Arnold Redefines Black Friday for Santander Bank

While in recent years many retailers have made infamous Black Friday sales into even more of a behemoth by pushing back their opening times so sales start earlier and earlier on Thanksgiving day, others, such as Costco, have gained public respect by bucking the trend. In a new campaign aimed at the most infamous shopping day of the year, Arnold Worldwide came up with a series of Black Friday alternatives for Santander Bank in an attempt to take back the “true meaning” of Thanksgiving (and make Santander look good by association).

In the above, 30-second spot, “Black Bean Soup Friday” for example, we see shots of a family rising early and piling in the car. “On…Black Friday, Tom and his kids will rise before the sun,” the voiceover informs us, “They will beat the crowds” it goes on as the car speeds along. But, in what’s designed to be a surprise, they “…pass the department stores with lines around the block,” and instead go volunteer at a local soup kitchen. “There are many ways to make the day after Thanksgiving meaningful,” the spot concludes, “How will you spend your day?”

This may seem like an unusual move for a financial institution who stands to benefit from a rush of holiday spending, but Santander claims its “family-values focused European roots run deep” and that they have a “commitment to Real Change and challenging traditional perceptions of banking.” So by taking a stab at Black Friday, in a way designed to be heartwarming, Arnold is distancing Santander from other banks, and attempting to make people think that, unlike their competitors, Santander stands for something. Other Black Friday alternatives suggested in the campaign are “Black Top Friday” (spent playing basketball with friends and family) and “Black Belt Friday” (spent watching Kung-Fu flicks). (more…)

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Arnold Launches Olympics Campaign for Carnival with ‘Bobslide Champs’

Carnival announced today that it is “the national cruise line advertiser of NBC’s telecast of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games,” with their new Olympic campaign from Arnold Worldwide.

Arnold’s campaign for Carnival launches today with the 30 second television spot, “Bobslide Champs,” which “will air on NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, NBC Sports Network and USA Network throughout the duration of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games,” and also in select cinemas across the country. The spot features a sports announcer narrating while a group of four children race down a Carnival waterslide as if they are a bobsled team. “That was a run for the ages!” he exclaims as the crew crosses the finish line. “Bobslide Champs” is expected to increase the need for Carnival employees to shout “One at a time on the slide, please!” by at least 500 percent.

The campaign is timed to coincide with “what is known as ‘wave season’ – a key window for generating cruise reservations,” which, luckily for Carnival, also comes during the Olympics this year. In addition to the television campaign, the campaign also includes “a series of contests, videos and posts on the line’s highly trafficked social channels.” Stick around for credits and the extended, 60 second version of “Bobslide Champs” after the jump. continued…

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Delayed Response Brings LeBron McDonald’s Spot Back into Focus

Considering game 7 is tonight, let’s just call this timely. This McDonald’s commercial from Arnold featuring Stephen A. Smith and LeBron James (sort of) isn’t exactly new, but it’s taken on some belated relevance following the headbandless fourth quarter performance from King James in last night’s NBA Finals Game 6. Once you get over the fact that Stephen A. is in a commercial, and the fact that the typical ESPN #embracedebate could be replaced in this case with #embracerecedinghairlines, you’ll see that the “greatest of all time” discussion usually reserved for LeBron vs. Michael Jordan discussions has been morphed, with good spirits, into a battle between chicken nuggets and hamburgers.

In a second local spot, Stephen A. apparently used the hashtag #headbandontootight in relation to LeBron’s fondness for fatty fried chicken and accidentally struck viral marketing gold for Arnold Worldwide. Nevermind that LeBron probably hasn’t had a chicken nugget in 8 years – when the timing is right, the timing is right.

Credits after the jump.

continued…

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