USA Today has begun promoting several columnists in short YouTube videos—the most entertaining of which stars Michael Wolff, erstwhile Adweek editor and current writer for USA Today's Money section. In the spot, Wolff's takes-no-prisoners reputation has one suit literally running scared—he uses a grappling hook and rope to flee his office building upon hearing that the columnist has arrived and wants a word. Alas, they meet on the sidewalk, and the man barks, "This is off the record!"—as Wolff, nonplussed, silently tries to comprehend the man's desperation. The voiceover, echoed in on-screen copy, says: "Read Michael Wolff. And thank your lucky stars he's not writing about you." Commercial acting—is it everything Wolff expected and more? "All in a day's shamelessness," he tells AdFreak. See the paper's ads for columnists Christine Brennan and Susan Page below.
Here's a simple, clever and well-executed idea from our friends in Iceland. Agency Brandenburg partnered with the Icelandic Cancer Society to paint a looping highway ramp pink in celebration of Cancer Awareness Month. While only truly visible from the air, the bright pink street paint was still quite attention-grabbing for Reykjavík motorists, as you can see in the case study video below.
Got a pet on the prowl? Afraid Sparky's a sex addict? Then Animal Instinct Pet Condoms are for you. Too bad they're also fictional. Outdoor and online, the San Francisco SPCA is trolling people with the ridiculous concept of animal condoms to draw attention to the serious issue of pet overpopulation. When you try to dig deeper on the site to learn how to talk to your pet about protection, the site reminds you that the only real way to fix the problem is to spay and neuter. The fact is, of the 6 to 8 million pets that land in shelters each year, barely half are adopted. The rest get euthanized. So before the situation gets even more out of hand, go ahead and lop off Fido's joy berries. It's a lot easier than putting a rain jacket on his junk every time you go to the doggy park.
Does talking to plants really help them grow? It's a question that, I'm sure, keeps us all awake at night. Luckily, Carmichael Lynch and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science have launched a social experiment (and marketing effort) called "Talk to a Plant," to probe this very issue.
One plant at the museum will "hear" tweets converted into human speech by an Arduino-based device. Another plant sits in silence nearby. Both are watered and tended to by staff. Which will grow stronger and healthier?
To take part in this odd experiment, just visit TalktoaPlant.com, log into your Twitter account and send the plant a message. Checking tweets via #talktoaplant, it seems that most folks, naturally enough, are sending their love and encouragement, bidding the green guy to grow big and strong.
Sending a note all the way from London, @ItsSeanBone gets into the spirit of things: "Plant, you're becoming famous. Make sure you keep yourself grounded." Heh. Plant humor. Not all the tweets are words of encouragement, though. "You deserve to die, plant," posts Parisian visitor @SylvainPaley. Sounds like someone needs a hug.
The campaign runs through Jan. 6, 2014, corresponding with "MythBusters: The Explosive Exhibition" at the museum, a tie-in with the long-running Discovery Channel science show.
On the site, there are constant updates on each plant's health and growth. Leaf peepers can even enjoy a 24/7 live plant-cam. (Oddly, there's no tie-in with Vine.)
It's definitely a fun, creative way to build traffic and engage new audiences with a topic as dry as natural science, though the setup seems a tad sadistic. The budding star gets all those tweets from well-wishers, while the other guy's trapped in a silent hell. C'mon, dude, grow—I'm rootin' for ya!
In "Granite State," the penultimate episode of Breaking Bad's final season, Saul Goodman, contemplating his future with a new identity away from New Mexico, makes an offhand reference to a certain cinnamon-roll chain. "If I'm lucky," he says, "in a month from now, best-case scenario, I'm managing a Cinnabon in Omaha."
It took a little while, but naturally, a manager at a Cinnabon in Omaha couldn't let that go without a response.
A spokesperson for Cinnabon confirmed to Consumerist that the sign above, outside an Omaha location, is real and was approved by corporate. It might not be the most stunning creative execution, but kudos to the manager for making the most of what, in the end, wasn't the most flattering reference. (Perhaps he took his cues from the Belize Tourism Board, which earlier in the season embraced a very unflattering mention on Breaking Bad—the use of the phrase "taking a trip to Belize" as a euphemism for getting murdered.)
Cinnabon corporate was quicker to respond to Saul's quip. Check out the tweet below, linking to Cinnabon's careers page, made on the very night "Granite State" aired.
We've seen only a handful of the 70 videos that Dodge filmed as part of its Ron Burgundy campaign for the Durango. But it appears the campaign will have a real-time response element, too. Check out the video below. It stars a talking horse who replies to a Breeders' Cup tweet from Monday about how Burgundy underestimated the horsepower of a horse when he compared it to that of a Durango in one of the launch spots. Funny stuff. And this is in addition to the batch of spots that Jake Szymanski filmed—making a big campaign even bigger. We'll see how far they take it.
Steinlager, New Zealand's biggest export beer, is concerned about the growing trend at house parties and fraternities everywhere that starts off with people drinking and ends up with people drawing genitalia on the face of the first of the passed-out-wasted.
"Be the artist, not the canvas" (aka, "Party hard, but not too hard, y'all"), Steinlager urges in print ads and a YouTube video from DDB in Auckland. The spot serves as a PSA to partygoers everywhere by showing cleverly, strategically and mortifyingly placed drawings on bodies. A bra on a topless dude. A monocle on a face. A face on a bald head.
But wait, "Be the artist"? So Steinlager wants us to draw on unconscious people, but not be drawn on ourselves? I'm confused. I may need a drink.
Now, on to questions of heavier significance: Where do people get all these Sharpies when they're out partying?
CREDITS Client: Steinlager Agency: DDB, Auckland, New Zealand Executive Creative Director: Andy Fackrell Creative Director: Chris Schofield Art Director: Gavin Siakimotu Copywriter: Natalie Knight Account Director: Susie Darling Photographer: Troy Goodall Account Manager: Jonathan Rea Photographer, Producer: Michele Richards
It may go without saying that NFL fans have an insatiable desire to get close to their gridiron heroes, whether that means having them coach a local peewee team or teaching them a customized victory dance. Some of those fantasies work out better than others, according to new spots from BBDO and Atmosphere Proximity for longtime NFL sponsor Visa.
As part of a season-stretching promotion to give fans an ultimate NFL experience, Visa is gathering fans' dreams on Twitter and Instagram under the hashtag #MyFootballFantasy. Not all of those will revolve around goofy end-zone movements, if luck is on the players' sides. The dreams could be anything, really, but they're capped at a cash value of $100,000. Plenty of leeway there?
Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones stars in a BBDO spot that broke this week for the ongoing campaign, where the origins of his victory shuffle are revealed. Hint: chubby superfan with a white-guy overbite. (In a bit of bad timing for Visa, Jones's season could actually be over already due to injury.) Still to come: New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees fulfilling another sample fantasy. The real winners will emerge before the Super Bowl.
Check out the Jones spot below and the kickoff for the promo, a commercial with San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh going medieval on some pint-sized football players. Dad didn't think that one through very well.
CREDITS Client: Visa Spot: "Dance Fever" Agencies: BBDO, New York; Atmosphere Proximity, New York Chief Creative Officer: David Lubars Executive Creative Directors: Toygar Bazarkaya, Tom Markham Associate Creative Directors: Kim Baskinger, Rey Martinez Art Director: Jamie McGaw Copywriter: Mike Folino Group Executive Producer: Brian Mitchell Executive Music, Radio Producer: Loren Parkins Associate Producer: Georgie Turner
Senior Account Director: Olivia Farr Group Account Director: Mark Pileggi Account Director: Joe Prota Account Manager: Jessica Sinto
Agency: MRY Associate Creative Director: Ben Waldman Account Supervisor: Ariel Feigenbaum Production Assistant: Samantha McGrane
Production Company: Traktor Director: Traktor Executive Producer: Richard Ulfvengren Head of Production: Rani Melendez
Editing Company: Rock Paper Scissors Editor: Carlos Arias Producer: Lauren Cancelosi
Visual Effects: MPC
Audio Mix: Sonic Union Mixer: Michael Marinelli Mixer: Paul Weiss
Velocity Sports & Entertainment Senior Manager: Kevin Solomon
As we've mentioned before, Activision and Interscope brought together two of its juggernaut franchises—Call of Duty and Eminem—for a cross-marketing push promoting the game's new Ghosts title and the rapper's upcoming album MMLP2 (short for Marshall Mathers LP 2). Today, the music video rolled out for Eminem's song "Survival," which is on the Call of Duty: Ghosts soundtrack. The video, which is a collaboration with Activision agency 72andSunny, is basically a four-and-a-half minute commercial for the game, with footage from it sprinkled throughout. (Ant Farm supplied the gameplay footage for the spot.) Eminem worked with Activision in 2009 on Modern Warfare 2 and in 2010 on Black Ops. For much more on the partnership, check out Sam Thielman's earlier story, linked above. For the video, see below (warning: explicit lyrics).
Two premium meats—Kate Upton and Snoop Dogg—team up for this wildly ludicrous new music video for Hot Pockets, which humorously remixes Biz Markie's 1989 hit single "Just a Friend (You Got What I Need)" as "You Got What I Eat."
Lines like "I need your hot buttery crust" and "It's my premium meats that make your lips sing a song" are mixed in with lots of marijuana references and psychedelic imagery to produce a crispy finished product that's both fake and flavorful—just like Hot Pockets.
"I love working with the Hot Pockets sandwiches team," Snoop says in a statement. "They let me do what I do and bring the funk out with their message, you know? We needed to top [previous video] 'Pocket Like It's Hot,' and this video is so dope. It's funnier, and we got the flyest girl in it with me."
"I love the premium meats and the buttery seasoned crusts of the new Hot Pockets sandwiches," adds Upton. "I'm excited to hear which side the fans pick in this IRRESISTIBLY HOT™ battle!"
She's referring to a public vote being held at hotpockets.com pitting #TeamCrust against #TeamMeat in a battle to the death over which Pocket part is preferable.
Full lyrics below.
FULL LYRICS: One, two, three to the heat Stop counting sheep, And move your feet to the beat I bet you're wonderin' "Who are you?" The baker who made new HOT POCKETS come true Now let me give you an introduction To the Master Baker of this production You know he bakes here You know he bakes there He be baking all day I bake everywhere Wanna bake with me? Then come on in We light up taste buds From beginning to end My buttery seasoning so hip It drips Tastes so good Gotta lick your lips Smell my savory garlic but don't disturb The garden where I grow flavor-fantastic-al herbs …his flavor-fantastical herbs. – YOU… YOU Got What I Eeeeaaattt! You say you're just a baker But you're my HOT POCKETS maker
Oh baby, YOU… YOU Got What I Eeeeaaattt! You got the hot buttery crust I need your hot buttery crust – Hold up, hold up My friend's gotta beef with you Take a step back baker The Butcher's coming through I see you like the crust well I like it too But without my premium meats You got nothing to chew See I'm the Master Butcher And I bow down to zero Online they call me The 8-Bit hero I fly cross the land So my flocks are protected Try to come for my beef And ya gonna get rejected Cuz if you step to me Ya gonna get stuck As your head takes a buck From pepperoni nun-chucks He's got premium meats, The cream of the crop Welcome to my B.I.G.G. Butcher's shop…..ya heaarrdd – YOU… YOU Got What I Eeeeaaattt! You make the Steak and Cheese That brings me to my knees
Oh baby, YOU… YOU Got What I Eeeeaaattt! The flavor is so sweet You know how to spice that meat – Now I know the Butcher Likes to take credit for the show But there's a reason that my bakery Is rollin' in the dough Listen little baby Don't fall for the cuts It's the buttery crust That makes you want it so much
Don't listen to him, girl He's been baking too long It's my premium meats, that make your lips sing a song When that sauce heats up The pepperonis do the rest It's exactly why my new HOT POCKETS are the best – No no no… YOU, both Got What I Eeeeaaattt! I love your buttery crust But I love that meat just as much
Oh YOU… both Got What I Eeeeaaattt! You got all my hot treats You both make me complete
Telling the average adult to skip meat, or at least eat mutton instead of beef, is a pretty tough sell. But European designer and water-conservation advocate Angela Morelli is definitely up to the challenge with her interactive infographic, "The Water We Eat."
Morelli uses clear explanations and minimalist graphics to explain how the processes behind food production mean we each essentially "eat" 3,496 liters (923 gallons) of water per day. Most jarringly, she contrasts the fact that we use only 137 liters a day for bathing, cleaning, cooking and flushing, while the process of creating one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of beef requires 15,400 liters (4,068 gallons) of water.
Although Morelli created the infographic last year based on a presentation she had been delivering internationally, the site is still gathering momentum and reaching new audiences, such as the social-causes marketing blog Osocio. One reason for the graphic's success in changing perspectives is the practicality of Morelli's proposed solutions: Avoid wasting food; skip meat at least one day a week; and try to buy grass-fed meats.
Mysterious billboards have appeared in New York and San Francisco bearing the message that "Your data should belong to the NSA." As Gothamist astutely points out, it already does, regardless of any shoulds or should-nots. Animal New York did a little sleuthing and discovered this is some kind of teaser campaign for a company that will be revealed this week. A second billboard in New York reads, "The Internet should be regulated." ("For now, I am respecting the creative campaign and reserving comment on who the advertiser is," a Clear Channel rep told Animal.) So, two questions: Who's the advertiser? And don't they know needling the NSA is a bad idea? Photo via The Dusty Rebel.
Focus sur le créatif Hedi Xandt qui a imaginé des sculptures très variées et impressionnantes. Mélangeant les styles et les matières avec beaucoup de talent, l’artiste nous invite à découvrir son univers sombre et intense. Plus d’images et de détails sur son portfolio et dans la suite de l’article.
Prankvertising can be annoying. Aggressively messing with people for questionable purposes is, after all, obnoxious behavior. But when it promotes something that is intended itself to be scary, it can be irresistible.
In that vein, Thinkmodo is getting rather good at public horror-movie stunts. First, it got a creepy chick to literally bend over backwards in a beauty salon for The Last Exorcism Part II. Now, it gets another creepy chick to show off freaky telekinetic superpowers in a coffee shop for Carrie—the upcoming horror film based on Stephen King's 1974 novel.
The looks on the patrons' faces are priceless. (For a change, it's not difficult to imagine these are real people, rather than actors.) Not insignificantly, the stunt ties seamlessly into the product, too—terrifying people also happens to be the point of the movie.
And there's a levity here, too—unlike, say, stunts for flat-screen TVs that make you think the world is ending.
As we mentioned on Friday, Ferrell has filmed some spots for the Dodge Durango as his Anchorman character ahead of the release of Paramount Pictures' Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. Check out the first six spots below. The first few aired on TV this weekend, and Ferrell perfects the role of comically idiotic pitchman—with help from a roomy glove box and a "worthless" horse. The ballroom spots will premiere tonight on Dancing With the Stars.
Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Ore., worked with Funny or Die writers on the scripts. FoD's production arm, Gifted Youth, which also produced Ferrell's famously offbeat Old Milwaukee ads, teamed with Caviar to co-produce this work. This is just the beginning, too. Chrysler chief marketing officer Olivier Francois told the ANA Masters of Marketing conference in Phoenix on Friday that this is "just a little appetizer," and that Chrysler was producing another 67 videos for the Web. "It's massive," he said.
CREDITS Client: Dodge Durango
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore. Creative Directors: Aaron Allen, Kevin Jones, Michael Tabtabai Copywriter: Mike Egan Art Director: John Dwight Interactive Art Director: Chuck Carlson Producer: Monica Ranes Account Team: Kyleen Caley, Lani Reichenbach Business Affairs Manager: Dusty Slowik Executive Producer: Corey Bartha Executive Creative Directors: Joe Staples, Susan Hoffman Head of Production: Ben Grylewicz
Co-Writing Company: Funny or Die
Production Companies: The Gifted Youth, Caviar Director: Jake Syzmanski Executive Producers (Gifted Youth): Chris Bruss, Dal Wolf, Josh Martin, Ryan McNeely Executive Producers (Caviar): Jasper Thomlinson, Michael Sagol Line Producer: Stephan Mohammed Director of Photography: Tim Hudson
Editing Company: Arcade Editor: Geoff Hounsell Post Producer: Leslie Carthy Post Executive Producer: Nicole Visram
Visual Effects Company: Method Visual Effects Supervisor: Ben Walsh Lead Flame Artist: Claus Hansen Visual Effects Producer: Colin Clarry Executive Producer: Robert Owens Titles, Graphics: Trailer Park, W+K Motion
Color Correction: Company 3 Colorist: Dave Hussey DI Producer: Denise Brown
Song: “Grazing in The Grass,” The Friends of Distinction
Mix Company: Barking Owl Mixer: Brock Babcock Producer: Kelly Bayett
The smart watch—it's not just the stuff of science fiction anymore! But Samsung takes you back to the sci-fi wrist gadgets of yore (or rather, of the future) in this highly enjoyable new spot from 72andSunny for the new Galaxy Gear. Fictional watches from shows like The Jetsons, Star Trek, Dick Tracy and Inspector Gadget remind you just how long we've been waiting for this technology to arrive. Interestingly, in its use of clips from old TV shows and movies, this creative approach is similar to—though in some ways the inverse of—Apple's very first iPhone commercial. Whereas this new spot suggests we're catching up to the watches of the future, that one said we were saying goodbye to the phones of the past. See two more new Galaxy Gear spots below. (The "Evolution" spot is by 72andSunny; the "In the Wild" video is not.)
Ever have that dream where you look down and realize you're wearing only your underwear? Not me. That dream's for losers. The people in Crispin Porter + Bogusky's first work for Fruit of Loom don't seem to mind it, though. In fact, they've never felt better.
One ad features a pit crew at a racetrack working in their boxers, as jokey narration assures us, "This crew's not having to recalibrate their own nuts and bolts in front of 20 million fans." In another, stuntwoman Mickey Facchinello, clad in bra and panties, leaps from exploding buildings and over exploding cars while shooting a ninja-commando movie, as we're warned, "Do not attempt unless you’re a professional on a closed course wearing the right underwear." Ha ha, "professional" is such a funny word. The "Start Happy" tagline reinforces the message that beginning with the right underwear makes everything better.
In a related promotion, the brand is offering free underwear to thousands of LinkedIn users who find new employment in October. (They might consider wearing proper business attire over those freebies on the first day, just in case.)
The accent throughout is on comfort, never a bad strategy for the category, though the goofy Fruit of the Loom mascots are sorely missed. (Rock on, Giant Singing Apple—I love you, man!) The new stuff is certainly fun and fresh—one hopes it's fresh, at any rate. Still, it doesn't quite scale the dizzying heights of Paul Smith's recent underwear endeavor.
Soiling their skivvies is not an option for slackliners Antoine Moineville and Tancrède Melet as they perform mind-bogglingly dangerous stunts 2,500 meters above the ground in the French Alps for a video promoting Paul Smith underwear's autumn/winter collection. (For all you Americans, 2,500 meters works out in feet to, roughly … lemme see … carry the one, OK … super freaking high.) Clad in Paul Smith fashions throughout, Moineville and Melet wind up in nothing but boxers as they bounce around spiky, snow-capped cliffs, tightrope-walk above lofty gorges and do handstands on mountaintops.
The three-minute clip was created to "celebrate the vibrancy" of the brand, and it ranks as a finely crafted, compelling piece of content that in some ways transcends its marketing mission. Since this is, ultimately, a commercial posted online, there's really no tension in the central concept. We know the daredevils won't take any tragic headers into the valley below; everything will turn out just fine. And yet, the clip is so well done, it still manages to evoke an edge-of-your-seat aura. (I got so caught up in the action, I forgot they wouldn't die. And I mean that as a sincere compliment.)
Of course, the performers deserve most of the credit, but props also to producer/director Sébastien Montaz-Rosset for his crisp, documentary-style photography. This is achieved, in part, by using a very cool James Bond-ian drone camera copter, which we see hovering around Moineville and Melet in "Behind the Scenes" footage that's just as riveting as the main video.
It's worth contrasting Paul Smith's approach with another recent high-altitude brand-content "thriller" that I found far less effective. This summer, the first installment of Range Rover's "The Driven Challenges" series starred stunt racer Paul Dallenbach setting a speed record on Pikes Peak. Though well made, that effort fell flat by overloading on Hollywood-style editing, narration and music cues to build suspense. In the Paul Smith video, the cinematography is awesome but simple, allowing the action to unfold naturally with few distractions. The music by British duo Snakehips isn't ever intrusive. Sometimes we just hear the wind. And overt branding is kept to an absolute minimum.
Moreover, watching this clip makes me realize that I have never been truly alive … not for one single second of my sedentary, risk-averse earthbound existence.
I salute you, nearly naked Alpine acrobats! Writing the post in my tighty whities, sitting cross-legged on my comfy couch, I salute you!
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
