Hasta La Creative!

When last we heard from classic American brand L.L. Bean in 2008, the company had just awarded AOR duties to GSD&M’s Idea City. We weren’t aware that an agency review had been scheduled, but this afternoon we received word that the account now belongs to Erwin Penland.

The agency’s duties will be comprehensive: EP is set to handle digital, retail and creative while also helping the brand develop its marketing strategy.

In explaining the company’s choice, CMO Steve Fuller writes that “Erwin Penland’s roots align perfectly with the L.L.Bean brand.” We take that to mean that creatives at the shop based in our home state of South Cackalacky (yay ‘Cocks) are closer to the brand’s core demographic than, say, those who never leave Manhattan.

CCO Con Williamson will lead the account with the help of Chief Client Officer Joe Saracino, ECD John Cornette and SVP/Account Director Kat Shafer. (The press release does not mention any of EP’s three recent creative hires.) Williamson writes that the win is a “chance to do amazing work for a classic American brand” and calls the pitch “a true all-agency effort.”

We would tell you to check out GSD&M’s Christmas 2011 campaign for hints of what’s to come, but someone made the videos private. Why bother?

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M:United has a new campaign for Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 which takes square aim at Apple’s MacBook Air.

Each of the three spots in the campaign focuses on comparing the Surface Pro 3 with its Apple-made competitor, in an attempt to prove the tablet/laptop’s superiority and sway potential customers to go with Microsoft. In “Crowded” (featured above) for example, an Apple fan is forced to carry around a laptop, tablet, pen and notepad, in order to compete with his boastful Surface Pro pal. “Head to Head” is a simple comparison of features and capabilities, highlighting the MacBook Air’s shortcomings (of course); while “Power” sees a smug Apple user changing his tune.

It’s a simple approach, as each add focuses on computer screens, with their users mostly out of sight. But the spots do offer some pretty persuasive arguments for the Surface Pro 3?s capabilities, probably enough to sway undecided consumers but not to change the allegiance of Apple loyalists. Stick around for credits and two more spots after the jump. (more…)

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Today, Saatchi & Saatchi New York is launching the first ever campaign for the gun responsibility organization Evolve, encouraging people to take personal responsibility for gun safety and generally not be dumbasses.

Saatchi & Saatchi’s pro-bono campaign features a short, satirical video called “The Bill of Rights for Dumbasses.” The 1:40 video portrays Thomas Jefferson and other historical figures debating the language of the second amendment. Jefferson thinks the amendment runs a little long, and after much debate, convinces the rest of the council to remove the “as long as they aren’t being dumbasses about it” part from the amendment. While the founding fathers are debating the matter, viewers are treated to a humorous montage of gun owners engaging in questionable practices, before Jefferson concludes it’s common sense that you shouldn’t act that way with a gun. The video ends with the founding fathers playing pinata with a gun, followed by the tagline, “It’s the right to bear arms, not the right to be dumbass” and a message prompting viewers to go to takeonthecode.com and sign the code of gun responsibility.

Evolve co-founder Rebecca Bond hopes that “Humor can be a gateway to taking away the defensiveness that is the legacy of these discussions.” Joe Bond, also an Evovle co-founder, added, “We want the ‘Dumbass’ concept to catch on in popular culture the way ‘friends don’t let friends drive drunk’ did for safe driving.”

Since it’s rare to find people discussing guns without getting hysterical about it, Saatchi & Saatchi’s employment of dumb humor is somewhat refreshing. But will it really chip away at the defensiveness that gun rights activists feel when discussing anything related to guns? Or are they more likely to take offense at the video depicting gun owners, and even founding fathers, as dumbasses? Unfortunately, I doubt the video will convince many viewers to “take on the code,” because even though Evolve professes to be a “third voice” in the gun debate without political affiliation, gun rights activists will still likely view the video’s satire as an attack on them. Meanwhile, the video will appeal to plenty of gun reform proponents — people who don’t need any convincing on the importance of gun safety, and mostly don’t own guns (and therefore have no need to take Evolve’s pledge). That’s too bad, because Evolve’s responsibility code is really just common sense and something any gun owner should be able to get behind — which makes this feel like a missed opportunity. Credits after the jump.

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The title is not a bathroom pun. Saatchi & Saatchi created a new campaign for Fiber One built around the 80′s song, “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” originally by Bonnie Tyler. If you’ve ever been within 50 yards of a karaoke bar, you’ll recognize the tune, and apparently, the 1983 hit is getting a second wave of popularity decades later. A May survey by UKbathrooms.com reported that it is the most popular song people sing in the shower. And more recently, actor and vocal impressionist Christina Bianco had a video of her singing “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in the voices of 19 different divas go viral (1.8 million hits in four days).

So the relevance for the Fiber One campaign is there. We have two spots to show you, one titled “Turn Around Barry,” and the other, “Turn Around Barbara.” Ignoring the missing commas, both are about hapless characters on diets who want to eat food that tastes good but won’t make them fat. Those people do deserve power ballads playing as the soundtrack to their lives. The set-up is slightly confusing, because each ad includes multiple characters who we are supposed to assume are all named either Barry or Barbara. At one point, it looks like one Barry is even holding a leek he’s about to eat whole. But then he finds Fiber One. All in 30 seconds.

Watch “Turn Around Barbara” and read some credits after the jump.

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