Vanilla Ice Rocks Out in New Kraft Mac n’ Cheese Spot from CP+B

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…

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Paul Ash, Who Made Music Store a Chain, Dies at 84

Mr. Ash and his brother, Jerome, developed the music shop their father founded into a chain of 46 stores nationwide.

    



The ‘Good Day Blimp’ Project Comes to Fruition

Last month, we brought you news of four creatives — Jon Barco, Andy Dao, Bryan Denman, and Michael Lopez — who launched a campaign to make the “Ice Cube’s A Pimp” Goodyear blimp of Ice Cube‘s classic “It Was A Good Day” a reality on National Good Day Day, January 20th, while raising money for the South Central charity A Place Called Home. The campaign went viral, and Goodyear took notice. While they were reluctant to fly that particular message, Goodyear did indeed commemorate January 20th with a “Good Day Blimp,” and even offered the kids of A Place Called Home a ride-along on the blimp.

Tool’s Jason Zada, who you may remember from the award-winning and creepy “Take This Lollipop,” was there to document the process. Ice Cube was on hand, thrilled to help out A Place Called Home, and the Good Day Blimp crowdfunding crew couldn’t have been happier (well, except maybe if Goodyear had run with the original message). If you’ve been following this story at all, it’s well worth the four minutes to see this charitable campaign come to fruition, and to hear Ice Cube‘s thoughts on the matter. Here’s hoping you all have a good day.

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Draftfcb NY Soundtracks Jamaican Bobsled Team

Yesterday we brought news of Draftfcb New York’s case study for the Jamaica Tourist Board. Well, that agency is feelin’ the rhythm and has just released a song for the Jamaican bobsled team, called, appropriately enough, “The Bobsled Song.”

The song was written by Sidney Mills and Jon Notar, “according to the shape and length of the actual race track” at Sochi, in order to act as a soundtrack to Jamaica’s run. What’s more, the song’s lyrics sync up perfectly with the lefts, rights, and straightaways of the course. This is best illustrated in the fun, mostly 8-bit video game style music video above. (Anyone else wish this game was real?) Everybody loves Jamaica’s bobsled team, thanks to Cool Runnings, and now there’s one more reason to watch Jamaica compete at Sochi. This Sunday, head on over to bobsledsong.com, tune in for the first heat at 11:15 AM, and the second heat at 12:45 PM, and play “The Bobsled Song” when Jamaica starts their run. Or follow @VisitJamaicaNow on Twitter for updates on when team Jamaica runs. It’s bobsled time. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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Wall to Wall Carpeting CD Packaging

Les créatifs du studio grec Bent ont réalisé le design de l’album de Wall to Wall Carpeting intitulé « Pilliad Echons », imprimé chez Symbol Ink et édité chez la maison de disques Orilla. Fabriqué en liège, le packaging du CD représente une rivière agitée en adéquation avec le mouvement des ondes sonores de la musique.

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Samsung, Telefonica/Vivo Pay Homage to Brazilian Rocker, Raul Seixas

Samsung and Telefonica/Vivo join forces to show some love for  Raul Seixas, a legend in Brazilian rock circles, by creating the first ever music video for his tune, ““Metamorfose Ambulante.”

The song, which translates as “Walking Metamorphosis,” was composed about 40 years and helped launch Seixas to stardom in his home country. Samsung and Telefonica/Vivo’s music video is a loving homage to Seixas that simultaneously shows “how technology changes people’s lives and how the power of connections can transform human beings.” Seixas’ family “participated in each stage of development” for the project. The large-scale film production was “shot by a team of 75 professionals in Argentina’s Sierra de la Ventana,” an ideal location for the music video’s Stone Age setting.

An app is available in addition to the film, which allows users to upload their photos and transform them into a characterization of Seixas, likely inspired by the hundreds of Seixas impersonators who transform themselves for an annual parade in downtown São Paulo celebrating Seixas’ birthday. The app and music video are both part of a new branded content campaign for Telefonica/Vivo from the agency Africa. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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Vinyl Record by Sculpture

« Plastic Infinite » est un vinyle tout particulier qui a été édité par le duo anglais Sculpture. Une image imprimée sur le vinyle s’anime quand il tourne sur une platine, imitant le zootrope. Tout un mouvement et des motifs prennent vie entre les sillons du vinyle. Une expérience du disque à découvrir dans la suite.

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Universal Music Signs Deal With Label Behind Mumford & Sons

The global distribution agreement with Glassnote, founded by Daniel Glass in 2007, begins on March 1.

    



The Peach Kings – Be Around

Après Salience, le vidéaste américain Paul Trillo a réalisé le clip du groupe The Peach Kings pour leur chanson intitulée « Be Around ». Le vidéaste a fait toute sa réalisation en double exposition, confondant les silhouettes des chanteurs à des paysages de nature, de ville ou encore de mer.

Paul Trillo’s site.

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Seiden Connects to Spotify for ‘Songs to Save a Life to’ CPR Initiative

Seiden has launched a new CPR initiative for New York Presbyterian Hospital called “Songs to Save a Life to.” Inspired by the story of Michael Kiernan (see above) and the frightening statistic that “89 percent of people who experience cardiac arrest at home, at work or in public die because they don’t receive immediate treatment,” the campaign aims to dispel the idea that only trained medical professionals can save lives.

The “Songs to Save a Life to” site teaches you how to perform hands-only CPR, a procedure that can “double or even triple a victim’s chance of survival.” Since the procedure calls for 100 chest compressions per minute and most people have no idea what 100 beats per minute is, Seiden came up with the ingenious idea of creating a Spotify playlist called “Songs to Save a Life to,” comprised entirely of songs that are 100 BPM. Even if you can’t get to the Spotify playlist during an emergency situation, the playlist should still be helpful: just take a minute to peruse the list and pick a song you know by heart to use if you ever need to perform CPR. It just may save somebody’s life someday.

The playlist contains such CPR-appropriate songs as “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees (the classic example of 100BPM used to teach CPR) and Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” — although we have to wonder about the inclusion of Queen’s classic “Another One Bites The Dust.” It’s a great tool for those of us who aren’t EMT trained, although you should keep in mind that if you save someone’s life and the first thing they here when they come to is Hanson’s “MMMBop,” they may wish they (or you) were dead. Stick around for an official 2012 hands-only CPR instructional video after the jump.  continued…

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BBDO Creative Makes Leap to Directing Music Videos

BBDO associate creative director Diego Contreras (formerly of Anomaly) is making the jump to directing music videos with his cinematic video for Kool Head’s “Leon,” which he also wrote.

Contreras matches the late-night neon vibe of Kool Head’s dance-y, 80s synth laden track, while at the same time managing to tell a story over the course of the 5:30 video. To get the distinct visuals for the video, Contreras filmed in New York, utilizing “Lomo anamorphics on the Arri Alexa 4:3.”

The “Leon” video came about as a result of the friendship that developed between Contreras and Jason Nitti (producer/songwriter of Kool Head) while Nitti was an art director at Anomaly. When Nitti sent Contreras a folder of Kool Head tracks, Contreras loved the project so much he asked if he could shoot a video. Nitti told him to pick whichever track he wanted, and Contreras instantly gravitated toward “Leon.” As for the idea behind the music video, Contreras told The Music Bed it developed from “a weird TV spot for Converse [he wrote] about kids waking up in the middle of the night and sleepwalking to a basketball court to play ball. It was about loving something so much that you do it in your sleep. But like 98 percent of our work in advertising, it went into the horrifying black hole of dead ideas. So I brought it back out and used it as a starting point…which quickly evolved into a new story for the video.”

Initially funded via Kickstarter, Diego and producer Will Mahr “pitched in to double the budget” so that they could make the music video they wanted. Check out Contreras’ “Leon” video above, and stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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KWP! Creates Music Video for South Australian Tourism Board

The latest from KWP! sees the agency promoting the Adelaide region of Southern Australia, although it sure looks a lot like the agency and director Jeffrey Darling just created a music video of singer Emma Louise performing the INXS song “Never Tear Us Apart.”

The nearly two minute video, “Breathe” is described as “an ad with the energy of a music video, featuring singer Emma Louise and her astronaut alter ego discovering the city and its nearby regions.” But “Breathe” has more than just “the energy of a music video.” With at least as much camera time devoted to Louise singing and people dancing around as to the city and its landmarks, it really feels like a music video. While the spot is certainly visually impressive, not a surprise from the award-winning Darling, it isn’t until the very end, when “South Australia” flashes on the screen, that there’s any indication of what this is supposed to be selling, or that this is an ad at all and not a music video. That’s pretty bold for a 1:45 spot, and it’s certainly something different from the usual world of tourism advertising. “Breathe” marks the third immersive campaign KWP! has created for the South Australian Tourism commission, following successful campaigns for Kangaroo Island and Barossa. Credits after the jump. continued…

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Tegan and Sara Sing the Latest Oreo Commercial, and It’s Pretty Great

I never thought I'd hear Tegan and Sara in an Oreo commercial, but I also never thought Tegan and Sara would make bouncy dance pop, so everything's up in the air at this point.

The Canadian duo provided a pretty awesome version of the "Wonderfilled" jingle for this "Dare to Wonder" ad from The Martin Agency (it first aired during the Grammys) promoting a series of limited-release Oreo flavors including berry, peanut butter, lemon and mint. Honestly, all those sound really gross, but the jingle is right in line with Tegan and Sara's lyrical sensibilities, and of course they didn't even write them—the ad agency did.

Living in a world where Tegan and Sara play a song they didn't write for the purpose of selling junk food feels a bit strange, but they've said they don't make albums to keep their old fans, so perhaps that same principle has been applied here.


    



Gavin McInnes Explains Why Old Punks Make Good Dads

Gavin McInnessGavin McIness, the Rooster creative director who last November taught us all how to fight a baby, wrote an article explaining ten reasons why old punks make great dads, and it’s pretty convincing.

Among McIness’ arguments are that old punks are used to having roommates who puke on them, don’t mind looking like shit, are never embarrassed, understand insane ideas, and are better able to explain to their kids why drugs are bad: “Pot makes movies funny, but it kills your ambition. One Molly pill makes music better, but you’ll bad-trip when you get older. Adderall is just speed, and we saw what that did to Lemmy. Cocaine won’t kill you, but it will turn you into a paranoid douche. Oh, and don’t pour hard liquor up your ass. It will give you alcohol poisoning.”

McIness also mentions how “slamdancing prepares you for being attacked” by your kids, “skinheads are giant babies,” and the cacophony your children cook up banging on garbage cans and pans doesn’t sound all that different from, say, The Dead Kennedys’ “Government Flu.” He also shares the hilarious and disgusting story of when his infant daughter’s nose kept running so he “sucked out about a pound of snot before spitting it into the sink,” only to find out later that “the Swiss had invented a handy rubber tube” for that purpose. Head on over to Taki’s Magazine for the rest of “10 Reasons Old Punks Make Great Dads.”

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Miami Ad School Student Parodies Ridiculous Bob Dylan Chrysler Ad

Chances are you were watching Sunday night when Bob Dylan actually asked, in a Chrysler ad reaching over 100 million people, “Is there anything more American than America?”

It stands out, amidst stiff competition, as the most ridiculous line uttered during the barrage of Super Bowl advertising. The rest of the spot almost doesn’t even matter, since all people will remember is that one terrible line that begs to be parodied. And now it has been. A not as of yet identified Miami Ad School student created this parody using the footage from the Chrysler spot, dubbed with  their best Dylan impression waxing ridiculous on America. With lines like, “Cuz ‘American’ is America’s adjective, and sometimes it’s a noun for people in America” and “Being an American person? Well, that takes being a person in America” the parody does a good job at pointing out what’s so ridiculous about not just the specific Chrysler ad in question, but a whole genre of overly-patriotic advertising. Now if only we knew who was responsible…

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Bono Tries to Guilt You Into Downloading U2?s New Song

You probably saw the trailer for U2′s new music video, directed by Mark Romanek, for their latest release “Invisible” during the big game last night, but here it is in case you fell asleep during one of the most boring Super Bowl games in recent memory.

“Invisible,” which was produced by Danger Mouse and mixed by Tom Elmhirst, is available for free on iTunes today until 11:59 PM (the track first became available for download last night following the Super Bowl). While normally that would still be too much to pay for a new U2 song, for every download Bank of America will be making a one dollar donation to the Global Fund via RED, Bono‘s organization set up to channel funds to the Global Fund to Fight Aids. This new partnership “sees Bank of America committing $10m to (RED), and has resulted in a $10 million match from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as $1 million each from both SAP and South Africa’s Motsepe Family – bringing the total commitment to $22 million.” So the latest development in the “Well his music really sucks, but at least he does all those nice things for AIDS relief in Africa,” sees Bono attempting to guilt you into downloading U2′s latest snoozefest so that you can make a contribution to RED free of charge. Or you could just go ahead and make a donation, essentially paying a fee to avoid having anything to do with U2′s music. Credits after the jump. continued…

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Music Review: No Malfunctions at Halftime, Just Safe Entertainment

At 28, Bruno Mars was the youngest solo headliner at the Super Bowl, and he put on a show that was like a performance by an extremely gifted cover band.

    



Venture Will Mine Twitter for Music’s Next Big Thing

Twitter and 300, a new company started by Lyor Cohen, one of music’s biggest power brokers, announced a partnership that hopes to analyze users’ posts to identify promising talent.

    



Lorde Takes Out Full-Page Ad in New Zealand to Thank Fans in a Handwritten Letter

Lorde is a humble, homegrown New Zealand star, and she's taken out a full-page ad in the New Zealand Herald to make sure everyone back home knows she hasn't forgotten that.

Ahead of her performance at the Laneway music festival on Wednesday night this week (apparently her only summer show in New Zealand, where it's summer, Yankee suckers), the singer of anti-materialist anthem "Royals" penned a handwritten note for the ad celebrating her performance Sunday night at the Grammy Awards in L.A., not to mention the two awards she picked up there, for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.

"hiya if you're reading this, Joel & I won. HOLY CRAP," reads the letter, referring to her producer Joel Little. "I just wanted to say thank you for the time you've given me over the past 14 months… without your support there's no way I would've ever gotten to stand in the middle of the Staples Center and perform in my school shoes."

It's a classy, charming statement of appreciation that fits nicely with her acceptance speeches, and broader down-to-earth positioning—a nice example of when marketing can perfectly align with honesty. Or at least, with an exceptionally convincing illusion of it.

See the full ad below.


    



The ABC’s of Beyoncé

Pour un projet d’études, l’illustrateur Vivian Loh a conçu un alphabet original et amusant en hommage à l’icône pop qu’incarne Beyoncé. Les lettres de l’alphabet se forment d’elles-mêmes à partir des poses contorsionnistes de Beyoncé dans ses clips. L’alphabet complet est disponible dans la suite.

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