Hasta La Creative!

BBDO New York created an integrated campaign for Autism Speaks to promote MSSNG, “a new open-source research platform that will house the world’s largest database of sequenced genomic information on people with autism.”

On Wednesday BBDO New York and Autism Speaks teamed up to host “The MSSNG Lab,” an exhibit of fine art by photographer and biochemist Linden Gledhill, who created “10,000 one-of-a-kind DNA posters, each available for purchase to directly fund the 10,000 DNA sequences needed for the MSSNG project.” Once complete, the MSSNG project plans to host the data on the Google Cloud platform, where it will be available to scientists around the world. BBDO was responsible forbranding and staging the event and creating materials for purchase, including posters and coffee-table books.

“MSSNG has the potential to change the future for millions of people with autism, and this event is designed to heighten its awareness,” said Liz Feld, president of Autism Speaks. “We thank BBDO for helping to brand the program and raise awareness of this cutting-edge project among a vast and diverse audience.”

Credits:

Client: Autism Speaks
Agency: BBDO New York

Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer, New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director: Matt MacDonald

Art Director/Copywriter: Bianca Guimaraes
ACD/Art Director/Copywriter: Siavosh Zabeti
Biochemist/Photographer: Linden Gledhill
Senior Creative Technologist: Sermad Buni
Director of Integrated Production: David Rolfe
Director of Interactive Production: Clemens Brandt
Asso. Dir. of Interactive Production: Joe Croson
Senior Producer: Howard Howell
Video Producer: Koji Yahagi
Interactive Producer: Courtney Fallow
Director of Creative Engineering: JD Michaels
Sr. Creative Engineer: Casey Adams
Executive Art Producer: Betsy Jablow
Director of Music: Rani Vaz

Global Account Director: Mark Mulhern
Account Director: Phil Brolly
Account Manager: Catherine Wright
Account Executive: Miranda Hardy, Jen Sullivan
Engagement Planner: Cody Levine
Dir. Business Affairs: Phyllis Greenwald
Talent Manager: Bernadette Naughten

Digital Production Company: Media Monks

Film Production Company: BBDO
Film Director: Koji Yahagi, Bianca Guimaraes, Siavosh Zabeti
Director of Photography: John McCabe
Editorial House: Cut and Run
Music: The, Singing Serpent

Radio Music House: Human
Radio Producer: Courtney Fallow
Executive Music Producer: Melissa Chester
Mixer/Audio Engineer: Corey Bauman
Sound Editor: John Cabrera

Press Project Producer: Donna Mendieta
Associate Director of Press: Desiree Principe

Rokkan launched an unusual effort for The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) with a video purporting to introduce “Same Day Pups: Puppy Drone Delivery.”

The video shows two children begging their parents for a puppy, who then order one through a mobile app promising same day delivery via drone. A puppy is then lifted via drone and flown to the family, who tracks the order on the mobile app. The hoax video is designed to deliver the message that “A Puppy Is Not A Product,” part of a national campaign to raise awareness of the horrors of puppy mills. Rokkan and HSUS released the video anonymously last week, along with an unbranded landing page. Some people understood  the message right away, others were frightened. Yesterday, HSUS revealed itself as the organization behind the video and unveiled its A Puppy Is Not A Product page, where visitors can learn more about the initiative. We assume no puppies were harmed during the making of the video.

Toronto-based creative agency Camp Jefferson, in conjunction with Quebec market partner K72, launched a campaign for Canadian cell phone company Koodo entitled “Choose Happy.”

The campaign aims to exemplify happiness with a series of broadcast, cinema and online spots, exploring such sure to please subjects as “Kittens & Rainbows,” “Flowers,” “Free Refills” and “Popsicles.” Each ad is a colorful, high energy blast of Internet-fueled happiness, meant to show how customers can “Choose Happy” by opting for Koodo, which was ranked highest in stand alone carrier satisfaction by JD Power’s ranking of Best in Customer Satisfaction. While the campaign title and tagline bring to mind Coca-Cola’s “Choose Happiness,” the approach is completely different.

“A light went off when we realized that our client’s product could be our main media vehicle,” explained Paul Little, executive creative director at Camp Jefferson. “This lead us to create a platform that was built to work in the way we consume media on our smartphones. In essence it’s a tiled, modular system that can be assembled into anything — from multiple units that become TV commercials to individual pieces that act as content to be shared and enjoyed on social channels.”

After all, who doesn’t love kittens and rainbows?

Credits:

Client: Koodo Mobile
VP, Marketing Communications: Dan Quick
Director, Marketing Communications: Lise Doucet
Manager, Marketing Communications: Dragana Simao
Manager Quebec, Marketing Communications: Jennifer Robertson
Agency: Camp Jefferson
Executive Creative Director: Paul Little
Associate Creative Director: Julie Nikolic, Chris Obergfell
Copywriter: Paul Little, Rich Cooper, Michelle Colistro, Stefan Wegner
Art Director: Julie Nikolic, Andrew Passas, Chris Obergfell, Caroline Friesen
Designer: Andrew Passas, Mo Bofill
Tech Lead: Thomas Schemmer
Director of Integrated Production, Producer: Jen Mete
Print Production Manager: Marietta Sterman
Integrated Production Coordinator: Lily Tran
SVP, Managing Partner: Peter Bolt
VP, Director of Planning: Andre Louis
VP, Director of Social and Innovation: Ian Barr
Social Content Strategist: Chris Campaner
VP, Director of Client Services: Edith Rosa
Account Supervisors: Lisa Taylor, Suyi Hua, Melanie Abbott
Account Coordinator: Sabrina Zavarise
French Agency: K72
Copywriter: Marc-Andre Savard
Art Director: Sebastien Boulanger
VP, Strategy: Michelle-Alex Lessard
Account Director: Rosalie Laflamme
Account Coordinator: Genevieve Turmel
Production Houses: Mike Perry Studios w/Suneeva, 1stAvenueMachine & MOM
Directors: Mike Perry, Karim Zariffa, Julien Vallée, Eve Duhamel
Executive Producers: Geoff Cornish, Sam Penfield, Richard Ostiguy
Artist Representative: Laura Beckwith
Head of Production: Lisanne McDonald
Line Producer: Annya Williams, Guillaume Vallée
Directors of Photography: Anna Wolf, Simon-Pierre Gingras
Photographer: Scottie Cameron
Set Designer: J Bell
Art Director: Louise Schabas
Animation Director: Mike Perry
Assistant Animation Director: Jim Stoten
Lead Animators: Isam Prado, Maya Eldelman
Animator: Lizzi Akana
Editorial House: 1stAvenueMachine
Editor: Marc-Antoine Croteau
Transfer: Ricart & Co.
Colourist: Seth Ricart
Online: 1stAvenueMachine
Online Artist: John Loughlin
Audio / Music House: Apollo Studios
Creative Director + Music Producer: Daenen Bramberger
Audio Engineer: Spencer Hall
Executive Producer: Tom Hutch
Development: Ransom Profit
Lead Developer: Heung Lee
Developer: Tony Valderrama

Kinetic Singapore designed a campaign around the insight that drivers who test drive a Mini are far more likely to buy one, the agency found a clever way to get people behind the wheel of the car with “We Tow You Drive.”

The agency and Mini partnered with a towing company in Singapore, letting drivers whose cars broke down take the Mini to where they need to go while their car is towed. This positioned the brand as something of a hero, responding to drivers in need, while getting them to test drive the vehicle. The video above, documenting the stunt, delights in lingering on cars from competitors, such as Volkswagen and Mercedes Benz, as they are towed away — the obvious implication being that Mini is more reliable. While Adweek rightfully characterized the testimonials as “dubious,” it’s a pretty clever stunt (whether or not there’s a degree of staging involved).

If you don’t own a Lenovo Yoga 2 tablet yet, perhaps this spot may inspire you to go ahead and purchase one. From global agency We Are Social, the campaign enlists street artists to take over the streets of Singapore, simply creating their work by using the Yoga 2 built-in projector. The feature of the Yoga 2, dubbed the Pico Projector, brings the artists’ visions to life and seems to capture the local community. We Are Social also built up anticipation for the project via a Facebook Event page and an Instagram account.

Regarding the campaign, which showcases some fun artwork, We Are Social creative director Sharim Gubbels says in a statement, “Technology has always opened up new avenues for artists to explore, and at times even pushes the boundaries of art itself. This is a perfect example of it. By using the versatility and freedom the YOGA Tablet 2 Pro provides, we want to give the audience a different way of experiencing art, and show them stories about their city they might have never even thought about. Hopefully, this is just the beginning.”

After reviewing several extremely similar, extremely sentimental Mother’s Day ads, R/GA’s humorous take on the superfluous holiday comes as a big relief.

The 60-second ad, entitled “#TextsFromMom” gently pokes fun at technologically-challenged matriarchs, in a way that every can relate to and doesn’t come across as mean-spirited. These text fails range from blank messages, to an entire recipe delivered via text, to unknowingly using a poop emoji for ice cream. The message is very on-brand, and ends with just the right amount of sentiment, via a short message telling viewers to give their moms a call this Sunday. It’s about as well as you can craft an ad around the limitations of the holiday, simultaneously poking fun at and celebrating moms. There’s also a social extension, giving Twitter users who tweet their own “#TextsFromMom” a chance to win a new Galaxy S6 Edge and, according to Adweek, you can dial the moms’ numbers that are visible in the ad to hear their voicemail messages.

LA’s Mistress, which we recently saw “testing the water” for client Finlandia and hiring an S&M troupe for its fifth anniversary party, has a “breaking” campaign for energy drink client NOS today.

In a 90’s action movie appeal to an audience that’s young, dumb, and full of…something, the client shies away from “big stunts, big logos, big-name athletes and big-hype” in the :30 spot “With This NOS I Will.”

Its copy encourages viewers to “smash the world with a sledgehammer” and, we presume, an extra dose of caffeine:

Now imagine that ad with 6-12 percent alcohol.

The second spot in the campaign stars retired Canadian fighter Georges St-Pierre or GSP (not to be confused with GPS), who adds a few taglines of his own including “forego all fear” and “tear today to shreds.”

You were waiting for him to say “no retreat, no surrender,” weren’t you? That’s another martial artist.

Following up on February’s speed reading test, W+K London continues the trend of cranking out unusual ads for Honda with “Feeling” for the Honda Civic.

The 60-second spot takes a surreal approach, slowing down footage of the vehicle as engineers rearrange the scene to their liking, a nod to how Honda engineers obsess over every detail to create the perfect driving experience. Directed by RSA films’ Johnny Hardstaff, the spot is visually striking, absorbing enough to grab viewers attention and pull them into the scene, ripe with details like blossoming trees in the countryside, a slow-motion butterfly and a (very slowly) galloping horse. When the action returns to full speed at the end of the spot, it feels like a rewarding conclusion to the well-established scene, which fits the “The Power of Dreams” tagline perfectly.

“Feeling” was not exactly an easy ad to bring to life. “It involved a huge amount of planning,” W+K London copywriter Max Batten told Adweek. “All the action was shot in layers, which were combined at [VFX studio] MPC. The frozen elements were created using a combination of slow-motion filming and CGI. The shots had to be incredibly precise, and Johnny did a fantastic job bringing it all together.”

Credits:

Client: Honda Europe
Agency: Wieden & Kennedy London
Creative Director: Scott Dungate
Copywriters: Ben Shaffery, Max Batten
Executive creative directors: Tony Davidson, Kim Papworth, Iain Tait
Agency executive producer: Danielle Stewart
Group account director: Nick Owen
Account director: Alex Budenberg
Account manager: Maria Kofoed
Head of planning: Beth Bentley
Planning director: Martin Beverly
TV producer: Michelle Brough
TV production assistant: Tom Dean
Production company: RSA Films
Director: Johnny Hardstaff
Executive producer: Kai Hsiung
Line producer: Annabel Ridley
Director of photography: Martin Ruhe
Editorial company: Work Post
Editor: Art Jones
VFX company: MPC
VFX supervisors: Adam Crocker, Anthony Bloor
Flame artist: Adam Crocker
VFX producer: Dionne Archibald
Lead 3D: Anthony Bloor
Colorist: Jean¬Clément Soret
Music and sound company: Nate Connolly, Mutant Jukebox
Sound designer: Sam Ashwell
Sound studio: 750mph
Producers: Shervin Shaeri, Mutant Jukebox
Mix company: 750mph
Mixer: Sam Ashwell
Producers: Sam Robinson, Mary-Ann D’Cruz

McCann New York launched a new campaign for Choice Hotels with a series of broadcast spots built around The Clash’s classic “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” following the agency’s winning of the account last September.

The ads don’t simply use the song, but build lines around its verses. “My school reunion, I don’t know,” says a man at the beginning of the 60-second spot, which gets the rhyme “Who wants to play in Idaho?” from a band member booking gigs. “Stay or Go” continues with the pattern, matching the cadence of the song with the lines while telling the stories of multiple parties facing a decision of whether or not to make a trip, ending with each of them turning to the camera and asking “Should I stay or should I go?” before ultimately deciding on the latter. The idea is that they all should choose “go” since Choice Hotels has “the right room, rewards and saving up to 20 percent when you book direct.” While the approach gets a bit heavy-handed at times (such as when each party mouths the song’s chorus to the camera) and the flow doesn’t work quite as well in the 30-second version, it’s also memorable and can be pretty fun — for whatever reason the transition from “We’ve got to find some more of these” to “They just replaced my uncle’s knees” works particularly well. The approach is also very on-brand and works well with the “You always have a choice tagline.” We’re just not so sure how Joe Strummer would feel about this one.

The new campaign, which also includes digital, mobile, social media, PR and radio efforts, is part of a company-wide brand relaunch which also includes a new website and refreshed brand identity. This new identity, emphasizing personal connections in the technology age, is reflected in an online anthem ad entitled “Introducing the new Choice Hotels” (featured below).

“The refreshed brand positioning is a true reflection building on Choice Hotels’ 75 years,” Robert McDowell, senior vice president of marketing and distribution at Choice Hotels International, told LBBOnline. “Our goal is to bring people together and welcome every guest wherever their journey takes them. We want to stand out and show people that we understand what truly matters to them.”

Credits:

Creative Agency: McCann New York
Strategy Director: Julien Delatte
Integrated Producer: (Exec) Greg Lotus
Group Creative Director: Thomas Sullivan
Executive Creative Director: Larry Platt
Creative Director: Dov Zmood
Chief Creative Officer: Sean Bryan, Thomas Murphy
Account Management: Neil Frauenglass

Production Company: Moxie Pictures
Production Designer: John Reinhart
Producer: Laura Heflin
Executive Producer: Robert Fernandez
DOP: Eric Schmidt
Director: Frank Todaro

Music and Sound
Sound Engineer: Joe O’Connell @ Blast Audio

Offline
Executive Producer: Cheryl Panek
Editor: Chris Franklin
Edit Company: Big Sky Editorial

Post Production/VFX
Motion Graphics: Brand New School

The Dos Equis pitchman may have his own way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, but the holiday itself often falls victim to misinterpretation, as proven in a new, timely all-digital campaign from McCann New York for Jose Cuervo.

In creating “Write Your Cinco” for the tequila giant, the agency had some fun with random folks on the street who may not be 100 percent certain what Cinco de Mayo entails. They’re pretty much all wrong as the holiday is not a reason to imbibe heralds the Mexican victory over French forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

Regardless, McCann NY’s fun campaign not only tested people’s knowledge of Cinco de Mayo but enlisted actor Luis Guzman (Boogie Nights, Traffic) to read several tweets and Facebook posts–at #WriteYourCinco and WriteYourCinco.com, respectively–including one that proclaimed the 5th of May to be “hug a cactus day.”

In turn, several of the tweets were translated into artwork on a mural in Los Angeles courtesy of Tijuana street artist Charles Glaubitz. “Write Your Cinco” manages to offer viewers a clever twist on today’s festivities without being too cruel in the process.

Agency: McCann NY
Eric Silver – North American CCO
Tom Murphy – NY Co-CCO
Sean Bryan – NY Co-CCO
Mat Bisher – Executive Creative Director
Jason Ashlock – Creative Director
Sean LaBounty – Creative Director
Scott Cooney – Creative Director
Carlos Wigle – Creative Director
Zoe Kessler – Art Director
Molly Wilkof – Jr. Copywriter
Alex Cherkasov – Jr. Art Director
Nathy Aviram – Chief Production Officer
Catherine Patterson – Exec. Integrated Producer
Jill Ann Toloza – Senior Integrated Producer
Chandler Simms – Integrated Producer
Kweku Taylor-Hayford – Associate Producer
Myles Potters – Associate Producer
Lauren LaValle – SVP Group Account Director
Jon Armstrong – Account Director
Chris Jeyes – Account Supervisor

Stink Digital:

Alex Sturtevant – Executive Producer
Lauren Keller – Senior Producer
PJ Ahlberg – Lead Creative Technologist
Olivier Gillaizeau – Art Director
Stefan Dufgran – UX Lead
Marco Rosella – Senior Developer

 Good Story:

Paula Cohen – Executive Producer/ Partner
Susan Horn Toffler – Executive Producer/ Partner
Director – Jack Turits

Craft

Michael Distelkamp – Editor
Ivannah Flores – Post Producer