Hasta La Creative!

Adman turned best-selling author James Patterson often creates TV ads to promote his books. But for the launch of his latest novel, Private Vegas, he turned to ad agency Mother for something decidedly different.

In what Mother New York creative chief Paul Malmstrom calls a “pretty absurd stunt,” the author is inviting one fan to experience “The Self-Destructing Book,” aka “The most thrilling experience money can buy.” This fan will have to pay $294,038 for experience, which includes getting a self-destructing version of the 416-page book, having a private dinner with Patterson, and witnessing—through gold-plated binoculars!—the epic demise of the book.

At the same time, via a web application, 1,000 more readers will gain access a free digital version of Private Vegas that will disappear after 24 hours in a cinematic and spectacular way. That aspect of the promotion plays on Patterson’s reputation for writing page-turners with short chapters and cliffhangers that keep you reading. What’s more, the digital version will include flourishes such as a splattering of blood when a character is killed.

The bigger stunt is supported by several videos that Mother created as well.

Asked why he hired an agency for a promotion that the former JWT creative director could have created himself, Patterson told AdFreak, “Well, I’d been writing some of the scripts, and I just thought we could get better talent on this thing, you know?”

The author added that he wanted to shake up the marketing aspect of publishing, which of course now competes with everything from TV shows to feature films to Internet content—some of which he creates himself.

“I wanted to do something big and exciting and different. Went to Mother and Mother came up with a few ideas, as mothers will. And we all decided that this was the coolest one,” Patterson said.

The destruction has nothing specifically to do with the plot of the ninth installment of Patterson’s crime series, which comes out on Monday. The $294,038 figure, however, does have special significance. When asked about it, Patterson deferred to Malmstrom, who laughed before explaining, “That’s the actual cost [of the campaign]. We added it all up, and that’s the exact sum. And we didn’t mark it up.”

So, this is why Newcastle Brown Ale hired Aubrey Plaza as its 2015 Super Bowl endorser: Her perma-sarcasm and lack of energy make her the world’s worst spokeswoman—or if you like, the world’s best anti-spokeswoman.

The brewer and ad agency Droga5—who specialize in deflating marketing’s overblown self-importance—continue their march toward the industy’s most overblown, self-important night by having the Parks and Recreation actress sullenly and amusingly milk a cow. This part of the brand’s email to us sums up the approach pretty well:

You can’t make an overblown Big Game ad campaign without releasing a semi-controversial clickbait video ahead of time to prime the pump and get people “excited” about the coming advertisement. (As excited as Aubrey, even.)

Newcastle is actually buying a regional Super Bowl spot this year. In an earlier video with Plaza, it announced a plan to crowdfund that spot with a bunch of other brands.

“In exchange for a small contribution, any brand can join Newcastle’s team and have its logo and messaging featured in an actual Big Game spot,” the brand says. Today is the last day for interested companies to submit their “Band of Brands” proposal for consideration at NewcastleBandOfBrands.com.

“At first we tried to sneak our way into the Big Game by entering a popular commercial contest put on by a certain snack chip brand, but that didn’t work out for us. Now we’re trying to leverage ‘strength in numbers’ to see what that does for us,” said Priscilla Flores Dohnert, brand director for Newcastle Brown Ale.

“Everyone loves a great underdog story. What’s more ‘underdog’ than being short on cash and not having the right to advertise during the game?”

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!

Jan Brady would be shocked to see how grumpy her sister has become in Snickers’ teaser for its Brady Bunch-themed Super Bowl ad. Indeed, she’s so grumpy that she’s turned into Danny Trejo, angrily brushing her hair (and counting the brushes, as the character used to do) in front of a mirror as her mother calls from downstairs.

The full 30-second spot, by BBDO New York, is expected to continue the brand’s “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” campaign—so apparently Marsha is so hungry, she’s acting like Robert Rodriguez’s favorite anti-hero.

This will be Snickers’ first Super Bowl spot since 2011, taking the place of M&M’s, which has enjoyed Mars’ slot in the Big Game spotlight in each of the past three years. Snickers’ 2011 spot starred Roseanne Barr and Richard Lewis. Its 2010 spot famously had Betty White playing football—it was one of the most-liked ads of that game, and is generally credited with reviving the actress’s career.

Not everyone loves Super Bowl teasers and full ads being released early—many think it spoils the surprise. But Mars is assuming enough people will want to see the full Trejo spot early that it’s made a little contest out of it.

“Fans can ask to have the spot released early through a number of social media activities, and if consumers generate 2.5 million social media engagements before kick-off on Feb. 1, Snickers will release the entire 30-second spot early,” the brand tells us.

An engineer ventures out during a thunderstorm and literally catches lightning in a bottle to power the Acura ILX in this cinematic spot from Mullen.

Johnny Green of Reset Productions—much lauded for his Under Armour ad last year with ballerina Misty Copeland—directed the automaker’s 60-second clip, which also features an orchestral reworking of the Pixies’ 1988 track “Where Is My Mind” (which pops up quite a bit in ads). In fact, Joey Santiago of the Pixies recorded this version with Acura.

“Innovative performance is a core quality of the Acura brand, and the spot captures that essence in a visually compelling and emotional way,” says Acura general manager Mike Accavitti.

Indeed, the music and images are well matched, and Green’s storytelling is top notch. Even so, the effect is somewhat less than the sum of its parts. We’ve got lightning blots, a zippy car, a stirring soundtrack … yet the spot feels restrained—bottled up, if you will—when it could have been dazzling.

Ah well, this is just the first strike in a broader Acura campaign themed “Catch It If You Can.” Perhaps subsequent ads will pack more of a charge.

CREDITS
Brand: Acura
Client: Mike Accavitti, Senior Vice President, General Manager
Client: Ed Beadle, Senior Marketing Manager
Client: Leila Cesario, National Advertising Manager
Car Model:  2016 ILX
Spot Title: Bottle

Agency:  Mullen LA
Chief Creative Officer: Mark Wenneker
Executive Creative Director: Margaret Keene
Creative Director/Art: Paul Foulkes
Creative Director/Writer: Adam Calvert
Sr. Art Director: Sean Stell
Writer: Natasha Hugeback
SVP, Director of Integrated Production: Jon Drawbaugh
Senior Broadcast Producer: Meagen Moore
Content Producer: Elaine Russell
Business Affairs/Music Supervisor: Danica Bates
Managing Director: Cameron McNaughton
VP, Account Director: Nicole Neopolitan
Account Supervisor: Courtney Calvert
Account Executive: Kylie Mugg
Product Specialist: Curtis Milward

Production Company: Reset
Director: Johnny Green
Managing Director: Dave Morrison
Executive Producer: Jeff McDougall
Producer: Betsy Oliver
DP: Paul Cameron

Editorial: RPS
Editor: Damion Clayton
Assistant Editor: Benjamin Cline
Producer: Rebecca Baker

Color Correct: A52
Colorist: Paul Yacono

Animation/Graphics:
VFX Supervisor/Lead Flame Artist: Andy McKenna

VFX: A52
Head of Production: Kim Christensen
Executive Producer: Jennifer Sofio Hall

Audio Post: Lime Studio
Mixer: Joel Waters

Audio Post: 740 Sound Design
Original Music: The Pixies, Joey Santiago
Name of Track: Where is My Mind

The last time we checked in with Matt Vescovo, it was 2003 and he was doing Instructoart—hilarious award-winning graphic-design pieces (some of which ran as animated promos on MTV) detailing how to perform simple activities like doing the hokey pokey, separating groceries on a conveyer belt and removing pubic hair from a bar of soap.

Here’s his latest project: The Stock Photobomber.

Vescovo, 45—who worked at BBDO, Cliff Freeman & Partners and Fallon in the ’90s before going freelance full time in 2002—uses Photoshop to insert himself into the most silly and awkward of stock photos, making them even more irresistibly absurd.

“I dedicate every stock photobomb to the actors who posed for the original stock photos. You didn’t mean to do what you did when you did it, but boy you really did it didn’t you,” he writes on the Stock Photobomber’s Facebook page.

BuzzFeed caught up with Vescovo, who had this to say about the project:

I was in a gift shop and I happened to walk by the aisle where they sell picture frames. I remember looking at the stock photo of the smiley family in a loving embrace they had in the frame and thinking to myself: “They’re not a family, they’re actors who met 10 minutes before they took this.”

It felt a little fake to me and so I thought, “I know what will make it more real, if I’m in there.”

The reaction has been pretty amazing, people really seem to like the photobombs. I think photobombing is such a big thing these days and I just happened to take it and add a little twist. I do it all on Photoshop. God bless Photoshop.

Check out more of the photos below.

Some companies might take exception to your scribbling all over its catalog. But not Ikea.

For a while now, British illustrator Sarah Horne has found the Ikea catalog to be an inspiring canvas on which to draw fantastical scenes—with mythical creatures all relaxing in minimalist Swedish homescapes. Well, Ikea saw the drawings—and loved them. And over the holidays they invited Horne to be an official children’s illustrator in residence at its Wembley store.

“As a child I was always doodling and dreaming up a never-ending number of fantastical dinner parties that featured fictional creatures from the pages of my favorite storybooks—imagining what it would be like to have dinner with a dragon or breakfast with Bigfoot,” Horne says.

“Although I’m all grown up, my mind runs riot with the fantastical meals I always wished I could be a part of, using pages from my favorite Ikea catalogue as a canvas to bring my mythical creations a little more into reality.”

Horne’s pictures gave Ikea an idea. They could use them to help reinforce the idea of the importance of family dinner times.

“We know how easy it is to get bogged down in the craziness of everyday life, so we hired our children’s illustrator in residence to put the wonder back into dining together,” says an Ikea rep. “At Ikea, we firmly believe that each and every mealtime is special in its own right, whether it’s a midweek supper for your partner, breakfast with the kids, or pizza at home on a Friday night. It’s all about spending quality time together and treasuring those moments as a family.”

Hear more from Horne below. Via PSFK.

Exercise is hard enough already without your arm fat flapping like a chicken wing to discourage you. But if we could learn to stop worrying and love the sweaty slap of our chubby thighs, we might never think twice about hitting the gym or the field.

At least, that’s the premise of Britain’s “This Girl Can” campaign. The wiggling, jiggling, sweaty anthem is getting press and shares for its honest depiction of what average women working out look like—so that women of all shapes and sizes will feel better stepping up the plate or the Zumba stick.

A bit clumsily cut to Missy Eliott’s “Get Ur Freak On” and having some of the worst typographic design you’ve seen in ages, the video has nonetheless racked up millions of views on Facebook and YouTube due to its inspiring, anthemic nature.

Sport England (a British government department previously known as the English Sports Council) funded the effort and did the research that found a serious gender gap in exercise. Some 2 million fewer women than men in the 14-40 age range regularly participate in sports. They tried to figure out why.

Was it because our ladyparts make it harder to lift weights? Nope. In other European countries, there’s no such gap. What was holding England’s women back?

Digging further, they found that body image issues were the main issue. This campaign is meant to be the solution—a website, a YouTube channel and an inspirational film series that celebrates the wiggling, jiggling and sweating that comes along with being a healthy active woman at any size.

It might encourage you to get out on the field. At the very least, it will fill your girl power needs until another anthemic video comes along next week.

CREDITS
Agency: FCB Inferno
Managing Director: Sharon Jiggins
Creative Director: Bryn Attewell
Art Director: Raymond Chan
Copywriter: Simon Cenamor
Planning Director: Vicki Holgate
Senior Account Director: Hollie Loxley
Producer: Ally Mee
Media Company: Carat
Production Company : Somesuch
Exec. Producer: Tim Nash
Director: Kim Gehrig
DP: David Procter
Producer: Lee Groombridge
Editor: Tom Lindsay at Trim
Post-production Producers: Andrew McLintock and Adam Sergant
Post-production: Framestore
Audio post-production: Wave Sound Studios
Music Company/Sound Design: Soundtree

Whether you agree with the nominations (The Lego Movie was ROBBED), it’s an exciting day for Hollywood, as the Oscar contenders were announced this morning, including esteemed cinematographer Dick Poop.

Everyone’s favorite teenage M.D., Douglas Howser, will be the host of this year’s broadcast, and will certainly not disappoint like that shlub Neil Patrick Harris usually does. 

Kidding aside, the Oscars rolled out this 30-second spot today featuring a little optical trickery to promote the show, which will air Sunday, Feb. 22, on ABC.

And here are a couple of NPH Oscars spots from a couple weeks back:

State Farm has been running the “Magic Jingle” advertising campaign for a while, in which customers are able to summon their agents out of thin air in times of crisis by singing the famous jingle: “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.”

What’s been left unspoken—until now—is how weird the scene must be back in the State Farm offices, with agents constantly disappearing while chatting with colleagues.

This new spot from Translation looks at the campaign from the latter angle, comically checking in on disappearing agents in State Farm offices across the country. The spot was directed by Roman Coppola, with longtime David Fincher cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth handling DP duties.

“There really are endless jokes to make and directions to explore with the concept of teleportation,” Translation creative director Nick Sonderup tells AdFreak.

“We knew the spot worked because there were just so many ways to execute it. On the surface, the idea that a State Farm agent will be there no matter when you need them is only one part of the story. When you consider what those agents might be in the middle of when you sing the jingle, and they’re summoned to your side—that’s when it clicked and we knew things could get really fun.”

“It’s also a response to the way the ‘Magic Jingle’ campaign has become part of culture,” adds Patty Morris, State Farm marketing director of brand content. (Indeed, just look at all the “Magic Jingle” parodies on Vine.)

“We’ve seen so many terrific user-generated parodies and creative ways of approaching the idea. We took the opportunity to re-think it ourselves, and the result was a completely fresh piece of creative that stays true to our original strategy.”

CREDITS
Brand/Client: State Farm
Campaign Title: State Farm Magic Jingle
Spot Title: “Magic Jingle Disappearing Agents”
First Air Date: 1/10/15

Agency: Translation   
Founder & CEO: Steve Stoute
Chief Creative Officer: John Norman
Creative Director: Nick Sonderup
Creative Director: Andy Grant
Art Director: Allison Bulow
Copywriter: Jameson Rossi
Partner, Strategy: John McBride
Director of Content Production: Miriam Franklin
Director of Business Management: Thalia Tsouros
VP Account Director: Susanna Swartley
Account Supervisor: Sara Daino
Assistant Account Executive: Jake Thorndike
Producer: Andy Murillo
Junior Producer: Kristen Cooler

Production: The Directors Bureau
Director: Roman Coppola
DP: Jeff Cronenweth
Managing Director/Executive Producer: Lisa Margulis
Executive Producer/Head of Production: Elizabeth Minzes
Producer: Mary Livingston

Editorial Company: Rock Paper Scissors NY
Editor: Carlos Arias
Assistant Editor: Alexandra Debricon
Post Executive Producer:  Eve Kornblum
Post Producer: Lisa Barnable

VFX Company:  The Mill
VFX Artist: Gavin Wellsman, Jeff Butler
VFX Executive Producer: Boo Wong
VFX Producer: Colin Moneymaker

Audio Post: Heard City
Mixer: Keith Reynaud, Mike Vitacco
Executive Producer: Gloria Pitagorsky
Producer: Sasha Awn

Sound Design: Henryboy
Sound Designer: Bill Chesley
Executive Producer: Kate Gibson

Original Music: Beacon Street
Composers:  Andrew Feltenstein and John Nau
Executive Producers: Adrea Lavezzoli and Leslie Dilullo

Media: OMD

State Farm Marketing Director, Brand Content: Patty Morris
State Farm Advertising Manager: Troy Johnson
State Farm Marketing Analyst, Mass Media Brand Content: Christine Williams
State Farm Marketing Analyst, Mass Media Brand Content: Jeff Greeneberg

Axe has been trying to move away from its narrow, misogynistic views on relationships and sexuality for some time. But this BBH London spot is easily the Unilever brand’s most inclusive yet.

Airing first in Australia (where the brand is called Lynx) before rolling out to other global markets, the hair-care spot packs a lot into 60 seconds. As our hero flips through TV channels at home, we get brief scenes that take place inside each show—with the protagonist in the lead role.

Around the 30-second mark, though, we get a scene that would be remarkable for many brands—and astounding for Axe. “Kiss the hottest girl,” the voiceover advises the Axe user, “or the hottest boy!” And in the vintage scene, we see the guy do just that.

Even better, they don’t make a big deal of it. And it’s not even mentioned in the press release. (Nick Gill, executive creative director of BBH London, says he’s “enormously proud” of the ad—because it’s “witty, exciting and full on filmic invention,” not because it’s revolutionary in any way.)

The spot has been getting press just for the gay kiss, and no wonder. Axe has been proudly regressive for years. It’s a shock to see it suddenly get this progressive.

CREDITS
Client: Axe/Lynx
Agency: BBH London
BBH Creative Team: Jack Smedley, George Hackforth-Jones
BBH Interactive Art Director: Vinny Olimpio
BBH Creative Director: David Kolbusz, Nick Gill, Gary McCreadie, Wesley Hawes
BBH Team Director: Cressida Holmes-Smith
BBH Team Manager: Freddie Vereker
BBH Strategist: Tom Callard
BBH Strategy Director: Agathe Guerrier
BBH Business Lead: Helen James

Film Credits
BBH Producer: Glenn Paton
BBH Assistant Producer: Katie Burkes
Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks
Director: Noam Murro
Executive Producer: Orlando Wood
Producer: Jay Veal
DoP: Eric Schmidt
Post Production: Framestore
Editor/Editing House: Neil Smith and Saam Hodivala @ Work Post
Sound: Will Cohen @ String and Tins

Print Credits
BBH Producer: Sally Green
Photographer: Photographer: Alan Clarke
Typographer: Rich Kennedy

Local Agency Credits
Client: LYNX Australia
Marketing Director: Jon McCarthy
Senior Brand Manager: Johnny Hammond
Brand Manager: Lindsey Roberts
Digital Agency: Soap Creative
Media Agency: Mindshare
PR Agency: Liquid Ideas