Hasta La Creative!

What are we all but a bunch of emoji with arms and legs and a hankering for McDonald’s?

An insane new French ad for fast-food chain shows a city full of people going about their daily lives—driving around with friends, getting a shave at the barber, break dancing in the streets. But instead of human heads, they all have giant, 3-D, cartoon faces.

The soundtrack—a bubbly electro pop cover of the Buggles’ 1978 classic “Video Killed the Radio Star”—almost makes the ad feel like a music video. But the song, a rendition apparently created specifically for the ad, when coupled with the visual concept, which feels fresh in and of itself, seems to imply a critique of technology that’s more contemporary than the one baked into the lyrical hook, and a bit out of place for a major fast-food marketer.

McDonald’s and agency BETC Paris have explicitly created a world where digital communication reduces facial expression—a wildly subtle and complex phenomenon—to a series of shiny yellow orbs representing monolithic and equally monochromatic feelings. That’s a pretty excellent premise for a video, but the brand presents it here without any of the real anxiety about change that defines the text of the original synth pop song—or the deadpan theatricality with which the Buggles promoted and performed it; or, say, the more explicitly ironic bitterness and dissatisfaction of the 1996 alt-rock cover by the Presidents of the United States of America.

Instead, McD’s presents everyone being a stiff caricature of their own ids as a good thing. And that only really makes sense if you’re a faceless corporation that deals in cardboard platitudes like Happy Meals peddled by a brightly colored clown mascot, and other overly processed hamburgers that can save the doomed love lives of awkward young adults.

It probably doesn’t help the brand’s case that the tagline, “Venez comme vous êtes,” which translates to “Come as you are,” inadvertently bastardizes the spirit of another classic song about the tension between individuality, conformity and perception. (To be fair, that tagline has been around for years—and McDonald’s France has used it to, among other things, promote gay rights.)

Within the emoji ad’s own construct, it includes clever little tidbits—some of them perhaps more deliberate than others, like the kid who turns from angel to devil, as opposed to the weatherman with the smarmy, oafish look on his face. The spot also deserves credit for doing a distinctly better job of getting its message across than some other emoji-driven attempts at marketing. (In fact, it’s way simpler and more accessible—if less delightful—than some of the brands that decided to try to invent their own emoticons.)

It’s also worth noting that BETC Paris is experienced in creating absurd viral sensations, having graced the world with Evian’s classic roller-dancing babies, and the agency appears to be swinging for the fences again here. But the idea, for all its potential, suffers as a result of its attempt to be broadly appealing to what’s seen as the perpetual sunshine ethos of millennials. In that, it turns into a nauseatingly saccharine panacea—without near enough sarcasm or skepticism about what it’s actually saying.

In fact, the insistence on framing a fundamentally disturbing set of images as lighthearted and upbeat can’t keep the dark subtext and implicit social critique at bay. So, the whole thing ends up seeming unintentionally dystopian, like the Kia hamsters tossed into a meat grinder with a deadmau5 helmet and Katy Perry fever dream, with the resulting slime squeezed out into a bunch of circular, cookie-cutter nuggets, baked golden and plopped onto a bunch of necks.

Ultimately, it mostly adds credence to Taco Bell’s case that Ronald McDonald is actually a Stalinist looking to control all aspects of your life—only he’s way more insidious than you thought, mostly interested in brainwashing us into grinning idiots by defining happiness in terms of Big Macs and faces made of pixels.

Plus, you know the spot can’t be trusted because it doesn’t show anyone who just gobbled a McDonald’s burger and turned into the emoji for “I have a stomach ache and I wish I hadn’t eaten that”—which isn’t available yet, but is slated for release in 2016.

Pulco, a French drink brand owned by Orangina Schweppes, is a default summer drink. (Because when else would you have a cool citrus-lemon beverage?) And amid an epic heatwave recently, it capitalized on that positioning with #LaParesseADuBon. Roughly translated to “Laziness can be good,” it encouraged people to relax and go slow—because what else is there to do when you see mirages while crossing the street?

Earlier this month, with help from agency Fred & Farid, it illustrated that premise by taking seven days to finish posting a single-line Facebook status update. The post unfolded word by word, and eventually read, “It’s too hot to work.”

And while it’s too late to watch it as it happened, you can see the painfully slow progression when you click on the post’s “Edited” button:

While it didn’t capture much attention outside the ad industry (which fawns over itself in France just as much as it does in the U.S.), this is a nice example of how creative can manipulate the mechanics of social platforms to produce something unique and playful—and which, in this case, loyally manifests the brand’s message.

It’s also a tribute to Pulco that it let an incomplete sentence stand for a week without freaking out. It doesn’t look like Pulco spends much, media buy wise, but the post scored at least twice as many likes as any number of its painstaking but minimalist image posts. It won’t win Lions or anything, but it’s evidence that while engagement might be low, the brand is willing to experiment and be a bit scrappy.

Seven days is apparently also a record for the longest amount of time it’s taken anyone, ever, to produce a single Facebook post (at least according to the agency and brand). Other examples of brands who’ve broken social media records, however contrived, can be found on RecordSetter.com’s Social Media World Records subsite.

If you were looking forward to drooling over whatever hot, near-naked model would grace Carl’s Jr.’s notoriously lascivious advertising next, you’re in for a disappointment.

In a new 30-second commercial, the crass burger chain plays on its reputation for portraying women as pieces of meat who love to eat smaller pieces of meat in the most ridiculously carnal way possible. But here, it turns out the sweaty, glistening curves belong to something way less titillating.

Titled “Natural Beauties,” the concept is essentially a rehash of one of the older jokes in the book, if cleverly tailored to poke fun—in a nonetheless leering, winking sort of way—at the brand’s history of scantily clad talent including Charlotte McKinney, Kate Upton, Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton.

In the end, it’s all just part of Carl’s Jr. attempt to make its products seem less terrible for your health—i.e., natural. Everyone knows that’s a nonsense classification to begin with, and seems particularly half-hearted here—which is fitting, because each time you eat one of the brand’s hot-dog-and-potato-chips-on-a-burger burgers, half your heart is probably liable to just give up.

CREDITS
Client: Carl’s Jr.
Chief Executive Officer: Andy Puzder
Chief Marketing Officer: Brad Haley
SVP, Product Marketing: Bruce Frazer
Director of Advertising: Brandon LaChance
VP, Field Marketing, Media & Merchandising: Steve Lemley
Director, Product Marketing & Merchandising: Christie Cooney
Product Marketing Manager: Allison Pocino

72andSunny Team
Chief Creative Officer: Glenn Cole
Group Creative Director: Justin Hooper
Group Creative Director: Mick DiMaria
Creative Director: Tim Wettstein
Creative Director: Mark Maziarz
Sr. Designer: Marcus Wesson
Group Strategy Director: Matt Johnson
Strategy Director: Kasia Molenda
Strategist: Eddie Moraga
Group Brand Director: Alexis Coller
Sr. Brand Manager: Scott Vogelsong
Brand Coordinator: Anthony Fernandez
Director of Film Production: Sam Baerwald
Executive Film Producer: Molly McFarland
Jr. Film Producer: Kira Linton
Film Production Coordinator: Taylor Stockwell
Business Affairs Director: Amy Jacobsen
Business Affairs Manager: Jennifer Jahinian
Business Affairs Coordinator: Ryan Alls

Coast Public Relations:
Founder and CEO: Jeanne Beach Hoffa
Group Director: Melissa Penn
Director: Kate Franklin

Production Company: Strange & Wonderful
Director: Will Hyde
Executive Producer: Celeste Hyde
Producer: John Gomez

Editorial: 72andSunny Studio
Editor: Doron Dor
Executive Producer: Jenn Locke
Producer: Becca Purice

Online Finishing: Brickyard VFX
VFX Producer: Diana Young
VFX Artists: Patrick Poulatian & Mandy Sorenson
CG Artist: David Blumenfeld

Telecine: Beach House
Colorist: Mike Pethel
Producer: Denise Brown

Audio: On Music and Sound
Mixer: Chris Winston

Sound Design: On Music and Sound
Sound Designer: Chris Winston

Music:
Track name: “Beastie”
Written and Performed by: The Blancos
Used courtesy of GODIY Music

Ever hear of Kalles Kaviar? It’s cod roe, and you eat it out of a toothpaste tube.

Cringe away, but Kalles is a beloved Swedish product. They put it over eggs and eat it on toast. It’s basically Sweden’s Marmite. To drive sales, parent company Orkla tapped Forsman & Bodenfors to produce a self-deprecating campaign. For the last year, Kalles has been traveling the world, seeking to initiate others—unsuccessfully, to put it mildly—in the Swedish taste of home.

The first ad takes place in Los Angeles and sets the tone. An earnest sampler with a pillowy-soft, Swedish-accented voice, perched in the one shadow on a well-lit boardwalk, shyly stops random strangers to offer them seasoned Kalles on slices of bread. People are eager to give it a go. It’s an open-minded crowd. But the reactions come fast and hard.

“This is not food,” one victim exclaims with a certainty usually reserved for proclamations of love or long-awaited deaths. After taking a reaming all day, our unlucky sampler reclines on the beach at sundown to enjoy his slices of the motherland in peace.

Our favorite is probably “Kalles in Tokyo.” The Japanese, they’re so polite! They leap in for the kill, and you can literally see their faces transform in horror as their mouths close. In a key moment, the sampler asks a still-chewing (and evidently disgusted) woman, “Do you like it?” She covers her mouth, nods politely, and backs away—slowly, like you would if you suddenly found yourself face to face with a bear.

The self-deprecating work plays on the cottage food-challenge trend. Kalles itself has starred in many. Two years ago, Maker Studios’ Morfar ate a whole tube over the course of nearly 10 minutes, and after a few unsettling dry-heaves, he cuts the video off—ostensibly to vomit in private. In another stunt, vlogger Big Steve from England tried getting locals to let him squeeze a hefty portion of Kalles in their mouths. The video is called “EATING THE WORST FOOD IN THE WORLD! (KALLES CAVIAR)”.

The genius of the campaign lies how it magnifies those chimes of universal disgust to bolster Swedish pride. (The ads are airing in Sweden, where there’s no need to win people over to the stuff.) Look at the beatific faces of those samplers when they’re finally done for the day. Hours of rejection can’t shake their love for the salty pink goo, because in the end, it’s a little squirt from home. (This kind of nationalism, evoked by acquired tastes, has made for good ads before—notably’s Pizza Hut Australia’s punking of backpackers with a Vegemite-crust pizza. Plus, there’s inherent value in saying your product isn’t for everyone—as Laphroaig scotch has realized lately.)

We’ve all got a Kalles, right? The Aussies have Vegemite. The Brits have Marmite. And Americans have peanut butter. Sweet, sweet peanut butter. You won’t know how much you love it—and how singular and alienating that love is—until you’re living elsewhere. Say, France. And when we spread our respectively weird creams over a bland carb, wherever we are in the world, they bring us back to a place we understand intuitively.

A few other Kalles ads appear below. In the most recent variant (at the very bottom), Kalles visits New York, and the first person to approach the kiosk is a black dude with hipster glasses and a Yankees cap. This time the response is surprisingly different. On the other side of the world, the brand finally finds its people.

If you ever wanted to see a musical set in a McDonald’s, your ship has come in.

McDonald’s lead Hispanic agency, Alma in Miami, on Friday will roll out “A Little Lovin’,” a three-minute bachata musical starring the 20-year-old Dominican American singer Leslie Grace. At the beginning, she is seen sitting in McDonald’s with a case of writer’s block, but a McDonald’s employee (played by Daniel “Cloud” Campos, who also was the director and choreographer) soon inspires her to find “A Little Lovin’ ” all around.

As musicals do, it gets wildly and ridiculously energetic from there.

Alma repurposed Grace’s “Solita Me Voy” song for the spot. “About a year ago, Leslie was warming up for an interview and reminiscing about her happy childhood and going to McDonald’s with her dad, which was down the street from her mom’s salon,” said Luis Miguel Messianu, president and chief creative officer at Alma DDB. “She didn’t know she was being recorded, but my friend from Sony shared the sound byte with me and we’ve been working on an idea for her to partner with McDonald’s ever since.”

CREDITS
Talent
Leslie Grace: As Herself
Danny: Daniel Cloud
Dad: Cris Judd
Daughter: Tatiana McQuay

Film Crew
Director: Daniel Cloud
Executive Producer: Danielle Hinde
Producer: Courtney Davies
Production Supervisor: Rose Krane
Assistant Production Supervisor: Josh Reed

McDonald’s Marketing Team
VP Brand & Marketing Content: Joel Yashinksy
Director of Hispanic Consumer Marketing: Patricia Diaz
Manager of Social Engagement- US: Jenina Nunez

Alma Agency
President/Chief Creative Officer: Luis Miguel Messianu
VP Executive Creative Director: Alvar Sunol
Creative Director: Iu La Lueta
Associate Creative Director/Art Director: Beatriz Torres-Marin
Senior Art Director: Luis Aguilera
Art Director: Andres Schiling
Director of Production: Adrian Castagna
Producer: Diana De La Parra
Account Director: Karen Udler
Account Supervisor: Cristina Lage
Senior Strategic Planner: Tamara Sotelo

Sony Music Entertainment US Latin
Senior Director of Business Development: Melissa Exposito
Business Development Analyst: Isabelle Duran
Manager: Jose Behar
Management: Lorena Fusilier
Management: Larissa Leal
Road Manager: Francisco Martinez

Nature Valley Canada shouts “You kids, get off my lawn!” in a curmudgeonly new ad from Cossette that contrasts the childhood memories of three generations of families.

The brand yearns for the good old days of fishin’, fort buildin’, and granola eatin’ in the great outdoors. And it argues that newfangled tablets and video games are just ruinin’ childhoods left and right, leaving parents with tears and fears for the future.

So, are they just engaging in intergenerational hate mongering here, or do they have a legit point? It probably depends on the generation you’re from, and whether you feel like you actually fit the technology stereotypes of that generation.

Boomers who’ve learned to stop worrying and love their tablets will feel just as criticized as millennials or Gen Z members who go hiking every weekend. And stuck in between are the poor parents in this video, shamed in front of Grandpa and Grandma for failing to provide a robust childhood of wilderness adventures for their technology-addicted kids.

Just watch the response this hot topic has generated as all three generations ironically fight it out in the comments section of the YouTube video. (Pro-tip for old people: Shouting down a sassy 14-year-old in the comments section of a brand page with ad hominem attacks does not make you a nature crusader.)

The tagline is, “Rediscover the joys of nature.” So, how is Nature Valley Canada helping people do that? Well, they’ve got a website that tells you where the National Parks are, gives 10 suggestions for what to do in nature, and lets you donate to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada. In other words: nothing, really.

Of course, it’s possible that changing the trajectory of the entire technological revolution is beyond the abilities of a granola company’s Canadian marketing division. Which begs the question: Is it enough for a brand to stand for something, if it doesn’t actually do anything?

It would probably have been easier for the brand to champion nature and donate a ton of money to National Parks cleanup without pissing on technology at the same time. But it wouldn’t have generated nearly as many angry old people shouting, “Back in my day!”

And that truly would have been a tragedy.

McDonald’s won’t just sate your hunger and comfort you when you’re down. It will actually save your aborted love life.

Or so claims a new U.K. ad from Leo Burnett London. The burger chain plays matchmaker, featuring a couple with basically no chemistry on what appears to be a first date. That is, at least, until the end, after they’ve parted ways unceremoniously and slunk off separately to grab a bite at McDonald’s, where … well, you’ll see.

It’s a nice thought for a brand that trades in tasty greasiness and the illusion of happiness. He’s like a British Bradley Cooper. She’s like a British Alison Brie. The tight scenes—a nonsense art gallery, a botched trip to the bowling lanes—contribute to the credible sense of awkwardness. And coincidences that might serve as ice(berg) breakers (sorry) could easily be mistaken for fate (especially because the relatively small menu seems to improve the odds of alignment).

Unfortunately, the ending really is nothing but a deus ex (big) mac-hina (sorry, again). Given their social skills—or lack thereof—running into each other again would probably, in reality, just make the whole situation even worse.

Are they really going to sit together at that point? How long can they talk about french fries and barbecue sauce, when they clearly have nothing else in common? Plus, even if it goes well, they’re probably just replacing heartache with stomachaches. Then they’ll have to say goodbye all over again—and it’s highly doubtful either is carrying a breath mint.

In all seriousness, though, it’s a sweet story, especially if you like that fake strawberry flavor.

It’s been a full century since Coca-Cola approved the Root Glass Company’s contour bottle design that would become the soft drink brand’s trademark. So, to pat themselves on the back, Coke is teaming up with Italian fashion house Trussardi for a limited-edition collection of stylish aluminum cans and glass bottles.

I hadn’t heard of Trussardi before this, mostly because I don’t have $927 to throw at a leather jacket. But they’re a pretty big deal as far as high-end fashion goes, and have Lady Gaga and Katie Holmes wearing their clothes and designer bags and stuff.

The Trussardi cans will officially be introduced to the world at Expo Milan 2015. Maybe soda bottles aren’t the best case to show off haute couture aesthetics, though, because these designs aren’t any more impressive than the specialty street art/graffiti-inspired stuff Coke has put out in the past.

Maybe if they’d used their Hawaiian shirt pants as inspiration, I’d be more impressed.

Via Design Taxi.

Men who drink Heineken are still going on wild romps through the world’s most colorful cities, but now one is leading a gaggle of clueless tourists as well.

In this new ad from Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam, a dapper young man hijacks a tour guide’s authority and takes his charges to see the better, deeper secrets of Paris. Those include, naturally, a masquerade hidden in crypts beneath the city, with guests wearing plague doctor masks.

It’s a familiar formula for the brewer: A gregarious charmer, who could easily be the Most Interesting Man in the World in his prime, dances his way through a retro-hip wonderland, slugging Heinekens along the way. The twist here is perhaps that the hero is a little more gracious—less concerned with his his own appetite for chasing thrills and beautiful women (or, in that one instance, for finding his pet goat) and instead more eager to show the guests of his city a good time, as a sort of random act of benevolence.

The best moment, though, is probably the silliest—when the tour group is waylaid by a gang of mimes. Probably because after a parade of slick feel-good partying, nothing is more refreshing than a bunch of creepy overblown clowns making fools of themselves.

CREDITS
Client: Heineken
Global Brand Director: Gianluca di Tondo
Global Communications Director: Anuraag Trikha
Global Communications Manager: Diana Agudelo Hernandez

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam
Executive Creative Director: Mark Bernath & Eric Quennoy
Creative Director: Thierry Albert & Faustin Claverie
Art Director: Kia Heinnen
Copywriter: Zoe Hawkins
Head of Broadcast Production: Joe Togneri
Broadcast Producer: Elissa Singstock
Planner: Nick Docherty
Group Account Director: Jordi Pont
Account Manager: Amber Martin
Project Manager: Stacey Prudden
Business Affairs: Emilie Douque

Production Company: MJZ
Director: Dante Ariola
Director of Photography: Philippe Le Sourd
Producer: Natalie Hill
Executive Producer: Debbie Turner

Editing Company: Peep Show Post
Editor: Andrea MacArthur

Audio Post: Grand Central Recording Studios
Sound Designer/Mixer: Raja Sehgal

Music: Schmooze
Artist / Title: Feu Chatterton/ J’aime regarder les filles
Music Company: Schmooze

Postproduction: Method Studios New York / Co.3
Flame: Tom McCullough
3D: Rick Walia
Telecine: Stefan Sonnenfeld (Co.3)
Producer: Matthew Engel (Method NY) / Rhubie Jovanov (Co.3)

Silver Man—a dude in a top hat and glasses, every inch of him coated in silver paint—really shines in TBWAChiatDay’s new campaign for Miller Lite.

But he’s just one of many characters, oddball and otherwise, who visit a typical neighborhood bodega to pick up some suds and chat with wise, friendly Fred, the bilingual owner of the store. Other customers include a pair of muscular twins who say the same things at the same time; One Tripper (he doesn’t need help, dammit, toting a mountain of snacks and brewskies out the door); and a karaoke singer whose rendition of “Carry On Wayward Son” doesn’t quite match the sonic impact of the original.

Tagged “As long as you are you, it’s Miller Time,” the campaign includes ads in English and Spanish, targeting millennial and Hispanic audiences at a time when craft brews have eroded the sales of big-name beers. These eight spots have a relaxed, indie-film feel, inspired by the convenience-store settings in movies by Jim Jarmusch and the team of Wayne Wang and Paul Auster.

“The market seems to be rich with plenty of, let’s just say, less subtle beer advertising,” Arts & Sciences director Matt Aselton tells Fast Company, “so it seemed like a nice way of telling personal stories and not jock-rock archetypal stories. It’s like Sesame Street—the people in your neighborhood—except with a light beer.”

In real life, all sorts of people drop in and out of bodegas, so “anything is possible,” says Aselton. This makes the stream of strange customers in the commercials seem plausible, with the low-key and slightly askew humor hitting home every time. (The Silver Man, presumably a street performer, is a highlight, particularly when he’s joined by a glittery sidekick for an impromptu pose-down.)

Through it all, Fred serves as a calm, all-knowing foil, doling out advice and yakking it up with the clientele. Smartly underplayed by Eastbound & Down actor Marco Rodriguez, he keeps the proceedings firmly centered. The silver men may steal the show, but Fred is pure gold, one of the most welcome pitch-characters to hit screens in recent memory.

CREDITS
Client: Miller Lite
Campaign: “Bodega”
Andy England: Chief Marketing Officer
Gannon Jones: VP of Brand Marketing, Miller Family of Brands
Ryan Reis: Senior Director, Miller Family of Brands
Greg Butler: Director, Miller Lite
Jeanne-­ette Boshoff: Senior Marketing Manager, Miller Lite
Julia Watson: Marketing Manager, Miller Lite Multicultural

Agency: TBWAChiatDay LA
Stephen Butler: Chief Creative Officer
Fabio Costa: Executive Creative Director
Mark Peters: Creative Director
Jason Karley: Creative Director
Rick Utzinger: Creative Director
Bob Rayburn: Creative Director
Matthew Woodhams-­Roberts: Creative Director
David Horton: Creative Director
Jeff Dryer: Senior Art Director
Chris Rodriguez: Senior Art Director (Last Minute Gift)
Guy Helm: Senior Copywriter (Last Minute Gift)
Harris Wilkinson: Creative Director (Twins)
John Stobie: Art Director (Twins)
Brian O’Rourke: Director of Production
Anh-­Thu Le: Executive Producer
Stephanie Dziczek: Producer
Jill Nykoliation: Business Lead
Chris Hunter: Group Account Director
Scott McMaster: Group Planning Director
Bryan Reugebrink: Account Director
Alice Pavlisko: Project Manager
Linda Daubson: Director of Business Affairs
Nora Cicuto: Business Affairs Manager
Dorn Reppert: Business Affairs Manager
Dessiah Maxwell: Director, Traffic Operations
Judy Brill: Senior Traffic Operations Manager

Agency: Team Ignition
Erick Rodriguez: Senior Art Director
Raul Mendez: Senior Copywriter
Giovanni Chiappardi: Account Director
Elsa Gonzalez: Account Planner

Production Company: Arts & Sciences
Matt Aselton: Director
Mal Ward: Managing Director/Partner
Marc Marrie: Executive Producer/Managing Partner
Zoe Odlum: Producer
Sal Totino: Director of Photography
David Wilson: Production Designer

Editorial: Spot Welders
Haines Hall: Editor (Advice, Silverman)
Kevin Zimmerman: Editor (One Tripper ENG, Twins, Karaoke)
JC Nunez: Editor (Rivals, One Tripper SPAN)
Oli Hecks: Editor (Last Minute Gift, Present)
Carolina Sanborn: Executive Producer
Evan Cunningham: Producer

VFX: MPC
Karen Anderson: Executive Producer
Abisayo Adejare: Producer
Mark Gethin: Colorist
Mark Holden: VFX Lead
Benji Davidson, Dylan Brown, William Cox, Sandra Ross: VFX

Music Supervision: Good Ear Music Supervision

SFX: Barking Owl
Michael Anastasi: Sound Designer
Kelly Bayett: Creative Director
Whitney Fromholtz: Head of Production

Mix: Lime Studios
Mark Meyuhas: Mixer
Matt Miller: Assistant Mixer
Executive Producer: Jessica Locke