Hasta La Creative!

It might have gone down as one of the least interesting Twitter hacks of all time, except it was fake. Which makes it … interesting?

Chipotle has admitted to Mashable that the brand was behind a series of what looked like rogue tweets last weekend. On Sunday, @ChipotleTweets began posting odd messages like "Find avocado store in Arvada, Colorado" and, "Hi sweetie, can you please pick up some lime, salt, and onions? twitter." Shortly after, "Joe" from the Chipotle team posted a message that seemed to confirm a hack: "Sorry all. We had a little problem with our account. But everything is back on track now!"

While brand hacks seem to be a dime a dozen these days, this one was apparently invented for publicity. The tweets were meant to obliquely tie into Chipotle's "Adventurito" promotion, a series of 20 puzzles in 20 days celebrating its 20th anniversary. Sunday's puzzle was about the ingredients that go into guacamole. "We thought that people would pay attention, that it would cut through people's attention and make them talk, and it did that," company spokesman Chris Arnold told Mashable on Wednesday.

Earlier this year, MTV and BET (both owned by Viacom) did something similar when they pretended to be victims of hacks similar to those befalling brands like Burger King and Jeep. Some social media and PR pundits are already bemoaning the loss of reliability that a brand can suffer by lying to its fans. But come on. If you're disappointed by the ethical integrity of a burrito-hustling Twitter feed, you have no one but yourself to blame.

twitter

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

Twitter.

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

twitter friends search bar

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

Do I have a tweet?

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

twitter Find avocado store in Arv

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

Hit send too soon!

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

Find avocado store in Arvada, Colorado.

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

Found it!

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

Hi sweetie, can you please pick up some lime, salt, and onions? twitter

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

end twitter

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

Mittens13 password leave

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

please twitter

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

Sorry all. We had a little problem with our account. But everything is back on track now! – Joe

— Chipotle (@ChipotleTweets) July 21, 2013

Disgusting employee antics at fast-food restaurants are getting out of hand. The latest horror story comes from Columbus, Ohio, where two "sandwich artists" have been fired from Subway for behaving in particularly unartistic ways around the food. One reportedly urinated in a bottle and froze it in the company freezer. The other rubbed his genitals on some bread. (Insert $5 footlong joke here.) The Huffington Post's Weird News blog has more, in case you haven't already heard enough. Subway has issued this statement: "This isolated incident is not representative of Subway Sandwich Artists. These actions are not tolerated and the franchisee took immediate action to terminate the two employees involved." Your move, Arby's employee with no sense of boundaries.

Most of the tactical marketing around the royal baby's birth has been a bit undercooked, but this headline from British bakery Warburtons is pretty decent. By WCRS in London.

CREDITS
Client: Warburtons
Agency: WCRS, London
Copywriter: Steve Hawthorne
Art Director: Katy Hopkins
Creative Director: Billy Faithfull
Photographer: George Logan
Client Services: Anna Covell
Media Buying: Mindshare

Coca-Cola's new "Smile Back" out-of-home stunt (scroll down to see it) is cute and nicely done, and everyone everywhere will love it. But let's overthink it for a moment.

Coke is famously skilled at being able to "Open happiness," as its slogan goes, through innovative real-world stunts. These have ranged from overly generous vending machines to splittable cans and personalized bottles. The typical transaction is that Coke gives you something of obvious value—a free drink or a fun, surprising experience—and that thing makes you happy, sometimes infectiously so. That's an honest interaction. This new stunt, though—produced and crowdsourced with Victors & Spoils and MOFILM—is different. As the company explains in the YouTube description:

"Coca-Cola sent our people all over the world, from Jamaica to the United Kingdom to Pakistan and more, to simply smile at strangers—to see who would smile back. As we passed others on the street, on the bus or in the park, we gave a smile, held up smiley face posters or did a silly dance with a grin on our faces, all to prompt a little friendliness in the mundane. When someone smiled back, they received a free Coke or some other fun prize: everything from sunglasses to hats to bicycles."

So, instead of a product, first you get a smile—from someone who, regardless of how awesome they may seem, has been paid to smile at you. (This is sometimes called a Professional Smile, and is clearly of dubious value.) Then, you must respond positively to this pretend display of affection (bribe) to get the reward that you previously got for free. The transaction has changed—it's backwards. You agree to be made happy by something false in order to have the chance to be made happy by something true. (You might get punched in the nose, actually, if you tried this in New York City.)

That distinction may sound like B.S., but you can sense the difference. It's why Coke's security-camera spot was so good—it captured moments that couldn't have been more genuine. And it's why the "Smile Back" video (and the earlier huggable vending machine from Singapore, which had similar problems involving misplaced affection) feels more manufactured. For all the happiness on display here—and yes, not all of it is bogus—the spot lacks the purity of concept that makes the best Coke work sing.

Happiness is infectious, but this stunt might not leave everyone smiling.

StockLogos recently suggested that Wendy's sneakily put the word "mom" in the Wendy character's collar in the chain's new logo—to subliminally associate the brand with motherly cooking and the "safe and loving environment" of home. In short, Wendy's says nope. "We are aware of this and find it interesting," Denny Lynch, the company's svp of communications, tells the Huffington Post. "We can assure you it was unintentional." That's all well and good … but her hair still looks like a grassy knoll, and I could swear those freckles spell out "Paul is dead," more or less, if you look at the logo while jumping up and down and squinting. Her eyes kind of follow you around, too, all menacing and killy. That's it—I'm switching to Burger King.

Here's an airport stunt from Heineken that truly embodies the brand's adventurous spirit. Twice this week, Wieden + Kennedy in New York set up a board at JFK's Terminal 8 and dared travelers to play "Departure Roulette"—changing their destination to a more exotic location with the press of a button. They had to agree to drop their existing travel plans—without knowing the new destination first—and immediately board a flight to the new place.

On Tuesday, a man played the game and ended up going to Cyprus instead of Vienna. (He had been planning a six-week visit with his grandparents, but soon learned he would be headed to Cyprus on a 9:55 p.m. flight. Heineken gave him $2,000 to cover expenses and booked him into a hotel for two nights.) W+K set up the board again on Thursday, and brought cameras along to document the gameplay. The game is inspired by "Dropped," the new Heineken campaign that launched a month ago from W+K Amsterdam in which four men are sent to remote destinations and film their adventures. We should have footage from Thursday's event next week. For now, Heineken should set this up in the Moscow airport. There's a guy there who would welcome any chance to fly to oblivion.

Undeniably stupid, but worth banning? That was the tough call facing Britain's ad watchdog as it dealt with 176 complaints over the spot below, for soft drink Irn-Bru. The plot, such as it is, involves a mom proudly showing off her push-up bra to her son's friends—much to the acute embarrassment of the son, and the slack-jawed awe of the friends. The soft drink is positioned, also stupidly, as an antidote to the embarrassment. Each time the kid takes a swig, he becomes blissfully mellow again despite his dire circumstances.

The Ad Standard Authority's ruling? It cleared the spot on all grounds, saying the interaction between the mom and the friends did not constitute irresponsible behavior. "We considered that the action relied on the mum being confident and attractive, but not consciously or overtly behaving in a sexualized or flirtatious way," the ASA said. "We also considered that the focus of the ads was the son's embarrassment at the effect his mum's appearance was having on his friends. Therefore, and particularly in the context of ads intended to portray a surreal and lighthearted comedic approach, we did not consider that the action or depiction of the female protagonist was sexist or demeaning and concluded that the ads were not in breach of the code."

For its part, Irn-Bru maker AG Barr said it simply wanted the ad, created by The Leith Agency in Edinburgh, to "stay true to the traditionally cheeky and irreverent sense of humor" of its previous ads.

Hey, David Hasselhoff, want to make a cheesy video? That rhetorical question came from East Coast convenience-store chain Cumberland Farms. His answer? Well, what do you think? The Hoff, long past the drunken sad-clown days of eating burgers off the floor, is firmly rooted once again in a self-deprecating happy-jokester period. He worked with Cumberland Farms last summer, and according to reports from the brand's ad agency, Full Contact in Boston, increased the chain's iced-coffee sales by a whopping 147 percent. (Thieves also became quite enamored with the cardboard cutouts of the Hoff placed outside the New England/Florida chain's stores.) This new campaign—more of a goofball Lonely Island-style music video—has the Hoff hang-gliding, skiing with dolphins and vamping on the beach, all while singing (er, "singing") and holding a ginormous Cumberland Farms Farmhouse Blend iced java. The clip already has 150,000 YouTube views and earned the Hoff and the marketer a prime spot on CNN's morning news show. (He called in by "surprise" on Monday. Watch the clip after the jump and see him get New Day's "When You Wish Upon a Star Award" for making somebody's dream come true.) The ad hits all the Hoff's infamous marks, like shots of his bare, preternaturally tanned chest, melodramatic song lyrics, wind-blown hair and knowing winks at the camera. Thirsty yet?

Britain had to wait 77 years—until Sunday's win by Andy Murray—to celebrate another British male singles champion at Wimbledon. So, BBH London should feel fortunate that it had to wait only four years to add the proper ending to its now-famous Wimbledon commercial for Robinsons drinks. The spot, which dreams of the day when a British player would once again win the prestigious London tennis tournament, was originally put together in 2009. Murray made it to the semifinals that year, losing to Andy Roddick. He made it to the semifinals in each of the following two years as well, reaching the final in 2012, only to fall to Roger Federer. This year, finally, he triumphed—over Novak Djokovic. "Worth the wait, wasn't it?" says BBH's newly added voiceover at the end.

I did not. Maybe the trophy will get lucky tonight! RT @jode_d @andy_murray did you go to sleep with the trophy in bed next to you? #AskAndy

— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) July 8, 2013

CREDITS
Client: Britvic Robinsons
Campaign Name: Wimbledon "Imagine"
Original Client: Lesley Davey, Brand Director
Current Client: Helen Gorman, Brand Director

Original Launch: June 1, 2009
Updated Film: July 7, 2013

Original BBH Team:
TV Producer: Ben Davies
Account Director: Sylvia Pelzer?
Account Manager: Corina Cuddihy
Account Planner: Nina Rahmatallah
Engagement Planner: Darius Karbassion
Creative Director: Nick Gill
Creative Team: Daniel Schafer, Copywriter; Szymon Rose, Art Director

Original Production Team:
Production Company: Blink
Director: Benito Montorio
Director of Photography: Antonio Paladino
Postproduction: Phil Oldham @ Absolute Post
Editor, Editing House: Andy Mcgraw @ Cut and Run
Sound: Aaron Reynolds @ Wave

It was only a matter of time. YouTube's gurus of gluttony, the EpicMealTime guys, have partnered with the burger pornographers at Carl's Jr./Hardee's to promote the chain's new Super Bacon Cheeseburger. EpicMealTime host Harley Morenstein, fresh off a stint as AdFreak's guest judge of the world's grossest fast-food abominations, joins costar "Muscles Glasses" (aka Alex Perrault) in a series of TV and Web-only clips from 72andSunny unveiling the new burger. The promotion will also feature placement on EpicMealTime's YouTube channel, and customers can reportedly request an "epic" upgrade that ratchets up the bacon count from six strips to 12. The burger's actually pretty wimpy by EpicMealTime standards, but it's good to see that at least one chain was willing to embrace the show's gleeful gluttony. Check out one spot below and another, plus credits, after the jump.

CREDITS
Client: Carl's Jr./Hardee's
Campaign: "Bacon to the 6th Power"

AGENCY: 72andSunny
Glenn Cole – Chief Creative Officer/Partner
Matt Jarvis – Chief Strategic Officer/Partner
Mick DiMaria – Creative Director
Justin Hooper – Creative Director
Rebecca Ullman – Jr. Writer
Sarah Herron – Designer
Sam Baerwald – Director of Film Production
Molly McFarland – Senior Film Producer
Brooke Horne – Film Producer
Matt Johnson – Group Strategy Director
Josh Hughes – Strategist
Latanya Ware – Business Affairs Manager
Sherri Chambers – Group Brand Director
Alexis Varian – Brand Director
Mandy Hein – Brand Manager
Tim Sekiguchi – Brand Coordinator
Melissa Harris – Sr. Print Producer
Emily Hodkins – Communications Manager

Production Company: Christina Productions
Justin Hooper – Director
Christina Ritzmann- EP
Jenny Lenz- Line Producer

Editorial: NO6
Chan Hatcher- Editor
Crissy DeSimone – EP
Yole Barrera- Producer

Online/VFX: Brickyard VFX
George Fitz – Lead VFX Artist
Diana Young Head of Production – VFX Producer

Telecine: Co3
Mike Pethel – Artist
Matt Moran – Producer

Sound Design/Mix: On Music and Sound
Chris Winston – Sound Design and Mixer

Music:
"The Bacon Song"
As performed by Harley Morenstein of Epic Meal Time
Courtesy of Next Time Productions