Hasta La Creative!

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.

What’s in a name?

That’s what Fairfield, CT-based creative shop Smartfish Group wants to find out in a new effort for Vermont Hard Cider Company’s Woodchuck Hard Cider line.

The agency, with the help of Caviar Content Director Nick Jasenovec, serves up two different and equally silly theories on how Woodchuck got its name in these :45 ads.

Smartfish Group has found a peculiar way to promote the cider brand’s “authenticity” by conveying these “theories” as tall tales shared by pub pals eager to weigh in on subjects like time travel, a terrible original name and the Woodchuck mascot.

In a statement, Vermont Hard Cider marketing director Bridget Blacklock explains:

“As the pioneer in the US Cider category, we felt it was time for us to reestablish our voice and our positioning with today’s cider consumers. Authenticity matters greatly with our target audience and it was time to shine a light on who we truly are, which makes us unique among many of the cider brands that are out there today.  Our friends at Smartfish found a funny and memorable way to highlight our authenticity credentials.”

The Woodchuck campaign from Smartfish–which has also worked with other alcohol brands like Guinness, Bacardi, Magners and Captain Morgan–will include the ads above and below in addition to digital banners, audio and terrestrial radio spanning markets from Austin and Phoenix to Minneapolis and Hartford.

Advertising Agency: Smartfish, USA
Managing Partner: Christian McMahan
Creative Directors: Andy Currie, Lee Seidenberg
Executive Producer: Sherry Lubbers
Production Company: Caviar Content, Los Angeles
Director: Nick Jasenovec
DP: Sean Stiegemeier
EP: Darren Foldes
Line Producer: Eric Escott
Woodchuck Puppet Creators: Alterian, Inc.
Puppeteers: Peter Chevako, Lilo Tauvao
Post Production: Caviar Content Post Production
Editor: Ryan Brown
Editorial Executive Producer: Terry Huynh
Editorial Producer: Amber Ventris

Loverboy lead singer and writer of the song “Working for the Weekend” Mike Reno rethinks the lyrics to that tune in Boston agency Sleek Machine’s ad for job listings site Indeed.com, entitled “The Rewrite.”

The spot, which runs in 30, 45 and 60-second versions, opens on Reno remorsefully admitting that he was “a little off base” with his “disparaging lyrics” claiming that everyone was looking past the work week to the weekend. In the 60-second version of the ad, Reno then works on amending some of the lyrics. Thanks to Indeed and their job listings people are actually enjoying their time at work, he says, so now “it’s more like everybody’s really enjoying their time at work, and when the weekend comes, that’s fine too.”

While it may be a bit of a one-trick pony capitalizing on the ubiquity of the Loverboy hit in a goofy way, the spot manages to work in the site’s selling point in a way that, while obvious, fits with Reno’s confession that the song’s lyrics are a bit out of touch and makes for a fairly memorable ad in the category.

Credits:

Client: Indeed
Agecy: Sleek Machine, Boston
Chief Creative Officer: Tim Cawley
Senior Integrated Producer: Ben Ouellette
Senior Copywriter: Jeff Mariois
Senior Art Director: Jessica Ruggieri
Music: “Working for the Weekend” by Loverboy
Talent: Mike Reno
Director: Darcy Van Poelgeest
Production Company: Circle/Vancouver
Editor: Kat Baker/Element

We’re not generally the first place one turns to find praise for particularly creative work, but we will make an exception for a newly promoted ad in which McCann Mexico throws a sausage party on the beach.

The work is for BestDay, which is similar to Kayak and TripAdvisor in offering “good prices in the touristic service chain” for everything from hotel rooms to business-class flights.

In order to illustrate the problem presumably solved by the client, the McCann team shows us how a better reservation can decrease the discomfort of flying on a crowded plane via a jarring “one of these things is not like the other” juxtaposition:

The release tells us that the ad appeared on TV and in movie theaters leading up to the Easter holiday and its attendant travel rush, but McCann is pushing it out to media this week in preparation for Cannes (of course).

Here’s hoping it wins something phallic.

Agency: McCann Mexico City
Client: BestDay
Product: Online Agency Travel (OTA)
Campaign name:  Sausage
Chief creative officer:  Javi Carro
Creative director: Breno Cotta
Copywriter: Breno Cotta / Juan Pablo Balcazar / Eduardo Espinoza
Art director: Alejandro López
Production team: Juan González / Rafael López
Production house: The Maestros
Director: Gonzalo Oliveró
Production Team: Enrique Nava
Sound production: Look As Audio

Rashida Jones stars in McCann New York new campaign promoting Verizon FiOS’ custom TV package, alongside her real-life friends and family.

The campaign, entitled “Get Out of the Past” positions Verizon’s competitors as out of touch with modern times, which it illustrates with scenes of Jones and company dealing with unwanted channels, slow loading times and buffering. In the 30-second broadcast spot “Why” (above), Jones is hanging with real-life friend Joey Slotnick, who she asks, “Why are we watching this again?” to which he replies, “I pay for all these channels so I make myself watch them all.” Jones decides she’d rather watch anything else and changes the channel, only to find something worse. The duos chemistry, and especially Jones’ comedic delivery, really bring the ad together. The campaign also includes a series of pre-roll ads proposing ideas for “Fun Things to Do During Buffering,” such as “Knitting” and “Origami,” as well as one in which Jones bails on movie night when it turns into puzzle night due to slow loading times. A series of new spots, which will launch over the next month, will feature Jones visiting comedian friends Vicki Davis and Jason Antoon, as well as her mother, Peggy Lipton.

Credits:

Agency: McCann NY
Eric Silver – Regional Chief Creative Officer, NA
Sean Bryan – Co-Chief Creative Officer
Tom Murphy – Co-Chief Creative Officer
Chris Mitton – Executive Creative Director
Caprice Yu – Executive Creative Director
Jillian Goger – Group Creative Director
Matt Swinburne – Creative Director
Nathy Aviram – Chief Production Officer
Michele Ferone – Director of Verizon TV Production
Bryan Litman – Senior Producer

Steve Zaroff – Managing Director
Devin Reiter – Executive Account Director
Olivia Heeren – Group Account Director
Dave Ashley – Account Director
Abby Brewer – Account Supervisor
Debbie Gleason – Broadcast Business Manager

Production:
Production Company: O Positive
Director: Jim Jenkins
EP – Ralph Laucella
Line Producer/ EP  Marc Grill
Edit House: Big Sky
Editor: Chris Franklin
Color: CO3 with Stefan Sonnenfeld
Audio House: Sonic Union
Mixer: Paul Weiss
DP: Ellen Kuras