Activision, 72andSunny Bring the House Down with ‘Epic Night Out’

“Epic Night Out,” the splashy new 90-second Call of Duty: Ghosts spot from 72andSunny for Activision, is indeed epic, and easily riffs on the four-guys-who-have-fun-in-danger motif made popular by The Hangover. There are a few celebrity cameos, a crumbling Las Vegas set, and classic music, Sinatra’s “Live Until I Die.” Very epic. But no baby, though. Instead, the four heroes and their dog travel from desert wasteland, to cityscape, to outer space, and then to a frozen tundra. With the music and quick editing, it’s hard to pay attention to anything else.

I’m all for first-person shooters, and I don’t think they are ruining kids. If this spot were for the U.S. Armed Forces, that would be different. But, it’s worth pointing out that guns, explosions, apocalyptic Vegas, Frank Sinatra, and Megan Fox is way past the boiling point of glorying violence for a TV spot. That’s sensory overload for all of the juiced up gamer-guys who are going to sit in the basements and pretend not to pee in empty soda bottles. It’s also brilliant misdirection.  And if not for the Grand Theft Auto V ads, this would be the best video game spot I’ve ever seen. Credits after the jump.

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How Do You Say ‘Green’ in Dolphin?

Humans have a burning desire to verbally communicate with dolphins, especially when it comes to ad folk. First it was Megan Fox, Acer marine biologist, taking a scientific approach to dolphinspeak, and now we have a Dolphin Translator app from Green Works, the eco-friendly arm of Clorox, essentially creating the digital version of the Oxford English/Dolphin Dictionary. Created by Omnicom-owned Critical Mass, the dolphin-themed approach weaves its way into a campaign meant to help consumers avoid getting lost in translation when it comes to environmentally-conscious lifestyles.

As you’ll see on the Green Works website, you can type just about anything (up to 120 characters) into the translator to hear the dolphin version. What you do with the cute, squeaky response is up to you, unless you are already fluent in Flipper. Odds are, the dolphin noises will just sound like, well, dolphin noises: indistinguishable and vaguely babyish. But, if you’ve ever been curious how a dolphin would say tomato, then this is the app for you.

Credits and a behind-the-scenes video after the jump.

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Mother, Acer Introduce Us to Vernon, Assistant to the ‘World’s #1 DJ’

After showing us Kiefer Sutherland/Jack Bauer’s, er, softer side and making a case for Megan Fox as a marine biologist, Mother London and Acer have teamed up again for another fairly amusing web film to promote one of the computer brand’s Ultrabooks. This latest collaboration stars the globe-trotting Dutch progressive house DJ/producer now simply known as Tiesto and his hapless assistant, Vernon, who perhaps resembles a hybrid of Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen.

One would think that Tiesto, who probably earns at least six figures a gig in a million exotic destinations and has been lathered up by the likes of DJ Magazine and Rolling Stone as the “world’s #1 DJ” over the years, would hire someone a bit less befuddled than Vernon to run his affairs. But, as you can see, being adept at using an Acer Aspire P3 Ultrabook can turn even the most awkward of characters into a model-luring, scene-stealing star. We can all dare to dream. Credits after the jump.

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