McCann Compares Internet to Escalators for Verizon

McCann, New York has a new campaign for Verizon FiOS, touting the brand’s “Speed Match” — matching download and upload speeds.

To do so, McCann set up an experiment slowing down an up escalator. When riders finally reached the top, a spokeswoman asks, “Shouldn’t up be as fast as down?” and then continues to make the point that the same should true of Internet connection speeds. It’s a pretty obvious visualization of the feature, and may help those who have trouble understanding tech issues appreciate FiOS’ “Speed Match” (even if they still don’t quite understand what they’re talking about). (more…)

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McCann NY, LAIKA Craft Dioramas for Jose Cuervo

McCann New York has a new campaign for Jose Cuervo that takes viewers on a journey through the brand’s history via handcrafted dioramas housed inside, you guessed it, Cuervo bottles. The results are pretty intriguing, and make the dioramas of your grade school past look pretty crappy by comparison. Called “History in a Bottle,” the campaign also includes an augmented reality app, which can be downloaded at CuervoHistoryApp.com. The app allows users to  “hover over a bottle of Tradicional (Silver or Reposado) and bring the campaign to life.” It’s no surprise that the dioramas look so good. McCann commissioned LAIKA/house, the animation studio behind the stellar films Coraline and ParaNorman to handcraft each of the five distinctive dioramas, as well as the other imagery of the campaign. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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Jose Cuervo, McCann NY Want You to ‘Get Stung’

Jose Cuervo is introducing its new Cuervo Cinge — “Cuervo with a cinnamon sting”  – with a new animated spot by McCann NY and Elastic.

Directed by Andy Hall, “Get Stung” is pure eye-candy. The spot is well-animated, with a very appropriate red-tinted effect throughout (because cinnamon, get it?). There’s not a whole lot to the 30-second spot: scorpion walks into a bar, drinks tequila, sets bar on fire. But then there doesn’t have to be. Why the bartender serves tequila to a scorpion is never really explained, but suspension of disbelief, right?

As an introduction to a new product, the spot works well. If you like the idea of cinnamon-flavored tequila, this ad will make you excited to try it. If not, you can still appreciate the artistry that went into animating it. I’m rarely going to have something negative to say about a simple, well animated spot about liquor. I wasn’t crazy about the “Get Stung” tagline at first, but they make it work with the whole “sting of cinnamon” description and it serves its function as a way to help people remember the product.

It’s a departure from McCann’s “Have a Story” opus starring Kiefer Sutherland, and a welcome one. Perhaps the “be more interesting, be different…” approach typified by certain Dos Equis ads is finally on its way out. Hopefully this simple, elegantly animated approach from McCann spreads beyond their other work for Cuervo and starts a new trend in boozey advertising. Credits after the jump. continued…

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