Hasta La Creative!

This week, Helsinki-based hasan & partners opened its first “international” shop in Stockholm–and brought along a team with an extensive agency history to staff it.

About the four founding partners:

• Creative Director Daniel Wall comes from McCann, where he led the “creative SWAT team” known as Surprise Department; he also worked at W+K Amsterdam and Farfar.
• Fellow Creative Director Jakob Swedenborg has a nearly identical resume; he also worked at W+K and McCann along with Sweden’s Lowe Bridnfors.
  
• Peter Laurelli, the new shop’s third CD, most recently worked at GolinHarris after founding his own agency Blond Swedish Amateurs (do NOT try to Google that, BTW) and serving in creative roles at GS&P and 180 Amsterdam
• Leading the office will be managing director Camilla Hahn Fortkord, who most recently directed Coca-Cola and other accounts at McCann Stockholm.

This move follows hasan’s acquisition of digital studio Perfect Fools–a move executives recently discussed during electroshock therapy sessions for our amusement.

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This morning brought big news on the expectorant front for McCann Worldgroup: outsized “health, home and hygiene” consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser–maker of pretty much everything that comes in a package–signed the agency to lead creative on Mucinex and Delsym, two of the industry’s top products for treating coughs.

This move comes as part of a series of announcements following a full review that also led to wins for Droga5 (Air Wick, Clearasil) and Wieden+Kennedy (Finish).

Before choosing McCann, Reckitt’s in-house team handled advertising for Mucinex.

The full employee memo from chairman/CEO Harris Diamond after the jump.

continued…

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McCann Worldgroup Milan created “Fair Play Machines” for Coca-Cola, bringing together rival fans at the San Siro Stadium in Milan.

Internazionale di Milano and A.C. Milan have a fierce rivalry dating back decades, which often leaves neighbors, friends, and even family enemies when the two teams meet. So, as part of Coca-Cola’s ongoing “#ShareTheGood” campaign, in the moments leading up to kickoff at an important Internazionale di Milano versus A.C. Milan match at a very divided San Siro Stadium in Milan, McCann Worldgroup installed two vending machines in the stadium, one on each side of arena. The catch: fans couldn’t get a Coke for themselves, only for fans of the rival team. Pressing a button on one of the machines, connected to the other via video and audio, sent a Coke down a chute and delivered it to a rival fan. In under an hour, both machines were emptied, bringing rival fans closer together and supporting fair play.

“Coca-Cola reminds us that even in the face of seeming differences, happiness can be found through simple moments of human connection,” explains Claudia Navarro, director, integrated marketing communications, central & southern Europe. Check out the video above to see the campaign in action, and stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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Jose Cuervo literally bottles up its history in this campaign from McCann New York.

The effort, which includes a TV spot and smartphone app, centers on intricate dioramas from animation studio Laika House. Finely detailed models capturing key Cuervo moments are placed inside tequila bottles.

We're treated to the volcanic eruption that led to the growth of agave used in making tequila; Mexico's fiery victory at the Battle of Puebla in 1862 (France lost, no surprise there); the brand keeping Americans hammered during Prohibition; the birth of the margarita; and a beach volleyball tournament, included because Cuervo is a pro-series sponsor.

These miniatures are lovingly crafted and provide a novel respite from the usual high-tech commercial effects. Note the facial expressions—Jose looks forceful and assured—and the rich textures of the sea and soil.

When users of the brand's mobile app hover their phones over a bottle of Cuervo Tradicional, a 3-D diorama of the bar where Cuervo helped invent the margarita appears. And after a few shots, who knows what else you'll start seeing?

The ad campaign for the 2014 Cannes Lions festival amusingly celebrates creativity by spoofing the utter lack of it.

In five ads produced by McCann London, well-known ad execs—from Amir Kassaei and Cindy Gallop to Benjamin Palmer and Ted Royer—pose for comically clichéd stock photos. "You'll come back as pumped as a stock photo model," says the headline on each execution.

The ads are even styled like stock photos, with faux watermarks and keyword and credit info. The five executions were "shot in generic office spaces in New York and London with models dressed in bland office attire befitting the stock image style," says McCann.

Max Oppenheim shot the images. "It was a challenge to find just the right visual language to pull off this series," he said. "I was very careful to select neutral locations, styling and wardrobe to capture the generic world of stock. And it helped massively that all the 'models' understood how great the idea was and threw themselves into their performances. They were pumped!"

See all five ads below.

Weight Watchers, a McCann Erickson New York client for the past seven years who spends roughly $150 million on measured media annually, has switched agencies to Wieden+Kennedy, Adweek reports.

According to Adweek, the move came without any agency review. Lesya Lysyi, the Weight Watchers president who took over this past November, worked with W+K as chief marketing officer at Heineken USA. Adweek also wrote that “it’s not immediately clear how this appointment will affect Weight Watchers’ digital agency, Ogilvy & Mather,” noting that Weight Watchers appointed Dan Crowe chief technology officer at the same time Lysyi became president.

The latest in McCann’s line of celebrity-centered work for Weight Watchers, as you may remember, featured Jessica Simpson.

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Universal McCann teamed up with Sony Picures, and DNA directors Marc Webb (The Amazing Spider-Man, 500 Days of Summer) and Rich Lee to create “Amazing Delivery,” a new Spider-Man themed spot for USPS designed as a tie-in promoting the May 2nd release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

The 30-second spot features Spider-Man slinging himself through New York City to deliver a package for a distressed Hollywood director. “Amazing Delivery” follows Spider-Man’s path through the city leading to the package’s delivery to Stan Lee at the premiere of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The cinematic spot’s charming ending really ties everything together, and it’s evident that everyone involved was excited to work with Spider-Man’s creator, a fact corroborated by director Rich Lee, who said, “Everyone wanted Stan Lee to sign their prepro books and get a photo with Spider-Man…it was actually really sweet and fun to see everyone get so excited around those two. You could see the childlike glints in everyone’s eyes. It was awesome.”

Webb and Lee, who have collaborated in the past, based the spot on the idea that, like Spider-Man, USPS is “speedy, efficient, and there when you need it the most,” drawing on this link to expand upon the creative brief and bring the spot to life. “One of the interesting things about both Spidey and the USPS is that they are both iconic, public servants,” said Rich Lee. “They’re for the people, helping them in their own way. So there is a nice synergy there.”

Stay tuned for credits after the jump. continued…

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The Clio Awards announced today that WMcCann Brazil Chairman & McCann Worldgroup, Latin America & Caribbean CCO Washington Olivetto will receive the 2014 Clio Lifetime Achievement Award at the 55th annual awards show on October 1 at Cipriani in New York.

Olivetto is known around the world as an influential figure in the advertising industry, and in Brazil as an important cultural figure. His best known work includes iconic campaigns for Salvation Army, Nestle and Brazilian household staple BomBril, “which boasts the longest-running campaign with the same lead character,” with poster boy Carlos Moreno serving continuously from 1978 to 2004. Olivetto’s W/Brasil merged with McCann Erickson Worldwide’s Brazilian operations to form WMcCann in 2010, with operations based in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. WMcCann currently owns the two most popular campaigns airing in Brazil, for Bradesco, the biggest bank in Brazil, and Brazilian food company Seara. In 20o1, Olivetto won the Clio Awards’ Grand-Prix film award with a TV spot for Época Magazine. In addition to advertising, Olivetto is known in Brazil as a soccer mega-fan and expert, the creator of an ideological movement in the history of Brazilian soccer called “Democracia Corintiana.”

“Washington Olivetto is a name synonymous with innovation in the advertising industry,” explained Nicole Purcell, executive vice president, Clio Awards. “For decades, Washington’s work has been bringing Brazilian creative to the world and the most sophisticated thinking in global advertising to the Brazilian market. Defying contradiction, he’s at once a classic adman and a radical pioneer.”

“I’m exceptionally honored to receive the Clio Lifetime Achievement Award, in no small part on account of distinguished names of those who received the award before me,” said Olivetto. “I hope this award shines a light on the exemplary work being done around Latin America, and particularly in Brazil, which has been a source of inspiration and the greatest, most rewarding challenge I could have asked for.”

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How does the world's oldest tequila maker introduce a brand-spanking-new website? By keeping one foot firmly in the past.

McCann New York has launched a new site for Jose Cuervo that's actually five sites in one. In addition to its new site for 2014, the brand also imagines what the brand website would have looked like in 1795, 1880, 1945 and 1974.

"Fully actualizing the concept in an authentic way required researching the language and design tropes of each chosen year, and then presenting what we needed to say about Cuervo through those stylistic realities," the agency says.

It's a fun idea, and 1945 and 1974 are both particularly groovy. The only downside, in fact, is that the 2014 version feels visually staid by comparison.

Screen shots and credits below.

1795 website:

1880 website:

1945 website:

1974 website:

2014 website:

CREDITS
Client: Cuervo, Proximo Spirits
Client: Elwyn Gladstone
Agency: McCann, New York

Chief Creative Officers: Tom Murphy, Sean Bryan
Group Creative Director: Mat Bisher
Design Director: Brad Blondes
Senior Art Director: Elinor Beltrone
Copywriter: Sarah Lloyd
Designer: Ledi Lalaj

Production
Chief Production Officer: Nathy Aviram
Executive Integrated Producer: Catherine Eve Patterson
Senior Integrated Producers: Geoff Guinta, Jill Toloza
Associate Producer: Lauren Bauder

Production Company: Transistor Studios
Executive Creative Director: Aaron Baumle
Executive Producer: Damon Meena
Head of Production: Jesse Kurnit
Creative Director: Jamie Rockaway
Art Director: Geoff Keough
Developer: Brian Hersey
Designers: Ryan Weibust, Diana Park, Mauricio Leon, Edgardo Moreno, Tesia Jurkiewicz, Chris Murray and Carolyn Frisch

McCann Oslo has just released the follow up to their popular 2012 “Grandpa’s Magic Trick” spot for Wilderoe Airlines, with the new sentimental effort, “Snowball.”

The 55-second spot documents a long-distance relationship in which a woman complains that her boyfriend doesn’t come to visit her often enough. Things seem to be going bad when he says “I thought about visiting you…” The woman seems ready to give up, and indeed hangs up the phone, when her boyfriend offers up a big surprise. Directed by Marius Holst, who was also behind “Grandpa’s Magic Trick,” “Snowball” is a serious attempt to pull at your heart strings that, in the end, lacks the magic of Holst’s previous Wilderoe work. Heartfelt but strained, “Snowball” lacks the seeming effortlessness and natural joy that made the last spot so popular. Stay tuned for credits and “Grandpa’s Magic” after the jump. continued…

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