Hasta La Creative!

Bicoastal content studio Humble launched a five-minute long anthem video for A Force For Good, “a new social movement inspired by the Dalai Lama and dedicated to transforming the world in practical and positive ways,” based on a new book by Daniel Goleman, entitled A Force For Good: The Dalai Lama?s Vision for Our World.

The lengthy spot combines four vignettes into a single message on the importance of compassion. Each vignette was directed by a different director or directorial team: “The Mother,” directed by Sasha Levinson; “Broken Jar,” directed by Humble executive creative director Sam Stephens and creative director Chris Mauch; “The Driver,” directed by Rudi Schwab; and “Plastic Beach,”  directed by Samuel + Gunnar. These vignettes never directly intersect, but rather follow similar arcs showing transformations caused by acts of compassion. Viewers who stick with the lengthy video will be glad to see a sense of completion brought to each story arc. Mechler Media also worked on content development for the campaign, with CrossBeatNY handling communications, website development and social media elements.

“This project really resonated deeply with everyone at Humble and it presented a great opportunity to bring together a variety of directors and teams to achieve an amazing final product,” explained Stephens. “It was a team effort in the truest sense of the word.”

“Everyone who ended up participating in this project ? from our staffers to freelancers to talent and even to people we met on the street during filming ? was so passionate about this message and excited to contribute their services to a great cause,” added Persis Koch, vice president and executive producer, Humble. “It was a really refreshing experience and shows the universal power of positivity and paying it forward.”

Credits:

Anthem Video

Produced By: Humble
President / Executive Producer: Eric Berkowitz
Vice President / Executive Producer: Persis Koch
Executive Producer: Sam Stephens
Executive Producer: Andrea Theodore
Executive Creative Director: Sam Stephens
Creative Director: Chris Wolfgang Mauch
Writers: Sam Stephens, Chris Wolfgang Mauch, Sasha Levinson
?The Mother? Director: Sasha Levinson
?A Broken Jar? Directors: Sam Stephens, Chris Wolfgang Mauch
?The Driver? Director: Rudi Schwab
?Plastic Beach? Director: Samuel + Gunnar

New York Crew:
Head of Production: Elizabeth Durkee
Producer: Scott Gracheff
Producer: Chelsea Conklin
Production Coordinator: Audrey Crowell
1st AD: Jeffrey Lazar
1st AD: John M. Tyson
Director of Photography: Kate Arizmendi
Director of Photography: Rudi Schwab
Casting: Jodi Kipperman
Editor: Jane Keller
Assistant Editor: Vance Tucker
Assistant Editor: Julie Tarrab
Assistant Editor: Shelby Cotton
Music: Matt Nakoa
Music: Michael Hewett
Music: Samuel Kim
Audio and Mix Master: Joseph Miuccio @ Pure Sound
Color: Alex Bickel @ Color Collective

Iceland Crew:
Executive Producer: Jonbi Gudmundsson
Line Producer: Eidur Birgisson
Director of Photography: Elli Cassata
Casting: Iceland Casting
Production Company: Storveldid
Color: Alex Bickel @ Color Collective

End Card Design & Animation: Susan Armstrong
Behind The Scenes: Jason McConville

Campaign and Website Development

CrossbeatNY
Head of Strategy: Becky Wang
Head of Technology: David Justus
Head of Production: Amber Wimmer
Community Manager: Jen Mozenter
Community Manager: Claire Schlissel
Partnership and Outreach: April Norris
Lead Developer: Geoff Roth
Creative Director: Katie Morgan
Designer: Juliana Ossa

Melcher Media
President and Chief Executive Officer: Charles Melcher
Chief Operating Officer: Bonnie Eldon
Senior Editor/Producer: Lauren Nathan
Associate Digital Producer: Shannon Fanuko

Pitch created the first ever video ads for Citrix Sharefile in its new campaign for the secure file sharing and transfer service, with a series of spots featuring some rather unprofessional behavior.

In “Dr. Looselips,” which runs in both 15 and 30-second iterations, this comes in the form of a doctor who addresses his patients by their ailments. This is much to the chagrin of patients waiting to be seen for foot fungus and constipation, who reluctantly reply when the doctor calls them out of the waiting room. Other 15-second spots follow a similar formula with “The Tactless Attorney” and a businessman with a pen that doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. The takeaway comes in the form of the question, “You wouldn’t do business like this, why share file like this?” followed by a call to “make a professional impression” with the service. While unlikely to elicit any belly laughs, the attempts at humor are welcome for such a dry category, however their connection to the service’s benefits are illustrated better in some ads than others.

Credits:

AGENCY: PITCH
Chief Creative Officer: Xanthe Wells
President: Rachel Spiegelman
CFO/COO: Pej Sabet
Chief Strategy Officer: Sara Bamossy
Associate Creative Director: Brian Farkas
Associate Creative Director: Tylynne McCauley
Management Supervisor: Tyler Lesch
Jr. Strategist: Lexi Whelan

CLIENT:
Catherine Harrell – Director of Marketing
John Benson – Associate Creative Director
Hudson Haines – Creative Lead

PRODUCTION:
Production Company: Myriad Media
Director: Fabian Marquez
Producer: Shawn Lamons
Director of Photography: Kent Willard

Editor: Daniel Cook
Sound Design: Daniel Cook
Music: Daniel Cook
Colorist: Marshall Alderman

Camera Operator: Holt Menzies
Camera Operator: Rob Russell
Assistant Camera: Jon Pfundstein
Assistant Camera: Kyle Messina
Script Supervisor: Spike Hoban
Gaffer: Matt Hedt
Electrician: Ish Abdelkhalek
Key Grip: Walker Anderson
Grip: Tony Holderfield
Audio Technician: Brooks Lester
DIT/ 2nd AC: Sam Kim
PA: Chandler Cearley
PA: Kristen Riveria
Make up/Stylist: Amy Hendrix
Set Design: Sarah Costello (PropTarts, Inc.)
Set Design PA: Krystle Bugarin
Location Scout: Carlene Cearley

As we all know, The Martin Agency recently played off everyone’s favorite complaint about digital advertising by creating a series of GEICO ads that couldn’t be skipped…because they end before they even start.

It was a good idea that almost made up for the fact that cord-cutters like ourselves often see the same GEICO ad three times in a row with no recourse but to swear up and down that we will NEVER spend money on the client’s services even if we happen to be in desperate need of cheap car insurance. (We blame media buying agencies, because THEY ARE WASTING THE CLIENT’S MONEY.)

Now Leo Burnett and Allstate have produced a new variation on that “unskippable” theme: an ad that punishes the viewer for trying to make it go away.

The spot and its #SkipMayhem tag debuted about a week ago, but this is the first we’re seeing of it because we don’t happen to be friends with any Allstate salesmen on Facebook. It’s unfortunately not embeddable, so you have to click through to the site…not annoying at all!

The underlying spot is a standard entry in the Mayhem canon, with Dean “Dennis Duffy” Winter playing the part of a buzzing phone that facilitates a wreck.

The fun starts when one tries to skip the ad…to be greeted instead with footage of a baby crying, a poorly played recorder, a man eating tin-foil and other forms of unjust punishment. Every time a viewer clicks “skip” he/she faces another variation on this multimedia version of the old water torture trick.

Eventually, the video devolves into grating metallic noise accompanied by this warning:

Meanwhile, Winter intones:

“You don’t have to watch this…just watch the ad.

I could do this all day.

You really don’t get it, do you? You can’t skip Mayhem.”

When asked for comment, Leo Burnett deferred to the client. We’ve yet to hear back from Allstate itself.

While we enjoyed this take on the “how annoying can an ad be?” theme, we wonder why insurance companies are the clients most in-tune to the annoyingly ubiquitous nature of their own campaigns. The model could very easily be applied to most bank ads, athletic wear ads, computer ads and, for God’s sake, automobile ads.

Maybe clients in those industries are simply more inclined to believe their own bullshit.

BBDO launched a new series of spots for Foot Locker and Under Armour celebrating the NBA Draft, entitled “Life Changes After the Draft.”

A series of four comical spots examine the changes in Emmanuel Mudiay‘s life following being drafter. “Gift” (featured above), for example, contrasts Muddiay’s gift to his mother before the draft, “a bouqet of food,” with his gift after, a house. Other spots show changes in Muddiay’s post-draft life like hiring his brother as his brand manager and head of business development, seeing himself on the cover of a magazine and hearing his name dropped in a rap song while he works out. The ads rolled out digitally on Foot Locker’s YouTube channel, also appearing on NBA.com beginning yesterday, and will make their broadcast debut during the first round of the NBA draft on ESPN tomorrow.

“The NBA Draft represents a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and we’re excited to partner with Under Armour and Emmanuel Mudiay on this campaign,” said Stacy Cunningham, executive vice president of marketing at Foot Locker. “As we did with last year’s campaign, we are bringing some light-hearted fun to the Draft with Emmanuel wittily demonstrating how different life is before and after the Draft.”

DDB New York launched a new spot for Mars Petcare brand IAMS, telling the story of “A Boy and His Dog Duck.”

The spot shows a boy growing up alongside his dog, Duck, who gained the name when he couldn’t pronounce “Duke” as a toddler. Viewers see a montage of shared moments with the dog, from when it was just a puppy to intruding on a prom date, to needing encouragement to jump in the seat of the car as an elderly dog, before learning the origin story of the name. It’s an emotional approach, designed to show the supposed benefits of feeding dogs IAMS throughout different stages of life. In other words, it relies on a tried and true formula for the category rather than attempting to innovate. And we’re not sure what it says about us exactly, but we can’t hear the name “Duck” without thinking of this guy.

Colenso BBDO worked with the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation on a PSA campaign that included a unique way to get women to perform self-exams for breast cancer.

The campaign included the distribution of Breast Cream, a moisturizer designed for the breasts, with the intention of encouraging women to work breast self-examination into their daily routine. Colenso BBDO’s print ads for the campaign cleverly pitched the product as “a cream that gives you wrinkles,” since early detection is so often critical in stopping the spread of cancer. That print component just brought home a  gold Lion in Cannes on Monday, and Breast Cream has sold 75 percent of its first production run. Check out the case study video above to learn more about the campaign and how it is helping spread breast cancer awareness in New Zealand.

Call it DDB Paris’s version of “Dumb Ways to Die…” if you will, but the agency is getting both serious and a bit ridiculous to bring awareness to the young folks out there about the importance of organ donations.

The DDB Paris team recently teamed up with Wanda director Steve Rogers to introduce to a character named “Robert Cronejager,” an actor who’s unfortunately typecast over the course of his career as “The Man Who Died the Most.” In movies.

Here’s the ad, which touches on the organ donation issue as an afterthought of sorts:

Who needs The Most Interesting Man in the World when you’ve got a guy like Cronejager who ends up dying whether playing a warrior, a mobster or a cowboy?

While paying homage to celluloid fatalities both classic and modern (nice take on American Beauty), DDB Paris’s digital campaign for France’s Biomedicine Agency aims to reach the 16-25 demo with the intention being to inject some humor to help foster and ease conversations between young adults and their families about being an organ donor.

The boatload of pop culture references may go over some viewers’ heads, but at least the minds behind the campaign bring some levity to what could be an uncomfortable topic.

In an effort to hype its annual two weeks’ worth of Wimbledon coverage (which begins next Monday), ESPN launched a promo to herald the fortnight of tennis’s most prestigious tournament.

The Disney-owned, self-proclaimed “worldwide leader in sports” has re-teamed with creative agency 77 Ventures (remember this?) for the new ad, which poses the question “Which Side Are You On?” in what is almost certainly NOT a nod to the history of the organized labor movement.

In a matter of 30 seconds, ideally cast British actor Alexander Campbell takes us around the All England Club’s hallowed Center Court while discussing the traditions and nuances of the tournament such as the all-white attire, the strawberries and cream consumption and again, the term “fortnight.”

While exploring Wimbledon history, our protagonist touches on player contrasts amid interspersed footage of your usual suspects including Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova.

ESPN appears to have your Wimbledon tournament itself covered with 140 hours of action on TV and 1,500 (!) more on ESPN3.

The network will also run five more ads in this series; each promises to offer viewers “a study in contrasts” between the players’ fierce on-court displays and the “revered, pristine nature” of the event itself.

Client: ESPN
Campaign: ESPN Wimbledon
Agency: Seventy Seven Ventures
Chief Creative Officer: Galen Bernard
President / Writer: Michael Haje
Creative Director: Rachel Heussenstamm
Producer: Hyde Harper
Production Co: Gorgeous
Director: Tom Carty
Exec. Producer: Maddi Carlton
Producer: Ciska Faulkner
Director of Photography: Daniel Landin
Post Production Co: Molehouse
Editor: Andrew Jenson
Sound: Eric Brown

After casting the completely fictional characters Walter White and Lindsay Lohan in its Super Bowl ad, Esurance brings things a little closer to reality via the thoughts of young children in its latest campaign by Leo Burnett Chicago.

“#EqualDreams” is the company’s way of saying that, no matter what the United States Supreme Court decides, the auto insurance industry will cover everyone who can afford it.

The ad (directed by Tom Dey of Native Content, edited by Cutters Chicago) works by interviewing the very young attendees of a recent Windy City wedding. Key insights include:

“When I kiss the bride, it’s gonna both be exciting and disgusting.”

“And if my husband doesn’t like the cake then he will buy his own cake.”

The release tells us that, since 2011, Esurance has offered discount married rates to its LGBT customers even if the states in which they live do not legally recognize such unions.

Leo Burnett EVP Brian Shembeda says:

“Sometimes children can make complex issues so simple. Their words, as heard in the video, help us understand why equality is important. Because all children deserve the same right to pursue their dreams.”

For once, general cynicism about advertising practices proves unwarranted: the perfect cast in this short film came about at least in part because the bride is director of production and planning for the Chicago Humanities Festival.

Droga5 takes the irreverent self-mocking schtick it developed with “If We Made It” for Newcastle to its logical conclusion in its latest ad kicking off the brand’s summer campaign, which hopefully signifies a change in direction from the agency in the future.

The foul-mouthed spot, developed from the insight that many avoid Newcastle Brown Ale fearing it is heavy or harsh only to laugh at the misconception later, features an array of converted naysayers. Each of these converts gives their reasons for avoiding Newcastle, such as “I used to think Newcastle was bitter” or “I thought Newcastle would taste heavy” before declaring themselves, “a dumb idiot,” “a big fucking idiot” or “a couple of ignorant assclowns” (with the expletives bleeped out, of course). The approach is jarring enough, but then Droga5 ends the spot with the line, “Brought to you by the dumb fucks that made this commercial,” preceded by the campaign’s tagline, “It’s Better Than You Thought.”

“We’ve found that because of Newcastle’s full, brown color, people sometimes think that it’s a heavy beer,” said Priscilla Flores Dohnert, brand director for Newcastle Brown Ale. “But they couldn’t be more wrong! Yes, it is full-bodied, but it’s also very smooth and refreshing. We made a video that helps bring that to life in a completely unsubtle, fun, Newcastle sort of way.”

The summer campaign will also include a revival of the brand’s celebration of “Independence Eve” and will be supported by instant redeemable coupons and mail-in rebates encouraging consumers to swap out their typical summer brew for a Newcastle Brown Ale.