Hasta La Creative!

Commonwealth/McCann Detroit is launching a new campaign for Chevrolet called “The New Us” featuring eight new spots that will run during the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games.

At the heart of the new campaign is the 60 second brand anthem “#TheNew Us,” which will debut tonight during the Opening Ceremonies. The spot “blends real-life events, news clips, and social media to show that even though the world is constantly changing, the things that matter most remain the same.” Most notably, the spot shows a gay wedding ceremony over the narration, “Like the old love, the new love starts with a kiss,” in a well-timed show of support for gay rights (Take that, Putin).

“Perhaps more than any other event, the Winter Games represents the global values that unite us,” explained Tim Mahoney, ?chief marketing officer, Global Chevrolet and Global GM Marketing Operations. “In this context, we saw an opportunity to extend the Find New Roads story by showing how Chevrolet is helping consumers try new things and break new ground.”

For the social media aspect of the campaign, Chevrolet is asking consumers, “What’s #TheNew to you?” (which is kind of awkwardly phrased, no?) and encouraging them to share their own stories.

The other television spots in the campaign highlight how new technologies in select Chevy models improve consumers’ lives. One of these spots, “The New Family” for the Chevy Traverse, contains a refreshing mix of unorthodox families (including multiple gay couples) with the positive message, “While what it means to be a family hasn’t changed, what a family looks like has.” It’s a genuinely nice message, and a great way to show solidarity with American LGBT athletes competing in the games. You can check out “The New Family” below, along with “The New World” for Chevy Cruze and campaign credits after the jump.
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McCann Erickson has launched an integrated social media campaign called Not-So-Super to raise awareness about sex trafficking for the New York State Anti-Trafficking Coalition.

“Sex trafficking is commonly perceived as something that happens far away, in other parts of the world. We are eager to try to change that perception.” said Tom Murphy, co-CCO of McCann New York. Because of this, it’s all too easy for people to dismiss the sex trafficking epidemic as something that doesn’t concern them, but it’s a very real issue much closer to home than many suspect.

McCann’s “Not-So-Super” campaign shines a light on the sex trafficking epidemic happening in New York, elsewhere in this country, and all over the world. “It is the buyers of commercial sex who drive such a high demand that girls as young as 12 are trafficked across state lines to meet it. We need to address the day in and day out demand to bankrupt this so-called business model and put an end to the buying and selling of young girls once and for all,” says Sonia Ossorio, President, National Organization for Women – New York City. So McCann is hoping their campaign can help curb the demand for commercial sex, which spikes around big events like the Super Bowl, that leads to the exploitation of women and children by pimps and sex traffickers.

At the center of the campaign is the “Not-So-Super” website and the above video, a harrowing look at the victims of sex trafficking and the increased demand placed on sex workers during the Super Bowl and other big events (accompanied by an increase in the likeliness of physical abuse at the hands of their clients and pimps/traffickers). It’s hard to watch, especially on the Friday going into Super Bowl weekend, but it’s an important message that needs to be shared and a stark reminder that some dread the impending arrival of the big game. The website also offers a telephone hotline for people who are or may know victims of sexual trafficking, and a variety of other resources. The full campaign will “span film, print, street activities, a website and twitter initiatives.” Hopefully, “Not So Super” can help make a difference for victims of sexual trafficking at one of their most vulnerable times of the year.

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After spending just 18 months as chief marketing officer, North America for McCann, Alex Lubar is quickly moving up the ranks as he’s now assumed the newly created position of global CMO at the Worldgroup. Prior to joining McCann, Lubar spent well over three years at Grey, last serving as SVP/new business. Says McCann CEO/chairman Harris Diamond in a statement, “What makes Alex so effective in business development, in addition to tenacity, is that he relishes the complexity of brand challenges in today’s complex business environment and he knows how to harness resources to create innovative multiplatform solutions.”

Along with Lubar’s promotion, McCann has also brought on fellow Grey alum Chioma Aduba as new business group director in its New York office.

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Barely a month after parting ways with Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Rob Reilly, who last served as partner/worldwide chief creative officer at said agency, has moved over to McCann Worldgroup, where he assumes the role of global creative chairman. Reilly, who spent a decade at CP+B, and now joins an agency that is promoting Linus Karlsson to creative chairman of its Chevy-focused unit, Commonwealth, and Andreas Dahlqvist haCCO of said unit as well as president of the McCann Creative Leadership Council. Karlsson and Dahlqvist had previously served as CCO and deputy CCO, global brands, respectively of McCann Erickson.

In a statement, McCann Worldgroup chairman/CEO Harris Diamond says, “With the addition of Rob and with Linus and Andreas’ new roles—teamed with Luca Lindner (President, McCann Worldgroup) and our other Worldgroup creative leadership that includes Prasoon Joshi, Washington Olivetto, Joyce King Thomas, Monica Moro, Leandro Raposo and John Mescall, as well as the rest of our creative teams around the world—we continue to strengthen our focus on global client leadership and our commitment to delivering McCann’s highest standards of creative excellence.”

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Chances are, this is literally the most gangsta advertising news you’ll read today. Employees at McCann Hong Kong paid tribute to their old office in a video that serves as an homage to  John Woo 1986 crime classic,  A Better Tomorrow.

The building, Sunning Plaza, has been McCann Hong Kong’s home for over thirty years, and its entrance was actually used as a location for Woo’s film. McCann was one of the very first tenants of Sunning Plaza following its construction and their heartfelt tribute makes it seem they will really miss their former home — and that they really know their Hong Kong gangster films. Sunning Plaza is being demolished for redevelopment, much to the dismay of its tenants (McCann and otherwise). McCann Hong Kong has already moved into its new office at Hysan Plaza, where they threw an office warming party last Friday. You can watch the tribute video above, in which McCann Hong Kong employees walk out of the building in much the same manner as characters in A Better Tomorrow, set to music from the film. These guys certainly know how to make an exit.

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After spending the last two years at McCann WorldGroup, specifically serving as head of its global creative unit Craft (formerly known as EXP), Fred Schuster is out at the agency, according to sources familiar with the matter. You might remember Schuster from his time at Ogilvy and CEO of its global creative production unit,  RedWorks. No word yet if there are plans to replace, but we’ll keep you posted.

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Have a tattoo that you regret? Maybe that Alex Rodriguez ink seemed like a good idea at the time. Maybe you thought you’d always love 98 Degrees as much as you did in 1999. But getting a tattoo removed is hard, right?

McCann, Toronto is working on dispelling that conception with their new work for laser removal center Fading Fast. They’ve created an outdoor campaign featuring billboards of tatted-out individuals. The catch? The tattoos can be peeled off to reveal that they are, in fact, coupons for 50% off tattoo laser removal at Fading Fast. McCann’s video for the campaign, featured above, shows people interacting with the posters and gradually removing all the tattoos. Bonus points go to the agency for featuring the music of The Ramones.

The campaign is a clever way of making tattoo removal seem easy, while also giving those who might be interested in removal incentive to go directly to Fading Fast. We suggest Chris Brown avail himself of their services if he’s in Toronto any time soon. Credits after the jump. continued…

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McCann and Lowe have put together a new global integrated campaign for Nestle’s espresso line Nespresso featuring good pals/Oceans Eleven co-stars George Clooney and Matt Damon.

The new spots follow in the footsteps of the eight part, award-winning campaign with George Clooney, who’s been the face of Nespresso–especially outside of the U.S.–since 2006. In this latest effort, “Nespresso: In the Name of Pleasure,” (featured above), Clooney is snubbed by an attractive female, which is supposed to be funny because he’s George Clooney. In the cheesy, not surprising “twist,” the woman tells a crowd “George Clooney’s inside,” causing a stampede.

In the shorter complement to the main Nespresso “Pleasure” ad, Clooney runs into his Hollywood colleague and informs everyone of the latter’s presence, causing a similar stampede. If you like the gimmick, or love the talent enough not to care either way, you’ll fall for it. Otherwise, you may be wondering what the appeal is (like me). Check out the Damon follow-up as well as credits after the jump. continued…

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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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