Hasta La Creative!

FCB Toronto recently launched a campaign for the 2015 Pan Am Games on behalf of The Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation, centered around a 60-second broadcast spot called “Invade.”

Appropriately enough, the ad imagines Toronto invaded by hordes of athletes, who take to the city to the tune of a cover of the Delphonics “Ready or Not.” It starts innocently enough, with a lone gymnast on a rooftop. But soon a swarm of kayakers is rowing toward the city, followed by equestrian riders storming through neighborhoods, soccer players running through woods and various other groups of athletes. The spot concludes with the message “41 countries, 51 sports,” followed by the tagline “Epic is on.” The spot fits the tagline pretty perfectly, encapsulating the scope of the event in a well-shot, jam-packed 60-seconds that gets more and  more frantic leading up to its conclusion.  (more…)

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We thought we’d round out Monday on a cute note.

Draftfcb Chicago created a new pro-bono campaign for The Shelter Pet Project that lets the animals speak for themselves. Working in partnership with The Ad Council, The Humane Society of the United States, and Maddie’s Fund, Draftfcb’s integrated campaign features TV, outdoor and web PSAs promoting pet adoption. The campaign showcases the adorable and amazing personalities of real dogs and cats adopted from shelters, who practically reach through the screen and invite viewers to play with them. Draftfcb plans to take things a step further later this week with the launch of a new online experience on The Shelter Pet Project’s website allowing visitors “to virtually meet and play with the pets from the PSAs.” You can view the PSA for the friendly feline Stetson above, while dog lovers can meet the energetic Arnie below. Still not enough aww to round out your Monday? Stick around for another feline/canine pair and credits after the jump.

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You may have read about the controversy surrounding Draftcb Chicago’s new Joe Boxer spot for Kmart, “Show Your Joe.” If you actually watch the spot (featured above) and have any sense, you may wonder what all the fuss is about. Kmart, of course, is no stranger to controversial advertising: a recent Kmart spot featured Satan and Genghis Khan, and their “Ship My Pants” spot is still our favorite of the bunch.

“Show Your Joe” opens with a group of tuxedo-wearing men behind a curtain, ringing bells. After a few seconds the curtain is whisked away to reveal the men clad in only boxer shorts from the waist down, and they begin playing “Jingle Bells” by shaking their hips. Presumably the, uh, bells, are tucked away somewhere in those boxers. The men perform the chorus of the song…and that’s it. To be clear: there’s nothing all that risque about the execution — the camera is panned way out and these dudes are in boxers, okay? No junk visible. Repeat: no junk visible.

The holiday effort is a little juvenile perhaps, but offensive? Hardly. The most offensive thing about it may be that it’s not all that funny. Either the cries to arms are coming from those who feel this ad violates the “sanctity of Christmas” (you can see these people riding around in cars with “Put the Christ back in Christmas” bumper stickers and complaining about government handouts), or they are the typically hypocritical complaints that arise from anything remotely provocative associated with male body parts. Overtly sexualizing women in every single women’s underwear ad ever? That’s okay. Suggesting that a group of guys are playing “Jingle Bells” with parts tucked away in their boxers, away from view? Congratulations, you’ve just awakened the seven horses of the apocalypse.

Kmart has reportedly refused to pull the ad, despite a long list of complaints on their Facebook page (although a quick glance at the page while writing this turned up at least as many comments supporting the ad). Good for them. If anything, the controversy will just call more attention to the spot, Kmart and Joe Boxer. Let us know what you think about the so-called controversy surrounding “Show Your Joe” in the comments section. Credits after the jump. continued…

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Well, as those in know are telling us, a few tipsters may have received some mixed signals. Jon Flannery is NOT replacing Draftfcb Chicago CCO Todd Tilford but instead has been promoted from EVP/group creative director to EVP/executive creative director and will still report to the latter exec. Tilford in fact offers a statement with a little reveal, saying, “Jon is an exceptional strategic thinker and creative talent, and he knows how to engineer a collaborative environment where great work happens. We are in the process of turning the Chicago office into an open source creation studio, and Jon will play a critical role in making it happen. The path we are taking is going to be a an exciting one.”

Flannery has been with DFCB Chicago for over four years and was promoted, according to the agency, as a result of his work with clients including Kmart (he led creative on the recent viral hit for the brand, “Ship Your Pants”), Dow Chemical and The Shelter Pet Project. Prior to Draftfcb, the Chicago agency vet spent seven years as a senior creative at Element 79 (which was folded into Omnicom sibling DDB Chicago last fall), where he worked on Gatorade among other clients. Prior to E79, Flannery spent nearly a decade at Leo Burnett.

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