This 90-Second Progressive Ad Will Air Just Once, on Tonight’s Thursday Night Football

Progressive Insurance has long been known for Flo, its bubbly spokescharacter. But recently it’s taken a shine to a second campaign, “Parentamorphosis,” and is about to make a unique media buy supporting it. The campaign, from Arnold Worldwide, launched last November with a pair of spots in which ordinary folks start turning into their parents…

Burger King Will Give Free Whoppers to People Dressed as Clowns on Halloween

Burger King is turning Halloween into its own personal holiday–for tricking McDonald’s. Last year’s “Scariest BK” stunt involved dressing up an entire Burger King location in Queens as the ghost of McDonald’s. This Halloween, BK is launching a broader stunt, also taking aim at McDonald’s, called #ScaryClownNight–in which it will welcome people dressed as clowns…

See What’s Hiding in This Video About Putting Your Damn Phone Down

How do you get 18- to 24-year-olds to put their phones down while driving? Maybe not with the supernatural. But who doesn’t love cats and music? For the Department of Transport, London agency AMV BBDO created “Pink Kittens.” Directed by We Are From LA, it feels more like a pop-oriented lifestyle shoot than a public…

Samsung Gets Artists to Doodle All Over Your Photos With the Galaxy Note8’s Stylus

Samsung draws attention to its Galaxy Note8 handset by asking artists and designers to use the phone’s trademark S Pen stylus–made famous in this well-received recent commercial–to embellish photos submitted by consumers. Dubbed “NoteIt,” the campaign, which began on Sunday and runs through tomorrow, is designed to illustrate the Note8’s ability to help users expand…

This Honey Brand Reimagined ‘The Three Bears’ as a Cooking Show With Burly Gay Hosts

Once upon a time, there were three bears who lived in a house deep in the sun-dappled woods. We’re talking about Matt, Joel and Phil. You’ll notice pretty much immediately that they’re not axially bears–well, not in the ursine sense They’re burly, hirsute gay men–slang term: bears–starring in agency BMB’s cheekily unconventional content play for…

Bud Light Preps for a Special Sunday Night as It Tries to Make Ads That Break Into Culture

Bud Light is expressly trying to generate cultural buzz with its new “Famous Among Friends” campaign, and it sees this Sunday as its next big opportunity to do so. The AB InBev brand, and agency Wieden + Kennedy New York, have created two 60-second commercials tailored to two high-profile events that day–the Patriots-Falcons NFL game…

The Makers of the ‘Bite Size Horror’ Ads Tell Us All About Their Wonderfully Spooky Creations

Halloween advertising has been a treat this year, thanks to Fox Digital Studio and Mars candy brands, which teamed up for a wonderfully creepy series of two-minute “Bite Size Horror” films that have been airing on Fox TV networks. The series has included four films– “Floor 9.5” for Skittles, “The Road” for M&Ms, “The Replacement”…

Kansas City’s Mayor Reviewed Scores of Amazon Products in Sneaky Pitch for Company’s HQ2

Sly James, the mayor of Kansas City, Mo., is courting Amazon’s much-coveted second headquarters in a highly tailored medium–the site’s own product reviews section, where he’s been leaving 5-star reviews for scores of items his office recently purchased. Inside those reviews, he’s snuck some talking points for Kansas City itself. “10/10 would recommend this horse…

These 6 Short Films, All Shot on LG’s V30 Phone, Premiered at the New York Film Festival

In Hollywood, when something’s a hit, there’s usually a sequel. Cue LG, which has been following a similar script to showcase the cinematic video features of its new V30 smartphones. Fade in: A few weeks back, LG tapped Game of Thrones cinematographer David Franco to shoot a short movie using only the V30. The resulting…

LeBron James Is Out for Revenge in This Epic Nike Ad Voiced by Idris Elba

LeBron James is ready to get back to work. Actually, he’s been ready since his Cleveland Cavaliers lost the NBA title to the Golden State Warriors in June. Tonight, he’s back on the court. To celebrate the four-time league MVP and three-time champion’s return, Nike Basketball unleashed a 60-second spot from Portland, Ore., creative shop…

These ‘Bite Size’ Horror Films, From Mars Candy Brands, Are the Best Halloween Ads in Years

Viewers watching various Fox networks over the past week have been visited by some strange and chilling advertising just in time for Halloween. For this, they can thank Fox and Mars candy brands, which teamed up to get up-and-coming horror directors to make disturbing short films–which have been running in their entirety during commercial breaks….

British Fashion Brand Jigsaw Bucks Xenophobia With Pro-Immigrant Ads

A British fashion brand is meeting anti-foreign sentiment in that country with a campaign celebrating immigration and diversity. Jigsaw’s new subway ads feature models from a range of ethnic backgrounds wearing the designer’s 2017 fall/winter collection under a simple headline–a heart icon, and the word immigration. That is, an imperative: “Love immigration.” A longer, copy-only…

LA Metro Got Some Crazy Ads From the Maker of Halo Top’s Robot Spot

Mike Diva is going mainstream. The YouTube director, known in part for his insane fake Japanese commercials (including a famous Donald Trump ad spoof made during last year’s election), is getting some plum real ad gigs lately. He got lots of attention for his entertainingly dystopian robot spot for Halo Top ice cream. And now…

Watch Two NFL Players Melt Down While Trying to Eat Paqui’s Hellishly Spicy Chips

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about the NFL that didn’t involve concussions, criminal behavior or angry tweets from the president. In fact, this video of Travis Kelce and Greg Olsen challenging each other to eat one of Paqui’s hellishly spicy Carolina Reaper Madness chips is probably the most positive media coverage we’ve…

Tile’s First Major Ad Campaign Tells the Epic Story of a Beloved Lost Panda

If your beloved anthropomorphic plush panda bear ever goes missing, don’t sweat it. Tile’s got you covered. In “Lost Panda,” a moody two-minute tear-jerker by Deutsch and Smuggler director Mark Molloy, the titular toy, named Ernie, treks far and wide in search of his owner, a little girl who’s bereft without her fuzzy friend. Can…

Axe Made a Product Scent Called Leather + Cookies, and Has a Weird Ad to Match

Way back in the 1970s, a team at Ogilvy came up with the timeless phrase “Two great tastes that taste great together.” That classic bit of copywriting described the irresistible combination of chocolate and peanut butter in Reese’s cups. But it could apply to almost any two seemingly incongruous flavors, smells or other sensations, including…

Jean Paul Gaultier Designed Some 10€ Coins, Including One With the Eiffel Tower in a Corset

Remember the ’90s, when the 50 State Quarters program was enacted and every transaction became an opportunity to exchange the glorious crags of Colorado for a fat Georgia peach? Those years before Pok?mon Go were fun. Anyway, Monnaie de Paris–France’s equivalent of the U.S. Mint–has released a limited-edition series of silver 10EUR pieces (about $11.78),…

This Appliance Brand Squeezed Turkey’s Famously Long Soap Operas Into 6-Second YouTube Ads

Turkish soap operas are a cultural powerhouse … and not just in Turkey. In 10 years, the industry has evolved from gripping local interest to hitting $350 million in exports, and will likely hit the 1 billion mark by 2023. And while adaptations for Western markets are in the works, it’s likely actual Western viewers…

Nike’s Striking Ad With Rex Tso, the Unbeaten Hong Kong Boxer, Isn’t About Winning

Some of our favorite sports ads aren’t so much about winning as gritting your teeth against adversity. Nike has always been especially talented at driving this point home. Renowned Hong Kong boxer Rex Tso appeared in one such ad–ironically just before notching his 22nd win in an Oct. 7 fight. In it, Tso is violently…

This Crazy Ad Replaced Every Black Dot in an Entire Magazine With a Colored Dot

Print advertising isn’t dead. In fact, it’s more insidious than ever! In a rather bonkers stunt, Irish telecom eir replaced all the black dots in the Oct. 6 issue of Daily Mail Magazine with colored dots. And it was every dot–every period, every dot in a colon and semi-colon; every dot above a letter i…