Hasta La Creative!

Heineken and Publicis New York show their can-do spirit in a video that celebrates Miami Marine Stadium.

The landmark structure on Biscayne Bay hosted world-class powerboat races, concerts and other events for 30 years until sustaining damage from Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Since then, it’s been abandoned—and become a draw for graffiti artists, who covered its concrete surfaces with intricate artwork and colorful designs.

Now, efforts are underway to restore the arena. Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado has pledged as much as $4 million to the cause, and an Indiegogo push set up by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, as well as Heineken, has raised more than $100,000 so far. (The brewer’s involvement ties into its multifaceted “Cities” campaign.)

The stadium’s copious spray-painted frills, however, will endure, even after its walls and columns are scrubbed clean and the dilapidated seats have been replaced.

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Brands don’t newsjack Apple events quite as often as they used to. But Jim Beam is ambushing today’s announcements from the tech marketer by introducing an April Fools’-esque gadget called the Jim Beam Apple Watch, which puts a 1.5-ounce shot glass right on your wrist.

It gets away with the Apple reference because Jim Beam Apple is a real line extension from the whiskey brand. “The watch’s streamlined interface opens and closes manually on demand. And while it doesn’t tell time, it does save time, eliminating the need for a last-minute shot glass search,” the brand says of the gag product.

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In a bit of Doctor Who-esque regeneration, Dos Equis on Wednesday introduced its new Most Interesting Man in the World—to replace Jonathan Goldsmith, who who retired from the role earlier this year. And this MIM isn’t just a new face. He heralds a new approach to the ads, in what the brewer calls a “contemporary twist to the legendary character.” 

He’s actor Augustin Legrand. And in the first hint that this isn’t your worldly grandfather’s Dos Equis campaign, Legrand is actually a French actor, and he delivers his first line as the MIM in Spanish.

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A packed bar is a lot like the prom. You look forward to having this epic night, but most of it is spent waiting in line for one thing or another. 

It’s a problem tailor-made for brand-hacking. With help from AMV BBDO, Italian alcohol brand Martini has created the Smart Cube, a piece of connected “ice” that tips the server off, via Bluetooth, when your glass hits slurping point. 

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Southwest Airlines jets back to the future in new work from GSD&M, revisiting its “Wanna Get Away” campaign, which flew off the radar almost a decade ago.

GSD&M developed the concept for Southwest in 1998, and the tagline propelled a series of ads that ran for the next 10 years. Lest anyone forget, the original spots presented folks seeking to escape from all manner of comically embarrassing situations.

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So, it’s no Chewbacca Mom—what is?—but the first fan-generated ad has landed for the megamillion-dollar toy line around Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, one of the most anticipated films of the year.

It’s a fairly epic video, done in stop-motion animation, that includes a sneak peek at a whole toy box of products from Lego, Funko, Hasbro and others. (Bobbleheads, construction toys and other swag had been under wraps until now—it all goes on sale this fall).

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For all you Pokemon Go players out there, there’s a bunch of new Pokemon wandering the busy streets. But they’re not ones you’ll want to catch. 

Esurance and agency Leo Burnett imagined some new Pokemon characters for its “Don’t Catch and Drive” campaign, reminding motorists not to play the distracting smartphone game between the wheel.

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Wver bitten into a sandwich only to meet with freezerburn, an unsatisfyingly thin piece of bacon or an unwelcome vegetable? We’ve all been there. It’s one of our most trying and persistent #FirstWorldProblems. 

But Wendy’s has a solution: The Baconator, which promises no frozen beef, no microwaved bacon and no vegetables whatsoever. And instead of food-porning us into submission, it’s conveying these messages with a trio of bizarre short stories, in which anthropomorphized foodstuffs try penetrating the Baconator in modern contexts. 

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No single decade in recent memory has a monopoly on style. Or questionable exercise methods.

A new video, “The History of Exercise,” stars Nick Offerman and Michelle Obama looking back on past—and present—contraptions for working out, as a way to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition.

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Microsoft is still getting catty with Apple. This time, in song.

A new ad for the Surface Pro 4 pokes fun at the Macbook Air, continuing one of the Windows giant’s favorite traditions of recent years—mocking Siri, and other aspects of Apple products, in its marketing.

Unlike previous commercials, though, this attack—from M:United and Reset director Daniel Warwick—comes in musical form, with a man praising the Microsoft tablet and berating the Apple laptop in pop honky-tonk rhymes that might leave you laughing, or else curled up on the floor in the fetal position crying in pain.

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