Hasta La Creative!

British nonprofit Missing People wants some of the millions of Pokemon Go players traipsing the country to be on the look out for something other than cartoon creatures: actual humans.

An outdoor campaign from the organization, which helps search for missing persons and provides support to them and their loved ones, repurposes iconography from the popular augmented reality game, which requires users to rove their cities for digital creatures in real-world locations.

The campaign, launched during a Pokemon Go event in Trafalgar Square, drew a crowd some 4,000 strong. Working with BBH Barn, the Publicis agency’s internship program, Missing People created posters featuring the faces and names of those “missing near here,” wrapped inside Pokeballs, the imaginary tools used to trap Pokemon.

read more

Sometimes an ad idea just doesn’t get the reach it deserves, and this is certainly one of those times.

Polish agency The Digitals created a little-seen banner/pop-up ad last year that asked site visitors, “Do you want to dissolve the government?” Hovering over the response button would then lock the user’s cursor into the ad, which displays the message, “In Belarus, you would go to prison for that.”

The ad then released the cursor and asked the viewer to sign a petition to similarly release human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski, who eventually walked free last summer. 

Amnesty from The Digitals Sp. z o.o. on Vimeo.

(For the technically minded among you, Amnesty’s case study explains, “We used two formats: double billboard [750 px by 200 px] and a transparent top layer, which runs it when you hover over the banner, hiding the cursor when outside.)

Despite the limited scope of the ad, its click-through rate was impressive.

“It was kind of an experiment,” Micha? Kobierzewski, creative director for The Digitals, told the Epica Awards. “We only got about 450 impressions, but out of those, 50 people signed a petition.” 

Kobierzewski will be a juror in the international award show, which is currently accepting entries.

If you’re apartment hunting for a three bedroom/two bath/one Burger King, this might be the spot for you.

Spanish agency La Despensa equipped a tasty pad in downtown Madrid with a BK kitchen and menu counter for a stunt touting the arrival of the chain’s home delivery service. You’ve got familiar brand signage, colorful meal displays and even some guy named Michael, dressed in a BK uniform, ready to take your order.

Because the agency listed the unit on local real-estate websites for roughly half its market value, “we had around 800 calls in five days asking to see the place,” La Despensa creative director Luis Monroy tells AdFreak. Hidden cameras recorded the reactions of prospective tenants, who seem amused and pretty psyched about the experience.

“It took around three days to assemble the restaurant after weeks of searching for the perfect place,” Monroy says. “Can you imagine what it’s like to carry up all the kitchen tools, digital screens for the menu-board … and the bar of 300 kilos to the third floor with no elevator?” Members of the marketing team, production company and agency all pitched in to help with the heavy lifting.

Of course, authentic BK cuisine was served. “It is a much more complete experience with a Whopper in your hands,” Monroy says. Soon after it finished the video, La Despensa (which translates to “The Pantry”—perfect, right?), the apartment, which really had been on the market, was snapped up, “unfortunately without the restaurant, and at a higher price.”

This well done prank manages to stay on-point and satisfy without seeming overcooked. And that’s kind of rare in this category.

Luxury retailer Harvey Nichols practically swept the 2014 Cannes Lions with its last holiday campaign, which won a staggering four Grand Prix. Now the brand has returned with its highly anticipated follow-up.

Last year’s effort, “Sorry, I Spent It on Myself,” celebrated Christmas as a time to focus on the most important person in your life—yourself—while giving your loved ones some absolute rubbish gifts like gravel or office supplies. The campaign definitely had its critics, including the audience at the Cannes awards show, where it was the only ad booed by attendees.

So in the year since, has the retailer, like Ebenezer Scrooge before it, learned the true lessons of Christmas?

The new spot “Could I Be Any Clearer?”, again from agency Adam&eveDDB, features a doting niece signing a Christmas card for her dear Auntie Val, a woman who obviously loves her but unfortunately misses the mark when it comes to gift giving. (The camera pans to a puppy throw pillow, an iron and a djembe.)

She delivers the card to Auntie Val, who is thrilled by the visit and the gesture. But, of course, there’s more to it than that.

If for some reason you can’t watch the clip above and don’t mind some spoilers, here’s how it goes down: She opens the envelope to discover a Harvey Nichols greeting card, letting her know in no uncertain terms what her niece wants for Christmas (Charlotte Olympia silver Octavia sandals with a 6-inch heel, size 4 1/2—or 5, if that’s all they’ve got).

As with last year’s “Sorry, I Spent It on Myself” cheap gift collection, the brand’s self-centered holiday cards are real and available in store or customizable online. You can browse the site to find an item you want, design your card, and share it.

It’s the absolutely perfect way of letting your loved ones know just how horrible you are. But chances are, they probably already know.

Christmas storytelling is an annual rite of advertising one-upsmanship in Britain. But how can you weave a heart-warming tale while still keeping your product front and center?

U.K. grocery chain Waitrose has found one solution by focusing on something that differentiates its staff. Employee shared ownership in the company, which would normally be the driest of dry topics, takes a charming turn in the store’s new holiday spot from BBH London. A real employee, Adejumoke Sanusi of Ilford, was even cast to play herself.

The ad follows the story of an introverted young woman tackling a holiday baking challenge for school. Unlike the fantastical whimsy of advertisers like John Lewis, this ad is far more grounded in the reality of why you’d actually need to turn (time and again) to a helpful grocery clerk. 

It likely won’t leave you wiping tears from your eyes, but on the other hand, you’ll probably at least remember what was being advertised.

By the way, the soundtrack comes from an interesting source: Members of the public joined a “Donate Your Voice” effort to create the track, a cover of Dolly Parton’s “Try.” The song is available for purchase on iTunes, with proceeds going to three U.K. charities.

CREDITS
Client: Waitrose
Marketing Director: Rupert Thomas
Head of Marketing: Rupert Ellwood
Manager, Advertising: Jo Massey
Marketing Manager, Advertising: Libby Langridge

Agency: BBH London
Creative Team: Fred Rodwell and Andy Parsons
Creative Director: Ken Hoggins & Martha Riley
Strategist: Melanie Arrow
Strategy Director: Tom Roach
Business Lead: Sian Cook
Team Manager: Emma Johnston-Donne
Team Director: Kayleigh Chapman
Producer: Glenn Paton
Assistant Producer: Sarah Cooper

Production Company: Park Pictures
Director: Tom Tagholm
Executive Producer: Stephen Brierley
Producer: Fran Thompson
Director of Photography: Rob Hardy

Postproduction: MPC
Visual Effects Producer: Amy Richardson
Visual Effects Supervisor: Jonathan Box
Colorist: Jean-Clément Soret

Editor/Editing House: Tim Hardy at Stitch
Sound: Sam Ashwell at 750mph
Music Supervisor: The Most Radicalist Black Sheep Music
Music Producer: David Kosten
Music Publisher: Carlin Music
Music Label: BMG Chrysalis

Well, this might just blow your damn mind.

Honda and Wieden + Kennedy London have created a rather incredible “double-sided story” on YouTube to promote the Civic and its sportier sibling, the Civic Type R. While watching “The Other Side,” you can press and hold the “R” button on your keyboard to switch between parallel storylines. 

Watch it here: Honda’s “The Other Side.”

“We wanted people to feel Honda’s other side as well as see it,” W+K notes today on its blog, “so we dreamt up a technique that brings together both narratives through a simple interaction.” (The technique is a bit reminiscent of Interlude’s famous interactive music video for Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.”)

Without revealing too much, I’ll just say the dual film directed by Daniel Wolfe follows the travels of a seemingly mild-mannered dad who leads a rather interesting double life. 

You can watch a few teasers below, but you really need to go see the full experience for yourself on YouTube.

When the mood is right but you’re all out of condoms, most amorous adventurers would simply run to the 24-hour pharmacy. But in France, the back-up plan seems to be a tad more mundane.

In a series of new anti-AIDS ads from TBWA Paris, the participants in a would-be threeway end up interlocking jigsaw puzzle pieces rather than limbs, and several couples find equally bland ways to spend their naked time together. 

“No condom, no sex,” is the tagline for these spots for AIDES, the advocacy group behind a wide range of enjoyable videos.

While the premise is rather silly, it’s a charming way to tackle a decades-old message that usually feels like a high school lecture. And hey, a naked puzzle party doesn’t sound all that bad. 

Via Osocio.

Does Brian Wilson know who Lorde is? Or why there’s a tiger on his piano?

This lavish video boasts an array of stars performing Wilson’s 1966 Beach Boys classic “God Only Knows” to help launch BBC Music, described by the company as “an ambitious wave of new programs, innovative partnerships and ground-breaking music initiatives.”

Karmarama created the clip, which features luminaries representing various generations and styles. The Impossible Orchestra, as it’s called, features Wilson, Lorde, Elton John, Pharrell Williams, One Direction, Stevie Wonder, Dave Grohl, Jake Bugg, Emeli Sandé, Chris Martin and many more. Kylie Minogue floats in a soap bubble. Baaba Maal rides by in a balloon. Alison Balsom sits perched in a gilded cage.

The extravaganza debuted yesterday during a pan-channel BBC broadcast, and the video’s nearing 800,000 YouTube views already. The song also benefits BBC’s Children in Need charity, is available for download and streaming and was released as a physical CD single in the U.K.

“One of the things that interested me most about this project was the ideas of bringing together so many different styles of music,” says Ethan Johns, who produced the tune. “To make so much diversity work within one piece of music was quite a challenge.”

Naturally, the initiative’s been compared, favorably and otherwise, to other musical megastar team-ups, such as the 1997 Children in Need reboot of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day,” which was a global smash. (Elton John is only star from that outing to appear in “God Only Knows,” by the way.)

One story in the Guardian brands the new effort as “not quite a perfect day,” noting “There’s something self-aggrandizing about this—but with the amount of music the BBC covers, perhaps it is deserved?” Coverage elsewhere on the site disdainfully notes that “God Only Knows” arrives just as “the corporation’s battle to retain the television license fee [is] getting almost tougher by the week.”

Tough crowd.

BBC Music director Bob Sherman explains the project, and the song choice, thusly: “Everybody gets the significance of ‘God Only Knows.’ And that’s what we’re trying to do with BBC Music. We’re trying to make it feel like it’s an all-encompassing brand for everybody.” That quote comes from the “making-of” clip, in which Queen guitarist Brian May—whose trademark fret runs on “God Only Knows” are a highlight—seems to offer a slightly different take, calling the song “quite enigmatic, really.”

Some view the CGI effects and costumed theatrics as overkill, but I’d say the grand scale fits the message, which is quietly captured in the closing bars of the performance. Wilson sits alone at the piano, sans tiger or bombast, just looking into the camera and singing his brilliant song.

British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s had a bit of an awkward social media moment this week, when a customer noticed a sign encouraging employees to squeeze customers for more money.

The sign, mistakenly placed in a Sainsbury’s window, said: “Fifty pence challenge: Let’s encourage every customer to spend an additional 50p during each shopping trip between now and the year-end.”

Londoner Chris Dodd posted a photo of the upsell encouragement to Twitter, where it’s since been retweeted nearly 5,000 times:

.@sainsburys not sure this is supposed to be in your window… pic.twitter.com/Zk9GCliIWO

— Chris Dodd (@mynameischrisd) September 29, 2014

The image sparked embarrassing news coverage for Sainsbury’s, but it also inspired competitor Lidl UK to have a bit of fun at Sainsbury’s expense.

A sign quickly whipped up by Lidl outlined its own 50 pence challenge: “Let’s encourage every one of our lovely customers to save as many 50ps as possible.”

@LidlUK What a great idea! #50pchallenge #nicesurprises pic.twitter.com/XbnvBW6O47

— Andy Cohen (@AndySixspeed) October 1, 2014

Without even referencing its competitor, Lidl scored a nice publicity coup and some bonus points with consumers for distancing itself from one of shopping’s most annoying daily obstacles. 

Via econsultancy.

Citroen puts on the dog once again in this commercial with an anthropomorphized mutt who charmingly works out the muscle kinks and stiffness of a long drive when its owner pulls in to a desert gas station.

The spot, from Les Gaulois in Paris, promotes Citroen’s BLUEDi engine, which, according to the title card, allows drivers to “stop less often at the pump.” Some versions of the ad substitute the line, “Next stop is in 1,520 km.” That’s a whole lot of miles in dog years.

Directed by Control’s Joachim Back, the lonely, sun-baked locations succeed at suggesting a winding, hours-long journey where the stops are few and far between. So does the use of “Sixteen Tons” on the soundtrack, which will now be rumbling through my head for the duration of my lifespan.

Your enjoyment of the spot—a companion to Citroen’s canine love story (I mean, woof story) from last year—will probably hinge on your attitude about ads where special effects are used to make animals and babies act like adult human beings. In my view, this puppy’s a winner by any stretch of the imagination.