Hasta La Creative!

DDB New York debuted its “New York Takes Center Court” spot promoting the 2015 NBA All-Star Game, featuring voiceover from Common (whose voice was recently featured in a pair of Microsoft ads that ran during the Super Bowl).

The ad follows the NBA premiering the first work from new agency of record Translation last month. Presumably the league decided to go with the New York office of DDB due to the fact that the game will take place in the city. And the ad does place New York in center stage, celebrating the five boroughs and calling on its citizens to “Hail a cab, catch a train, ferry over, bike, walk, run” or choose any other mode of transportation to be a part of the event. The 30-second spot mixes live NBA footage with animation for a fun, comic-like vibe building anticipation for NBA All Star festivities, which will run February 13-15.

Credits:

Client: NBA
Agency: DDB, New York
Executive Creative Director: Joseph Cianciotto
Creative Director: Rich Sharp
Creative Director: Mike Sullivan
Art Director: Mina Mikhael
Copywriter: Turan Tuluy
Producer: Tiffany Campbell
Account Executive: Jackie Schultz
Design and Animation: Transistor Studios

W+K Portland has launched a campaign promoting Old Spice’s new Fresher Collection of grooming products with a series of 15-second ads.

Unsurprisingly, the agency takes an oddball approach for the campaign, with each quirky spot meant to evoke a natural setting reminiscent of the line’s outdoor-inspired scents, ending with the “Smell As Great As Nature Is” tagline. In “Roar” (featured above), a bear with an extremely long tongue provides Fresher Collection products to a man in the woods. Other strange interpretations of nature include a mother bird feeding her young a bowl of cereal, a park ranger and bikini-clad woman emerging from under a tree, and a beach magically providing such amenities as a television and microwave. In other words, the kind of weirdness viewers have come to expect from W+K and Old Spice (although it’s toned down in comparison to the craziness of the recent Terry Crews spot).

The ads make their online debut today, and will begin broadcasting — running back to back in 30-second blocks — early next week.

Because we haven’t yet covered every single ad that aired during the Super Bowl, here’s one from TDA_Boulder that (almost) plays on the same theme as a certain short-lived campaign by Barton F. Graf 9000.

In order to promote the client’s Person to Person Transfers service, the first spot illustrates what might happen if one relies on the creaky old ATM:

Joking about puppies being sold as quickly as possible? How dare they!

No one in “the media” compared the two campaigns because this one was regional, airing during the pre-game in Arizona and the first quarter in Colorado. Unlike the GoDaddy spot, this one also included a post-game follow-up for those with a tendency to get offended at anything/everything:

Maybe the joke was simply more obvious and less risque in this case, but those Golden Retrievers do look pure enough to have come from…a puppy mill!

The eerily prescient press release reads, “For those Super Bowl viewers who might not appreciate unhappy endings to their Super Bowl spots, a follow-up will run later that night…”

Part two aired during Jimmy Fallon in Colorado and NBC’s NFL News Special in Arizona.

Credits:

Client: FirstBank

Agency: TDA_Boulder

AD: Haley Garyet
CD/CW: Jeremy Seibold
ECDs: Jonathan Schoenberg, Thomas Dooley
Account Dir.: Danielle Borden
Account Sup.: Charlie Wright
Agency Producer: Susan Fisher

Prod. Co.: Furlined, Santa Monica, Calif.
Directors: Speck and Gordon
D.P.: Jo Willems
President: Diane McArter
Exec Producer: David Thorne
Line Producer: Aris McGarry

Talent: Charlie Greenleaf, age 9

Editorial/Post: Stitch, Santa Monica
Editor: Andy McGraw
Asst. Editor: Eileen Miraglia
Prod.: Rebecca Baker

Telecine: The Mill, Los Angeles
Colorist: Adam Scott

Mix/Sound Design: Lime Studios, Santa Monica
Engineer: Dave Wagg

Animation: Bernard Tan, New York

Music: JSM?Music, New York
CD/Producer: Joel Simon
Exec Producer: Ross Hopman
Composers: Doug Katsaros, Nathan Kil, Joel Simon
Business Mgr.: Tricia Krasneski

Team One has just revealed a live action trailer for 2K’s new game Evolve, which will be released on February 10th.

Set to a choral rendition of The Fugees,’ the trailer, entitled “Ready or Not” builds an air of mystery as a group of teens seem to play a game of Manhunt in the woods. Suddenly, another youngster runs and jumps from a ledge, landing in a pool of water and letting out a roar. The trailer doesn’t reveal much in the way of the game’s story, but does end with a brief look at game footage following a list of accolades and critical praise. The trailer (and soundtrack selection) refer to the fact that, according to a press release, “At its core, the title is an intense game of Hide and Seek.”

A broadcast version of the ad will appear during the premieres of Walking Dead and Better Call Saul on AMC this Sunday.

Credits:

Client: 2K

Agency: Team One

Chief Creative Officer – Chris Graves

Executive Creative Director – Alastair Green

Creative Director – Phil Henson

Assistant Account Executive – Bailey Jones

Project Manager – Alissa Kovall

Copy Writer – Josh Paialii

Group Account Director – Nathan Smith

Producer – Jenny Valladares

Art Director – Davide Vismara

Executive Producer – Sam Walsh

Senior Business Affairs Manager – Janet Anderson

Production Company: Furlined

Director – Henry Hobson

Managing Director – Robert Herman

Executive Producer – David Thorne

Head of Production – Sheila Eisenstein

Line Producer – Stephanie Sciré

Director of Photography – Adam Kimmel

VFX: The Mill (LA)

Senior Executive Producer – Sue Troyan

Producer – Adam Reeb, Will Lemmon

Shoot Supervisor – Felix Urquiza & Dag Ivarsoy

2D Lead Artists – Dag Ivarsoy

3D Lead Artists – Felix Urquiza

2D Artists – Tim Robbins, Jake Maymudes, Patrick Munoz, Becky Porter, Daniel Lang, Remedy Huynh, Steve Gibbons, Chris Staehler, Derrick Ligas

3D Artists – Josh Hatton, Simon Brown, Steven Olson, Mike DiNocco, Jenna Kind, Jason Jansky, Meng Lu, Darren Sumich

Matte Painting – Lynn Yang, Gizem Ersavas

Colorist – Adam Scott

Art Department – Jeff Langlois, Brett Lopinsky, Laurence Konishi

Production Coordinator – Kris Drenzek

Color Executive Producer – Thatcher Peterson

Color Producer – Antonio Hardy

Color Coordinator – Diane Valera

Color Assist – Chris Obal, Nick Sanders, Gemma Parr

Editorial Company: TOM

Editor – Gabe Diaz

Motion Graphics – Robert Johnston

Assistant Editor – Sergio Maggi

Post Supervisor – Bryan Cook

Music: Scala & Kolacny Brothers

Conducted by Stijn Kolacny

Piano & arrangement by Steven Kolacny

Produced by Yannick De Pauw

Recorded by Dries D’Hondt and Filip Heurckmans

Mixed at studio Apes on Tapes (Lommel – Belgium) by Filip Heurckmans

Special thanks to All Parts Move (Maurice Keizer & Glenn Stone) and the team of Rhino / Warner Music Group USA

Sound Design Company: Robot Repair

Sound Designer – Doug Darnell

Minneapolis agency Preston Kelly worked with production company 8th Street and director Jonathan Nowak to create a series of ads comprising its “Another Reason Y” campaign for the Greater Twin Cities YMCA.

Each 30-second ad imagines a different far-fetched and life-threatening situation in which YMCA-derived physical fitness comes in handy. In the above “Cement Shoes,” for example, a man is targeted by the mob and thrown off a bridge wearing cement shoes. Luckily for him though, he’s such a strong swimmer that he doesn’t sink. Other scenarios include a woman outrunning a bear, and a man struggling to escape up a tree when confronted by a cyclops. That last one feels a bit out of place in the campaign, due both to the mythical creature and that it highlights the man’s lack of physical fitness, while the other spots in the campaign highlight how working out at the YMCA can have you ready for anything.

“Everybody talks a good game, but clients with the courage to actually break through the dreck on TV these days are rare,” said EVP Creative Director Preston Kelly. “The YMCA trusts Preston Kelly to develop ideas that will get them noticed and gives us the freedom to work with the production resources to bring those ideas to hilarious, cringe-worthy, dramatic life.”

Credits:

Agency: PRESTON KELLY?

EVP Creative Director: Chris Preston

Sr. Broadcast Producer: Anne Swarts

ACD/Art Director: Melissa Tresidder

Sr. Copywriter: Charlie Tournat?

Chief Experience Officer: Bob Thomas

Production: 8th STREET 

Director: Jonathan Nowak

Executive Producer: Steve DeVore

Post Production: DITCH?

Editor: Brody Howard?

Colorist/ VFX: Matt Collings

Producer: Leah Rodgers?

Music and Sound Design: ECHO BOYS?

Grey New York has rolled out the latest ads in its “Facts of Life” campaign for Ally Bank.

Each ad begins with voiceover declaring, “At Ally Bank, no branches equals great rates: it’s a fact” with accompanying text, followed by another example of a “fact of life.” Each 15-second ad attempts to offer up a humorous observation of one such “fact” that everyone can relate to. In the above “Shopping,” for example it’s that “Shopping hungry equals overshopping.” A woman clings to a bag of cheese puffs as the cashier rings up items from her stuffed-to-the brim shopping cart. Other ads in the campaign explore awkward office meetings, feigned wine knowledge and the danger of mute buttons.

“A constant theme in our customer research was that consumers are concerned about ensuring their savings are earning competitive rates, and they also preferred banks whose rates don’t fluctuate significantly,” said Diane Morais, Ally Bank deposits and line of business integration executive, in a statement. “The spots are a humorous way to make the point that Ally doesn’t just talk about great rates, we have a business model that makes consistently competitive rates part of what we deliver to our customers every day.”

With the help of a bellowing goat, wireless carrier Sprint sends a shout-out to rivals Verizon and AT&T with this “super apology,” which aired during the third quarter of last night’s battle.

The ad from Deutsch LA aims at fellow carriers by saying sorry for calling competitors a goat, hence the featured animal in the advertisement, one that takes a jab at rivals’ expensive rates (calling them “sheep” in the process) while continuing Sprint’s “cut your bills in half” mantra.

Speaking to the Kansas City Star before the big game, Sprint chief marketing officer Bill Hallock said:

“We’re going to have a little fun with it. At the Super Bowl people look for some humor, some entertainment value…and that’s what we’ve embedded in this [ad] as well.”

All it takes is a screaming goat to hammer the message home:

In other Greatest Clients Ever news, Sprint’s CEO endured some friendly trolling via T-Mobile John Legere during the game…and retweeted many fans’ messages mocking the latter’s campaign by Publicis Seattle.

Look what @marceloclaure did to @JohnLegere…he’s all worked up cause Sprint has an awesome commercial and T-Mobile has Kim.

— JoshuaM (@JoshMSr) February 2, 2015

W+K Portland compares food to drugs in its Super Bowl spot for Weight Watchers, “All You Can Eat,” the first-ever big game appearance for the brand.

The ad comes just a few months after the agency debuted its first work for the brand with “If You’re Happy.” That spot explored how people use eating to deal with all sorts of emotions. Extrapolating a bit on that theme, “All You Can Eat” examines how eating (especially sweet and/or fatty foods) can be like a drug, as well as the manipulative ways these foods are marketed. With voiceover from Breaking Bad‘s Aaron Paul, the ad opens by asking, “Hey, you wanna get baked? And glazed, iced, fried?” over images of tempting junk food. The sinister message continues, until the ad ends with the line “It’s time to take back control,” followed by the Help with the Hard Part” tagline. It’s a natural evolution from “If You’re Happy” and its exploration of the psychological side of eating, and ultimately is more successful than that spot thanks to Paul’s voice acting, along with tighter writing and editing.

This new Foot Locker ad from BBDO debuted last night but, because it wasn’t a campaign launch and only ran in local markets, it didn’t earn nearly as many headlines as its competitors.

(From the perspective of Nationwide and Ogilvy, that could be a good thing.)

Damian Lillard of the Trail Blazers appeared in several recent campaigns for both Adidas and Foot Locker, but this one marks the debut of his first signature shoe and features a few celebrities who, unlike Lillard, are already well past their expiration dates:

We’d hoped Humpty Hump might get the gig; here’s a bit of behind-the-scenes action on set via The Oregonian.

Credits:

Agency: BBDO New York

Client: Foot Locker

Title: Signature Celebrity

Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars

Chief Creative Officer New York: Greg Hahn

Executive Creative Director: Chris Beresford-Hill

Executive Creative Director: Dan Lucey

Creative Director/Writer: Jessica Coulter

Creative Director/AD: Eli Terry

Director of Integrated Production: David Rolfe

Executive Producer: Anthony Curti

Music Producer: Melissa Chester

Graphic Designer: Jessica Andrew

Worldwide Senior Director: Troy Tarwater

Account Director: Janelle Van Wonderen

Account Manager: Nick Robbins

Assistant Account Executive: Sam Henderson

Production Co – O Positive

Director: Jim Jenkins

Executive Producer: Ralph Laucella

Executive Producer: Marc Grill

Director of Photography: Jeff Cutter

Editorial – No6 Editorial

Editor: Jasopn MacDonald

Executive Producer: Corina Dennison

Producer: Malia Rose

Assistant Editor: Zach Patton

Sound – Heard City

Sound Mixer: Phil Loeb

Online – No6

Flame: Ed Skupeen

Assistant Flame: Mike Grosshandler

Color – CO3

Colorist: Tim Masick

Budweiser ran two ads for its flagship brand during the Super Bowl last night. The first was soft and cuddly, the much anticipated sequel to last year’s “Puppy Love” spot, “Lost Dog.” For the second, “Brewed The Hard Way,” also created by agency Anomaly, the brand went into attack mode.

The ad proclaims Budweiser to be “Proudly A Macro Beer” which is isn’t made to be “fussed over” but for a “crisp, smooth finish” before going on to attack craft breweries. Oddly enough, Budweiser seems to want to have it both ways as the ad celebrates the beer’s beechwood aging, before stating, “Let them drink their pumpkin peach ale, we’ll be brewing us some golden suds.”

It’s a bit odd that A-B InBev would take this route, a little over a week after purchasing Seattle craft brewery Elysian, known for its annual pumpkin beer festival (following a string of similar purchases including Blue Point, Goose Island and Redhook). Of course, most viewers will be unaware of that piece of hypocrisy, but the ad retains an air of desperation. It concludes by re-introducing the classic tagline, “This Bud’s For You,” which will anchor a new campaign for the brand, replacing “Grab Some Buds.”

While Budweiser is clearly nostalgic for the days when it wasn’t losing ground to a host of competitors with superior products, Budweiser Vice President Brian Perkins told AdAge that this is not a retro campaign. “‘This Bud’s For You’ was a very powerful tagline at one time and it’s still there in the psyche of American beer culture,” he said. “We can make millions of these per day. But this one’s for you and it’s the same quality standard and the same attention to detail as everything else.”