CP+B Taps Kevin Hart for Vitamin Water

CP+B tapped Kevin Hart for a new Vitamin Water spot entitled “Make It Big” that, unfortunately, isn’t very funny.

The 60 second spot features Hart examining the alternatives he could have taken in his career path: keeping his day job as a shoe salesman, making friends in all the right places, being someone he isn’t. His message is that success takes hard work and hustle, which requires hydration, so that’s how Vitamin Water factors into all this. Perhaps because this line of reasoning is a bit of a stretch, Hart can be seen taking a sip of Vitamin Water at various points in the spot, such as at a bad performance in front of a tough crowd, or servicing a particularly unreceptive customer as a shoe salesman, and the spot ends with the “Hydrate the Hustle” tagline. All of these scenarios fail to live up to their comedic potential, though, making this one seem like a pretty big missed opportunity. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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Jose Cuervo, McCann NY Want You to ‘Get Stung’

Jose Cuervo is introducing its new Cuervo Cinge — “Cuervo with a cinnamon sting”  – with a new animated spot by McCann NY and Elastic.

Directed by Andy Hall, “Get Stung” is pure eye-candy. The spot is well-animated, with a very appropriate red-tinted effect throughout (because cinnamon, get it?). There’s not a whole lot to the 30-second spot: scorpion walks into a bar, drinks tequila, sets bar on fire. But then there doesn’t have to be. Why the bartender serves tequila to a scorpion is never really explained, but suspension of disbelief, right?

As an introduction to a new product, the spot works well. If you like the idea of cinnamon-flavored tequila, this ad will make you excited to try it. If not, you can still appreciate the artistry that went into animating it. I’m rarely going to have something negative to say about a simple, well animated spot about liquor. I wasn’t crazy about the “Get Stung” tagline at first, but they make it work with the whole “sting of cinnamon” description and it serves its function as a way to help people remember the product.

It’s a departure from McCann’s “Have a Story” opus starring Kiefer Sutherland, and a welcome one. Perhaps the “be more interesting, be different…” approach typified by certain Dos Equis ads is finally on its way out. Hopefully this simple, elegantly animated approach from McCann spreads beyond their other work for Cuervo and starts a new trend in boozey advertising. Credits after the jump. continued…

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