Hasta La Creative!

While last Friday’s “Unlimited Will” spot was the final entry in W+K Portland’s contribution to Nike’s “Unlimited” campaign, it appears the brand had one more final effort in the campaign. Nike worked with production company Dirty Robber (who worked on last month’s “Unlimited Serena Williams“) on “Unlimited Pursuit,” which, to its benefit, doesn’t attempt the meta voiceover approach of its W+K-crafted predecessors.

Instead, the spot relies on the actions of its impressive athletes: Scout Bassett, Simone Biles, Elena Delle Donne, Gabby Douglas, Allyson Felix, Dafne Schippers, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, English Gardner, Alex Morgan and Serena Williams. Set to Lissie‘s cover of Kid Cudi‘s “Pursuit of Happiness,” the spot documents each of its athletes in training. Needless to say, these women pull of some impressive feats while preparing for competition, with “Pursuit of Happiness” providing appropriate accompaniment and the actions resonating more absent the schticky voiceover gimmick.

It’s the kind of spot that could only really be pulled off at the conclusion of games, as viewers are now familiar with all these athletes and their stories. The spot functions as a reminder of the kind of hard work and determination that got these impressive athletes to where they are, with no need to deliberate on individual narratives.

Its focus on celebrating women athletes is an admirable one, particularly at a time when the different ways in which female and male athletes are covered is under scrutiny. Plus, Biles’ glance after sticking a perfect landing is a pretty ideal way to conclude the campaign.

Credits:
Nike Creative Director: Tad Greenough
Production Company/Agency: Dirty Robber
Exec Prod: Jason Puris
Exec Prod: Chris Uettwiller
Creative director: Martin Desmond Roe & Nick Frew
Post production Company: Coyote Post
Post production supervisor: Carlos Gonzalez
Editor: Celeste Diamos

Y&R New York launched a new campaign for Campbell’s Chunky Soup ahead of the new football season starring NFL players Drew Brees, Odell Beckham Jr., Eddie Lacy, Todd Gurley, Eric Ebron and Kyle Long, entitled “The Everyman All Star League.” 

The campaign takes a look at a sort of reverse fantasy football, where NFL stars draft everyday guys out of Brees’ basement. It’s unclear what kind of metrics the league is based around, but it seems that guys like Mitch Greenwald are in high demand. Greenwald is a welder and volunteer fireman who still finds time to make tiny doll furniture for his daughter. Beckham Jr. announces his pick, much to the chagrin of other league participants who had Greenwald in mind for their own teams.

“In this campaign, we turned the tables on traditional fantasy football and asked NFL superstars to draft everyday guys in Drew Brees’ basement,” explained Campbell’s Chunky soup brand manager Abby Elu. “In a fun and light-hearted way, the campaign celebrates the daily victories the ‘everyman’ tackles on and off the field and highlights how Chunky soup fills up all kinds of people – from a Super Bowl stars to busy parents and loyal neighbors.”

The approach builds off the brand’s past NFL efforts with a slightly new (but still plenty cheesy) spin in the “Everyman All Star League.” Interested parties can head to EverymanLeague.com to create their own player card, be placed on one of the general mangers’ teams and enter for a chance to win Super Bowl LI tickets, NFL-licensed autographed gear and other prizes.

Four additional spots will round out the campaign over the course of the NFL season, running on ESPN and the NFL Network. The ads will continue to explore “The Everyman All Star League” run out of Drew Brees’ basement. 

Weiden + Kennedy continues its full-court press for Nike with W+K New York’s collaboration with Chance the Rapper, “Unlimited Together.”

The spot, essentially a branded music video for Nike promoting Team USA basketball, features the new Chance the Rapper track “We the People,” inspired by the Star Spangled Banner. Shot in black and white, the spot features Chance the Rapper delivering lines from the somewhat somber song, along with shots of Team USA men’s and women’s basketball teams. Both the song and ad act as a call for unity as the teams aim for gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics. 

In addition to the spot, Nike Basketball shot the men’s and women’s teams together for the official Olympics USA Basketball team photo, taken by photographer Danny Clinch. The shot is being promoted across  Nike Basketball’s social channels. Additionally, “We The People” will be available for download on iTunes and SoundCloud beginning tomorrow and will stream on Spotify beginning this Friday. 

Credits:
W+K NEW YORK
Executive Creative Director: Karl Lieberman
Creatives: Caleb Jensen + Jimm Lasser
Project Manager: Kristin Daly
Head of Content Production: Nick Setounski
Producer: Dominic Tunon
Director of Art Production: Deb Rosen
Art Producer: Pietro Clemente
Strategist: Brandon Thornton
Account Team: Jordan Muse + Liz Lindberg
Business Affairs Team: Sara Jagielski + Lindsey Timko + Tana Prosper
Media Team: Karlo Cordova, Branden Bouvia, Chad Muratev
Traffic Team: Sonia Bisono

PHOTOGRAPHY PRODUCTION
Production Company: Urban NYC
Photographer: Danny Clinch
Executive Producer: Miyazu Sato
Production Designer: Tom McMillan @ Bednark Studio

PHOTOGRAPHY RETOUCHING
Retouching Company: 150 Proof
Retouching Manager: Chris McClelland
Retouchers: Jesse Corinella, Kevin Walker
Print Producer: David Niblick

FILM PRODUCTION
Production Company: Doomsday
Director: Hiro Murai
Executive Producer: Danielle Hinde
Line Producer: Jason Colon
Director of Photography: Larkin Seiple
Production Designer: Eric Archer

FILM EDITORIAL
Editorial: Company Parallax
Editor: Luke Lynch
Executive Producer: Graham Zeller
Editorial Assistant: Kyle Gilbertson, Rene Vargas­Madrigal
Colorist: Bossi Baker
Sound Mix: Unbridled Sound
Compositing: Graham Zeller
Clean up artist: Jared Abel
Sound Mix: Unbridled Sound
Projection editing: Luke Lynch, Taylor Ward, Laith Majali

MUSIC
Song: “We The People”
Artist: Chance The Rapper

W+K Portland launched a new spot for the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, starring Christoph Waltz, entitled “Busy, Busy, Busy.”

“Americans, I don’t understand you,” says the Vienna-born actor, who has both Austrian and German citizenship, at the opening of the spot. “Always working, all the time, busy, busy, busy. Now you have this Galaxy Note 7 so you can do even more.”

Waltz takes the place of a multi-tasking mom, man working while on vacation and overachieving student, saying he just doesn’t get it. “You’re never happy just winning something,” he says while running a track event and reading the paper (and setting a world record in the process). “You’re only happy winning everything.”

What has all this gotten Americans, he asks — but by the end of the ad, he’s a convert.

Waltz may initially seem like an odd choice for the patriotic spot, but his take on American stereotypes and his eventual conversion (complete with American flags draped over his house) is entertaining. In fact, it’s hard to imagine anyone else displaying the acting chops to pull it off quite as convincingly.

“What we liked about Christoph is that he’s able to convey the perspective outside the U.S.,” Samsung chief creative officer Jesse Coulter explained to Adweek. “He’s such a great actor that he’s able to take on these relatable characters throughout the ad.”

The spot will make its broadcast debut, appropriately enough, tonight during NBC’s coverage of the Rio 2016 Opening Ceremonies. Samsung’s new device, meanwhile, will make its debut on the 19th of the month, two days before the closing ceremony.

Credits:
Client: Samsung
Agency: W+K Portland
Group Creative Director: Craig Allen
Creative Directors: Brandon Mugar / Tim Roan
Copywriter: Jonathan Marshall
Art Director: Helen Rhodes
Integrated Executive Producer: Erika Madison
Senior Producer: Erin Goodsell
Account Team: Phil Williams / Drew Widell
Executive Creative Directors: Mark Fitzloff/Susan Hoffman
Production
Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks
Director: Noam Murro
Managing Director: Shawn Lacy
Executive Producer: Rick Jarjoura
Producer: Kathy Rhodes
Heads of Production: Mercedes Allen Sarria / Rachel Glaub
Director of Photography: Simon Duggan
Production Designer: Bruce McCloskey
Editorial
Editorial Company: Arcade
Editor: Geoff Hounsell
Managing Partner: Damian Stevens
Executive Producer: Crissy DeSimone
Head of Production: Kirsten Thon-Webb
Senior Producer: Adam Becht
Assistant Editors: Dean Miyahira / Andy Trecki
VFX
VFX Company: The Mill
Executive Producer: Enca Kaul
VFX Producer: Anastasia von Rahl
Creative Directors/Set Supervisors: Robert Sethi / Chris Knight
2D Lead: Chris Knight
3D Lead: Gawain Liddiard
2D Artists: Tim Bird, Ed Black, Krysten Richardson, Joy Tiernan, Don Kim, Yukiko Ishiwata
3D Artists: Blake Sullivan, Jason Monroe, Ed Laag, Itai Muller, Jason Kim, Dave Vander Pol
Production Coordinator: Alana Giordano
Grade
Company: Company 3
Colorist: Siggy Ferstl
Executive Producer: Ashley McKim
Producer: Matt Moran
Music
Music Company: Mutato Muzika
Composer: Mark Mothersbaugh
Engineer: Bradley Denniston
Producer: Natalie P. Montgomery
Mix
Mix: Company Lime
Engineer / Sound Designer: Rohan Young
Executive Producer: Susie Boyajan

With the 2016 Rio Olympics opening today, W+K Portland launched a new spot for Nike as the latest in its “Unlimited” campaign for the brand.

The spot, entitled “Unlimited You” starts out familiarly enough, with a voiceover introducing a baby who will “win a state championship one day.” Things get unusual fairly quickly, however, as the voiceover’s next subject asks, “Who will? Me?” when he hears that he’ll run a marathon. “All of these athletes are terrible now,” he continues, over footage of a father lifting a young toddler to slam dunk a basket, “but they’ll all do great things one day.” Aside from the voiceover interacting with its subjects, this is still a pretty standard message for a sports brand. But things take an unexpected turn when the voiceover’s subjects ambition’s eclipse what he’s comfortable with. While the voiceover keeps trying to wrap things up, athletes keep pushing boundaries.

Directed by The Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), the spot features celebrity athletes including Kevin Durant, Neymar Jr., Mo Farah, Aaron Gordon, Nyjah Huston, Serena Williams and Giancarlo Stanton. Williams and Stanton can be seen swatting tennis balls back and forth at ridiculous speeds with their chosen equipment (racket and baseball bat) as the voiceover asks “What kind of training is that!?” as he’s in the middle of losing composure over the various ridiculous stunts athletes are pulling off.

Clearly the idea is to illustrate the “Unlimited” possibilities of both professional and amateur athletes, with the spot taking the idea to comic extremes. In addition to the full-length online spot (above), “Unlimited You” will also run as a 60-second broadcast spot, debuting during NBC’s coverage of the Rio 2016 Opening Ceremonies tonight. 

Credits:
Client: Nike
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Global Creative Directors: Alberto Ponte, Ryan O’Rourke
Interactive Director: Dan Viens
Copywriter: Edward Harrison
Art Director: Susan Land
Global Executive Producer: Matt Hunnicutt
Senior Agency Producer: Ross Plummer
Agency Post Producer: Shelley Eisner
Agency Production Assistant: Emily Knight
Digital Producer: Keith Rice
Art Production: Amy Berriochoa, Krystle Mortimore, Jennifer Spillers
Project Management: Christina Kim
Studio Design Manager: Alicia Kuna
Studio Designer: Edgar Morales
Retoucher: Frazer Goodbody
Motion Production, Design: Tori Herbst, Carlos Enciso
Strategic Planning: Andy Lindblade, Nathan Goldberg, Brandon Thornton, Reid Schilperoort
Media, Communications Planning: Danny Sheniak, John Furnari, Brian Goldstein, Jocelyn Reist
Account Team: Chris Willingham, Alyssa Ramsey, Corey Woodson, Anna Boteva, Carly Williamson
Production Company: Prettybird
Director: The Daniels
Executive Producers: Ali Brown, Suzanne Hargrove
Line Producer: Jonathan Wang
Director of Photography: Larkin Seiple
Production Designer: Mark Snelgrove
Editing Company: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: Angus Wall
Assistant Editor: Lauren Dellara
Post Producer: Chris Noviello
Executive Post Producer: Helena Lee
Visual Effects, Color: Mill, Los Angeles
2-D Lead Artist: John Leonti
2-D Artists: Brad Scott, Alex Candish, Peter Sidoriak, Rob Winfield, Joseph Zaki, Tommy Smith, Daniel Thurreson, Glyn Tebbutt, Greg VanZyl, Tim Bird, Jake Albers, Sam Evenson, Don Kim, Jake Albers, Adam Lambert
Matte Painting: Andy Wheater, Jie Zhou
Art Support: Dylan Streiff, Gary Marschka
Visual Effects Supervisor: Will Lemmon
Colorists: Greg Reese, Adam Scott
Color Producer: Thatcher Peterson
Music
Artist: FNDTY
Track Title: “Never Die”
Music, Sound, Mix: Lime Studios
Audio Mixers: Rohan Young, Jeff Malen
Audio Assistants: Ben Tomastik, Lisa Mermelstein
Executive Producer: Susie Boyajan

Most people might not think of the connection between clean laundry and school attendance rates. But, when presented with the decision between facing the ridicule of their classmates or staying home, young people will often choose the latter. So Whirlpool and DigitasLBi teamed up to promote the “Care Counts” program, a new campaign which placed a washer and dryer in disadvantaged schools in an attempt to provide students with clean clothes and drive up attendance rates.

As it turns out, the program made quite a difference.

A case study video from DigitasLBi opens with an introduction to the program and some of the students it has helped. One fourth-grader named Joe remarks about how when his family was homeless all their money would go towards food, leaving nothing left to spend on washing clothes. Another fourth-grader Vanessa really gets to the core of the initiative, saying, “When I wake up in the morning and I find out I have no clean clothes, I usually just end up staying home.”

It’s pretty heartbreaking stuff, but it all ends well. There was the expected increase in attendance, with over 90 percent of participants going to school for an average of six more days over the previous year. But there were some other, less obvious positive outcomes from the program including increased classroom and extracurricular activity, as well as improved test scores.

Plus, as Vanessa put it, “It makes me feel more excited and makes me feel like I fit in more.”

The video concludes with the brand’s plans to roll the program out to even more schools with the start of the new school year, since it has been such a success so far. In addition to the introductory video, there are also a series of shorter clips of students, school administrators and a parent liaison discussing the impact of the program.

Say what you will about the ubiquity of causevertising, but it works for Whirlpool here. Rather than another forgettable appliance ad, the brand has allied itself with a cause for which it can demonstrate results. That’s probably not something people would have expected from such a brand, and the video is likely to be shared on social media — especially by parents. 

Credits:
Client: Whirlpool
Vice President, Brand Marketing, North America: Bill Beck
Sr. Director, Brand & Marketing Services: Robert Sundy
Sr. Brand Manager: Ryan Morand
Brand Manager: Chelsey Lindstrom
Agency: DigitasLBi & Production
Chief Creative Officer: Ronald Ng
EVP, Executive Creative Director: Morgan Carroll
SVP, Group Creative Director: Mike Frease
VP, Creative Director: Louie Calvano
Associated Creative Director: Chris Jansma
Sr. Art Director: Bryan Haupt, James Collins
Sr. Copywriter: Samantha Bordignon,
Lead Experience Designer: David Plant
VP, Executive Producer: Greg Lederer
VP, Account Director: Kristine Kobe
Account Manager: Julie Wisniewski
VP, Group Director, Creative Strategy: Brian Sherwell
Associate Director, Social Strategy: Rachael Datz
VP, Account Director – Media: Caitlin Finn
Media Supervisor: Ryanne Donnellon
Media Planner: Samantha Harvey
Production Company: C41 Media
Director: Mai Iskander
Director of Photography: Mai Iskander
Executive producer: Carla Tate
Line Producer: Carla Tate
Editing House: Cutters, Inc
Editor: Kathryn Hempel/Emily Tolan
Producer: Patrick Casey
Audio Mix: Another Country
Mixer: David Gerbowsi

Way back in March — before all those REI Cannes awards — Venables Bell & Partners launched its first campaign for what was then its newest client, MillerCoors’ “craft” beer Blue Moon.

The theme of the campaign was “Something’s Brewing,” and the debut ad was a well-animated ode to creativity and artisanship. (Is that even a word?)

Yesterday the agency launched a new campaign offering a very different spin on the same basic idea. In this case, the brewing is really about cooking. The spot stars Roy Choi, the celebrity chef who allegedly started the food truck movement and inspired the John Favreau movie titled, appropriately, Chef.

Get ready for some more Valencia oranges, fast food and … telekinesis?

Whoa there, Jean Grey!

Here’s a behind the scenes video in which Choi explains how he was inspired by his L.A. homies to move away from a planned career as a doctor or lawyer and go into making the world’s most delicious tacos.

The press release tells us that Blue Moon just turned 21, so it can finally drink itself. It can also buy beers at concerts featuring the band Family of the Year, which collaborated with head brewmaster Keith Villa on the campaign.

Villa said: “I have always pulled inspiration for the beers I create from my travels and the creative people I’ve met along the way. I’m thrilled to team up with Roy and Family of the Year to pair our art forms and see how each of our creative processes influences the others.”

The video series also includes some Choi recipes that include Blue Moon as an ingredient along with chicken thighs, etc.

Here’s a behind the scenes short featuring the band, which does not include any VB&P employees.

With time and practice, they might just come up with that perfect song. But first, more beer.

Credits

Spot titles: “Brewer”, “Food” and “Musician”
Client: Blue Moon Brewing Co.
Agency: Venables, Bell & Partners / San Francisco

Founder, Chairman: Paul Venables
ECD: Will McGinness
Creative Director: Lee Einhorn
Senior Art Director: Kyle Jones
Copywriter: Chris Bull
Producer: Melissa Nagy
Producer: Sasha White
Director of Integrated Production: Craig Allen
Brand Director: Justin Pitcher
Brand Supervisor: Nicole Miesfeld
Brand Manager: Zoe Isaacs
Strategy Director: Tyler Wilson
Strategist: Dylan Phillips
Business Affairs/Talent Manager: Quynh-An Phan

Production Company: MJZ
Director: Dante Ariola
Director of Photography: Philippe Le Sourd
Executive Producer: Eriks Krumins
Producer/UPM: Natalie Hill
Production Designer: Floyd Albee

Editorial: Arcade Edit
Editor: Kim Bica
Assistant Editor: Glen Montgomery
Executive Producer: Crissy DeSimone
Post Producer: Rebecca Jameson
VFX & Design: The Mill
Executive Producer: Enca Kaul
Senior Producer: Erin Hicke
Production Coordinator: Chris Lewis
Shoot Supervisors: Chris Knight / John Leonti
Creative Director: Chris Knight
2D Lead Artist: Chris Knight
3D Lead Artist: Simon Brown
2D Artists: Jason Bergman, Lisa Ryan, Jeff Langlois, Tim Robbins
3D Artists: Nobu Sasagawa, Jason Jansky, Ahmed Elmatarawi, Luis Nieves, Anthony Thomas, Terry Zeigelman, Patrick Warner, Ed Boldero, Rick Fuentealba, Itai Muller, Steven Olson, Michael Lori, Monique Espinoza

Telecine: CO3
Senior Colorist: Stefan Sonnenfeld
Audio Mix: One Union Recording
Audio Engineer: Joaby Deal, Andy Greenberg

Music Supervision: Songs For Film & T.V.
Composer: Silas Hite

Acne launched a new IKEA campaign created for AOL Platforms, entitled “Let’s Relax.”

A 90-second spot imagines what the 18th century equivalent of social media would look like. As a family sits down to dinner, a hungry daughter is about to dig in when her father stops her. First, the family must wait for an artist to paint the scene. It doesn’t end there though, after the painting is finished it is rushed off to the community, up the aristocratic ranks, where it is met with approval and finally finds its way back to the family with a thumbs up. Only then may they begin their meal.

The scene returns to the modern day with another hungry daughter visibly annoyed at her father meticulously photographing their dinner. “It’s a meal. Not a competition,” reads the text on the screen, followed by the tagline, “Let’s Relax.”

While the clever approach, looking back at history to show how thoroughly tied to our time the more ridiculous aspects of social media are, is novel, the subject isn’t. Ogilvy New York documented one such social media-obsessed families with “Meet the Socialtons,” part of its “Together We Eat” campaign for IKEA U.S. last September. Acne’s effort is a bit more focused on pointing out just how absurd such behavior can get as part of its advocacy to relax and focus on just enjoying the moment, and more memorable for it.

Credits:
Client: Ikea
Agency: Acne
Creative Director: Johan Holmgren
Executive Producer: David Olsson
Art Director: Cecilia Dufils
Copywriter: Markus Bjurman
Creative (Ikea): Fredrik Preisler, Katie Copeland
Creative Director (Ikea): Morten Kjaer
Head of Planning (Ikea): Morten Lundholm
Project Manager (Ikea): Mia Malmström
Producer: Fredrik Skoglund
Director: Tompa & Rondo
Director of Photography: Anders Jedenfors
Final Art: Oliver Juan
Production Company: Acne

Corn dogs are a food item that some people like to consume.

This is a statement of fact, and we believe it though we have not personally eaten a corn dog since little league. Fried stuff just tastes good, with very few exceptions.

In its latest campaign, Odysseus Arms of San Francisco promotes new client Foster Farms Corn Dogs by positioning the company’s products as the obvious solution to your kid’s hunger needs. Kind of like how those old Snickers ads led us to believe that a candy bar was the perfect thing to eat while we were playing soccer or baseball or ultimate frisbee and didn’t really have time for a meal or a piece of fresh fruit.

The hunger, in this case, is a nicely animated monster.

Wow, that monster commits flagrant fouls! He’s also no match for a canine, though we are pretty sure our dog would get scared and run to us for protection. She is very shy around strangers.

This is the client’s first-ever ad campaign, and Foster Farms marketing director Jon Swadley says, “Launching the first campaign for Foster Farms Corn Dogs was a big undertaking for us. We found a great strategic and creative partner in Odysseus Arms. Their immersive consumer approach in strategic and creative development resulted in creative that was immensely successful in our initial reads. We look forward to putting that success to the test in-market.”

The most interesting part of the release concerns ThirdEye, which is not the ’90s alt rock band you’ll never admit to liking but, rather, a “proprietary creative development approach” that allows the agency to “co-create with consumers to refine strategy and creative assets, and to empirically test, through focus groups and copy testing labs, prospective materials before they hit the market.”

In this case, the Odysseus Arms team “worked alongside busy moms that are buying food for the always-hungry family” in order to better design a campaign tailored to them.

Odysseus Arms co-founder Libby Brockhoff says: “ThirdEye™ started as a proprietary technique I was using to glean insight from an unfamiliar segmentation. Four years later, it’s our model. It shows us what fascinates a consumer before media investment.”

We thought it was a fun ad!

Gonna be honest with you guys in a TMI sort of way: we just don’t get the sexualized food thing. Sure, George Costanza in bed with a pastrami sandwich was a great joke. But when we’re eating mac and cheese we are only thinking of mac and cheese.

Anyway, you probably remember that Kraft-Heinz, the behemoth created by the merger of those two processed food giants, chose to review all of its agencies late last year. The winners of said review included CP+B, David, some other agencies and Publicis Seattle.

We weren’t really aware of the Publicis win, but then we also weren’t aware that K-H was going to launch a line of bro-friendly frozen meals called Devour. The first spots by the former promoting the latter launched this week.

Now, who might the target audience for these ads be? The hashtag for the first one is #FoodYouWantToFork, and it takes the Costanza/American Pie thing to its natural conclusion.

So that was intentionally awkward.

The next one dives into a different fantasy involving the pool boy and the lonely Real Housewife of Wherever the Fuck. (TV tells us that people have this fantasy. We do not know that to be true.)

It was a metaphor! The pool guy was eating his meal but also blanking his blank.

So this product is clearly for dudes between the ages of 18 and 35 and possibly older who want to prepare their meals with little fuss but aren’t up for eating Weight Watchers in public. As Devour’s brand manager Molly White put it in a release picked up by Meat + Poultry dot com, “Finally, there’s a product that gives people what they want: real taste to fulfill real cravings.”

We have cravings and we like things to happen quickly, but we would rather not resemble that dude in the first ad. Good thing he’s not acting aggressively sexual toward nearby women in a super weird way or anything like that.