Hasta La Creative!

Hillary Clinton released a new attack ad against prospective GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump today after receiving an endorsement from her progressive primary challenger Bernie Sanders earlier this week. The spot was presumably created by Droga5, the agency the neoliberal Democratic candidate’s campaign hired back in November. While Droga5 would not confirm to Adweek that it created the ad, David Droga tweeted about it–and come on, it was definitely them.* 

The ad, entitled “Role Models,” focuses on how Trump–and the outlandishly sexist/racist/xenophobic/ablist/etc. shit that comes out of his mouth–makes him a bad role model for children. Well, duh.

The spot employs a similar tactic to its predecessor, an attack ad released in May that relied on members of Trump’s own party describing him as a “bully,” “con artist,” “phony,” “utterly amoral” and “The most vulgar person ever to aspire to the presidency.”

This time around, the spot uses Trump’s own words against him. Children bask in their TV’s warm glowing warming glow and take in some of Trump’s more outlandish statements, including attributing Megyn Kelly‘s questions to her menstral cycle, longing for the days when protesters were beaten and carried out on a stretcher, mocking a disabled reporter and, of course, making as many racist statements about Mexican immigrants as he could in less than a minute.

The spot ends with the message “Our children are watching. What example will we set for them?” before presenting a clip of Clinton talking about the need to make sure our children and grandchildren are proud of the choices we make.

The attack ad will run in key battleground states like Ohio, Iowa, Colorado, New Hampshire, Virginia, Florida, Nevada and North Carolina as part of a $10.5 million ad deal announced in June.

We’re not sure where all the politically minded children glued to the presidential race are — We imagine a concerned parent saying, “Honey, turn off the Republican debate, you know I don’t like you watching that garbage.” Such a strained conceit does hamper the ad’s impact.

This effort will almost certainly not convince any of Trump’s followers to second guess their preferred candidate, as they’re already familiar and seemingly okay with his most controversial statements, but that’s clearly not the point. Instead, it seems to target those voters who are less than enthusiastic about Clinton but have a very unfavorable view of Trump, particularly young parents. It’s all about highlighting the importance of voting to keep Trump out of office (a key component, if not the key component, of Clinton’s campaign lately) It’s all for the sake of their children, and their children’s children, and some future generations as well.

*Good luck trying to get ahold of Clinton’s PR team or that of any other presidential candidate. We get why they don’t answer phones: can you imagine how many crazy people leave voicemails on Hillary’s official media line??

Droga5 enlisted New York rapper Nas in its latest spot for Hennessy, entitled “The Ride..”

Nas‘ association with the brand dates back to his classic 1994 debut Illmatic, where the brand is mentioned on the very first track. He signed a deal with the company at the beginning of last year to appear in the latest iteration of its “Wild Rabbit” campaign, which finally comes to life with “The Ride.”

The 60-second spot channels Nas‘ own past with a re-worked version of the song “New York State of Mind” from his debut. Over Nas‘ recitation of the re-imagined lyrics he steps on a subway car and is seemingly transported back in time to the 80s, with time progressing over the course of the ad so that when he emerges from the car later, he is back in the present day. A newspaper headline reading “Panic on Wall Street” at one point signifies a transition to the modern era. It’s all very slick and stylish, with plenty of attention to detail lavished on the concept. The spot ends with Nas walking toward a stage after uttering the line “It was only right that I was born to use mics,” and the text “I tell the stories that need to be told” appearing onscreen, followed by the “What’s your Wild Rabbit?” tagline. (more…)

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Droga5 enlisted the services of “writer, comedian and vagina owner” Sarah Silverman for a new spot addressing the wage gap for National Women’s Law Center.

Silverman introduces viewers to the wage gap issue, pointing out that over the course of their lives women pay a “$500,000 vagina tax,” before informing viewers that she’s becoming a man, since the operation is actually cheaper than dealing with a lifetime of income disparity. She then introduces National Women’s Law Center’s crowdfunding effort to raise the trillions of dollars American women are cheated out of by gender inequality in the workplace, to be payed back to each of them. Since the goal is basically unreachable, it actually serves as a fund raiser for National Women’s Law Center’s efforts, since they receive the money as a donation if (when) the goal isn’t reached. The video ends by directing viewers to EqualPaybackProject.com, which goes live today to inform visitors about the gender gap and accepts donations to the crowdfunding effort. It’s a clever approach, addressing the absurdity of the issue in a way people are sure to remember.

“Equal pay may not be a sexy issue, but it’s an important one,” Casey Rand, Droga5 creative director, told Adweek. “And it is absurd. Young women need to know what’s at stake. And we knew that to get them to engage, we’d need to play up that absurdity.” (more…)

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Ogilvy may be handling the Coke Zero account now, but this new Droga5 campaign for sister brand Diet Coke would fit the brand well: it’s all about the flavor, see…

The “Economy Class” spot’s protagonist is a washed-out airline customer awakened by the unstoppable flavor of Diet Coke…until she realizes that the visions of shaggy dogs and upright bassists dancing in her head are just that.

The larger campaign’s theme, of course, holds that Diet Coke offers consumers a taste of “The Good Life.”

This spot will debut on Wednesday’s Nashville premiere, but it’s really just a taste…coming weeks will see the debut of two new spots, one of which stars Taylor Swift.

You’ll have to be satisfied with credits after the jump, though. The client included the second spot, “Car Wash”, in the credits and the press release but didn’t feel like sending the actual work out to press contacts.

(more…)

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Droga5 takes Under Armour in a different direction with a new campaign called “I Will What I Want” aimed at women, starring Misty Copeland, a soloist with the American Ballet Theatre.

The spot opens with a young girl reading a rejection letter from a ballet academy over a sparse piano track as we see Copeland, poised on her taut ankles in a practice room. “…You lack the right feet, Achilles tendons, turnout, torso length and bust,” reads the girl. “You have the wrong body for ballet. And at 13, you are too old to be considered.” At this point, the soundtrack is set in motion and Copeland springs to life, twirling and gliding across the stage decked out in Under Armour. It is not until the conclusion of the 60-second spot that Copeland’s identity is revealed, her ultimate triumph over adversity implied.

Copeland, who is only the third African American soloist in the history of the American Ballet Theatre, told The New York Times “she never received a rejection letter that so starkly enumerated the reasons she was ill suited to be a ballet dancer,” but that “it accurately encapsulated the resistance she had faced throughout her career,” told from the time she was an adolescent that she had “the wrong body type” for ballet.

We see a lot of ads aim to be inspirational, but seldom do they succeed like “I Will What I Want,” which, unlike most spots with similar ambitions, doesn’t come across as forced or hokey. Coming from Under Armour, it’s an unexpected and refreshing new direction. Along with the broadcast spot, the campaign also includes digital and outdoor components, featuring Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn, tennis player Sloane Stephens and soccer player Kelley O’Hara in addition to Copeland. Stick around for credits after the jump. (more…)

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The latest iteration of Droga5′s UNICEF Tap Project (started all the way back in 2007) asks people to put down their smart phones for ten minutes to provide clean water for a child who needs it.

Across the globe, 768 million people lack access to clean drinking water and 1, 400 children die every day from diseases directly related to unsanitary drinking water. Since 1990, UNICEF has been working to provide clean drinking water to those who would otherwise lack access to it. For the past seven years, Droga5 has been helping get the word out via UNICEF’s annual Tap Project campaign.

This year, visitors to www.UNICEFTapProject.org will be met with a challenge: for every ten minutes they don’t use their mobile phones, UNICEF’s sponsor will provide one day of clean water for a child in need. Currently in its beta phase, the app from Droga5 is scheduled for official launch on March 1st. The way it works is pretty simple: once you visit the site, the app will calculate how long you spend there, with a final tally counted once you touch the mobile device again. For every 10 minutes, a donation will be made by UNICEF’s sponsors, including national sponsor Giorgio Armani Fragrances. Visitors to the site “can also learn more about UNICEF’s clean water initiatives, sign up to be a volunteer and make their own personal donation to help UNICEF provide children with clean water.”

So, if you’re reading this on your smart phone, head on over to www.UNICEFTapProject.org and then put your phone down for a while. It’s for a good cause, and you’re probably on your lunch break anyway. You can live without it for a few minutes. Credits after the jump. continued…

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We’re sure many of you on the East Coast have already checked out by this point, but here’s a short film anyways produced by Jack Morton Worldwide that somewhat documents the Cannes Lions experience. Beginning with shots of creative notables including AKQA CCO Rei Inamoto in some sort of meditative pose as they ponder the questions being asked, the video eventually gives us a sense (especially those of us who’ve never made it out there) of what it’s like to win, or just be at the week-long event in general. That’s good enough for us at this point, thanks.

Regarding the doc, which also features the likes of David Droga, Jack Morton director of moving image, EMEA Adam Norris tells Campaign Brief, “Cannes Lions is far more than an industry event; it’s the key gathering of creative minds from across the globe.   Creating the documentary is a singular opportunity to shine a light on this world and reveal what makes Cannes unique.” And we suppose it basically does.

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Normally, a made-up holiday like Independence Eve would be some sort of patriotic money grab, but for Newcastle Brown Ale and Droga5, it’s actually a tongue-in-cheek U.K. money grab. Independence Eve – the latest part of the No Bollocks campaign – celebrates the last day of British rule, one day before John Hancocks were signed and European monarchies renounced.

Across the States, Americans (and immigrants, legal and illegal) can buy a Revolutionary Koozie, which features both the British and American flags on the bottle. I’m not sure how many Americans would willingly drink a British beer the day before July 4th, but I think we’ve buried the hatchet 237 years later. You see, revolutions can be humorous once enough time has passed. So in the next decade, everybody get ready to chug some Edelweiss and giggle over the French Revolution. Credits after the jump.

continued…

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