Hasta La Creative!

W+K Portland launched a new spot for P&G deodorant brand Secret entitled “The Question.”

Part of the agency’s “Stress Test” campaign for the brand, the question in question is, as you may have guessed, a proposal. But the spot flips the script on tradition, with a woman proposing to her initially perplexed boyfriend in a restaurant by giving him a fortune cookie whose fortune reads “Andy I want to ask you something.”

Telling him to “shut up” and stop worrying about some sort of horror movie scenario, she gets on one knee and present him with an engagement ring, before the ad ends with the text “Claire’s act of romance flips the script on a centuries-old tradition,” and the tagline “Stress tested for women.”

The implication, of course, is that Claire isn’t sweating bullets during the scene because she used Secret. (We can attest that proposing to someone is, indeed, the kind of situation that calls for a little extra deodorant.)

The spot made its debut in a thematically appropriate setting, running during The Bachelorette’s season premiere last night. “The Question” follows the agency’s previous “Stress Test” scenarios for the brand, which included asking for a raise and saying “I love you” for the first time via text and feels like an appropriate follow-up, with the scene unfolding in a relatively believable manner. Interestingly enough, the spot never shows Andy’s answer, keeping its focus squarely on the anxiety inherent in a marriage proposal.

It also marks the second ad in two weeks to feature a woman proposing to a man, following Ogilvy & Mather U.K.’s “Amazing Moments: Louisa & Rob” for Dove, which promoted that brand’s line of deodorant for women.

Credits:

Client: Procter & Gamble/Secret
Project: Secret Stress-Tested for Women

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Creative Directors: Justine Armour / Caio Lazzuri
Art Director: Johan Arlig
Copywriter: Justine Armour
Producer: Jessica Staples
Strategic Planning: Angela Jones
Media/Comms Planning: Stephanie Ehui
Account Team: Dana Borenstein / Alexina Shaber

Production Company: Somesuch/Anonymous Content
Director: Aoife McArdle
Executive Producer: SueEllen Clair / Eric Stern
Executive Producer Somesuch: Sally Campbell / Tim Nash
Producer: Christopher Gallagher
Director of Photography: Alexis Zabe

Editorial Company: Final Cut
Editor: Paul Zucker
Assistant Editor: Betty Jo Moore [Editor on ‘Three Dots’]
Exec Post Producer: Eric McCasline
Head of Production: Suzy Ramirez
Producer: Sarita White

VFX Company: MPC Los Angeles
Exec Producer: Elexis Stern
Shoot Supervisor: Ben Persons
Colourist: Mark Gethin
VFX Lead: Susanne Scharping
VFX: Sandra Ross / Vincent Blin / Warren Paleos
Designer: Kathleen Kirkman

Music Company: Marmoset
Composers: ‘Proposal’ by Will Canzoneri / ‘Raise’ by Jeffrey Brodsky / ‘Three Dots’ by Kerry Smith
Producer: Tim Shrout
Sound Design Company: Barking Owl
Sound Designer: Michael Anastasi
Exec Producer: Kelly Bayett

Mix Company: Lime Studios
Mixer: Sam Casas

BREAKING NEWS: People have sex all the time … with or without their smartphones.

On that note, Premier and TMW Unlimited teamed up to launch “#DoNotDisturb” for sexual wellbeing brand (and here we thought they made condoms!) Durex.

#DoNotDisturb is a “social experiment” exploring how turning off smartphones can help couples “Reconnect and enjoy great holiday sex.” The “experiment” took six couples on vacation and forced half of them to surrender their smart phones and laptops upon arrival at the hotel. 

Premier and TMW Unlimited then created a case study video to document the results, which you can view below.

Of course, the very obvious conclusion reached by the study was that the couples who were free of tech distractions connected more on their holiday, appreciated the sites more and, presumably had more and better sex. We’re guessing you didn’t need a social experiment from a condom sexual wellbeing brand to tell you that, though.

The campaign and “experiment” were inspired by a brand survey which found that 52 percent of people expected to have better sex while on vacation, but that 60 percent of those surveyed admitted their holiday failed to live up to expectations. A full 40 percent said they were less likely to attempt to instigate sex if their partner is on their phone in bed and 57 percent said they’d be more turned on if their partner turned the phone off, while 41 percent admitted that, even on holiday, nights in bed could be spent with both partners concentrating on their devices.

In other words, the “experiment” was meant as more of an illustration of these findings, but honestly the survey itself is a lot more interesting as just about anybody could have reached the more generic conclusion delivered in the case study video.

Will this experiment help sell more condoms? We have no idea. But it did remind us of another benefit one can achieve by hiding the phone: no sex tapes.

With late spring here, Memorial Day and the impending summer on the horizon, BBDO New York launched a spot promoting Snickers Ice Cream Bars entitled “Scream.”

As you probably could have guessed it’s a play on the “we all scream for ice cream” line. The spot opens with a lone scream, soon joined by a chorus that includes a man’s eagle tattoo, a boardwalk artists’ caricature drawing and a crab. At the conclusion of the spot, the reason for the shouting is revaled with the tagline, “We all scream for Snickers Ice Cream Bars.”

While the tagline and spot are easy to remember, “Scream” lacks the humor of BBDO New York’s best work for the main Snickers brand. The animals and inanimate objects are a little awkward, but then at least they’re not twerking.

Earlier this month (we were kind of busy), BBDO New York also released an ad for Snickers Bites, called “Unfamous,” which plays on the brand’s more typical advertising.

In fact, the ad shows a man upset that “These Snickers commercials make it seem like  hungry people turn into these huge celebrities,” while he just turns into “Rick from down the street.” His wife explains that it’s because he’s not that hungry and hands him the bag of Snickers Bites for a slight improvement.

It’s kind of a fun play on the main brand for Snickers Bites, but one could also opine that BBDO is treading water here.

CREDITS

Client: SNICKERS
Creative Agency: BBDO New York
Title: “Scream”

David Lubars: Chief Creative Officer, BBDO Worldwide
Greg Hahn: Chief Creative Officer, BBDO New York
Gianfranco Arena: Executive Creative Director
Peter Kain: Executive Creative Director
Eli Terry: Creative Director
Jessica Coulter: Creative Director
Amy Wertheimer: Group Executive Producer
Tara Leinwohl: Executive Producer
Kirsten Flanik: Managing Director
Susannah Keller: Global Account Director
Joshua Steinman: Account Director
Tani Corbacho: Account Manager
Annemarie Norris: Group Planning Director
Alaina Crystal: Senior Planner

Production Company: Gifted Youth
Fatal Farm: Director
Charles Papert: Director of Photography
Dal Wolf: EP / Managing Director
Anthony Ficalora: EP of Production / HOP
Alistair Walford: Staff Producer
Alana Mitnick: Producer

Editorial: Rock Paper Scissors
Helena Lee: Executive Producer
Leah Carnahan: Post Producer
Christjan Jordan: Editor
Pieter Viljoen: Assistant Editor

Post-Production Effects: MPC
Camila De Biaggi: Executive Producer
Alan Bibby: Creative Director
Ed Chapman: VFX Supervisor
Seif Boutella; Technical Director
Dorian Douglass: Producer
Marcus Wood: Head of 2D
John Shafto: Flame Artist

Mix Studio: Lime Studios
Joel Waters: Engineer
Susie Boyajan: Producer

Periscope continues its oddball approach for candy brand Trolli in a series of three “Winning at Hoops” spots starring Houston Rockets shooting guard James Harden.

The spots are a play on eighties sports instructional videos, with retro graphics to match.

Harden is joined by a coach who explains to viewers the shots he will demonstrate, including a “Lay-Up,” “Slam Dunk” and “Hook Shot.” After an introduction from the coach (who appears to be doing his best Chris Farley impression), Harden gives a simple demonstration of the shot in question. Upon closer inspection by way of slo-mo instant replay, however, Harden manages to feed himself Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers in the process.

He does this via a secret compartment in the ball, a tiny hand coming out of nowhere or, in “Dunk,” by rapidly growing his beard.

This is, of course, the kind of weirdness we’ve come to expect out of the independent Minneapolis agency’s work for the brand.

If anything, the strangeness is (slightly) toned down this time around, at least in comparison to the Periscope’s previous work such as last year’s campaign promoting Trolli’s Sour Brite Crawler Minis and Extreme Sour Bites. Instead, there’s a big focus on the retro feel of the spots, which were directed by SOCIETY’s David Viau. If we didn’t know what to expect from the agency, that faux-retro setup may have left us surprised by the strange twist of Harden pulling gummy worms seemingly out of nowhere … but then, we did know what to expect.

Credits:
Client: Trolli
Agency: Periscope
Production Company: SOCIETY
Director: David Viau
Executive Producer: Harry Calbom
Head of Production: Rebecca Parenteau
Director of Photography: Doug Hostetter
Producer: Jill McBride
Post Production: SOCIETY
VFX: David Viau
Editor: Victoria Mortati
Producer: David Guti Rosado
Music & Sound: PICO Music+Sound
Executive Producer: Ellis Hawes
Composers: Lucas Field, Emeen Zarookian, Lucas Field, Jeff Kite
Mix/SFX: Jamie Hunsdale

W+K Amsterdam recently launched its first campaign for Corona since winning the account last year, entitled “This is Living.”

A surf-friendly 60-second spot called “The Flow” showcases the agency’s direction. Free of dialogue, the spot shows Brazilian surfer Pedro Bahia in action catching a rather large wave, then walking back up to the beach and grabbing a Corona Extra. It ends with a lime fizzing in the skunk-prone (thanks to the clear bottles) lager and Bahia chilling with friends as the night creeps in and the “This is Living” tagline makes an appearance.

For the campaign, W+K Amsterdam and Corona also teamed up with “surf ambassadors” Matt Wilkinson, Julian Wilson, and Alejo Muniz.

“Lime Ritual” riffs on the common practice of dropping a lime into a bottle of Corona, a practice actually meant to mask skunky off-flavors caused by sun exposure (although few Corona drinkers are aware of this). They compare this to a plunge into the ocean, and the approach in both cases makes a lot of sense for a brand that has long been associated with the beach and differentiated from other light lagers by the very ritual in question. The campaign will run in the U.K., Europe, Asia Pacific, South America and North America, excluding the U.S.

“Corona’s new creative positioning is an evolution of the brand’s iconic style — it’s still visually guided by the beach as it has always been, only now we are bringing more meaning to the reasons to go there,” W+K Amsterdam executive creative director Mark Bernath explained in a statement.

Credits:

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam
Client: Corona
VP Global Marketing: Marcel Marcondes
Global Marketing Director: Thiago Zanettini
Global Communications Director: Clarissa Pantoja
Global Brand Manager: Evan Ellman
Executive Creative Director: Mark Bernath
Executive Creative Director: Eric Quennoy
Creative Director: Alvaro Sotomayor
Creative Director: Thierry Albert
Art Director: Kia Heinnen
Art Director: Malia Killings
Copywriter: Bern Hunter
Head of Broadcast Production: Joe Togneri
Director of Interactive Production: Kelsie Van Deman
Broadcast Producer: Kimia Farshidzad
Broadcast Producer: Javier Perroud
Broadcast Producer: Maud Klarenbeek
Broadcast Producer: Stacey Prudden
Interactive Producer: Jennifer Bernard
Production Assistant: Hayley Vair
Planner: Nick Docherty
Planner: Alex Jordan
Senior Digital Strategist: Greg White
Communications Planner: Wes Young

UUUUUUUUGGGGH, millennials/teens, amirite??

People (allegedly) pay shameless hucksters $20,000 an hour to help #brands understand them, yet Droga5 somehow convinced the ultimate teenage client to admit that it has absolutely no fucking idea what’s going on in those pot-addled minds of theirs.

Thus the agency known for marketing parodies presents another elaborate marketing parody, allowing Clearasil to make light of its own cluelessness. The angle is pretty much like this: our past attempts to push our products to you by getting in your Teen Zone were very lame, but you can still totes trust us to CRUSH your zits. (Do the kids still say “totes?”)

Here’s the anthem spot.

Droga’s first work for Clearasil debuted last summer with a mom perpetually walking in on her teenage son doing various things. There’s a bit more to this new campaign elaborating on the same “we basically give up” theme with each subsequent spot focusing on a different thing that kids may or may not like.

Oh see, they’re also making fun of the fact that every damn campaign has to include some #hashtag #activation because how else will clients know whether it’s working???

And yes, of course they made separate spots for “Paul Leave” and “Paul Stay.” It’s like a Choose Your Own Adventure campaign!

There are quite a few variations here. Come on, you know this next one is like sooo many inspirational case study spots you see every week.

These guys just can’t help but make fun of every damn thing. From the pitch email:

Each piece is supported across a variety of media, with a host of interactivity for teens to troll or appreciate Clearasil’s earnest attempts at connecting with them. The brand is genuinely asking teens, “did this one work?” with each attempt, hoping to create an honest, entertaining dialogue that doesn’t try to engage teens in an inauthentic way.

Well…not really. But your point is taken. Next, how different is 3 AM from 2 AM? Not very.

Today Droga5 GCD Tim Gordon told AdFreak that this campaign isn’t just about making fun of marketing tropes…it’s more about getting the client to stop trying to be hip and approach things like a mom of teenage kids.

The brand is staying in character, too.

“Is this impressing you, or doing nothing to you?”

Some awkward fake stock images:

…and a close-up on some real zits:

Questions of effectiveness aside, here is an undeniably true statement, again from the email:

This year, when Clearasil wanted to build real trust with teens, we realized that the only thing that will feel genuine to teens is the truth. And the truth is: Clearasil is a company located in Parsippany, New Jersey full of highly skilled professionals.

We will never ever claim to be experts on the Millennials. But we do know of one thing they like: fashion.

We also know, as people who were once pimply teenagers, that there’s no single product that will make that shit go away in 12 hours and all claims to the contrary are just sales crap. But that’s kind of beside the point, no?

CREDITS

Client: RB/Clearasil
Campaign: “We know acne, we don’t know teens”

Agency: Droga5 New York
Creative Chairman: David Droga
Chief Creative Officer: Ted Royer
Group Creative Director: Tim Gordon
Associate Creative Director: Jen Lu:
Copywriter: Sarah Lloyd
Art Director: Mary Dauterman
Junior Copywriter: Madeleine Trebenski
Junior Art Director: Brittain McNeel
Chief Creation Officer: Sally-Ann Dale
Head of Broadcast Production: Ben Davies
Group Integrated Production Manager: Topher Lorette
Broadcast Producer: Leah Donnenberg
Associate Broadcast Producer: Jackie Omanoff
Social Producer: Gabrielle Nicoletti
Global Chief Strategy Officer: Jonny Bauer
Group Strategy Director: Jonny Gadd
Strategy Director: Danielle Travers:
Group Communications Strategy Director: Samantha Deevy
Social Communications Strategist: Maureen O’Brien
Data Strategy Director: Lily Ng
Data Strategist: Christina Fieni
Senior Strategist: Nika Rastakhiz
Executive Group Directors: Brett Edgar, Angela Kosniewski
Account Directors: Amanda Chandler, Megan Gokey
Account Manager: Lucie Kittel
Project Manager: Rayna Lucier

Client: RB/Clearasil
General Manager, U.S.: Chris Tedesco
Marketing Director: Aurore Trepo
Brand Managers: Niccolo Francalanci, Elyse Goldweitz
Associate Brand Manager: Rochelle Samuels

Production Company: Ways & Means
Director: Sunbeam (Nick Paley and Dean Fleisher-Camp)
Director of Photography: James Wall
Executive Producers: Jett Steiger, Lana Kim
Producer: Cedric Troadec

Editors: Sean McGrath, Chuck Willis
Assistant Editors: Julie Walsh, Misha Kozlov
Executive Producer: Susan Willis
Producer: Melissa Nusbaum

Postproduction: Light of Day
Executive Producer: Susan Willis
Producer: Melissa Nusbaum:

Color Grade: RCO
Colorist: Seth Ricart
Executive Producer: Marcus Lansdell

Sound: Cutting Room
Mixer: Walter Bianco

The Los Angeles office of Deutsch recently launched a new campaign entitled “Make Time for Snapple.”

A series of spots initially seem to depict some random, strange scenarios, before it’s revealed in the conclusion that they’re related to a “Snapple Fact” being read by someone downing a bottle of the brand’s iced tea. (Sadly, there would not appear to be any alcohol involved.)

In “Bees” for example, we see a depiction of a fully-grown bee emerging from his mother’s womb. This leads into a woman learning that bees are born fully-grown. (But only the queen gives birth, right? What’s up with that?)

Another spot, “King of Hearts” sees a group of playing card sitting down to dinner at a diner. They repeatedly taunt the King of Hearts for his drawn-on mustache. At the conclusion of the spot, we learn that this is because the King of Hearts is the only King to not sport a flavor savor.

Other spots employ the same approach to the first spam message being sent via telegram, the fact that dolphins are unable to smell and a strange piece of Massachusetts state legislation. Each spot ends with a voiceover imploring viewers to “Put some flavor in your break” and “Make time for Snapple.” It’s an odd approach, to be sure, but the initial WTF factor actually leads into something easily relatable to the brand. Everyone remembers those weird Snapple Facts, after all. Still, that approach would work a little better with better fact selections and execution of the facts in question. The “King of Hearts” and “Telegraph” spots in particular leave something to be desired. In addition to the broadcast spots, there are also a series of truly bizarre, repetitive online spots that kick up the strangeness yet another notch.

Advertising Agency: Deutsch
Executive Creative Directors: Guto Araki, Bob Cianfrone
Art Director: Curtis Petraglia
Copywriter: Andrew Kong
Director: Dave Laden
Photographer: Neil Shapiro

BBDO Ukraine Kiev created a series of four new Stella Artois can designs for the Cannes Film Festival, which the brand sponsors. Each of the cans tells part of a story, which takes place on Cannes’ Croisette, featuring comic book-style imagery and French captions. Check out the case study below for more info. 

“Story is what Stella Artois stands for,” Denis Keleberdenko, creative group head at BBDO Kiev in Ukraine, explained to Adweek. “And traditionally Stella Artois supports the Cannes Film Festival, so we show a story that happens in Cannes, in four parts, for each can. There’s accidents, unexpected twists, a chase, drama, a beautiful woman, a kiss at the end and even a helicopter! It’s almost a film on cans, actually.” 

Additionally, the cans each features URLs for various Ukrainian websites. Each of the sites extends the story in unexpected ways and drive traffic to the Ukranian Stella Artois page, where visitors can (or could, they appear to be claimed) win tickets to the Cannes Film Festival. One of the sites also features an additional video. It tells the story of a pair of Cannes tickets continually changing hands but aside from that we’re not entirely sure what’s going on, since our Ukranian is a little rusty. 

CREDITS

Client: Stella Artois
Agency: BBDO Ukraine Kiev
Creative Director ­ Anze Jereb
Head of design studio ­ Martynas Birskys
Creative Group Head ­ Denis Keleberdenko
Art Director ­ Mike Petrusiak
Copywriter ­ Julia Kolesnik
Designer ­ Mariya Teterina
Illustrator ­ Olga Bandura

McCann New York launched a campaign which seeks to answer the question “Why Can’t Girls Code?” for Girls Who Code, a national non-profit seeking to close the gender gap in the tech industry (luckily no such problems in advertising, right guys?).

Spoiler alert: they can!

A 60-second spot sees young girls some over-the-top “reasons” why girls can’t code. These include a girl staring down at her chest and saying, “I tried to get into coding buy cleavage is so distracting.” Another girl adds that her long eyelashes make it hard to see the screen. “When I’m not menstruating , I’m ovulating, so there’s no time to code…at all,” adds another.”

McCann New York’s use of sarcastic humor represents a different approach to the issue, rather than the typical empowerment (although there’s undoubtedly a sense of empowerment in parodying misogynist notions that girls can’t code). While not exactly laugh out loud funny, the point is made abundantly clear in a way that still manages not to beat viewers over the head with the message.  A series of further spots delve into individual “reasons” why girls can’t code, such as menstruation, boobs and beauty.

“There are already a ton of inspirational videos about why girls should code. We wanted to try something different and use humour and satire to question the stereotypes that tell our girls that coding is not for them,” Girls Who Code founder and CEO Reshma Saujaniexplained explained to LBB. 

“When the girls themselves verbalise the biases it becomes abundantly clear just how ridiculous it is, said “McCann New York executive creative director Priti Kapur. “The notion that being a woman is somehow a disadvantage for coding is so deeply ingrained in society that you almost need to hear it out loud to realise how crazy it is.”
At the end of the spot, by which time the point is obvious, text appears onscreen with the message: “Girls do code. Every other theory is ridiculous.” and directing viewers to girlsdocode.com.

“There’s also the notion that girls can’t appreciate this kind of humour – also a ridiculous stereotype,” added group creative director Susan Young.

Last time we checked in on Jack Links, the cured meat brand was messin’ with the Sasquatch with some help from Mekanism, space150 and PR agency Carmichael Lynch.

This time around, the Mek has partnered with a few of the old YouTube influencers you’ve heard so much about in order to find creative solutions for the “hangry,” or that unique combination of hungry and super pissed. (Kind of like Snickers, you know.)

In the first spot, one man simply cannot deal with the frustrations stemming from his midlife crisis…or his empty stomach. Whichever.

Next, these two kids should be AgencySpy commenters. They’d be great at it.

Yes, but what about explosions in the office? Everyone knows all about those, right?

Now enter the influencers. The next spot “Gym Beast” features the popular(?) beefcake duo Hodge Twins and Josh Leyva.

So all you have to do to be an influencer is make videos of yourself lifting. Can it really be that easy?? And can we film in our tiny apartment, advertisers?

Finally, even teachers get “hangry” despite their job security and amazing benefits.
Coincidentally, the client sent our boss a box of the old jerky complete with some “hangry tape” and a little booklet of “hacking tips” and product ideas.

We might take the beef tie to eat throughout the day, because who still wears those to the office anyway?

CREDITS

Client: Jack Link’s
Creative Agency: Mekanism
CEO/President: Jason Harris
ECD: Ian Kovalik
ACD: Ryan Paulson
Art Director, Designer: Philip Cheaney
Writer: Bryan Davis
HOP: Kati Haberstock
Sr. Producer: Cordelia Kipp
Director Brand Management: Caroline Moncure
Sr. Brand Manager: Claire Fallon

Production Company: TOOL of North America
Managing Director-Live Action / EP: Oliver Fuselier
Executive Producer: Lori Stonebraker
Producer: Jason Manz
Director: Benji Weinstein
Director of Photography: Eric Schmidt

Editorial Company: Cutting Room
EP: Melissa Luben
Post Producer: Kelly Ondris
Senior Editor: Chuck Willis
Senior Assistant: Greg Ryan
SFX: Jun Mizumachi
Audio Engineer: Walter Bianco

Color: The Mill
Color: Fercus McCall
Sound House: Butter
Produced by: TBC
Written by: TBC
Published by: TBC
Mixed by: TBC
Mastered by: TBC
Music Supervision: TBC
Music: TBC