Hasta La Creative!

In the latest ad alluding to the 2016 Presidential Election, 180LA mocks Donald Trump and his border wall plan in “The Wall” for camera company 360fly.

The spot imagines a future where Trump is president and his border wall a reality, as Trump gives a self-congratulatory speech at the wall’s unveiling. An audience member, meanwhile, uses a 360fly camera’s 360-degree capabilities to capture all the action that Trump seems oblivious to.

While Trump is both an obvious and deserving target for satire, this particular parody falls a bit flat, although the actor portraying Trump does seem to have some of his mannerisms down and the speech does fit the familiar pattern from the prospective GOP nominee. Anything Trump-related is likely to garner its fair share of interest, and while there’s a certain risk it could obscure, rather than highlight, the brand in question, 180LA ties things to 360fly well with the “Get a broader perspective” tagline.

“The idea of building a wall is so narrow-minded, it deserves to be lampooned,” 180LA CCO William Gelner told Adweek. “And it’s perfect for making the point about the importance of having a bigger perspective, which is the promise of the camera. Essentially, this is just a product demo spot dropped into the middle of a highly charged political issue. The spot demonstrates just how ridiculous and narrow-minded the notion is of building a wall. Broaden out a little—life’s too big for one perspective.”

Credits:

Client: 360FLY
CEO: Peter Adderton
Chief Marketing Officer: Todd Waks
Chief Creative Officer: Scott Anderson

Agency: 180LA
Global CEO: Mike Allen
Chief Creative Officer: William Gelner
Creative Director/Art Director: Adam Groves
Creative Director/Copywriter: Zac Ryder
Managing Director: Chad Bettor
Head of Production: Natasha Wellesley
Executive Producer: Calleen Colburn
Brand Director: Mike Slatkin
Head of Business Affairs: Loretta Zolliecoffer

Production Co.: MJZ
Director: Mike Maguire
President: David Zander
DP: Bob Richardson
Sr. Executive Producer: Eriks Krumins
Line Producer: Tracy Broaddus
Production Designer: Alexis Ross
Stylist: Ric Renae Hughes
Shoot Location: Big Sky Ranch, Simi Valley
Shoot Date: May 9, 2016

Editorial Company: Whitehouse Post
Editor: Rick Lawley
Executive Producer: Joni Wright
Producer: Jennifer Mersis
Assistant Editor: Lauren Richardson

Online/VFX: The Mill NY
Executive Producer: Sean Costelloe
Producer: Jacqueline Sand
Color Producer: Diane Valera
Colourist: Adam Scott
VFX Supervisors: Jade Kim, Steve Cokonis
2D lead: Jade Kim
3D lead: Wyatt Saverese
2D artists: Sung Eun Moon, Alex Wysota, Mina Mir, Yoon-Sun Bae
3D artists: Christine Kim, Todd Akita, Cole Clark, Tim Kim, Ivan Joy
Finishing artist: Lee Towndrow
Recording Mix
Recording Studio: Eleven Sound
Mixer: Jeff Payne
Executive Producer: Suzanne Hollingshead/Melissa Elston
Assistant Mixers: A.J. Murillo, Jordan Meltzer
Music/Sound Design
Music Co: We Are Walker
Sound Design: Beta Petrol

Goodby Silverstein & Partners launched a new campaign for Adobe entitled “Make a Masterpiece.”

For the campaign, the agency worked with four digital artists, who recreated lost, damaged or stolen artistic masterpieces using Adobe Stock footage. Indian artist Ankur Patar tackled Rembrandt van Rijn‘s “The Storm on the Sea of Galilee”; U.S. artist Mike Campau took on Karl Friedrich Schinkel‘s “Cathedral Towering Over a Town”; Ecuadorian artist Karla Cordova was tasked with recreating Frida Kahlo‘s “The Wounded Table” and French artist Jean-Charles Debroize wrestled with Caravaggio‘s “Saint Matthew and the Angel.”

In the below spot, Patar outlines his creative process, which included using some 236 stock images, including inserting his own image into the piece. It’s a pretty fascinating look at what such digital artists can do with Adobe Stock, as Patar explains how he takes some features from a shot of one person and combines them with another to create the image he wants. “This is a dream project for me, and I hope it inspires other artists with the possibilities of Adobe Stock,” he comments.

While only Patar’s project is featured in the spot, details of the other “Make a Masterpiece” works can be found on the campaign website, including time-lapse videos of their creation and artist bios. 

“No one can truly replace these lost paintings. But by faithfully re-creating them with Adobe Stock, we can remember them again and reshape what the world thinks about stock photography in the process,” GS&P associate partner and creative director Will Elliott told Adweek.

Credits:
Client: Adobe Systems
Title of Creative Work: Make a Masterpiece

Ad Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

Creative
Co-Chairmen: Rich Silverstein and Jeff Goodby
Executive Creative Director: Margaret Johnson
Creative Director: Will Elliott
Creative Director: Patrick Knowlton
Art Director: Bennett Austin
Copywriter: Jordan Dodson

Production
Director of Graphic Services: Jim King

Account Services
Managing Partner: Robert Riccardi
Account Director: Theo Abel
Account Manager: Molly Navalinski
Assistant Account Manager: Aliza Niewood

Brand and Communication Strategy
Director of Brand Strategy: Bonnie Wan
Brand Strategist: Etienne Ma
Communication Strategy Deputy Director: Dong Kim
Senior Communication Strategist: Caitlin Neelon
Communication Strategist: Natalie Williamson
Jr. Communication Strategist: Chloe Bosmeny
Research & Analytics Director: Cassi Husain

Business Affairs
Business Affairs Manager: Heidi Killeen 

Leo Burnett Chicago launched a spot for Samsung celebrating Margret Rumat Rumar Hassan, the 19-year-old 400-meter runner from South Sudan who represents that country’s first-ever Olympic athlete, entitled “The Chant.” 

“The Chant” promotes the Samsung Gear IconX cord-free earbuds, which Hassan puts on in the beginning of the ad. This sparks a switch to scenes of locals chanting for her across her home country, interspersed with her preparing to enter the Olympic stadium. The concludes with Hassan’s name announced over the stadium loudspeaker as she removes the earbuds. 

As far as Olympic stories go, Hassan’s is especially inspiring, and an excellent match for the campaign’s message, as the spot concludes with the “Proud sponsor of those who defy barriers” line, followed by the unfortunate “#DoWhatYouCant” hashtag. While the connection to the product is a bit of a stretch, there’s at least a tenuous connection to the wireless earbuds allowing increased mobility for its users, especially athletes using them during a workout.

“We wanted to find an athlete that represented progress and defied the barriers and overcame something, to be an embodiment of what the brand is and the mentality of the brand. You can’t move forward without overcoming obstacles,” Leo Burnett Chicago senior vice president, creative director Gordy Sang told Adweek. 

“The fact that South Sudan wasn’t a country five years ago and now it’s a country and has athletes representing them in the Olympics is ‘Do What You Can’t,’” added fellow senior vice president, creative director Brian Siedband. 

Credits:

Client: Samsung
Agency: Leo Burnett Chicago
Campaign: “The Chant”
Chief Creative Officer: Britt Nolan
SVP Creative Director: Brian Siedband/Gordy Sang
VP, Executive Producer: Matt Blitz
Senior Producer: Brian Behling
SVP Global Account Director: Radim Svoboda
Account Director: Ashley Beam
Global Account Supervisor: Huy Ngo
Account Executive: Emily Smith
SVP Global Strategy Director: Kara Yang
Strategy Director: Christopher Bridgland
VP, Director of Celebrity Services: Peggy Walter

Production Company: EPOCH
Director: Martin de Thurah
Director of Photography:  Mátyás Erdély
Executive Producer: Melissa Culligan
Line Producer: Anura Idupuganti

Editorial House: Work Editorial
Editor: Stewart Reeves
Executive Producer: Marlo Baird

Post Production: The Mill – NY
Executive Producer: Sean Costelloe
Producers: Eliana Carranza-Pitcher/Nick Strange Thye
Colorist: Fergus McCall

The Martin Agency launched a new campaign for Stoli Vodka, imploring guys to “Drink What You Want.”

While that message is certainly one we can get behind, the 90-second anthem ad at the center of the campaign fails to live up to its potential. There’s something decidedly off about the tone of the ad, delivered from the point-of-view of a (stereotypical millenial) guy who orders a blueberry-infused mixed drink at a bar. “Am I a man?” he asks himself, before answering, “You know I am: I march to the beat of my own blueberry-infused, mason jar-shaped drum.”

Despite the “Drink What You Want” tagline, the narrator/blueberry mixed drink orderer can’t help being a dick about what everyone else is drinking. He doesn’t like the taste of a tree, he points out, while passing some whisky drinkers, “For I am not woodchuck, I am man.” Then he scoffs at a long-bearded beer drinker sipping a “glass of over-hopped swamp water.”

Things really go south, though, when he’s addressed by a woman at the bar. “Mmm, I like blueberries too,” she says (Or is it thinks? Her lips don’t appear to move. Is he a mind-reader?) before he holds up a finger to “Shh” her and moves on. At this point, the spot seems to destroy any sense of feminism behind its message, along with any attempt to actually make sense. The “obligatory hashtag” joke is just the nail in the coffin.

The pot shots at other types of drinks seem especially devoid of merit for a campaign arriving at a time of year when they really shouldn’t be necessary. Instead of the over-the-top takedowns, pointing out the superior refreshment during a hot summer day of a mixed drink over, say, a glass of whisky, would have been not just less obnoxious but a much more effective argument.

Apparently the brand launched the campaign in response to a survey finding that 73 percent of millenial men enjoy flavored cocktails but 63 percent avoided ordering them in public over fears of being mocked by friends. Perhaps that explains the animosity towards the other drinks, but the approach betrays the campaign’s own tagline with a tone that will likely leave many viewers with a bitter taste in their mouths. A series of shorter spots promoting specific Stoli flavors and drinks abandon the animosity, which is to their benefit, even if the attempts at humor fall just as flat. These shorter ads will appear as paid media on sites including Comedy Central, ESPN and Playboy. 

“This isn’t a serious subject, it’s a fun subject,” Lori Tieszen, CMO and senior vice president of marketing for Stoli Group USA, told Adweek. “We think we have an interesting way in by relating to guys’ fears and saying drink what you want, don’t worry about it.”

BBDO launches Visa’s 2016 Rio Olympics campaign with “The Carpool to Rio,” a 105-second spot starring 15 athletes from around the world.

The spot opens with New Zealand shot putter Valerie Adams waking up and throwing her circular alarm clock through the wall. She then uses Visa Checkout to order a couple of morning beverages, drives her mini van to an auto ferry and sets off. U.S. swimmer Missy Franklin swims up to the ferry to join Adams before the two arrive in Canada to pick up synchronized swimmers Jennifer Abel and Pamela Ware. Before long the car pool includes other Olympic athletes such as U.S. decathlete Ashton Eaton, volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings, soccer player Carli Lloyd and swimmer Connor Jaeger. 

The way the atheletes each have a quick introduction reflective of their sport, such as Abel and Ware trying unsuccessfully to shoot for shotgun, is fun, managing to make the predictable carpool premise not overstay its welcome. That women’s Olympic sports are given such a spotlight here is also refreshing and the ad should stoke excitement for the games, while also highlighting how Visa can help you “click, swipe, dip and tap” their way to easier payments. Of course, having Morgan Freeman provide a voiceover never hurts, either.

“We believe this campaign is the most ambitious, best integrated, most multichannel global Olympic campaign we’ve done so far,” Visa’s recently appointed executive vice president, chief marketing and communications officer Lynne Biggar told Adweek. “Our desire was to have it be very inspiring and be very much technology-led and technology-driven and leveraging Team Visa, which is a group of 46 athletes who embody these core values of acceptance, partnership and innovation in a playful, optimistic way.”

She added that “an increasing percentage of [Visa’s marketing spend] is going toward digital, and that’s just our general philosophy when we think about marketing. But we haven’t said ahead of time we want a certain allocation of our dollars to go to digital. We have said that our dollars should go in the places they’re going to drive the biggest and most impactful return for Visa.”

Visa is celebrating its 30th year as an Olympic sponsor this year and is offering its 46 Team Visa athletes the new Visa payment ring to use at the games. 

“Congratulations, fellow human beings,” says Ewan McGregor at the beginning of Goodby Silvertstein & Partners new spot for Cisco, “Pep Talk,” leading us to wonder for a second if the actor is, in fact, an alien.

“We made it, we sprouted limbs, we crawled out of the slime. I’m really proud of us.” He goes on to summarize thousands of years of progress with “We built pyramids, invented the mochachino, we created a network that became the internet,” while somehow overlooking humankind’s greatest achievement: beer. McGregor alludes to how quickly that last achievement (the internet) is accelerating progress with line “And then, boom” as a lightning fast train whizzes by.

The point of the extremely optimistic speech seems to be to celebrate the importance of networks, kind of Cisco’s deal, while stoking excitement about what has recently become possible (3D printed ear, growing lettuce in space, buying a goat with a smart phone, robot dog, etc.) and what will be possible in the near future (better robot dog, for one). The connnection to the brand is reiterated with the line “When everything’s securely connected, anything’s possible,” and the tagline “There’s Never Been a Better Time.”

It’s all almost comically optimistic, which might be more excusable if it didn’t come across as so self-congratulatory on Cisco’s part. Still, McGregor’s earnest delivery gives the spot its fair share of charm and peddling optimism is somewhat inherent in most advertising. “Pep Talk” is also not lacking in the eye candy department, with a range of environments and gadgets explored in vivid color and detail by director Dante Ariola. 

As you may recall, the new effort follows last month’s series of spots launching the “There’s Never Been a Better Time’ campaign, with a more targeted optimism celebrating the empowerment of technology to help people through difficult situations. The campaign launch marked the first work under Cisco’s new CMO, Karen Walker.

After signing the professional golfer to an endorsement deal in January, Coca-Cola wanted W+K Portland to make an ad with Jordan Spieth reaching for an ice cold bottle of Coke during a hot day on a Texas golf course. They ran into one big problem though: rain. Lots of it. When they tried to reschedule the shoot, the forecast once again called for lots and lots of rain. So W+K Portland and Coca-Cola rolled with the punches, changing the creative concept on the fly, with the spot’s new framework imitating the real life impediments to their original plan.

“Rain” depicts Spieth in his RV while waiting for the rain to stop to film a commercial. So how does a pro golfer like Spieth kill an hour? By reaching for a cold Coke and sinking a bunch of trick shots, naturally. Set to the Missy Elliott classic ” The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly),” the results are rather charming and fun, all the more so knowing the story behind the ad.

“It was a very high stress environment,” Peggy Loos, vice president of connections activation for Coca-Cola North America, told AdAge in an interview discussing the shoot. “We literally walked in on that shoot day not sure which concept we were shooting. Everyone was monitoring the weather hour-by-hour. Since it was very dark and gloomy we decided to go with the second concept that had just been created within the last 36 hours.”

Funnily enough, once W+K and Coca-Cola committed to the new concept and began filming, the rain stopped. “Wieden & Kennedy had to bring in rain towers to create the rain for that part of the shot,” Loos added. 

The spot made its first appearance on the brand’s social channels today and will make its broadcast debut Saturday during Fox’s coverage of the U.S. Open.

Last year Deutsch launched its “Be Soft. Be Strong” campaign for Georgia-Pacific toilet paper brand Angel Soft with “Happy Father’s Day, Mom,” which celebrated single moms.

A year later, Deutsch takes a different approach to the holiday as part of the same campaign, focusing on one self-sacrificing father, Melquiades Rayos, who immigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines and works three jobs to support his nine children. Apart from the daughter he lives with, all of the children are still back in the Philippines, with Rayos working three jobs to speed up the petition process so that his family can join him in the United States. Over the course of the two-minute spot, Deutsch introduces viewers to Rayos and his daughter, allowing them to tell their story in their own words, before surprising them with tickets for a flight to the Philippines, so that the family can celebrate Father’s Day together. 

It’s another example of the “sadvertising” that has been the hallmark of this campaign, but it’s a bit more successful than past efforts. While the spot still has little if anything to do with toiler paper, the brand steps in here to make a difference in someone’s life, earning them goodwill with viewers with the support of a good cause, in this case one hard-working man and his family. This whole approach would make a lot more sense for a tissue brand, as viewers reach for something to wipe their eyes after the spot gives them a case of the onions. That said, this particular spot is probably the best example of the “Be soft. Be strong” brand positioning thus far, as well as a timely release, even if the brand reveal will still come as something of a head-scratcher to viewers unfamiliar with the campaign. The “Happy Father’s Day” messages in different languages at the conclusion of the spot is a nice touch as well.

Credits:
Client Credits:
Chief Marketing Officer: Douwe Bergsma
Senior Vice President, General Manager, Bath Tissue: Vivek Joshi
Senior Marketing Director, Brand Center: Shari Neumann
Director, Brand Building: Aviral Singh
Senior Brand Director: Joe Stempien
Senior Brand Manager: Todd Wingfield
Brand Manager: Jeannie Chacko
Associate Brand Manager: Brian Harrison
Social Media Manager: Gisela Carapaica

Deutsch Credits and Titles:
Creative Credits:
Chief Creative Officer, North America: Pete Favat
Chief Digital Officer, North America: Winston Binch
Chief Creative Officer: Jason Bagley
Executive Creative Director: Karen Costello
Creative Director: Melissa Langston-Wood
Copywriter: Ashley Milhollin
Art Director: Dan Rosenberg
Director of Integrated Production: Vic Palumbo
Executive Integrated Producer: Rachel Seitel
Integrated Producer: Justin Polk
Music Creative Director: Dave Rocco
Music Supervisor: Eryk Rich

Account Management Credits:
Group Account Director: Steve Sanders
Account Director: Lauren Pollare
Assistant Account Executive: Bianca Brittain

Account Planning:
Executive Planning Director: Jeffrey Blish
Group Planning Director: Kelsey Hodgkin
Account Planner: Daniel Spadaro
Digital Strategist: Janet Shih
Junior Strategist: Joe Simek

Business Affairs/Traffic:
Director of Integrated Business Affairs: Abilino Guillermo
Senior Business Affairs Manager: Terry Miglin

Executives:
CEO, North America: Mike Sheldon
President, Los Angeles: Kim Getty

Live Action
Production Company: Steelhead
Director: Eric Kaufman
Executive Producer: Ted Markovic
Associate Producer: Jim Brattin
Line Producer: Chris Fox

Editorial Company
Production Company: Steelhead
Editor: Ian Paxton
Executive Producer: Ted Markovic
Associate Producer: Jim Brattin

Post Facility
Production Company: Company 3
Senior Producer: Liza Kerlin
Senior Colorist: Dave Hussey

Post/VFX:
Production Company: Steelhead
Executive Producer: Ted Markovic
Director Of Visual Effects: Austin Meyers
Motion Design Director: Dennis Kang

Licensed/Composed Music, Credits and Track Info:
Track: Along The Coastline
Composed by Daniel Louis Rosen (ASCAP) – 100%
Publisher: ScoreAScore (ASCAP) – 100%
Master: Score A Score, LLC
Company Name: Score A Score

Audio Post Company:
Production Company: Steelhead
Executive Producer: Ted Markovic
Mixer: Chase Butters

TBWAChiatDay L.A. launched a new spot for Gatorade featuring Serena Williams, Usain Bolt, April Ross and Paul George training hard with some help from their younger selves.

The spot opens with Williams waking up to an alarm and Young Serena saying “It’s time to play” before heading for the court. Viewers are then introduced to young versions of the other stars, who continue to push their respective older selves through rigorous training throughout the spot, set to Jimmy Durante‘s “Young at Heart.”

The message is underscored with the line “The Best Never Lose That Love” at the ad’s conclusion, gelling nicely with the overall “For the Love of Sports” brand message. In addition to the 60-second spot, the campaign also includes “Fuel the Love Forward” spots featuring Bolt, Williams and Ross telling their own stories. Additionally, Gatorade is furthering the youth sports connection by asking visitors to the campaign landing site to vote for which youth athletic charities the brand should donate to.

Last week, Publicis Conseil released a campaign for client Garnier that was created to solve a perpetual problem: how does one keep track of one’s stuff while at the beach?

Its solution was elaborate and very specific: a set of free shore-side lockers which sunbathers can use to store their belongings while getting a tan. The hook? Users must create a password to lock the storage units, and they subsequently receive a sample of the client’s (branded) product in the process to better ensure that they do not sit on the beach sans sunscreen.

Listen to a woman with a British accent explain.

Interesting work that happens to have been released right before a certain awards festival.

Now check out “Lockers Protectores,” released more than a year ago by Agencia Raya, a shop based in Santiago Chile. The client is Simond’s, a top Chilean skin care brand.

To objective viewers like ourselves, the only discernible difference between these two projects is the placement of the sunscreen dispensers.

Readers will know that this is hardly the first example of questionable agency behavior during awards show season. Remember last year’s McDonald’s print campaign that only ran in one super-obscure Australian paper the day before the deadline for Cannes entries? And what about the Lucky Iron Fish, which won a Cannes Grand Prix before WPP’s Geometry Global had to clarify that they did not actually design the winning product?

It’s unclear whether the Garnier project will be a Cannes entry for Publicis this year, though the timing works. We reached out to both Publicis PR and Raya to ask whether the former had been influenced by the latter’s work. Publicis said they would get back to us, but we have yet to receive a statement.

Raya seems to think that Publicis Conseil blatantly ripped them off, and we can see why they might come to that conclusion.