Hasta La Creative!

Goodby Silverstein & Partners New York created a 60-second broadcast spot for Comcast that’s sure to be a hit during this year’s Academy Awards. It’s also the first ad out of Goodby Silverstein & Partners’ New York office, and not a bad debut at all.

“We’re really proud of this one,” Paul Caiozzo, executive creative director of GS&P New York told Adweek. “It’s the first big national spot to come from this office, and it’s great to have this work debut on a big stage like the Oscars. It’s a beautiful moment for GS&P New York.”

The spot shows the world of The Wizard of Oz as imagined by a young blind girl named Emily. She tells viewers how she imagines each of the characters as her thoughts come to life onscreen, with voiceover from Robert Redford near the end of the spot. “Emily’s Oz” promotes Comcast’s new talking guide which, as the spot points out, helps the visually impaired discover their favorite programs. It’s a simple concept, but it makes for an emotionally powerful ad (just try not to get choked up when Emily describes what Dorothy looks like) that accomplishes the seemingly impossible task of making Comcast seem almost human, rather than the corporate monster it is. Now if only they’d stop trying to ruin the Internet.

Credits:

Client: Comcast/XFNITY
Sr. Director, Brand Strategy & Communications: Sherri Davis
Campaign: Emily’s Oz
Campaign website: http://emilysoz.com

Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners New York

Creative
Co-Chairmen: Jeff Goodby, Rich Silverstein
Executive Creative Director: Paul Caiozzo
Creative Director: Nathan Frank
Art Directors: Michael Hagos, Peter Jostrand
Copywriters: Josh Chua, Sam Dolphin

Account Services
Managing Director: Nancy Reyes
Account Manager: Laura McWhorter
Assistant Account Manager: Nate Baker

Brand and Communication Strategy
Group Brand Strategy Director: Conner Huber
Brand Strategist: Jane Jun

Business Affairs
Senior Business Affairs Manager: Judy Ybarra

Production
Director of Broadcast Production: Tod Puckett
Executive Broadcast Producer: James Horner
Broadcast Producer: Tess Kenner
Assistant Broadcast Producer: Charlotte Dugoni

Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks
Director: Andreas Nilsson
Director of Photography: Matty Libatique
Production Designer: KK Barrett
Managing Director: Shawn Lacy
Executive Producer: Colleen O’Donnell
Line Producer: Emily Skinner

Editorial/Finishing: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: Paul Watts
Assistant Editor:  Christian Oreste
Assistant Editor: Rhys Hecox
Executive Producer:  Eve Kornblum
Producer: Jenny Greenfield
Producer: Jen Milano

VFX: A52
Lead Flame artist: Stefan Gaillot
CG Supervisor: Kirk Shintani
2D VFX Artist(s): Stefan Gaillot, Matt Sousa, Andy Bate, Enid Dalkoff, Steve Wolf, Tiffany Germann
3D Artists: Jose Limon, Joe Paniagua, Jon Balcome, Christian Sanchez, Adam Carter, Paulo Mauro, Vivian Su
Producer: Scott Boyajan
Executive Producer: Patrick Nugent, Jennifer Sofio Hall

Telecine: Company 3 New York
Colorist: Tim Masick
Colorist:  Rob Sciarratta
Executive Producer: Angela Lupo
Color Producer: Rochelle Brown

Mix: Heard City
Sound Engineer: Keith Reynaud
Sound Engineer: Jeremy Siegel
Managing Director: Gloria Pitagorsky
Senior Producer: Sasha Awn

Sound Design: Jafbox Sound
Sound Designer: Joseph Fraioli

End Treatment Graphics: Elevel Post
Animator: Jessica Gibson
Executive Producer: PJ Koll
Producer: Samantha Liss

—Behind-the-Scenes Documentaries
Director: Cassie Jaye
Directors of Photography: Margaret Parus, Sertac Yildizhan

Editorial Company – Main Documentary
Production Company: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: Parker Whipple
Producer: Jenny Greenfield
Producer: Jen Milano

Editorial Company – Mimi Documentaries
Production Company: elevel (Goodby Silverstein & Partners)
Editor: Graham Willcox
Assistant Editor: Lori Arden
Producers: Carley Ridgway, Samantha Liss

180 Amsterdam launched a new global campaign for ASICS with the spot “It’s a big world. Go run it.”

The ad, which is being released in both 60-second broadcast and 90-second online versions, was shot on location in New Zealand with special effects added for crowd simulation. It champions running of all kinds, opening with a man finding a ram horn and using it like a conch shell or trumpet to call a swath of runners into action. They finally convene on top of a mountain, where they find a ram, and the horn is sounded again, calling them back into action. The spot cast ASICS-sponsored athletes — triathlete Gwen Jorgensen (US), 100m and 400m hurdler and sprinter Queen Harrison (US), 800m runner Ryan Martin (US), elite training and fitness athlete Rosario Rios-Aguilar (US) and elite trail runners Sissi Cussot (France) and Genis Zapater (Spain) — alongside amatuer running enthusiasts from clubs around the world. In addition to the spots running on broadcast during sporting events around the world and online, the campaign will be supported by print iterations throughout the year. The campaign’s message will later be tailored to different sports, such as tennis and rugby.

“The eyes of the world are on ASICS in 2015 as the sports brand cements its position as the brand behind true athletes, all over the world,” said Al Moseley, president and chief creative officer at 180 Amsterdam, in a statement. “As an agency of runners and sportspeople, we know, first-hand, the incredible impact of ASICS and this has truly been a passion project for everyone involved.”

Credits:

Client Credits: ASICS

Deputy Senior General Manager, Global Marketing Division: Marc Pinsard

Global Advertising Manager: Eva Sutter

Agency Credits: 180 Amsterdam

President and Chief Creative Officer: Al Moseley

Creative Director: Dean Maryon

Copywriter: Anna Sweet

Art Director: Robbie Graham

Account Team: Megan Wooding, Claire Birrell

Producer (Film): Neil Henry

Producer (Print): Eleanor Fitzgerald

Strategy: Ben Armistead

Business Affairs: Sarah Gough

Film Production

Film Production Company: Somesuch

Director: Chris Sargent

Executive Producer: Seth Wilson

Producer: James Waters

Director of Photography: Jody Lee Lipes

Art Director: Ken Turner

Line Producer: NZ William Grieve

1st AD: Chris Short

Editor, Saints Editorial: Ross Birchall

Post Production

VFX: MPC

VFX Supervisor: Franck Lambertz

3D Supervisor: Tom Carrick

DMP: Ingo Putze

Nuke: Tom van Dop, Giles Hicks

VFX Supervisor on Shoot: Kim Fogelberg

VFX Producer: Hannah Ruddleston, Gwenn Hardouin

Grade: MPC – Remote Grading

Colourist: James Tillett

Music: Adelphoi Music

Composer: Benji Merrison

Producer: Greg Moore

Audio Post Company: Wave Amsterdam

Sound Design & Mix: Randall Macdonald

Audio Post Production: Ben Tomlin, Mirjam Gevers

Print Production Company: Big Pictures and 180 Amsterdam

Stills Photographer: Ben Ingham

Photographer Assistants: Matthew Lawes, Tanya Houghton

Print Producer: NZ Tim Coster

Retouching: Loupe

Last month, Ogilvy & Mather New York launched its “Will You?” campaign for Tiffany, attracting attention with print ads depicting a recently-engaged gay couple. Now, Ogilvy has launched the next phase of the campaign with a new ad continuing the trend of inclusiveness.

The real-life couple from the print campaign returns, joined by other modern day couples professing their love for each other. Make no mistakes, Ogilvy aims straight for the heartstrings, attempting to capture both the awkwardness and tenderness of proposing. “Will you…wow, this is weird,” the ad starts. “Will you let me be the one who gets to make fun of you because you take three minutes to butter your toast in the morning?” From here, different couples trade off lines, sometimes completing what another couple started, until finally the spot cuts to the chase with a “Will you marry me?” delivered from, seemingly, all the couples.

While the string-heavy soundtrack may come across as a bit maudlin, and how you feel about the ad will deal a lot to deal with how much sentimentality you can stomach, Ogilvy does a fine job of making the couples in the ad seem realistic. The dialogue expresses the kind of flaws (such as the toast line) which ultimately endear romantic partners to each other, and the inclusiveness of the ad makes it feel like Tiffany is celebrating everyone rather than one demographic.

Credits:

Ogilvy & Mather, New York

Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy East: Chris Garbutt
Worldwide Chief Marketing Officer: Lauren Crampsie
Group Creative Director: Debra Fried
Group Creative Director: Jackie Leak
Creative Director: John Doyle
Creative Director, Art Direction: David Bradley
Executive Director, Art Content Production: Cindy Rivet
Executive Producer, Art Content Production: Elizabeth Lucas
Jr. Content Producer, Art Content Production: Dagmar Wong
Director Digital Rights Management and Licensing: Gloria Graham Hall
Executive Group Director: Leyland Streiff
Management Supervisor: Jessica Schaevitz Deacon
Account Supervisor: Kat Bear Brown

Account Executive: Aniella Opalacz

Sprint turned to agency Translation — presumably due to their experience working with NBA stars — for a new ad starring Kevin Durant as a “Lawyer for the People.”

The 60-second spot opens with an attorney grilling a woman on her cell phone contract, which undermines her claims that she’s paying too much for service. Durant comes to the rescue, however, riling up the jury to her side and demanding her bill be cut in half. For his part, Durant does about as well as can be expected, but the premise is poorly conceived and the dialogue awkward — although the sketch artist’s depiction of Durant in the court room is kind of funny (and the highlight of the ad). Sprint, as usual, feels compelled to hard-sell its price-cutting promise and it makes this one, despite Durant’s best efforts, difficult to sit through.

Credits:

Advertising Agency: Translation, USA
Founder & CEO: Steve Stoute
Chief Creative Officers: John Norman, John Greene
Executive Creative Director: Betsy Decker
Strategy: John McBride
Creative Director / Copywriter: James Cohen
Creative Director / Art Direction: Paul Roberts
Senior Copywriter: Ian Ghent
Copywriter: Chris Mendez
Art Director: Jen Wang
Director of Content Production: Miriam Franklin
Executive Producer: Josh Reynolds
Junior Content Producer: Kristen Cooler
VP/Account Director: Justin Costa
Account Executive: Elizabeth Lindberg
Associate Director of Social Strategy: Russell Pinke
Social Strategist: John Petty
Junior Social Strategist: Sharde Gilliam
Production Company: Station Film
Director: Allen Coulter
Director of Photography: Jonathan Freeman
Executive Producer: Caroline Gibney
Line Producer: Tony McGarry
Editorial Company: Final Cut
Editor: Crispin Struthers
Assistant Editor: Various NY & LA
Post Executive Producer: Saima Awan
Post Producer: Viet-An Nguyen
VFX Company: MPC
VFX Artist: Alex Lovejoy
VFX Executive Producer: Justin Brukman
VFX Senior Producer: Matthew Loranger
Audio Post: Heard City/NY
Mixer: Philip Loeb
Executive Producer: Gloria Pitagorsky
Producer: Sasha Awn
Composer: Alan Tew

Publicis is launching its first campaign for Cadillac, following winning the account in December, with a 90-second spot entitled “Dare Greatly.”

The spot quotes a passage from Theodore Roosevelt‘s “Citizenship in a Republic” speech, delivered by a female narrator over slow-motion footage of New York City (Cadillac announced it is moving its global headquarters from Detroit to New York back in September). “Dare Greatly” marks a stark departure from the brand’s previous advertising, worlds away from the dreadfully xenophobic, willfully ignorant “Poolside” spot Rogue delivered last year before losing the account. In a surprising move (which we’re sure our readers will have a thing or two to say about), the ad doesn’t even show a Cadillac, instead relying on Roosevelt’s words to define the brand’s values. The spot, which will be cut into 30 and 60-second versions for its appearance during the Academy Awards, breaks a large campaign for the brand. According to Adweek, two other spots for Cadillac will also run during the program, “at least one of which shows a car.”

TDA Boulder launched an unusual OOH campaign for Daiya Foods, entitled “Hard to Notice.”

While must out of home efforts aim for maximum visibility, TDA Boulder’s campaign for Daiya Foods’ new line of dairy-, gluten-, soy-, and lactose-free frozen pizzas, rolling out in Portland, Oregon and Denver, Colorado, sacrifices visibility for memorability. Some of the ads are hard to see due to their placement, others because of their diminutive size and some (placed on Taxis) are usually traveling at too fast a speed to attract notice. All of the ads carry the message, “It’s easier to notice this ad than to notice our pizza is dairy-free.”

Large-format versions of the ad will run on “transit shelter ceilings?and on city bus roofs, visible from upper story windows only.” Small magnets and stickers carrying the message will be placed around the city by “guerilla teams.” The OOH campaign will be supported by digital efforts, as well as a print campaign in magazines such as Cooking Light, Health, Fitness and Food Network Magazine.

Credits:

Art Director: Austin O’Connor
Copywriter: Dan Colburn
Creative Director: Jeremy Seibold
Executive Creative Director: Jonathan Schoenberg

Old Navy spokeswoman Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who took over for Amy Poehler in December, promotes the brand’s line of “boyfriend jeans” in a new spot kicking off a spring campaign from lead agency Chandelier.

The spot casts the Veep star as a couples counselor dealing with a jealous boyfriend who saw a text with the word “boyfriend” on his girlfriend’s phone. Of course, she was actually referring to her new boyfriend jeans from Old Navy. When she informs Louis-Dreyfus that they’re only $15, she says “That’s insane…not clinically, of course” and soon they’re off, following up on the “breakthrough” and headed to Old Navy. Despite Louis-Dreyfus’ talent, the spot never really finds its comedic voice. Both the tone and the timing seem just a tad off and the tacked-on running out of the shot to get to Old Navy ending feels painfully forced (as it has in past spots).

As has become the norm with these types of ads, the outtakes (featured below) are actually more entertaining than the spot itself. So far, however, Louis-Dreyfus’ outtakes have failed to attract the same attention as those from Poehler’s ads. While the latter regularly received upwards of 500,000 views on YouTube, outtakes from Old Navy’s December campaign sit well under the 100,000 view mark. The campaign also includes a social effort, handled by AKQA, featuring Emily Current and Meritt Elliott.

“They’re different sides of the same coin,” Chandelier Founder Richard Christiansen told AdAge, speaking of the two spokeswomen. He explained that Poehler was very spontaneous, while Louis-Dreyfus brings more of a “trained” approach to the ads. “For Julia, we’re still improvising, but a lot of that stuff is a little bit more planned,” he added. “She’s studied. She’s controlled. She’s got a lot of great structure.”

72andSunny Amsterdam revived Danish lager brand Carlsberg’s “If Carlsberg did…” strapline following a four-year hiatus, with a new spot called “If Carsberg did Supermarkets…”

The 40-second broadcast spot imagines (as you might have guessed) what it would look like if Carlsberg did a supermarket. The result, of course, is “probably the best in the world.” Carlsberg’s version of the supermarket includes a lot of powertools and musical instruments, along with an entire row dedicated to the beer. A man peruses the aisles with a shopping list that includes only two items: eggs and beer (the essentials). The spot will also run in 30, 60 and 80-second versions and will be supported by print, digital and social elements. Something about the goofy tone and accompanying strapline still work really well for the brand, so much so that you have to wonder why they retired it in the first place.

“If Carlsberg did… was a meme before meme’s existed and has remained as key internet parlance,” Nic Owen, managing director, 72andSunny Amsterdam, told The Drum. “We’re super excited about making the most of it in a day and age it’s perfectly suited for.”

Team Detroit teamed up with production company The Work to troll some unsuspecting guys with this prankvertising stunt for Ford Mustang, setting them up on a date with professional stunt driver Prestin Persson.

After leaving a restaurant with each of the guys and getting into her Mustang, Persson plays the ditz, pretending to not really know how to drive a stick shift. One guy even suggests he can show her what the car can really do. In fact, most of the guys engage in some pretty cringe-worthy bragging before Persson flips into stunt driver mode and the guys alternately hold on for dear life or shout in excitement. At the end of the spot, Persson reveals her identity and that the men were in fact, filmed for a Mustang commercial.

If you’re tired of prankvertising, “Speed Dating” isn’t going to do anything to change your mind, although it does offer something at least a little bit different within the format. Persson plays her part well, convincingly seeming to struggle with the vehicle one minute and then — as one gentleman put it — whipping the shit out of the car with a grin on her face. “I guess you’re showing me how to drive this thing, aren’t you?” the guy from earlier admits. It’s pretty satisfying to see Persson make him eat crow (and humble a few of the other guys as well), but the spot, which clocks in at over three minutes, could have used some tighter editing.

CP+B reminds viewers that Kraft Mac & Cheese contains protein (like most food items involving dairy products) in a new 30-second spot for the brand, part of its ongoing “You know you love it” campaign.

The spot, entitled “Pots Galore” opens on a mother arriving home and asking, “Did you make Kraft Mac & Cheese for the kids? Did you cook some protein to go with it?” To this, the dad replies that it has nine grams of protein per serving, although the mom has a few questions about his cooking techniques. While the spot attempts to retain the humorous tone of the “You know you love it” campaign, the protein line feels a little forced, and we have a hard time believing anyone is going to purchase this product for its nutritional benefits.

Sara Braun, senior marketing director on Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, explained to Adweek that the approach was about addressing millenial parents who fear their kids aren’t getting enough protein. “It’s about making sure that these parents have the nutritional reassurance they need to feel better about serving Kraft Mac and Cheese,” she told the publication.

Domenico Vitale, founder of People Ideas & Culture, questioned the approached, however, telling Adweek, “The comfort food angle of Kraft has always been very powerful for them. I don’t think they can become what they’re not.”

Two other spots rolling out this month stick more to the brand’s traditional approach, playing for laughs while emphasizing the comfort food angle. One of these, “Young At Heart,” stars Estelle Harris (best known for playing George Costanza’s mother on Seinfeld) as a grandmother who sits at the children’s table at a family event so she can eat Kraft Mac & Cheese. The more straightforwardly comic approach is much more natural fit for the brand, emphasizing it strengths rather than starting a conversation it may not be ready for.