Hasta La Creative!

Early this year, San Francisco indie agency Eleven won a review to handle creative work for Helix, a Bay Area startup focused on selling a unique product: individual DNA profiles.

Yes, it sounds a little dry, but it was really quite interesting in that Helix isn’t just an Ancestry or 23andMe-type service designed to help you figure out how many of your relatives were Scots and how many were Irish.

The idea is that the act of establishing one’s own “personal genomics” doesn’t just help clear up your family history. It could be used to sell all sorts of personal products from wines to services that recommend exercise routines or medications.

This week, Helix launched its first brand campaign. And like the company itself, it’s not quite your dad’s DNA sequencing business.

That was a fun head fake. You thought it was going to be a GoT-style reveal about her Viking roots, didn’t you?

Stacy brings a similar but slightly less dramatic twist.

Seems that DNA tests can tell you some very practical things you wouldn’t have known about yourself otherwise.

It’s a shame that Natalie can’t enjoy her favorite beverages now, but perhaps that’s for the best.

The final spot concerns a group that is very, very interested in genetics: future parents. (This is especially true if you happen to live in Brooklyn or Southern California.)

This campaign’s primary goal, as we see it, was to add a bit of personal color to a product that could easily become dry and humorless.

“The goal of the creative was to show how Helix can help people make more informed choices and decisions about their health, fitness, nutrition, and more,” said Eleven CD Chad Leitz. “We wanted to illustrate the promise and possibility of how DNA can actually enhance peoples’ lives daily, so we honed in on the idea of the personal DNA result. We illustrated people in exaggerated circumstances, taking life into their own hands with the new knowledge they’ve discovered about themselves through the Helix platform.”

Helix’s head of launch and partner marketing Jessica Graham added, “The campaign aims to represent and announce the Helix value proposition as something entirely different and revolutionary within the category.  Together we landed on ‘Crack Your Code’ as our tagline as it’s a message we felt was actionable that could inspire people to be proactive in learning about themselves. It’s not only our new tagline but also a call to action for curious people.”

After talking to the agency and posting on this campaign, we can legitimately say we are more interested in the service. And isn’t that what success in advertising is all about?

CREDITS

Agency: Eleven, Inc.
Client: Helix
Chief Creative Officer: Mike McKay
Creative Director: Chad Leitz, Matt Wakeman
Strategist: Nita Grubb
Social Strategist: Jessica Gast
Director, Marketplace Insights: Gary Stein
Media Supervisor: Megan Myall, Keturah Alsworth
Activation Strategist: Matt Hiltachk
Business Lead: Tristan Besse
Executive Integrated Producer: Candice Matthews
Associate Integrated Producer: Sarah Koe

TV:
Art Director: Jacob Hellstrom
Copywriter: John Friedman
Content Producer: Sophia Pellicoro
Production Company: Supply and Demand
Director: Anton Visser
Executive Producer: Tim Case/Jeff Scuton
Producer: Ari Hakim
Editorial: Whitehouse Post
Editor: Brian Gannon
Assistant Editor: Emma Platek
Post Production Producer: Sasha Grubor/Charleen Manca
Recording Studio: One Union
Audio Engineer: Joaby Deal
Music House: Songs for TV and Film
Music Producer: David Fisher
VFX House: Ingenuity Studios

PRINT and DIGITAL:
Art Director: Flavia Gonzalez
Junior Art Director: Daisy Serafini
Copywriter: John Friedman, Justin Stielow
Junior Copywriter: Emilia Holl
Print and Art Producer: Jeannine Giordan
Digital Producer: Amy Rodier
Photographer: Zachary Scott — rep’d by Sharpe & Associates
Production Co.: Sluiter Productions

So, we’ve finally established that video gamers are not fringe dorks who spend all their time hanging out in mom’s (fictional) basement covering themselves with cheeto dust.

For example, your blogger’s brother is an optical surgeon who fucking loves to play Destiny 2. We still don’t get it, but more power to him.

Anyway, BBH New York’s new Playstation ad, which launched today, shows us that maybe all those virtual leadership skills you learn while avoiding the real world can help land a sweet new job.

The end kind of left us hanging, but we have to assume this late-20s dweeb got the gig, even though he didn’t follow up by going to the bar and taking shots with his new boss like the dude in yesterday’s FCB West Dockers ad.

This is all part of the gaming giant’s Greatness Awaits pre-holiday campaign, because now is the perfect time to upgrade to the PS4…

CREDITS

CLIENT: Playstation
Eric Lempel, SVP, Global Marketing and Network Operations, Store Operations
Mary Yee, VP PlayStation Brand Marketing
Eric Lachter, Director Brand Marketing
Alex Gomez, Brand Manager
Dianne Segovia, Associate Marketing Manager
Renée M. Holt, Manager, Agency Partnerships

AGENCY: BBH New York
Gerard Caputo – Chief Creative Officer
Daniel Bonder – Group Creative Director
Dave Brown – Group Creative Director
Hugo Bierschenk – Creative Director
Dean Woodhouse – Creative Director
Bruno Franchino – Art Director
Hora Sormani – Copywriter
Kate Morrison – Head of Production
Sam Kilbreth – Executive Producer
Breck Henson – Director of Business Affairs
Kendra Schaaf – Account Director
Johnny Skwirut – Account Manager
Kendra Salvatore – Head of Strategy
Kelly Bignell-Asedo – UX Director
Alex Beerden – Strategist
Dylan Fauss – Strategist
Zack Green – Communications Planner
PRODUCTION:
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Epoch Films
DIRECTORS: Matthew Swanson
DOP: Larkin Seiple
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Melissa Culligan
LINE PRODUCER: Eric Sedorovitz
EDIT COMPANY: Mackcut
EDITOR: Ryan Steele
VFX/Color: The Mill NY
MIX: Brian Goodheart, Sonic Union
MUSIC: JSM
ADDITIONAL CREDITS:
Slaughterhouse Editor: Jim Schwartz
Slaughterhouse Producer: Maggie Miller

The Richards Group launched a new campaign for GameStop ahead of the Sept. 6 release of Destiny 2 featuring a bit of new technology.

A 30-second spot utilizes “VR character puppeting” to place gamers (actors playing gamers) right into the action. The spot itself is pretty simple, with the actors trading quips about how many kills someone has racked up in the game. They have this discussion, however, in the middle of the game’s action thanks to the effect.

While an interesting innovation, the technology appears to still be in its infancy and the results here are somewhat elementary. We do expect to see more of “VR character puppeting” in the future, however, as its seems to have plenty of potential, particularly for video game advertising.

For a look at “VR character puppeting” in action, check out the behind-the-scenes footage below.

Credits:
VR Performers: FOO VR
Technical Director: Will Smith
Lead Developer: Andre Infante
Character Design & Rigging: Sindre Skaare

VFX/Compositing: MoontowerVFX
Art Director: Ray Pena
Art Director: Greg Omelchuck
Producer: Emilio Barrientos
VFX/Compositor: Alan Cruz
VFX/Compositor: Clarke Godwin

Editor: Blake Skaggs
Assistant Editor: Tiffany Taveras

The Richards Group
David Canright, Creative Group Head/Writer
Lynda Hodge, Creative Group Head/Art Director
Sam Langford, Brand Creative/Art Director
JT Steinart, Brand Creative/Writer
Laurie Shannon, Producer
Dave Kroencke, Brand Management
Jeff Warren, Brand Management
Bejan Toofan, Brand Management

Australia: it’s a different kind of place! The country has something approaching universal health coverage, and it’s one of the few places in the world with compulsory voting.

But unlike the U.S., it still doesn’t allow same-sex partners to legally marry.

The country’s government is about to vote on that issue, and shit is getting quite real in the meantime. You probably remember the related debates in this country, and it all seems every bit as intense down under. The New York Times recently reported that anti-gay flyers reading “Stop the Fags” have begun to appear, with some particularly targeting the Chinese community.

Interestingly, Australia’s AdNews reports that some local news outlets admitted to exacerbating/exaggerating the problem by “photoshopp[ing] the poster into a Melbourne laneway.”

This week, the first official ad in the anti-SSM campaign from the Australian Christian Lobby aired, and it is something else.

So, what have parents lost their rights to choose? Whether to send their kids to school with teh gheyz? Extreme Park Slope Parents aside, that’s a pretty tired non-argument. The idea that a school’s policies are going to turn your son gay is even more ridiculous, but we’ve heard worse.

The fact that the video has 2K likes and 14K downvotes might tell us something about how effective the campaign will be, but then no one trusts digital metrics.

And we’re most interested in the agency angle, a la this line from the writeup in AdNews: “The Marriage Coalition declined to reveal the agency behind the ad.”

That’s probably because none of the big names would agree to do it. Earlier this month, several shops including Ogilvy, Leo Burnett, DDB and many more signed on to the “Say No To No” initiative saying they would refuse to work on this (well-paid) project.

The latter point is the most interesting thing about the whole story to us as Americans, because the government has to allocate a certain amount of money any time a big vote or “plebiscite” goes down. An earlier HuffPo story estimated that each competing campaign could have up to $10 million in funding.

Here’s what Nick Cummins, creative partner at The Royals, told HuffPo:

“I’ve been in ads for over 30 years and it’s a great community. Sometimes we have to make messages or ads for things we don’t necessarily believe in 100 percent, but when it comes to these sorts of issues, it’s an opportunity for us to have an impact. …It’s like refusing to work on tobacco advertising, I see it as similar.”

Hmmm. Even Meghan Trainor got into it when someone used her unauthorized image for a “No” flyer.

Now someone please help us figure out which agency made this ad. And feel free to correct our admittedly poor understanding of the Australian legal system.

BETC Luxe launched a campaign for Yves Saint Laurent’s new fragrance Y which is designed to appeal to, you guessed it, millenials.

A new spot, entitled “Y,” offers a sort of Gen Y anthem for the crowd that every marketer lusts after. The spot, which was shot by Iconoclast director Manu Cossu,opens with the line “Why, it makes everything possible.”

“Why follow old paths when I can create new ones?” it asks over footage of three millenial brand ambassadors: rapper Loyle Carner (who also provides the soundtrack), artificial intelligence researcher Alexandre Robicquet and sculptor David Alexander Flinn.

“Y” continues to wax philosophical with the argument that “Why is not a weakness, it’s a strength” and one that can “break down walls,” and “build new worlds.”

Are you playing along on your millenial buzz word bingo card?

The spot concludes with the tagline “Everything starts with a why” before an awkward pivot to the brand.

“Y” is, to put it mildly,  a bit too direct in its intentions to appeal to its target demographic. And that’s something that, of course, is notoriously off-putting to millenials.

“We wanted modern, yet authentic, shots to capture the universe of our three ambassadors,” BETC Luxe creative director Guillaume Rebbot said in a statement. “Manu Cossu was the right person for the job. We loved the way he directed music videos for A$AP Rocky,Gesaffelstein or Drake. He brings a strong aesthetic and is able to shoot arresting and visual images.”

The campaign also features a print component, with the three brand ambassadors shot by photographer Matt Lambert.

Credits: 
Brand: Yves Saint Laurent
Ad Agency: BETC Luxe
Creative Director: Guillaume Rebbot
Creatives: Fanny Buratto, Maud Lepetit
Art Director: Julie Richard
Director: Manu Cossu
Production Company: Iconoclast
Music Track: The Isle of Arran (Loyle Carner)

Earlier in the month, we learned that the California Lottery has launched a review of its creative and media agency relationships ahead of its contract with agency of record David&Goliath expiring next August.

We don’t have any updates on that front yet, but the Los Angeles-based independent agency did launch a new spot for the client.

“Dreams Start in the Black” promotes the California Black Premium Scratchers Series, built around the idea that dreams start with the darkness of closing your eyes but soon pass into the endless possibility of dreams. The spot compares this notion to how the California Black Premium Scratchers Series can lead from an all-black scratch card to dreams being fulfilled with a $5,000,000 jackpot.

The 75-second extended online version of the spot opens on a woman who places a California Black Premium Scratchers Series card on a table and closes her eyes. She is first enveloped in blackness but from a tiny crack of light begins to see visions of all the possibilities from that sweet, sweet prize money which unfold in surreal transitions before concluding with the “Dreams Start in the Black” tagline.

The beautifully-shot spot elevates the concept with memorable images captured by director Rich Lee (music videos for Eminem and Lana Del Rey) and cinematographer Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi), perfectly set to RY X‘s “Shortline.” In addition to the online version, it will also run in 30 and 15-second iterations on local broadcast in California markets such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and Fresno. The campaign also includes digital, social, OOH, experiential and radio components.

“I love the opportunity to partner with great teams to tell these really unique visual stories. From the very first conversation with the D&G team we were all totally in sync on what the creative needed to be and they were supportive of the vision every step of the way,” Lee said in a statement.

“The whole concept started with a simple truth that rings true with both the product and the notion of dreaming, which is pretty inherent to playing the Lottery,” added David&Goliath creative director Greg Buri. “And it’s hard to do dreams justice and easy to go too far. In this case, I think we walked the line between the dream world and the tone we’ve been setting for our client.”
Agency: David&Goliath, LA
Founder & Chairman: David Angelo
Chief Creative Officer: Bobby Pearce

Creative Director: Greg Buri
Creative Director: Raul Garcia
Copywriter: Will Danilow
Art Director: Shaun Wright
Social Assets:
Sr. Copywriter: Nick Micale
Sr. Interactive Art Director: Matt Koulermos

Group Planning Director: Kristen Knape
Planner: Chris Kwak

Managing Director of Broadcast Production: Paul Albanese
Executive Producer: Curt O’Brien
Senior Broadcast Producer: Juliet Diamond

Director of Business Affairs: Rodney Pizarro
Business Affairs Manager: Camara Price
Associate Business Affairs Manager: Travis Kohler

Group Account Director: Stacia Parseghian
Account Director: Janet Wang
Account Supervisor: Erika Rosenwinkel
Account Coordinator: Alex Petosa
Project Manager: Mike Antonellis

Director of Digital Production: Peter Bassett
Senior Interactive Producer: Noah Luger

Director of Print Services: Meredith Walsh
Senior Art Producer: Andrea Rosenfeld

Production Company: Native Content
Director: Rich Lee
Director of Photography (TV): Claudio Miranda
Director of Photography (Digital Videos):
Managing Director/Executive Producers: Tomer DeVito and Ned Brown
Line Producer: Michael Angelos
Sales Representative: Kevin Batten
Head of Production: Sean Blair
Production Supervisor: Ben Oswald
Art Director: Brandon Mendez

Digital Production Company: Picnic

Editorial House: Spinach
Editor: Shane Reid (from Exile)
Assistant Editor: Cutler Gray
Producer: Jonathan Carpio

Telecine: Sean Coleman
Colorist: Company 3
Online & VFX: Jamm
Lead Flame Artist: Brian Hajek
CG Artist: Zachary DiMaria
Producer: Ashley Greyson
Executive Producer: Asher Edwards

Music: Ry X

Mix House: Lime Studios
Sound Mixer/Engineer: Mark Meyuhas

Back in February, 72andSunny launched a new spot in its ongoing anti-smoking campaign for truth that called out tobacco companies for preying on low income urban neighborhoods called “#StopProfiling.”

Now the agency is releasing another pair of ads that similarly employ the approach of calling attention to the tobacco industry’s targeting of specific communities—namely those with mental illness and members of the military.

“The tobacco industry makes $37 billion a year selling cigarettes to people with mental illness. This is a prime example of how the industry sees certain populations solely as business opportunities and exploits individuals with mental health conditions and members of the military,” Truth Initiative president and CEO Robin Koval said. “The consequences of these targeting practices are horrendous, killing more than 540,000 people each year, hindering the recovery of those battling mental health conditions and putting the health and safety of our military service men and women at risk. It’s simply shameful.”

“As the number of smokers drops, the industry is finding it harder and harder to find those replacement smokers,” she told The Washington Post in a related interview. “So the industry is targeting people based on their challenges in life, on who they are. It’s shocking and appalling.”

In 72andSunny’s new spot, a truth correspondent discusses the issue with a clinical assistant professor who claims internal documents reveal tobacco companies targeted individuals with depression and anxiety, while cigarette marketing used to suggest that smoking provided a solution to the problems. Perhaps even more damning is the claim that cigarette companies gave free cigarettes to mental health facilities.

According to the ad, people with mental illness consume 40 percent of the cigarettes smoked in this country. A press release also states that smoking rates are much higher in the group than the broader population, with 1 in 3 individuals with mental illness smokers compared to 1 in 5 in individuals without mental illness.

“For decades, the tobacco industry has promoted to the mental health community the idea of tobacco as medicine. The tobacco companies funded research, supported conferences and funded authors to generate and promulgate the message that smoking a cigarette can relieve symptoms of schizophrenia, depression and anxiety,” Dr. Judith Prochaska, associate professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center and president of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, said in a statement. “Prioritizing profits over public health, the tobacco companies have preyed upon this vulnerable population for financial gain. The truth: tobacco is the leading cause of preventable addiction, disease and death among those with mental illness.”

A second spot calls attention to tobacco companies recruitment of smokers from the military. According to the ad, some 38 percent of smokers began smoking after enlistment and according to a press release those in active service smoke at a rate 28 percent higher than the general population. A truth correspondent shares internal documents from a tobacco company with military veterans that include degrading language targeting military members as “plums…to be plucked.”

Unsurprisingly, the veterans are not amused and feel “set up to become a smoker.”

“Big Tobacco saw the military market as being really key to their profits in a way that I think is deeply cynical,” Dr. Libby Smith, professor at the University of California, San Francisco, said in a statement. “They sponsored lots of entertainment for troops on the military bases, giving away cigarettes. This seemed like a gift to the troops, but really it’s all about just marketing the product.”

The ads build on the documentary-style approach introduced in February and are much more enlightening and effective than previous attempts by the truth campaign to target young crowds by “speaking their language” which were ultimately lost in translation. Ultimately the approach should resonate more with a socially conscious youth crowd than ads which obviously targeted them specifically.

Plus, it never hurts to get Logic involved.

The new spots will make their broadcast debut this Sunday during the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards.

Earlier this month, Wieden + Kennedy New York debuted its first work for Fox Sports right before ESPN picked Droga5 to handle SportsCenter (which Ted Royer worked on but did not create, thanks).

The anthem spot “Don’t Look Ahead” was, in part, a compilation of moments from the other ads in the “Every Game Is Everything” campaign. At the time we were told that the full effort would include 17 ads, including 2 devoted to specific games—Texas/USC and Ohio State/Michigan—along with 14 dedicated to the teams in the increasingly misnamed Big Ten Conference.

Those ads all went live this week.

First, there’s the Michigan Wolverines, which is pretty self-explanatory.

Next come the Ohio State Buckeyes, with a bit of backstory on their unique, logo-free helmets.

Penn State’s team is not named the Blizzard, of course. But they do something called “whiteout” wherein all the fans show up to the game wearing white shirts, and W+K ran with that theme.

Now for Minnesota, where not everyone wants to sell you some of that TruCoat.

So the Michigan State Spartans have appropriately adopted “Molon Labe” (come and get them) as their onfield cry, referencing King Leonidas I of Sparta or that movie with Gerard Butler.

University of Iowa’s Pink isn’t a reference to Lyft or Pepto Bismol. It’s the color of the visitors locker room at their stadium.

The University of Wisconsin’s fans really do try to start their own “earthquake” every time they hear the opening beats of your favorite Thursday night undergrad drinking song, House of Pain’s “Jump Around.”

Ahh, to be 19 again.

There do appear to be rumors of paranormal activity on the University of Illinois campus. But this ad is about one ghost in particular.

So, University of Maryland’s flag is kind of an eyesore. But that’s OK! As a fictional wise man once said, our imperfections are the things that make us beautiful. Or something like that.

Good Will Hunting did not go to Northwestern, but apparently its students are still wicked smaht.

The red balloons at the end of this Nebraska spot appear in homage to those released by fans after the team’s first score in each home game.

Next, the not-so-small-town Hoosiers.

The Boilermakers may be the most unique of all these teams’ names. But it’s literal and kind of fascinating, hence the train imagery in this ad.

Finally, the fightin’ Knights of Rutgers, some of whom are Lannisters and some of whom hail from more common stock.

Whew. We honestly feel more informed about college football now.

And yes, that was Michael Kelly of House of Cards on voiceover.

So, you know how Carl’s Jr. is all about “real” ingredients now, instead of the totally unreal idea that eating fast food is somehow connected to hyper-sexualized sequences starring the people our culture has deemed attractive?

Hungry Jack’s is on the same kick. Sort of. The Australian version of Burger King and its AOR Clemenger BBDO just a launched a big new campaign that tells all viewers to “Keep It Real,” because ground beef and processed cheese are somehow more legitimate than some shit your neighbor grew in his solar-powered roof garden.

Australia is looking a lot like Los Angeles these days, no?

Now wait for CMO Scott Baird’s take:

“We’re not about pretension. We’re about real food, made real good. Over the past 18 months we have make real improvements in the quality of our food with 100 per cent Aussie Beef with no added hormones, cage free eggs, 100 per cent Arabica coffee, no added flavour or colours in our desserts and 100% chicken breast in our nuggets.”

We dislike the concept of kale smoothies as much as the next hungry blogger, but that sounds kind of familiar, what with the focus on ingredients.

From CCO Ben Coulson:

“HJ’s are our biggest client, they deserve our best. I’m proud to be part of this refreshing new direction for them. It’s great to see some fun being had in this category while selling those big beefy burgers.”

So they’re really saying, can’t a chain burger just be a chain burger???*

*If it’s made from 100 percent grass-fed uuuurrrrrrrggggghhhhh…

Deutsch looks ahead to the college football season for Dr. Pepper, bringing back the brand’s Larry Culpepper character for the fourth consecutive year.

In the spot, Culpepper claims “fans are craving Dr. Pepper more than ever.”

So he’s assembled a team to deliver the beverage to show up to “tailgates, the cheap seats, love seats” or anywhere else college football fans are craving Dr. Pepper. There’s even a surprise walk-on to the team.

The Culpepper character was created back in 2014 to get around the fact that while Dr. Pepper is an NCAA sponsor they aren’t allowed to show logos for any individual teams. The invention of the character, then, “gives us the right to be there and play and interact with fans in a really authentic way,” Dr. Pepper senior vice president of marketing and sponsorships Jaxie Alt told AdAge at the time.

The latest spot shows the Culpepper character wearing a bit thin and perhaps after all these years it’s time to hand off Dr. Pepper-dispensing duties to somebody else. Hey, he does have a supporting team (complete with Doug Flutie) now.

The spot makes its first appearance online today, ahead of its August 27 broadcast debut.