Hasta La Creative!

Havas Worldwide has a new spot for Cracker Barrel, promoting the chain’s limited-time Campfire Meals.

The 15-second ad, entitled “Match,” features a campfire set handcrafted from paper, wood and canvas. A toy owl perches on a stump, followed by a human hand lighting a match and lights a campfire illuminating a screen displaying Cracker Barrel’s Campfire Meals. Aside from the digitally inserted footage and CG embers on the fire, everything was “manually-operated, custom-built or hand-crafted” and shot in a single take. While it can come across as a bit hokey (which actually kind of makes sense for the brand), and the voiceover copy leaves a lot to be desired, the diorama set has a certain charm to it. It may have even been more effective with diorama stand-ins for Cracker Barrel’s Campfire Meals instead of the digital footage used. (more…)

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Havas Worldwide Chicago has launched a new March Madness campaign for DISH Network featuring a new kangaroo mascot, which also marks Havas’ first campaign for the company since being named lead digital agency last summer.

The kangaroo mascot, voiced by Rebel Wilson, makes her debut in the TV spot “Mobile Basketball.” In the 30-second spot, the kangaroo shows off the DISH Network’s capabilities by watching college basketball at work, only pretending to be engaged in actual work when the boss walks by. While the spot never quite hits the humorous mark it’s aiming for, it’s still world’s ahead of the campaign’s painful digital spot, “Fight Song.” As you might have guessed, the 30 second spot is built around a “fight song” for DISH Network (in the style of college team’s fight songs) extolling the Network’s ability to let you watch March Madness games anywhere. “Fight Song” will run on sites like ESPN.com, where it will most likely be muted after approximately 1.2 seconds. Havas’s campaign also includes social media activations on Facebook and Twitter featuring the new mascot. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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