There’s been no dearth of dubious job titles in the recent years, thanks in large part to the tech boom. But outerwear marketer Columbia Sportswear is reaching for new and awesome heights with its tongue-in-cheek “director of toughness” role—and this time around, it’s really making candidates work for the gig.
A new ad from agency North shows potential hires interviewing for the position, largely by taking a surprise, semi-coerced trek up to the top of a mountain, only to suffer the verbal abuse of an HR rep camped out 8,000 feet above sea level. Because if they really are qualified, such trivial exertion and feeble taunts shouldn’t faze them at all.
Portland’s NORTH has hired Eric Samsel as its newest Creative Director. Prior to joining North, Samsel was a copywriter at W+K Portland for more than eight years, working on clients as diverse as Jeep, EA Sports, Coca-Cola and Nike (for which the shop won a Webby).
Samsel started his ad career at Portland’s JohnsonSheen. In his new role, he will handle work on existing campaigns for car-rack brand Yakima, outdoor gear maker Stanley and Anchor Brewing. Managing Director Rebecca Armstrong writes:
“With more than 16 years of experience in outdoor lifestyle brands, Eric’s experience makes him a perfect match for one of our core practices… Plus he is an exceptionally talented writer and a really nice bloke.”
Samsel will report to CCO Mark Ray.
In other agency people news, we can confirm that DigitasLBI VP/Director of Tech Jeff Kean will soon leave the agency for a spot on the roster of Omnicom’s CriticalMass. No word on details regarding his new position.
When John Oliver mercilessly skewers an ad because the taxpayer-funded product it promoted flopped, what's the agency that created the ad to do?
One option would be to ignore it. Another would be to write a lengthy public defense.
Some background: Last year, Portland, Ore., shop North launched a campaign to promote Oregon's healthcare exchange, Cover Oregon. Last week, Cover Oregon shut down its $200 million website after failing to get it working properly. On Sunday, Oliver—in his first HBO show—took the effort to task, using the most twee of North's music-themed ads as the lightning rod. The parody, hilarious and scathing, went so far as to bring in Lisa Loeb to sing about "stupid Oregon idiots," while a set behind her reads "You Fucking Idiots."
Yesterday, North chief creative officer Mark Ray responded in a blog post titled, "Yes, John Oliver, We Are Stupid Fucking Idiots." It's worth reading in full, but among the core arguments are that North had nothing to do with the website, the ad was one of a diverse group, and the campaign was effective in its purpose—raising awareness of the site.
Those are all reasonable, substantive points, and Ray's indignation on the whole is proudly and skillfully communicated, even as it devolves into defensiveness that a good-faith effort was met with such vicious ridicule.
Unfortunately, all of that is sort of besides the point—insofar as the point was for John Oliver to be funny without particular concern for substance or nuance. North's commercial, which leaned into an Oregon stereotype, was simply manna from heaven in that regard—a perfectly packaged device for illustrating the state's ineptitude in delivering a functioning website. Cheap shot or not, the joke connected.
Ray's response, meanwhile, may actually fuel the fire, tying the agency directly to Oliver's routine (which mentioned only the ad, not the creator, though there's certainly been plenty of ink spilled on its provenance). Indeed, it reads like performance art. And while the campaign itself may be a classic case of good advertising helping to kill a bad product, it's a probably rarer case of good advertising helping to make a good TV skit.
As frustrating as the reality of the exchange's failure may be, John Oliver probably couldn't have done his bit half as well without North.
Dans le Nord de Vancouver au Canada, un pont en suspension de 140 mètres de long passe par dessus la rivière Capilano et offre un décor digne des plus grands films d’aventure. Avec près de 800 000 visiteurs à l’année, ce pont a été construit initialement en 1889. Plus d’images dans la suite de l’article.
44th Hill a repensé le design et la décoration de ce bar situé à Londres dans le quartier de Soho à la 52 North Street. Une ambiance cosy et chaleureuse, qui donne envie de prendre le temps de se poser et consommer une boisson chaude. Une création à découvrir dans la suite de l’article.
Corey Arnold est à la fois photographe et pêcheur commercial. Basé en Alaska, ce dernier cultive un amour pour la photographie et chercher à immortaliser l’intensité d’une telle pratique ainsi que des moments plus poétiques. Une sélection est à découvrir dans la suite.
Tor Even Mathisen a pu réaliser ce time-lapse en Arctique afin d’illustrer le morceau “As We Float” du groupe The American Dollar. Avec des images splendides, autour d’une nature incroyable, le vidéo réalisée à l’aide du Canon 5D Mark II est à découvrir dans la suite.
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