Hasta La Creative!

We didn’t run this story last week because we couldn’t verify it, but here it is: 72andSunny has hired Martin Ringqvist, best known as the guy behind the Van Damme “Epic Split” spot, as its newest group creative director.

Ringqvist will begin his new GCD role in January, joining the agency from Sweden’s Forsman & Bodenfors, where he was senior partner and copywriter.

72andSunny wouldn’t tell AdAge which accounts Ringqvist will work on just as they wouldn’t tell us whether last week’s rumors about his hiring were true. But the press release does provide us with a couple of quotes, which we will now dutifully reproduce. From CCO Glenn Cole:

“Martin’s innovative body of work speaks for itself, but his role in helping to shape the famously collaborative culture at Forsman & Bodenfors is just as significant. I’m excited to see how he will evolve what we do and how we do it.”

From Ringqvist himself:

“High pace, demanding clients and a total commitment to the task. Who would say no to that? And when it stood clear to me that the people at 72andSunny were just as amazing as their work, it was a no-brainer.”

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72andSunny has unveiled a new campaign for Sonos’ wireless hi-fi system which playfully imagines what different genres of music would appear as visually.

Taking the notion that Sonos can transform your home literally, the spots each match musical genres with a distinct visual style. So, for example, in the ad set to “Nous Etions Deux” by La Femme, a home is taken over by pop art, starting with spots covering random appliances. In other spots the folk-pop of Sylvan Esso is rendered in claymation, the electronica of Mount Kimbie melts the walls and the croon of Isaac Hayes is paired to (what else?) liquid gold.

Music for the spots was curated by KCRW Music Director Jason Bentley prior to the shoot, informing the pacing, mood and feeling for filming. This approach seems to have payed off, as the music and visuals, created using a combination of practical and CG effects, combine seamlessly, as the sounds seem to transform the space. The homes pictured, “designed to represent people around the world in all kinds of living spaces” are also perfectly matched to the music and chosen form of visualization. Shot over the course of five days in Argentina, everything comes together for a series of ads that imaginatively illustrate the benefits of Sonos’ product and are a lot of fun to watch. (more…)

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72andSunny has a suggestive new ad for Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s to promote the chain’s new Mile High Bacon Thickburger.

The Paris Hilton-free spot, entitled “Propositioning,” begins with Israeli model and actress Bar Paly asking her boyfriend if he wants to join the “mile high club.” When he replies, “Not right now, babe,” she turns to the guy across the aisle, who happily accepts. Then proceeds to hand him a Mile High Bacon Thickburger and they both chow down, accompanied by a voiceover effectively saying “see what we did there?”

The brand has such a history of demanding overtly-sexual advertising that it would be silly to expect them to “grow up” overnight. Still, given the controversial 2012 Kate Upton spot, “Propositioning” feels relatively tame. (more…)

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Longtime 72andSunny creative director Matt Murphy just added a new word to his title: partner.

Murphy, who joined the agency from W+K Portland in 2009, is now officially Partner/Group Creative Director.

In his nearly five years at 72andSunny, Murphy has worked on some of the agency’s biggest accounts and campaigns including Nike, Activision, K-Swiss/Kenny Powers and Google (on which he will continue to lead creative).

The release notes that he will “help lead 72andSunny’s commitment to experimentation with art, technology, and entertainment”. Co-founder/CCO Glenn Cole writes:
“He is constantly experimenting and pushing the creative limits of 72andSunny. His partnership will only allow him to have broader impact, and we look forward to that.”
On a side note, we do like this line from a bio best read with tongue planted as firmly as possible in cheek:
“When Matt is not finding new and interesting ways to work with brands to solve creative problems, he can be found helping his babe of a wife tend to their kale garden and/or dreaming up his next art project.”

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This past October we covered 72andSunny’s exhaustive campaign for Activision’s Call of Duty: Ghosts. Now, 72andSunny is back with a new campaign promoting Call of Duty: Ghosts‘ new downloadable content pack, Onslaught.

72andSunny’s long spot for Onslaught, entitled “CODnapped,” imagines a task force, led by a CODnapper played by Stephen Graham of Boardwalk Empire, sent out to kidnap men from such terrible duties as work, child rearing, and spending time with their significant other, so that they can be brought to a room with comfy chairs and snacks to play Call of Duty. The elaborately imagined scheme runs for over three minutes, before the rest of the spot is devoted to Onslaught gameplay. It’s kind of a clever (although ridiculous and entirely sexist) concept that highlights gamers’ desire to spend time with the new content free of any real-life distractions. And although the spot is quite dragged out, at a 4:51 run length, fans of the franchise have responded. The video was uploaded to YouTube yesterday, and has already racked up almost 400,000 views. By the time of Onslaught‘s January 28th release, it could top the one million mark. Credits after the jump. continued…

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“Epic Night Out,” the splashy new 90-second Call of Duty: Ghosts spot from 72andSunny for Activision, is indeed epic, and easily riffs on the four-guys-who-have-fun-in-danger motif made popular by The Hangover. There are a few celebrity cameos, a crumbling Las Vegas set, and classic music, Sinatra’s “Live Until I Die.” Very epic. But no baby, though. Instead, the four heroes and their dog travel from desert wasteland, to cityscape, to outer space, and then to a frozen tundra. With the music and quick editing, it’s hard to pay attention to anything else.

I’m all for first-person shooters, and I don’t think they are ruining kids. If this spot were for the U.S. Armed Forces, that would be different. But, it’s worth pointing out that guns, explosions, apocalyptic Vegas, Frank Sinatra, and Megan Fox is way past the boiling point of glorying violence for a TV spot. That’s sensory overload for all of the juiced up gamer-guys who are going to sit in the basements and pretend not to pee in empty soda bottles. It’s also brilliant misdirection.  And if not for the Grand Theft Auto V ads, this would be the best video game spot I’ve ever seen. Credits after the jump.

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It used to be that music video premieres from popular artists were a highly anticipated event. You know, back when MTV actually showed music videos, and before songs were streaming the second they were released. Now they’re advertisement fodder, as evidenced by Eminem’s new music video that doubles as a Call of Duty: Ghosts spot. Since August’s Call of Duty: Ghosts’ trailer featured Eminem‘s single “Survival” in the background, Slim Shady’s new single “Survival” features Call of Duty: Ghosts in the background. Tit for tat if you will.

The latest in the partnership between Activision, 72andSunny, and Eminem features projected footage from the game in the background as Eminem does his thing, in a (kind of) new song about surviving adversity. “This is survival of the fittest,” goes the songs’ chorus, doubling as a tag line for the aforementioned game, in which “the fittest” is some acne-scarred high school freshman who spends all his free time playing first person shooters while downing Doritos and energy drinks. There’s obviously some audience overlap between the popular shooter and the hip-hop vet, and this partnership takes advantage of that.

Since the launch of the new Call of Duty game is, arguably, more hotly anticipated than a new Eminem video, you may wonder why the game is featured so much in the background, but whatever the case, this is Eminem’s show. You could argue that he’s using the association with the game to sell his music at least as much as he’s helping to sell the game, so it works out pretty well for all parties involved. It’s really easy to overlook the COD footage unspooling in the background, especially since (if I’m not mistaken) the title of is never mentioned. But then that game’s fanboys will undoubtedly have remembered the song from the Call of Duty: Ghosts trailer, which may be why they’re watching the video in the first place. And anyone who can’t tell what the game in the background is probably isn’t buying the new Call of Duty in the first place.

The mix of violent gaming and explicit rapping should anger a few parents, so this video/spot has that going for it… Credits after the jump.

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Nearly three months after 72andSunny introduced us to “The Replacer”–aka Fargo baddie Peter Stormare–in its campaign for Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops II – Revolution trailer, the agency has brought back the character, now with sidekick JB Smoove in tow, for its Black Ops II – Uprising promo. Jesus, how many entries are in this franchise? Anyhow, the newly formed dynamic duo embarks on several replacing adventures from serving as weatherman to fixing cable, with Stormare being his usual, somewhat menacing self and Smoove giving us the fast-talking delivery that we first came to know and love in Curb Your Enthusiasm. 

We’re not sure what the budget is here, but as the Black Ops franchise expands, so do seem the timeframe and scope of the clips promoting it. But, if you have the patience for it (it is lunchtime on the East Coast, after all), don’t let us stop you from taking in this slightly entertaining, slightly grating clip. Credits after the jump.

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Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr. seems to be in a constant marketing tug-of-war between using half-naked girls to sell their menu and attempting to move away from sexualizing their products entirely. When David & Goliath won the biz at end of 2010/beginning of 2011, the agency starting producing spots for the fast-food chain that seemingly mocked the company’s usual over-the-top, sex sells approach while, simultaneously, not skimping on the bikini-clad models.

It seemed as though everyone was happy, that is until David & Goliath stopped putting sexy girls in the ads altogether. Rumor has it that this angered higher-ups at Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s parent, CKE, who were all like, “Where are the sexy ladies, dudes?” So, in less than a year, D&G lost the business.  72andSunny, which took over on the CKE account almost immediately, has proven their loyalty to the topless-girl-eats-a-sandwich-in-slow-motion style of execution with their ongoing TV spots. However, the above ad, “No Tomorrow,” seems to again be moving away from sexy people in favor of sexy ingredients.

As someone who tries to avoid fast-food UNLESS we’re talking about breakfast, Hardee’s Pork Chop ‘N’ Gravy Biscuits actually look very mouthwatering in this spot. I understand that Hardee’s advertising usually is a bit more conservative than Carl’s Jr.’s, but I wonder if this is the kind of execution that the latter could benefit from as well. As history has shown, a lack of sexy girls is a risky move for any agency working for these brands in particular. However, I hope this works out for 72andSunny, as they are able to do for Hardee’s what McGarryBowen tried (and failed) to do for Burger King. Credits after the jump.
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