Hasta La Creative!

180 LA takes a creepy approach with its “Come To Data” campaign for Boost Moble, which promotes the provider’s unlimited data program.

The suggestively-titled campaign features two 60-second spots in which individuals battle, and ultimately give in to, their cell phone-loving ids when they use their smart phones in inappropriate situations.

In “Bathroom Dilemma,” a man at a urinal fights the urge to use his cellphone while taking a leak, and ultimately loses. The voice in his head, which is unsettling, ultimately convinces him to whip the device out by appealing to his love of man-baby memes. A Vine supporting the campaign takes the idea a step further, with a man playing a dice game on his cell phone while in the loo, which could be confused for an activity far more inappropriate for a public restroom. The second spot, “The Priest,” features a holy man tempted into streaming a horse race in the confessional booth.

A host of Vines and short videos support the effort, all following the theme of inappropriate cell phone use.

Credits:

Client: Boost Mobile
Director, Sprint Prepaid Group: Peiti Feng
Manger of Brand Advertising and Creative, Wally Fox
Brand Manager, Social Media and Brand Integration, Jill Johnson
Advertising Manager, Mario Cardenas
Social Media and Brand Integration, Bre Cohen

Campaign: Come To Data

Agency: 180LA
Managing Partner, CCO: William Gelner
Creative Directors: Mike Bokman and Jason Rappaport
Copywriter: Chris Elzinga / Daniel Chen
Art Director: Marcus Cross / Jenny Kang
Head of Account Management: Chad Bettor
Associate Account Director: Paul Kinsella
Social Media Account Manager: Olivia Watson
Head of Production: Natasha Wellesley
Senior Producer: Lindsey Wood
Associate Producer: Lauren Prushan
Business Affairs Manager: Ivy Chen

Production Co: Treefort
Director: Shillick
Producer: Mike Begovich
DP: Max Gutierrez

Editorial Company: Treefort (Web Films) / Melvin (Vines)
Editor: Josh Hegard (Web Films) / Dave Groseclose (Vines)
Color/ Online Finishing: Sam Maliszewski / Melvin
Sound Design / Mix: Eddie Kim / Therapy

W+K Tokyo launched a new campaign for Nike Japan with the 15-second, “Loop.”

The spot shows a woman wearing Nike 3.0 Free Flynit shoes determinedly running an intense-looking loop. As the shot pans out at the conclusion of the spot and the woman makes a final leap, it is revealed that the course spells out “NIKE.COM.” The spot is meant to communicate the “Sports Start Here” campaign message, which refers to the site as a community hub for athletic enthusiasts to “search, find, support and share their performances.”

“It’s exciting to think of a website as more than just a combination of services and products, but as inspiration to be a better athlete,” said Adam Koppel, W+K Tokyo creative director. “Put all the digital pieces together and you can inspire real world performance.”

Following the launch spot, the campaign will continue with a second spot later in the month, supported by digital and social initiatives. In addition to promoting the Nike.com site, the ad is also indicative of the brand’s focus on marketing to a female demographic, which is also evident in W+K Portland’s recently launched “Better For It” campaign stateside.

Credits:

Agency: W+K Tokyo

Executive Creative Directors: Mike Farr, ?????(Tota Hasegawa)
Creative Director: Adam Koppel
Art Director: ????(Yohei Adachi)
Copywriter: ????(Hiroki Ishiyama)
Designer: ????(Ayano Takase)
Planner: Greg White
Translator ????(Toshiko Iida)
Agency Producer: ????(Kenji Tanaka)
Agency Assistant Producer: ????(Masataka Odaka)
Account Director: Ryan Johnson
Account Supervisor: ????(Tatsuya Horikoshi)
Assistant Account Executive: ?????(Casey Yoneyama)

Film Production

Production Company: Kichi Inc. ???????? (Robot Inc.)

Director: ????(Eiji Tanigawa)
Producer: ???(Satoshi Takahashi)
Producer: ????(Fumikazu Matsubara)
Production Manager: ????(Keita Suwa)/ ????(Daichi Tanaka)
Director of Photography: ??????(Yoshitaka Murakami)
Gaffer: ????(Shinichi Miyaki)
Art Director: ????(Masahiro Ishii)
Grip: ????(Ryota Ide)
Stylist: ????(Naoki Yamada)
HairMake: ????(Toshihiko ?hingu)

Editorial Company: Cutters

Post Production Company: Cutters
Editorial & Post Production Producer: ???(Megumi Irino)
Editor: ????(Aika Miyake)
Online Artist: ????(Yu Yasuda)
Colorist: Ben Conkey

VFX Company: ????(Taiyo Kikaku Co.,Ltd.)
VFX Artist/CG Director: ?? ?(Toru Hayai)

Music Company: Audio Force
Drummer: Satnam Ramgotra
Mixer: Daniel Lovell

Cast: ???? (Rika Ogawa)

BBDO New York launched a new spot for Mars cat food brand Sheba entitled “Snap, Peel, Slurp, Purr.”

The spot introduces the brand’s new Perfect Portions product, which attempts to take the mess out of cat food by providing perfect portions within one container. Two containers comes strapped together, so cat owners can snap off one for each meal and not have to worry about dishing out food for their feline friend or store leftovers in the fridge. The 20-second “Snap, Peel, Slurp, Purr” illustrates the idea simply, with each word followed by a simple illustration. It opens and closes with the line “A Fresh Meal Every Peel,” driving home the idea that using the product makes meal time simple. The integrated campaign also includes supporting digital efforts, consumer sampling programs, in-store displays and PR support.

Credits:

Agency: BBDO New York                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Client: Mars/SHEBA®                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Title: “Snap, Peel, Slurp, Purr”

Creative                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars                                                                                                                                                                                                        Chief Creative Officer, New York: Greg Hahn                                                                                                                                                                                                               EVP, Executive Creative Director: Joyce Pedretti                                                                                                                                                                                                        EVP, Executive Creative Director: Lauren Cohen                                                                                                                                                                                                      Senior Art Director: Adam Ward                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Copy Writer: Joe Nelms

Production                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Executive Digital Producers: Eric Berg & Kristin Tomborello                                                                                                                                                                              Digital Producer: Olivia Boutcher

Account                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  EVP, Senior Account Director: Mark Mulhern                                                                                                                                                                                                             SVP, Account Director: Sally Nathans                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Account Manager: Lauren Stillo                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Account Executive: Rachel Greenlee

Planning/Strategy                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             SVP, Group Planning Director: Crystal Rix                                                                                                                                                                                                              Senior Engagement Planner: Sean Stogner

Additional companies:

Production & Editorial Company: Decon                                                                                                                                                                                           Executive Producer: Misha Louy
Executive Producer: Ian Blain
Director/Editor: Eriq Wities

Music Composition/Final Mix: Ramon Wesselink

Line Producer: Kent Feuerring
Supervising Post Producer: Cynthia Angel
Post Producer: M. Shane Dolly

Lowe Campbell Ewald New York launched a new campaign for Sun Products Snuggle, introducing the new fragrance Fresh Spring Flowers.

Aside from the new scent, the campaign, entitled “Crescendo” (for some reason), isn’t really anything new from the brand. In the 30-second spot above, the brand’s teddy bear mascot introduces the Fresh Spring Flowers scent, cut with footage of a young family doing laundry, lounging on a soft, pink blanket inside and outside on a hammock, and enjoying an outdoor movie screening. The Snuggle bear promises (in a voice some may find irritating) the detergent “stays fresh for 30 days, with the value you love” and promises it is “the ultimate in snuggly softness.” Of course, the ad is targeted directly at families with small children, who the mascot is designed to appeal to. According to a statement, the “Crescendo” campaign is “part of Sun Products’ larger campaign focused on storytelling – bringing attention to rich family moments.”

Credits:

Chief Creative Officer:  Mark Simon                                                                                                                                                                                                  Executive Creative Director:  Chip Rich

Art Director:  Kelley Samanka                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Copywriter: Erin McHugh                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Producers: Matt Joyner                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Account Team: Jonathan Lange, Joseph Witmer

Production Company: Rebolucion                                                                                                                                                                                                       Director: Baby                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Director of Photography: Critian Cottet                                                                                                                                                                                         Executive Producer: Ezequiel Ortiz                                                                                                                                                                                                            Line Producer: Marcelo Dovidio

Editing House: Cutting Room                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Editor: Merritt Duff                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Producer: Tara Holmes                                                                                                                

Music House: MAS – Music and Strategy                                                                                                                                                                                       Composer:  Vanessa James                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Producer: Jenn Johnson                                                                                                                

Audio Mix: Cutting Room                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Mixer: Walter Bianco

BBDO New York has released a timely Tax Day online spot for Snickers, entitled “The Snickers Write-Off.”

Billed as a “short documentary,” the ad follows the story of the “injustice” faced by an Arizona woman in when she attempted in 2005 to write-off a Snickers bar as a business expense (she was later audited). She purportedly bought the bar while working late in an effort to stave off hunger and stay on-task. The spot features her telling her version of events, and features a tax attorney who agrees that it should have counted as a deductible business expense, as well as a neuroscientist explaining how hunger affects the brain. It ends with Snickers doing something to attempt to make things right. While the spot runs a bit long at over three minutes, it finds the right balance of tone and, of course, couldn’t be more timely. Now running on YouTube, a social campaign supporting the video will roll out on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr from now until Tax Day (April 15th).

Credits:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Agency: BBDO NEW YORK                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Client: SNICKERS

Chief Creative Officer, BBDO Worldwide: David Lubars                                                                                                                                                                                          Chief Creative Officer, BBDO New York: Greg Hahn                                                                                                                                                                                        Executive Creative Director: Gianfranco Arena                                                                                                                                                                                                    Executive Creative Director: Peter Kain                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Creative Director: Peter Alsante                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Associate Creative Director: Matthew Zaifert                                                                                                                                                                                                    Managing Director: Kirsten Flanik                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Global Account Director: Susannah Keller                                                                                                                                                                                                            Account Director: Joshua Steinman                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Account Manager: Dylan Green                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Account Executive: Jocelyn Choi                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Director of Integrated Production: David Rolfe                                                                                                                                                                                                       Group Executive Producer: Amy Wertheimer                                                                                                                                                                                                        Producer: Mona Lisa Farrokhnia                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Music Producer: Julia Millison                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Group Planning Director: Crystal Rix                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Senior Planner: Alaina Crystal

Director: Evan Bernard                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Director of Photography: Joseph DeSalvo                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Line Producer: Koji Yahagi                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Production Supervisor: Renee Haar                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Projects Lead: Michael Gentile                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Audio Engineer: Corey Bauman                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Illustrator: Kieran Bergin

Editorial: NO6                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Editor: Ryan Bukowski                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Executive Producer: Corina Dennison                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Producer: Malia Rose                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Colorist: Stephen Picano

Today we learned of some structural changes at BBDO’s Atlanta office: an unspecified number of individuals have been laid off as part of an attempt to more effectively address clients’ changing needs.

The official word from the agency is that some staffers will be replaced with new hires “better suited to the agency’s new focus” and that the number of positions created will ultimately be as large, if not larger, than the number eliminated.

This change began almost exactly one year ago when former Best Buy SVP of marketing Drew Panayiotou took over for departing President/CEO Gill Duff (who has yet to list a new position on his LinkedIn page). As expected, Panayiotou’s arrival coincided with an effort to push the Atlanta office in a more content-focused, digital/analytical direction.

That meant some positions would be eliminated and new ones created to fill their place; the first round of such changes occurred in June 2014, and the second round hit this morning.

A source claims that the total number of staffers dismissed today barely broaches the two-digit mark, but we don’t currently have specifics on departments or names. We do, however, have reason to believe that at least some of those affected were creatives specializing in traditional TV work and that the departing employees will be replaced by (presumably) younger candidates with more experience in the digital realm.

Clients appear to be responding positively to the newer, sleeker BBDO Atlanta. According to an agency spokesperson, the office has won the Carnival Super Bowl work in addition to several other undisclosed pieces of business since Panayiotou took over twelve months ago.

The spokesperson also notes that the total number of employees at BBDO Atlanta will, eventually, increase as a result of this office-wide strategic shift.

Expect hiring news to come.

Would you live in a world where teleportation — not the automobile — is the essential form of travel?

For Volkswagen and DDB Paris, the answer appears to be “no,” as you can see in a new, film-like :90 spot promoting the VW Golf GTE and fanning the passions of all the car lovers out there. Helmed by veteran commercial director Noam Murro, or the man who’s most recently been W+K’s go-to guy on ads for TurboTax and Dodge, VW’s “Choice” spot weaves an intriguing tale of familial bonds and technology.

Like Robin discovering Bruce Wayne’s Batcave, our hero embarks on a journey inspired by a letter from his inventor uncle, which leads him and his Golf GTE to his relative’s vast, mysterious inner sanctum. While the innovation he unearths in his uncle’s hidden laboratory may change the world, our protagonist can’t imagine one without his very favorite form of transportation.

(You can take a guess at what that might be.)

A baby grows into a man in just 60-seconds in BBH’s latest ad for British juice brand Robinsons.

At the start of the ad, a mother and father lounge on a blanket in the yard and “Give Me Just A Little More Time” plays as their baby crawls, and then walks, away. Soon, through the magic of CGI, he grows up before their eyes. The next thing they know, he’s an angsty adolescent bashing away at the drums and then finally a grown man ready to start a family of his own. Through all the changes, though, he still reaches for a glass of Robinsons. While the CGI effects can be a little off-putting, or, as Adweek put it “a little creepy in an Evian-like way,” the approach is endearing enough to work past the difficulties, ending with the tagline “Play Thirsty.” The ad launched last weekend on Britain’s Got Talent and is supported by print, digital and OOH efforts.

Credits:

Client name and title: Helen Gorman, Brand Director
BBH Executive Creative Director: Nick Gill
BBH Creative Director: Dominic Goldman
BBH Creative Team: Nikki Lindman & Toby Brewer
BBH Business Lead: Heather Cuss
BBH Team Director: Rebecca Levy/James Rice
BBH Team Manager: Louise Long/ Joanna Rose
BBH Strategy Director: Lilli English
BBH Strategist: Damien Le Castrec

—Film Credits
BBH Producer: Natalie Parish
BBH Assistant Producer: Sarah Cooper
Production Company: Park Pictures
Director: Tom Tagholm
Executive Producer: Stephen Brierley
Producer: Fran Thompson
DoP: Luke Scott
VFX: MPC
VFX Producer: Amy Richardson
VFX Supervisor: Tom Harding
CG Supervisor: Carsten Keller
Grade: MPC
Colourist: Jean-Clément Soret
Editor/Editing House: Stitch

Just when you thought IKEA stocked every conceivable amenity for your home, the Swedish retail giant now wants to help you get married.

Yes, IKEA just delved into the business of marriage with “Wedding Online,” which lets couples pick from a handful of virtual settings (swanky rooftop, classic style or even fairy tale, anyone?), invite up to seven loved ones, and eventually tie the knot — all with a few clicks of a mouse.

To help promote its new Wedding Online service — which essentially looks like a fun Google Hangout with loved ones — IKEA turned to hometown agency Åkestam Holst to provide a quick synopsis of the offering and entice viewers to take the virtual plunge in the process. While it might not be the most romantic way to get married, Wedding Online is certainly a novel one that seemingly eliminates the financial burden and planning stress that come with, you know, a real wedding.

Energy BBDO created a “Tough Mother” challenge for Ziploc as part of the brand’s partnership with obstacle course competition Tough Mudder.

The brand’s obstacle course consists of representations of daily challenges: pit of toys, pantry dash, couch crawl, city sprint, race to school, kitchen conundrum, story climb, the dinner throw and the husband. Contestants dash through the challenges before jumping into bed and pressing the buzzer. Of course, several of the obstacles are completed with the aid of Ziploc products to further tie the brand to the competition. Although the attempts at humor (on the part of the announcing team) fall flat, the ad still works to further the brand’s connection to the Tough Mudder competition.

“Already demonstrating strength, stamina and mental grit in their everyday lives, we invite tough mothers everywhere to push their limits even further at a Tough Mudder event this year,” said Dan Weinberg, vice president of global partnerships for Tough Mudder, in a statement.

Credits:

Agency: Energy BBDO
Client: SCJ/Ziploc
Title: Ziploc “Tough Mother”

Chief Creative Officer: Mark Taylor
Executive Creative Director/Writer: Mike Roe
CD/Art Director: Amy Ditchman
ACD/Writer: Dan McCormack
Executive Director of Content and Delivery: Brian Cooper
Head of Integrated Production: Rowley Samuel
Executive Producer: Melissa Barany
Senior Producer: Elena Robinson

Client Service Director: Stacie Boney
Digital Client Service Director: Josh Ehart

Senior Account Director: Nicole Guisto
Account Director: Rachel Levy
Senior Account Executive: Emmalee Anderson

Production Company: Honey Badger
Director: James Frost
Producer: Sam Khazaeni
Editor: Angelo Valencia, Beast

Graphics: Vitamin Pictures