Hasta La Creative!

British nonprofit Missing People wants some of the millions of Pokemon Go players traipsing the country to be on the look out for something other than cartoon creatures: actual humans.

An outdoor campaign from the organization, which helps search for missing persons and provides support to them and their loved ones, repurposes iconography from the popular augmented reality game, which requires users to rove their cities for digital creatures in real-world locations.

The campaign, launched during a Pokemon Go event in Trafalgar Square, drew a crowd some 4,000 strong. Working with BBH Barn, the Publicis agency’s internship program, Missing People created posters featuring the faces and names of those “missing near here,” wrapped inside Pokeballs, the imaginary tools used to trap Pokemon.

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This week saw a first in the long, contentious and thoroughly exhausting campaign for the White House: an apology of sorts from GOP nominee Donald J. Trump.

Some critics were quick to point out that Trump didn’t say that he was sorry in last night’s speech or name any specific incidents in which he feels like he may have gone a bit too far. He simply said, “Sometimes, in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don’t choose the right words or you say the wrong thing,” adding, “I have done that, and I regret it, particularly where it may have caused personal pain.”

One ad agency—admittedly one with a long track record of working on Democratic campaigns—has made light of Trump’s word woes by combining two of today’s hottest marketing topics: messenger bots and the ever-shifting spectacle of the Trump campaign.

“BFF Trump” is a Facebook Messenger bot that provides users with the best and/or worst of Donald Trump. It makes for an amusing way to pass a few minutes’ time … unless you happen to be a yuuuuge fan of The Donald.

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Comic short films about the absurdity of the ad business have a proud history going back to Tim Hamilton’s brilliant Truth in Advertising. Here’s the latest one—director Tim Mason’s No Other Way to Say It, about an amusingly bleak voiceover recording session for an ice-cream commercial.

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There’s not much anyone can do to avoid life’s little indignities. But if you’ve got some money in the bank, you can at least be well dressed while facing them.

That, at least, is the upshot of a new ad from Middle Eastern clothing retailer Centrepoint and agency Impact BBDO Dubai. 

Shot in black and white, it features a young man driving a flashy vintage sportscar while a stunning woman stares out the window from the backseat (perhaps reflecting the marketer’s audience). The party drips with ennui. Despite the trappings of success, this gent can’t escape banal little tragedies—a stone in his shoe during a meeting, a piece of gum left on his seat by some thoughtless predecessor, a baby on the airplane he’s riding in.

The uncaring universe, it turns out, does not love him like his mother does (assuming the universe recognizes he’s there at all). His scruples eventually reach a high point when the car breaks down on a set of railroad tracks. 

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Brad Paisley and Rachel Platten are on your side, performing expanded versions of Nationwide’s iconic jingle in the insurance company’s new spots from Ogilvy & Mather.

Launched during NBC’s Olympics coverage, the work presents “Songs for All Your Sides,” striving to tell “the whole story of what Nationwide is and how we can support our members through their life stages,” says client CMO Terrance Williams.

Both Paisley and Platten contribute to the lyrics in their respective spots, touching on issues like banking services and retirement plans. First up, country star Paisley works the frets, waxing poetic about man caves and RVs (which, let’s face it, wouldn’t seem out of place in most country songs):

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Amy Schumer may be the world’s worst babysitter, but she will take her nephew and niece back-to-school shopping at Old Navy.

A new 60-second ad marks the star’s debut for the clothing chain as its spokescomic. In it, she demonstrates her total ineptitude at looking after children, like feeding her charges by slopping milk into a box of cereal, and handing them each a fork.

Luckily, she knows enough to call some cool kid and get his advice on where to take them to buy clothes. Unluckily, she sweeps them out of the house without finding them shoes to wear—and knows too little to avoid making a total fool out of herself.

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Figliulo & Partners doubles your pleasure through elegant use of split-screen technique in the agency’s first major push for Carnival’s ultra-luxury Seabourn Cruise Line.

Targeting affluent millennials, a playful, visually arresting anthem spot titled “Extraordinary Worlds” presents a series of complementary images on opposite sides of the screen. One panel shows on-board amenities, while the other displays highlights from exotic cruising destinations such as New Zealand and Iceland. Throughout the minute-long commercial, the frames work together to create an optical feast of color, flow and composition.

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Nike athletes do such great things, even voiceover artists are surprised.

The athletic wear brand’s “Unlimited” campaign, which launched last week with this baby-themed spot, really kicks into high gear today with “Unlimited You”—a long-form spot running as a 2:30 online and as a :60 on NBC’s coverage of tonight’s Opening Ceremonies of the Rio Olympics.

The spot, created by Wieden + Kennedy Portland and directed by The Daniels (aka, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), has fun in particular with the voiceover, by actor Oscar Isaac. After talking up the potential of everyday athletes, in a playfully freewheeling way, for the first 60 seconds, Isaac tries to wrap up the spot—but the athletes have other ideas.

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Summer is better with perks. To take advantage of that, Miller Lite is spending these sun-soaked months offering “kick backs”—a fun series of unexpected rewards—to people across the country. Who says service is dead? 

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For Square/Enix’s Hitman, a video game where players must assassinate given targets without getting caught, Omelet LA spent the first half of the year building a campaign that kills (literally! … well, digitally, anyway). And it used that campaign to build actual gaming content. 

In March, for the game’s release, Hitman built pre-rolls that let you murder the ad. The spot, titled “The Wolfshark,” featured the aforementioned (“TV’s King of Corruption!”) and featured a “Kill this ad in…” button where “Skip ad” normally is. 

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