Hasta La Creative!

Agency Heaven teamed up with directors Julien Vallée and Eve Duhamel to craft the spot “Creativity at Work” for the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 S-Pen.

“Creativity at Work” explores all the different capabilities the device’s pen has, and “infinite possibilities” it opens up. A bit reminiscent of some of Apple’s past advertising, the spot presents an ever-evolving picture of all the devices different uses. It’s all very well shot and edited, making for a visually interesting and, yes, creative, 1:45 or so. Oh, and it makes the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 S-Pen look pretty good in the process. For more of an idea on how the project came together, check out the making-of feature below.

A few days ago, NBC Sports leaked a 30-second teaser of its NASCAR ad starring Nick Offerman. Now, with a handful of days to go until the Super Bowl, they’ve unveiled the full spot, “America Start Your Engines” (the online version of which clocks in at just over two minutes).

The ad features Offerman lamenting the current state of our country, before offering NASCAR as an antidote. He sing-talks lyrics like “Welcome to the place where we speed all day/Where we bump and grind in a non-sexual way” over racing and tailgating footage (also featuring Offerman, naturally). It makes the most of Offerman’s persona, largely allowing the actor to play up his own personality for laughs, and is ultimately a pretty clever effort — especially considering it was  done in-house in collaboration with Hungry Man and director Dave Laden. While certain elements of the gag run out their welcome during the full duration, we imagine that will largely be taken care of during the edit for the broadcast version.

A 60-second version “America Start Your Engines” will run immediately following the conclusion of the Super Bowl, plugging NBC’s coverage of NASCAR beginning July 4th.

Budweiser has unveiled its much-anticipated “Lost Dog” ad from Anomaly, a sequel to last year’s immensely popular “Puppy Love” (itself something of a follow-up to 2013’s “Brotherhood”).

The 60-second spot delivers much of the same puppy-fueled cuteness as its predecessor. In “Lost Dog” the puppy from “Puppy Love” gets lost after jumping into the back of a truck. His owner —  the horse trainer from “Puppy Love” and “Brotherhood,” played by actor Don Jeanes — puts up signs all over town and the Clydesdales seem distraught. When the dog finds his way back home, he also finds himself in danger, but the Clydesdales (of course) come to the rescue.

While it may not have the same impact as its predecessor, “Lost Dog” is sure to be a crowd-pleaser all the same. It’s well shot by director Jake Scott, who was also behind last year’s effort, and delivers a heart-tugging (if a bit contrived) narrative. The musical choice — a downtempo and melancholy cover of The Proclaimers’ “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by Sleeping At Last — is an odd one, but somehow it works. And did we mention cute puppies interacting with horses? According to Budweiser, eight puppies were used for the filming of the ad, all 11-12 ½ weeks old when “Lost Dog” was filmed in early December.

In keeping with recent trends also known as “that Wix campaign,” here’s a Super Bowl ad created without the assistance of a major agency.

The client is Seamless competitor EAT24, and the ad below will run “in select markets” during the first quarter on Sunday. It stars Snoop Dogg and Gilbert Gottfried — spokesmen for People with High Metabolism — discussing their shared love of online delivery:

For the record, the campaign was not created entirely in-house.

The client’s own creative team reportedly “approached” CEO D.J. O’Neill of San Francisco production/design shop Hub Strategy & Communication — which recently produced ads for the Oakland Athletics, among others — to help make the project happen. The “hangry” concept did come from inside the company, however.

O’Neill writes:

“We took a look at the script they wrote and said, ‘are your kidding me’. It’s really fun.”

Hub describes itself as “more nimble and responsive than typical larger agencies,” and while this ad doesn’t have the online traction of Carl’s Jr. or Bud Light, we have to wonder how much the “select markets” buy cost and how much media attention client and agency will win as a result.

Creative Direction/Writing: EAT24 Marketing Team
Moneybags: Nadav Sharon

Production Company: Hub Strategy & Communication
Director: DJ O’Neil
Producer: Jeremy Cook
Director of Photography: Greg Schmitt

Production Designer: Alex Fymat
Hub Creative Director: Peter Judd
Hub ACD/Writer: Hugh Gurin
Production Coordinator: Zoe Drazen

After teasing its Super Bowl spot from New York agency Merkley + Partners some ten days ago, Mercedes unveiled the 60-second “Fable” yesterday.

As the teaser indicated, the spot is a twist on the classic fable of the tortoise and the hare. Much like in the original telling of the tale, the hare falls victim to his own arrogance. After storming out of the gate, he figures he has enough time for a game of cards while the tortoise slowly shuffles along. The tortoise, meanwhile, finds a way to win (spoiler: it’s the 2016 Mercedes-AMG GT S). It’s all cute and whimsical enough until the agency feels the need to throw in a little casual misogyny towards the end.

As Merkley CEO Alex Gellert explained to Adweek, the agency’s focus for the ad was squarely on entertainment value. “There is an expectation among consumers that Super Bowl advertising will be entertaining, that it is at least equal parts entertainment as sell if not slightly more entertaining than sell,” he said. “They are mini pieces of cinema.”

Pierce Brosnan stars in David&Goliath’s Super Bowl spot for Kia, billing the 2016 Kia Sorento as “The Perfect Getaway Vehicle.”

The ad employs a bit of a self-referential twist, alternating between the ad proper, the role as imagined by Brosnan and Brosnan’s agent pitching the role to him. Brosnan’s interaction with his agent plays on his expectations of an action/adventure role, giving the “Getaway” in the spot a double meaning. While Brosnan imagines driving 200 miles per hour, evading snipers and missile launchers, the actual role involves a more leisurely trip up a snowy mountain to a cabin getaway. Ultimately Brosnan decides to take the role when his agent tells him he can keep the car.

In some ways, the ad calls to mind last year’s “The Truth” effort for the 2015 K900. Like David&Goliath’s latest effort, that ad featured a celebrity appearance from a star of action films of yesteryear in Laurence Fishburne. Since nostalgia and celebrity cameos tend to do well with Super Bowl audiences, the approach makes sense, and David&Goliath manages to tweak the formula just enough here to differentiate this year’s effort.

Credits:

Agency:  David&Goliath, LA
Founder & Chairman: David Angelo

Chief Creative Officer: Colin Jeffery
Group Creative Director:  Steve Yee

Group Creative Director:  Ben Purcell

Creative Director:  John O’Hea

Sr. Art Director:  Mike Cornell

Art Director:  Ben Tolbert

Sr. Copywriter:  Andy Sciamanna

Copywriter: Chris Juhas

Head of Production:  Paul Albanese
Agency Executive Producer:  Christopher Coleman

Broadcast Producer: Marisa Bursteen

President: Brian Dunbar

Group Account Director: Brook Dore

Account Director: Adam Blankenship

Management Supervisor: Nancy Ramirez

Account Executive: Denny Tran

Assistant Account Executive: Annelise Lorenzo

Digital Account Director: Jeanann Grubbs

Digital Account Executive: Sarah Kirsch

Managing Partner, Chief Strategy Officer: Seema Miller

Senior Planner: Ed Gibson

Director, Business Affairs: Rodney Pizarro

Business Affairs Manager: Camara Price

Project Manager: Kemit Ray

Product Information Manager: Russ Wortman

Production Company: MJZ

Director: Matthijs Van Heijningen

Director of Photography: Joost Van Gelder

President: David Zander

Executive Producer: Scott Howard

Producer: Donald Taylor

Editorial Company: Union Editorial/Circus

Editor: Jono Griffith

Assistant Editor: Drew Johnson

Executive Producer/President: Michael Raimondi

Senior Producer: Joe Ross

Online & Color: The Mill

Executive Producer: Sue Troyan

Executive Producer: Enca Kaul

Executive Producer: Reece Ewing

Senior Producer: Diana De Vries

2D Lead/VFX Supervisor: John Shirley

Head of 3D, Creative Director: John Leonti

CG Lead: Sid Harrington-Odedra

2D Artists: Narbeh Mardirossian, Chris Payne, Rob Winfield, Yukiko Ishiwata, Fergal Hendrick, Patrick Wong

3D Artists: David Hampstead, James Mulholland, Sergio Xisto, Rim Khayat, Vasillis Pazionis, Filippo Forno, Adam Dewhirst, Christos Parliaros, Andrew Bartholomew, Adam Darrah, Michael O’Donoghue, Philip Maddock

Matte Painting: Kieran Belshaw

Production Coordinator: Daniel Midgley

Colorist: Dave Ludlam

Color Executive Producer: Thatcher Peterson

Color Production Coordinator: Diane Valera

Music & Sound Design: Stimmung

Composer: David Winer

Sound Designer: Gus Koven

Assistant Sound Designer: William Flynn

Creative Director: Jason Johnson

Executive Producer: Ceinwyn Clark

Mix: Margarita Mix

Sound Engineer: Nathan Dubin

Kim Kardashian — err, Kim Kardashian West — stars in Publicis Seattle’s Super Bowl spot for T-Mobile, entitled “#KimsDataStash.”

The 30-second ad, which premiered last night on Conan, is presented as a mock PSA with Kardashian billed as “Kim Kardashian West, Famous Person.” She laments how “each month millions of gigs of unused data are taken back by wireless companies.” That’s data that could be used to look at her selfies, “sadly, all lost.” The spot ends with the line, “It’s Your Data, Keep It,” and introduces “Data Stash,” which lets users keep unused data for up to a year.

The self-skewering satire of the ad is sure to go over well with Kardashian’s fans, and while others will be as annoyed with “Kim Kardashian West, Famous Person” as ever, the spot does a good job of introducing the selling point of T-Mobile’s “Data Stash.” And between the celebrity star power and its Super Bowl airing, this one is sure to reach a lot of eyes.

The NFL is donating 30-seconds of Super Bowl ad time to run a PSA created pro bono by its agency of record, Grey, for domestic violence awareness organization No More. The leagues also covered production costs for the spot, which will run during the first quarter.

A 60-second version of the PSA was recently uploaded to No More’s YouTube channel. It depicts a woman making a 911 call disguised as a pizza order, because her attacker is in the same room as her. Initially befuddled, the officer on the other line realizes what is going on and sends an officer to help. It’s a pretty harrowing look at the hidden nature of domestic violence and should make an impression during the big game.

The NFL has been running PSAs for No More all season, following controversy related to the league’s handling of a series of domestic abuse cases. No More’s leak of this extended version of the Super Bowl ad follows on the heels of a video from advocacy group Ultraviolet which Sports Illustrated agreed to run on its website. That video criticized the league directly for its handling of domestic violence cases, going as far as to call for NFL President Roger Goodell to step down with the hashtag #GoodellMustGo.

For BMW’s Super Bowl spot, “Newfangled Idea,” Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners look back at an entertaining (and slightly embarrassing) 1994 Today show clip with Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel in which the hosts act more than a little befuddled about the whole Internet thing (and the “@” symbol).

The flashback functions as a setup to BMW’s forward-looking electric i3. Couric and Gumbel appear in the car, talking about how they don’t understand what they mean that there is “nothing under the hood” of the car or that it was made in a “wind-powered facility.” It’s a pretty clever way of illustrating how much people’s ideas can change about new technology in 20+ years, and making electric-doubters wonder if they’ll feel silly for their questions in another decade or two.

If you’re wondering how the pair feel about the clip, Gumbel offers some insight in a behind-the-scenes feature released by the brand. “People are inclined to ask, ‘Aren’t you embarassed by that clip?’ — or ‘Aren’t you angry about that clip?’ I say, ‘No! I’m not at all! I’m amused by it.’” He added, “I watched The Jetsons years ago, so I kind of thought we’d be in a jetpack, ya know, flying over things. I guess one day we’ll get there, but for the time being, the electric car is a great way to go.”

Last week, Victoria’s Secret released a 90-second online spot (featured below) featuring its models suited up and playing football. But if you were wondering if the release gave any indication of the brand’s actual Super Bowl effort, the recently-leaked ad answers with a resounding “Hell no.”

Instead, the 30-second Super Bowl spot, created in-house, is a very much by-the-books effort. In fact, the ad was pieced together almost entirely from footage already used in the past 18 months, with the lone exception being a shot of model Adriana Lima filmed for the new ad in January.

“We only shot one piece of new material for this commercial—we decided to come to the game late and then we wanted to leverage every opportunity,” Ed Razek, the brand’s chief marketing officer, told Adweek. “We’re not crazy enough to do a commercial where all of our girls are dressed like football players,” Razek explained. “We do what we do—it’s two weeks to Valentine’s Day.”

The ad, the brand’s first in the Super Bowl since 2008, will run during the two-minute warning. Perhaps due to the volatile placement of the ad, Victoria’s Secret decided to leak it early — with heavy support from social media on channels including Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. But will fans of the brand really care about an ad made from recycled footage?