Uncle Ben's "Teach" (2015) :30 (Canada)

Cute animated spot for Uncle Ben’s with a godo message, too. Kids learn from us how to eat and how to cook. This is a fact I know from experience. So I applaud Uncle Ben’s for continuing its Ben’s Beginner’s campaign, designed to get their kids in the kitchen and start a lifelong habit (and maybe even love) of cooking. The initiative starts at Uncle Ben’s microsite GetKidsCooking.ca, with the help of Logan Guleff, winner of Master Chef Jr.’s second season. In addition to cooking tips, Guleff wants user generated content, i.e. pics of dishes you prepared using specific ingredients. You might even win one of three grand prizes: $10,000.

And that might be what it takes to get kids off their butts and into the kitchen. According to a survey reported in Marketing Mag, Uncle Ben’s parent company Mars, found that 77% of Canadian families eat home-cooked meals, only 12% are letting their kids help prepare the meals.

KFC "Fakation" (2015) :30 (USA)

For the launch of its new product Hotbox, KFC and MRM//McCann Romania have come up with a Fakation: a campaign targeting teens stuck in the big and hot cities, while their friends are in vacations in exotic places. Now everyone can take a vacation) or at least fake one, no matter where they are.

Here is the translation.

Summer.
You go on Facebook and everybody’s on holiday. Every-bo-dy.
Whatever, at KFC you have fun in the city like you’re on holiday.
Go, order, and you’re already wherever you want.
Spain? Take a photo and let’s also go to Greece.
You also caught the sunset.
Another snap in the boat and that’s it.
Perfect.
Now upload it on social media and wait for the envy.
With Holiday flavors from KFC you’re in Spain, Italy and Greece.

Taco Bell "Bacon Club Chalupa" (2015) :30 (USA)

Bacon you can’t eat is bacon you don’t need. Fair enough. Nice song choice. So melodramatic for bacon. I’ll bet this mall smells amazing.

Lean Cuisine "Elizabeth Ryan" (2015) 2:00 (USA)

This is the two minute version of the Lean Cuisine :30 spot featuring Elizabeth Ryan the motorcycle-riding baby-delivering woman extraordinaire who eats Lean Cuisine at work. As a piece of content it’s quite interesting. She keeps the shilling to a minimum although I have never seen a freezer that is solely stocked with one product, so yeah, the b.s. flag went up a bit. Still at least they kept the bite and smile out of it. Just like their packaging it seems like Lean Cuisine has gotten a much-needed update. Nice.

Lean Cuisine "Night Nurse" (2015) :30 (USA)

In addition to rebranding its packaging, Lean Cuisine is also getting personal by introducing us to the women who eat it. In this case, RN Elizabeth Ryan who rides a motorcycle to work and delivers babies on the night shift. I like the fact they aren’t selling this as a usual diet food.

T.G.I. Friday's, Google, Youtube named in suit filed by "Catcalling" video girl

TMZ and NY Post reports that Shoshana Roberts, the woman who was catcalled in a video that got over 40 million views has now filed suit for $500,000. “It’s frustrating when the nonprofit gets donations, and the director gets ad revenue, and I get people wanting to slit my throat.”.

Roberts filed suit against director Rob Bliss and Hollaback! – the anti-street harassment group – for using her likeness to promote their agenda. She’s also named T.G.I. Friday’s who parodied the the catcall vid for one of its ads, as well as Google and Youtube.

Roberts still prominently displays a link to the on her professional website.

McVitie’s – Oaty flying Squirrel – (2015) :30 (UK)

McVitie’s - Oaty flying Squirrel - (2015) :30 (UK)
A tired-looking worker on her morning commute trundles toward the office, when her partner opens a pack of McVitie’s Breakfast Oaty Breaks in the car. Cute the 80s style action music from the TV show Airwolf, and the adorable jet-pack equipped squirrel careering through the air, because nothing is quote as cutely odd as McVitie’s. It’s sweet, you know.

McVitie’s Breakfast will launch the tasty range with a £3 million media spend including TV advertising by Grey London, social media plan with MEC, as well as a PR activity from 3 Monkeys Communications. In addition, new packaging has been introduced to keep the brand fresh and modern; the colourful new packaging will help differentiate the McVitie’s Breakfast range from the rest of the market. The range comprises of McVitie’s Breakfast Oaty Breaks, McVitie’s Breakfast Biscuits and McVitie’s Fruit & Oat Bakes.

Head of Healthier at United Biscuits, Kerry Owens said:The launch of McVitie’s Breakfast advertising campaign marks another momentous occasion for us, with further expansion into the healthier breakfast biscuit market. With 55% of us eating breakfast on the fly, it’s no surprise that the healthier biscuits category is worth £467million, and breakfast biscuits have been driving the growth in this category. We recognise that modern lives are starved for time, but hungry for tasty on-the-go breakfasts, so we’re delighted to introduce the latest additions to our McVitie’s Sweeet family, and hope that it brings an oaty oomph to breakfast-loving folk across the UK.

Gregory Porter "Puttin' on the Ritz" (2015) :40 (UK)

This video for that old time classic song is actually an ad for Ritz Crisp & Thin. How has this idea not been done before? It seems so first thought.

Put On the Ritz

Here are some ads for new Ritz Thin & Crisp. They aren’t as fun as the TV/Music video featuring the song Putin’ on the Ritz, but hey, what are you gonna do?

Lotus Bakeries – Blind Coffee Date – (2015) case study (Spain)

Lotus Bakeries - Blind Coffee Date - (2015) case study (Spain)
Lotus Bakeries created “the first social experiment on which you did not know who you would have a cup of coffee with”, and all you had to do to join in was to book a time when you could have a blind date over a cup of coffee. Lotus Bakeries are convinced, you see, that any coffee enjoyed with their biscuit, is just the beginning of great conversations – and they set out to prove it. SO bloggers and social media e-celebs tried it out and soon so did other people connected to facebook and who knew that free biscuits and coffee would bring people together? Oh, that’s right, Lotus Bakeries knew. I’m not all that impressed with this, but I’m sure the people who participated had fun, it’s one of those ideas that doesn’t look all that great in a case study but might have been fun while you were there.

Ferrero – The White Truth – (2015) #Glasslion shortlist – (UAE)

Ferrero - The White Truth - (2015) #Glasslion shortlist - (UAE)
Grey Mena (Grey Dubai) have been doing impressive work for some time, but this is the first time they made me cry. I’ve lived in Jeddah, I barely made it out of Saudi but that’s a story for some other day. So, I know that the situation shown for women in this video exists. I know how powerful a place to speak freely must be to them. I’m also really surprised that they did all this over facebook – how did that feel safe?

Now, everyone will mention Always “Like a girl” and the Grand Prix winner “Touch the pickle” when speaking of the first Glass Lion, and they’ll talk at length about women working in advertising and how many ECD’s and creatives are women, etc. But the Glass Lion didn’t just deal with gender, it dealt with huge cultural differences. As proven by the winner, from India, where menstrual taboos still exist. The worlds cultural differences really came to a head in this award, which is designed to award work which “implicitly or explicitly address the issues of gender inequality”.

And it breaks my heart that this one, and UN Woman “My Mother’s Name is” from Impact BBDO, aren’t mentioned every time the Glass Lion is written up in western press. This Ferrero work a much more important piece than I can even begin to explain. It’ a really brave piece of work. Well done Grey Dubai. Now pass the kleenex.

ROM – Come home, Romanians – (2015) case study (Romania)

ROM - Come home, Romanians - (2015) case study (Romania)
Romanians have long been in 2st place among Europeans who are working abroad, having left Romania due to lack of trust in their politicians, lack of jobs, or simply to study. Although the numbers are not official, over 4 million Romanians (out of a population of 18 million) are estimated to be studying and working outside the Romanian borders. I can vouch for the fact that yes, there’s lots of Romanians in Sweden right now (not counting the Romanians I know who moved to Sweden in 1980 due to other reasons).

Then at the 2014 presidential elections, one candidate promised to deliver a change: “I want to bring all Romanians back home”, he said. And the massive voting presence of Romanians working abroad proved that they still care about their homeland. So ROM, the most Romanian of all Romanian brands, decided to help people along. In order to deliver jobs to Romanians who were abroad, ROM brand partnered up with recruitment agencies and recruitment announcements have been published in newspapers in the countries where most Romanian are living and working.

Then ROM invited Romanians to go on the dedicated website (http://www.intoarceteromane.ro) and create customized, tear-jerking videos for their relatives working abroad. Every film represented an invitation to get in touch with our job consultants.

With only a non-TV media investment, ROM managed to reach 1 million people during peak season, local media picked-up the story and started to cover the recruitment process with daily news and the CVs started pilling up. The initiative became so popular that the Labor Minister joined the cause. Life is like a bar of chocolates sometimes; pretty sweet.

Atomic Candy – Explore – (2015) :60 (USA)

Atomic Candy - Explore - (2015) :60 (USA)
I don’t know what to say about this, except, have you seen any rejected Skittles ad ideas lately?

This ad is currently running in the Dallas market and MTV/comedy central, Atomic Candy is an old fashioned candy store in Dallas.

Klinsky Sausage – “Kolbasoprovod” (“Sausage Pipeline”) (2015) :45 (Russia)

Klinsky Sausage - “Kolbasoprovod” (“Sausage Pipeline”) (2015) :45 (Russia)
You know those über rich Russian pipeline-builders who live in overblown castles and surround themselves with gold plated furniture? Well, this guy didn’t make his fortune on an oil-pipeline, instead he spent his fortune on an unusual project called “Kolbasoprovod” (“Sausage Pipeline”), a tube that delivers “Klinsky” sausage to Mr. Shickarovski exactly at the time he wants it. wherever he wants it. And they say that money can’t buy you happiness.

A rather funny poke at the gaudy rich, while making sure people remember “taste above all” is this sausage.

California Walnuts – Recess for the Mind – Recess Princess ft. Wallie – (China)

Here’s an interesting way to change consumer behaviour from China. California walnuts brand hand picked popular youtube starlets and assembled a one hit wonder group – the girl band known as the “Recess Princess”. Their hit song is all about walnuts, and how eating nuts increases brain power, thus making you better at studies and judging by the animated hearts and blushing, more attractive to cute girls. Now, it isn’t the first time a pop song has been launched in order to sell product or change behaviour (everyone remembers Dumb Ways To Die), and it’s not the first time K-pop style dancing girl group has been used to get attention, remember BClassic Classical comeback? It is however, quite possibly the silliest song I’ve heard, with lyrics like: “Brain cells, brain cells, jumpstarting quickly. California Walnuts, California Walnuts, everybody come go nuts with me. Get ready for higher test scores, now crack a smile and take your test confidently.” The refrain “kakakakakaka (etc)” is deceptively sticky, please be prepared with another song to play right after you’ve watched this.

Red Robin "One upper" (2015) :30 (USA)

Red Robin has partnered with Paramount Pictures to promote the upcoming film Terminator Genisys. In this spot, four friends try to one up each other to prove who is the biggest Terminator fan.

Statoil Fuel "Real hot dog precision" (2015) 1:25 (Norway)

When Statoil and Fuel (Think the european version of Pilot Gas Stations in the States) launched their new and improve hot dog menu they wanted to pay tribute to their demographic in a very unique way.
So they got a Finnish excavator-operator Juha-Pekka Permäki to make a hot dog for his friend. Using the excavator. Please tell me they sanitized it first.

Alpro – Alpro the movie: A tale of dedication – (2015) 1:20 (UK)

Alpro - Alpro the movie: A tale of dedication - (2015) 1:20 (UK)
If you’re willing to overlook the fact that a copywriter sat down one day and wrote “We’re on a mission to a fun-tastic adventure” outside a children’s book, then this ad by Alpro milk has its charms. Unfortunately, those charms are rather dented by a narrator who insists on treating you, an adult human consumer, like a little kid.

Belgium-based interactive agency Gents:

To create awareness about Alpro’s exciting world of plant-based products, each ingredient is personified by an adorable 3D brand mascot. This trailer-like introduction gives Alpro fans a peek into a world of plant-based wonders and creates an online prequel to the current TV campaign. The Hollywood-esque piece of animation reveals what takes place before the protagonist in the TV commercial wakes up, thereby affording a glimpse into the big Alpro universe where cute little do-gooders like Ally, Coco and Hazel are dedicated to creating the most naturally tasty ingredients.

We get it, we really do – cute, no, supercute little critters inviting us into the whimsical world of Alpro, where our chibi-headed friends don’t just make almond milk, they make magic! But please – lose the annotations next time, cut this down to a :60, and someone check that squirrel’s bag, he’s blatantly stealing from the company.

System U "Transparency" (2015) 1:37 (France)

U is a French supermarket chain. To be as transparent as possible and make a better informed customer, they held a stunt at their Super U store in Thourotte. Customers were able to find out about the values behind their favorite “U” products. They placed a giant 3.6 m mirror made up of LED screens in the store. Using a unique device that pairs augmented reality technology with a system of layering this in HD, customers saw animated images projected of onto the big screen, featuring their shopping carts and the animated images. Far from being just an AR wank, this stunt helped shoppers understand where their food is coming from as well as express the values of U.

BapMart "Michael Got a dog" (2015) :30 (USA)

You can save a lot of money by buying your asian groceries through BapMart.com. What this has to do with Michael getting a new dog, or the little man in the yellow shirt who keeps repeating “BapMart” is beyond me.