MDC Partners Acquires Forsman & Bodenfors for ‘Strategic Partnership’ with CP+B

MDC Partners has acquired Swedish agency Forsman & Bodenfors, which will in turn form a “strategic global partnership” with CP+B.

At least we assume that’s the news. The press release does not include the word “acquisition” and mentions nothing about what portion of the agency MDC will own. It does, however, note the newly empowered network’s plan to unleash “an arsenal of extraordinary creative talent” by giving CP+B access to international staffers.

F&B is, of course, best known for the 2013 “Epic Split” campaign for Volvo Trucks starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. This past December Volvo designated Forsman & Bodenfors as its global strategic creative agency, and recent work for the client includes the “Prologue” launch spot for its “Made in Sweden” campaign, arriving ahead of the UEFA Euro 2016 tournament and starring Sweden national team captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Last September, the agency also teamed up with Iggy Pop in a spot for  H&M called “Close the Loop.”

Since its 1986 inception, the agency has grown to a team of 300, led by CEO Erik Sollenberg and chairman Anna Qvennerstedt

“I love Forsman & Bodenfors,” said CP+B chairman Chuck Porter, in a statement. “They only care about great work, and we share so much DNA they’re like our twin who grew up in Sweden. This business always needs re-invention and I think amazing things will come out of this partnership.”

“What we are creating is a fresh, seamless way to tap into the most potent collection of creative talent in the world,” added CP+B global CEO Lori Senecal. “At CP+B we’re building a modern global model that challenges the conventions of legacy agencies.  What ultimately makes us most valuable to global marketers is creating the boldest most inventive ideas that deliver the highest return on creativity, and this partnership amplifies our mission to do that more consistently and brilliantly than ever before.”

Grey Canada Leverages Hours of YouTube Views for Volvo Campaign

autobrakebieber2Grey Canada offers its own unique touch in a new Volvo campaign with nary a Jean-Claude Van Damme appearance in sight.

To help the Swedish automaker roll out its new XC60 line and promote the SUV’s 60-some “feature innovations,” Grey’s Toronto-based office decided to tweak your standard YouTube pre-roll ads we’re used to seeing before every video by replacing them with brief clips touting various XC60 capabilities.

Some more screen shots:

autobrakebieber3

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Get it?!

In “6 Billion Hours”–named for the average amount of time humans spend watching stuff on YouTube over the course of a month–a Grey Canada team of creatives, media people and analysts apparently “worked together 24/7? to develop hundreds of XC60 feature pre-rolls.

They are contextually, albeit loosely, tethered to specific trending YouTube themes: twerking, a Justin Bieber clip complete with “make him stop” comments, various weather-related phenomena (hello, XC60 rain sensor!), et cetera.

Grey Canada’s pre-roll creations do a pretty good job of presenting the best and worst of what YouTube has to offer. They even remind us that some comment sections are worse than others…

Agency: Grey Canada
Chief Creative Officer: Patrick Scissons
Creative Director: James Ansley
Art Director: Rob Trickey
Writer: Dave Barber
Agency Producer: Erica Metcalfe
Account Service: Mariam Saab, Paul Curtin
Production Specialist: Biko Franklin
Technology: John Breton
Media Agency: HAVAS
Media Planning: Mark-Olivier Thibault, Kirk Cavell
Film Production: Sugino Studio
Director: Shin Sugino
DOP: James Gardner
Producers: Andy McLeod, Dan Arki
Editorial: Saints
Editor: Melanie Hider
Colourist: Eric Whipp, Alter Ego
Visual Effects: Topix – Marco Polsinell, Eugene Marchio
Audio House: Apollo Music – Daenen Bramberger, Tom Hutch, Spencer Hall

Dull Pre-Roll Ads Begone Thanks to BETC’s ‘Ad Filter’ for D&AD

If you’re sick and tired of the bland, insipid and often annoying pre-roll ads that are commonplace throughout the web these days, the folks at BETC and D&AD have cooked up something worthwhile in the wake of the latter’s 2015 awards show. The parties involved have unveiled the aptly titled “Ad Filter,” which replaces tired pre-rolls with some of the most memorable ads that happen to be past D&AD winners and will likely make you less inclined to hit skip.

The plug-in works for both Chrome and Firefox and once you hit the on switch, the usual bad pre-rolls get blocked in favor of some of the most classic ads in recent times, including Fallon’s Phil Collins-loving gorilla drummer for Cadbury and the Jean-Claude Van Damme split spot for Volvo. Olivier Apers, executive creative director at BETC Paris, simply states, “We wanted to demonstrate that people don’t hate advertising, they just hate bad advertising.” By trying to inspire a little creativity before people watch their video of choice, we say the ads–all D&AD affiliation aside–were wisely chosen.

Credits:

Advertising Agency: BETC / BETC Digital, France
Chief Creative Officer: Stephane Xiberras
Executive Creative Director: Olivier Apers
Art Director: Alphons Conzen, Jonathan Baudet-Botella
Copywriter: Adrian Skenderovic
Development: Cogit
Motion Design: Raphaël Benhamou

Van Damme Sculpts Ice Bar for VCCP, Coors Light

Jean-Claude Van Damme is back for Coors Light, sculpting an ice bar in the Rocky Mountains with his bare hands in a new UK spot from VCCP.

Following in the footsteps of last year’s “Epic Split” for Volvo, Van Damme is now synonymous with advertising gold, and the VCCP spot capitalizes on his image in a way reminiscent of that ad. The 60-second “Ice Bar” has just about everything you’d expect given Van Damme’s involvement: Van Damme’s signature mullet/ponytail, cheesy 80s synths, ice block breaking (with bare hands, of course) and a tongue-in-cheek sense of intentionally over-the-top humor. It all makes for a pretty fun spot, which makes you wonder why this isn’t running stateside as well. (more…)

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Stun Creative Makes Leap to Feature Films, with Help from Van Damme

Following the massive success (over 69 million view in less than 3 months) of Volvo’s “The Epic Split” ad starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, it was inevitable that the action star would make a comedic comeback. That comeback also marks Stun Creative’s first foray into feature filmmaking, with the comedy Welcome to the Jungle.

Agency co-founders Brad Roth and Mark Feldstein serve as executive producers on Van Damme’s comedic debut, which was directed by Stun Creative’s Rob Meltzer and stars, in additon to Van Damme, Adam Brody, Megan Boone, Kristen Schaal, Rob Huebel and Dennis Haysbert. Given Stun Creative’s track record with TV promos, as well as their 2013 Webby Award winning online series Presidential Clippings, the leap to filmmaking isn’t such a huge surprise.

The above trailer is worth a few chuckles, unsurprisingly mostly coming from Van Damme playing on his own action star persona. Jean-Claude in a comedic role seems so obvious that it’s almost hard to believe no one has given it a pass before, and Welcome to the Jungle should gain a lot of momentum from “The Epic Split.” A quick search for the film brought up a Village Voice review entitled “Welcome to the Jungle is Satanically Bad,” so you may want to wait before shelling out to see this one in theaters — although “satanically bad” doesn’t necessarily equal “not funny” and I’m pretty sure the guys behind the movie weren’t exactly trying to make high art. Welcome to the Jungle is currently slated for a February 7th release, both in theaters and on-demand. If you just can’t get enough Van Damme, stick around for behind-the-scenes footage after the jump. continued…

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Chuck Norris Does His Own Epic Split in This Festively Insane Holiday Video

How do you one-up Jean-Claude Van Damme doing splits atop two Volvo trucks? With Chuck Norris doing splits on two airplane wings, of course.

Hungarian production house Delov Digital created the insane parody clip below to mark the holidays, with Norris and a crew of tactical airborne comrades creating a festive formation in the skies. 

While it might lack the subtlety of our other favorite "Epic Split" parody, the clip definitely gets points for both its star power and its over-the-top embrace of CGI shenanigans. Via Mashable.


    

Cue the Inevitable Spate of Van Damme/Volvo Parodies (Feat. Rob Ford, Bananas)

Since hitting YouTube on Wednesday, Volvo Trucks’ mind-blowing “The Epic Split” featuring action star Jean-Claude Van Damme has been watched 25 million times. With the amazing amount of online buzz its gotten, which is continuing today, it’s possible that the title of “Best Ad of 2013″ is now accounted for.

But, as is the case with any great spot that so quickly finds itself woven into the cultural fabric, the new challenge is the make the best parody spot. Above, we see disgraced yet hilarious Toronto mayor Rob Ford in place of JCVD, looking his wonderful, slightly confused self. While nothing really changes from the original spot, the producers, NY-based Artjail VFX, do a seamless job with Ford’s face. Since its upload on Saturday, it’s already gained 120,000 views.

Next we have a lower production parody, “The Epic Banana Split” from Miami Ad School student , Eszter Kazinczy. Props for the new VO copy, and while the art leaves something to be desired, it is a tasty-looking banana split, don’t you think? We’ll keep our eyes open for more, but send us any that you stumble across.

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Rob Ford Flawlessly Replaces Van Damme in ‘Epic Split’ Parody

Sometimes, the best parodies are the most subtle. Case in point: This truly impressive face dub of disgraced Toronto Mayor Rob Ford onto the body of Jean-Claude Van Damme in his "Epic Split" ad for Volvo Trucks. There's really nothing to it beyond the face switch, but the effect is so perfectly executed by New York-based visual effects shop Artjail, it's plenty satisfying. "We were completely in awe of the Volvo-Van Damme 'Epic Split' spot," Artjail writes in its YouTube summary, "and remain completely in awe of Mayor Ford's epic lifestyle north of the border." Check out Artjail's demo reel after the jump and see some images of how it was done over on Fstoppers. Hat tip to Evan Travers for sending me this one.


    

You Really Need to Watch Van Damme Do the Splits Between Two Volvo Trucks

How do you do create an interesting demonstration of the "stability and precision of Volvo Dynamic Steering"? With the help of Jean-Claude Van Damme and his impossibly flexible legs.

The new video below from Volvo Trucks starts off zoomed in on Van Damme's face, looking calm and collected. As it zooms out you see that he's actually standing with each foot on the side-view mirror of two Volvo Trucks

The trucks, driving in reverse, begin slowly drifting apart, allowing Van Damme to perform one of his signature splits.

With Enya crooning "Only Time" and  the sun setting serenely in the background, Van Damme is looking surprisingly chill for a guy who is potentially facing a shattered pelvis and an insane amount of ice packs should a squirrel find his way into the middle of the road.

His badassery is rivaled only by the ballerina in an earlier Volvo Trucks ad. She slacklines between two speeding trucks and needs to get from one side to the other before a tunnel kills her. (Spoiler alert: she makes it.) It also follows their Running of the Bulls ad and Our President Has Totally Lost His Mind spot.

Despite my body tensing up the entire time watching these ads, I think they're pretty cool and effective, and I like Van Damme in this role way better than the cheesy GoDaddy commercials.