FX Pulls Disturbing Eye-Worm Billboards for The Strain

The worm has been turned away.

Billboards for FX’s The Strain, with creepy critters crawling out (or perhaps boring into?) human eyeballs, are apparently too much for some folks to bear, and the cable network says it is replacing the ads in several locations—the signs have run in Los Angeles  and New York—with less-upsetting imagery.

The series was hatched by director Guillermo del Toro and writer Chuck Hogan and slithers onto TV screens July 13. It’s a medical thriller about parasites that turn New Yorkers into monsters. 

So far, the eyeball campaign had generated its share of angry parents and motorists but hasn’t precipitated any lawsuits. The same can’t be said for last year’s eerie “Dexter” takeover in Grand Central Terminal, which generated a complaint from a Bronx woman who claims that the “shocking and menacing” promo caused her to slip on a stairway and sustain injury.

The Strain’s ad controversy is generating plenty of buzz for the show. So if you subscribe to the theory that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, these wormy posters have hit pay dirt.



People Are Pretty Angry About This Out-of-Control Safe-Driving Ad From Ireland

This literally out-of-control 60-second road-safety ad from Northern Ireland is causing an international stir for some intense imagery that begins around the 40-second mark.

As these types of ads go, it’s not particularly graphic. There’s no blood and guts. No flying body parts. No mutilation. Even so, some observers have criticized the country’s Department of the Environment, which produced the spot, for going too far, and some news outlets have posted “trigger warnings” about the strong content. It airs on TV only after 9 p.m., when kids, in theory, aren’t watching. And that’s a bit ironic, because the controversy centers around the horrifying fate of a group of children.

The PSA, by Belfast agency LyleBailie International, opens ominously, with a slowed-down, dirge-y version of Guns ‘n Roses “Sweet Child ‘O Mine”—more or less tipping us off that the primary-schoolers seen laughing, playing and preparing for a class outing are in for trouble. Even so, it’s hard not to jump when the moment of tragedy arrives.

“Since 2000, speeding has killed a classroom of our children,” a voiceover says. “You can never control the consequences if you speed.”

Criticism has run the gamut. On UTV’s coverage of the ad flap, “Unsure in Belfast” questions the strategy: “I’m surprised if these adverts work. People I know won’t watch … Those boy racers who drive fast are never going to be impacted.” Over at Philly Barstool Sports, “Smitty” suggests the approach trivializes the issue: “It’s not even something out of a Michael Bay film but rather a Michael Bay spoof.” Meanwhile, Twitter user @Curljets sums up the anti-PSA sentiment thusly: “I’m thinking of starting a support group for Irish people called ‘DOE Road Safety Advert induced trauma.’ “

The DOE says it used such brutal imagery because it believes the fear of killing kids will influence at least some folks to stop speeding. “The aim of this campaign is to challenge and dispel, once and for all, through this emotional and uncomfortable message, the false perceptions that many road users have as to the truly horrifying consequences of speeding,” says road safety minister Mark Durkan. “People are losing their lives long before they have the chance to fulfill their potential. Families are being destroyed forever.”

While I wasn’t exactly horrified by this spot, I would rate it among the most audacious, unsettling and memorable PSAs I’ve seen. And I’m not the only one taking notice. The YouTube posting is approaching 1.7 million views in a week, and the controversy is driving the anti-speeding message into the public conversation far beyond Ireland.



Mike's Hard Lemonade Is Now Paul's Hard Lemonade in Honor of 1 Millionth Facebook Fan

Mike’s Hard Lemonade has changed its name—in a temporary, promotional-stunt kind of way—to Paul’s Hard Lemonade to salute Paul Siano of Illinois, the 1 millionth fan on its Facebook page.

The Tris3ct agency orchestrated the effort, which boasts a “Paul’s Hard Lemonade” rebranding of the Mike’s website, along with its Facebook and Twitter pages, through Friday. Special packaging, labels, logos and T-shirts were created, and Siano was presented with a six-pack of his namesake brew. The renaming was launched within 24 hours of identifying him as the millionth fan, and of course there’s a commemorative video (with a disco soundtrack and a big crate of lemons in the brand’s office!).

Hmm … Paul’s Hard Lemonade. It’s got a nice ring to it. I guess. Even so, it’s no Dave’s Hard Lemonade. Now that would really win me over.



Canal+ Lets You 'Be the Bear' in Fun Interactive Sequel to Famous TV Spot

I’m roaring with approval for this interactive sequel, of sorts, to “The Bear,” the 2012 Grand Prix-winning commercial from BETC Paris and French movie channel Canal+.

In the original, an ursine auteur sinks his claws into a big-budget medieval action film, fussing like a temperamental Hollywood diva over every aspect of production, from the script and direction to the special effects and score. Ultimately, the spot pulls the rug out from under viewers’ expectations with an inspired visual punch line.

Now, with “Being the Bear,” users can play director and take over a film set, choosing among several genre types to complete a dramatic scene (shown in the first commercial) in which a woman kneels over a wounded warrior who has been shot through the chest with an arrow. Naturally, some of the selections work better than others, but the writing and on-screen details are sharp throughout, and they reward multiple viewings. (The approach reminds me a bit of Tipp-Ex’s pick-your-own-adventure videos—work from France that featured a goofy, scenery-chewing bear. It also recalls the “Film, TV and Theater Styles” game from Whose Line Is It Anyway?)

My favorites in the new Canal+ campaign include the “Porno” option, which lets the actors have a ball, and “Horror,” a gloriously yucky exercise in spit-screen technique. The “Independent” selection yields the kind of self-obsessed, overly-probing dialogue only an audience of film majors (or Woody Allen) could love.

I wish they’d included a “Wildlife Documentary” option, because it might’ve given the bear—who stays behind the camera this time (we just glimpse his paw)—a role he could really sink his teeth into.

See the original spot below.

Via Adland.



Coca-Cola Has Flower Power in Ogilvy Ads for Its New PlantBottles

Coca-Cola’s orgy of happiness continues with recyclable plastic beverage bottles made partially from plants, touted in cute ads from Ogilvy New York.

The ads are rendered in Coke’s signature colors and design style. One shows a flower and reads, “Plants make us happy. They make us want to smooch, neck and kiss. They also make our bottles.” Yeah, plants are cheap labor, all right.

PlantBottles substitute renewable sugarcane for up to 30 percent of the petroleum used in standard recyclable beverage bottles, which the company says offsets carbon emissions and helps the environment. Makes me feel warm and fizzy all over.

Other recent happy stuff from Coke includes “friendly” bottles that can only be opened by other bottles, caps that turn empties into useful objects and a cooler designed for villages off the power grid. Such promotions have generally received high marks, though there’s been at least one wrong turn for this particular happiness cycle.

More images and credits below. Via Ads of the World.

CREDITS
Client: Coca-Cola
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, New York
Chief Creative Officer: Calle Sjoenell
Executive Creative Director: Corinna Falusi
Design Director: Lucas Camargo
Associate Creative Directors: L Justin Via, Evan Slater, Abe Baginsky, Maite Alburquerque, Emily Clark
Art Directors: Anti-Anti, Lukas Lund, Andreas Hoff, Carl Versfeld
Producer: Jessica Fiore
Account Management: Nicole Pinochet, Andrea Ahrens, Sarah Louie



Waiting in Line Goes From Boring to Brutal in Free-Sample Stunt

How far are people willing to go, physically and emotionally, to get a free sample? Australian agency Clemenger BBDO continues its quest to find out by making consumers work hard (and sometimes look a bit foolish) for free Fantastic Delites rice snacks.

Shoppers were asked to queue up for ridiculously long periods of time, even when there was no one standing ahead of them, to get a bag of Fantastic Delites Curls.

After making folks wait and then navigate a winding maze at an outdoor mall, the scenario was repeated at an ice rink and in a pond where the water looks kind of scummy, but no one seems to mind getting wet. Hey, they saved about $2, and the snacks are gluten-free!

The “How Far Would You Go” campaign’s been around for a few years, and it’s generated a couple of viral videos, so I’m assuming some, if not most, of the people who lined up had a notion of what they were in for. 

“It seems no matter what challenge we throw out there, be it mindlessly pressing a button on a vending machine 5,000 times, or the indignity of dressing as a rodent and spinning a mouse wheel for five minutes, the punters always seem to come back for more,” says agency cd Matt O’Grady. “Maybe we’re not making them difficult enough?”

Wondering what sadistic challenge they’ll dream up next? Get in line.



Fashion Mannequins Fall on Hard Times in Homeless Advocacy Campaign

Mannequins usually symbolize the consumer ideal of the “good life,” draped in couture and jewelry in department-store window displays. But now they’ve fallen on hard times in a JWT stunt meant to raise money for Amsterdam’s growing homeless population.

Agency staffers rounded up unused mannequins, dressed them in ragged clothes and placed them around the city with cardboard signs asking for money. Each mannequin also had a piggy-bank-style donation slot cut into its head, and donations went to advocacy group BADT.

Critics might suggest that using “dummies” somehow demeans or trivializes the homeless, but I think it powerfully underscores just how dehumanizing it can be to live on the streets.

Produced in a week on a budget of less than 100 Euros, the effort seems to have yielded a good number of donations and, more importantly, attention for the issue. 

Still, I wonder how many passed the mannequins by with barely a glance? And how often do we ignore flesh-and-blood human beings, shivering beneath rags and huddled in doorways? Sadly, such sights are so common, they can fail to move us, or else they simply don’t register anymore.

Homelessness dehumanizes us all. Even those of us who have homes.

Via Ads of the World.



Beauty Brand's Floating Billboard Cleans a Polluted River by Absorbing Toxins

Japanese natural cosmetics brand Shokubutsu Hana and TBWASMP have floated an unconventional idea in the Philippines to help clean Manila’s grievously polluted Pasig River—an 88-foot-long billboard made of vetiver, a grass that absorbs deadly toxins. Vetiver is often used to treat waste water and landfills, and the billboard can cleanse up to 8,000 gallons a day.

On its website, Shokubutsu Hana says the effort represents the company’s belief in “healthy beauty brought about by the restorative power of nature” and commitment to “provide not only a clean message but also a clean future.” Additional vetiver signs are planned for the ailing waterway, which was declared “biologically dead” in the 1990s after decades of contamination from industrial runoff and sewage. The Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission and Vetiver Farms Philippines are also partners in the project.

A similar concept sprouted in the Philippines three years ago, when Coca-Cola and the World Wildlife Fund created a 60-by-60-foot billboard covered in Fukien tea plants to absorb air pollution.

The notion that social-issues campaign should not just call for action, but also take action themselves or facilitate change, is growing. Recent examples include Peruvian billboards that generate clean air and water, a “Drinkable Book” with pages that filter contaminants and a “Blind Book” designed to teach sighted folks how vision-impaired people feel when denied access to literature because it is not published in a format they can read.

Via PSFK.



Dubai Resort Welcomes Giant Flock of Ghostly Bird-Humans in Odd JWT Ad

JWT Dubai teamed with FilmWorks and Psyop for this strange 80-second CGI-fest that shows travelers flocking to Atlantis The Palm, a luxury resort in Dubai. And they “flock” in the literal sense of the word, moving through the sky without even flapping their arms, to escape the gray chill of London and Moscow for a taste of sun-soaked, beachfront opulence.

This approach, though well realized from a technical standpoint and certainly memorable, might be a little too odd for its own good. At first, I thought the sky was filled with bees. Around the 30-second mark, we get a clear view of human beings aloft against the sun. They look like souls ascending to heaven, floating into the light … a notion that actually meshes with the tagline, “Check into another world.”

Of course, these people land alive and well at the hotel. The production team used acrobats fitted with special harnesses to make the scenes look realistic. Alas, some of the images serve the client poorly. Who wants to take a vacation in a place where people are constantly falling from the sky? (A stockbroker from Croydon could burst through the clouds and crush you at any moment.) And that hand skimming the surface of the sea is creepy.



Visitors to Creepy Hospital Get the Fright of Their Lives in Horror Movie Prank

The makers of “Lord of Tears,” a well-reviewed Scottish indie chiller, definitely ruffled some feathers with a pair of pranks that brought the film’s evil “Owlman” into real life.

In the first and less elaborate stunt, Owlman popped up on Chatroulette, where he set some teeth chattering with fear, though most users just seemed amused. (By Chatroulette standards, he’s actually not so bad.)

More recently, though, the beaked beastie nested in an an abandoned children’s hospital that’s reportedly a favorite haunt of sightseers and photographers. “Lord of Tears'” director Lawrie Brewster explains: “Whenever we got a heads up somebody was heading this way … we would get our hidden cameras ready to record what happened when they encountered our Owlman lurking inside. We did not expect the reactions we filmed, and had to cut short the second prank as our victim became too distressed. He was eventually fine in the end and even had a cup of tea with us!”

“Distressed” is putting it mildly. Some hospital explorers seem ready for the psych ward after encountering the Owlman in the hospital’s dilapidated halls. 

Some will insist the prank was faked, and indeed a cursory search of Google turns up no mentions of an abandoned St. Mary’s Children’s Hospital, which seems odd if it’s such a popular destination. (There is, however, an abandoned St. Mary’s asylum in Stannington.) And of course the reactions are almost too perfect.

Regardless, the video has proven scary popular, generating almost 1 million views in a few days and lots of buzz for a relatively small film. So I’d call Owlman’s latest flight a wise move indeed.



These Intimate, Globe-Spanning iPad Ads are Apple's Best in a Long While

Apple updates its “Your Verse” iPad campaign with a pair of gorgeous 60-second spots focused on the tablet’s ability to facilitate music creation and help users travel the globe.

One ad presents London Philharmonic conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen as he uses an iPad to compose, while the other follows hearing impaired writer Cherie King as she visits Iceland, Morocco and locales in Asia.

After a year in which Apple struggled somewhat to find its advertising voice, this latest iteration of “Your Verse” finds the tech giant and its longtime agency, TBWAMedia Arts Lab, in fine form. The work does a great job positioning the iPad as a vital extension of each user’s aspirations and an indispensable partner in helping them achieve their goals.

Salomen’s iPad isn’t merely a tablet. It becomes his collaborator and confidant, allowing him to capture inspiration and perfect passages in cabs, the park, at the train station—anywhere. Meanwhile, King’s iPad is her traveling companion, providing instant information to help her find her way, communicate with locals and share experiences.

Apple never hits you over the head with its message, but the notion that Salonen and King wouldn’t want to be without their iPads is conveyed through compelling images and edits. Unlike earlier “Your Verse” spots, there’s no narration. None’s required. The action on screen carries the storytelling in a smooth, naturalist way.

Those wishing to explore further can visit Apple’s “Your Verse” page, which features robust content about Salonen and King, as well as others stars of the campaign. Special iTunes pages showcase the apps on display, including Orchestra, which Salonen created.



Brazilian Authors Publish New Stories Only in Braille in Powerful PSA for the Blind

The Blind Book, a project by Brazilian agency DM9Sul, seeks to give sighted people in Brazil some insight into how it feels—as blind people do every day—to be denied access to literary works because they are not published in a format they can read.

Working with the Dorina Nowill Foundation and Danish healthcare company Novo Nordisk, DM9Sul got 10 leading Brazilian authors to produce a collection of new, original stories—on the theme, "Everything we cannot see"—that was then published exclusively in Braille.

This was meant to highlight the fact that only 5 percent of books in Brazil have Braille editions, even though half a million sight-impaired people live in that country. "Besides raising awareness, the project seeks to engage society in helping change this reality," says Márcio Callage, CEO of DM9Sul.

Sighted people will be able to experience the stories, but only by listening to them. There's a Portuguese audiobook version, and this website will offer films of the stories being read aloud by blind people.

This marks the second time in recent weeks that books have been used in novel ways to drive social-issues initiatives. The Drinkable Book, from DDB and Water Is Life, educates at-risk populations about hygiene and sanitation while its pages serve as filters to purify contaminated water.

Hopefully, such fusions of media and message, which transcend traditional PSAs and add extra dimension to their causes, will open some eyes and improve people's lives.

CREDITS
Client: Fundação Dorina Nowill Para Cegos (Dorina Nowill Foundation for the Blind)
Agency: DM9Sul
Chief Executive Officer: Márcio Callage
Vice President, Creation: Marco Bezerra
Associate Creation Directors: Everton Behenck, Rodrigo Pereira
Head of Art: João Pedro Vargas
Creation: André Blanco, Rogério Chaves, Gustavo Bilésimo
Customer Service Director: Cláudia Schneider
Customer Service: Cecilia Martines
Media Director: Silvio Calissi
Media: Renata Schenkel, Milena Bitencourt
Content Production: Anna Martha Silveira, Thais Sardá
Public Relations: Mariella Taniguchi, Bruna Lauermann
Audiovisual Production: Elisa Celia, Marcelo Stifelman
Digital Production: Daniel Vettorazi, Vinícius Mutterle
Website: Matheus Kramer
Graphic Producers: Débora Roth, Mariene Braga, Taisa Rosa
Illustration: João Azeitona, Mariana Valente
3-D: Ricardo Rocha
Final Art: Anelise Gomes, Karoline Nunes
Revision: Cecilia Santoli
Graphic Material: Cartonaria e Stilgraf
RTVC: Thiago Vanigli, Bernardo Silva
Film Director: Marcelo Stifelman
Film Production: Tape Motion
Audio Production: Coletivo 433
Voiceover: Loop Reclame
Client Approval: Daniela Coutelle, Bruno Dória, Priscila Saraiva




After 22 Attempts, Turkish Airlines Finally Pulled Off This Epic Pool Dunk

Euroleague ballers Shawn James, Kyle Hines, Robin Benzing and Sergio Rodriguez hoop it up poolside and make a big splash in Crispin Porter + Bogusky London's new Turkish Airlines spot that builds up to an amazing aqua-dunk.

In the making-of clip, executive producer Rob Steiner sums up the challenge: "It's a one-shot ad—30 seconds. We've got two cranes, 12 players—four pros—all of whom have to be synchronized and choreographed perfectly. We've got one day to shoot this, but in reality we've got four hours, because the professionals are only here for that time."

After 22 takes, it all came together, with the guys making improbable passes across, around and into a fancy outdoor pool in Madrid. Ultimately, the shot gets made thanks to an epic assist from a guy hovering on some sort of jet-sneaks.  Boy, they sure play by different rules overseas! 

The ad was inspired by the explosion of epic pool dunks on Vine and YouTube last summer, such as this diving-sliding-balcony-tossing classic

Sigh. I can barely dunk chips in a bowl of salsa while watching a game on TV.

RELATED: Kobe and Messi Trade Epic Selfies for Turkish Airlines.




Fashion Ads Become Freakish and Haunting After Artist’s Acid Wash

As if the Photoshop-perfect faces on outdoor ads weren't nightmarish enough, German street artist Vermibus ratchets up the horror by using chemicals to transform such posters into grotesque visions for an art project called "Dissolving Europe."

This guy's acid wash has nothing to do with jeans. He targets noses, lips, cheeks, chins, ears and eyes. By the time he's done, his subjects resemble nuclear-blast victims, their features twisted into misshapen parodies of the human form.

Of course, "ugly" is in the eye of the beholder. Some will find his creations possessed of a certain warped beauty that exposes the truth underlying our pervasive consumer culture.

That's a valid interpretation, and it's clearly in line with the artist's view as he traversed Europe, removing promotional posters from their displays and replacing them with his freakish creations. (You can view more of his projects on his website.) A 10-minute film chronicles his journey, and it's fairly hypnotic. The best scene shows Vermibus wearing a gas mask to protect himself from toxins, like some hybrid artist/terrorist, as he defaces/transforms an advertisement.

Of late, there have been many examples of public advertising being replaced or subverted to make broader social statements. There's Banksy, of course, railing against capitalism. And those fake ads about NYPD drones. Outdoor ads were swapped out for classic paintings in recent French and English installations. And Richard Sargent's photographs of decaying billboards in California were especially evocative.

Ultimately and unfortunately, these efforts become footnotes on the overloaded media landscape. They're fodder for thoughtful articles and blog posts, but all too quickly forgotten. Billboards brake for no one. Ad campaigns keep coming. There's always another pretty face.

Via Fast Company.

Photos and artwork via Vermibus.com.




Marionette Wives Feel Pretty Insecure in an Age of Wireless DirecTV

If DirecTV is trying to position its Wireless Genie Mini device as a high-tech toy for doofy bros who view women as puppets—mission accomplished!

Perhaps that's a tad harsh or too literal. Still, there's something unnerving about these new ads from Grey New York, directed by Bryan Buckley, featuring a life-size blonde marionette. In one ad, she struggles with her wires while pouring lemonade for a pair of DirecTV-lovin' dudes. In a second spot, our heroine dangles from the bedroom ceiling in a sexy negligee, concerned her human beau is more attracted to DirecTV.

Self-conscious oddness is the obvious goal, and the campaign certainly works on that level. Even so, there's a touch of mean-spiritedness that doesn't sit right. The puppet is the most appealing part of these commercials, and it's easy to sympathize with her plight. This, in turn, kind of keeps me from feeling good about the Wireless Genie itself, which lets multiple TVs share HD-DVR programming over WiFi (so first-worlders won't trip over unsightly wires and fall flat on their Google Glass).

Cut those cords and free yourself, my wooden sister! Today, there are so many ways for a marionette to be fulfilled—like rapping for JCPenney or blogging for Target. Don't let some half-wit string you along!

 

CREDITS
Client: DirecTV
Campaign: "Marionettes"
Agency: Grey, New York
Chief Creative Officer: Tor Myhren
Executive Creative Director: Dan Kelleher
Vice Presidents, Creative Directors: Doug Fallon, Steven Fogel
Art Director: Marques Gartrell
Copywriter: Kim Nguyen
Agency Executive Producer: Andrew Chinich
Agency Producer: Lindsay Myers
Agency Music Producer: Zachary Pollakoff
Account: Chris Ross, Beth Culley, Anna Pogosova, Aaron Schwartz, Meredith Savatsky
Production Company: Hungry Man
Director: Bryan Buckley
Executive Producer: Mino Jarjoura
Producer: Rachel Curl
Production Supervisor: Colette Findley
Director of Photography: Scott Henriksen
Editor: Tom Scherma, Cosmo Street
Assistant Editor: Dave Otte, Cosmo Street
Editorial Executive Producer: Maura Woodward. Cosmo Street
Editorial Producer: Heather Richardson, Cosmo Street
Visual Effects: The Mill
Visual Effects Executive Producer: Sue Troyan, The Mill
Visual Effects Producer: Anastasia Von Rahl, The Mill
Casting Director, Los Angeles: Kathy Knowles, Kathy Knowles Casting
Casting Director, New York: Fay Shumsey, Fay Erin Casting
Audio Mixer: Tom Jucarone, Sound Lounge




Extreme Oatmeal? Not Real, but the Gamers at Pax East Didn’t Know That

Pwnmeal Extreme Gaming Oatmeal goes way beyond steel cut. This hot, lumpy cereal is EXTREME!!!

Alas, the caffeinated glop won't be coming to breakfast aisles anytime soon. The "official porridge of e-sports," launched at last weekend's Pax East conference in Boston, is a satire of gamer marketing and culture cooked up by Digital Kitchen and the jokers at Cards Against Humanity, the party game for horrible people.

"The concept may sound ridiculous, but it's not far off from the realities at these conventions," the agency says. "Gamers are hit with marketing for everything from caffeinated gum to beef jerky."

From the faux brand's website: "It's a PWN or BE PWN'd world out there. Only a n00b would skip breakfast, the most important meal of the day. When you visit cyberspace to play your favorite shoot 'em ups or massively multiplayer online video games, ensure decisive victory."

Flavors include Strawberries and Carnage ("Prepped to fuel your next kill streak with a massive payload of phytonutrients") and No Scope Headshot Blueberry ("Line it up and pull the trigger with a sweet, warm BFG—the B is for blueberry").

The video shows buff guys and gals "dramatically" tearing open product packets, tossing around flakes and rubbing oatmeal on their ripped bodies. They roar, and goopy goodness gushes from their mealy mouths. I prefer to start my grueling day like a real hard-core gamer—by dragging my saggy ass out of bed, pounding a few Hershey's Kisses and cursing my wasted life.




Reincarnation Isn’t Kind to Trump, Zuckerberg and Gates in Luxury Magazine Ads

Donald Trump, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg get reincarnated as an owl, a llama and a sheep, respectively, in AlmapBBDO's unusual campaign for Top Magazine, a luxury fashion and lifestyle title in Brazil.

"In his next life, even Donald Trump could come back as an owl," we're told. "The time to enjoy your money is now."

The visuals are most amusing. Gates keeps his trademark glasses, while Zuck's wooly locks and dental work survive the transformation. And of course, Trump's hair is still atrociously—wait for it, because it's worth the wait, here it comes—feathered. (OK, it wasn't worth the wait.)

Belgium's TMF channel tried a similar theme in 2008, showing Amy Winehouse as a sad sheep in a most unsavory barnyard scenario. And a South African employment site once suggested that lawyers, tobacco execs and paparazzi would return as ticks, maggots and dung-heap flies. By comparison, Top's beastly trio really don't fare so badly at all. C'mon, Zuck, why the long face?

Credits below. Via Ads of the World.

CREDITS
Client: Top Magazine
Agency: AlmapBBDO, Brazil
General Creative Director: Luiz Sanches
Creative Directors: André Kassu, Marcos Medeiros, Bruno Prosperi
Art Director: André Sallowicz
Copywriters: Dudu Barcelos, Filipe Medici
Illustrators: Surachai Puthikulangkura, Supachai U-Rairat
Photographer: Surachai Puthikulangkura
Graphic Producers: José Roberto Bezerra, Alberto Lago
Account Executives: Gustavo Burnier, Filipe Bartholomeu, Johana Quintana, Matheus Trigo




First Wine in a Box, Now Wine in a Can?

Raise your brushes and rollers to toast Lithuania's McCann Vilnius, which recently packaged France's famed Beaujolais Nouveau in limited-edition paint cans for a fun self-promotion.

McCann says it wanted to show clients "that we are constantly reinventing ourselves and looking for a fresh perspective."

The creative concept began with a discussion about how the annually anticipated Beaujolais stains drinkers' teeth and lips purple. So the paint cans include a color chart showing how much you'll need to drink to achieve a specific hue.  

For the promo, bags filled with wine were placed inside the tins, so there's no fear of a metallic taste. If you're in Lithuania, pick up a few when you head out to paint the town red!

Via Design Taxi.




Designer Creates Delicious Résumé With the Winning Ingredient Baked Right In

It's not so strange for folks to bring cookies, cakes and candies to work and share them with colleagues. But for job applicants to prepare treats and serve them to prospective employers before even landing an interview? Not exactly business as usual.

Still, that's how Crystal Nunn applied for a junior designer position at We Are Social in London last August.

Nunn, an avid baker, prepared a batch of cookies using ingredients from Beyond Dark chocolate, a brand cofounded by We Are Social creative director James Nester. She designed a special box for the goodies labeled "Beyond Ideas," attached a thumb-drive containing her traditional résumé and portfolio, and hand-delivered the package in a brown wrapper marked "Urgent." Within an hour, We Are Social contacted Nunn for an interview; she got the job—and Beyond Dark, suitably impressed, sent her some chocolates and consulting work.

"The great thing about cookies is that they're perishable, so people are going to have to deal with it, even if it's just to throw them away," Nunn tells AdFreak. "Plus, who doesn't like cookies?"

Elaborate résumés and job applications are all the rage. Along with Nunn's cookies, notable examples include a detailed, Lego-esque model sent by a prospective account-service intern to ad agencies, and an impressive series of Grand Budapest Hotel trailers created by media artist Youyou Yang to demonstrate her filmmaking skills to Wes Anderson.

"If there's a place you really want to work for, show them why," Nunn says. "Build a rapport with them by having a voice—comment and share what they put on their blog and social media channels. Go above and beyond. Find out who your future bosses will be and tailor you job application to them.

"I've done the sending digital CVs online, 100 a day in some cases, and it's really not effective when you're competing against hundreds of other applications. You need to blow the rest out of the water and do something different. Think outside the box."

And if you do think inside the box, don't forget the cookies!

Via Design Taxi.




Can a Sustainable Font Help Save the World? This Ad Agency Has Made One

Ryman Eco, a new "sustainable font" from U.K. retailer Ryman Stationery and ad agency Grey London, uses 33 percent less ink than standard typefaces. According to Grey, if the world switched to Ryman Eco as its default print front, it could save almost 500 million ink cartridges and 15 million barrels of oil every year. Fuck you, Verdana, filthy planet killer!

Sorry. Like all right thinking people, I get mighty fired up about fonts.

Sustainable typefaces have been in the news since a 14-year-old American student took time off from going through puberty to suggest that U.S. federal and state governments could save a combined $370 million annually by changing from Times New Roman to Garamond.

Ryman Eco, which Grey says was developed at the same time as Suvir Mirchandani's idea, began as an internal project. Grey brought the idea to Ryman, the U.K.'s biggest stationer, and worked with Monotype's Dan Rhatigan to develop the font. Grey hopes to make Ryman Eco the default printer typeface across its global network.

Of course, using no paper at all would do a lot more to help the environment, but Ryman probably doesn't want to hear about that.

Actually, Ryman Eco looks kind of haughty and full of itself. It's OK for wedding invitations and christenings, I guess, but for down-and-dirty jobs like press releases and earnings reports, I much prefer Poo Corny.

Still, Ryman Eco sure beats Comic Sans, which is far deadlier than climate change and will surely destroy us all!