Advertising Agency: Chirpy Elephant, Chennai, India
Creative Director / Art Director: Jayaraman
Creative Director / Art Director / Copywriter: Leela Ram
Junior Art Director: Brahama Prasad
Studio: Set Fire
The post Breezy Light Weight Jewellery by Chirpy Elephant appeared first on desicreative.
How calming is Lipton tea? You'll be at peace even amid the animals (actually, make that the Animals) of New York City.
In this new spot from London agency adam&eveDDB, our reluctant hero Kermit T. Frog sips a cup of Lipton tea (which may or may not be laced with opium) and is suddenly able to cope with a city full of Animal clones reminiscent of a John Malkovich daymare.
The grouchy street-meat vendors, insane cab drivers and slack-jawed tourists who riddle Mayor Bill de Blasio's New York would rattle the average frog, but Kermit stays cool and collected. All he has to do is "Be more tea."
A 60-second version of the spot, which also promotes the upcoming Muppets Most Wanted movie, out March 21, breaks Sunday on the Oscars.
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Lowe's first work for Volkswagen's Seat, from its new Lola office in Barcelona, Spain, takes acceleration to absurdist lengths.
A two-minute teaser ad that landed on YouTube this week features a guy in a high-back seat in front of a black acceleration pedal, albeit one detached from a car. It's connected to an engine, though, and as he depresses the pedal, a cluster of 280 toy monkeys also plugged in to the engine bizarrely start clanging the tiny cymbals in their hands. But as the guy presses down harder—creating a loud engine roar—the monkeys, sadly, burst into flames and explode into the air. "Only a Cupra can handle the engine of a Cupra," explains screen copy.
The ad then cuts to a thumbnail image of the Seat Leon Cupra and the fun tagline, “Enjoyneering.” It's just a teaser ad—the first of three—for a big campaign that rolls out next month. Let's hope the next one is kinder to kids' toys.
CREDITS
Client: Seat
Client Contact: Gabriele Palma, Jochen Dries
Creative Agency: Lola, Barcelona, Spain
Executive Creative Director: Chacho Puebla
Creative Directors: Néstor García, Nacho Oñate
Creative Team: Cristina Fité, Esther Matas, Miki Ocampo, Saray González
Agency Producer: Cristina Español
Global Business Director: Clark Steel
Account Supervisor: Alejandro Belloti
Production House: Blur
Director: Maxi Sterle
Producer: Pablo Acón
Postproduction House: Metropolitana
Sound Studio: Cannonball
Edits: Monkey, Washing Machine and Mechanical Bull
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Advertising Agency: Curry-Nation, Mumbai, India
Creative Director: Priti Nair
Art Director: Vaibhav Rane
Copywriters: Priti Nair, Sushant Dharwadkar
Illustrator: Sachin Ghanekar
Account Executives: Nagessh Pannaswami, Sheryl Roche
Studio: Vishal Pawar, Satish Bansode
The post Taste for Life by Curry Nation appeared first on desicreative.
It might seem strange that PepsiMAX based its second "Test Drive" prank video with Jeff Gordon around doubts some people had about the first one. But it turned out to be a creatively fruitful approach.
First, it was a way to draft off the success of the earlier megahit. It also gave the second video a strong narrative. (Gordon, again in disguise, takes one of the big doubters—Travis Okulski of auto blog Jalopnik—on a very real, hair-raising ride of his own.) And finally, in many ways it used Gordon's pride as an accelerator. This isn't a guy, after all, who would want you to think he couldn't do these stunts himself.
Following the release of "Test Drive 2" on Thursday morning, we spoke with Marc Gilbar, creative director at Omnicom's Davie Brown Entertainment/The Marketing Arm in Los Angeles, which concepted and handled creative execution on the new video. (Like the first one, this one was directed by Peter Atencio of Gifted Youth.)
Below, Gilbar tells us all about the production, from the genesis of the idea to the safety issues to the moment when Okulski almost kicks out the camera inside the taxi.
AdFreak: The first "Test Drive" video did so well. I suppose a sequel is a no-brainer.
Marc Gilbar: The first one was a huge hit. But as with any sequel, the difficulty is to do something fresh and original.
For every Godfather II, there's a Godfather III.
Exactly. It's tough. We did [PepsiMAX's] Uncle Drew, and that's one where we just tried to expand the narrative and create a story people would like. But that's harder to do with "Test Drive," because of the character.
Pepsi, to their credit, wanted to address the haters. Haters is a general term, because I don't think that characterizes Travis, the guy we actually used. But the Internet audience is a conspiracy-driven audience that will literally break down every moment of your video. We always got a lot of amusement out of that, but we thought a lot of people could relate to it, too—and if we could incorporate or reference it in some way, it would be fun for people.
There happened to be this incredible article following the release of the first video. I had noticed it at the time. And when we got the brief and started thinking about it, we went back and looked at it, and realized how great Travis was and his whole breakdown of the first video—everything from the sound of a V8 engine versus a V6 to the cup holders on this model of Camaro. It was pretty funny. We thought he would make a great mark for the second one.
You weren't involved in the first video, though.
No, [TBWA\Chiat\Day] did the first one. Pepsi will give a jump ball on a lot of these projects. The "Zero-Calorie Cola in Disguise" came out of Uncle Drew and sort of expanded into the world of racing. Chiat did that first one, which was great and a huge success. The second one was more of a jump ball, and we had this particular idea.
It's interesting to focus on claims that last year's ad was faked. Is that just a hook to get people in—to draw off the success of the last one?
Yeah, I think it was a way to take a new angle. Anything else would have felt like you were doing the same thing over again. I think the honesty of it is what makes it great. With a lot of these pranks, if the setup is earned and done right, it makes the prank that much more enjoyable. If you just saw Jeff take a random person on a crazy cab ride, it may be funny, I guess, but the fact that this one had a specific purpose makes the drive that much more fun for the audience.
Shortly after the first one, I spoke to the director, Peter Atencio. He could only say so much. But it's not the point of the second video to really address whether the first one was real or not, correct?
I think that's right. What drove it, to a large degree, is that Jeff really wanted to show his stuff. He's a competitor. In the second one, there's no doubt that he's the guy behind the wheel. And obviously he's very capable of taking Travis on a crazy ride. Jeff was very involved early on. To get a Nascar driver to pull something like this off, there would be a lot of hurdles, I think. But the fact that he was so excited about it made it possible.
How do you get a guy like Travis to do this unwittingly without signing a disclaimer?
Part of the thing about Travis in particular is that he's such a big auto enthusiast. There was a lot of talking with his friends and his editors and the people around him just to feel out what kind of a guy he was. He's such a great sport. There's always risks involved. But he loves cars, he loves racing, he races cars. And his friends and editors also said he's excitable. He's a guy who gets excited.
Well, that turns out to be very true.
Right, it's perfect. There's a lot of unknowns with something like this. We had one shot at it, which was kind of nerve-wracking. But we felt good about the course and the safety of the course. We had designed it and tested it several times the day before, and with Jeff. We made sure it was super safe. And Travis just seemed like the kind of guy who could be taken for a ride, but also kind of enjoy the whole thing. At the end, he even wanted to go and do it again. He wanted to drive. He's a true gearhead.
There's one moment where he kicks the divider. Were you worried he was going to dislodge the camera?
There are so many moments in there where we got really lucky, in the way he reacts. That one was totally unexpected. I believe his foot even covers the lens at one point. We tested our cameras. They're pretty durable. And we built that whole divider and reinforced it. At the time we were just sitting back and watching what was happening. We saw the camera was still working, so that was good.
You only have one take to get it right.
That's right. And there's really no way to fake this kind of thing. Watching it afterward, we saw that his reactions were pretty big, so we were confident that we got what we needed. And then we had a consumer on set who had won a test drive with Jeff Gordon. So after he had finished the drive with Travis, we put the contest winner in the car, and this teenager got to go around the course once, which was fun.
Was Jalopnik wary of being part of an advertisement?
They were very intent on keeping their journalistic integrity. I think they saw the potential for a great story. They were obviously super collaborative and really fun to work with. But they wanted to keep that wall up and make sure Travis wasn't compensated in any way. If you read his article, it doesn't really talk about the product or the campaign—just the experience. And that was the story for them. They got a great story out of it—what it was like for him.
What it was like was terrifying.
I read the article this morning, and he really breaks it down, which is his style. Every thought in his head. Afterward we all had the same questions for him: What were you thinking? And he said in those moments, you're not thinking. He's been responding to commenters on Twitter, people saying, "You didn't see the cameras?" And he's like, "No, I was scared for my life!"
I'm sure you're hoping this second video will be just as big as the first.
You know, that's a big number. Just the fact that people are sharing it and enjoying it is the goal. It's hard to really predict the numbers, but it seems like that's happening so far. We're excited about it.
You don't have to worry about Jalopnik criticizing it, anyway.
Right! We'll leave that to other people. There are plenty of other critics out there, I'm sure. We'll have to go after them some other time.
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Here's more billboard crack for you out-of-home addicts.
This fun digital subway ad in Sweden for hair-care products was rigged up to recognize when trains entered the station—and then showed a woman's hair blowing all around, as though windswept by the train. It's a simple, delightful effect—playful, responsive and seemingly magical in the way it erases the line between ad and environment.
Ad agency Akestam Holst and production company Stopp produced the ad for Apotek Hjärtat's Apolosophy products. Stopp in Stockholm says the ad was scheduled to be just a one-day stunt. But Clear Channel loved it so much that they kept it live for five more days "as a way for them to show the opportunities their screens can offer."
Via dsgnrt.net.
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Canadian snack maker Krispy Kernels had a sleeper hit a couple of years ago with its "Couch" commercial, a delightful bit of oddvertising that absconded from Cannes with a bronze Lion.
Now the brand is back with this amusing new ad, "Meditation," which mixes zen meditation with furtive snack eating, with unexpected results.
So much oddball work seems forced these days, but this stuff, from Quebec agency Lg2, is up there with the classic Skittles and Fruit by the Foot ads.
Credits below.
CREDITS
Client: Krispy Kernels
Spot: "Meditation"
Agency: Lg2, Quebec, Canada
Creative Director: Luc Du Sault
Copywriter: Andrée-Anne Hallé
Art Directors: Luc Du Sault, Andrée-Anne Hallé
Account: Mireille Côté, Sandie Lafleur
Director: François Lallier
Production House: Nova Film
Producer: Simon Corriveau
Sound Design: Boogie Studio
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Bacon is everywhere. (No, not Kevin Bacon.) And it seems everyone loves it—even pigs! It's so great, it once helped a man negotiate his way across the nation dealing exclusively in bacon. Thanks, Oscar Mayer. Now, the bacon craze is hitting the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies.
The IronPigs this week unveiled what I can only imagine was a highly anticipated bacon-themed Saturday uniform, which includes a bacon-strip logo on the cap, and a "first-of-its-kind" bacon-style piping down both legs of the pants. Check it out at the team's new site, smellthechange.com. For those of us who like to get a bit more bacon for our buck, we can purchase other innovative merchandise such as scratch-and-sniff bacon-logo T-shirts, now available online.
One has to wonder, though. What will this do to the IronPigs' vegetarian fan base? On second thought, who cares!? If they were vegetarians, they weren't real fans anyway.
If loving bacon is wrong, I don’t want to be right. http://t.co/tyRm2x1t26 #smellthechange pic.twitter.com/HYSClDtZ2g
— IronPigs (@IronPigs) February 24, 2014
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Droga5 is great and all, but it stands to reason, mathematically, that Droga500 would be one hundred times as awesome.
Nail, a small agency in Providence, R.I., invokes the hallowed names of Droga, Mother and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in a series of cheeky new recruitment ads that acknowledge the greatness of those agencies—and then invite you to apply to better versions of them.
Three job ads posted on Google+ include links to droga500.com, mmmmother.com (the "tastier" version of Mother) and goodbysilverstien.com, each of which links through to Nail's site, where you can either apply for a job there (or if you're an "angry attorney," connect with a guy named Jeremy, who can hopefully talk you down).
Says the agency: "We are a small creative shop that competes for talent with big, famous creative shops. So we figured if we can't inspire young creatives to apply for a job here, at least we might be able to confuse them into it.?"
Via Disco Chicken.
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You might think that Dior, after paying Jennifer Lawrence a lot of money to be an endorser, would want the woman in its new ad to look pretty obviously like Jennifer Lawrence. But not everyone is convinced she does.
The print ad above, featuring the actress, is drawing praise, but also some criticism for excessive Photoshopping. It's not on the usual social-ethical grounds but because, as Emily Leaman over at Philly Magazine suggests, the ad looks more like a "pre-pubescent 12-year-old boy than the strong, broad-shouldered, post-pubscent Jennifer Lawrence we know in movies like Silver Linings Playbook and The Hunger Games."
That's a bit of a rhetorical stretch, but you might find yourself blinking hard once or twice before you realize who it is. In reality, it's pretty clearly her—especially when you compare it to some of her early modeling photos. But it is fair to say that between the aggressive retouching (which she tends not to mind) and the haute trappings, Lawrence doesn't look much like the straight-talking girl next door image she's grown into.
Jessie Heyman over at Huffington Post, for her part, thinks Dior's new Lawrence looks like Leonardo DiCaprio circa Titanic. Then again, that might be a compliment … he was one of the prettiest young women in Hollywood.
More pics from Lawrence's new Dior campaign below.
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Hey, it's filmmaker Jason Headley! You might remember him from such short films as "It's Not About the Nail," and now he's lampooning the "It Gets Better" project with this mock PSA from people who peaked in high school.
"It Doesn't Get Better" has its moments—the IROC-Z guy and the brunette have great delivery—but it showed up kinda late to the party and isn't quite clever enough to compensate for that. Also, the whole nerdy teen/yacht owner thing almost never happens in reality.
If life in the workforce has taught me anything, it's that most high school nerds end up working for rich, thick-headed dudebros with MBAs.
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Philly-based ad agency Red Tettemer O'Connell + Partners is back to carving likeness of its new employees, but it's graduated from crayons to wooden totem poles.
The details of the faces are pretty rough in both mediums, but the new material is clearly more forgiving—if less endearingly weird. Still, particularly lucky hires get adorable paper-doll versions of themselves. It could be an apt bit of foreshadowing, as a career in the industry might leave them feeling flattened, or square anyways. Either approach, however, makes for a more fun welcome-to-the-office present than the usual nothing, and a far more entertaining gift to the world than a run-of-the-mill press release.
One downside (or perhaps it's an upside): One of the new hires can lay claim to literally being the low man on the totem pole.
As far as offbeat staff announcements go, though, RTO+P has some pretty stiff competition in Barton F. Graf 9000's airplane-banner method.
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Here's your clever media placement of the day: M&C Saatchi in Stockholm has advertised LG's OLED-TV, which is 4 millimeters thick, on the spine of electronics magazine Lyd & Bilde (Sound & Image), which is also 4 millimeters thick. Throw in a double-sided arrow, a line of copy and the LG logo, and you're done. Via Adland.
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Prashant Miranda grew up in Bangalore, studied at the national institute of design Ahmedabad and moved to Toronto, Canada. He is an artist, animator and scribe and balances his life between Canada and India. He documents his travels through his watercolour journals,
illustrates children’s books, paints murals and animates short films. His blog can be found here.
Why are you an Illustrator?
I love to draw and paint.
Did you attend school for fine art or design?
I studied at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, and specialised in Animation Film Design.
You have a distinct style of illustration. How long did it take you to develop your style?
I’ve been drawing and painting since I was a kid, and have been keeping a visual journal for 20 years now, so somewhere along the way I developed my style.
Were there any particular role models for you when you grew up?
Plenty of roll models. Anne Frank inspired me to start keeping a diary, Children’s illustrators like Quentin Blake, watercolour artists like David Gentleman, the drawings of Michaelangelo and Da Vinci. I learned a lot about colour from Van Gogh, and other sketchbook keepers like Dan Price and Danny Gregory. There are many more influences.
Who was the most influential personality on your career in Illustrations?
Hmmmm……I suppose I was hugely inspired by David Gentleman’s travel watercolours when I was younger. It’s tough to say who the most influential person was, as there are so many.
What made you decide to become a freelance illustrator? When did you start freelancing? Do you illustrate for advertising?
I didn’t decide to become a ‘freelance illustrator’ exactly. I decided to paint for a living.
I worked in the animation industry in Toronto for 4 years starting in 1999. I designed children’s animation films for TV. But the industry
sucked my soul, so I decided to pursue my passions of painting for a living. That was in 2004. So it’s been 10 years since I’ve been living off my art.
I don’t do much advertising. Mostly commissions, shows, children’s books and some editorial illustrations.
Are many advertising agencies getting illustrations made these days? Do you work more with agencies or publishers?
I work more with publishers. I don’t know much about advertising agencies.
Was there any time when you wanted to quit Illustrations?
There have been frustrating moments for sure, especially with some magazines in India. But it’s not made me want to quit illustrations, just made me not want to work with particular magazines.
Have you considered turning your illustrations into toys?
I’ve already done that.
Any other Indian Illustrators who you admire?
Mario Miranda
Do you have any favorite fellow illustrators or resources relating to your fields?
Danny Gregory is a wonderful friend, who has included me in several of his books of artists and their sketchbooks. He has asked me to be faculty in an online ‘Sketchbook Skool’.
You have such a wide experience as a top working professional. What advice do you have for aspiring creative professionals? Would you advise them to take on Illustration as a career option? Is it paying well enough?
Thank you. My advice is to follow your dream. 3 Ps are important for me……Passion, Practice and Perseverance. Take on illustration if you love doing it. I live as an artist. I take on projects that I connect with on a personal level, or suit my value system, I do not take on projects for the money. You have to work hard to make ends meet. No one said it would be easy.
What is your dream project?
To find a piece of land, and build my own home.
Mac or PC?
Mac.
Who would you like to take out for dinner?
Michael Stipe or Wes Anderson.
What’s on your iPod?
I don’t own an iPod.
The post Prashant Miranda: Interview with an Illustrator appeared first on desicreative.
Coca-Cola is really having a go at social media this week. Earlier, we had the Coke video that offered a fashionably questionable solution to social-media addiction. And now we have this ultra-peppy new global Coca-Cola Light commercial from ad agency Johannes Leonardo.
Its point is that "liking" things just isn't enough. You have to love them. And you have to love them enough to roll around in them, swing on them, set fire to them, dance with them, kiss them (with gold teeth, preferably) and float away to heaven with them.
Ambivalence toward the "like" is hardly a new stance for marketers, but here it's aggressively communicated with broad, boundless energy as well as other, smaller details—you'll notice there are no computers or smartphones anywhere, and someone is even (gasp) seen reading a book. (The song is "Love Me Again" by English artist John Newman.)
It's a fine message for Coke, really, although it makes the 79,691,932 people who like the brand on Facebook maybe look a little foolish.
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Hope stems from here.
Stem cells found in the Umbilical Cord and Cord blood have the potential to treat life-threatening renal disorders apart from a host of other degenerative conditions. By choosing to bank them, you not only secure your child’s future but also that of your entire family.
Advertising Agency: POINTBLANK Advertising, Mumbai, India
Director: Bindu Sujeesh
Creative Head: Sujeesh Sukumaran
Copy Head: Dr. Sapna Punjabi?
Art Directors: Sandesh Pawar, Pankaj Bhatia
Copywriters: Smruthy Nair, Guruguhan Iyer, Sherry Italia
Account Executive: Tulsi Bhandari?
Graphic Designer: Nilesh Sawant
Photographer: Nikhil Shivdikar
The post ReeLabs by PointBlank appeared first on desicreative.
Neil Patrick Harris goes all Miley Cyrus on a bottle of Neuro Sleep in this goofy music video for the brand's "Sleep With Neuro" campaign.
The video was directed by Jon Jon Augustavo, who also did Macklemore's "Thrift Shop" video, and has NPH in full Barney Stinson mode, silk pajamas and everything. I guess that nightshirt phase he went through didn't last.
There's a fair amount of corny R&B video tropes to be found here, both in the visuals and Neil's delivery, which is top notch as always. That's the nice thing about him—you never feel like he's phoning it in, no matter what ridiculous or beneath-his-talent thing he's doing.
NPH's appearance in the video came from a Neuro customer survey that asked people who they would like to have a slumber party with—35 percent of the responses went with Neil. It also didn't hurt that he and Neuro Sleep founder Diana Jenkins are friends.
Plus, How I Met Your Mother is finally finishing up, so he needs to keep the wolves off his doorstep somehow.
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If you saw a boy without a coat shivering alone at a bus stop, would you ask if he needed help? Would you lend him your gloves, scarf or jacket?
Commuters do just that for 11-year-old Johannes in this hidden-camera video from SOS Children's Villages Norway, which is seeking to raise awareness and funds to help Syrian children in need. "The goal was to touch upon the fear of becoming numb to crises that don't affect you directly," SOS rep Synne Rønning tells AdFreak.
In the film, shot over several hours on two freezing days in Oslo, the young actor tells adults that his jacket was stolen during a school trip to the city. "We were touched by the many people that got involved, and risked getting cold so Johannes could stay warm," says Rønning, adding that only three of the 25 or so people who shared the bus stop with him didn't try to help.
Indeed, it's moving to see commuters give him their coats and mufflers, especially when it leaves them in short sleeves on a winter day. "We were quite surprised as to what extent people would try to help the boy in trouble," says Rønning. "The campaign has worked as an eye opener—people who watch the campaign ask themselves: What would I do?"
The video, produced by Släger Kommunikasjon and Pure Content, doesn't explicitly address one significant issue—that you're more likely to help someone right in front of you than someone far away whose pain is more abstract. But it does memorably imply that really shouldn't matter.
Plus, it exudes genuine warmth, and that's something sorely missing from most over-the-top hidden-camera ad stunts.
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Samsung is keeping up with its favorite advertising pastime: beating up on Apple.
A new spot from 72andSunny takes aim at the iPad Air, poking fun at the grandiose Apple commercial, voiced by Bryan Cranston, that played hide the skinny tablet behind a pencil. In Samsung's cheekier version, the pencil isn't starting poems or finishing symphonies. It's cheating at golf, and getting stuck in ceilings. And hiding behind the iPad Air is an "even thinner" Galaxy tablet, with all kinds of extra whiz-bang features.
Given that Apple pretty much invented—and still leads—the category, it's a bit of an odd choice for Samsung to literally position its product in its rival's shadow. (As pretentious as Apple's tone can be, the brand does have some bragging rights as far as shaping culture goes.) Then again, Samsung's strategy seemed to work pretty well in the smartphone space, and the brand is gaining on Apple in tablet share—it's hard to argue with success, even if Samsung is starting to sound more smug itself.
A second new Samsung spot offers a side-by-side comparison of LeBron James on an iPhone and a Galaxy smartphone. That ad does a better job of staying out of its own way and getting to its point (simply put, that the Galaxy is way better). Still, it's hard to see a stylus pen without thinking of a Palm Pilot … and nothing says 2014 like Palm Pilot.
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Funny how Alex Bogusky is still seeing opportunities where brands and agencies are missing them. Case in point: A recent tweet to Liberty Mutual urging the insurance company—whose Winter Olympics ads are all about overcoming setbacks—to make a commercial about Heidi Kloser, the U.S. skier who was badly injured the day before the Sochi Games began.
USA Today has the story. "It was pretty much a no-brainer," says Bogusky, a fellow Coloradan and a big fan of Kloser's. He sent a direct message to Liberty Mutual, which got its agency, Havas Worldwide, working on a commercial. They filmed Kloser, 21, at home in Vail, Colo., where she had returned for surgery and rehab on her knee. Her parents appear, too, and recall Heidi's poignant question to them after the injury. (You probably remember Kloser walking with the help of crutches during the Opening Ceremony.) The ad, which you can see below, will air Wednesday night during NBC's Olympic coverage.
"At Liberty Mutual, we believe that with every setback, there's a chance to come back. And rise," says the voiceover for the company's anthem spot (also posted below), which has been running throughout the Games.
That fits Kloser perfectly, as she is already looking to 2018—although, as she admits to USA Today, "I'd rather star in a commercial because I won a gold medal."
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