Ogilvy and NASCAR Go Back to School

NASCAR wants very badly to expand its viewership.

That’s what we took from this ad by Ogilvy New York, which debuted during the Daytona 500 race just over a week ago.

In the campaign, driver Carl Edwards (what do you mean, you’ve never heard of him?!) uses the science of sports cars to stimulate students’ academic curiosity in what looks like his second job as a substitute teacher.

It all ends well: Edwards supplements his meager NASCAR salary by working as a public educator and the kids get ice cream for…well, nothing, really.

As the press release describes it, the NASCAR Acceleration Nation initiative (created in partnership with Scholastic) will “make learning [math and science] fun for kids” while coincidentally turning them into lifetime racing fans.

Of course, if the young lady in question had only known that this year’s Daytona 500 (which effectively serves as opening day for NASCAR) included a four-song set by Kid Rock, she would have aced her physics exam for a chance to go.

 

Credits

Creative:

Chief Creative Officer: Chris Garbutt: CCO, Ogilvy & Mather New York

Group Creative Director: Terry Finley, Senior Partner

Executive Creative Director: Tommy Henvey

Creative Director: Rich Wallace, Senior Partner

 

Production: 

Executive Producer: Patti McConnell, Senior Partner,

Producer: Dave Lambert

Music Production Coordinator: Chris Mazur

Senior Producer: Michael Freeman

 

Account Management/Planning:

Managing Director: Martin Murphy

Management Supervisor: Aditi Reddy

Account Executive: Emily Zale

Group Planning Director: Jennifer Peterson

Planner: Jake Stanley

Business Manager: Meg McGinley

Ogilvy and Gawker Animate for IBM

Today we encountered an interesting extended ad for IBM from Ogilvy New York. Here it is:

The well-designed spot may be most interesting for its context: it appeared on Gawker property Gizmodo last week as part of a “sponsored content” partnership (note the IBM URL). Production is credited to Gawker’s own in-house studio.

The industry does talk a lot about “storytelling,” and this work has a far clearer, more specific narrative than most. We’re also partial to the phrase “bespoke bone-making operation.”

Now, who did what?

(more…)

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San Pellegrino App Lets You Control a Real-Time Robot on the Streets of Sicily

So, San Pellegrino will let folks remotely control robots on the ground and in the air over Italy … but NOT for the purpose of Dalek-like mass destruction? Where's the fun in that? To help bring the sparkling water's "Three Minutes in Italy" promotion to life, Ogilvy & Mather in New York partnered with Deeplocal to create five robots that Facebook users can control romotely to take in the sights of Italy. Four ground-gliding units and one skybot perched on a 40-foot pole allow users to take virtual tours of Taormina, a picturesque village in Sicily. San Pellegrino's Facebook fans can sign up to drive the ground-bots for 180 seconds, viewing the town in real time. The robots are equipped with tablets displaying users' Facebook profile pics, and a translation program allows participants to talk with local residents. Brand ambassadors are on the ground to facilitate engagement, or thwart any attempts to use the robots for evil ends, whichever comes first. Actually, the bots don't look very threatening, especially equipped with umbrellas to protect their components from the sun. (After the jump, watch one robotic romeo chat up an unsuspecting passerby named Christin; That's amore!) The campaign runs through Aug. 17, with virtual tours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern. It's a novel approach, and it seems only fitting that as robots take more of our jobs, they get to replace us on vacation, too. Via PSFK.