Hasta La Creative!

Dr. Who, your jacket is ready. In this odd spot for 66°North outerwear from German agency Grabarz & Partner, some commuter dude shivering at a remote Icelandic bus stop encounters one of the clothing maker's jackets—which stands upright in the snow, as if someone's wearing it. Yet, the jacket's empty. Or is it? The dude peers inside the hood … and apparently, there's a toasty refuge deep within, with room for people to enjoy hot toddies in front of a roaring fireplace. (Talk about going "all-in" with a metaphor! Actually, I'm reminded of both a Whovian-style alien menace—"Those jacket creatures will kill us all, Doctor!"—and a Tardis. If the jacket were the latter, though, there'd be no need to take public transportation.) The final shot, which is kind of eerie, shows the coat standing alone against the wintry expanse, flames flickering within its faceless, fur-lined cowl. Hey, better put out that fire—no smoking on the bus!

Since every third ad has to be an Apple parody now, Carlsberg makes fun of Apple Store product launches in this TV spot for Somersby Cider from agency Fold7. Some of the computer jargon here works surprisingly well for drinking, but there's no forgiving the apple puns. While we're on the subject, "Less apps, more apples" doesn't make sense as a tagline since they're comparing different products. Apples and oranges.

So, there's this British just-barely-science-fiction series called Black Mirror, created by a mad genius named Charlie Brooker (good interview with him here; he's also ripped into advertising fairly regularly), in which all of the worst and strangest things that are possible with contemporary or soon-to-come technology happen over the course of its (thus far) six episodes. It's gotten a lot of attention in the U.K., where it airs on Channel 4. One of the reasons people like it so much is that it's very well directed (which is not always the norm for British sci-fi, as anyone who watched the first couple of beautifully acted and largely well-written seasons of Doctor Who can attest).

Anyway, you can't watch it in the U.S.—like, at all, because no network airs it, it's not on streaming, and there's no Region 1 DVD release. But you can see the incredi-weird promos on YouTube. And let me tell you, they are worth watching. How good are they? Consider that I feel duty bound to say the following to our extremely savvy readership: If a pre-roll ad pops up, make sure it's actually a pre-roll ad. "A future you deserve," indeed.

Trailer for the current season:

Trailer for the first season:

Promo for a recent episode:

In our age of virtual sharing gone berserk, here's a refreshingly tactile effort by a British ad agency. For new restaurant Dishoom, OgilvyOne U.K. is collecting customer stories through the Internet and baking the best ones into Dishoom's dinner plates—each one nicely designed in a way that fits that particular story. The campaign draws on an ethnic tradition. Dishoom is an Irani café—styled after similar cafés opened in India in the 19th century by Iranian and Persian immigrants. The sharing of stories over food was a big part of the Iranian café tradition (and restaurant tradition generally). OgilvyOne started the campaign with 80 plates featuring the personal memories of Irani cafés from the older generation in Bombay and the U.K. See some examples below. Now, new visitors are being asked to contribute. "Crazy and unusual anecdotes are very much encouraged!" says the site. "Tell what you used to do—whether it was hanging out with friends, dating, bunking off, doing business deals, finding inspiration. Tell us how the food tasted, the conversations you overheard, how the place felt, the more personal your stories the better." Via Creative Review.

It was my first visit to India. I was in Churchgate near the station and used to visit this old cafe on the corner for some of the best dosas and uttapas in town. The owner introduced himself and made me feel like he was one of my uncles. Uncle Satish or 'Satishbhai' as I called him invited me to their late night card games, and I learnt all sorts and made all sorts of new friends. Only in such a cafe, could you feel like you were part of the family as soon as you walk in, and leave with not only a full stomach, but a whole new bunch of friends.

Adi was tickled when he heard about my memories of the cutlet gravy at Cafe Excelsior from a decade back. He immediately called for a plate of gravy for me to taste. I took a spoonful…creamy yet edgy…an initial soothing sip followed by a slow but resounding hit of chillies. A very elegant and yet passionate sauce. I liked it so much that I finished the contents of the saucer. Seeing the delight on my face Adi insisted on packing some cutlets and gravy for me to take home…and some slices of bread too….the bread turned out to be as soft as Cupid's cheeks. I pointed out the lack of salt in the dhansak to Adi. "Well that's good for old people no with BP? Others can add salt" said Adi with a smile.

Colaba is the most popular tourist hub of Bombay because of the famous Taj hotel and gateway of India. A lot of Iranians migrated and settled in Colaba. They relate to this place a lot. Everytime I come here, I see them sitting around and it makes me feel comfortable. I've been a student of Xaviers College and have been very fond of this Irani Café, especially when you have a tight budget cause I'm in college. The food is very affordable. Every time I have a friend visiting, I bring them here to give them a taste of the real Bombay experience.

I once asked Mr. Kohinoor, who is 83 and owns Britannia Restaurant what would happen to Britannia when he was no longer with us. Gesturing towards his son and brother he exclaimed (a bit loudly!) "The moment I'm gone, these buggers will shut the place down!"

I held Bapa's hand tightly.
I was so scared
So many people
And I, so small
I sat in the chair
My chin on the table
He ordered
I stared
It came.
I smiled
A big smile.
Tutti Frutti Ice Cream.

Afshin Kohinoor, Boman's son, started talking to us at length about the restaurant. He pointed to the portraits hung on the wall, spoke about the letter written to his father by the Queen of England, and pointed to one of their latest awards. …and then willingly posed for me with a trophy. And then when we were leaving, asked us to return with our boyfriends. "I don't want to see you alone next time," he said.

Overheard one evening in an Irani café in South Mumbai's Fort District. A customer complains to the owner, that there is no sugar in his tea. "Did I call you? Did I say, come to my shop and drink tea? You are the one who climbed the steps and came. Today there are no complaints. Everyone's quietly drunk their tea and gone. No one said anything. What are these tantrums that you come up with …. God knows how your wife stays with you. Is she still with you or has she eloped and run away."

Paper? Pa-per? What the hell is that? Leo Burnett's ad for French toilet-paper brand Trefle celebrates parchment in its various forms, presenting a woman who reads printed books, puts sticky notes on the fridge, plays sudoku with a pencil and draws pictures on a paper pad with her daughter. Her doofus husband prefers doing all such activities on his tablet computer, and he admonishes her time and again for being old fashioned. But he gets his comeuppance while sitting on the can (that's Cannes in French). The toilet paper runs out, and when he calls for a refill, she slides his tablet under the door, its display aglow with the image of fluffy T.P. ("Paper has a big future," says the on-screen text.) I picture the wife in the hall, rolling—for lack of a better pun—on the floor with laughter. So, you can wipe the screen, but shouldn't use the screen to wipe? Wish I'd known that years ago.

Whenever I write about zombies, I tend to bury the lead. That's a grave mistake. Anyway, here's a case study about how the Darewin Agency used social media to make The Walking Dead a hit on France's NT1 TV network. On its Walking Dead site, NT1 advised people to avoid a "zombie virus" by avoiding the #walkingdeadNT1 hashtag, which naturally prompted people to use it. Within moments of posting the hashtag on Twitter or Facebook, users were suddenly followed by hoards of virtual zombies. (Maybe those new followers were just average French people. Undead or Parisian … it can be tough to tell.) Contrast this campaign—in which 30,000 users were "attacked" by zombies in less than two weeks, with 550,000 impressions tallied—with this Walking Dead stunt from Toronto, where a finger was chopped off a pair of giant zombie hands each day until the series' return to TV. Effective for sure, but the French effort required more braaaains. Via Adverve.

Shetland ponies have never been quite as celebrated as they are these days—thanks to several British ad campaigns. First, of course, we had Fivla and Vitamin, the adorable sweater-weating ponies from the VisitScotland campaign. Now, Wieden + Kennedy, London, has upped the ante with a dancing pony in this new spot for mobile network Three. The agency explains: "Shot against the dramatic backdrop of the Shetland Islands, the :60 spot follows the story of a stocky little pony. But this is no ordinary Shetland pony. With the scrape of a hoof and a flick of his Tina Turner-esque mane, he effortlessly moonwalks along to the sound of 'Everywhere' by Fleetwood Mac." The video rocketed past 1 million views this weekend, and is surely just getting warmed up. The point of the dancing pony is that the mobile Internet is great for sharing silly stuff that cheers people up. As part of the campaign, W+K also created The Pony Mixer, a dancing-pony-remixing tool "where you can make our pony shake it to anything from Boyband to Bollywood."

Who said station wagons are for moms? Oh, how things change. Audi U.K. is changing that stigma with this "Ultimate Paintball Duel" between two new 2013 RS 4 Avants. Yes, they're station wagons. No, they're not your run-of-the-mill kid pushers. They're loaded with V-8 engines, 450 horsepower—oh, and huge hood-mounted paintball guns. The black vs. white, arcade-like duel is a gamer's dream come true, with fast cars, guns, high scores and Paul Engemann's "Push It to the Limit" as the soundtrack (bonus!). What's not to love? The spot shifts into gear as the cars commence in hot pursuit of each other, firing rounds on all cylinders. Paint flies, tires squeal and stunt drivers handle hairpin turns and evasive maneuvers to avoid direct hits. The spot even pays a brief tribute to James Bond with its neon-blue oil slicks and roadside paint bombs. Touché to Audi U.K. Now, let's see how the RS 4 will be introduced in the U.S. Making-of video after the jump.

The European culture jam spreads.

From Adbusters Blog

a href=/media/print/apsi_portuguese_child_safety_care_bleachimg src=http://adsoftheworld.com/files/images/apsibleach.preview.jpg alt=APSI Portuguese Child Safety Care: Bleach title=APSI Portuguese Child Safety Care: Bleach class=image image-preview width=326 height=460 //ablockquotepWake Up Storiesbr /
The princess and the bleach./p/blockquote
pAdvertising Agency: a href=http://www.brandiacentral.comBrandia Central, Lisbon, Portugal/abr /
Creative Director: Tiago Viegasbr /
Art Director: Bruno Lopesbr /
Copywriter: Sara Sezifredobr /
Illustrator: Kanobr /
Published: November 2008/p