Hasta La Creative!

Japanese schoolchildren have an eyesight problem. Their eyesight has been steadily worsening. The question became how to increase awareness about the importance of good eyesight? ENJIN Inc, came up with a stunt to solve that problem. They created billboards that looked like eye charts with the letter gradually getting smaller at the end. They developed 35 different messages and placed them in and around schools as well as in shops and outdoors. These illegible signs helped raise awareness, and made a strong impression in school children. Simple and effective idea.

John McGinley from Scrubs plays Coach Speedman who is out to mentor lBasketball lottery picks Brandon Ingram (Los Angeles) and Kris Dunn (Minnesota). He’s giving them life tips on how to make first impressions which somehow involves wearing a tutu and singing karaoke.

Don’t think only on the short term. Don’t get filled up with hors d’oeuvres when there’s so much more to snack on. This is the advice John McGinley of Scrubs gives L.A’s lottery pick Brandon Ingram. I’ll be damned if I know what it has to do with Speed Stick.

72andSunny and Seventh Generation got SNL alum (and Bridesmaids, etc) Maya Rudolph to sing about her vagina. And also about tampons. And not having chemical tampons. In her vagina. Because chemical vaginas are a no-no.
“Who needs that shiz in their lady biz? Not me!” she says. Which is the only part I really remember. Because one thing this spot could have used is a backing track. Because without one it seems like production did a warm up take just to get the mic levels, probably while the creatives were having to rewrite a script for the millionth time. A script that wasn’t ever going to get used because Maya Rudolph.
Let’s be honest here: this isn’t a TV spot or a “film.” This is radio masquerading as TV. Because there was absolutely no reason to film Maya Rudolph standing in a kitchen. Also, had it been radio, we would have been spared 40 extra seconds, which would have made this at leasta decent 60. In radio.. But at least the spot had an insight, which is a new thing for 72!

Old Spice explain this abomination with “Sometimes when two commercials love each other very much, they get together and spawn a radioactive garbage fire that spews flaming jellied gasoline everywhere and kills all the grass in your yard.” Meanwhile, we paraphrase Bill Hicks; ‘They’re going for the stoner dollar. That’s a big dollar. A lot of people are feeling that self-medicated bliss man. We’ve done research – huge market. Lots of potential in the market. Impulse buys are off the chart.’

Old Spice, for when you’ve totally given up on being sober ever again. Also, that ketchup squirt on the models face…. What kind of dank weed are you smoking and where can I get sum?

Magic storytelling. Louisa had a crush on a mowhawk wearing member of a boy band. Fast forward years and years later and there she is living in America and boom, she meets the former mohawk guy and after a few years of dating she decides to propose to him. What does this have to do with Dove, you ask? Because sometimes the moments that make us sweat are the most amazing moments of all.

Each of those ice cubes in your drink are just waiting to cause brain freeze and pain in your teeth. Set to frozen breaking icebergs and a voice over that is a chilly as the arctic, this is the most intellectual ad I’ve ever seen for toothpaste meant for sensitive teeth. I kind of love it for that reason alone.

Mandy Harvey was singing when she was four. But she had problems with her hearing. And when she was 21, she lost her hearing all together. She didn’t let the devastation destroy her life. Instead, she taught herself how to sing from the vibration of the notes coming from the instruments around her. She doesn’t sing to the melody, but to the feeling of the notes.
Ironically, when she used to have fear of singing in front of others, now that she’s lost her hearing, the fear has gone, too. Can’t get much more inspiring than Mandy’s story. This is part of Burt’s Bees’ #LoveYourNature campaign.

Thais have the second largest obesity rate in Southeast Asia, due to their diets. They like them some greasy food. But that’s leading to health problems. Because it’s really hard to get them to change their diets, BBDO Bangkok thought, instead of trying to change what they eat, let’s help them change the way they are eating. Together with the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, they invented AbsorbPlate, which is basically a cooling rack-plate combo that separates excess grease before you eat it. Each plate can reduce up to 7 milliliters of grease. Which is about a teaspoon and a half of grease, or 30 extra calories. It’s also easy to wash. Neat idea.

On behalf of Brand New School, it’s our pleasure to share this spot that director Jonathan Notaro and his BNS colleagues have recently created for advertising agency Mother New York as part of its “Love Thy Pits” campaign for Mitchum.

The campaign contributions from BNS include three :30 spots in total, including this latest one entitled “Dawson’s Kid.”

Jonathan and BNS producer Toby Sowers provided this summary of the project’s unique production approach:

Together with director of photography Eric Treml, Jonathan and the BNS team used the ARRI Alexa digital camera system to capture their HD source footage during three days of production on-stage.

“We essentially painted animation on people’s skin, using a fusion of digital and practical techniques,” Jonathan explained. “After exploring different ways of accomplishing the desired effect, we filmed people with real paint on their skin, then we animated artwork using traditional cel animation techniques, where we matched the practical paint used in the live-action shoot. The animation was then composited onto their skin using seamless digital visual effects.”

BNS artists tracked the form of the human body using mocha, then animated what they wanted on the body using cel animation with hand-drawn artwork. They then projected their animation onto the tracked body and composited the work in Nuke to make it feel like actual paint. Final color was handled in Autodesk Flame.

Several high-res stills and much more campaign information are available with the campaign press release, which you can find here: http://bit.ly/PitLove

The spot’s credits follow below. Thanks very much for your interest!