Hasta La Creative!

Dave Damman, the Carmichael Lynch chief creative officer/managing partner who most recently worked on today’s touching man-and-his-dog campaign for Subaru, is no longer with the agency as of this week.

The departing CCO began his career as an art director at shops as disparate as Saatchi & Saatchi New York and TraceyLocke; he joined Carmichael Lynch’s creative department for the first time in 1996 and later moved to fellow Minneapolis agency Fallon, where he served as group creative director.

Damman may be best known within the industry for reviving Buddy Lee, the vintage doll who initially served as a storefront model for miniature versions of his namesake jeans in the 1920’s. He returned to life after more than three decades away to star in various campaigns created by Fallon during the late 90’s and early 00’s and (unofficially) run for President of these United States.

Damman left Fallon in 2005 to launch his own Atlanta-based agency called Damman Pearce along with fellow CD Bobby Pearce, who later ran BBDO Atlanta’s creative department before founding Van Winkle + Pearce (which he left in January). Carmichael Lynch hired Damman for the second time in early 2011 to helm creative on its Rubbermaid and FirstEnergy accounts and work on new business pitches, promoting him to ECD less than a year later as a leader on Subaru, Jack’s Links and various other accounts.

This blog alone has covered Damman-led ads for The Denver Museum of Nature and Science, American Standard and The Humane Society in addition to numerous Subaru campaigns. In 2012, he answered “Six Questions” about the chief creative life for Adweek, touting Minneapolis attractions and telling the magazine that most creative lifers grow quite accustomed to the agency world over time.

Damman is also responsible for the Carmichael Collective project, which encourages employees to work on creative projects as seemingly random and unrelated to standard industry business as decorative urinal cakes, pinata anatomy posters, bike matadors and portraits of dogs dressed as Napoleon.

The agency did not offer comment on the reasons for his departure or any immediate plans to hire a successor.

For its latest campaign for Subaru, promoting the 2015 Outback, agency-of-record Carmichael Lynch teamed up with director Lance Acord (best known for his cinematography on films such as Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Lost In Translation) and production company Park Pictures for a couple of 60-second spots emphasizing that the Outback can “go anywhere.”

In “Memory Lane,” a family picks up a hippie grandmother for a road trip to Woodstock. The grandmother imparts some questionable teachings on her granddaughter and finds the spot where she met her grandfather, in a cute moment that also shows the Outback’s off-road capabilities.

“Bison” also features a road trip, as a father attempts to wow his tween son with major American landmarks. The bratty son is unimpressed with Redwoods and The Grand Canyon, more interested in his smart phone than anything outside the car, but the father does eventually get through to him, followed by the voiceover, “There’s nothing I can’t reach in my Subaru.”

Both spots are impressively shot (which shouldn’t come as a surprise, given the director) while delivering their message in a way that should appeal to parents (always a target demographic for Subaru). And if they cross the line into cheesiness, it’s in a way that fits the brand well. (more…)

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It appears Sasquatch is sitting this one out, and the absence of Jack Link’s mascot is much appreciated.

Carmichael Lynch takes a different approach with their latest campaign for the jerky brand, based on a concept not all that dissimilar from Snicker’s “You’re not you when you’re hungry” approach: that intense hunger can make you angry, which they define as “hangry.” The series of 30-second spots depict several such hangry individuals, with their intense hunger personified by angry animals that emerge from their stomach, which also acts as a visual representation of the “Feed your wild side” tagline. In “Lecture Hall,” for example, a student is taking a test when his intense hunger causes a puma to emerge from his stomach. It is not until the puma is sated with a piece of beef jerky that it retreats back where it came from, after helping the kid out with a test answer (apparently this is a highly intelligent feline). Other spots take a similar approach, depicting a woman waiting for her flight to take off, and a man stuck in a meeting. The spots will run online and on on channels such as Comedy Central, ESPN, and FX, alongside the existing “Messin’ with Sasquatch” campaign.

“Nothing says Feed Your Wild Side like literally feeding your wild side,” explains Kevin Papacek, director of marketing for Jack Link’s Beef Jerky. “Hangry is how you feel when you experience hunger to the point of being angry – visceral, debilitating hunger. This deeper hunger can only be fed by Jack Link’s Jerky.”

Stick around for “Middle Seat” and credits after the jump. continued…

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For the latest installment in Carmichael Lynch’s “Subaru Dog Tested. Dog Approved.” campaign, they’re introducing “The Barkleys,” which refers to a family of dogs, not Charles Barkley and family.

The new spots — “In the Dog House,” “Teenagers,” “Road Trip Convenience Store” and”What’s the Fuss About?” (featured above)– imagine the family of dogs in “everyday relatable human experiences.” These range from teenagers making out after a date, the man of the car getting in trouble for oggling an attractive female, that convenience store pit stop that every road trip depends on, and barking as the mailman drives by, which, come to think of it, isn’t really an “everyday relatable human experience.” The spots are simple, relying fun dog humor without any dialog. Dog owners, and especially Subaru-loving dog owners, should eat this right up.

On the other end of the spectrum, we have “They Lived,” a somber spot for Subaru’s “Love” campaign. Based on stories from real Subaru owners who survived crashes, thanks to their Subarus, the spot features an actual Subaru wreck which the driver walked away from. The officer on the scene and the driver who towed the wreck tell those seeing the wreck, “They lived.” It’s an effective way to illustrate Subaru’s crash safety as a selling point, and a reminder of how important that can be. Watch it below, and stick around for one more Barkleys spot, along with credits, after the jump. continued…

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Carmichael Lynch and the Denver Museum of Science are testing the myth that talking to a plant helps it to grow healthier and stronger to support Mythbusters: the Explosive Exhibition, and they need want your help.

Mythbusters: The Explosive Exhibtion, which runs from October 10th-January 6t, offers exciting ways for visitors to interact with the mythbusting process. “We wanted to extend that experience online for people who can’t get to the Museum in person, or who just can’t enough,” explained Marty Senn, executive creative director at Carmichael Lynch. To do so they’ve enlisted the help of an online audience to help debunk (or not debunk) the myth that talking to plants helps them grow healthier and stronger.

The Denver Museum of Science is asking people to help by going to talktoaplant.com and tweeting what you’d like to say to the plant. Tweet about whatever you want, from the government shutdown to the MLB playoffs to this incredibly depressing news about West Coast starfish. Custom tweet-to-speech technology developed by Carmichael Lynch will then read the tweet to one of the two plants in the experiment. The other plant just sits in silence, the control plant. Poor control plant.

Both plants run on 12-hour light cycles and are watered by an in-house technician, in case you’re worried about all that. Water showings occur every Wednesday over the lunch hour. You can tune in to the live stream over the next couple of months to see if the myth is busted. Will the myth be debunked? Tell us what you think in the comments section. Credits after the jump. continued…

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American Standard and Carmichael Lynch celebrate the indoors with their latest campaign. The TV spot “Movie Marathons,” directed by Albert Kodagolian, opens with a young woman dressing up as a vintage scream queen, seemingly in preparation for a night out. But it’s soon revealed that she’s “attending” a sci-fi movie marathon with her boyfriend and cat. The spot tries perhaps a little too hard to be cool, but one thing it definitely does well is cash in on people’s love of cats dressed up as stuff. I won’t give it away, but it’s particularly adorable.  continued…

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It’s been almost a year since we last covered Jack Link’s and their Sasquatch antihero, but everyone’s favorite ugly creature is back to sell some beef jerky and beat up anyone who messes with him (it). Minneapolis-based agency Carmichael Lynch has produced three new spots for the campaign, all of which were once again directed by Rocky Morton.

In the above commercial – “All Dolled Up” – three fools try to get their kicks by putting makeup on Sasquatch. He responds by flipping their car and possibly killing them, because, well,  Sasquatch doesn’t wear lipstick. The ads tap into the creature’s vaguely redneck brand appeal with foggy rural settings and the fact that the product is beef jerky. If I learned anything here, it’s to avoid Jack Link’s beef jerky, because eating it will lead to serious personal injury and an upset Sasquatch. Two more clips and the credits after the jump.

continued…

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