With vacationing readers less inclined to read hard news in the summer, French newspapers and magazines have left some of the news behind in favor of far more creative writing.
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All new from McDonald's: the McCloseUp. The chain is taking fast-food porn to new heights with a series of print ads from TBWA Paris that consist entirely of intimately photographed classic menu items (or at least, prop food dressed up as, for example, the ideal Big Mac). We already posted the TV spots from the same campaign, but these print ads are worth looking at in their own right. Mainly because they exclude Golden Arches or other overt branding—and they get away with it. In the on-point words of one commenter, "Lazy, but genius." The images are easily recognizable, and striking enough that, depending on your relationship with the brand, they'll either have you licking your chops or feeling a little queasy. Either way, they make an impression. More images below.
UPDATE: A reader points out that one of the executions features a wrapper with an "M" in the lower right corner. Because apparently, fish filet sandwiches are more generic—and therefore in need of a differentiating logo—than ice-cream sundaes.
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TBWA\Paris places ads within ads in this new McDonald's campaign, with print and billboard elements playing key roles in a series of understated TV commercials.
Branding cues such as the McDonald's name, tagline and Golden Arches are de-emphasized. In fact, they're entirely absent from the print ads and billboards. The goal is to focus on the iconic, instantly recognizable menu items. We get intense close-ups of crispy fries peeking out of familiar red-and-gold packaging, a giant McNugget dunked in tangy sauce and sundaes drizzled with nuts and chocolate.
Director Xavier Mairesse weaves these visuals into a trio of simple but effective TV spots that need no dialog to deliver their message. In "Dentist," a patient repeatedly opens and closes his mouth as he watches McDonald's fries cycle through a billboard outside. "Yoga" shows a group of enthusiasts chanting "Ommmmmm" as they ogle a full-page McNugget newspaper spread. Women who show up for a job "Interview" smear their lipstick by hungrily licking their lips when they spy a McDonald's sundae in a colorful magazine ad. (Integrating the unbranded work into high-profile commercials—and generating media coverage for the overall campaign—should help make the print ads and billboards even more readily identifiable as ads from McDonald's.)
This brand-as-icon strategy is the same basic approach used in Translation's earlier, pleasingly trippy Big Mac campaign. TBWA's humor, however, is more restrained, allowing the work to quietly make its point about the effect McDonald's food can have on consumers, even when that food is present only in the form of ads.
That in itself is a tad trippy and slightly surreal, and it makes a strong though surely unintended statement about the ubiquity and cultural impact of McDonald's advertising. Consider how much of it we see in our lifetimes—all the TV spots, billboards and print ads, the countless online banners and Web videos. Heck, we might see multiple spots during one night of TV or a single sitcom.
Through sheer volume, the chain's existence in the paid-media realm is just as palpable and perhaps even more intense than its presence in the physical world. So, it's fitting that it would craft a campaign in which its own ads are the stars.
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Le studio de graphisme français BMD rend publique sa collection privée de casques au design résolument old school. Entre un style biker américain, un certain chauvinisme et une typographie inspirée des années 1930, le mélange est très réussi. La collection en images dans la suite de l’article.
Authorities reportedly want to know if Apple ordered its wholesalers not to deliver some products on time to retailers.
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In preparation for loosening trade barriers between Europe and the United States, France fears Netflix and other American companies are a threat to its entertainment industry.
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IBM's technology is helping cities get smarter in innumerable ways. Now, its outdoor advertising is doing the same—by making simple little improvements to the landscape. A triad of outdoor ads from Ogilvy France function as a bench, a shelter and a ramp over stairs. Sure, they're small gestures mostly intended to have a wow factor online. But they nicely embody the brand promise, and represent just a starting point—urging passersby and the online audience both to visit people4smartercities.com and submit their own, presumably larger ideas for civic upgrades. More ads, a video and credits below.
CREDITS
Client: IBM
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather France
Chief Creative Officer: Chris Garbutt
Executive Creative Director: Susan Westre
Art Director: Daniel Diego Lincoln
Copywriters: Lauren Elkins, Andrew Mellen
Concept: Daniel Diego Lincoln, Stephane Santana
Photographer: Bruno Bicalho Carvalhaes
Agency Supervisors: Muriel Benitah, Mary McFarland
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One of the better Playboy ads of recent years was last year's "Elevator" spot from DDB Paris and directors The Perlorian Brothers. Here are two more ads done in the same style. The earlier spot sold shower gel for men; these are for Playboy's VIP fragrances for men and women. Playboy is at its best when it's not taking itself too seriously. That's (mostly) true here, plus there's the added bonus of a nice structure that keeps things lively. Credits below.
CREDITS
Client: Playboy Fragrances
Advertising Agency: DDB, Paris
Executive Creative Director: Alexandre Hervé
Copywriter: Alexis Benoit
Art Director: Paul Kreitmann
Production Company: Les Télécréateurs
Director: The Perlorian Brothers
Account Director: Xavier Mendiola
Planner: Fabien Leroux
Sound: THE
Client Team Director: Jurgen Scharfenstein
Agency Producers: Emilie Talpaert, Sophie Megrous
Account Team: Julie Garguillo, Timothee Desruelles
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A government adviser has suggested that manufacturers pay a 1 percent levy on the price of the devices to finance French movies, music and books.
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What if being bad could do some good? That's the question asked by Come4.org, which describes itself as "the first user-generated, nonprofit pornography site devoted to funding charitable and ethically driven projects." The site is being unveiled with help from the Paris office of TBWA agency Being, which crafted an explicit 90-second short film, "The Lover," introducing Come4's first charitable initiative—helping to fund the Asta Philpot Foundation, which is committed to raising public awareness about the sexual rights of disabled people. (Philpot, an American living in Britain, advocates the right to an active sexual life for people with disabilities, even if it means paying for sex.) Check out the NSFW Web film below, followed by more from Come4.org about its philosophy and goals.
This film is NSFW due to nudity.
From Come4.org:
"Sex" is the top word searched on the Internet. With nearly billions of yearly revenues, the sex industry is one of the greatest markets online. Unfortunately, it is also one of the less ethical and transparent ones. Many people consuming free adult contents think that the only risk they may run into is that of being discovered by others. This idea, however, is plainly wrong, for the current model of consuming online sexual contents has many other negative implications.
The prevailing model is finalized to business, and thus it systematically aims at subjugating our sexual imagination to marketing standards. As a result, instead of reflecting the natural plurality of human sexuality, much of today's online sexual contents foster a one-dimensional perspective which is often fake, violent, macho-centered, and in many cases barely legal. We believe that we, as a self-aware community, can do better than this, and that time has come to rethink critically the relationship of online pornography and society.
With Come4 we aim to ignite a new sexual revolution, one that has at its core people instead of money, respect for diversity instead of uniformity, and solidarity instead of selfishness. Our goal is to devolve at least 1 percent of the total revenue of the online sex industry to support ethical causes aimed at defending and promoting sexual rights. Provided no one is harmed and that everything is legal, is there any reason why these revenues cannot be used for better ends?
CREDITS
Client: Come4.org
Spot: "The Lover"
Agency: Being, Paris
Creative Directors: Alasdhair MacGregor, Thierry Buriez
Art Director: Julien Chiapolini
Copywriter: Riccardo Fregoso
Head of TV: Maxime Boiron
Director: Jeppe Ronde
Executive Producer: Jean Ozannat
Production Company: Henry de Czar, Bacon
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Already low in opinion polls, President François Hollande was seen as less than inspiring as he answered questions about France’s ailing economy.
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.
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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.
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Natalie Nougayrède, 46, was chosen Friday as the first woman to serve as both director and editor of Le Monde, France’s most prominent newspaper, and its Web site.
Romain Tardy (AntiVJ) a réalisé cette superbe installation de VJing sur la façade du Musée d’Archeologie de Toulouse en France. Inspiré par le terme latin « Paganus » en faisant référence aux traditions polythéistes ou indigènes, cette superbe création aux formes et symboles énigmatiques est à découvrir en vidéo.
À l’occasion des 40 ans de WWF France, Marcel et Publicis Argentine ont conçu une campagne imaginant la création d’une nouvelle ligne de vêtements et d’accessoires en fourrure d’animaux imaginaires appelée Wonder World Fur, dont la collection est mise en vente. Des clichés très réussis réalisés par Mark Seliger.
Découverte de Christopher Jenner qui nous propose sa vision d’avenir de l’Eurostar, reliant Paris à Londres. Avec un design splendide, ce projet à la fois simple et futuriste permet de donner une âme et une identité à ce train joignant 2 des plus grandes capitales du monde. Plus d’images dans la suite.
Alphabetical Order a réalisé avec Les Télécréateurs la nouvelle charte de publicité pour la chaîne TV France 5, afin de valoriser le « savoir et l’expérience ». Un rendu magnifique de courtes vidéos pour encadrer les publicités fortes, le tout basées autour du mouvement. Découvrez toutes les identités dans la suite.
Focus sur les exploits du français Pierre Chauffour qui nous dévoile dans une vidéo sa première expérience d’équilibriste au Cirque de Sordidon, dans le Verdon. Des images splendides et impressionnantes au-dessus du vide, à découvrir dans la suite de l’article.
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Didier Lafond nous propose de découvrir des images inédites de speed-riding. Illustrant des experts de la discipline dévalant le Mont Blanc, dont Antoine Montant malheureusement décédé l’année dernière, cette vidéo est un bel hommage à ces sportifs de l’extrême.
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