Every day is a bit spooky when you’re dealing with clients. But this Halloween, ad agency Mistress has made a little chart you might find useful—how to tell whether your client’s double-speak is a trick or a treat. It’s notoriously hard to tell sometimes.
Top photo via Flickr.
YouTube censors who greenlight nudity as long as it’s artistic must have spent a fair bit of time on this video from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris—advertising an art show about the influence of the Marquis de Sade on representation of sexuality.
That’s because almost every frame could be age-gated.
It was made by video artists David Freymond and Florent Michel. “In the end, it doesn’t come off as something pornographic or obscene. It’s rather beautiful, very aestheticized, like a painting by Renoir, Courbet, or a Rodin,” Emmanuèle Peyret writes in Libération, per Artnet. “In brief, another artwork amid those already inhabiting the museum.”
Video contains nudity and is NSFW.
It can be tough to get your work featured in the advertising magazine Lürzer’s Archive. But René Schultz and Casper Christensen found a way around that.
The Danish art directors, who were looking for a job, went ahead and created their own physical replica of the creative magazine, filled it with their own work, and sent it to agencies. See how they did it—and whether it worked—in the video below.
As you might have guessed, the whole thing came full circle when the prank was written up in Lürzer’s Archive itself. “Of course I was delighted with this gem,” writes Lürzer’s editor Michael Weinzettl. “They copied the magazine to perfection.”
The Slow Mo Guys are shifting into the fast lane.
As part of YouTube’s ongoing effort to introduce its popular channel stars to a wider audience, Gavin Free and Dan Gruchy are appearing in a multimedia push that includes TV, print, billboards and online ads. The campaign, breaking now in the U.K., is tagged “You make every second epic,” and also highlights Vice News and beauty vlog Zoella. (In the U.S., YouTubers like Bethany Mota and Michelle Phan starred in similar ads earlier this year.)
“YouTube stars are not only entertaining us through their quirky videos and updates, but building long lasting relationships with their fans,” says Ben McOwen Wilson, who oversees partnerships for the Google-owned service.
The 30-second Slow Mo Guys teaser shows highlights from some of their nearly 100 videos shot at 10,000 frames per second. Watermelons and paintballs explode in plumes of color, and a teacup tossed through the air disgorges its contents in caramel cascades. This sampling merely hints at the channel’s treasure trove of dazzling footage, which has garnered almost 430 million total views and 4.5 million subscribers in the past four years.
It feels right that The Slow Mo Guys were chosen to take part in YouTube’s mainstream crossover push, because their oeuvre encompasses elements of old and new media. Gavin and Dan condense the frantic, silly vibe of shows like You Can’t Do That on Television and America’s Funniest Home Videos into highly shareable bites. They add dashes of Bill Nye-style scientific curiosity and genuine artistry (some of their slow-motion work is amazing). Even their goofy Brit-bro personalities are in sync with the times, reminding viewers that these are average Joes using technology to create amazing stuff.
At times, the guys present serious, brand-centric material, including a couple of clips that showcase General Electric’s cutting-edge tech. Such efforts are informative and boast hypnotic imagery, but the real fun comes from their sillier escapades. You’ll gasp at the epic cuteness of dogs and cats frozen in mid-air, striking impossible ballet poses. You’ll cringe as milky puke sluggishly slithers from Dan’s twisted, lactose-tortured lips. You’ll jump in your seat when dozens of mousetraps dance in an insanely prolonged (and painful) chain reaction.
These are awesome time wasters. No matter how slow the antics, the minutes fly by.
Homeless signs have been a font of ideas for creatives, but rarely has the focus been on the fonts themselves.
The Arrels Foundation in Barcelona has created Homelessfonts—typefaces based on the unique handwriting of the homeless people it helps. Each font comes with the story of the person who penned it and their personality. After all, few things are more personal than our handwriting.
The work not only helps fund the foundation, it humanizes the homeless and lets people see them as unique individuals, not as an amorphous problem. The video about the process is moving, but moreover, the fonts are actually good. The glyphs were captured with fat sharpies on poster board and then transformed by volunteer typographers.
If you are a typographer, you can donate your time and expertise to help create more fonts. If you just like the concept, you can download a free app to use the fonts in social media (be a nice person and make a donation, too). And if you’re a brand, you can purchase the fonts and the stories that come with them for professional use at surprisingly affordable prices.
Samples of the scripts as they might appear on packaging are included, so you can see just how beautiful and unique the font—and the people behind them—truly are.
Does McDonald’s put horsemeat in its burgers? What about pink slime? Would you feed McDonald’s food to your kids?
So many questions. But now, taking its cues from a well-received transparency campaign from McDonald’s Canada, the chain is responding to whatever hate its American critics want to throw at it. And it’s hired former MythBusters host Grant Imahara to be your third-party, completely unbiased, totally trustworthy, quasi-celebrity McMyth investigator.
Grant’s first three videos have already dropped, where he visits a Cargill plant and answers the following: Is McDonald’s beef real (and are there eyelids in there)? Why are the patties frozen (when fresh should theoretically be much tastier)? Why are the burgers so cheap (you get what you pay for, right)?
It’s everything you’d expect from a hard-reboot, Domino’s-style brand turnaround. What I most admire is that they’re letting the comment feed on YouTube be just as brutal as it wants to be. And man, is it brutal. It’s hard to tell the legit processed-food concerns from the horsemeat crazies.
Though honestly, that’s good for Micky D’s. The more they can discredit the really nutty folks by letting them be themselves—and there are some excellent conspiracy theorists blowing up the feed—the less McDonald’s itself actually needs to say.
That said, I’m probably not going to bite the bullet like Grant and munch a Big Mac anytime soon. But those sodium acid pyrophosphate fries, man. Who can resist those fries?
A world without glass would be pretty soulless.
That’s the main takeaway from these new TV ads that Doremus and sister shop DDB produced for O-I, the world’s largest manufacturer of glass packaging (mostly bottles, but other packaging too). They’re part of O-I’s ongoing “Glass is Life” campaign, which began three years ago with a business-to-business focus but now targets consumers.
Doremus, a b-to-b specialist, is something of a glassvertising expert, too—having made the awesomely peculiar “Brokeface” campaign for Corning’s Gorilla Glass NBT. But the agency doesn’t have a presence in Latin America, so it turned to Omnicom Group sibling DDB Colombia for help, and together they’ve created five fun, memorable ads.
The basic premise is that plastic and aluminum are no substitute for glass, whether you’re toasting at a bar, serving up water to a bikini-clad babe or desperately trying to push an S.O.S. message out to sea.
The ads first appeared online and will extend to TV this week in Colombia and Peru.
If it’s more comedy you want from your billboard, Sprite is happy to oblige.
Ogilvy Kenya recently put up “Bill the Billboard” at a busy intersection in Nairobi, and programmed him to endlessly crack jokes. He’s sort of an outdoor version of the famous Pringles banner ad from 2009, offering seemingly stream-of-consciousness quips to keep viewers entertained.
The jokes aren’t exactly side-splitting, and the case study’s boast that Bill is the “first ad ever with mental issues” isn’t exactly P.C. But at least he’s a little different than your typical boring digital ad.
There are ads where you can’t quite believe the premise, and this is one of them.
How did the Fiat 500X SUV come to be? Well, it seems a little Fiat accidentally swallowed a little blue pill—and quickly grew bigger. Seriously, that’s the plot of this commercial from The Richards Group. It’s even odder because it’s so nicely shot. (It was reportedly filmed in Pitigliano, Tuscany.)
Says the YouTube description: “The Fiat 500X is bigger, more powerful and ready for action. In this official Fiat 500X commercial everyone who comes into contact with the 500x gets a little excited and you will too.”
Or you could be left wondering what you just saw.
It was 1958 when J. Walter Thompson’s Donald Gilles came up with the line, “Have a break. Have a KitKat.” Fifty-six years later, JWT London has found a fun new way to illustrate the line—with a half-finished billboard.
Awards bait? Sure. A creative wank? Perhaps. But you have to admit, it’s clever.
CREDITS
Client: KitKit
Agency: JWT, London
Copywriter/Art Director:Jeremy Carr
Designer: Mark Gardner
Account Supervisor: Antony Hill
Account Manager: Rachel Vares
Project Manager: Rachel Clutterbuck
Raw footage of 38-year-old motorcyclist David Holmes smashing into a car at 97 miles per hour, as captured by his GoPro helmet camera, is being used in a British road safety ad with the permission of his mother.
“I know he rode fast that day. He loved speed but he also loved life,” she tells the Telegraph. “This hasn’t been an easy thing to do, but I just hope that somebody benefits from the warning; that people slow down and take time to look for bikes. I’m not a perfect driver. I’ve done silly things sometimes, and I’ve been lucky to get away with them. David wasn’t lucky. The driver wasn’t lucky.”
The ad interlaces the crash footage and an interview with his mother about the incident. The crash video isn’t graphic. It is chilling, though. The absolute and permanent stillness of the final image is intense without trying to be, which is rare in advisories like this. It also provokes that uncomfortable contradiction about things like this needing to exist even though they shouldn’t have to exist.
Via Design Taxi.
Dragan Trenchevski, an industrial designer from Macedonia with maybe the coolest name ever given to a person, has come up with a prototype for an Electrolux Mobile Kitchen, which is basically a laptop with a hotplate built into it—so you can easily cook while looking at recipes online.
Well, it’s a bit more upscale than that. The Mobile Kitchen is a touch-screen laptop that includes a four-tier induction cooktop, a cutting board, and, one would imagine, a friendly reminder to wash/wipe off your hands before touching the screen. It’s just a poop sock away from being complete enough for Google to install in every programmer’s workstation.
Obviously, any commercial release of such a product would have an uphill battle convincing people that just keeping their laptop or tablet in the kitchen is too inconvenient. But as a one-off novelty, it’s pretty cool.
Via Design Taxi.
Already known as the wedding capital of the world, Las Vegas is about to host a lot more weddings. And Las Vegas tourism couldn’t be happier.
After Nevada legalized gay marriage last week, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and agency R&R Partners—creators of the famed “What happens here, stays here” campaign—quickly rolled out a full-page ad in USA Today celebrating the momentous occasion.
Now more open, 24/7. http://t.co/ghNhPSeL6T #MarriageEquality #MarriageMomentum #Proud pic.twitter.com/DGEzhfTdyZ
— Vegas (@Vegas) October 10, 2014
“This is an historic day for Las Vegas and the great state of Nevada,” the LVCVA said in a statement. “As the ‘Wedding Capital of the World’ and one of the top destinations for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender visitors, Las Vegas welcomes LGBT couples wishing to legally recognize their relationship. There is simply no better destination to host a fabulous wedding followed by a one-of-a-kind honeymoon.”
The ad points to a new microsite, lasvegas.com/gaytravel.
See the full newspaper ad below.
Fancy yourself the outdoorsy type, eh? You’ve got all the slickest gear for the rugged lifestyle you live every day. Maybe you even have a gnarly beard and a Clif bar in your pocket.
Well, what if next time you went shopping for gear you were immediately put to the test?
Shoppers in Korea faced this challenge in a terrifyingly hilarious stunt by The North Face and South Korean agency Innored titled “Never Stop Exploring.”
Unsuspecting customers at this pop-up North Face store were startled when the floor below them slowly began to disappear, and they were forced to grab on to the walls, which happeedn to have rock-climbing holds attached to them. Then, a perfect North Face item descends from the heavens, just out of their reach, and a 30-second timer appears.
Totally freaked out, they are given a choice. Watch the video below to find out how these sudden extreme-sports participants fare.
Billy Eichner’s persona on his show Billy on the Street is so memorable that as soon as fans saw the Burger King ad below, they immediately though of Eichner—and began lobbing insults at BK and calling the agency behind it lazy.
Man on the street characters are anything but new, but Eichner’s scream-filled spin is a fresh take that has endeared fans and celebrities alike. The BK spot, with its own shrieking spokesman, might not hit exactly the same notes, but you can understand the grumbling.
Also, the BK spot just isn’t that funny. Eichner’s show isn’t hilarious because of the format; it’s hilarious because of Eichner himself. The BK spot isn’t on YouTube. But of course, in the the Internet age, any imitation will be discovered—and ridiculed—eventually, whether it’s a sketch show celebrating its 40-year run or a 15 second spot.
Burger King did not immediately respond to AdFreak’s requests for comment. But as you can see, McDonald’s has already weighed in.
@billyeichner Can’t wait to see you! Oh, and bring Elena!
— McDonald’s (@McDonalds) October 13, 2014
Check out some of the other tweets below.
Hey @billyeichner you know you’ve made it when Burger King has a man on the street commercial with a guy yelling at passersby about burgers.
— scharpling (@scharpling) October 13, 2014
Please tweet @BurgerKing & tell them to stop stealing from #BillyOntheStreet. Then I’m going over there & I’m gonna FLAME BROIL HIS DICK.
— billy eichner (@billyeichner) October 13, 2014
An ad agency knew @billyeichner‘s bit well enough to sell it @BurgerKing. And thus should also know better than to fuck with Billy Eichner.
— Bryan (@bryanlark) October 13, 2014
Dear @burgerking, if @billyeichner stalked ppl in the street in a giant weird plastic head & royal robes selling his meat,YOU’d be SO PISSED
— Adam Shankman (@adammshankman) October 13, 2014
Yo @BurgerKing, stop stealing from the hilarious @billyeichner and stick to what you’re good at: giving me diarrhea.
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) October 13, 2014
Hey @burgerking, you were stupid if you think hiring some random actor to rip off @billyeichner was going to work. I WAS AVAILABLE!!!
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) October 13, 2014
What do you get when you talk to a group of teen and tween girls about gender roles and stereotyping? A lot of surprisingly insightful opinions.
This past spring, in the midst of heated public debate surrounding Sheryl Sandberg’s “Ban Bossy” campaign, women’s lifestyle site SheKnows released a video asking 9-year-old girls what they think bossy means. It was fresh and inspiring, and became the impetus for SheKnows’ latest project, called Hatch—a program that empowers kids to use media and technology in positive ways.
Now, SheKnows just released the video below, featuring girls talking about gender roles and the pro-female advertising movement and what all of that means to them.
The video is fun and endearing, but also full of great little insights. They weigh in on everything from the Always #likeagirl campaign to the effects of media on girls to social mores. Among their notable remarks:
• “I think most toys are geared towards girls or towards boys. Girls plays with dolls, and for guys, it’s like, building things.”
• “Usually girls’ dolls look a certain way. I don’t think they consider that sometimes girls have short hair.”
• “You don’t have to have pink toys if you’re a girl … That was the olden days. Now it’s 2014. Catch up, people.”
In an interview with AdFreak, Samantha Skey, chief revenue officer of SheKnows, explained the motive behind creating these kinds of videos. For one, SheKnows has a large readership of moms who are stressed about integrating tech into their kids’ lives in a productive way. They want their children to be tech savvy, but they’re concerned that the messages they’re receiving aren’t positive.
“We’re focusing on digital storytelling and teaching kids to make a good video,” Skey says. “Eight- and nine-year-olds are really contemplative about the topic when posed to them in this context. Kids can talk about social issues sometimes more easily when they’re on camera. The girls were really willing to have these conversations, and the filming was a useful device for them to think about their points of view and articulate them clearly.”
“Why do they think science is for boys? And why blue? And dragons?” asks a little girl on the video.
Girls are paying attention, their parents are spending the money, and they’re willing to support brands that empower their children. “Catch up, people.”
Check out some more Hatch videos below.
Have you ever wondered how a goat would interpret ’80s rock ballad “Simply the Best”? Of course you have.
The cute beast in this Norwegian commercial for goat cheese sticks pretty close to the classic version by Tina Turner, though it does change the line “You’re Simply the Best” to “I’m simply the best.” That’s a bold creative statement. For a goat. And decidedly on brand.
Some silly billies at Try/Apt in Oslo devised the 30-second spot.
I kept expecting the wooly warbler to get even more anthropomorphized and maybe bust some moves, like Three’s famous dancing pony. Alas, this goat isn’t much of a hoofer. (I’m also surprised there’s no horn section.)
That’s one crazy kid, but way saner than Mountain Dew’s Felicia, who, you may recall, got everybody’s goat last year.
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You’ll want to wipe that smile off his face.
Lowe Campbell Ewald’s chilling new public-service campaign for Haven, a Michigan nonprofit that assists victims of rape and domestic violence, strips away the “Mr. Nice Guy” veneer to reveal the threat lurking behind the disarming grins and sweet talk that abusers use to confuse and control their victims.
“I’ll be really nice,” begins a happy-faced dude in the spot, below directed by Oscar winner Angus Wall. But he turns out to be anything but. His mood swing is understated and utterly convincing, especially in the Ray Rice era, when heroes can be revealed as villains in the few seconds it takes for a surveillance camera to capture their shameful acts.
“This highly emotional approach will resonate with our audience,” says agency creative chief Mark Simon. “Our hope is that it reaches those who are suffering and provides them with the knowledge that help is out there.”
The tagline is “Live without fear,” yet for a campaign all about escaping terror, there’s plenty of it here. Still, the message—across all media—is powerful. One print ad entwines the phrase “I’m crazy about you” with “You crazy bitch,” while a bus-shelter poster (perhaps the campaign’s best execution) features the headline “I Love You”—which, upon closer inspection, is actually composed of hundreds of tiny threats like “You’re gonna pay for this” and “If I can’t have you, nobody can.”
By focusing on the mind-set of perps, Haven puts the blame in the only place it belongs. “It is the choice and actions of the abuser that causes abuse,” says Beth Morrison, the organization’s CEO. “The victim is never at fault.”
CREDITS
Client: Haven
Agency: Lowe Campbell Ewald
Chief Creative Officer: Mark Simon
Group Creative Director: David Bierman
Art Director: Kelly Warkentien
Copywriter: Nancy Wellinger
Producers: Mary Ellen Krawczyk
Account Executives: Joe Gaulzetti, Nicole Reincke, Alyssa DeYonker
Production Company: Elastic
Director: Angus Wall
Director of Photography: Eric Treml
Executive Producer: Jennifer Sofio Hall
Line Producer: Shanah Blevins
Editing House: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: David Brodie
Audio Mix: Lime
It’s nothing fancy—just some particle boards and nails. But it ought to keep out those bloodthirsty zombies.
Yes, just in time for this weekend’s return of The Walking Dead to AMC, Century 21 (with help from the little mad scientists at its social agency, Mullen) is auctioning off a “Home Zombie Proofing Kit” on eBay.
Here’s part of the description on eBay.
• Strong enough to withstand hurricane force winds or prying dead fingers.
• Sealing prevents edge swell from liquid damage or tainted blood.
• Galvanization guaranteed to outlast even long-lasting outbreaks.
CAUTION: Loud noises caused by installation of Century 21 Zombie Proofing Kit may attract more zombies.
Bidding goes until next Wednesday, with all proceeds donated to Easter Seals.
You’re lost somewhere on the planet and freaked out for a second. But then, you remember. Uncle Google can lead you home. Or can he? What if you’re in the Arabian desert?
Well, now you’re in luck. Google strapped its Trekker camera to the lovely hump of a 10-year-old camel named Raffia and went and mapped the Liwa Oasis area of Abu Dhabi—and documented the journey in the video below.
So now, if you’re in Liwa and your phone has service, you can get your bearings. Or you can just check it out from the comfort of your couch.
Take a look at this fascinating clip of a camel making history.
Via The Verge.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.