Hasta La Creative!

After seemingly languishing on the advertising front for the last few years, financial giant Morgan Stanley has returned in a big way with a multi-faceted campaign that began earlier this year with a website refresh and continues with the spot above — both courtesy of Brooklyn-based, IPG-owned agency Huge.

With the “Capital Creates Change” campaign, Morgan Stanley aims to shift its identity from that of some faceless corporate power to one that’s both people-oriented and positive. As part of its efforts to “change the world” in its own way (as stated by the voiceover in the ad), Morgan Stanley shines a light on “visionary companies” like Alibaba and Netflix that it’s worked with with to go beyond just creating wealth.

On Morgan Stanley’s website, the company gets into specifics about successful collaborations with the two aforementioned brands; it helped Alibaba expand its e-commerce reach in China and wrote the “financial script” for Netflix.

The campaign, which also includes print, social and other digital components, marks the first major branding project from Morgan Stanley under the direction of CMO Mandell Crawley, who took over the position last September.

Droga5 launched a new campaign called “Fueled by Everything,” introducing the hydrogen-powered Toyota Mirai with the launch spot, “Fueled by Bullsh*t,” directed by Super Size Me’s Morgan Spurlock.

The online ad begins by reminding viewers of the ubiquity of hydrogen, “the most abundant element in the universe,” which is just about everywhere, before tackling criticism of the idea of hydrogen-powered vehicles.

“The ongoing joke is that fuel-cell vehicles are 15 years away and always will be,” Doug Coleman, national vehicle marketing manager-Prius family, electric and fuel cell vehicles at Toyota Motor sales, told AdAge. “The Mirai is not just a new model, but a whole new category, a whole new fuel source. There are a lot of misperceptions of what hydrogen is, where it comes from and does it make sense to use.”

The ad quotes skeptics as saying things such as “Fuel cells are dead on arrival,” “Hydrogen is inefficient,” It’s a pipe dream,” and even, just “Bullsh*t.” Engineer Scott Blanchett addresses that last one saying, “…they’re right, but not in the way they think.” The remainder of the ad follows the transformation of a truckload of manure into usable hydrogen fuel. Scott gets the manure from a dairy farmer and then transports it to the digester, where it is broken down and releases raw biogas. Purified gas is then taken to steam methane reformer, where the hydrogen is stripped out using steam and heat to make usable fuel. It’s a pretty clever way to denounce hydrogen critics and hype the launch of the new vehicle and despite the lengthy run time (past the three minute mark), the ad doesn’t feel too drawn out, as it provides a detailed look at the process of turning manure into fuel.

“Fueled by Bullsh*t” launched today on the Toyota Mirai website, social video sites such as YouTube and Hulu and Forbes.com. The campaign will continue rolling out through the fall, with a series of videos detailing other everyday sources for hydrogen fuel.

DDB New York launched a new spot for Cotton, Incorporated entitled “It’s Time to Talk Favorites.”

The ad follows several individuals as they discuss their favorite clothing item (spoiler: each of them is cotton). They place value and importance on the item ranging from the practical to the nostalgic to the superstitious. “We all have one,” text reads at the beginning of the ad, as each individual introduces their favorite. The “favorites” approach is relatable and makes a lot of sense for the brand, highlighting the material as a favorite for many and establishing an emotional connection beyond mere product benefits. Some of the choices are far more believable than others, such as the woman whose significant other was wowed when he saw her in her favorite pants or the girl who loves her favorite pair of jeans so much she said she was going to get married in them. Less believable is the young writer who puts on her grandmother’s shirt for inspiration or the woman who thinks her “lucky shirt” clears up her lane in traffic. The ad ends with the tagline, “Cotton. It’s Your Favorite For a Reason.” That line has a double meaning, highlighting cotton as the reason your favorite is your favorite while also touting cotton as a favorite material.

Credits:

Brand: Cotton Incorporated
Title: It’s Time to Talk Favorites

Agency: DDB, New York
Chief Creative Officer: Icaro Doria
Creative Director: Cassandra Anderson
Associate Creative Director: Marilyn Kam
Additional Credits: Head of Broadcast Production: Ed Zazzera
Executive Producer: Teri Altman
Manager, Art Buying Group: Jane Piampiano
Account Director: Debbie Broda
Management Supervisor: Lauren Solomon
Assistant Account Executive: Kaine Cahill
Brand Planning Director: Jennifer Fox

Production Company: Serial Pictures Los Angeles
Director: Chiara Clemente
Executive Producer: Violaine Etienne
Head of Production: Peter Fitzgerald
Producer: Terri Shafirov
Production Supervisor: Matthew Ayriss

Editorial: Arcade NY
Editor: Jen Dean
Assistant Editor: Laurel Smoliar
Post Producer: Cecilia Melton
Executive Producer: Sila Soyer
Still Photography: Hello Artists
Photographer: Brigitte Sire
Producer: William Carducci

Michigan-based agency Doner debuted its first work for Highmark Health since winning the account in February.

Doner lost its first campaign with a 60-second anthem ad, shot in Pittsburgh and Erie, Pennsylvania by Society director Austin Wilson, promoting the company’s Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance business and provider Allegheny Health Network. The ad seeks to position Highmark as above the “insurer vs. provider, patient vs. plan, health vs. healthcare” squabbles that often seem to mar healthcare. “Let’s fix that,” the voiceover promises around the 20-second mark, followed by illustrations of who the company wants to help. If Highmark’s stated mission weren’t already clear, the spot closes with the line, “It’s time, together, to make healthcare better.” Additional broadcast spots will roll out as the campaign unfolds, supported by radio, print, outdoor and online executions.

Credits:

Client: Highmark Health
Agency: Doner
Chief Creative Officer: Rob Strasberg
Executive Creative Diretor: Randy Belcher
Creative Directors: Michael Stelmaszek, Matt Swanson
Chief Account Leadership Officer: Craig Conrad
Brand Leaders: Christie Fromm, Larry Deangelis
Account Management Director: Pete Spende
Account Executive: Kelsey Ransdall

EVP, Business and Strategy: Alison Taubman
VP, Strategic Planning: Barb Walker

Ogilvy & Mather New York launched a campaign for outdoor retailer Cabela’s promoting Disconnect Day, “a nationwide campaign encouraging Americans to step away from their devices for a day of their choosing to enjoy outdoor activities while reconnecting with themselves, family and friends.”

The concept is not so far removed from Zambezi’s decision in 2013 to ban email for a day, or Jason Elm‘s experiment “going unplugged” for a day at Cannes. People (and not just those in the ad community) are well aware that they are overly reliant on their smart phones, but the insight that (according to the press release for the campaign) “kids…spend only four to seven minutes playing outside daily” is more than a little troubling. So the brand teamed up with Ogilvy and country singer Justin Moore to garner attention for Disconnect Day. Moore turns in a sacrilegious cover of Louis Armstrong’s “It’s A Wonderful World” for the effort, in a spot that shows an idyllic outdoor scene with a twist ending. An anthem ad, meanwhile, repurposes terms like “selfie” and “log in” for the great outdoors. The wordplay comes across as a bit forced (especially the use of the term “Insta Graham” to refer to a s’more). Still, the Disconnect Day idea is a good one for an outdoor brand, and Cabela was smart enough to let people pledge to choose their own day rather than attempting to force any one designated day, making it a lot easier for people to actually follow through with the idea. Interested parties can take the pledge at www.MyDisconnectDay.com, which also slips in a list of “gear lists for recommendations on the best hiking, camping and general outdoor gear.”

“The core idea behind Disconnect Day is to remember how rewarding the outdoors can be in strengthening the relationships in our lives,” said Scott Williams, Cabela’s chief marketing officer. “When our children grow up, they aren’t going to remember how many likes they got on a status update, but they will remember their family camping trips and the first fish they caught.”

Credits:

Strategy/Creative: Ogilvy & Mather NY
Producer: Cabela’s Inc.
Director: Tyler Stableford
Post-production: Black Powder Works

This year, Cinco de Mayo falls on a Tuesday, which is not optimal for partying, to say nothing of the time and effort necessary for a proper mole sauce. So, like last year (when the holiday fell on a Monday) Havas and The Most Interesting Man in the World propose celebrating Dos de Mayo instead. The date may not coincide with the Battle of Puebla, but it does fall on a Saturday, “a reason to celebrate in itself,” according to The Most Interesting Man in the World.

In the spot, the character makes his proposal, pointing out that the day is ripe for an epic celebration since the Kentucky Derby and a big Vegas fight are already taking place. “So consider this your formal invitation to partake in the biggest Dos de Mayo yet,” he says at the conclusion of the spot, before sneaking in the campaign’s signature brand of casual, gratuitous lechery. In addition to the ad, the brand is hosting a contest on Twitter for of-age fans, running until May 5th, inviting them to share their extraordinary #DosDeMayo plans for a chance to win an all-expense paid trip for two to an official Dos Equis party in Los Angeles on August 29th. There’s also a contest on Facebook, running April 23-24, where fans submit their own “I don’t always…” or “legend lines” for a chance to party with The Most Interesting Man himself.

Ovilgy & Mather New York launched a new spot for Tiffany, promoting the brand’s CT60 watch with “A New York Minute.”

The 60-second (appropriately enough) spot celebrates New York and the brand’s establishment of the “New York Minute” when Charles Tiffany put one of the city’s first mainstay clocks outside the store. That event is only alluded to in the ad, with a quick shot of the clock and the concluding line, “From the inventors of the New York minute” but the connection between the brand and its city is reinforced throughout. It celebrates the successes and failures (“because you made them here) of New Yorkers as triumphs, before asking, “Could anything measure that pulse, that beat, that pace?” before introducing the watch.

The ad arrives just days before the launch of the Apple Watch, and presents the CT60 as a classy alternative, allying the brand’s traditions with those of its city. While “A New York Minute” certainly touches on some anthem ad cliches, New Yorkers in love with their city will be more than willing to overlook them for the celebratory tone of the spot. But will it be enough to persuade them to purchase the classic design of the CT60 over Apple’s sleek new tech?

Credits:

Agency: OGILVY & MATHER, NY
Chief Creative Officer: Chris Garbutt
Global CMO: Lauren Crampsie
Creative Director: Debra Fried
Art Director: John Doyle
Senior Copy Writer: Parker Sims
Associate Creative Director: Guido Boehm
Executive Producer: Maureen Phillips
Senior Producer: Alexis Stember
Executive Music Producer: Karl Westman
Executive Group Director: Leyland Streiff
Account Supervisor: Kat Bear Brown
Account Executive: Aniella Opalacz

Production Company: Believe Media
Director: Bruno Aveillan
Cinematographer: Tristan Sheridan
Edit: VFX
Music: “Waited for You” Slow Magic
Sound Effects: Henryboy

A few weeks ago, we posted on what appeared to be CP+B’s first work for its newest client, Infiniti.

Following what seemed like an endless review, Crispin won the business after a July breakup with TBWA; the client finally confirmed the CP+B win in October.

A month ago, we found a spot promoting the Q50 model on the Facebook page of audio production house JSM Music. The spot, which had not been released to media, was attributed to Crispin — but a contact now tells us that most of the work involved in what was essentially 30 seconds of car stunt footage was that of the client’s previous AOR.

The client has yet to debut its official “brand work” by the new agency — but earlier this month it did post what is definitely the first ad by Crispin.

Here’s “Driver’s Seat”:

So Infiniti is NOT one of Google’s self-driving cars…but who would admit to owning one of those anyway?

While the coming work will be completely separate from this particular ad, it does provide us with some hints as to the campaign’s creative direction: a combination of what the car’s new features can do and how driving it will make you feel.

No word on when, exactly, the larger effort will debut.

Grey London created a PSA encouraging parents to teach their children to dial 999 (the British equivalent of 911) in case of an emergency for parenting website Mumsnet.

The PSA, which was supported by the British Red Cross, uses audio from a real emergency call in which 5-year-old Elleemae Addison saved her mother Loretta by calling for help when she had an epileptic seizure. In the PSA, the audio from the phone call is played over home video footage of the Addisons. The combination is powerful, with the footage driving home what was at stake as Elleemae made that call to save her mother, making the PSA pretty impossible to ignore or forget.

“Ads are glossy and distant. How we record our lives is awkward, beautiful, and constantly changing,” Grey London chairman and chief creative officer Nils Leonard told Adweek. “The black holes, mixed media, low resolution, distortion and awkward crops are the canvas of our real lives, and the craft leveraged here was all in service of amplifying this incredible phone call with as much emotion as possible.?”

BBDO New York launched a spring effort for Lowe’s, made up of 15-second HyperMade videos hosted on the brand’s Instagram page, inspired by popular Pinterest projects.

In “Urban Garden,” (featured above), for example, a young couple demonstrates how easy it is to complete such a project with the proper equipment from Lowe’s. The couple’s rooftop balcony goes from nearly plant-free to full-fledged garden over the course of 15 seconds. Other videos in the campaign champion projects such as creating a privacy wall and turning an old mailbox into a gardening toolbox. There are also step-by-step project instructions on Lowe’s Tumblr and Pinterest pages to accompany the videos, for those inspired to give it a go for themselves. The campaign follows a similar effort last December, which saw the agency utilizing Vine and Instagram to demonstrate simple DIY projects.

Credits:

Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer, New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director: Lauren Connolly
Executive Creative Director: Tim Bayne
Sr. Creative Director: Mike Sweeney
Sr. Creative Director: Molly Adler
Associate Creative Director: Kim Baskinger
Copywriters: Jessica Rello and Talon Gustafson
Art Directors: Klane Harding
Group Planning Director: Emily Viola
Director of Integrated Production: David Rolfe
Executive Producer: Kristin Tomborello
Interactive Producer: Whitney Husnik
Senior Director: Jim Reath
Senior Director (Digital and Emerging Platforms): Bob Estrada
Account Supervisor: Tyler Harris

Production Company: Vanishing Angle
Directors: Adam Bolt and Hoku Uchiyama
Director of Photography: Frank Barerra
Executive Producer: Matt Miller

Post-Production: Vanishing Angle
Post Creative Director: Adam Bolt and Hoku Uchiyama