Hasta La Creative!

ClearWay Minnesota, “an independent nonprofit organization that improves the health of all Minnesotans by reducing tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke,” has named Haberman as its agency of record.

Haberman will be tasked with overseeing marketing strategy and advertising duties for the organization across all ClearWay Minnesota initiatives, including creative, media buying and planning, PR, digital, social and content marketing. One of the agency’s first assignments will involve promoting ClearWay’s QuitPlan services and continuing its “Stop the Start” campaign.

“Haberman brought forward new strategies to amplify our impact in the community and to create an even greater and lasting legacy for the people of Minnesota,” ClearWay Minnesota vice president Andrea Mowery said in a statement. “Haberman knows how to integrate and execute in today’s ever-changing marketing landscape, and to top things off, there was an immediate and genuine connection to the Haberman team in terms of mission and authenticity. We look forward to doing more good together in the coming years.”

“As an agency with a mission and passion for serving health and wellness clients, we’ve admired for years the work ClearWay Minnesota has done to drive down smoking rates in Minnesota,” added Haberman co-founder and CEO Fred Haberman. “The cause—working toward a smoke-free world—is about as worthy as it gets, and the opportunity to solve social problems and change behavior energizes our agency. We are honored ClearWay Minnesota selected us as their marketing partner, and we look forward to helping them make a continued difference in the world.”

ClearWay Minnesota launched a “Big Tobacco Lied” campaign building off big tobacco companies’ recent court-mandated ads for the Minnesotans for a Smoke-Free Generation coalition, for which ClearWay Minnesota serves as a co-chair. The campaign, centered around BigTobaccoLied.com, features the court-ordered corrective statements, with some additional edits expanding on the companies’ deceptive actions in red.

“While Big Tobacco was court-ordered to tell the truth, they fought for years to get out of having to use certain phrases that would’ve made clear the depth of their deception,” Haberman creative director Emalie Wichmann said in a statement. “So we further corrected Big Tobacco’s corrective statements. We used proofreader’s marks—a human touch to contrast the callous black-and-white copy—to edit in details they fought to keep out of their ads. These details are critical because they not only underscore the depth of Big Tobacco’s deception, they also shine a light on what we’re still fighting against.”

The campaign will run through the spring, with an emphasis on social media, a platform noticeably absent from the court-mandated campaign from big tobacco companies. That effort will run for a year on broadcast and print outlets.

DiMassimo Goldstein has a message for any of you considering the drunken St. Nicolas-themed bar crawl revelry of SantaCon: Could you not?

“This year, tens of thousands of people will flood the streets for SantaCon in cities across America,” the video begins, followed by footage of some “over-served Santas, inebriated elves and reckless Rudolphs.”

While some may find the sight of shickered Santas entertaining, you know who else witnesses these day-drinking Kriss Kringles? Children.

“They are befouling property, they are doing things that kids shouldn’t see, and they’re doing it dressed up as Santa,” DiMassimo Goldstein CEO Mark Dimassio told Pix11.

Yes, we do suppose seeing an adult dressed as Santa Clauss vomiting cheap beer and greasy bar food in a trashcan could be somewhat traumatic.

The spot finds the humor in the situation as children recall witnessing Santas pee their pants and punch cars. One girl seems pretty amused to deliver a story of seeing Santa Claus and Rudolph touching butts. Another, asked to hold a disheveled Santa asked her to hold his beer. The video concludes with the message “‘Nice’ people don’t do SantaCon” as a disapproving Father Christmas looks on, followed by the tagline.

Venables Bell & Partners found a way to stand out for Audi amidst a barrage of feel-good holiday ads. 

“Parking Lot” eschews the typical approach and instead takes a look at the darker side of the season, via a relatable seasonal dilemma: the war for a parking space. The spot opens with two Audi drivers entering a parking lot, where they proceed to enter a prolonged battle for the last parking spot, set to the strains of “Carol of the Bells.” With seemingly no parking spots left, they resort to drastic measures.

Just when things seem resolved, albeit via an ambiguous scene jump, the two find more to fight over. The spot ends with the tongue-in-cheek line, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.”

The approach will inevitably be a divisive one. Some will fault the ad for being too dark or Audi for not having holiday spirit. Others will welcome it as a much needed break from a barrage of overly saccharine odes to the holidays. Either way, the narrative does find a way to showcase the Audi RS3 and RS7 in action.

Credits:
Advertising Agency: Venables Bell & Partners, San Francisco, USA
Founder, Chairman: Paul Venables
Partner, Executive Creative Director: Will McGinness
Creative Directors: Justin Moore , Erich Pfeifer
Copywriter: Tedd Wood
Art Director: Cody Pate
Director of Integrated Production: Craig Allen
Producer: Hilary Coate
Business Affairs Manager: Sametta Gbilia
Head of Brand Management: David Corns
Brand Director: Jon Phillips
Brand Supervisors: Jessica Lo, Justin Wang
Brand Manager: Hope Stadulis
Brand Coordinator: Alexandra Kaye
Senior Strategist: Mike Riley
Senior Traffic Manager: Jermelia Holling

Production Company: Biscuit FIlmworks
Director: Steve Rogers
Executive Producers: Shawn Lacy, Holly Vega
Line Producer: Karen O’Brien
DoP: Alwin Kuchler

Editing Company: Exile
Editor: Kirk Baxter
Assistant Editor: Paul Jarolimekproner
Executive Producer: CL Weaver
Producer: Remy Foxx

VFX / Finish: ETC
VFX Lead Supervisor: Adam Watson
VFX Executive Producer: Kate Hitchings
VFX Producer: Scott Boyajan
2D Artists: Matt Lee, Matt Lee
CG Supervisor: Corinne DeOrsay

Color: Co3
Colorist: Stefan Sonnenfeld
Color Producer: Katie Andrews

Music Company / Music Arrangement / Sound Design / Mix: Barking Owl
Creative Director / Partner: Kelly Bayett
Producer: KC Dossett
Sound Designers: Wylie Statemen, Harry Cohen
Mixer: Mike Franklin

Everybody’s favorite “creative director” is back and this time he’s delivering turkeys.

JWT New York and Wild Turkey worked with McConaughey to “Give Back for Thanksgiving,” in an effort designed to thank the residents of Wild Turkey’s hometown of Lawrenceburg, Kentucky for their support over the years.

Wild Turkey named Mathew McConaughey as its brand creative director and JWT New York as its agency of record last summer. When we last checked in with advertising’s highest paid creative director, it was for this past summer’s lackluster “Sang Our Song.”

When your brand is called Wild Turkey, it makes sense to go big for Thanksgiving. So on November 4, his 48th birthday, McConaughey teamed up with a group of volunteers to help the brand deliver 4,500 turkeys around Wild Turkey’s hometown of Lawrenceburg, Kentucky.

Predictably, many of the town’s residents were a bit starstruck to see such a famous creative director delivering the backbone of their Thanksgiving meal.

“In one of our very first conversations, Master Distillers Jimmy and Eddie Russell told me that the town of Lawrenceburg is what keeps the Wild Turkey family running,” McConaughey said in a statement. “The support system in this community is amazing – in one form or another, everyone has some kind of relationship with Wild Turkey – and that’s why we were so grateful to have the resources to give back and say thanks to Lawrenceburg residents. We thought, let’s give everyone a turkey, one less thing for them to worry about this season.”

“Lawrenceburg has been our home for generations, and the people who live here support our passion for making great whiskey every day,” added Wild Turkey master distiller Jimmy Russell. “We wanted to say thanks to Lawrenceburg this Thanksgiving and to encourage people around the country to do what they can to assure no one goes hungry this holiday.”

In addition to the 4,500 turkeys delivered to every home in Lawrenceburg, the brand also delivered 580 turkeys to the local food band and nursing home and donated 50,000 Thanksgiving meals to families in need through Share Our Strength.

The turkeys for the promotion were donated by Butterball.

“Wild Turkey and Matthew McConaughey’s commitment to the community really touched us and we were happy to join together to help the cause,” Butterball chief marketing officer Bill Klump said in a statement. “Everyone deserves a great meal on Thanksgiving and Butterball is proud to be able help put a meal on a table for any family that might otherwise not be able to enjoy one.”

If you’ve seen any of Big Lots holiday spots over the course of the past few years, it should come as no surprise that the brand gets musical in its latest effort.

After winning agency of record duties for Big Lots in early 2014, the Chicago-based agency’s first holiday campaign for the brand centered around a “Nailing It” anthem featuring America’s Got Talent finalist Deanna DellaCioppa. OKRP brought DellaCioppa back for the following year’s “Black Friday Woman” and proceeded to release another musical holiday anthem last year.

This year’s effort centers around a 60-second anthem ad that represents an evolution for the brand. Rather than really solely on music performed by the ad’s actors, the spot blends singing from enthusiastic amateur performances with Three Dog Night‘s version of “Joy to the World.”

The overly enthusiastic performances by coworker and dad alike are played for laughs, while the more varied approach allows the brand to showcase a variety of families and situations (not to mention products), which according to a press release were inspired by real stories from OKRP employees.

“Holiday spots usually paint a picture of how things should be—aspirational and often times unattainable. For Big Lots, we sought to embrace the beauty of the holidays for what they really are — perfectly imperfect moments of joy and togetherness,” OKRP creative director Marian Williams explained in a statement . “As a new holiday anthem, Joy to the World has a universal, inclusive quality that feels right for our time.”

“Our goal was to connect more emotionally with our core customer, who we refer to as ‘Jennifer.’ We believe the stories we are telling within the campaign really touch the heartstrings while showing the small ways Big Lots helps bring the holidays home,” added Big Lots executive vice president, chief merchandising and operating officer Lisa Bachmann. “The music has become a signature for our brand, enabling us to instantly connect with Jennifer and to stand out from competitors.”

In addition to the 60-second anthem ad, which will run in cinemas and online in 60 the campaign also includes 30 and 15-second versions, running on broadcast and online, as well as radio ads and an iHeart Radio across its holiday channels.

Credits: 
Agency – O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul
CEO – Tom O’Keefe
CCO – Matt Reinhard
Head of Production – Scott Mitchell
Producer – Mallory Sohmer
Creative Director – Marian Williams
Designer – Justine Massa
Director of Account Services – Natasha Kesaji
Director, Production Business Affairs – Katie Johnson

Production – SKUNK
Director – Greg Brunkalla

Editorial – Whitehouse Post
Editor – Sam Puglise-Kipley

Editorial – Whiskey & Bananas

Color – Nolo

Animation – The Mill

Erich & Kallman, the San Francisco agency opened by W+K, GS&P, TBWA and Barton F. Graf vet Eric Kallman and former CP+B president Steve Erich in 2016, recently launched a campaign for Noble Vines, entitled “Know the Number.”

It’s not the first time the agency has promote a wine brand as the agency launched an effort for OneHope around a year ago.

The number in question in the “Know the Number” campaign is the series of numbers given to select vintages of wine grapes and which grace bottles of Noble Vines. As a 15-second spot explains, “For centuries, vintners have singled out individual vines that produce exceptional grapes,” and of those a few have stood the test of time to receive numbered designations.

The spot offers an explanation of the brand’s naming practices in a way that implies superior quality. “Know The Number” concludes by inviting viewers to learn more about the numbers behind Noble Vines wines and included an “interactive challenge” targeting millenials, particularly in the areas of Dallas, Miami and Southern California.  The campaign is running across outlets including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, The New York Times, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Vox, Bravo and NBC News through December 2. According to the client, the campaign increased sales 27 percent in ad test markets.

Dailey, which has served as agency of record for Honda Powersports (motorcycles, ATVs, etc.) since 1979 launched a campaign for Honda’s Gold Wing motorcycle brand, relaunching the brand in celebration of its first major redesign in 17 years.

A 90-second anthem ad entitled “What Lies Beyond” introduces the new tagline, which also functions as an answer to the question of why bikers hit the open road in the first place. Set to a generic millenial folk-ish soundtrack, the voiceover celebrates the exploration of “what lies beyond” as the reason for setting out on a roadtrip during a three-day weekend and exploring unknown roads leading to unfamiliar dive bars.

Another spot, “Beyond the Screen,” sees a couple ditch their phones to connect with friends in person. A third ad celebrates the brand’s history, from 1975 to the present day, while the product-centered “Beyond the Gold Wing” highlights the redesign’s technological innovations. A fifth spot will follow some time next month. All of the spots are hosted on the campaign microsite.

“The big challenge for us was to create a bike and a campaign that appealed to our existing customer base while also attracting a customer new to touring,” Honda Powersports marketing manager Lee Edmunds said in a statement. “We think Dailey really hit the mark with the ‘Beyond’ campaign with videos that will appeal to both customer bases and a sense of exploration that will appeal to all.”

Credits:
American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
Senior Manager, Marketing – Michael Snyder
Manager, Advertising & Press – Lee Edmunds
Manager, Experiential Marketing – Keith Dowdle
Assistant Manager, Advertising – Sean McFillin
Assistant Manager, Experiential Marketing – Peter Runsten
Advertising Specialist – Ben Hoang

Dailey
ECD – Marcus Wesson
CD/Writer – Michael Miller
CD/Art Director – Mark Rouse
CD/Digital – Manaf Al-Naqeeb
ACD/Writer – Mark Lindemann
ACD/Art Director – Jin Kim
Account Director – Steve Mitchell
Account Director / Digital – Trisha Ferreira
Account Supervisor – Denise Pelton
Executive Producer – Autumn Childress
Director of Digital Production – Don Lupo
Executive Digital Producer – Christine Rhee
Digital Producer – Laura Lee
Project Manager – Jessica Uribe
Studio Artist – Steven Mitchell
Director of Technology – Mitchell Malpartida
Director of Business Affairs – Judi Chandler

Production Company – Derby Content
Director – Roberto Serrini
Production Company Producer(s) – Mary Crosse & Eli Ash
Canada Production Company – Pink Buffalo
Canada Production Company Producer(s) – Shawn Angelski & Martin Fisher
Production Design – Scott Moulton
Director Photography – Chris Wiseman
Photography – Blake Jorgenson & Bruce Benedict

Editorial Company – Derby Content
Editorial company producer(s) – Olivia Johansson; Linzy Anderson; Mary Crosse
Editor(s) – Roberto Serrini

Music Company – Noiselab
Music Producer – Pinky Turzo
Postproduction Company – The Mill-NYC
Engineering – Sound Lounge NYC
Audio – Sound Lounge NYC
CG – Thomas J Wilson

So you may have heard about a debate in this country over media coverage and confirmation bias, or the ability to report on politics without bringing opinion into it, or one very fat man’s tendency to scream at everyone who isn’t telling him exactly what he wants to hear.

Today, CNN’s creative marketing department launched a new campaign under what will be the network’s new tagline, “Facts First.”

It marks the first work from new creative agency Figliulo&Partners, and it makes a very abstract point with a simple piece of fruit … which is not in any way related to another kind of fruit. They’re two completely different things, see??

Unless you’ve been living in the world’s deepest, darkest cave for the past two years or so, it should be pretty clear what they’re alluding to here. The copy does offer some additional framing, though:

Facts are facts. They aren’t colored by emotion or bias. They are indisputable. There is no alternative to a fact. Facts explain things. What they are, how they happened. Facts are not interpretations. Once facts are established, opinions can be formed. And while opinions matter, they don’t change the facts. That’s why, at CNN, we start with the facts first.

From the release, which notes that the spot used the apple to keep things visually simple and compelling: “this work sounds a clear and relatable reminder to all that facts are fixed, finite in nature and fundamentally different than opinion.”

Of course that’s true. But one might argue that there’s a larger problem: many, many Americans want the media they consume to reinforce their existing opinions, not challenge them to reconsider any personal beliefs or even force them to spend time and effort trying to better understand a complicated story.

F&P partner and chief creative officer Scott Vitrone, who came aboard in February, kind of addresses this in his quote:

“It’s no secret that the line between opinion and fact is becoming increasingly blurred for Americans. It would have been easy to just fire another shot in this increasingly hazy debate, but we wanted this campaign to strike right at the heart of the issue. This is what a fact is; plain and simple. Only after that basic understanding reestablished can we move on meaningfully into the specifics of today’s issues.”

Again, this is true. But CNN’s most significant contribution to American politics and society at large may well be the standard hour-long talking head panel program, in which self-appointed experts or “influencers” vie for attention by providing viewers with … their opinions. And most of them get paid more than the reporters behind those facts, too, because advertisers, aka your clients, want to get in front of prime time viewers eager to see people yell over one another.

This is our media model.

The kids today do NOT get cancer.

That’s understandable given the vast amounts of misinformation available on these here interwebs.

Sid Lee Canada has addressed this urgent matter in a new campaign for Rethink Breast Cancer that drew on information taken from a survey of 800-plus young adults in the U.S. and Canada.

This ad is maybe not super flattering to the young folks.

But they’re hardly the only ones who need answers to big health questions.

For example, when we visited China in 2012 for work, young men were encouraged not to sleep near their phones for fear of damaging their fertility, and some pregnant women wear metal mesh aprons to protect their unborn children from radiation poisoning via computers and phones. Not sure if they still do that, but the point is that lots of young people around the world are looking for reliable information about their health.

And this campaign is based around a bot that answers questions about breast cancer, which is a pretty cool service given the prevalence of such conditions.

Most importantly, it allows everyone to laugh at the word “boobies.”

CREDITS

Jeffrey Da Silva – Executive Creative Director
Tom Koukodimos – Executive Creative Director
Alexis Bronstorph – Creative Director
Kelsey Horne – Creative Director
Haley Koehn – Art Director
Whitney Tam – Copywriter
Haley Koehn – Designer
Christina Festoso – Account Director
Nastassia Allamby – Account Supervisor
Deven Dionisi – Strategist
Kelsey-Lynn Corradetti – Producer
Nigel McGinn – Editor/Colourist

Kareem Boulos – Media Planner – Media Experts
Anjay Feldano – President/Executive Producer – Scarlett Street Creative Agency
Kapana Feldano- Executive Producer (Post Production) – Scarlett Street Creative Agency
Tony Large – Director/Director of Photography
Peter Schnobb – Editor/Colourist
Kyle Watt – Post Audio

CP+B launched a spot to promote Amazon’s live streaming of an October 12th Thursday Night Football matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Carolina Panthers, shot by “The Epic Split” director Andreas Nilsson.

The spot seems cram in as many references to the team names  as well as “Amazon” and “streaming ” as it can, doing so in about the silliest way possible.

A sight-seeing couple take out their binoculars to catch a closer look at a group of eagles, then catch a glimpse of a pack of panthers, noting the two are “about to go head to head, right here in the Amazon.” (While standing in a stream, naturally.)

The spot follows a similarly-themed ad promoting the September 28th matchup between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers. Amazon Prime Video will stream a total of eleven such NFL games this year and CP+B will roll out another ad to promote a Christmas Day game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Houston Texans.