The stats suggest you've probably watched this already, but here it is again—the official gameplay video for Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V, coming Sept. 17. Gaming spots often blow up quickly online, but the engagement with this one since its release on Tuesday is staggering—7 million views already, and more than 230,000 shares, according to Unruly Media. It's an interesting spot, too, with a woman's voice narrating as we get a comprehensive look at the fully revamped game, which includes three lead characters, a more fully realized Southern California landscape, and a dual-environment structure that lets you toggle between heists and open-world exploration. The trailer is the perfect mix of informative and exciting. And the game quite simply looks badass.
Witness the cautionary prankvertising in this viral spot for a Belgian bank warning you not to give out financial information online. Recounting more than just a simple case of credit-card fraud, the video shows how one truly creepy guy befriends an ordinary Belgian dude on Facebook—who was stupid enough to give out his deets in response to a phishing email—and tries to steal his life. Not content to post hilarious or insulting messages on the poor guy's hacked Facebook page, creepy bank rep has facial prosthetics made so he looks exactly like his victim, and starts posting pictures that the guy's wife probably won't find too funny. Then the doppelgänger orders an antique harp, has it delivered and signs for it, eventually appearing face to face with our our woebegotten protagonist to serious freak the crap out of him. Duval Guillaume Modem, the same agency that was behind "A Dramatic Surprise on a Quiet Square," brings the whole thing to life in a chilling way. Those who heed the warning can check out tips at safeinternetbanking.be to make sure they don't become the subject of the next freakishly disturbing identity theft.
Those still annoyed by Roxy's sexualized portrayal of a woman athlete will enjoy this more kick-ass 30-second spot for espnW. The first brand promo for the ESPN property, it broke Tuesday night during the premiere of the film Pat XO, part of the network's Nine for IX series. The spot, from creative agency 77 Ventures, was directed by filmmaker Raama Mosley and edited by Therapy Studio's Kristin McCasey. The original soundtrack was written and performed by Greta Gaines exclusively for espnW. Among the athletes featured are Serena Williams, Brittney Griner, Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan, Heather O’Reilly, Shannon Boxx, Sara Errani and Elena Delle Donne.
Australian yuppie hipsters … crikey, who better to pitch cars in Kia commercials? The answer appears to be anyone, judging by the pervasive negative reactions to the automaker's "Man of Now"/"Woman of Now" spots from ad agency Innocean. The spots popped up Down Under in January and were panned by pundits at the time, but they're just now gaining global traction (and fresh abuse) following recent airings during Wimbledon coverage on Australia's Channel 7. The Guardian, among others, asks if these might be the most irritating ads ever made, and warns viewers, "Once you've seen the spots, you can't unsee them, so be careful what you click for."
Each ad follows its subject through bustling city streets as the Man and Woman hurry to reach their Kias, extolling their own "virtues" in rapid-fire, brand-building beat poetry from hell. The "Man of Now" informs us: "I push the envelope, push a button, push a pram … push 'em real good. I wear the pants, I wear aftershave, I wear the blame … and I wear it well." Wow, I wonder how many roommates he goes through in a year. The "Woman of Now" confides: "I'm texting, typing, LOL-ing, OMG-ing, I'm digitally in touch, but not retouched. I'm a storytelling, canteen-helping, fundraising, muffin-making, party-going yoga lover." Hey, aren't we all these days?
This stuff's easy to criticize as smug nonsense. Yet, I'm not in the hater camp. Though it's largely unintentional (I think), the commercials actually do a fine job of both reflecting and skewering cultural modernism and revealing the shallow stereotypes that some self-styled "men and of women of now" have become. Viewed thusly, these ads are a hoot—irritating, yes, but also strangely compelling as warped signposts of the times we live in. (There's an ironic bit in both spots where the Man and Woman briefly bump into each other, but they're too self-absorbed to break their stride, too focused on their personal manifestos to really see the world around them.)
Kia has been a good sport, with a rep explaining that the campaign mirrors "the modern lifestyle—it's a metaphor," and adding, "Some people don't get it. You can't please everybody." The automaker even embraced a parody from Priceless Productions, which features a beefy rugby hooligan type who brags, "I spent $20 on my mum for Christmas. My haircut cost $80. I'm international, I'm interconnected, I'm interrupting people all the time because everything I say is f—ing hilarious." Good on ya! Now, go drop-kick a giant hamster, mate! ("We think it's great," Kia said of the spoof.)
In fact, the real spots play like parodies, and while that presumably isn't what Kia intended, they're generating commentary and heightened awareness without being offensive—and they're poised to go viral. That surely beats driving into instant obscurity, which is the road most car commercials take, after all.
Everyone is raving about NeverWet, a spray-on waterproof coating that Rust-Oleum is manufacturing and distributing in North America in return for royalty payments. I didn't get what all the fuss was about, but then I saw the product demonstration video below. And, uh, holy crap. If any of this is legit, then NeverWet isn't so much hydrophobic as it is an ancient voodoo curse against liquids. Now if only they could rename it something that people could ask for in stores without blushing.
It was probably just a matter of time before Whit Hiler and Michael Dubin worked together. Hiler—the ass-kicking Kentucky adman, flier-making crazy person and mastermind of Beardvertising—has lured Dubin's Dollar Shave Club right into his sneaky trap. Yes, Dollar Shave Club, known for its own wacky marketing, has signed up for a Beardvertising program, in which 25 hairy dudes across the country will soon have tiny Dollar Shave Club billboards clipped to their beards. "We're excited to be building our business of beardlessness with these badass, bushy Beardboards," Dubin says in a statement. Hiler tells AdFreak: "For brands interested in joining A&W Restaurants and Dollar Shave Club in some hot and hairy 'Beardvertising' action, we've got over 1,400 eager guys ready and willing to place little advertisements in their epic beards." More photos below.
Sure, I've tried to cross a dog with a cat. Who hasn't? All I got for my trouble was a face full of claws and another year in therapy. Ad agency VCCP does a better job of it for U.K. mobile telecom O2 in this commercial, in which a ginger Tom starts chasing cars, fetching sticks and generally behaving like Rover. I'm not sure why Queen's bellicose, bombastic theme from the campy 1980 version of Flash Gordon is used on the soundtrack. Maybe the song doesn't really suck, but only dogs have sharp enough hearing to tell? Anyway, Tabby's willingness to "Be more dog" (the spot's tagline) is supposed to inspire viewers to get out of their ruts and try new things, like products and services from O2. That stretches the leash a bit in terms of brand message. Even so, any pet that catches frisbees and can be trained to use a litter box is OK by me.
Ikea is a family brand, except when it comes to showing dozens of Hot Malms in compromising positions.
A new website, HotMalm.com, shows loads of explicit (yet completely safe for work) photos of Malms—i.e., Malm beds sold by Ikea. The photos have captions like "Black Twin Malms Get Supermanned," "Hot Malm's Box Filled Up," "Check Out the Pussy on This Hot Malm" and (our personal favorite) "What a Little Tease." You can also search by category—Ebony Malms, Big Beautiful Malms (BBM), Mature Malms, Teen Malms, Blonde Malms, Animal on Malm, Exposed Malms and Twin Malms. All the photos link through to the Ikea site.
HotMalm.com is "dedicated to bringing you the hottest Hot Malm action on the Web," the site says. "Our diverse and international team prides itself on curating and maintaining the Internet's most comprehensive collection of Hot Malm videos, images and content. Hot new Malms are being stripped down, screwed and laid by the thousands every day, and it's our mission to expose them."
HotMalm.com was created by some Droga5 creatives and their friends, and was tweeted out by David Droga on Monday. But it's not an official Ikea project and is meant purely for entertainment.
"The idea for HotMalm.com built up over a span of three years," says Asa Block, who worked with Droga5 colleagues Spencer Lavallee and Jen Lu and two freelancers on the site. "My roommate and I were on the obligatory post-collegiate Ikea trip and buying new beds. Of course, we started giggling at the Malm series and before long, every time someone said the word 'mom' we would reply 'HotMalm.com.' Fast-forward three years and we are both grown men, still living in an Ikea furnished apartment, and still thinking way too much about this stuff. Now, we just have a website to show for it."
Block adds: "We have never watched porn."
Ikea has yet to comment, though it now seems unlikely that it will be moving its account to Droga5 anytime in the near future. Credits below.
CREDITS Asa Block, Spencer Lavallee and Jen Lu of Droga5 Graham Douglas, freelance creative director Adrian Cabrero, freelance Web developer
Hey, David Hasselhoff, want to make a cheesy video? That rhetorical question came from East Coast convenience-store chain Cumberland Farms. His answer? Well, what do you think? The Hoff, long past the drunken sad-clown days of eating burgers off the floor, is firmly rooted once again in a self-deprecating happy-jokester period. He worked with Cumberland Farms last summer, and according to reports from the brand's ad agency, Full Contact in Boston, increased the chain's iced-coffee sales by a whopping 147 percent. (Thieves also became quite enamored with the cardboard cutouts of the Hoff placed outside the New England/Florida chain's stores.) This new campaign—more of a goofball Lonely Island-style music video—has the Hoff hang-gliding, skiing with dolphins and vamping on the beach, all while singing (er, "singing") and holding a ginormous Cumberland Farms Farmhouse Blend iced java. The clip already has 150,000 YouTube views and earned the Hoff and the marketer a prime spot on CNN's morning news show. (He called in by "surprise" on Monday. Watch the clip after the jump and see him get New Day's "When You Wish Upon a Star Award" for making somebody's dream come true.) The ad hits all the Hoff's infamous marks, like shots of his bare, preternaturally tanned chest, melodramatic song lyrics, wind-blown hair and knowing winks at the camera. Thirsty yet?
Robinsons isn't the only British brand drafting off Andy Murray's historic win at Wimbledon yesterday. The Adidas ad above, posted to Twitter, is nice and simple and a worthy tribute. The tennis star's other sponsors, including Head and RBS, also congratulated their man on Twitter. Head even used the same headline.
Britain had to wait 77 years—until Sunday's win by Andy Murray—to celebrate another British male singles champion at Wimbledon. So, BBH London should feel fortunate that it had to wait only four years to add the proper ending to its now-famous Wimbledon commercial for Robinsons drinks. The spot, which dreams of the day when a British player would once again win the prestigious London tennis tournament, was originally put together in 2009. Murray made it to the semifinals that year, losing to Andy Roddick. He made it to the semifinals in each of the following two years as well, reaching the final in 2012, only to fall to Roger Federer. This year, finally, he triumphed—over Novak Djokovic. "Worth the wait, wasn't it?" says BBH's newly added voiceover at the end.
I did not. Maybe the trophy will get lucky tonight! RT @jode_d@andy_murray did you go to sleep with the trophy in bed next to you? #AskAndy
CREDITS Client: Britvic Robinsons Campaign Name: Wimbledon "Imagine" Original Client: Lesley Davey, Brand Director Current Client: Helen Gorman, Brand Director
Original Launch: June 1, 2009 Updated Film: July 7, 2013
Original BBH Team: TV Producer: Ben Davies Account Director: Sylvia Pelzer? Account Manager: Corina Cuddihy Account Planner: Nina Rahmatallah Engagement Planner: Darius Karbassion Creative Director: Nick Gill Creative Team: Daniel Schafer, Copywriter; Szymon Rose, Art Director
Original Production Team: Production Company: Blink Director: Benito Montorio Director of Photography: Antonio Paladino Postproduction: Phil Oldham @ Absolute Post Editor, Editing House: Andy Mcgraw @ Cut and Run Sound: Aaron Reynolds @ Wave
Young & Rubicam placed an "Upper Class Bench" on Broadway and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, in the pedestrian park near the Flatiron Building, as the centerpiece of its experiential campaign designed to show people what it's like to fly Virgin Atlantic. Passersby who sat on the bench were serenaded by a string quartet and served champagne and haute cuisine by flight attendants. A period costume drama was performed, complete with noble steed (representing in-flight movies), and a flashmob of shiny-suited "aliens" acted out a video game. This stunt won a Silver Lion in PR at Cannes, but I'm not sure if I'm a fan. If I collapse on a public bench, it's because I've been busting my hump all day and need a few minutes to clear my head, without assaultive brand-boosting street theater breaking out around me. (That horse took a nasty dump on the sidewalk—you just know it did. That's what horses do.) On the plus side, Virgin's bench appears to be clear of gum and vomit—a rarity in the city—and I could surely use a drink before resuming my soul-crushing day. Screw the fancy glasses, just leave the bottle with me.
It was only a matter of time. YouTube's gurus of gluttony, the EpicMealTime guys, have partnered with the burger pornographers at Carl's Jr./Hardee's to promote the chain's new Super Bacon Cheeseburger. EpicMealTime host Harley Morenstein, fresh off a stint as AdFreak's guest judge of the world's grossest fast-food abominations, joins costar "Muscles Glasses" (aka Alex Perrault) in a series of TV and Web-only clips from 72andSunny unveiling the new burger. The promotion will also feature placement on EpicMealTime's YouTube channel, and customers can reportedly request an "epic" upgrade that ratchets up the bacon count from six strips to 12. The burger's actually pretty wimpy by EpicMealTime standards, but it's good to see that at least one chain was willing to embrace the show's gleeful gluttony. Check out one spot below and another, plus credits, after the jump.
CREDITS Client: Carl's Jr./Hardee's Campaign: "Bacon to the 6th Power"
AGENCY: 72andSunny Glenn Cole – Chief Creative Officer/Partner Matt Jarvis – Chief Strategic Officer/Partner Mick DiMaria – Creative Director Justin Hooper – Creative Director Rebecca Ullman – Jr. Writer Sarah Herron – Designer Sam Baerwald – Director of Film Production Molly McFarland – Senior Film Producer Brooke Horne – Film Producer Matt Johnson – Group Strategy Director Josh Hughes – Strategist Latanya Ware – Business Affairs Manager Sherri Chambers – Group Brand Director Alexis Varian – Brand Director Mandy Hein – Brand Manager Tim Sekiguchi – Brand Coordinator Melissa Harris – Sr. Print Producer Emily Hodkins – Communications Manager
Production Company: Christina Productions Justin Hooper – Director Christina Ritzmann- EP Jenny Lenz- Line Producer
The Jack Daniel's biker bee is back in this new spot from Arnold in Boston, and this time he brought a whole swarm of friends to tear through a weirdly empty city to find a bottle of Tennessee Honey. The music is less bikery than last time, and I can't say the overall vibe is as effective, but it's short enough to still work. Kinda wish they had to weave through traffic or chase people off the sidewalk, though. The agency says the ad was "pre-released" on Twitter and Facebook and generated more than 10 million impressions before hitting TV. Credits below.
CREDITS Client: Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey Spot: "Swarm"
Agency: Arnold, Boston Chief Creative Officer: Pete Favat Executive Creative Director: Wade Devers Group Creative Director: Pete Johnson Director of Global Marketing, Jack Daniel's: Carmen D'Ascendis Creative Director: Jose Luis Martinez Art Director: Alyssa Wilson Copywriter: Peter Hughes Producer: William Near Assistant Producer: Alex Saevitz Business Affairs: Maria Rougvie Planners: Lisa Borden and Angus McCoubrey Marketing Producers: Paul Nelson, Emily Brooks & Shannon Coletti
Production Company: Smuggler Production Company Executive Producer: Allison Kunzman Production Company Line Producer: Michael Schlenker Director: Laurent Ledru – Psyop Cinematographer: Robert Elswit Editorial Company: Lost Planet Editor: Max Koepke Colorist: Tom Poole Sound Designer: Max Koepke, Mike Secher Sound Engineer: Mike Secher Animation – Psyop
Nike's "Just do it" slogan, unveiled 25 years ago this month by Wieden + Kennedy, might be the last great tagline in advertising history.
Yes, other notables have come since—among them, Apple's "Think different" and Volkswagen's "Drivers wanted"—but none have come close to duplicating the cultural impact and mass appeal of "Just do it." I frankly doubt that any ever will.
When 80-year-old Walt Stack jogged across the Golden Gate Bridge in Nike's first "Just do it" spot, chatting about his daily 17-mile run and joking that he kept his teeth from chattering in winter by leaving them in his locker, we lived in a more homogenous media world. At the time it seemed complex and cluttered, with some cable systems sporting 100 or more channels, and the recently launched Fox network broadening the broadcast funnel by 25 percent. All that was small potatoes, however, compared to today's ever-expanding digital/mobile/shareable/wearable mega-sphere, which has turned each consumer into his or her own media production and distribution channel, and to a large extent—despite the vaunted "social" nature of it all—isolated us instead of bringing us together.
Back in '88, a news image, song lyric, sitcom catchphrase or advertising slogan could spring to life in a way that's nearly impossible with today's media fragmentation. Modern content may be "snackable," but for the most part it doesn't stick to the ribs. Most of the lists, memes and apps are quickly, often instantly, discarded. Ideas have no time to build the momentum or gain the traction needed to become ubiquitous or, like "Just do it," beloved.
The "big idea" is, of course, a marketing cliche. It's considered old-school and somewhat outmoded, frequently derided by today's data-driven practitioners. That's a shame. Big ideas are, first and foremost, big. From a brand standpoint, they add rather than subtract, lending weight and substance to campaigns that can become unfocused and diluted by too many moving parts. Big ideas strengthen individual executions and provide platforms that make campaigns more than the sum of their parts.
"Just do it" was one of the biggest ad ideas ever, destined to cut across all conceivable psycho/socio/demographic lines in ways author Dan Wieden couldn't have envisioned when he tossed off the phrase in 20 minutes, concerned that the initial half-dozen ads in the campaign, spotlighting various subjects and different sports, had no unifying message.
"It was a simple thing," Wieden recalls in a 2009 Adweek video interview in which he discusses the effort's genesis. Simplicity is really the secret of all "big ideas," and by extension, great slogans. They must be concisely memorable, yet also suggest something more than their literal meanings. Rather than just putting product notions in people's minds, they must be malleable and open to interpretation, allowing people of all kinds to adapt them as they see fit, and by doing so, establish a personal connection to the brand.
Exchanging tweets is no substitute for helping people think, dream, or in Nike's case do things in a new way. "Just do it" was open to interpretation, and many folks adopted it as their private mantra. And not just in the realm of fitness and exercise. They just did all sorts of things as they strove toward personal goals. These ranged from starting businesses to popping the question, and in some cases extricating themselves from bad relationships. As a result of the line's resonance, Nike's brand image soared.
It's worth noting that "Just do it" is not a typical feel-good marketing tagline. There's a hard-edged, suck-it-up aspect to the phrase that runs counter to most advertising pablum. It's empowering but makes no promises, implying, in fact, that tough, hard work and personal sacrifice might be involved. On that level, it's an honest slogan, more so than most, and that's a big part of its appeal.
Perhaps the line's attitude stems from its ironic and unlikely origin. Wieden says he channeled, of all pop-culture figures, double murderer Gary Gilmore, who in 1977 became the first American executed in a decade, and famously told his executioners "Let's do it!" before facing the firing squad. That says something about the obscure, inexplicable nature of creativity—and brings me to my final point about why we might never see a slogan on the magnitude of "Just do it" again.
Big data doesn't necessarily kill big ideas, but it can thwart inspiration by attempting to quantify the unquantifiable. Because media is so splintered compared to 25 years go, brands will continue to target based on statistics, eschewing bold strokes for brief inroads in the hope of quick sales. Few creative teams "just do it" these days. They study, filter and refine their ideas into narrow bits of communication—lists, memes, apps—which, while seemingly focused and on point, are ultimately fleeting and insubstantial, little more than static.
"Just do it" belongs to an era when brands were brave enough to run with their visions and invite consumers to dream along with them.
If you're ever tired on a subway or train, be careful—a new advertising medium might put some ideas in your head. Literally. BBDO Düsseldorf has developed a special window for public transportation that uses a transmitter to silently release high-frequency oscillations that your brain will convert into sound. Futurama fans will note the similarities between this and Fry's Lightspeed Briefs dream, and Transmetropolitan fans could draw parallels to Information Pollen. I'm sure people who aren't huge nerds also have something to compare this to, but hell if I know what it is.
This ad for golf's European Tour pits Northern Irish phenom Rory McIlroy against a wise-cracking golf-ball-hitting robot named Jeff in a contest to see who can chip the most balls into washing machines on a driving range. (As a kid, McIlroy practiced this way for some reason. Perhaps he was raised in a laundromat.) "Losing to a robot is a bit like losing to Martin Kaymer," Jeff quips. Golf humor—as lame as the game itself. When a washer lights up and sounds like a pinball machine, the bot asks, "Is that the same noise you heard when you signed your sportswear contract?" Yeah, paying Rory $100 million to wear the Swoosh and battle better-known cyborgs is much better than feeding starving people around the world. Thanks, Nike! The video has gone viral with almost 2 million views in four days. The washing-machine imagery is goofily memorable, but the video's four-minute running time feels like 40 minutes to me. McIlroy giggles incessantly. I kept hoping the robot would chip the guy into one of the washers, or maybe tear off his arms and use them as clubs. I guess we'll have to wait until Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia are paired up again to see something like that on a golf course.
"He can't ball, he just tall." With smack talk on his sneering lips, 5-foot-9 forward Anton Barrels makes his commercial debut in this Nike Basketball spot from Wieden + Kennedy, set during a shirt vs. skins draft in the Maryland hometown of real-life 6-foot-9 superstar Kevin Durant. The ad, directed by David Gordon Green of Chelsea Pictures and edited by Geoff Hounsell of Arcade Edit, introduces Durant's KD VI Nike shoe, and he gets chosen first for the local game. It's all a big in-joke, because Durant was famously taken second in the 2007 NBA Draft, trailing Greg Oden, who's probably worn casts more often than sneakers during his injury-riddled pro career. (Where's Greg's new footwear line, you heartless bastards!? Dude's got doctor bills to pay!) The commercial is amusing even if you don't know the backstory, though it helps. Frankly, I was rooting for Barrels, a sweat-soaked, tie-and-tank-top-wearin' everyman, to be the top pick, because his misplaced moxie steals the show. Sorry, Kevin, but in my book, you're still No. 2. Credits below.
CREDITS Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore. Global Creative Directors: Alberto Ponte, Ryan O’Rourke Art Director: Jason Campbell Copywriter: Nathaniel Friedman Account Supervisor: Jordan Muse Account Executive: Jessica Shaw Executive Producer: Matt Hunicutt Producer: Chris Capretto
Production Company: Chelsea Pictures Director: David Gordon Green Director of Photography: Eric Treml Executive Producers: Allison Amon, Lisa Mehling, Pat McGoldrick Head of Production: Adam Guliner
Editorial: Arcade Edit Editor: Geoff Hounsell Assistant Editor: Sean LeGrange Managing Director: Damian Stevens Executive Producer: Nicole Visram Visual Effects: Airship Post Visual Effects Producer: Greg Heffron Color: Sean Coleman at Company 3 Sound: Jeff Payne at Eleven Sound Color Company: MPC Colorist: Mark Gethin
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