Hasta La Creative!

Around two weeks ago, we covered Freedom For All‘s “Stop the Nightmare” campaign featuring a series of surreal videos directed by Blank Productions’ Kim Dempster in collaboration with creative colleagues and without the aid of an agency. Now Freedom For All has extended their campaign to raise awareness of human trafficking with video footage from a staging of three human auctions held on Wall Street, Times Square and Washington Square Park on March 5th.

The auctions were written and directed by Kim Dempster, who considers the campaign “the most important project [she’s] ever worked on,” with editing by Ntropic, led by creative director Steve Zourntos. Dempster’s 3:15 video of the auctions provides a powerful look into the PSA stunt, including the outrage and disbelief it engendered in onlookers. The nature of the staged auctions was not revealed until the auction was completed, and clearly many in the audience believed it to be real. Freedom For All succeeded then at shocking people into the realization of a problem many don’t realize exists.

“I was excited to be part of this powerful project,” said Zourntos. “I found myself in this surreal and disturbing world that is a terrifying reality for over 27 million people. It was a project that put us through an emotional roller coaster of disbelief, shock, sorrow and outrage. We were honored just to be part of it.”

Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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Full-service integrated marketing agency Neighbor Agency recently launched a campaign for Tillamook’s new line of Greek yogurt, Farmstyle Greek, which was led by the agency’s new creative director, Jodi Pierce, who began work with Neighbor Agency late last year.

The campaign, entitled “Slow and Steady Wins the Taste,” is “a digital-centric campaign that also includes out-of-home billboards, radio and experiential engagement through a sampling tour.” But Neighbor’s involvement began long before that, with the agency collaborating on “product development, ingredients, flavor profiles all the way to creative conception and execution of the campaign.”

Video vignettes introduce viewers to Tillamook’s Farmstyle Greek yogurt by showing simple recipes, rooted in the brand’s “slow and steady” philosophy, that complement the yogurt, like homemade granola and blueberry jam. It’s an interesting approach, one that emphasizes Tillamook as a lifestyle brand while providing viewers with information to better enjoy the product.

“We’re proud to debut the work that our creative team, and new Creative Director developed for Tillamook’s Farmstyle Greek Yogurt,” said Chad Seymour, CEO of Neighbor Agency. “The hire of Jodi is one that we took very seriously, and didn’t fill the position until we found the perfect fit for our agency, and our clients.”

For more information on the campaign, head to the brand’s Farmstyle Greek website.

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This weekend, Wing (once again: not that Wing) created a new campaign for the Havana Film Festival, taking place April 3-11 in New York.

Wing’s goal for the campaign was to “show that the films developed at the Havana Film Festival showcase authentic stories and characters — so much so that its storylines stick and resonate with audiences beyond the time spent in the theatre.” To accomplish, they created a pair of television spots in both 30 and 15 second formats, in addition to full-length versions on Havana Film Festival’s website. These spots attempt to show the staying power of the Havana Film Festival’s movies, showing a couple of individuals projecting stories from the films they saw onto people in their day to day life. For example, a hairdresser doles out sympathy (and extra highlights) for her customer, because, she says, “I know the nightmare you are living.”

The second spot, “Office,” gives a similar treatment to the work environment. The results are a bit over the top, as the premise spills perhaps a bit too far into the absurd. It appears the spots reference real films in the festival, though, leaving viewers to wonder how the story ends, which is a nice touch. Both versions of each TV spot will air in the tri-state area in both English and Spanish until the end of the festival on April 11th. You can watch the full-length version of “Beauty Parlor” above, and stick around for “Office,” along with credits, after the jump. continued…

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DigitasLBi has just released “A Girl’s Got to be Free,” a new digital spot for John Frieda’s Frizz Ease Hair Care products.

Set at night in New York, the 60-second video features a team of rogue women dressed in black who make their way to Ellis Island. Once there, the crew pulls out harnesses, climbing gear and other equipment and makes their way up the Statue of Liberty. Upon reaching the top, they free Lady Liberty of the bun that has been constricting her for over a century and let her hair down.

“We wanted to create an unexpected online experience that captures the simple, universal truth that when women pull their hair back in resignation to frizz, they pull themselves back. Frizz Ease Hair Care gives her an alternative to this daily struggle and empowers her to step out and conquer each day with confidence. ” explains Melissa Pruessing, VP/Group Account Director at DigitasLBi Chicago.

“A Girl’s Got to be Free” is part of DigitasLBi’s new “Never Pull Back” campaign, which features a new website, as well as “digital paid, owned and earned media” executed by Click 3X. Kao’s USA’s media agency Spark, meanwhile, handled media planning and buying for the campaign. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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Mekanism has just launched a new campaign for San Francisco-based shop, Method, “the premier disruptor of the home care category,” featuring a “romantic comedy-style series of TV and online ads, content and social media programs” which will run from March 24 – June 7.

The ads tell the story of Charles and Francine, two opposites who, over the course of the spots, meet, fall in love, and have a baby. Mekanism and Method buck conventions a bit by making Francine the messy one and Charles clean (even if they feel the need to point out that he’s “pretty neat for a guy”). In the first of the spots, the 30-second “They Meet,” Charles finds Francine asleep on his toilet after a night of partying, and Charles wonders how to break the ice. From there, their domestic tale evolves with a series of relatable messes marking milestones in their lives. While not laugh out loud funny, the spots have a pleasant kind of light humor and are quite watchable. The voice over by a man with a strong French accent definitely helps things along, especially in the 15 second “Super Pregnant” where viewers are treated to hearing the words “super pregnant” in said French accent.

“Our story is about opposites attracted to one another,” said Tommy Means, Mekanism founder and executive creative director. “Francine is charming, stylish, impulsive and a bit of a mess not unlike Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Charles on the other hand is clean and orderly. Telling the Method story through the eyes of this odd couple falling for each other is something everyone can relate to.”

Method is also partnering with digital agency Essence to develop and execute its media plan, which marks Method’s first significant foray into online advertising. Stick around for “Easy” after the jump. continued…

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Need an art project fast but don’t have any ideas? Check out “What the Fuck is My Art Project?” — a parody site that randomly generates art project ideas, possibly from the same team that produced “What the Fuck is My Brief?” (although that’s unconfirmed at the moment).

Based around the idea that “most of the popular crap on the Internet is just rehashed popular and obscure cultural and artistic references mashed together,” the site is built around an algorithm that does exactly that. Leading to such gold as a “Cyberpunk Darth Vader Board Game,” “Victorian Big Lebowski Mobile App,” “Grunge Wonder Years Bedtime Story” and of course “Neo Realist Weird Al Fanfic,” the site parodies Internet culture while producing some ideas that, in a bizarre kind of way, could actually be pretty cool (I’m looking at you, “Grunge Wonder Years Bedtime Story”). The site seems to have enough information programmed into it to avoid repeating suggestions for some time, so most people will never see the same thing twice, which is too often a problem with these types of projects. Give the site a try for yourself and you may just wind up on Laughing Squid or the front page of Reddit.

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Havas Worldwide Chicago has launched a new March Madness campaign for DISH Network featuring a new kangaroo mascot, which also marks Havas’ first campaign for the company since being named lead digital agency last summer.

The kangaroo mascot, voiced by Rebel Wilson, makes her debut in the TV spot “Mobile Basketball.” In the 30-second spot, the kangaroo shows off the DISH Network’s capabilities by watching college basketball at work, only pretending to be engaged in actual work when the boss walks by. While the spot never quite hits the humorous mark it’s aiming for, it’s still world’s ahead of the campaign’s painful digital spot, “Fight Song.” As you might have guessed, the 30 second spot is built around a “fight song” for DISH Network (in the style of college team’s fight songs) extolling the Network’s ability to let you watch March Madness games anywhere. “Fight Song” will run on sites like ESPN.com, where it will most likely be muted after approximately 1.2 seconds. Havas’s campaign also includes social media activations on Facebook and Twitter featuring the new mascot. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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Creative content agency Bonfire Labs is taking its online video “Beauty Is All Around” from the Internet to broadcast, at the request of client Ricoh.

Ricoh tasked Bonfire Labs with creating engineering a tagline, website, concept/inspirational video, and a how-to video for the worldwide launch of their new camera Theta, which shoots a 360 degree spherical image. For the concept video, Bonfire secured a large studio to serve as a blank canvas for muralist Sirron Norris. For two days, Norris prepped and painted the space, while the Theta captured the process with in time-lapse fashion, with the assistance of a tiny robot (called the roboTap3000).

“The creative behind our concept video revolved around capturing time-lapse images with the Ricoh product, but the product didn’t have the capability to do that,” explains Bonfire Labs creative technologist Phil Spitler. “I needed to find a way to automatically capture moments in time as the mural developed. So I designed and built the ‘roboTap 3000’ to allow us to achieve our creative vision.”

The resulting video (featured above) which debuted on September 5, 2013, was such a success that Ricoh has asked Bonfire to cut 30 and 60-second versions for television audiences both domestically and in Japan.” Our team will assure the broadcast creative makes as much of an impression on audiences as the longer online version did,” promises Jim Bartel, managing director at Bonfire Labs. The broadcast campaign will launch on ESPN in the U.S. and domestic channels within Japan this Spring.

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Wunderman Brazil has a new campaign for the São Paulo Soccer Federation, entitled, “Linesman for Peace,” which calls for peace amongst fans during the São Paulo State Championship.

The Campeonato Paulista, or Paulistão, is one of Brazil’s largest soccer tournaments, with fierce rivals like Corinthians, Palmeiras, Santos and São Paulo vying for the championship. This can cause soccer loving Brazilians fans’ extreme passion for the sport to escalate into violence in the stands (as it does in many soccer-loving countries around the world). So Wunderman Brazil had the São Paulo Soccer Federation (FPF) linesman’s yellow and red flags replaced with white flags to deliver a very simple but important message: “There is no offside for peace,” or “Please don’t try to kill each other.”

“Whenever the linesmen get involved in the game, either because someone is offside, a throw in, or a corner kick, etc., in any of the 158 games of the championship, the fans will remember that for peace there is no offside,” says Marco Polo Del Nero, FPF president.

Wunderman Brazil created a website complete with web film (featured above), as well as handling social media for FPF “to stimulate the fans’ engagement in the cause by posting messages on the signs and banners at the games.”

“There is no greater universal peace symbol than a white flag. And it will draw the fans’ attention because it’s the first time  that linesmen have given up their customary yellow and red flags,” adds Paulo Sanna, creative VP at Wunderman.

Wunderman Brazil has found a clever way to reach fans who otherwise may be too riled up to listen to reason, and a novel way to deliver a very important message. It may be kind of sad that it needs to be said in the first place, but hopefully it will reach the right people and keep things peaceful during Campeonato Paulista. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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He calls it a “time-saving tool” for art directors, so let’s not waste any and tell you about “Jorgen’s List,” which has been compiled by one Jorgen Stovne, who most recently spent three years as an art director at DDB Canada on accounts including Lipton and Crime Stoppers (remember this?). Jorgen’s List is essentially a free list of storyboard and comp artists for those in the hiring mood might want to browse. Will agency folks dig this? Who knows, but Jorgen’s list will soon expand to photographers, retouchers and more. Check it out here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.