Like an annoying little gnat, rapper Tyga, aka Michael Nguyen-Stevenson, attempts to carry on a conversation with NBA legend Shaq in a new Footlocker commercial created by BBDO New York.
In the ad, Conversation Lift, Tyga and Shaq can’t hear each other because of the significant height difference. Enter the Conversation Lift. Tyga uses it to rise to Shaq’s level to the two can converse.
The ad touts Reebok’s new Shaqnosis sneaker, something Tyga is far too young to appreciate.
Twilight star Robert Pattinson will soon be seen in an upcoming Dior Homme campaign. Early photos were released via Dior’s Twitter account late Friday which show a fully clothed Pattinson relaxing in a bathtub while admiring a disembodied pair of legs propped alongside the tub.
Daily News reports the scene is part of a series that depict the couple crashing a wedding. Of the scene, the source told Daily News, “It was a ceremony with a lot of guests dressed very fancy. There was a six-piece formal band with violins. During the scene, they were holding hands and danced a little before splitting up so Rob could dance with the older lady. The scene was that others were not amused by this — like those two were crashing a ceremony.”
The ad is said to coincide with a commercial shot last December for European and Asian markets that will ultimately air in the U.S.
Apart from Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2, Pattinson was most recently seen in the latest David Cronenberg flick, Cosmopolis, a noirish mindbender that has Pattinson travelling across Manhattan to get a haircut. Sounds boring but it was actually quite interesting.
Oh how we love Rooney Mara. Ever since we first saw her in Tanner Hall, we’ve been infatuated with her work. Rooney, whose sister Kate we also love, is fronting a Calvin Klein campaign for the brand’s new fragrance, Down Town. Helmed by David Fincher, who directed Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Social Network, the one minute ad, a bit overly hipsterific for its own good, is very Audrey Hepburn-esque and features the song Runaway from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Of her participation in the campaign, Mara (or, more correctly, some PR person who wrote the grammatically questionable quote for her,) told WWD, “I am very excited to be included in the group of amazing women that have been featured in the iconic advertising campaigns for Calvin Klein fragrances. It’s an honor to be part of a brand with such a legacy of breakthrough advertising.”
The campaign, which includes a print component, captures the retro glamour of yesteryear beautifully in a wonderfully noirish fashion that mixes mostly retro imagery with elements of today’s culture.
And as a bonus, making a rare appearance in the ad, we get to see Mara’s seemingly very shy teeth, a rarity of epic proportion from the girl who has adopted a very coyly demure, robotic demeanor.
Budweiser’s new campaign “Made for Music” launches in 85 countries today, featuring Jay-Z and Rihanna carefully dispersed amidst other artists including an ice sculptor and street art painter. Jay-Z’s ad is backed by his song PSA, while Rihanna’s features her newest single, “Right Now.” Both spots are directed by Mark Romanek (Never Let Me Go, Bee Season) and each closes with inspirational words from Bud: “It begins and ends with what you make.”
Made for Music was inspired by the Budweiser Made in America Festival which debuted in Philly last year and Jay-Z headlined. This year, Beyonce and Nine Inch Nails will take the marquee billing over Labor Day Weekend.
Jay and RiRi’s ads are mildly inspiring with their filmic, black-and-white “creative spirit.” After the Samsung deal, Jay-Z’s authenticity feels slightly compromised, but both he and Rihanna are still solid examples of hard-working performers. The scenes are nothing new–star reads in the car, star makes decisions with sweeping hand motions, star stands triumphant as the lights go down–so I wouldn’t mind a bit of original dialogue, but all in all these spots do the job. Time to turn up Magna Carta Holy Grail and channel HOV’s productivity.
Credits after the jump as well as clips from our interview last year with Translation CEO Steve Stoute on his agency’s relationship with “the king of beers.”
Poor Kenny G. Once a popular musician and, who knows, maybe still a popular musician but not to us. Anyway, Kenny G makes a semi-unwanted appearance in a new BBDO New York-created ad for Snickers Bites. The ad, which carries the campaign’s tagline, “You’re not you when you’re hungry,” pokes fun at a guy who seemingly turns into Kenny G when he’s hungry. Not really the sort of guy you want around a testosterone-filled table of guys who just want to get their poker game on.
The ESPYS are supposed to throw a nudge and a wink in the direction of typical award shows that take themselves too seriously. Athletes get all dolled up in dresses and suits, the host runs through some comedic skits, and the sporting world congratulates itself on the red carpet, all of which has appeal to the average viewer, because the sports world is usually unglamorous for the other 364 days of the year.
For the 2013 ESPYS, ESPN seems to have taken that care-free attitude to a whole new level, a level that borders on creative laziness. Amazing athletes and sporting events “happened.” For example, Robert Griffin III tells us that Gabby Douglas “happened,” and Lebron James “happened, with authority.” ESPN worked with creative agency 77 Ventures to produce a dozen or so spots in advance of the July 17 show that covers just about every positive sports story from the previous year. They all happened. Which makes you want to hit your head and let out a rhetorical, “duh?” ESPN wasted the chance to use its biggest stars like RGIII, Derek Jeter, Danica Patrick, and Ray Lewis to sell great games and plays. We know they happened. These inspiring sports stories can pretty much sell themselves, but this “Happened” campaign pushes the limit of less is more. For once, less is less. Less happened.
Betty White, Joe Pesci, Robin Williams, and… Kenny G. Aside from picking the most odds-and-sods group of entertainers out there, Snickers and BBDO New York have a knack for choosing celebrities with just enough relevance for the “You’re not you when you’re hungry” campaign. The title for best Snickers jokester is a toss-up between White’s roughhousing football player and Pesci’s whiny wingman. The latest spot, “Cards,” won’t top its predecessors, mainly because Kenny G doesn’t speak throughout the whole clip, but you can always lose yourself in his patented melancholy saxophoning.
It’s strange to think that the first ad with White came out over three years ago, but these spots seem to have enough social support to keep on kicking, even as the celebrities get less celebratory. Maybe for the next one, BBDO could get all four celebs in one room at the same time – a group of hungry people who all need to eat Snickers. That way, we could get Pesci to look at Kenny G and unleash a “Who is this fuckin’ guy?” tirade. Everybody wins, even Kenny G, since he’d be in two commercials in the past decade instead of one. Credits after the jump.
Focus sur le directeur artistique italien Federico Mauro qui présente son dernier projet personnel : une série d’illustrations représentant des gens célèbres au travers de leur simple paire de lunettes. Une création divertissante à découvrir sur son portfolio et en images dans la suite de l’article
We love when marketers smartly connect with pop icons from the past. But this connection between Tap King and Lionel Richie is one of the most pitch perfect endorsement deals we have ever witnessed.
In a BMF Sydney-created :60, a man peers into his refrigerator in search of something, anything to quench his yearnings but, as is very often the case when one opens the refrigerator, he finds nothing. That is until he begins to hear a piano.
He frantically pulls the contents of the refrigerator out of the way to determine the source of the sound and…BOOM…there’s Lionel Richie cooing his famous hit Hello. The lyrics align perfectly with the emotion we often times feel when we find that perfect bit of comfort food or drink.
The spark of love that ignites between the two is palpable almost to the point of being icky but it never really crosses that line as Richie deftly hands a beer to our eager refrigerator explorer.
Witty. Relevant. A perfect encapsulation of an emotion Tap King knows beer lovers experience when they lay their hands on their favorite beer.
Never before has the “What The…?” category tag been used more appropriately. No, Gary Busey is not the new spokesman for Men’s Wearhouse, but the folks at Jimmy Kimmel Live! had some fun with the recent ousting of MW co-founder, George Zimmer. Zimmer’s velvety rasp has been replaced with Busey’s unvelvety crazy that complements his devious smile and plaid clown suit. When Zimmer said “You’re gonna like the way you look, I guarantee it,” it made you want to buy a suit. When Busey says the same line, you almost expect him to follow it with: “It puts the lotion on its skin.” Normally I’d be kidding, but not with Gary Busey. He’s one of few people who can make brand parody truly frightening.
Back in the 80s, some ice cream sandwich-makers asked, “What would you do-oo-oo-oo for a Klondike bar?” Then, a balding businessman made monkey sounds. Today, reaching greater heights of sophistication, we’re crowdsourcing challenges via social media to humiliate washed-up celebrities. The new question is, “What would you want _____ to do for a Klondike bar?”
In the Klondike Celebrity Challenge hosted by comedian/The Soup host Joel McHale, the blank is filled first by Alfonso Ribeiro, otherwise known as the Fresh Prince of Bel Air’s cousin, Carlton. The contest submission period has ended, so Klondike’s Facebook page has no evidence of people’s weird ideas. But on July 15th, we’ll presumably have a new video featuring the winner.
For now, watch Joel McHale wandering his ice cream museum. The videos are directed by Tristram Shapeero and written by The Soup writers Boyd Vico and Brad Stevens. It’s not half bad, actually. Maybe we have evolved since ’83.
Millionaire software developer-turned-jungle-dwelling recluse-turned recent murder suspectJohn McAfee is here with a four-minute video about uninstalling his namesake software because life’s just weird like that sometimes.
In this video, McAfree says “fuck” and “shit” (which is why you’ve seen this video tagged NSFW by everyone today because no one trusts you to act like an adult and bring headphones to work, you child), does blow, takes his shirt off to flaunt his tribal tattoos, shoots a gun, and gets dry-humped by strippers who the credits tell us appear courtesy of Portland’s Club Exotica. So, I guess if any Guatemalan or Belizean assassins are currently looking for McAfee, he’s in Portland. With strippers and guns.
The video functions as an advertisement for whoismcafee.com, a visit to which tells us that McAfee is a guy with a blog about himself that he finances with the help of remnant ads. Also, George Jung, the cocaine kingpin that Johnny Depp portrayed in the 2001 biopic Blow, is apparently currently writing McAfee’s biography. So yeah, weird, right? Consider yourself totally weirded out by John McAfee. Credits after the jump.
This three-minute Samsung spot played during halftime of the NBA Finals last night, and it ran before my YouTube videos this morning. It’s Jay-Z, playing with sweet beats, so of course I didn’t click “SKIP AD.” You better not either, because at 1:20 you’re going to bob your head emphatically as Jay and his team recreate the sound of the speakers blowing out. If you skip the ad, you’ll also miss Pharrell’s face, looking incredulous and smiley as he assists Jay’s genius. You’ll miss uber-producer Rick Rubin hanging out on the couch barefoot.
Just as we were getting worked up over Yeezus, HOV comes through with Magna Carta Holy Grail and perhaps the greatest (or at least highest-profile) marketing coup in Samsung’s history. On July 4, the first million Samsung Galaxy users to download a customized app will receive the album for free. Three days later, other drabby people–i.e. iPhone users–get access. It’s a tantalizing prospect, and one that depends on avoiding the lately inevitable leak. Or maybe not–if the app’s “personalized stories and inspiration” really consist of never-before-seen content, then it’s an asset even if (when) the music sweeps the Internet in advance.
I’m sitting in Salt Lake City Airport, shocked at the number of people wearing flip flops, and I want nothing more than to be in Myspace’s fun room of young, beautiful artists grabbing at one another amidst fluorescent confetti. Their instruments and skateboards may be breakable but they are not. They smash faces and tangle limbs and fall on the floor, but this video gives us the sense that these fiery singers, models, DJs, and rappers will never flame out.
After Justin Timberlake’s reboot, can the same be said for Myspace (capital S begone)? We weren’t sure the social network could drag itself away from obsolescence, but this spot seems to be doing just that, and with a bang. If Myspace is a room filled with the likes of DIIV, Iggy Azalea, Pharrell Williams, Sky Ferreira and Schoolboy Q, then it is anything but irrelevant. If you don’t know those names, you better learn them. And check out the new Myspace while you’re at it; it seems to be the cool thing to do.
The website for GoGo squeeZ’s new campaign is all you need to see. Click on Jerry O’Connell’s spot, and your heart will sink as you notice the video runs for nearly five minutes. No one has five minutes to watch Jerry and his “Jerry Doubles,” run around being cute. Even kids would rather watch a sarcastic Disney show, I’m sure.
Big Spaceship’s “Wherever You Go, Go Playfully” campaign has good intentions: for every share of their multimedia content, GoGo squeeZ will give $1 to the Life is good Playmakers, a nonprofit that provides training and support to childcare professionals. And since apparently 74 percent of parents struggle to keep playfulness in their lives, maybe Jerry’s advice will encourage more moms and dads to spring for some GoGo squeeZes, or invent an imaginary game.
I’m in full support of this campaign’s mission, but using a washed-up star (Piranha 3D, anyone?) and contrived antics seem the opposite of an exuberant ideal. Skip the majority of this campaign’s content, and play away.
LeBron James may have a South Beach mansion full of trophies, but until yesterday, he had yet to accomplish one basketball-related goal: gracing the cover of a video game. NBA 2K14 won’t hit stores until the fall, but last night, viewers of the NBA Finals on ABC got to watch the introductory ad – created by Zambezi – where James announces his plan to join past coverboys like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. For 2K Sports, having the best basketball player in the world endorsing your basketball product is not too shabby, either.
Lost in all of this is the noble presence of Steve Kerr, once the foil to MJ in the NBA, and now, the foil to Marv Albert in NBA broadcasting. Kerr plays the role of “2K Investigator” in the commercial’s somewhat-lame hook. But when a six-foot white guy who couldn’t dunk gets into a basketball video game commercial, everyone wins.
For its latest entry in its All Drive, No Drama campaign, Cars.com has employed James Van Der Beek, heart throb from Varsity Blues and Dawson’s Creek, to add some drama to a commercial that touts the fact buying a car with Cars.com is, well, drama-free.
In the ad, when an exchange between a customer and a car dealer isn’t quite dramatic enough, the car dealer brings in Van Der Beek to deliver a dramatic line from Varsity Blues. Sadly, Van Der Beek has never been, shall we say, a very dramatic actor.
“Main Street Matters,” The Martin Agency’s first campaign for Benjamin Moore since winning creative/media duties for the paint brand back in February, celebrates local businesses in the US and Canada. From today until June 30, users can visit paintwhatmatters.com and vote for a town to receive a Benjamin Moore makeover. Painting and renovations will then take place in 20 cities from July until May 2014.
Brad Pitt lends his simpering voiceover (can’t help but think of his Chanel ad) and star power to Benjamin Moore’s video spot, with lines like, “Drug stores that still make milkshakes with real ice cream…matter.” The video–a slideshow of old-timey American storefronts–isn’t exactly scintillating, but of course the idea of supporting local communities hits a soft spot in my small-town girl heart. Using digital outreach to revitalize mom and pop places is a smart, noble idea. I just wish the campaign’s design sense didn’t also need a makeover.
About a year ago, GoDaddy hired Deutsch New York as their creative agency, and the world wondered whether we’d see the end of the “GoDaddy Girls” gimmick, or even the beginning of a more nuanced campaign. Instead, during this year’s Super Bowl, GoDaddy offered us Bar Rafaeli (“sexy”) making out with a red-faced man named Walter (“smart”). Danica Patrick narrated and did her best not to look embarrassed. Our op-ed contributor at the time, WWD&S co-head Harry Woods, may have captured the most accurate reaction: “The whole ugly thing once again sent us reaching for a wing bone, nacho or beer bottle cap to dig our eyes out.”
Thankfully no eyeball gouging is necessary with GoDaddy’s latest spot. In it, a Ron Weasley-esque man is introduced to the GoDaddy team. His name and its closest iterations are already taken by his colleagues, so the team tosses around other possibilities. Anyone who’s thought about buying a domain name is familiar with this brainstorming process, and Deutsch did well personifying it. The whole thing is off-kilter and amusing, and finally we see Danica Patrick in racing gear, not heels. She’s still hot.
Here’s hoping GoDaddy continues the curve away from their signature blunt, sensationalist spots.
Grey New York wants to tell you that “It’s Never Not a Good Time for a Refreshing Mike’s.” Excuse the double negative (what about “It’s Always a Good Time…?), but to draw your attention away from the grammatical errors, they included some very, very random celebrity cameos from actor Martin Landau and rapper Coolio. The 30-second spots include some random rhyming that leads to a series of non-sequitors, hence the random celebrities. Random is the only way to describe this campaign.
Before watching these spots, I hadn’t thought of Landau and Coolio in years. Both are stored away firmly in the Club for G-List Celebrities Who Will Never Be Famous Again. In Landau’s defense, he’s 84 and had a memorable run of “Entourage” a few years back (not to mention his Oscar-winning turn as Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood). Coolio is Coolio. They both picked up paychecks in return for a loss of dignity. That’s advertising for you. Check out the Coolio spot and credits after the jump.
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