Saudi Arabia, which ranked 131st out of 134 countries for gender parity in a recent report from the World Economic Forum, has unveiled what is believed to be its first major ad campaign condemning violence against women. The first ad, created by Memac Ogilvy in Riyadh for the King Khalid Foundation, shows a woman in a niqab with a black eye. The English version of the copy reads: "Some things can't be covered: Fighting women's abuse together." "The veil does not only hide women's abuse, but it's also a representation of the social veil behind which a lot of societal deficiencies hide," says Fadi Saad, managing director of Memac Ogilvy in Riyadh. "It is one bold first step toward legislation to fight women's abuse in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We believe that the authorities are ready to support such a drive today given the evolution that is taking place in the country." It's another sign that views toward women may be slowly changing in Saudi Arabia. Last summer, Saudi women competed in the Olympics for the first time. And this January, King Abdullah appointed 30 women to the consultative Shura Council—also a first.
Dr. Who, your jacket is ready. In this odd spot for 66°North outerwear from German agency Grabarz & Partner, some commuter dude shivering at a remote Icelandic bus stop encounters one of the clothing maker's jackets—which stands upright in the snow, as if someone's wearing it. Yet, the jacket's empty. Or is it? The dude peers inside the hood … and apparently, there's a toasty refuge deep within, with room for people to enjoy hot toddies in front of a roaring fireplace. (Talk about going "all-in" with a metaphor! Actually, I'm reminded of both a Whovian-style alien menace—"Those jacket creatures will kill us all, Doctor!"—and a Tardis. If the jacket were the latter, though, there'd be no need to take public transportation.) The final shot, which is kind of eerie, shows the coat standing alone against the wintry expanse, flames flickering within its faceless, fur-lined cowl. Hey, better put out that fire—no smoking on the bus!
Brief: Basics Life is India’s largest menswear chain, with retail presence in over 100 exclusive stores and 600 multi-brand outlets, while also being available on their own online store basicslife.com. The store caters to all of men’s fashion needs including accessories and footwear.
The objective was to carry forward the success of their 2012 campaign – “shop like a man”.
Creative Solution: In order to take the same attitude and philosophy of last year’s ‘MAN’TRA’ (an anthem for men) to the next level, we created ‘The Men Commandments’.
With light-hearted digs at the notorious shopping practices of the opposite sex, each commandment illustrates how manly men should be shopping.
Credits
Brand: Basics Life Client: Hanif Sattar & Suhail Sattar
Agency: Happy, Bangalore
Chief Executive Officer/Executive Creative Director: Kartik Iyer Chief Creative Officer: Praveen Das Copywriter: Megha Ramesh Art Directors: Sukumar N, Sevugan S Account Planning: Ravi Bhat Account Management: Ajay A Kumar Production House: Pavleye Production & Artist Management Executive Producer: Josef Pavleye Directors: Marika Majorova, Jonas Karasek (Gunpowder)
Intern abuse is always good fun. The Weather Channel is celebrating the beginning of Tornado Week today by putting its interns in a room and blowing powerful winds at them, with the force of the breeze increasing for every public mention of #TornadoWeek on Twitter. They're broadcasting the whole thing live on YouTube (see below—although for the full experience, click the link above). There have been about around 6,000 mentions so far, and the winds are in the mid-90 mph range. If the tweet count hits 1 million, the channel is vowing to pummel the interns with a "full blown EF-5 tornado." That would mean wind speeds of more than 200 mph. They'd better have a lot of desk fans on hand.
Sometimes Apple's demo spots for the iPhone are charming; other times they can feel cold. The recent ones, with the rapid-fire word jumbles and cheerleader-style chants, had an odd, rah-rah vibe to them, which came across as sterile (a danger within Apple's already minimalist environment of purely imagined space). Coincidentally or not, TBWA\Media Arts Lab goes all warm and fuzzy in its latest iPhone spot, "Photos Every Day," which leaves the stark white background behind and reenters the real world. With a quiet piano playing, the 60-second ad shows scene after scene of people using their iPhones to take photos—of their friends, of their family, of nature, of themselves. The spot subtly demonstrates some product features (cropping, zooming, taking panoramic shots) but mostly shows people, and lives being lived. Likewise, the voiceover at the end is broader than usual: "Every day, more photos are taken with the iPhone than any other camera." Apple doesn't often use this line of argument—that you should do something because everyone's doing it. (Through most of its history Apple said the opposite—that you should do something because no one's doing it.) But that's Apple now—no need to think different if the best product happens to be the market leader. And the evocative tone of the latest spot is striking a chord. It's the first Apple ad in a while to top 1 million views on YouTube. Credits below.
CREDITS Client: Apple Spot: "Photos Every Day" Agency: TBWA\Media Arts Lab Chief Creative Officer: Duncan Milner Executive Creative Director: Eric Grunbaum Group Creative Director: Chuck Monn Associate Creative Director, Art Director: Antoine Choussat Associate Creative Director, Copywriter: David Young Art Director: Anthony Williams Executive Producer: Eric Voegele Agency Producers: Perrin Rausch, Rob Saxon, Chris Shaw, Trang Huynh
Production Company: Epoch Films Director: Everynone
Editorial Company: Nomad Editing Editors: Jared Coller, Mike Benecke
Postproduction Company: The Mill Lead Flame Artist: Edward Black Colorist: Adam Scott
The latest Tui beer billboard from New Zealand's DB Breweries is a homophobic eyesore, according to feedback on the brand's Facebook page. Or else it's funny and people should get over it, also according to feedback on the brand's Facebook page. Tui's marketing manager claims the ad's headline—"Dad's new husband seems nice." "Yeah right"—is an innocent combination of the brand's iconic catchphrase with current events: New Zealand's parliament passing a Marriage Equality Act earlier this month. The ad was meant "to highlight the common situation or uncertainty experienced when someone's parent remarries," he says. In other words, the "Yeah right" refers to the awkwardness of a parent remarrying another, not just someone of the same sex. I don't think Tui meant any actual harm here, but the delivery was crap. If you have to explain a joke, that's proof that it bombed. That's not something you can blame on the audience.
Advertising Agency: Leo Burnett Dubai Creative Directors: Peter Bidenko, Nabil Rashid Art Director / Illustrator: Rafael Augusto Junior Art Director: Mahdy Elhosseny Copywriter: Sunny Deo Via [AdsOfTheWorld]
"Col. James Porter was laid to rest in Morpeth, where worms began eating his body." Droga5 delivers one of the best commercials ever about a company's founder—for Newcastle Brown Ale. Read more about the brewer's latest campaign here.
Nathan Sorrell, the heavy kid from Nike's infamous "Jogger" ad by Wieden + Kennedy, has lost 32 pounds since last summer—and plans to lose 30 more. The London, Ohio, native, now 13, returned to the Today show recently and reflected on what motivated him to follow through on a promise he made after the Nike shoot. "I still can't believe that was me then, and this is me now. It just looks a lot different," he says. "I would never have changed my lifestyle if I was never in this commercial. That's not the only reason, but that really did help." Sorrell has been working with a personal trainer and a nutritionist and making healthier choices generally, which has helped him drop from 232 to 200 pounds. On a recent visit to Bob Evans, "I got a turkey sandwich" and a side of fruit, he says. "Usually that would be a double hamburger, cheese and all that bad stuff. Usually, it would be fries. Just stuff like that. Just little changes, but that's obviously carrying me 32 pounds less."
Stewie Griffin, the 1-year-old prodigy from Family Guy, is a lovable character, but man can he get annoying. In this 15-second spot from 72andSunny for Google Chrome, he proves just that. "Mom! Mom! Mommy! Ma!" he cries, as Lois stares off in a tormented haze. Ah, the gifts of parenthood. The spot makes its point, though. Google Chrome can't stop you from being interrupted, but it can let you pick up where you left off. What is it with Stewie being so repetitive in commercials? Now, someone please find Rupert so Stewie can finally shut up.
This adorable little spot from Fitzgerald + Co. encapsulates everything that's fun and young about the Coca-Cola brand. It shows two kids falling in love, Cokes in hand, at a Six Flags. They ride the rides, but in between, they laugh and play—and don't kiss. That's right, you thought they'd kiss, but that's too cliché. With unbearably sweet innocence, our hero accidentally touches the girl's hand, and she draws a heart on his palm, and then she puts her head on his shoulder as the sun goes down. But there is no kiss and no suggestion that either of them wants anything more than to spend a perfect day together. It warms the old heart cockles with simple, classic storytelling, and provides a refreshing breather from today's cynical world. The ad, directed by Aaron Ruell, is set to air during the NBA playoffs. Credits below.
CREDITS Client: Coca-Cola Agency: Fitzgerald+CO Chief Creative Officer: Noel Cottrell Creative Director, Copywriter: Mitch Bennett Creative Director, Art Director: Wes Whitener Executive Producer: Christine Sigety Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks Director: Aaron Ruell Managing Directors: Shawn Lacy, Holly Vega Producer: Tracy Broaddus Editorial: Kim Bica, Arcade Managing Partner: Damian Stevens Executive Producer: Nicole Visram Producer: Kirsten Thon-Webb Music Composition: MassiveMusic Executive Producer: Keith Haluska Producer: Courtney Jenkins Creative Director: Elijah Torn Online Effects: Airship Artist: Matt Lydecker
Here's a clever idea from Publicis Frankfurt—an ad for a bike light that readers must "turn on" in order to be able to read an intentionally darkened version of a cycling magazine. Too intrusive? Perhaps—although the interruption is pretty minor, and the creative has a delightful element to it.
"They Don't Work for You," a gun-control campaign from Brooklyn design shop Guts & Glory, is intended to stir the emotions of the faithful and give them simple, direct and proactive ways to respond. The website gets under your skin using deceptively simple, exceptionally skillful Web design and the frequently overlooked (yet often quite powerful) tactic of repetition.
First, we see images of the six educators killed in December's Newtown, Conn., school shooting, and the headline "These teachers sacrificed their lives for the children they worked for." That's followed by pictures of the 45 U.S. senators whose recent votes killed the proposal to extend background checks on firearm sales. "These senators voted against protecting the children they work for," the copy says. As users scroll down, successive screens show individual lawmakers alongside images of kids who died from gun violence (and who, according to Guts & Glory, might not have perished if stricter firearms laws had been in place). Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) appears first, paired with 6-year-old Newtown victim Charlotte Bacon. Text reads, "Sen. Alexander doesn't work for kids like Charlotte," and urges visitors to ask him why via phone, email and social media. This basic template is then repeated 44 times, plugging in a different legislator and slain child.
Repetition is, of course, a basic tenet of advertising, political speeches and religious sermons, because it reinforces and amplifies the message, lending extra power to an argument or proposition and firmly fixing ideas in the audience's heads. It's a proven motivator. The more times you're told "Do it," "Do it," "Do it," the more likely you are to take action, especially if you already agree with the premise. The repetition here is particularly effective. The faithful grow angrier—and presumably more primed to contact senators to make their feelings known—with each passing screen.
With folks now on edge, NRA chief Wayne LaPierre appears solo near the end, along with the message, "These senators don’t work for you. They work for the NRA, who works for the gun industry, whose sole purpose is to sell more guns." One more scroll yields a hashtag: #AskThemWhy. Of course, doing so is tantamount to asking a loaded question, but that's exactly what the site's creators have in mind—and lawmakers might want to have some compelling answers ready.
Last year, granola-bar brand Nature Valley and ad agency McCann Erickson, New York, unveiled one of the most ambitious digital campaigns of the year, Nature Valley Trail View, which created a first-of-its-kind interactive hiking experience thanks to teams who used Google Street View technology to map trails in three National Parks—the Grand Canyon, the Great Smoky Mountains and Yellowstone. The effort won two gold Lions at Cannes and legions of fans across the nation.
Today, agency and client unveiled the next evolution of the site, with three main improvements: more trail view footage (partly through the addition of 50 miles of footage from a fourth park, Sequoia); a comprehensive hub for the brand's past, present and future preservation activity; and fully interactive social functionality.
As mentioned in the video below, the preservation message is key. That part of the site now includes an interactive map with expert conservation content. Now, as users discover the trails, they can also get a sense of the preservation needs in each area and how Nature Valley is working to help.
In the past three years, Nature Valley has donated more than $1.3 million to support America's national parks. The brand will give $500,000 more this year to the National Parks Conservation Association.
"Nature Valley is about inspiring consumers to get outside and enjoy what nature has to offer," says Maria Carolina Comings, associate marketing manager for Nature Valley. "Our national parks are America's treasures that must be preserved and protected, and we hope to help raise awareness of the parks through Nature Valley Trail View and our ongoing restoration efforts. Through technology, we can help make the parks accessible to all, and encourage outdoor exploration for years to come."
More photos and credits below.
CREDITS Client: Nature Valley Project: Nature Valley Trail View 2.0 Agency: McCann Erickson, New York Chairman: Linus Karlsson Chief Creative Officers: Tom Murphy, Sean Bryan Executive Creative Director: Leslie Sims Group Creative Director: Mat Bisher Creative Director: Jason Schmall Copywriter: Sarah Lloyd Chief Production Officer: Brian DiLorenzo Executive Integrated Producer: Catherine Eve Patterson Senior Integrated Producer: Geoffrey Guinta Editor: Nathan Thompson Executive Music Producer: Peter Gannon Production: Traction Creative Principal, Field Producer: Bryan Roberts Producer: Adam Baskin Digitech Cameraman: James deMuth Lead Cameraman: Brandon McClain Preservation Lead, Writer: Greg Jackson Design and Development: Your Majesty Executive Creative Director, Photographer: Jens Karlsson Design Director: Riley Milhem Tech Lead: Micah Acinapura Developer: Raed Atoui Executive Producer: Heather Reddig
When it comes to branded content, the better the content, the better the branding. And so it goes with Desire (below), a short film from ad agency The Brooklyn Brothers and Ridley Scott's production company, touting Jaguar's F-Type sports car.
Of course, Jag is a vehicle of excess, and the clip's 13-minute length, like the car's $92,000 price tag, is pretty darn excessive. I usually can't concentrate on anything for 13 minutes. Still, Desire held my attention all the way through with solid storytelling, visual panache (props to director Adam Smith) and strong performances from its three leads.
Homeland's dapper Brit, Damian Lewis, who would make a great James Bond, plays a "delivery man" tooling around the Chilean desert in search of the new owner of a red F-Type. He picks up perky, gun-toting Shannyn Sossamon, who is on the run from her psychopathic, drug-dealing husband. Jordi Molla just about steals the show as the scruffy gangster, spitting out lines like "Shut your face or I'll rip it into pieces" with just the right mix of humor and menace, and breathing into a paper bag in a fruitless attempt to keep his rage in check.
Desire is basically an extended car chase punctuated by zippy dialogue, a twisty plot and lots of gunfire. The film makes good use of its running time without overstaying its welcome.
As content, it works on par with the similar BMW Films series a decade ago. That comparison is inevitable—everyone else is making it, and I didn't want to feel left out!—but also pretty pointless. Art informs art, and ads inform ads. A more salient question is: Does Desire succeed as advertising?
I'd say it performs better than expected. The Jag appears in almost every shot, but that makes sense in the context of the story, so it never feels gratuitous—more like an extended product placement. The key test comes near the finale, when Lewis rattles off a litany of F-Type technical specs, at gunpoint, to prove he really is in the desert to deliver the car. The speech doesn't sound forced or out of place, and the scene would be amusing if this were an unsponsored action flick that just happened to feature a Jag.
I'm betting prospective Jaguar owners like to believe they're sorta special—and for 92 grand, who can blame them?! So, a long-form, cinematic blockbuster ad seems well suited to this particular audience. (Leave the jokey 30-second cable spots for those of us on Honda Civic budgets.) Viewers can sit back and enjoy the wild ride, ogling the F-Type's impressive design and road handling. It never feels like we're being taken for a spin by an advertising vehicle.
At the crossroads of content and commerce, Desire, like its enigmatic hero, delivers.
In the annals of advertising, there are some songs we just keep coming back to. "Baby Got Back" is one of them. From hawking Burger King's SpongeBob meal to bustin' out the D-grade talent for Butterfinger, Sir Mix-a-Lot's timeless 1992 ode to wide rears is basically an advertising supersong. Still, I didn't see a brand like Charmin leveraging the ditty by taking its tubby animated bears and having them break into the worm from the unmitigated joy that comes from having a nice clean ass. Clearly, Charmin itself is a little shocked, which is why the latter half of the video consists of the red bear staring with disbelief at the breakdancing, ass-slapping blue bear. I mean, you can "Enjoy the go," and then you can revel in Rabelaisian ecstasy. Anyhow, if you like big prizes, you can like Charmin on Facebook and partake in the Charmin Baby Got Back Sweepstakes.
Talk about beef jerky. The trend of using actual security-camera footage in ads continues, with Kent's Meats & Groceries in Redding, Calif., setting footage of a botched burglary to the theme from The Benny Hill Show. The portly perp is probably lucky he failed, because the last thing he needs is another helping of deli. The meaty miscreant's attention to planning and detail is shockingly lean. Clad in pajamas, as if he's just rolled out of bed craving a late-night snack, the oafish offender adjusts his face-stocking, breaks a window and then falls down trying to run away. The performance is more pathetic than funny ha-ha. I prefer the mannequin-mangling antics of the felonious fashionistas who looted a Reserva boutique in the year's other notable security-cam commercial. As for Kent's, I'm cool with the ludicrous lawbreaker's escape, because that fatty pink pastrami shown at the end of the clip is the real crime on display here.
We are hoping to turn lemons into lemonade with this latest TV ad.Remember the "bumbling burglar"?… fb.me/IUUBMTYu
Minneapolis ad agency Carmichael Lynch turned the century-old water tower on the roof of its building into an art installation. Students from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design contributed video pieces that are (as you'll see in the video) being projected onto the tower throughout April. The projections run in a loop, and the pieces vary in duration and subject matter—some of them wouldn't look out of place as the backdrop for a Butthole Surfers concert, which I mean as a compliment. Best of all, the project is free of any callouts to social media—no Web addresses, no Twitter handles, no "Like us on Facebook!" faux pleasantries. That would have been overkill, since it's pretty obvious who the responsible parties were and how this will reflect on them, and it's nice to leave that crap to the side sometimes and just enjoy some public art.
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