CP+B has just launched the first ever marketing campaign for home automation company WeMo, taking aim at viewer’s sweet sides with a 60-second broadcast spot.
The spot, entitled “The Big Anniversary Rig” tells the story of a couple separated on their first wedding anniversary. To celebrate, the husband sets up an “anniversary rig” using WeMo’s automation, surprising the wife when she gets home with a series of romantic gestures accomplished using WeMo. Depending on your tolerance for sweetness, the spot may or may not be overly saccharine, but it’s a clever way to show WeMo in an emotional context. “The Big Anniversary Rig” debuted online today, prompting viewers to watch three separate “How Dan Did It” videos. It will make its broadcast debut on network television next month. (more…)
CP+B have unveiled the latest in their continuing “You Know You Love It” campaign for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Previous work on the campaign for Kraft’s macaroni and orange goo product has included the funny, on-point “What I Did For Love” and the nostalgia-laden “Go Ninja, Go.”
The two new 30-second spots are more in the vein of the former, although not as funny or effective, relying more on cuteness than humor. In “Pregnant,” a man eats the macaroni and cheese his pregnant wife requested, claiming that they’re “all out.” As you may have guessed, this is not a smart move and the spot ends just before she claws his face off (okay, not really). “Babysitter” is similarly minded, with a babysitter who will pay the price for helping herself to a late night mac and cheese snack. Stick around for credits and “Babysitter” after the jump. continued…
Deutsch L.A. teamed up with production company Moxie Pictures for a new broadcast campaign promoting Taco Bell’s new breakfast menu, coming on the heels of the brand’s digital campaign from Digitas.
Directed by Errol Morris, with editing from Rock Paper Scissors, the spots collect a group of individuals all named Ronald McDonald to share their thoughts on the new Taco Bell breakfast items. The Ronald McDonalds saying they love Taco Bell approach is used across the three spots in the campaign, and necessitates a “These Ronald McDonalds are not affiliated with McDonald’s corporation and were individually selected as paid endorsers of Taco Bell Breakfast, but man, they sure did love it.” disclaimer. That’s pretty much the entire campaign, the Ronald McDonald idea, but it’s a clever one and doesn’t feel especially stretched over the course of the three 30-second spots. It probably doesn’t have all that much more life in it, though, so hopefully it’s just Deutsch’s launch idea. Stick around for the “Waffle Taco” spot and credits after the jump. continued…
Vanilla Ice appears as a grocery store worker stocking shelves and rocking out to his own “Ninja Rap” in a new spot from CP+B promoting Kraft’s ubiquitous macaroni and cheese-like food product, now with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shaped pasta.
The spot plays on the nostalgic humor surrounding Vanilla Ice when a mom starts singing and dancing along with him. Her son is not pleased by this turn of events, and he angrily puts the box of Kraft Mac+Cheese in the cart and walks away as Ice–aka Rob Van Winkle–utters his trademark “Word to your mother” line. CP+B will run with several #WordToYourMother memes over the course of the new campaign, and also plans to reward the brand’s “most fervent Facebook & Twitter fans with Golden Autographs –limited edition boxes of Kraft TMNT Mac & Cheese that were props featured in the commercial and signed by Vanilla Ice himself.” Because Vanilla Ice autographs are still something people want, apparently.
The new campaign is a fun continuation of Kraft’s “You Know You Love It” and a fond reminder of TMNT days gone by for those of us who grew up with the turtles. Now, before Michael Bay ruins the franchise, let’s all take a moment to remember this wonderfully terrible moment in cinematic history:
If you still haven’t had enough of Vanilla Ice (You’ve had over 20 years to have enough of Vanilla Ice, what’s wrong with you?) stick around for a behind the scenes video, along with credits, after the jump. continued…
CP+B’s funny new spot for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese examines the desperate lengths people will go to for a bite of Kraft’s signature macaroni and cheese-like-product.
Set to Marvin Hamlisch’s “What I Did For Love,” the 45 second spot shows individuals engaging in some questionable behavior to get their hands on Kraft Mac & Cheese, ranging from the everyday sneakiness of a grandfather stealing a bite from his grandson while the family says grace, to the potentially unsanitary exploits of a man who desperately destroys his child’s macaroni picture, to the utter illegality of a woman willing to steal a Kraft Macaroni & Cheese truck. Directed by Hank Perlman, “What I Did For Love” is the latest in CP+B’s “You Know You Love It” campaign for Kraft Mac & Cheese, and is a perfect example of what the campaign is capable of. The new spot is a lot more thought through than the “Noodle Reunion” promotion we covered back in October, and while they push the irreverent humor to new heights — for Kraft Mac & Cheese it’s downright edgy — they balance the irreverence with Kraft’s standard wholesomeness to make a fun spot that works for the brand. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…
Last October/November, CP+B helped launch Xbox One with a series ofTV spots designed to show off how with the next-gen system “games and entertainment are no longer separated.” Well, following a series of Playstation 4 ads that positioned that system as the one “For the Players,” CP+B and Xbox One return serve with a new television spot reminding viewers that, oh yeah, “first and foremost, Xbox One is a gaming console.”
The new effort, entitled “Lost,” focuses on the realism of Xbox One’s graphics, imagining them as so realistic that a young man playing Ryse: Son of Romeactually believes he’s sustaining injuries. That, or the dude is just tripping balls, in which case he should probably play something a little less intense. The spot concludes with the somehow familiar sounding tagline, “If it was any more real, it would be real.”
As mentioned, “Lost” does feel like a direct response to the PS4 ads that position it as the system for gamers, which makes a lot of sense for Microsoft. The Redmond, WA giant may have overestimated the appeal of the whole “gaming and entertainment in one” selling point, and now it seems they can’t let Sony claim the “For the Players” crown without a fight. It will be interesting to see how the advertising battles for the two systems play out as both fight to win the next-gen console war. With the systems selling at a pretty close rate, it doesn’t look like things will let up any time soon. and perhaps that’s a good thing. Credits after the jump. continued…
I may be something of a Sony loyalist, but I’ve got to admit CP+B’s new spot “Invitation” makes the Xbox One shine. Even some of Sony’s biggest fanboys might concede it looks a lot better than the recent PS4 spot.
Directed by Hungry Man’s Bryan Buckley, the commercial vet who recently helmed the R&B-inflected DirecTV spot starring the Manning bros (and who earned an Emmy nod for Grey Poupon’s “The Chase,” also from CP+B), “Invitation” features users invited into the world of several different games, and one movie. The spot opens with a giant robot warrior crashing a business meeting and making a “come here” gesture to a man giving a presentation. Then we see soccer player Steven Gerrard inviting a fan down from the stands. Spock invites a girl along for some sci-fi adventures. A sports car parks itself in front of some dude’s car and opens its door for him. (This is the automotive equivalent of “come here” apparently.) A zombie attempts to cajole a student in a library to join him, loses an arm, and then tells him to come along with the other arm.
Emphasizing the immersive nature of the next-gen platform, the spot announces, “This is an invitation to a new generation: where your games and entertainment are no longer separated, but together, in one.” Showing Xbox One users utilizing the system’s voice activation to launch games like Titanfall, Dead Rising 3, and the movie Star Trek: Enter Darkness gives fans an idea of what they can expect on launch day. The spot also shows users making use of the motion sensitive Kinect. You know, the camera that might be spying on you.
Mixing live action with just the right amount of actual gameplay, “Invitation” is slickly produced and should have Xbox fanboys chomping at the bit for the console’s Nov. 22 release date. My biggest problem with the spot is that the one woman featured uses the Xbox One not for gaming, but to watch a movie. Aside from this perpetuation of the gaming industry’s prevailing sexism (which most people won’t even notice), it’s a really solid ad. The whole “invitation” approach works to emphasize both the immersive nature of the system and the all-in-one entertainment value it offers. The $499 starting price, however, is less inviting. Credits after the jump. continued…
Men with comb overs look hapless. Little boys with comb overs look creepy. To see the difference, please watch the latest Jell-O television spot, appropriately titled “Comb Over.”
In the forty-five-second ad built by CP+B, a balding father whose depressing life resembles a deflated balloon schools his son on the importance of the little things, like a cup of Jell-O pudding. In turn, we see some surreal daydream where the son, still about six years old, goes through a day in the father’s life, only now he has a giant cone head and a comb over. If you ever wanted to know what the male offspring of Lord Voldemort and Francis Dolarhyde (Manhunter version, not Red Dragon) would look like, here you go. Is that not the definition of creepy, a little boy who somehow resembles two fictional psychopaths all because of a comb over? Still, the commercial’s surrealist twist manages to make it stand out in an otherwise standard concept. It’s almost sweet, if not for the whole hapless/depressing/pitying reaction that comes along with comb overs.
I’m sitting in Salt Lake City Airport, shocked at the number of people wearing flip flops, and I want nothing more than to be in Myspace’s fun room of young, beautiful artists grabbing at one another amidst fluorescent confetti. Their instruments and skateboards may be breakable but they are not. They smash faces and tangle limbs and fall on the floor, but this video gives us the sense that these fiery singers, models, DJs, and rappers will never flame out.
After Justin Timberlake’s reboot, can the same be said for Myspace (capital S begone)? We weren’t sure the social network could drag itself away from obsolescence, but this spot seems to be doing just that, and with a bang. If Myspace is a room filled with the likes of DIIV, Iggy Azalea, Pharrell Williams, Sky Ferreira and Schoolboy Q, then it is anything but irrelevant. If you don’t know those names, you better learn them. And check out the new Myspace while you’re at it; it seems to be the cool thing to do.
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