Hasta La Creative!

There's two ways to go with animal ads: funny and poignant. Understandably, most choose the former—animals, after all, can be pretty damn funny. But the poignant ads, when done well, can get even more attention. We've seen this time and again over the years—notably, with Purina's 2012 "Inside Every Good Dog Is a Great Dog" spot, which left viewers a blubbering mess. This new 60-second anthem commercial from Petco, by new lead agency Vitro, fits into that tradition, going beyond the laughs into what's special about the bond between man and beast.

The ad ushers in a "brand transformation focused on going beyond providing great products and services to becoming a purpose-driven company focused on nurturing the powerful relationship between people and their pets," says Petco. "The approach is to be the first in the pet care retail environment to inject the power of emotion into the retail experience." The new brand platform, called "The Power of Together," "seeks to showcase how the power of that bond with our pets is like no other, and therefore is at the heart of Petco's promise: to nurture that connection completely, mind and body," the company adds.

The campaign plays off the "co" in Petco, positioning humans and their pets as companions, collaborators and copilots in life. The $10 million-plus campaign includes TV as well as social and email, followed by experiential in-store events and other engagement in 2014.

Why do people make video trailers for novels? They never really work, and this new one for Thomas Pynchon's Bleeding Edge is an especially sobering reminder of how ineffective they are. Pynchon—who narrated the trailer for his prevous novel, Inherent Vice—isn't a cinematic writer in the best of times (I consider that a strength), and he's also not a jerk-ass hipster—which makes this video of some guy wandering around his neighborhood in a "Hi, I'm Tom Pynchon" shirt all the more unappealing. Maybe it's for the best that Pynchon is so reclusive, since he's willing to put his name on stuff like this. Via Kottke.

The bond among true friends is one forged of iron—hardened, powerful and time-tested. Nothing strengthens that bond more than friendly competition—testing your physical abilities, challenging and pushing each other despite your disadvantage. Guinness captures the true essence of friendship in this poignant spot with a twist ending, part of its "Made of More" campaign. What's more, it's accomplished in less than 20 words. The music is The Cinematic Orchestra's 2007 track "To Build a Home." Agency: BBDO, New York.

Here's a fun bit of false advertising from Crispin Porter + Bogusky for Kraft Mac & Cheese.

After 75 years, the brand is adding four new flavors: Garlic & Herb Alfredo, Buffalo Cheddar, Three Cheese Jalapeño and Cheesy Southwest Chipotle. They flavors were just invented, but Kraft wants them to feel like they've been around forever—as rich in history and nostalgic in feel as the original. So, it has invented a whole imagined history around them—one that never existed. "Even though it's new, it's nostalgic. It's new-stalgic," the agency explains.

Over at new-stalgic.com, you can scroll through a whole historical timeline of vintage photos, videos and ads dating back to 1938, showing milestones in the history of the four flavors. Seems they've been a fond part of everyone's life for decades, despite not actually being in anyone's life ever. As they say, never forget the times you can't remember.

The campaign extends to Pandora, where a radio station, New-stalgic Tunes, will play new covers of old hits, and of course to Facebook, where the brand is having fun updating past decades of its timeline.

1954

1975

1983

1987

2003

2013

Stimorol Sensations, a South African gum that appears to be the same thing as Trident Layers, claims to be the most indulgent gum in the universe. In its latest spot by Ogilvy Cape Town, an office drone pops the layered gum, slips away into an indulgent fantasy of synchronized swimmers and fruit waterfalls that cop a feel, and, of course, walks across water to play a saxophone duet with a parrot. The whole thing was put together using an indulgent set that included 30 tons of pink goo. Check out the behind-the-scenes video for shots of the set and a delightfully unenlightening interview with the quirky director, Trevor Clarence. Credits below.

CREDITS
Client: Stimorol Sensations
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Cape Town, South Africa
Executive Creative Director: Chris Gotz
Associate Creative Director: Tommy Le Roux
Creative Group Head: Prabashan Panther
Agency Producer: Anthea Beylis
Art Directors: Reijer van der Vlugt, Matthew Pullen
Copywriters: Justin Osburn, Dean Paradise
Production Company: Your Girlfriend
Director: Trevor Clarence
Executive Producer: Linda Bogle
Postproduction: Black Ginger
Sound Design: We Love Jam
Voiceover Artist: Adam Behr

Skittles continues to walk the line between cute and creepy. How successfully it does so is, of course, a matter of personal taste. This new spot from DDB Chicago, "Skittles Smile," sets my choppers on edge for some reason, but I'm about 96 years past the target demo, and it probably works just fine for its intended audience. The ad's high-school-age heroine clearly savors the flavor of her deep-kiss encounter with a boy who has Skittles for teeth. (Were his baby teeth Pez?) The girl is played by Laura Spencer, who has gained a following from her role in The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, an Internet reboot of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Spencer also appears in a current Sprint commercial, though swapping spit with her co-star in that one would've been a grave mistake. Credits below.

Behind the scenes of the new skittles "SMILE" commercial aka best wrap surprise ever! http://t.co/xMhcRT2YA2

— Laura Spencer (@itslauraspencer) September 3, 2013

CREDITS
Client: Mars/Skittles
Agency: DDB, Chicago
Senior Vice President, Executive Creative Director: Mark Gross
Creative Director, Copywriter: Kathleen Tax
Creative Director, Art Director: Marisa Groenweghe
Vice President, Producer: Will St. Clair
Production Manager: Scott Terry
Vice President, Senior Account Director: Kate Christiansen
Vice President, Account Director: Gwen Hammes
Account Executive: Jennifer Marks
Account Manager: Trace Schlenker
Senior Vice President, Group Strategy Director: David "Chizzy" Chriswick

Product: Fedrigoni Freelife Series, a type of paper that is certified for a long life.

Problem: PrismPapyrus wanted to convey the availability and the characteristics of this paper to its existing and prospective clients. But they only had a budget of $1500 to do this. The limited budget put mass media out of the equation. So this is how we did it.

Solution: We sent their clients a DIY direct mailer, printed on the Fedrigoni Freelife paper, of course. It let them create little paper models of endangered species that they could put on their desks and thus preserve them for a long time. The DM did its job and conveyed the long-lasting character of the paper in the most interesting manner.

Results: There was a sharp surge in the inquiries for Fedrigoni Freelife Series and nearly 30% of those resulted in sales for PrismPapyrus.

Advertising Agency: Eleven Brandworks, Mumbai, India
Founder Director: Prateek Bhardwaj
Creative Directors: Abhishek Dey, Sambit Mishra, Virendra Tivrekar
Art Directors: Virendra Tivrekar, Sanjog Karulkar
Copywriter: Saurabh Sawant
Photographer: Farzan Randelia
Illustrator: Sachin Kondhalkar
Director: Sarfaraz Patel
Brand Manager: Abbas Sikandar

The post Prism Papyrus by Eleven appeared first on desicreative.

Chocolate is both the medium and message in this Milka campaign from Paris agency Buzzman. Some 10 million of the chocolatier's flagship Alpine milk bars destined for sale in France and Germany, the brand's biggest markets, were cast in new molds for a September promotion. Each bar is missing a single chocolate square, though the overall 100-gram weight has been maintained, as the remaining squares are a tad larger. Using a code on each package, consumers can either request the missing squares for themselves … or send them to someone else, along with a "tender note" explaining the gift. (The offer is actually subject to local weather conditions, to avoid melting.) Milka says the effort is designed to let people truly experience its "Dare to be tender" tagline. It's a clever idea, but you know … even with a note, I'm not so sure I'd really get the point from a single, tiny chocolate square. If your feelings are so tender, just send me the whole bar! I'm partial to almonds. Also, caramel. A carton would be nice. Via Adverve.

Monistat used "granny panties" in a recent ad as a metaphor for how women feel when they have a yeast infection. Now, though, after supposed complaints from the granny-panty-wearing community, Monistat is backtracking. On a new grannypanties.org website, the pharma brand—perhaps inspired by maxipad maker Bodyform's faux contrition—has issued the following heartfelt apology that's anything but heartfelt:

To the makers and wearers of granny panties everywhere, we here at Monistat offer our sincerest apologies.
     By helping millions of women feel like their sexy selves faster, we've seen some unintended repercussions. We have painted your treasured unmentionables in an unflattering light, and as a result, the market for bloomers is dwindling by the day, and the international granny panty industry has fallen on tough times.
     And though there will always be some who choose to allow their undergarments to ride up to their lower back for all to see, this does not mean they should be judged. Their choice of comfort over conformity is a bold one. Those very hip-huggers helped pave the way for the g-strings, thongs, and boyshorts of today.
     But the days of 10-gallon skivvies and support that stretches for yards are coming to an end. And honestly, we're not all that sad to see them go.

Monistat, of course, manufactured both the controversy and the apology. But it's nicely executed by ad agency Allen & Gerritsen. Particularly amusing is the accompanying video on the website depicting a faux talk show, Box Talk with Kitty Montgomery, in which women square off from both sides of the granny-panty debate. Check out the video below.

Zombie Boy rises again!

L'Oréal's Dermablend cosmetics brand got 13 million YouTube views for its 2011 "Go Beyond the Cover" video starring the über-tattooed Rick Genest. So, it's no surprise they've reunited, this time for an iOS app that tells the story behind the Canadian artist and model's body illustrations while touting Dermablend products.

3-D technology lets users "Uncover Zombie Boy" by clicking on his tattoos. (You can demo the app on the web here.) For example, Genest informs us that he holds world records for the 178 bugs and 138 bones emblazoned on his skin, and that getting his hands done at age 19 was a "point of no return" because "you can't really get a job at a coffee shop anymore." The app lets you turn Genest's corpse-like image this way and that, and zoom in and out, but I was kind of hoping it would give me complete control of him, so I could make him my zombie slave to do my evil bidding. Maybe next time.

Oh, you can also overlay the deep, dark eyeholes and exposed teeth and gums of his skull tattoo on a photo of your own face to see what you'd look like if you, too, never wanted to get a job at a coffee shop again. When I tried it, I basically looked the same. Too many late nights reviewing ads and apps, I guess.

Now, on one level, "Uncover Zombie Boy" provides a fascinating interactive portrait of Genest's outer and inner self. But of course, this isn't a purely creative endeavor. It exists to sell Dermablend's concealing makeup, which was famously used in the viral hit video two years ago to cover up Genest's tattoos and make it look like his skin had never know the sting of the needle. In the new app, large letter D's that appear beside his image yield information about the Dermablend products that correspond to his various body parts.

Some have pointed out the incongruity of a fierce nonconformist like Genest, who, needless to say, really stands out in a crowd, shilling for an outfit that brags about being "the No. 1 dermatologist recommended camouflage brand." Still, the guy's gotta make a living. If he's satisfied that he hasn't "sold out," who are we to draw conclusions?

Via PSFK.

See the original Dermablend video with Genest below.