Hasta La Creative!

When Major League Soccer began play in 1996, those of us who lived in New York City had only one team to root for—the New York/New Jersey MetroStars. But despite their odd hybrid name, they were pretty solidly a New Jersey team. They played out at Giants Stadium, and those of us coming from Manhattan would often arrive late to games, as they never scheduled enough buses from Port Authority. Intentional or not, the indifference to fans east of the Hudson was palpable. 

That franchise has since cleaned up its act, and become the formidable New York Red Bulls. They still play in Jersey, though, at the Red Bull Arena in Harrison (which is, admittedly, a lovely stadium). But luckily for New York City fans, there’s been another option over the past two seasons—New York City Football Club, a new MLS franchise that plays its home games at Yankee Stadium. 

NYCFC clinched its first-ever MLS Cup playoff berth this past weekend, and is celebrating with a gritty new spot from Johannes Leonardo, its first-ever brand commercial.

The poetic spot, called “Along These Lines,” is as much a tribute to the city as the team—rallying New Yorkers to get behind their soccer team, using a theme of connection that’s both literal (the subway system connects everyone, and of course stops at Yankee Stadium) and figurative.

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“If you had a button that could reverse time, you’d use it, wouldn’t you?” asks a young man in a blue business suit at the beginning of Johannes Leonardo’s 60-second spot promoting PlayStation Vue, Sony PlayStation’s streaming TV service which was announced in March. A series of other hypothetical questions regarding theoretical technology follow, including a magnetic force field, robotic legs giving you extraordinary strength and a real-life save point. It all leads up to the question, “If you had a TV experience better than you ever imagined just waiting for you inside your PlayStation, you’d use it, wouldn’t you?”

The answer to all the questions, obviously, is “Of course,” as the ad reminds viewers who already own a PlayStation that they already have access to the service, while presenting it as a selling point to those who don’t. It marks Johannes Leonardo’s first work promoting the PlayStation Vue since winning creative duties last fall. The straightforward nature of the ad and its “Start Vueing” tagline show a clear confidence in the service. The spot made its debut yesterday at E3 in Los Angeles, where Sony also announced that it will begin including certain channels unbundled beginning next month.

Credits:

Client: Sony

Agency: Johannes Leonardo
Chief Creative Officers: Jan Jacobs / Leo Premutico
Executive Creative Directors: Tom Martin / Julian Schreiber
Art Director: Verenice Lopez, Jerome Marucci
Copywriter: Devin McGillivary, Steven McElligot
Head of Production: Cedric Gairard
Executive Producer: Sevda Cemo
Producer: Tina Diep
Associate Producer:  Dustin Grant
General Manager: John McCarthy
Account Director: Marc Gellman
Account Supervisor: Adam Rubin
Planning Director: Jennifer Colman
Associate Strategist: David Ceng

Production Company: MJZ
Director: Fredrik Bond
Executive producer: Kate Leahy
Line Producer: Alicia Richards
DOP: Crille Forsberg
1st Assistant Director: Mark Taylor
Production Designer: Petr Kunc

Post Production Company: The Mill, Los Angeles
Exec Producer: Enca Kaul
Producer VFX: Will Lemmon
Producer Color: Antonio Hardy
Shoot Supervisors: David Lawson, Becky Porter
Creative Director: David Lawson
2D Lead Artist: Becky Porter
3D Lead Artist: David Lawson
2D Artists: Andy Dill, Daniel Lang, Anthony Petitti, Narbeh Maridossian, Patrick Munoz, Tara DeMarco, Steve Cokonis, Tim Robbins
3D Artists: Phil Mayer, Majid Esmaeili, Steven Olson, Matt Longwell, Martin Rivera, Mike Di Nocco, Aldrich Torres, Monique Espinoza, Itai Muller
Matte Painting: Andy Wheater
Motion Graphics: Justin Demetrician, Greg Park, Andrew Marks
Colourist: Adam Scott
Art Department Coordinator: Daniel Midgley

Production Company in Prague: Unit & Sofa
Exec Producer: Fady Saleme
Line Producer: Nikola Mohorita

Radio Production Company: Sonic Union
Founder/Engineer: Stephen Rosen
Executive Producer: Justine Cortale
Producer: Melissa Tanzer
Casting Director: Maria Pappalardo

Editing House: Union Editorial
Executive Producer: Caryn MacLean
Senior Producer: Susan Motamed
Editor:  Patrick Ryan
Assistant Editor: Andrew Droga
Cutting Assistant: Melissa Geczy

Music House: Q Department
Composer: Drazen Bosnjak
Producer: Zack Rice
Assistant Producer: Guin Frehling
Mixer: Steve Rosen

Johannes Leonardo explores the meaning of the term “superstar” and celebrates Adidas’ original Superstar shoe from 1969, while trotting out a slew of celebrities, in a new 90-second spot entitled “#OriginalSuperstar.”

Those celebrities aren’t just current and former athletes; NBA player Damian Lillard makes an appearance, along with David Beckham, but so do Pharrell Williams and Rita Ora. It’s a sign of the brand moving away from an athletic-wear image and hyping up its fashion cache. “If you think a superstar is standing on stage, filling up stadiums, and selling out concert halls,” Ora begins at the opening of the spot, and the rest of the 90 seconds follows the same basic formula. Each celebrity begins their own “If you think a superstar…” statement before passing it on to the next, until Pharrell finally concludes, “…then I am not a superstar.”

Over the course of the 90 seconds the repetitive, onanistic approach becomes a little grating. The self-congratulatory statements hint at the question “What is a superstar?” but, ultimately, the ad doesn’t say anything of substance on the (rather facile) subject. This would be a bit more excusable in a quick 30-second spot, but ninety seconds of celebrities musing about nothing in particular begs the question, “Where have we seen that before?”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Estée Lauder has chosen Johannes Leonardo for global creative assignment, including both traditional and digital ads, Adweek reports.

The decision follows a creative review in which Sid Lee was also identified as a finalist, and also included McKinney in initial presentations. While global spending figures were not available, Adweek reported the brand spent around $100 million in media last year in the U.S. alone. Estée Lauder has historically opted for regional campaigns, but looks to create global campaigns going forward. While “Johannes Leonardo referred calls to the New York-based Estée Lauder,” and Estée Lauder refused to comment, Adweek sources “said that the company had told the finalists of its decision.” Johannes Leonardo will not be responsible for global media, which will remain at Omnicom Group’s OMD.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Johannes Leonardo in New York is hiring a new chief executive, Michael Duda, and bolstering its creative team as well.