees admitted they had previously missed work following the Big Game.

“We know that a late night watching the Big Game can make it hard to get up and go to work the next day,” Reckitt Benckiser equity lead, U.S. Health Brian Dolan said in a statement published in LBB. “As a brand that takes pride in helping fight sickness and avoid missed time at work, we decided to give a wink to this once-a-year cultural phenomenon, when people choose to take a personal day on their own terms.”

“We’ve had fun with this campaign, giving a lot of the power to consumers and influential personalities in sports and comedy to talk about what #SuperSickMonday means to them. The timing of our ad right after the game syncs up with the immediate nationwide feeling of post-game blues, latching on to that moment when you begin to rationalize calling out sick,” he added. “We think this approach will help us increase brand awareness at a time of year when lots of brands are advertising in a more traditional way. By giving people a laugh now, we hope they will turn to Mucinex when they’re actually sick.”

Credits: 

CREATIVE AGENCY: McCann New York/McCann Humancare
STRATEGY DIRECTOR: Jessica Yin / Experience Strategy Director?
STRATEGY DIRECTOR: Jessica Yin / Experience Strategy Director?
SENIOR PRODUCER: Alexis Mead
SENIOR ART DIRECTOR: Mikey Harmon
MUSIC PRODUCER: Dan Gross
GROUP STRATEGY DIRECTOR: Zulay Tomasiello
GROUP ACCOUNT DIRECTOR: John Danbeck
EXECUTIVE STRATEGY DIRECTOR: Erica Yahr
BUSINESS MANAGER: Madeline McCart
ACCOUNT SUPERVISOR: Lauren Galasso
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE: Nick Hanlin , Katie Hildebrandt (assistant)
ACCOUNT DIRECTOR: Claire Hogan
CO-HEAD OF BROADCAST PRODUCTION: Danielle Korn
CHIEF PRODUCTION OFFICER: Nathy Aviram
CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER: Tom Murphy & Sean Bryan
ASSOCIATE CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Adam Koehler

ANIMATION
PRODUCER: Scott Allen Thomas
CG PRODUCTION: Briana Franceschini (Lead)
ART DIRECTOR: Pedro Lavin
ANIMATION COMPANY: Psyop

INTERACTIVE / DIGITAL AGENCY
ASSOCIATE CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Adam Koehler

MUSIC AND SOUND
MUSIC PRODUCTION: CHROMA

MIX: Sonic Union/Engineer: Paul Weiss

PRODUCTION COMPANY
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Furlined, Inc.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: David Thorne

EDITORIAL & ONLINE: Cabin Edit – Graham Turner
DOP: Martin Ruhe
DIRECTOR: Speck Gordon

TALENT ACQUISITION
BRAND PARTNERSHIP: Kimberly Kress (Director Talent Partnerships)

Oh hey, remember “Bo don’t know Diddly?”

Jackson was the first guy who came to mind when we watched this latest Sprite campaign by W+K, which also made those classic ads in the late 80s.

You already know that Bo did the “I can play multiple sports” thing way before Michael Jordan—and he was better at it, too.

Anyway, this Sprite spot places one LeBron James in an unusual place (the middle of the baseball diamond) while celebrating his ability to destroy anyone who comes up against him, even in a game he’s never played competitively.

It’s all colorful and surreal and cartoonish, sorta like Wieden’s Old Spice work. And in case you missed it, Interscope rapper Kamaiyah played the catcher.

In another :15, LeBron pulls a classic “psych out the batter” move with his secret weapon … a can of Sprite. The YouTube description copy also outs him as “the best pitchman in the game of refreshment,” adding, “If you were looking for a thing about LeBron James, that must have been something else.”
Ah OK, we get it.

From brand director Bobby Oliver: “Continuing the lightheartedness of the ‘Wanna Sprite’ integrated marketing campaign, we wanted to find a fun way to remind consumers of the big taste that a cool, crisp and refreshing Sprite has. We decided to put LeBron James and Kamaiyah together in a larger-than-life environment that we’re not typically used to seeing them in, and the result is pretty refreshing.”

CREDITS

Agency: Wieden+Kennedy New York
Client: Sprite
Campaign: “Big Taste”

Executive Creative Director – Karl Lieberman
Creative Directors – Jimm Lasser, Caleb Jensen
Copywriter – Pepe Hernandez
Art Director – Blair Warren
Executive Producer – Orlee Tatarka
Senior Producer – Jessica Griffeth
Social Strategy – Jessica Breslin, Carlos Tovar
Strategic Planning – Brandon Thornton, Aya Watanabe
Media, Comms Planning – Karlo Cordova, Branden Bouvia
Account Team – Jordan Muse, Meaghan Hinder, Raquel Castro, Carla Caban
Business Affairs – Patrick O’Donoghue, Brit Fryer, Carla Curry, Andrea Sierra
Project Management – Alex Doomany
Head of Production – Nick Setounski
Trafficking – Sonia Bisono, Andy Hume

Production Company – Chelsea Pictures
Director – David Gordon Green
Executive – Producer Pat McGoldrick
Producer – JD Davison
Director of Photography – Eric Treml

Editorial Company – Joint
Editor – Kevin Zimmerman
Assistant Editor – Stephen Nelson
Post Producer – Stephen Schmidt, Renee Haar
Post Executive Producer – Michelle Carman

VFX Company – The Mill
Lead VFX Artist – Jimmy Bullard
VFX Producer – Hayley Wallach, Bugs Russell
VFX Team – Daw Yoon Kang, Ben Kwok, Dhruv Shankar, Marco Baratto, Sungeun Moon
Lead CG Artist – Emily Meger
CG Team – Cole T. Clark, Incheol Jeong, Juan Carlos Barquet, Navdeep Singh, Weichieh Yu
GFX Artist – Laura Nash
Colorist – Michael Rossiter

Music – Dom Tunon, Nick Hook, Storefront Music
Sound Design – Bill Chesley – Henry Boy.

Mix Company – Sonic Union
Mixer – Steve Rosen

Color Company – The Mill
Colorist – Mikey Rossiter

We know nothing about hockey. Or the IIHF Ice Hockey World Junior Championships. Or even Canada, really.

But we are fascinated by people acting like massive assholes in public, which is probably why we were interested in this campaign from Nike and Wieden + Kennedy Portland (who else?!).

Clientside PR pitched this one to us as “the first campaign of its kind,” and while we can’t be quite sure of that, the concept is pretty cool. There’s a separate :90 for each day in the 9-day tournament—and in each one our protagonist gets progressively meaner to the people around him.

In the first one, he knocks over a grandmother’s trash and destroys some mannequins but also gives his hat to a cold dog. A mixed bag, really.

Then it gets worse. Each version depicts the same series of events with a bunch of little variations that change the character very slightly in a style somewhat similar to that Spike Jonze Kylie Minogue video where she keeps following the same pattern over and over again. You know the one.
Then it pretty much keeps going like this.

It’s pretty cool to follow all the little differences between the spots, like the fact that the car in the beginning gains more lame bumper stickers just as the garage gains more dents and the driver’s “Dude!” gets a little louder.

By the time the last chapter rolls around, dude straight up crashes through the wall to get to the ice.

The point, of course, is that Canadians aren’t really as “nice” as we Yankees seem to think. Especially when they’re playing hockey.

It would be asking a bit much of the average viewer to sit through nine of these like we just did, but that’s not the way they were intended to be watched. As W+K CD Chris Groom told Strategy Online, the client’s massive media buy (31 placements over the 9 days of the tournament) helped guide the strategy as young hockey fanatics played “spot the difference.”

Director Keith McCarthy of Stink Films said, “I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this constantly escalating, constantly evolving giant of an idea. It was an incredible challenge and an amazing opportunity to do something no one has ever done before.”

We’re just happy the dog still gets to keep the hat in the end.

DDB Chicago launched a post-holiday campaign for State Farm, calling on viewers to continue charitable actions after the holiday season.

A 60-second spot centers around a cover of Simple Minds‘ “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” a song best-known, of course, for its appearance in The Breakfast Club soundtrack. The song, as sung by a performer sitting at a piano, is closely tied to the message of the ad. “Don’t You” shows a bustling soup kitchen during the holidays give way to a mostly empty room shortly after the end of the season.

The spot concludes with the message, “The season of giving ends, but the need remains.”

“I think a lot of us can relate to finding ourselves being more generous during the holidays—to finally finding the time to act on the good intentions we have throughout the year. But once they’re over, we often go back to our normal day-to-day…until the next holiday season,” DDB Chicago senior vice president, group creative director Mel Routhier told The Drum. “This piece dramatizes what that reality looks like for many shelters and places of need. And hopefully motivates people to stay involved, well after the lights and decorations of the holidays come down.”

It’s part of a larger campaign to promote State Farm’s Neighborhood of Good program, which, in addition to broadcast spots also includes online videos, social media initiatives and digital display ads, all designed to drive viewers to neighborhoodofgood.com.

Credits: 
Campaign: Don’t You
Client: State Farm

Creative Agency: DDB Chicago
Chief Creative Officer, DDB North America: Ari Weiss
Chief Creative Officer, DDB Chicago: John Maxham
Group Creative Director: Mel Routhier
Creative Director, Art Director: Brian Culp
Creative Director, Copywriter: Katie Bero
Group Account Director : Ben Gladstone
Account Director: Veronica Zamiar
Account Supervisor: Oliver Glenn
Account Executive: Kamerin Elsasser
Group Strategy Director: Jesse Bayer
Chief Production Officer: Diane Jackson
Executive Producer: Scott Kemper
Executive Producer: Amy Turner
Associate Producer: Jon Frazza
Production Manager: Zoe Grubbe
Music Production Manager: Linda Bres
Executive Art Producer: Suzanne Koller

Production Company: Anonymous Content & Somesuch & Co.
Director: Aoife McArdle
Executive Producer: Nicky Barnes
Producer: Debbie Ninnis

Editorial: Final Cut
Editor: Joe Guest
Assistant Editor: Kit Wells
Assistant Editor: Megan Marie Connolly
Executive Producer: Suzy Ramirez
Producer: Barbara Healy

VFX & Finish: MPC
Executive Producer: Jesse Kurnit
Producer: Liz Thuvanuti
2D Lead: Matt Tremaglio
2D Team: Timo Huber, Steve Koenig, Rob Walker
VFX Supervisor: Peter Smith
Colorist: George Kyriacou
Color Assistant: Phil Hambi
Producer, Color: Amy Richardson

Audio Post: Sound Lounge
Mixer: Tom Jucarone
Sound Designer: Marshall Grupp
Producer: Becca Falborn
Executive Producer: Mike Gullp

Music Production: Tin Drum Music
Music Production: David McEwan
Executive Producer: Nick Nash

Leo Burnett Chicago launched a New Year’s spot for Allstate featuring the brand’s long-running Mayhem character, as portrayed by actor Dean Winters, (who played one-time Liz Lemon boyfriend/Beeper King Dennis Duffy on 30 Rock).

This time around, Mayhem has changed his tune. In fact, he claims his New Year’s resolution is to stop causing mayhem, with a look back at the various forms he’s taken over the years. Instead, he wants to be something that helps keep people safe, like that tennis ball in your garage that prevents you from pulling in too far.

The spot ends with a knowing wink via the line, “Resolutions are made to be broken,” followed by the tagline “Are you in good hands?” After years of the same schtick, the spot represents an interesting change of pace for the character, with a promise of a return to form at a future date.

The ad is part of the first phase of Leo Burnett Chicago’s new “#ResolutionsAreMayhem” campaign for Allstate, which kicked off on December 29. According to The Drum, the next stage of the campaign will roll out on January 8, during the national broadcast of the College Football National Championship game. In addition to the ads, the campaign also includes digital and social components utilizing the “#ResolutionsAreMayhem” hashtag.

Credits:
Client: Allstate

Agency: Leo Burnett Chicago
EVP, Executive Creative Directors: Mikal Pittman & Dave Loew
VP, Creative Directors: Chris Von Ende & Mike Ward
Senior Producer: Leah Karabenick
SVP, Executive Producer: Denis Giroux
VP, Account Director: Bianca Bradford
Account Supervisor: Ryan Seagram

Production: Epoch Films
Director: Phil Morrison
Director of Photography: Jess Hall
Line Producer: Martha Davis
Executive Producer: Melissa Culligan

Editorial: Whitehouse Post
Editor: Matthew Wood

Post FX: The Mill Chicago
Color: Luke Morrison
VFX Supervisor: Udesh Chetty

Sound Design: Another Country
Sound Engineer: John Binder

CP+B L.A. launched perhaps the most bizarre holiday campaign we’ve seen this year for Jose Cuervo, entitled “Holiday Mindfulness.”

“Holiday Mindfulness” encompasses a bunch of “meditations” on various stressful holiday situations, including unwanted interactions, shopping and travel. The intentionally over-the-top approach spots are presented like some kind of cheesy meditation exercise video from the seventies but, you know, with tequila. Things gradually get stranger as each of the three spots progress.

In “Holiday Mindfulness with Cuervo: Eliminate Dreaded Encounters,” the calm voiceover begins “Today we free you from the stress of awkward run-ins with people from your hometown.”

“You thought you’d never see them again,” the voiceover continues as a voice whispers “You were wrong” in the background. As the spot continues the humor hinges on this call and response approach, along with accompanying cosmic visuals and meditative music.

The advice for those encounters with Todd (or was it Chad?) pretty much boils down to “just zone out and drink tequila.”

While the humor may be hit or miss, we do appreciate CP+B for going for it with the oddball approach and Cuervo giving its agency the room to get a little crazy.

Credits:
FORMAL CLIENT NAME: Jose Cuervo
CAMPAIGN TITLE: Holiday 2017
EXECUTION TITLE: Cuervo Holiday Mindfulness
AGENCY: CP+B LA
LAUNCH DATE: Dec 13, 2017
VP/CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER: Kevin Jones
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Paddy Fraser
COPYWRITER: Chelsea O’Brien
ART DIRECTOR: Mike Wilson
DESIGNER: Thao Le
INTEGRATED PRODUCER (VIDEO): Addison Born
VIDEO PRODUCTION CO.: PLUS Productions LA
AUDIO POST PRODUCTION CO.: Lime Studios LA