Hasta La Creative!

The Richards Group debuted a new spot for Ram geared toward women, entitled “Courage Is Already Inside.”

The spot follows the agency’s “Roots and Wings” effort with Miranda Lambert and the country singer also makes a brief appearance here. “Courage Is Already Inside” follows up on the inspirational tone of that spot, but takes it in a different direction. “Have you ever thought, ‘I could never do that’?” the voiceover asks at the beginning of the spot. The ad goes on to assure women they can “break a stereotype” and go beyond their own expectations to excel because “The courage is already inside.” Accompanying visuals show women surfing giant waves, training at ballet, riding a horse and drawing back an archery bow in displays of triumph over adversity (mixed in with some shots of women driving a Ram, of course). It all comes across as as more convincing and seemingly genuine than say, Ogilvy & Mather’s most recent “Real Beauty” effort for Dove, and a good deal less preachy. A few bad automotive puns aside, it’s nice to see Ram take this direction and hopefully The Richards Group will continue to explore it further with its next installations for the brand.

Mangan Berlin launched a new spot promoting Volkswagen leasing with the 60-second “Cat Video.”

The spot explores the Internet phenomenon of cat videos, with a twist: the cats are all played by people. As with most cat videos, it’s an exercise in pure ridiculousness. The connection to the brand is delivered at the very end, when a cat driving a Volkswagen says, “You don’t have to be a cat to get on the Internet. And if you want to drive a Volkswagen, you don’t have to buy one.” While that connection is a bit of a stretch, the video and accompanying catchy song will be hard for viewers to forget.

“We began this project with an intense casting session and pre-production planning that included a stunt coordinator and a special rig to simulate the curtain gag,” explained director Curtis Wehrfritz. “Cats act like diva rock stars, their demeanour is so dry, and unaffected. It’s not that the cat drops the vase but rather his ‘who gives a shit’ attitude that really makes them funny. We wanted to make sure we captured that.”

Credits:

Spot Title: Cat Video
Marketing Volkswagen Leasing: André Hajek
Marketing Volkswagen Leasing: Miriam Laridjani
Marketing Volkswagen Leasing: Rafael Schady
Marketing Volkswagen Leasing: Kristin Woltmann

Agency: Mangan Berlin
Copywriter/Concept: Christian Fries
Art Director: Christian Peters
Art Director: Felix Szymoniakn

Production Company: Tony Petersen Film Berlin
Director: Curtis Wehrfritz
Director of Photography: Stefan Austmeyer
Executive Producer: Fabian Barz
Producer: Stefanie Schuster

Casting: Ana Dávila
Production Design: Sven Gessner
Make Up: Andres Heldmann
Styling: Katja Höft

Editor: Hannes Andresen
Colour Grading: Pana Argueta
Post Production: nhb studios Berlin
Cat Animation: Fido, Sweden
Music: Steve Ibsen

With Mother’s Day around the corner, the timing seems about right for this effort from Ogilvy Brazil that focuses on a special set of moms who just want to increase the peace at a major soccer game.

Fan-on-fan violence is particularly rampant in soccer, so 30 women who happen to be mothers of fans of hometown team Sport Club do Recife decided to take action at a game against rival Nautico at Arena Pernambuco on Feb. 8. After training with military officers and private security guards, these moms took to the Arena to not only do their jobs but, hopefully, to inspire their overzealous children to calm down a tad.

In a statement, Sport Club do Recife VP of social responsibility Fábio Silva says:

“It is the sort of action that takes everyone by storm. Not in your wildest dreams would you picture coming across your mom at a football game. And, most interestingly, there she was working to promote peace at the stadium…It is the club’s belief that such a beautiful spectacle cannot be destroyed by few individuals that insist on marring it.”

At least for one night, their mission appears to have been accomplished; whether the good will sticks is another story. “Security Mons” marks Ogilvy Brazil’s second fan-focused collaboration with Sport Club in recent years, following the “Immortal Fans” campaign from 2013.

Client: Sport Clube do Recife
Agency: Ogilvy Brazil
CEO Ogilvy & Mather: Fernando Musa
Chief Creative Officer: Aricio Fortes
ECD: Paulo Coelho, Paco
Art Director: Alexandre Fernandes, Ale Koston
Copywriter: Bruno Brux
Head of Broadcast Production: Rafael Rosi
RTV: Andréa Consoleto/ Sônia Cremerius
Planner: Bruno Cunha, Thiago Krafzik
Account Executive: Luis Carlos Franco, Ana Paula Perdigão, Mauro Frota, Luiza
Varges
Production Company: Academia de Filmes
Director: Caio Rubini
Executive Producer: Paulo Schmidt
Director of photography: Felipe Meneghel
Montador:? German Espiaut
Finishing: ?Academia de Filmes
Production Sound: Jamute
Music: Corre Corre Erê
Artist: Karol Conka
Client Executives: João Humberto Martorelli, Fábio Silva, Sid Vasconcelos

Deustch LA launched the final spot in its campaign for the 2015 Volkswagen Passat TDI Clean Diesel, entitled “Mom.”

The 45-second spot depicts three young boys running wild in a gas station convenience store causing all kinds of destruction. Filmed in slow-motion and set to the classic country song “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” (as performed by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson) the comic approach makes for an entertaining scene of wheezing the juice, soda explosions and excessive amounts of cheesy sauce. After the boys’ shenanigans, and a shot of the mom filling up at the pump, the spot cuts to a mom in the 2015 Volkswagen Passat TDI Clean Diesel, with three well-behaved boys in the backseat. The perfect marriage of the boys’ destruction in slow motion and the music selection make for a fine sendoff spot to the campaign and follow-up to the “Old Wives Tales” spots starring the Golden Sisters.

Credits:

Agency: Deutsch LA

Chief Creative Officer, North America: Pete Favat
EVP, Executive Creative Director: Todd Riddle
SVP, Group Creative Director: Heath Pochucha
VP, Creative Director: Paul Oberlin
Partner, Director of Integrated Production: Vic Palumbo
VP, Executive Integrated Producer: Erik Press
Integrated Producer: Kaitlin Moore
Associate Integrated Producer:  Alex Saevitz
Music Director: Dave Rocco
EVP, Group Account Director: Tom Else
SVP, Group Account Director: Monica Jungbeck
VP, Account Director: Alex Gross
Account Supervisor: Aleks Rzeznik
Account Executive: Ashley Broughman
VP, Director of Product Information Jason Clark
Product Information Supervisor: Eddie Chae
Chief Strategic Officer: Jeffrey Blish
Group Planning Director: Susie Lyons
Director of Integrated Business Affairs: Abilino Guillermo
Group Director Integrated Business Affairs: Gabriela Farias
Business Affairs Manager: Jade McAdams
Director or Broadcast Traffic: Carie Bonillo
Broadcast Traffic Manager: Courtney Tylka
CEO, North America: Mike Sheldon
President, Los Angeles: Kim Getty

Live Action Production Company: Hungry Man
Director: Hank Perlman
Executive Producer: Nancy Hacohen
Executive Producer/Director of Sales: Dan Duffy
Line Producer: Caleb Dewart

Editorial Company: Spot Welders
Editor: Haines Hall
Assistant Editor: Oliver Hecks
Managing Partner: David Glean
Executive Producer, Director of Development: Victoria Guenier
Executive Producer: Carolina Sanborn
Producer: Evan Hunningham

Post Facility: Color Correct: Apache
Executive Producer, Managing Director: LaRue Anderson
Producer: Caitlin Forrest
Senior Colorist:  Steve Rodriguez

Post/VFX: Arsenal FX
Executive Producer: Ashley Hydrick
Senior Producer: Pravina Sippy
Lead Flame Artist: Matt Motal
Flame Artist: Jeff Aquino

Licensed/Composed Music, Credits and Track Info:
Track: “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys”
Performed by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson
Composed by Ed Bruce and Patsy Bruce
Courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment
By arrangement with Sony ATV Music Publishing

Audio Post Company: LIME Studios
Executive Producer: Susie Boyajan
Mixer: Mark Meyuhas
Assistant Mixer: Matt Miller

Doner Detroit launched a sentimental new campaign for Minute Maid, which lets parents sometime unsure of their parenting skills know that they’re “Doin’ Good.”

A 3:30 online spot explores the subject by first asking parents how they think they’re doing. Many of the parents seem unsure of themselves, saying things like, “I do feel like I let them down sometimes.” When the children are asked to write a letter to their parents on how they’re doing, however, they are nothing but positive. When the parents then tearfully read what their children wrote, they realize how much they are appreciated and the spot ends with the message, “You’re doing better than you think.” The tearful approach is not all that different from similar efforts, such as Leo Burnett Chicago’s Mother’s Day spot for Hallmark, in which children are asked to describe their mothers, not knowing that the moms are listening in and watching from an adjacent room. While “Doin’ Good” was also released in the lead up to Mother’s Day, it’s nice to see fathers getting some love as well, which is one detail that helps differentiate the effort from the onslaught of similar ads and should also help give the campaign relevance beyond the holiday.

Credits:

Client: Minute Maid
Agency: Doner Detroit
President/CEO: David Demuth
Chief creative officer/co-CEO: Rob Strasberg
Executive vice president/executive creative director: Chad Ackley
Creative director: Jason Bergeron
Creative director: Virgil Adams
Senior vice president, creative director: Jason Jakubiak
Senior vice president, creative director: Michael Leslie
Associate creative director: Anthony Moceri
Senior art director: Alex Drukas
Executive vice president/director of content production: Laurie Irwin
Executive producer: Stacey Gizinski
Executive vice president/brand leader: Monica Tysell
Senior vice president/brand leader: Jim Vassallo
Vice president/brand leader: Adina Sigler

Let the crowdfunding worlds collide in this bit of Friday filler that comes to us courtesy of Martin Baker, a copywriter at Barton F. Graf 9000, LLC who recently decided to take the piss and (we assume) pursue his grand ambition of buying Kickstarter.

Baker, a Creative Circus alum who logged a year-plus at Mother before joining BFG, has found the perfect outlet to achieve his dream: Indiegogo. Clever. Now, with 60 days to go, Baker hopes to raise a measly $2 billion to bring his entrepreneurial vision to life.

Surprisingly, Baker has managed to raise $12 from three contributors in just a few hours; maybe the promise of a nude Guy Fieri drawing did the trick.

We’ve seen our fair share of attention-worthy schemes from young creatives over the years, it this one captured for a solid minute or two. Now let’s see if the needle shifts on Baker’s Indiegogo in the days ahead.

If you care to indulge the man, go here.

Apple Watch launch day is here, and with it come three 60-second spots to help launch the device, presumably from TBWA/MAL.

The spots try to strike a balance between displaying the features of the device and how it integrates into, and supposedly elevates, everyday life.Each of the ads has a one word title correlating with a different aspect of the watch. In “Rise,” it’s how it integrates itself into different people’s morning routines, while “Us” explores its role in relationships. Probably the most convincing of the ads, “Up,” takes a look at how the watch can be used with physical activities and to remind you when it’s time to get up out of the chair.

That the way people use the device often come across as something of an impractical extravagance probably says more about the device itself than the ads, which are beautifully shot, sleek and well-paced. In “Up” they even make a case for the device serving practical means beyond being a neat gadget, but it’s hard to imagine the spots resulting in many fresh converts. Hardcore Apple fans and tech-savvy fitness gurus will be enticed, sure, but they’re probably standing in line for the device already anyway.

Mother’s Day doesn’t hit until May 10, but it’s never too early honor Moms.

Brazilian agency F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi is getting ahead of the marketing rush with a tender short film for household appliance maker Electrolux. With “Fantasy Kitchen,” agency and brand highlight the bonding session between a couple of Brazilian moms — who happen to be real Electrolux consumers — and their kids via tall tales and food. The children’s fables not only inspire their moms’ handiwork in the kitchen, but an illustrator who brings their dreams and characters to life. The end result is a meal and experience worth savoring, if only to see the moms’ and kids’ reactions.

This isn’t the first time Electrolux has mixed cooking with sentimentality; the brand’s holiday-themed “A Special Evening” effort did the same.

Sandra Montes, Electrolux marketing director for Latin America, sums up the client’s marketing approach:

“The brand has adopted storytelling in the digital environment as a powerful tool capable of contributing to brand building, and generating knowledge and experience for the consumer. Electrolux has invested the most in digital channels over the last three years, with investments representing 10% of the company’s annual marketing budget.”

“Fantasy Kitchen” will air online and on various social networks as well as in retail stores.

General Creative Direction: Fabio Fernandes | Eduardo Lima
Creative Direction: Theo Rocha
Editing: João Paulo Testa
Art Direction: Ricardo Pocci
Account Management: Marcello Penna | Gisela Assumpção | Gabriela Marques | Roberta Prevedello | Julianna Carvalho
Planning: José Porto | Guilherme Pasculli | Erika Kitabayashi | Fernanda Malaco
Media: Fábio Freitas | Adriana Roza
RTVC: Victor Alloza | Renato Chabuh | Fernanda Sousa | Maira Massullo | Rafael Paes
Producer: Big Bonsai
Scene Director: Adriana Yañez
Director of Photography: Bruno Tiezzi
Post Production: Big Bonsai
Finishing: Big Bonsai
Executive Producer: Clara Ramos
Assembling: Gugu Figuerôa
Service: Clara Ramos
Sound Producer: LOUD
Maestro:  LOUD Team
Account Management: Ludmila Stempniewski
Projects: Aline Verissimo | Beatriz Agnelli
Content: Rogerio Soares
Client Approval: Sandra Montes | Silvia Tamai | Rita Moraes

72andSunny launched a cinematic teaser trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops III, entitled “Ember.”

Beginning with the message “Mankind’s greatest mistake will be its inability to control the technology it has created, the spot, which runs almost three minutes long, follows technological advancements from the athletic doping scandals of the recent past to the year 2065 when the U.S. government is accused of weaponizing human beings with tech like DNA enhancement and retinal chips. “Ember” aims to pique viewers’ interest by providing just a glimpse of what is to be expected from the game’s sci-fi storyline, ending with a very brief look at what appears to be in-game footage.

“Today’s live action creative asset helps to establish the universe, while asking viewers the provocative question, how far would you go? All in the context of human performance, but at the trade-off of a portion of your humanity,” said Tim Ellis, chief marketing officer, Activision. “Its aim is to drive curiosity and discussion, further pulling fans into the fiction and set the stage for the gameplay world premiere reveal.”

The full gameplay reveal in question is scheduled for April 26th, and we can expect more from 72andSunny hyping the release of the latest addition to Activision’s popular franchise before the game’s release later this year.

Credits:

Agency: 72andSunny
Chief Executive Officer: John Boiler
Chief Creative Officer: Glenn Cole
Chief Strategy Officer: Matt Jarvis
Executive Creative Director: Frank Hahn
Creative Director, Writer: Josh Fell
Creative Director, Designer: Rey Andrade
Lead Writer: Jed Cohen
Sr. Writer: Kako Mendez
Sr. Designer: Robbin Ingvarsson
Strategy Director: John Graham
Sr. Strategist: Daniel Teng
Chief Production Officer: Tom Dunlap
Director of Film Production: Sam Baerwald
Executive Producer: Dan Ruth
Producer: Shannon Worley
Production Coordinator: Alissa Stevens
Brand Director: Mike Parseghian
Brand Director: Simon Hall
Brand Manager: Brian Kim
Brand Coordinator: Jack Young
Business Affairs Director: Amy Jacobsen
Business Affairs Director: Alex Lebosq
Business Affairs Manager: Kelly Ventrelli
Business Affairs Manager: Beau Thomason
Business Affairs Manager: Casey Brown

Who’s watching the watcher?

That’s the fundamental question in this new promo from Seattle/L.A. agency Wongdoody for the Seattle International Film Festival, which marks the 12th consecutive collaboration between the two parties.

In the :60 clip, aptly titled “Be Watching” and directed by Matthew J. Clark and Lindsay Daniels of hometown prodco StraightEIGHT Films, our main character is subjected to a deluge of audiovisual stimuli broadcast like propaganda through a wall of screens. Think a tamer version of that infamous A Clockwork Orange scene, only with the violent imagery replaced by familiar clips from commercials and films like Trainspotting, Fight Club and 500 Days of Summer. As the promo unfolds, we learn that the joke’s on the voyeur himself and the “Be Watching” concept of experiencing “the exhilarating rush of seeing the world through someone else?’s eyes” becomes realized.

Regarding the 2015 SIFF trailer, co-director Daniels says:

“The ‘ Be Watching’ concept was immediately intriguing to me because it could span so many emotions ? both in the story of the trailer and for the people watching it. Matthew and I really focused on bringing the roller coaster of emotional impact to the trailer. The fact that you start feeling a bit creeped out, then end laughing makes this project truly unique and really fun. ?I?m really proud of contributing to my local film festival because for years, it has supported and celebrated the films I love and the community I am part of. Helping tell their story this year, is an honor.”

In case you were wondering, this year’s Seattle’s International Film Festival runs from May 14-June 7 and will present over 250 features and 150 shorts.