Hasta La Creative!

You remember Sully. He was the odd talking sheep in last year's brilliant "Stan" commercial for Corona Light, from director Mike Mills and ad agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Well, it appears Sully's brief taste of fame went to his woolly head—because now he's bleated his way into a starring role in this year's Corona Light campaign. Four new :15s directed by Larry Charles (Seinfeld, Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm) went live online Monday, and will reach broadcast on April 15. The theme is, "Ditch the herd," and in the first spot, Sully does just that—rising up from the pack, suddenly bipedal, and giving his buddies a quick "Adios!" as he scoots away. In three other spots, Sully learns the fine arts of sports watching, hunting and guitar playing, only one of which really goes well. The ads are amusingly absurd, more lowbrow than last year's artfully designed work but still fun. Sully, of course, is also on Twitter.

"After the sheep garnered considerable attention on YouTube, we thought it would be funny, to spin the sheep out, and follow him as he started to do things differently. Thus this symbol of sameness became the face of change," says Goodby creative director Adam Reeves. Adds Jim Sabia, CMO at Crown Imports: "We have found that Corona Light's target consumer—the 21- to 29-year-old college-educated beer drinker—is craving to switch things up with a light beer that's different from the same old same old. The sheep's ability to serve as a spokesperson for what Corona Light stands for really got us excited about this campaign."

Gorn … but not forgotten! To promote a Star Trek video game launching this month, William Shatner and a guy in a lumpy lizard suit winningly reprise Captain Kirk's hand-to-claw struggle with the alien Gorn commander from the classic Trek episode "Arena." The updated battle takes place in Shats' comfy living room, where he flips his wig over the gameplay tactics of his reptilian rival. The joke here is that 46 years after their initial encounter, the combatants are, as Shatner pants at one point, "both too old for this kind of thing." Indeed, time has taken its toll. In 1967, only the Gorn was wrinkled and leathery. Today, octogenarian Shatner fits the same description. Well, OK, Bill actually looks great, his schtick is ageless, and the clip scores by deftly employing elements of the original fight's campy choreography. As dramatic Trek-like music swells, the creature hurls a couch cushion that looks about as dangerous as the polystyrene "boulder" it heaved at Kirk the first time around. Once again, Mon Cap-i-tain discombobulates the alien by smacking his palms against its earholes. When the Gorn bellows in pain, Shatner, Hollywood's quintessential ham, accuses his foe of overacting. I haven't seen "Arena" in maybe 30 years, but damn if I didn't remember the boulder-toss and ear-slap like I'd watched it yesterday! This ability to tap into our collective memory should not be underestimated. I didn't just enjoy this spot, I relished every second, as many Shatner and Trek fans will. I couldn't hit replay fast enough. There's palpable feel-good power at play here, transporting viewers to pop-culture nirvana at warp speed.

Since every third ad has to be an Apple parody now, Carlsberg makes fun of Apple Store product launches in this TV spot for Somersby Cider from agency Fold7. Some of the computer jargon here works surprisingly well for drinking, but there's no forgiving the apple puns. While we're on the subject, "Less apps, more apples" doesn't make sense as a tagline since they're comparing different products. Apples and oranges.

Hey, the Pillsbury Doughboy appears in The Martin Agency's latest "Happier Than … " commercial for Geico. I thought he'd done so a while back, but it turns out that was Eddie Money. Eddie's tunes are so poppin' fresh. In the new spot, the Doughboy giggles his way through an airport security check, illustrating that people who save money by switching to Geico are "Happier than the Pillsbury Doughboy on his way to a baking convention." It's a better commercial crossover than most—less strained, for example, than Mr. Clean and the Target bull's-eye pooch shilling for Xerox. Too bad Geico's gecko wasn't on hand to fight Doughboy to the death to determine which ad mascot is best. I guess that's something I'll only enjoy in dreams. Go on, smack him, gecko … bite his doughy ass!

CREDITS
Client: Geico
Spot: "Doughboy"

Agency: The Martin Agency, Richmond, Va.
Chief Creative Officer Joe Alexander
Senior Vice President, Group Creative Director: Steve Bassett
Vice Presicent, Creative Director: Wade Alger
Senior Vice President, Art Director, Creative Director: Sean Riley
Senior Copywriter: Ken Marcus
Vice President, Agency Executive Broadcast Producer: Molly Souter
Agency Producer: Samantha Tucker
Agency Junior Producer: Emily Taylor
Strategic Planner: Melissa Cabral
Account Team: Chris Mumford, Brad Higdon, Parker Collins, Carter Crenshaw, Susan Karns

Group Talent Director: Suzanne Wieringo
Production Business Manager: Amy Trenz

Production Company: Hungry Man
Director: Wayne McClammy
Director of Photography: Tim Ives
Executive Producer, Managing Partner: Kevin Byrne
Producer: Nate Young
Production Supervisor: Steve Ruggieri

Editorial Company: Makenzie Cutler
Editor: Ian MacKenzie
Editor: Dave Koza
Assistant Editor: Carmen Hu
Editorial Producer: Evan Meeker
Director of Operations: Biz Lunskey

Visual Effects: The Mill
Executive Producer: Jo Arghiris
Producer: Colin Blaney
Shoot Supervisor: Tony Robins
2-D Lead Artist: Randy McEntee
2-D Artists: Tony Robins, Paul Downes, Jamin Clutcher
Art Support: Rob Meade
3-D Lead Artist: Kevin Ives
3-D Artists: Billy Dangyoon Jang, Olivier Varteressian, Laurent Giaume, Justin Diamond, Sean Dooley, Joshua Merck, Hassan Taimur, Wyatt Savarese, Samuel Crees, Ross Scroble
Matte Painter: Can Y. Sanalan
Colorist: Fergus McCall
Doughboy Animation: Topix
Creative Director: Steven Hollman
Senior Producer: Christina Lord

Audio Post, Sound Design: Rainmaker Studios
Engineer: Jeff McManus
Music: "Happier Than" theme song by Adam Schlesinger

Does winning take care of everything? Perhaps for Tiger Woods. Probably not for some other athletes who've been on Nike's payroll. Here are some nicely done spoofs of the much-discussed new Tiger ad that put the sports marketer's controversial headline in less comfortable contexts. Two more after the jump—with Michael Vick and (though he was not a Nike endorser) O.J. Simpson. Via.

Now that Tiger Woods has regained the top ranking on the pro golf tour, Nike is celebrating its star endorser's comeback with an online ad emblazoned with one of Woods's favorite soundbites, "Winning takes care of everything," along with the word "Victory" next to the company's swoosh logo. The ad has stoked the flames of controversy in social media, with some claiming it sends a bad message in light of Woods's marital infidelities that surfaced a few years back, costing him some endorsement deals, tarnishing his image and threatening to derail his career—not to mention crushing the marriage in question.

There are hundreds of press reports about the ad and countless tweets and comments, all manner of Internet chatter, folks expressing opinions pro and con. Much of the coverage has focused on what impact the ad will have on Nike's brand. That's a fair question, but as anyone who's followed marketing for more than 10 minutes should realize, it's answered almost as soon as it's asked. This is a blip that quickly stirs passions but has no lasting effect. By next week it will be all but forgotten. Nike and Tiger will carry on. (They been here before, of course, when Nike released that rather peculiar Tiger ad following the scandal.)

In a larger and more intriguing sense, the story is a microcosm of the state and price of fame in the digital media landscape. If you start winning in the public eye and achieve some notoriety, you'd better take care and be on your guard about everything, because legions are eagerly watching and waiting and we'll pounce at the slightest provocation. This says a lot less about Woods, Lance Armstrong or other tarnished icons than it does about the rest of us, who live vicariously to varying degrees through such "heroes and villains." Most of us will never experience the life-changing thrill ride of winning and losing on a grand scale, because for whatever reason, we can't commit our whole beings to daunting tasks, athletic or otherwise, and fight through the pain, injury and public pressure to victory. Hell, most of us will never truly win or lose at anything.

So, we cheer on Woods, Armstrong and the rest when they triumph, and weep at their defeats. We damn them when they fall from grace and welcome them back with accolades and big-bucks sponsorships when they've reformed enough for our liking.

In this way, such imbalanced relationships become symbiotic and reciprocal. Tiger and Lance play out high-def dramas with, at times, their careers and livelihoods on the line. We play along on our sofas, remotes in hand, flipping among our thousand channels. Social media intensifies and personalizes the experience. We become actors in their story—mostly in our own minds, of course, but in increasingly more palpable ways than ever before—as commentators and commenters, bloggers, tweeters and pinners. Our input flickers across PC desktops and smartphone screens, shared in real time with thousands, maybe millions, all eager to feel more deeply and understand—if only briefly, and through the exploits of others—what words like winning and everything really mean.

Tiger Woods is a golf nerd, right? Right. But in fantasy video-game land, he destroys you and all your hoodlum friends, fake kung-fu style, because you're trying to steal his trophies. His charming geezer of a sidekick, Arnold Palmer, meanwhile, manages to seem much more badass, rocking his tournament hardware inside his blazer like he's fencing gold watches. Because while Woods is busy being all "intense," ice-cold Palmer clearly just couldn't, you know, care less. For EA Sports's new Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14. Agency: Heat.

This Brazilian ad by Ogilvy & Mather for Dove's Men + Care shampoo line puts the tropes of women's shampoo commercials in a new, and weird, context. Apparently, using women's shampoo makes your hair move in slow motion all the time, and also makes it grow about a foot in the time between showering and getting to work. You'd think the afflicted man would have noticed this before his co-worker pointed it out. All that neck strain would have killed me. Directed by Hungry Man's Carlão Busato.

Do you remember what life was like in Manhattan in 1993? The rats, the graffiti, the parties, the drugs, the … pay phones. Fear not. The East Village-based ad agency Droga5 and the New Museum have teamed up to give you a glimpse back in time—using that suddenly resurgent old communications device in the process.

Agency and client have launched "Recalling 1993," offering a raw, unfiltered listen to what was going on around New York City 20 years ago. The campaign turns pay phones into geo-located time capsules—dial (855) FOR-1993 from any pay phone in Manhattan, and you will hear a personal account of what was going down in that particular area in 1993, a pivotal year in the city's history. The recordings offer memories of everything from the World Trade Center bombing in the Financial District to the club culture at Limelight in Chelsea to the opening of Angels in America in Midtown.

The effort promotes a new exhibit at the museum, "NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star," which is running through May 26. There are more than 4.5 hours of content in total—over 150 recorded oral histories from real New Yorkers—so hopefully you have some extra time on your hands. See more in the video below, and listen to a sampling of the stories at the link above. Credits below.

CREDITS
Client: New Museum
Campaign: "Recalling 1993"
Agency: Droga5, New York
Creative Chairman: David Droga
Executive Creative Directors: Ted Royer, Nik Studzinski
Associate Creative Directors: Ray Del Savio, Jerry Hoak
Copywriters: Colin Lord, Bryan Wolff
Art Directors: Jen Lu, Daniel Sumarna
Head of Integrated Production: Sally-Ann Dale
Executive Producer: Scott Chinn
Executive Interactive Producer: Lindsey Slaby
Producer: Jennifer McKenzie
Production Assistant: Goldie Robbens
Technical Director: David Justus
Creative Technology Lead: Fran Devinney
User Experience Director: Kathrin Hoffman
User Experience Designer: Eileen Tang
Associate Digital Producer: Ian Graetzer
Senior Print Producer: Jeannie O'Toole
Print Production Assistant: Annick Thomas
Brand Strategist: Matthew Gardner
Strategy Intern: P.J. Mongell
Researchers: Amelia Barry, Sarah Gancher, Bo Jacober
Group Account Director: Olivia Legere
Account Director: Caitlin Chandler
Account Manager: Louisa Cronan

Google's latest innovation in time-wasting fun—this time out of Japan—is the Chrome World Wide Maze, a browser experiment that turns any Web page of your choosing into a 3-D marble maze. You need a smartphone for this to work properly (and, of course, Chrome for Mobile), since it becomes your controller once you've synced it up with your computer. The mobile-phone-as-game-controller idea has promise, and isn't much different from the Wii U's current setup. But they'll have to do more than this to make up for axing Google Reader. Jerks.