Hasta La Creative!

Earlier this week, Toyota announced the consumer release of a new Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicle in Japan, the U.S. and Europe slated for 2015. Now, AdAge reports, Toyota has chosen New York agency Droga5 for the car’s pre-launch campaign.

The move marks the first auto marketer on Droga5?s roster. Although Saatchi & Saatchi LA is Toyota’s agency of record, the company looked to other agencies for new ideas for the breakthrough vehicle. “We approached Droga5 to give us some ideas, and they came back with something that blew us out of the water, said Kimberley Gardiner, director-digital marketing strategy for Toyota Motor Sales USA. “It ended up being a full campaign pre-launch proposal.”

“The opportunity was very much in our wheelhouse,” Droga5 Creative Chairman David Droga said. “If you get a call from Toyota asking, ‘Do you want to help launch the new generation of vehicles?,’ that’s about as juicy an opportunity as you can get, so we took that very seriously, and here we are. It’s very validating to have a chance to work with a brand like this.”

Gardiner didn’t reveal any details about the campaign, but, according to AdAge,”pre-launch will begin in the coming months, rolling out initially in the U.S. in digital and non-traditional media” and will last from 12-18 months.

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Newcastle Brown Ale had a big hit with its “If We Made It” ambush campaign around the Super Bowl. Now, the British brewer has done something similar for July 4.

The new campaign, from Droga5, is called “If We Won,” and it imagines what America would be like if Britain had won the Revolutionary War. It also continues the tradition, begun last year, of celebrating July 3 as Independence Eve—so the Brits can sneak in with their bangers and mash ahead of Independence Day on July 4.

It’s all a bunch of bollocks, of course—or rather, no bollocks.

Stephen Merchant kicks things off with the amusing video below. Elizabeth Hurley and Zachary Quinto will join the campaign with their own videos in the coming days. There will be 16 pieces of filmed content in all, “to help Newcastle celebrate the land that nearly became ‘Great Britain 2,’ ” the brewer says.

“It’s not easy to sell a British beer during a supremely American holiday, so we’re imagining how great America could have been—and how much beer we could have sold—if the Brits had won the Revolutionary War,” says Quinn Kilbury, brand director for Newcastle Brown Ale, who spoke to Adweek earlier this month about the brand’s Facebook advertising.

“In the late 1700s, colonial Americans risked life and limb to fight for their freedom. Today, we’re running the very real risk of people totally not getting the joke here, and we think that’s pretty patriotic.”

It pays to follow Newcastle Brown Ale on Twitter. Not much, but it pays.

The British beer brand continues its tongue-in-cheek ribbing of traditional marketing by pledging Monday night to pay the next 50,000 people who follow @Newcastle “the princely sum of $1.” To take the brewer up on this, visit follownewcastleontwitter.com.

This is all in the name of transparency. “Why should people endure the unsolicited marketing of other beer brands for free when they can endure Newcastle’s unsolicited marketing and get paid?” the brand rightly asks. The brand is actually going to mail 50,000 checks for $1 each. (“Newcastle-branded checks, of course.”)

The stunt, orchestrated by Droga5, is called “Follow The Money,” and it’s not a complete joke. Despite having some big YouTube hits, and almost 1 million Facebook fans, the brand has fewer than 16,000 Twitter followers. “We really do want 50,000 more Twitter followers,” the brand tells us.

Freelance network Working Not Working has unveiled a list of the top 46 companies its freelancers “would kill to work” for full-time, and the list includes several advertising agencies. Among the agencies Working Not Working freelancers would most like to work for are: 360i, 72andSunny, Barton F. Graf 9000, BBDO, BBH, Droga 5, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Mother, Periera & O’Dell, Venables Bell & Partners, and Wieden+Kennedy. The list also included a wealth of design and production companies, as well as Google, HBO, Cartoon Network, Tesla, and NASA (for some reason). Stick around for the full list after the jump. continued…

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This morning brought big news on the expectorant front for McCann Worldgroup: outsized “health, home and hygiene” consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser–maker of pretty much everything that comes in a package–signed the agency to lead creative on Mucinex and Delsym, two of the industry’s top products for treating coughs.

This move comes as part of a series of announcements following a full review that also led to wins for Droga5 (Air Wick, Clearasil) and Wieden+Kennedy (Finish).

Before choosing McCann, Reckitt’s in-house team handled advertising for Mucinex.

The full employee memo from chairman/CEO Harris Diamond after the jump.

continued…

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Haters gonna hate, isso é fato. Especialmente se alguém decide tocar em um ponto delicado para muitas pessoas. Foi o que a Honey Maid fez em sua campanha mais recente, criada pela Droga5, ao mostrar diferentes tipos de família – inclusive uma formada por dois pais. Como já era de se esperar, choveram críticas negativas e os piores comentários possíveis. A resposta da marca, então, foi uma lição de como transformar o ódio em amor.

Mais uma vez com criação da Droga5, “Love” mostra a criação de uma arte para a palavra love utilizando os comentários negativos. O filme segue com um agradecimento, explicando que o número de mensagens positivas superou em 10 vezes aqueles que desaprovaram a campanha, cercando com as palavras generosas o ódio manifestado por alguns.

É como deveria ser. Pena que, no dia a dia, as coisas não sejam tão simples assim…

Apesar de nem todas as marcas estarem convencidas de que já estamos no século 21 e que muita coisa mudou – inclusive os núcleos familiares -, ainda há aquelas que tentam se adaptar, refletindo isso em sua publicidade. É o caso, por exemplo, da Honey Maid em sua campanha This is Wholesome. Criada pela Droga5 de Nova York, a série de documentários curtos apresenta diferentes tipos de pais.

A começar pelos pais gays, que mostram que dão uma criação bastante tradicional aos filhos. Há também o pai solteiro, que confessa estar crescendo junto com o filho, o militar, que tenta lidar com a distância. O comercial da campanha também mostra o pai roqueiro, cheio de tatuagens, que comprova que não se deve julgar um livro pela capa.

Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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What has Diet Coke been snorting?

In the way the tagline, "You're on," and logo are positioned, the brand's new ads seem to refer to drug use—appearing to spell out the phrase "You're on coke."

The campaign, by Droga5 in New York, has been building considerable, um, buzz in the media and from consumers flocking to social media with mocking comments. (Gothamist has collected some prime tweets along these, er, lines.) And while one imagines no such connection to cocaine is implied, you can understand the snarky reaction.

A commercial shows various people downing the product to get psyched up before speeches and performances. Taylor Swift takes a—how shall I put this?—hit backstage, then says, "Great. Let's go." Hey, that's nothing like drugs at all. In The New York Times, a Coca-Cola exec says the ads show how the drink provides "uplift for those moments when you really need to be on." Hey, that's nothing like drugs at all.

The campaign's wording is so obvious, I'd bet client and agency went this route on purpose. The ads are certainly getting extra attention, and it's not so offensive as to cause the brand harm. Plus, there's plausible deniability.

And here's a sobering thought: "Drogas" is Spanish for drugs!

I reached out to Coke and Droga5 for clarification. Oddly, they weren't on (no response yet), but I'll update this post with any uplifting comments they choose to provide.

UPDATE: Coca-Cola responds: "This advertising is one part of the new campaign for Diet Coke, which is called 'You're On.' It celebrates ambitious young achievers from all walks of life and reminds them that Diet Coke is there to support them in the moments when they are at their best. Every single day, young people around the world experience 'You're On' moments big and small. It could be a job interview or a national TV interview, a first date or a final exam, a presentation to your boss or a performance in front of thousands. The Diet Coke logo is the centerpiece of the ad campaign. Diet Coke in no way endorses or supports the use of any illegal substance."

Photo below: @david_j_roth

After spending barely nine months at Droga5 New York as head of interactive production, Robert Valdes has left the agency, sources confirm. Valdes, you may recall, joined David Droga & crew after a four-year stint as head of production at TBWA\Chiat\Day NY, where he worked on several projects for accounts including Absolut and Jameson. Where’s he now, you ask? Well, Valdes just so happened to join up with his fellow former Chiat NY colleague, Mark Figliulo, who launched his Figliulo&Partners shop last year. Valdes is in familiar territory at F&P, where he has assumed the role of partner/head of production.

As for Droga5, our sources tell us that the agency is planning to replace Valdes, though no timetable has been set as far as we know.

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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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