More goofiness from Old Spice and Wieden + Kennedy—a scratch-and-sniff banner ad, which of course they're calling the world's first. It's running over on The Onion's sports section. Clicking on it takes you to a form you fill out—after which they'll send you something in the mail that will let you "smell the Internet." It lacks the immediacy of real scratch-and-sniff gimmicks, perhaps, but spares you from looking like an idiot at the office with your nose to the computer screen. It promotes the Wolfthorn line of products.
Nike placed this ad in Sunday's Los Angeles Times (and in social media), honoring Kobe Bryant following his season-ending injury. It's classic Nike—simple, rhythmic, inspirational. It's also sly. It reads like a career retrospective, until the last line, when it's revealed to be anything but. From Tiger Woods to Bryant, you can always count on Nike never to be boring. Full text of the ad below.
"You showed us that an 18-year-old could play with the best. You showed us that a championship, an exhibition game and a charity event are all must-wins. You showed us how to play chess while others played checkers. You showed us how to hit game winner after game winner. You showed us that an 81-point game is a real thing. You showed us that gold still matters. You showed us how to take an ice bath. You showed us how to score 30 points in a quarter, twice. You showed us the Mamba Face. You showed us how to demand perfection and demand it of everyone. You showed us how to put big-boy pants on. You showed us that you were never out of it. Ever. You showed us how inspirational a pair of free throws could be.
Every now and then, you get a provocative church ad, like Florida's "Come get hammered" billboard or pretty much anything New Zealand's St. Matthew-in-the-City puts out. Catholic ads are typically more staid, but the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn recently launched ads that speak directly to that borough's natives in a language they understand—by referring to Jesus as "the original hipster." The ad doesn't explain this statement other than to suggest Jesus wore robes and was probably somewhat dirty a lot of the time—also (in a bit of clear revisionism) that he wore Converse sneakers. The point is rather that he was incredibly cool, though not seen by many as such, and certainly misunderstood in his time. There is also no record that he ever actually turned water into PBR. The ads point to the "All Faces" section of diocese's website, showing the diversity of its worshippers. Via Animal New York.
Dude's got the right stuff! Talk about a payload specialist! No "Houston, we've got a problem" for this rocket jockey! Etc.! BBH London and Blink director Tom Tagholm score with its latest, interestingly shot "Nothing beats an astronaut" spot for Axe's Apollo and Deep Space body washes, thanks to playful morning-after imagery. A woman's clothing and underwear are strewn around an apartment, along with astronaut gear like boots, a helmet and a spacesuit. She wakes up looking supremely satisfied, while her lusty inner-space traveler showers with Axe, all systems presumably "go" for re-entry. Remember to practice safe sex, people, and keep your helmet on! Credits below.
CREDITS Client: Axe Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty, London Creative Director: David Kolbusz Creative: Gary McCreadie, Wesley Hawes TV Producer: Ruben Mercadal Production Company: Blink Director: Tom Tagholm Producer: Bruce Williamson Executive Producer: James Bland Photography: Vincent Warin Production Designer: Andy Kelly Production Manager: Ellie Britton Postproduction: Framestore Editing House: Stitch Editor: Tim Hardy Audio: Wave Sound Designer: Aaron Reynolds Music Production: Beacon Street Studios
Dove's "Real Beauty Sketches" quickly became a viral phenomenon. But as it blazed past 1 million views on YouTube, the video has racked up its fair share of critics, too. The Ogilvy-produced clip, which shows a police sketch artist drawing women as they perceive themselves versus how strangers see them, has been praised by thousands of women as a heartwarming wake-up call for women to stop being so hard on themselves. But some feel the video actually reinforces beauty stereotypes by depicting one sketch as "uglier" than the other. Below, we catalog a few of the specific complaints about the campaign that have been bouncing around the Web this week.
1. It features too many traditionally attractive white women. Jazz Brice on Tumblr: "When it comes to the diversity of the main participants: all four are Caucasian, three are blonde with blue eyes, all are thin, and all are young (the oldest appears to be 40). The majority of the non-featured participants are thin, young white women as well. … Out of 6:36 minutes of footage, people of color are onscreen for less than 10 seconds."
2. It seems to define beauty as being thin and young. Kate Fridkis on PsychologyToday.com: "Looking at the two portraits of herself, one woman described the one meant to be prettier as looking 'much younger,' which seemed to be true of all of them. The more 'beautiful' facial representations seemed to all be thinner and younger-looking. If that is the crux of beauty, then I guess we're all pretty screwed by that obnoxiously inexorable bastard called time."
3. It positions beauty as the yardstick by which women measure themselves. Stacy Bias on StacyBias.net: "Is the pinnacle of success always beauty? Believing that others see us as beautiful? Believing that we are beautiful? I want people to question their negative self-perceptions, sure. But I would love for that to happen in a context where beauty doesn't always end up valorized. This is a mindfuck—'everyone is beautiful, so you are beautiful, too!' still reinforces beauty as an aspirational value."
4. It shows women as their own enemies rather than victims of a sexist society. Erin Keane on Salon.com: "All of that body image baggage is internalized by growing up in a society that enforces rigid beauty standards, and since the target demographic for this ad is clearly women over 35 with access to library cards (which is to say, women who have had some time to figure this reality out), it is baffling that Dove can continue to garner raves for its pandering, soft-focus fake empowerment ads."
5. It is hypocritical because it comes from Unilever, which also makes Axe, Slim-Fast and more. Charlotte Hannah on Twirlit.com: "[Dove's] long-running Real Beauty campaign has shed light on some important truths about the media's unrealistic portrayals of women, but given the fact that Dove is owned by Unilever, which also owns Axe (ugh) and the company that produces Fair & Lovely skin lightening cream (double ugh), the campaign comes across as hypocritical and patronizing—a way for the company to pander to women for sales while practicing the very evil it preaches against."
What arguments have we missed? Let us know your thoughts or share links to other reactions in the comments.
Progressive takes a swipe at "rate suckers" in this odd spot depicting bad drivers who cause price increases for everyone else as zombies who leap onto your car and suck on its surfaces with their gaping mouths. They hang on tenaciously in traffic, and continue sucking even after the driver stops and chats with a pitchlady (not Flo) about Progressive's Snapshot travel monitoring device (which, FYI, has raised some privacy concerns among consumer groups). The suck-action, for lack of a better term, is damn disconcerting, and such a distraction that it detracts from the overall message. Stop drooling on the hood, you freaks! It's strange there's no Flo. She's sucked for years.
A disproportionate number of car ads—usually unapproved, never officially released, sometimes ultimately revealed as hoaxes—have focused on suicide. Inhaling car-exhaust fumes has been the most popular method of attempted demise in these spots, with such efforts failing because the vehicles involved are low-emission models. That's the joke. I use the term loosely. Hyundai joins the dead pool with this apparently European commercial for its iX35 "100 percent water-emissions" model. The clip shows a middle-aged guy trying unsuccessfully to off himself in his garage. It's getting popular online. Neither Hyundai nor ad agency Innocean responded to queries. The creative approach is similar to earlier spots for other nameplates, notably Citroen and Audi. The death-wish commercials featuring those cars are superior, with Citroen's use of stylish dark humor really bringing the suicide theme to life. As for Hyundai, well, personally I wouldn't be caught dead in one.
LG is making a splash with bathroom humor in its latest piece of prankvertising. Marketing shop SuperHeroes installed ultra-wide LG IPS 21:9 monitors at eye level above urinals in a men's room at Amsterdam's World Fashion Centre. When guys showed up to use the facilities, the screens sprang to life with crisp images of sexy female models, who appeared to be appraising the men's … plumbing. The images were so lifelike, as seen in the hidden-camera footage, that most guys got stage fright—with many suffering a delay before they could urinate, and 25 percent failing to pee altogether.
"The film was shot … with actual visitors of the centre," SuperHeroes creative director Rogier Vijverberg tells AdFreak. "We spent a full day in the adjacent toilet filming the reactions of unsuspecting men. As a backup, we'd hired a handful of extras. Nobody knew they were filmed beforehand, not even the extras."
The video is on track to top 1 million YouTube views in little more than two days. And though invasive, this prank seems more playful and less upsetting than some other recent ones, including the last hair-raising SuperHeroes-LG collaboration—the one with the monitors lining the elevator floor. The guys at the urinals seem mildy miffed, but those elevator riders were truly shafted.
This self-promotional clip from The Ungar Group, a boutique agency in Chicago, shows what might happen if you crossed Mad Men with The Walking Dead. You'd get a dapper, cigar-smoking, brandy-sipping, scab-faced ghoul who warns, "If you're looking for an advertising agency and don't meet with The Ungar Group, you'll regret it for the rest of your lives." Major props for infusing the initial pitch with a threatening tone and aura of hopelessness and decay. Such elements usually take at least a week to permeate agency-client relationships. Actually, lots of ad guys look like the withered zombie in this video. Pitching new business sucks the life right out of them.
CC Sabathia is a large man, but he's not technically wearing a fat suit. That latter fact—and not just his slimming New York Yankee pinstripes—gives Sabathia the advantage over the horizontally striped (and comically fat-suited) Scott Van Pelt in ESPN's new This Is SportsCenter commercial from Wieden + Kennedy in New York. Now, if they can combine a fat suit and a mullet, they'll really be breaking new ground.
MetService.com, a weather site in New Zealand, recently put up this empty (but nonetheless branded!) billboard frame in Auckland, through which it offered "real-time weather reports." Ha. As a gimmick, I suppose it's amusing enough. Of course, it's hard to tell the temperature from looking at the sky—and that's the major thing people check real-time weather reports for. Fun idea—but just not as clever as they think it is. Agency: Y&R. Check out the case-study video below. Via Adland.
North Korean strongman lardass Kim Jong-un should take some advice from New York Sports Clubs: "Exercise reduces aggression and makes you more attractive to others. Join today." The gym franchise, known for its snarky promos tied to current events, on Monday placed an ad in the New York City edition of the Metro newspaper inviting the portly potentate to use its facilities for a workout. Copy starts, "Kim Jong-un, with a great bod, you don't need a big missile." That particular bit of low-hanging humor will likely fall flat for the rotund ruler, since the whole missile thing's proven pretty useful for him so far. Still, he'll burn more calories pumping iron than he will by pressing the button.
The world's most famous spokespitcher, the Kool-Aid Man, just got a glassy makeover to help promote the brand's new sugar-free liquid drink mix. The Kool-Aid Man, who's been around since 1954, was made over by Saatchi & Saatchi in New York and VSA Partners of Chicago. At 59 years old, he's now completely CGI, appears a bit slimmer, has a new voice—including an "expanded vocabulary and developed personality" (!)—and of course his own brand-new Facebook page.
Thankfully, he will still say, "Oh, yeah!" and burst through walls. But in the new commercials, he's also seen working out at the gym, buying flowers and wondering which of his 22 fabulous flavor "outfits" to wear. (Hey, is the Kool-Aid Man gay now, too? If so, that's kool with me—give him a big equals sign over his midsection and make it his new profile pic.) In June, Kool-Aid will also launch a Kool-Aid Man PhotoBomb mobile app, which will allow fans to superimpose images of Kool-Aid Man into their own photos.
"This is one of those fun projects we love to work on: Bring Kool-Aid Man back, better than ever," says Saatchi New York chief creative officer Con Williamson. "When we set out to do that, when we really dug in, we discovered that there's a lot to love in the evolution of this iconic character. We wanted people to get to know him a bit more. Kool-Aid and Kool-Aid Man are undeniably fun and positively bold. We wanted that happiness to shine through in his personality and attitude."
A guy named Ed stalks past the glum cubicles of a nondescript office suite, raises his gun and fires a single shot at a middle-aged managerial type, narrowly missing his target. He then begins the laborious process of cleaning and reloading his musket-style weapon—the type of firearm widely used when the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified—giving everyone in the room time to flee. The chilling spot, from States United to Prevent Gun Violence and Grey New York, closes with the lines: "Guns have changed. Shouldn't our gun laws?"
Moms Demand Action and Grey Toronto take a simpler approach with "How Many More Rounds?" That clip shows shells ejecting in slow motion as an assault weapon is fired, with each casing representing a high-profile shooting: Newtown, Aurora, Virginia Tech, Columbine. As the tragedies pile up, the ad asks, "How many more rounds are we going to let this go for?" The same client-agency team also crafted print ads (posted after the jump) that show two kids standing or sitting side by side, each holding a different item, one of which has been banned by federal or local authorities to protect youngsters. The banned items include a version of Little Red Riding Hood, Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs and dodge balls. In each case, the contrasting item is an assault-style AK-15 rifle.
All three efforts are restrained and thoughtful, and each makes a point in a memorable way without seeming gratuitous. That the cause inspires impassioned and noteworthy creative work is no surprise. It's just a shame this particular ad category has to exist at all.
CREDITS (top spot) Client: States United to Prevent Gun Violence Spot: "Ed—A Petition for Stronger Gun Laws" Agency: Grey, New York President, Chief Creative Officer: Tor Myhren Executive Creative Directors: Steve Krauss, Ari Halper Creative Director, Art Director: Eric Schutte Associate Creative Director, Copywriter: Rob Carducci Copywriter: Richard Bullock Creative Reputation Manager: Rachel West Vice President, Account Director: Elizabeth Gilchrist Assistant Account Executive: Cassie Novick Executive Vice President, Director of Broadcast Production: Bennett McCarroll Producer: Floyd Russ Associate Producer: Sam Howard Production Company: Harvest Director: Adam Goldstein Executive Producers: Bonnie Goldfarb, Rob Sexton Line Producer: Francie Moore Director of Photography: Roman Jakobi Editorial: Mackenzie Cutler Editor: Gavin Cutler Assistant Editor: Ryan Steele Producer: Sasha Hirschfeld Visual Effects: Method Studios Lead Flame Artist: Jay Hawkins Matte Painter: Stella Ampatci Visual Effects Producer: Jenn Dewey Sound Design: Vision Post Sound Designer: Ryan Hobler Producer: Lindsay Brzowski Music: G&E Music
Gil Zamora is an FBI-trained forensics artist with over 3,000 criminal sketches under his belt. Dove (through Unilever's U.K. office) and Ogilvy Brazil hired him to interview and draw seven different women—two sketches of each. The first sketch was based on each woman's personal description of herself. The second was based on a description provided by a stranger the woman had just met. Of course, the differences are vast. Watching these women come face to face with the version of themselves in their mind and the version everyone else sees is extraordinary. It's one of the most original and touching experiments to come from the Campaign for Real Beauty in ages, because instead of making faux protests or annoying graphic designers with bullshit filters, they're actually empowering individual women to appreciate their inherent beauty, and in turn, allowing us all to wonder if we've been judging ourselves too harshly. Like all of the best work, the commercial elements are barely there. Beyond the logo, Dove doesn't even attempt to sell soap. Watch the documentary below, and mini-videos of selected women on the web site. Then enjoy the rousing comments section, where people are already attacking Dove for choosing too many skinny, white chicks.
CREDITS Client: Dove Agency: Ogilvy & Mather Brazil Chief Creative Officer: Anselmo Ramos Executive Creative Director: Roberto Fernandez /Paco Conde AD: Diego Machado CW: Hugo Veiga Sketch Artist: Gil Zamora Producer: Veronica Beach Junior Producer: Renata Neumann Business Manager: Libby Fine CEO: Luis Fernando Musa Group Account Director: Valeria Barone Account Director: Ricardo Honegger
Production Company: Paranoid US Director: John X Carey Executive Producer: Jamie Miller / Claude Letessier Line Producer: Stan Sawicki Director of Photography: Ed David
—Long Version Executive Producer: Jamie Miller / Claude Letessier Producer: Stan Sawicki Editor: Phillip Owens Music: Subtractive Sound mix: Lime Studio Composer: Keith Kenniff Mixer: Sam Casas Executive Producer: Jessica Locke Production Sound: Tim O’Malley Color Grading: Company 3 Colorist: Sean Coleman
—Short Version and Cinema Editorial Company: Rock Paper Scissor Executive Producer: Carol Lynn Weaver Editor: Paul Kumpata Assistant Editor: Niles Howard Online: A52 Executive Producer: Megan Meloth Producer: Jamie McBriety Music: Subtractive Composer: Keith Kenniff Sound mix: Lime Studio Mixer: Sam Casas Executive Producer: Jessica Locke Production Sound: Tim O’Malley Color Grading: Company 3 Colorist: Sean Coleman
It may not be the height of sophistication, but holy crap—Kmart's "Ship My Pants" ad is having a great run, to say the least. After just five days on YouTube, the pun-heavy spot from Draftfcb—in which Kmart shoppers are strongly encouraged to "ship their pants"—is quickly heading toward 10 million views on YouTube (it has 7.8 million currently) and is being passed around by viewers at an astounding rate of one share for every nine views, according to the viral experts at Unruly Media. With more than 800,000 shares total, it's already the second-most-shared ad of the past 30 days, eclipsed only by the "Bad Motherfucker" video from the Russian rock band Biting Elbows—which isn't really an an ad at all but counts as marketing because it's stuffed full of references to Neft vodka. Also, "Ship My Pants" seems destined to get a second big wave of publicity soon. Draftfcb—which is defending the Kmart creative business in a review that's down to three agencies—says the spot is living online only for now, but a TV run is in the works.
This "Launch Day" ad for Facebook Home, aka Facebook's new mobile UI, brings the non-pornographic online distractions of one engineer to vivid, Jumanji-esque life. The ad, which is a significant step up from the earlier airplane spot, was shot on location at Facebook's Menlo Park, Calif., campus, and the people in it are members of the actual product team behind Facebook Home. (These guys must be less camera shy than Intel's workforce.) The spot also reinforces 2013 as the year of the goat in advertising. Remains to be seen whether Home itself belongs in the category of much-derided farm animal. Second new spot, "Dinner," posted after the jump. The two new spots, like the airplane one, were done by Wieden + Kennedy.
Hey, what better way for GE to tout its "brilliant machines" designed for the healthcare sector than to show Agent Smith, the villainous sentient AI from The Matrix, stalking the corridors of a bad-dreamy medical scenario? Actor Hugo Weaving dons the shades, suit and earpiece once more, reprising his famous role in this BBDO New York spot (which broke this weekend during Saturday Night Live) as he rides and pushes gurneys, watches himself get examined, flickers across a CT-scan monitor and hovers menacingly while observing an operation. Whoa. Obamacare is even worse than I'd imagined! Makes you long for the kindly Mr. Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation, who had a cameo earlier in the campaign. Weaving's an awesome presence, though he is sinister in the extreme, especially at the end, when he offers a kid the choice of a red or blue lollipop in a nod to the Matrix films. Heck, the overall tone is so sterile and creepy that even the real life-saving machines look a bit threatening. Somebody pull the plug!
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