Hasta La Creative!

Pereira & O’Dell nabbed creative duties for Airbnb in September, and three months later, the San Fran shop is launching Birdbnb, their first campaign for the global travel renting company. To supplement Airbnb’s colorful site full of rental options, Pereira & O’Dell created a conceptual platform where artists built 50 birdhouse-sized renderings of actual listings. The finished products will be on display in Audubon Park in New Orleans December 16-22.

The official name of the campaign is “Every Traveler Deserves a Home,” and the 2:10 cut of the above video feels very homey, which is probably the best compliment I can give a travel rental commercial. The 4:30 version drags a bit, kind of like that nice older lady who rents you a room but keeps talking your ear off about topics you don’t care about (2:10 version here, FYI). She’s still kind, but you want to tell her to keep it brief, since, after all, you are the customer. However, selling this type of service does not lend itself to easy choices for advertising, and this effort finds a way to tell a story that makes travel rentals personal.

Credits bookended by some behind-the-scenes videos after the jump.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Some good Halloween fun for you today…

Martin Agency client Benjamin Moore, and Tool director Jason Zada wanted to show that their Ultra Spec 500 paint goes on quick to get the project finished when you need it most — like when you’re scared shitless.

So they gave a group of painters a nightmare assignment: painting a wall in a “haunted” hotel. Upon arrival, the painters are told that “Years ago people with mental diseases were kept here for a period of time.” Once they start working, Benjamin Moore starts making all kinds of spooky things happen: strange noises, a rocking chair moving on its own, a chandelier rocking back and forth. “I don’t fool with no ghosts,” says one perturbed contractor.

The prank reaches its climax when the lights go out and a woman dressed as a ghost emerges, screaming. Predictably, the contractors freak out before the elaborate hoax is revealed. Their reactions are pretty priceless, and you’ve got to appreciate a prank like this in October. That the painting job was never finished does take away from the spot’s supposed intention, although most people probably won’t notice. There’s more horror-styled fun at Benjamin Moore’s “Scary Good Job” website, where contractors (or just people who need a lot of paint?) can enter to win a 500-gallon supply of Ultra Spec 500.

You can check out the “Testimonials” video after the jump, in which painters share their own horror stories of “nightmare” jobs. Credits follow. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

About a year ago, GoDaddy hired Deutsch New York as their creative agency, and the world wondered whether we’d see the end of the “GoDaddy Girls” gimmick, or even the beginning of a more nuanced campaign. Instead, during this year’s Super Bowl, GoDaddy offered us Bar Rafaeli (“sexy”) making out with a red-faced man named Walter (“smart”). Danica Patrick narrated and did her best not to look embarrassed. Our op-ed contributor at the time, WWD&S co-head Harry Woods, may have captured the most accurate reaction: “The whole ugly thing once again sent us reaching for a wing bone, nacho or beer bottle cap to dig our eyes out.”

Thankfully no eyeball gouging is necessary with GoDaddy’s latest spot. In it, a Ron Weasley-esque man is introduced to the GoDaddy team. His name and its closest iterations are already taken by his colleagues, so the team tosses around other possibilities. Anyone who’s thought about buying a domain name is familiar with this brainstorming process, and Deutsch did well personifying it. The whole thing is off-kilter and amusing, and finally we see Danica Patrick in racing gear, not heels. She’s still hot.

Here’s hoping GoDaddy continues the curve away from their signature blunt, sensationalist spots.

Credits after the jump. [Ed: Welcome back, Ella]

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.