Hasta La Creative!

Since the dawn of time, humans have been confounded by cats, those mystifyingly aloof creatures whose inner thoughts are famously inscrutable. But no longer! Temptations Cat Treats has invented a cat collar that lets your feline speak in a human voice—so you can finally understand (though probably not) exactly what she is trying to tell you.

The Temptations Catterbox, created by London ad agency adam&eveDDB, contains a microphone, speaker, Bluetooth technology and wifi. It captures the cat’s meows and translates them into human speech—words that may or may not actually be what they’re trying to say.

The Catterbox is the work of the new Temptations Lab, a scientific-sounding “research workstream dedicated to the future of fun times with your cat,” according to the Mars brand. It is 3-D printed, coated in rubber lacquer for the cat’s comfort and comes in four colors.

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Kittens are notorious advertising stars, and as it turns out, they’re miniature therapists too.

At least, that’s one takeaway from this stunt in Los Angeles, where Purina Tidy Cats invited stressed-out people into a glass room—fully visible to people on the street—and had them listen to guided mediation.

And then … the kittens are unleashed. And adorable overload ensues.

The video, from Rainn Wilson’s media company Soul Pancake, might seem better suited to cat adoption than cat litter. But it’s fun to watch, and will surely get a bajillion views.

Friskies has partnered with BuzzFeed to produce some chunky, meaty kitten content fresh out of the YouTube can. The video below, quickly closing in on 10 million views, is voiced by Ze Frank, who works for BuzzFeed and is also a YouTube celebrity in his own right with his True Facts series, in which he tells you “true facts” about animals that are clearly not true.

It’s easy to see how this Friskies video is an extension of the humor in his existing series, but this time Ze Frank is voicing a cat who is writing a letter to a younger kitten who has moved in with him. “Dear Kitten,” the elder cat intones, “since I have hissed at you the customary 437 times, it is now my duty as the head of the household to—begrudgingly—welcome you.” At which point he offers the kitten lots of great advice about hiding from Va-coomb, sleeping in the underwear drawer, and of course eating delicious wet cat food from Friskies.

With #DearKitten becoming a popular tag on Twitter without Friskies even trying to seed it, it’s clear that cat content is still king of the Internet.

It's a wonder that cat-related brands don't already rule the Internet.

Cat-food brand and renowned jingle lover Meow Mix makes a move in that direction with an amusing and even potentially useful parody of Kickstarter—called Catstarter—envisioned as a way to crowdsource cool new cat-related inventions. Ad agency EVB conceived the site as a playful, feline-focused version of the well-known crowdfunding platform. But instead of actually backing Catstarter projects financially, you can just click on the ones you like, and Meow Mix will produce the most popular ones.

The site launches with three products; the top vote getter will go into production this spring. (The heated companion keyboard is an inspired one that I'll back right now.) It's also an R&D lab of sorts, as the brand also wants people to suggest ideas for making kitty lives better—something we can all get behind, yes?

Full credits below.

CREDITS
Client: Meow Mix
Campaign: Meow Mix Catstarter
Agency: EVB 
Executive Creative Director: Steve Babcock
Creative Directors: Patrick Maravilla (Copy), David Byrd (Art)
Art Director: Tom Zukoski
Copywriter: Nate Gagnon
Designer: Markandeya Sendan
Illustrator: Natalia Martinez
Motion Graphics Designer: Kevin Brown
Sound Designer: J. Michael Neal
Director of Technology: Ken Goldfarb
Lead Interactive Developer: Josh Kanner
Interactive Developer: Ken Crosby
Senior Producer: Kevin Turner
Vice President, Director of Account Management: Kathleen Foutz
Strategist: Neeti Newaskar
Producer: Kevin Turner

In retrospect, it seems obvious. To get cats to pay attention to your direct mail, just soak the damn fliers in catnip—and watch the kitties lose their minds when the mail arrives.

That's what Vancouver agency Rethink did recently for a cat litter client. As seen in the video below, the engagement with the marketing is undeniable—and pretty cute to watch also.

Owners have been targeted through their pets' olfactory senses before, of course, though in somewhat grosser ways—like the old Animal Planet ads that smelled like urine, placed at the foot of lampposts in the U.K.

Credits below.

CREDITS
Client: Bulk Cat Litter Warehouse
Agency: Rethink Canada, Vancouver
Creative Directors: Ian Grais, Chris Staples
Art Director: Leia Rogers
Copywriter: Bob Simpson
Designer: Lisa Nakamura
Account Manager: Marie Lunny
Print Producer: Cary Emley / Sue Wilkinson
Printer: Metropolitan Fine Printers
Editor: Chris Nielsen
Cats: Mona, Bella, Ommie, Jojo, Paul, Linus, Malo, Taika,
Riley, Gracie, Prince Ruv, Bagheera, and Pebble

As if the yuletide media landscape weren't already littered with enough novelty fare, five famous Internet kitties—Grumpy Cat, Colonel Meow, Nala Cat, Oskar the Blind Cat and Hamilton the Hipster—join forces for a Friskies music video called "It's Hard to Be a Cat at Christmas."

I'm not convinced the sentiment is true, since during the holidays, most cats act just like they do the rest of the year; lying around, licking themselves and spitting up on the furniture (while their eggnog-and-fruitcake-gorged human masters behave the same way.) Still, the catty cuteness on display here supports a good cause, as Friskies is donating a can of wet food to a shelter or rescue group for each view up to 500,000, and the clip's already passed 300,000 in its first two days.

As for the cats, the Colonel steals it, looking grumpiest of all amid the tinsel and trimmings, poised to cancel all three-day passes for the holidays. Hey, keep those fur-ball-puking freaks away from the tree! Look out! Damn, there it goes, right into the fireplace. 

Nature’s Recipe is giving“collar cameras” to influential pet owners, and resulting photos are posted online.

The centerpiece for Merrick Pet Care’s new cat food line will be a food blog “written” by W. (Mittens) Bloomfield, an acerbic American Shorthair.

Cats doing aerobics? DDB Chicago's amusing new video for Temptations cat treats is likely to blow up the Internet. No wonder Temptations-eating felines have the leg muscles to be able to cling so ardently to their owners. Check out the Work It Kitty website, where you can download the song ("I Don't Wanna Dance," recorded by Alex Gaudino, featuring Taboo) and learn more about the cats in the video. Ask your veterinarian if you're healthy enough for the Work It Kitty workout. Not recommended if you're on drugs, like those fools in JWT's Litter Genie spots. Credits below.

CREDITS
Client: Temptations Cat Treats
Agency: DDB, Chicago
Executive Vice President, Chief Creative Officer: Ewan Patterson
Senior Vice President, Executive Creative Director: Mark Gross
Vice President, Creative Director, Art Director: Wayne Robinson
Vice President, Creative Director, Copywriter: Matt Collier
Vice President, Executive Producer: Will St. Clair
Executive Digital Producer: Jon Ellis
Music Production Manager: Linda Bres
Executive Producer, Music and Integration: Eric Johnson
Production Business Manager: Scott Terry
Designer: Cody Petruk
Digital Artist, Designer: Annie Tsikretsis
Print Producer: Erica Bletsch
Art Buyer: Karen Blatchford
Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks
Director: Andreas Nilsson
Editorial Company: Beast, Chicago
Editor: John Dingfield
Telecine: Company 3, Chicago
Post Effects, Graphics: Method Studios, Chicago
Music: Ultra Records, "I Don't Wanna Dance," recorded by Alex Gaudino featuring Taboo

L’artiste russe Alexey Bednij nous propose des manipulations photographiques impressionnantes, jouant avec talent sur les ombres. Illustrant de véritables patchworks entre silhouettes en noir & blanc et ombres, le rendu nous plonge dans un univers simple et réussi, avec des visuels parfaitement exécutés.