Americans love sports, but not all sports get the love and attention they deserve. USA Curling, for instance, does not get the attention it needs to thrive on the big stage. Now, with a push from Cheetos, curling has a chance to capture imaginations and become part of the conversation in living rooms from coast […]
PyeongChang, South Korea. The winter games open next month just 60 miles from North Korea amid threats of nuclear war. It wouldn’t be this way if moms ran the world. Moms have too much to lose. This moving Olympics sponsorship work is from Wieden+Kennedy/Portland. W+K tapped director Alma Har’el to direct the ad. Har’el is […]
One possible answer is the National Football League.
Professional pigskin may be the United States’ most popular sport by a mile (or at least 100 yards), but it has never made a paid appearance in the Olympic Games … until now.
The NFL debuted its first Olympics ad in the opening days of this year’s games with “One Team,” created by Grey New York. The work was developed in collaboration with the NFL, the U.S. Olympic Committee and some dedicated groundskeepers.
Brad Paisley and Rachel Platten are on your side, performing expanded versions of Nationwide’s iconic jingle in the insurance company’s new spots from Ogilvy & Mather.
Launched during NBC’s Olympics coverage, the work presents “Songs for All Your Sides,” striving to tell “the whole story of what Nationwide is and how we can support our members through their life stages,” says client CMO Terrance Williams.
Both Paisley and Platten contribute to the lyrics in their respective spots, touching on issues like banking services and retirement plans. First up, country star Paisley works the frets, waxing poetic about man caves and RVs (which, let’s face it, wouldn’t seem out of place in most country songs):
Nike athletes do such great things, even voiceover artists are surprised.
The athletic wear brand’s “Unlimited” campaign, which launched last week with this baby-themed spot, really kicks into high gear today with “Unlimited You”—a long-form spot running as a 2:30 online and as a :60 on NBC’s coverage of tonight’s Opening Ceremonies of the Rio Olympics.
The spot, created by Wieden + Kennedy Portland and directed by The Daniels (aka, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), has fun in particular with the voiceover, by actor Oscar Isaac. After talking up the potential of everyday athletes, in a playfully freewheeling way, for the first 60 seconds, Isaac tries to wrap up the spot—but the athletes have other ideas.
When it comes to sports, girls are often discouraged from continuing to play because of their gender. That’s a message that’s not worth listening to, says this new Olympic-themed spot from Procter & Gamble’s Always.
Ad agencies will eventually tire of fake documentary videos, we promise—but not before Optus has a chance to reveal that, yes, Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe’s Thorpedo Pool Cleaning ad was a joke.
Canada’s climate includes harsh terrain and gnarly winters—which is why its athletes are so hardcore, says a new ad for the nation’s Olympics team.
The Canadian Olympic Committee and agency Cossette created the campaign, titled “Ice in Our Veins,” for this year’s Summer Games in Brazil. The :60 centerpiece commercial immediately draws a distinction between the frozen landscape onscreen, and Rio de Janeiro, the famous beach town where the 2016 competition will be held in August.
“Sport Doesn’t Care” is the platform behind 72andSunny’s and Worldwide Paralympic Sponsor Samsung’s new campaign, showing that no matter who you are, your excuse doesn’t matter in the world of athletics.
The 90 second spot from 72andSunny Amsterdam, dubbed “What’s Your Problem? Sport Doesn’t Care,” features paralympic athletes Jessica Gallagher (alpine skiing), Seung-Hwan Jung (ice sledge hockey), Katarzyna Rogowiec (cross country skiing and biathlon), Anna Schaffelhuber (alpine skiing), Evan Strong (snowboard cross), and Greg Westlake (ice sledge hockey). These paralympians share their problems, such as “I am not a morning person,” “It’s so cold,” “Side wind. I don’t like it.” I hate the rain,” and “I’m too tired” and other problems any athlete might face, followed by the “Sport Doesn’t Care” message.
“Conversations around the Paralympic Games tend to focus on disability over athleticism,” explains Younghee Lee, EVP/global marketing, IT & mobile at Samsung Electronics. “As a brand with a passion for sport, Samsung aims to make the dialogue more empowering, focusing on the courage and performance of athletes and encouraging participation.”
Australian alpine skiier Jessica Gallagher expressed excitement at being involved in the campaign. “I think that Samsung’s commitment to the Paralympic movement is incredibly important. It calls much-needed attention to the fact that we as Paralympians are really not different from our Olympic Games counterparts — we work just as hard and want to win just as much,” she said. “I ski the same as any Olympian, I just use adaptive equipment to help negate my vision loss. Whether you’re a top athlete or a young child just starting out, sport doesn’t discriminate.”
The spot follows on the heels of a kickoff manifesto spot which launched February 20th, with a third spot in the series set for release on March 7th. Stick around for the manifesto spot after the jump. continued…
A l’occasion de la fin des Jeux Olympiques d’hiver de 2014 à Sochi, le New York Times a voulu mettre en avant des performances d’athlètes en proposant un montage des sauts et trajectoires image par image. Un rendu qui permet de comprendre la complexité des prouesses techniques exécutées à découvrir dans la suite.
With the 2014 Sochi Olympics slowly making their way toward their conclusion, we thought we’d share an Olympic campaign you might not have seen yet. Radley launched “Be A Weekender” for Hilton with four mini-documentaries honoring American Olympic athletes for Hilton’s Honors program.
The four videos were designed to “provide an energizing look at the forever-on-the-move lifestyles of Olympic hopefuls,” exemplified by “Weekend By Ashley,” the 2:16 video starring U.S. skater Ashley Wagner featured above. In the video, Wagner talks about her crazy, always on the move lifestyle in which she sometimes forgets what country’s hotel room she is in, growing up at the ice rink, and all the trips to warm places she’d like to take. Other athletes featured in the series include speed skater Patrick Meek, hockey player Meghan Agosto-Marciano and Paralympic ski racer Alana Nichols.
Creating these documentaries was no easy feat, as finding the extra time to film with athletes whose days typically begin with training at 3 A.M. is a big challenge. As Radley CCO/Director Kurt Spenser explains, “Fitting into the lives of Olympic hopefuls in the middle of an Olympic year is not an easy task. Detailed planning with the Hilton team allowed us to stay on schedule for the athletes and to be spontaneous when opportunities presented themselves. We did not want to interrupt their training or their travel, so we had to tailor our production as much as we could while still staying on budget and on time. It was a great team effort and we are all very proud of the results.”
Check out “Weekend By Ashley” above, and stick around for Alana Nichols‘ video, along with credits, after the jump. And for the full experience, head over to the campaign website. continued…
Last month, Bryce Harper performed the first ever chicken-eating backflip for KFC as part of Draftfcb Chicago’s “How Do You KFC?” campaign. Now, Draftfcb continues the campaign of people eating chicken in situations where it doesn’t make sense for people to eat chicken, making history with the first ever two-man chickensled. The campaign is well-timed, coming on the heels of the U.S. men’s first two-man bobsled medal since 1952 and a two medal performance by the U.S. women’s bobsled team.
Draftfcb and KFC tapped Team USA Bobsled brakeman Jim Carriel, and retired Team USA Bobsled pilot Landon Phillips for the historical event. Carriel ate chicken from the KFC Go Cup from a customized cup holder while speeding down the track at 70 miles per hour and five Gs. “No other bobsled team out there is pulling five Gs while eating chicken. More casual fans of chicken sled racing may not know the physical demands five Gs puts on an athlete. Do you know how much an Extra Crispy Strip ‘weighs’ at five Gs?” Carriel asked. “It’s almost a half pound. Seriously. Don’t try this at home, kids.”
Draftfcb’s new video is supported by a tongue-in-cheek social campaign calling on fans to like or share a petition on the brand’s Facebook page to make chicken sled racing a Winter Olympic event in 2018.
Funny how Alex Bogusky is still seeing opportunities where brands and agencies are missing them. Case in point: A recent tweet to Liberty Mutual urging the insurance company—whose Winter Olympics ads are all about overcoming setbacks—to make a commercial about Heidi Kloser, the U.S. skier who was badly injured the day before the Sochi Games began.
USA Today has the story. "It was pretty much a no-brainer," says Bogusky, a fellow Coloradan and a big fan of Kloser's. He sent a direct message to Liberty Mutual, which got its agency, Havas Worldwide, working on a commercial. They filmed Kloser, 21, at home in Vail, Colo., where she had returned for surgery and rehab on her knee. Her parents appear, too, and recall Heidi's poignant question to them after the injury. (You probably remember Kloser walking with the help of crutches during the Opening Ceremony.) The ad, which you can see below, will air Wednesday night during NBC's Olympic coverage.
"At Liberty Mutual, we believe that with every setback, there's a chance to come back. And rise," says the voiceover for the company's anthem spot (also posted below), which has been running throughout the Games.
That fits Kloser perfectly, as she is already looking to 2018—although, as she admits to USA Today, "I'd rather star in a commercial because I won a gold medal."
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…
If you’ve been watching the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics at all, chances are you’ve seen the above spot for GE by BBDO New York.
The 60 second spot, “Childlike Imagination,” portrays GE’s range of individual businesses (turbines, aviation, 3-D printing, and others) through the imagination of the daughter of a GE employee. Its artful approach marks a departure from previous GE campaigns, which tended to focus on just one of these businesses. This change of approach works well for GE. The girl imagines “underwater fans that are powered by the moon,” “airplane engines that can talk,” “hospitals you can hold in your hand,” and “trains that are friends with trees.” The imaginative concept makes for a fun, visually interesting effort designed to capture your attention. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…
Thanks to the country's anti-gay laws, the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia have turned into a de facto platform for LGBT marketing. Earlier, we had the Canadian ad that said the two-man luge is "a little gay." Now, we have this crazy spot from Norwegian sports apparel retailer XXL.
It's an over-the-top, absurd blockbuster of an ad, with overly slick visuals, overly cheesy music and a "twist" ending you could spot from Moscow. And yet … somehow you have to love it. Its heart is generally in the right place, even if it plays out like a male fantasy. (And no, they probably wouldn't do the same ad with two men at the end.)
The ad premiered during Norway's broadcast of the Opening Ceremony last week.
CREDITS Client: XXL
Agency: Schjærven Reklamebyrå Account Director: Ole Marius Simonsen Creatives: Jon Erik Skiælder, John Draleke Agency Producer: Gard Andreassen
Production Company: Camp David, Stockholm Producer: Kalle Wessblad Directors: Bjørn Stein, Måns Mårlind
Location: Lleida Airport, Spain Filming: Dec. 15-18, 2013 Line Producer: Dominic Bolus, Widescope Productions Postproduction: The Chimney Pot, Stockholm
BBDO Toronto has crafted a new spot for the Canadian Paralympic Committee in anticipation of the upcoming Sochi Paralympic Games, with the uplifting message/tagline “It’s not what’s missing, it’s what’s there.” The line describes the need to look past physical differences to the incredible talent of these athletes and all the hard work they put in to train for the games.
“When we look at Paralympic athletes, we can make the mistake of focusing on their disabilities, instead of their extraordinary abilities,” said Simon Craig and JP Gravina, Associate Creative Directors, BBDO Toronto. “This campaign forces the viewer to see all the amazing things that make these Paralympic athletes great. To catch them in the midst of competition is an awe-inspiring experience by any definition.”
To accomplish this, the 60 second spot employs a letterbox effect to focus in on a select portion of each athlete, only revealing their identities toward the end of each scene, and thereby highlighting their athletic prowess and impactful performances rather than their disabilities. It’s an interesting fusion of form and function that really underscores the message behind the campaign, even if it risks alienating some viewers who complain about such a small portion of the screen being used at the start of the spot.
The athletes featured here are snowboarder Michelle Salt, sledge hockey players Tyler McGregor and Dominic Larocque, and cross country skier/biathlete Mark Arendz. Arendz called the campaign “an awesome opportunity to increase awareness and demonstrate what we as Paralympic athletes are capable of.”
Nomination for the Canadian Paralympic Team is still going, with the full team set to be officially announced at the end of the month. The 2014 Sochi Paralympic Winter Games will be held from March 7-16. Canada will send approximately 50 athletes to the games, competing in all six sports, with the goal of placing in the top three nations in the gold medal count. Credits after the jump. continued…
From the peanut gallery at Reddit comes this amusing, fake Audi ad that plays off the four-rings snafu during the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. An Audi rep confirms to Mashable: "This is not an official ad … it is most likely from an Audi fan." At least one other brand, though, did make fun of the technical glitch for real.
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. continued…
Providence-based Nail has unveiled a new spot for Lifespan entitled “15,000.”
That number refers to the approximate count of employees at Lifespan, who, according to the 60 second spot, “have the best job in the world…delivering health with care.” The spot begins by attempting to make viewers consider everyday life in a different light, as a narrator intones things like “Every day, joy and heartbreak wash across us with equally unpredictable force” while a violin plays a melancholy melody in the background. About the time when you’re wondering what exactly this is an ad for, the “best job in the world” line comes in, followed by shots of Lifespan workers with name tags and ending with the “delivering health with care” tagline. “15,000″ will begin airing tonight during the opening of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, and marks the beginning of Nail’s first branding campaign.
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