Hasta La Creative!

BBDO New York tells the story of “The Boy Who Beeps” in a new online spot for GE.

The two-minute ad begins with the boy’s birth, and the beeping sound he makes in place of the usual baby’s wail. It’s soon apparent that the boy can communicate with machines. This starts off small, with him using his voice to change the channel or hit snooze on his alarm clock, but soon he’s using his power for greater purposes. Maybe it’s the great soundtrack by Beck, but the strange story is oddly touching somehow. Coming on the heels of the recent “Ideas,” it seems that BBDO is going in an emotional direction in their online work for GE. (more…)

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72andSunny has just released a live action trailer for Activision’s new game Destiny, from the creators of the popular Halo franchise, which will be released on September 9th.

72andSunny and Activision went big for the trailer, teaming up with Academy Award winning VFX studio Digital Domain, Academy Award nominated FX studio Legacy Effects, and director Joseph Kosinski, who created most of the worlds for the ad in-camera, shooting at locations in Mexico, Arizona and Utah. The spot follows the adventures of Fireteam as they attempt to reclaim locations in our solar system from alien invaders. Levitating AI character Ghost is voiced by Peter Dinklage (who also voices the character in the game) and the spot mixes humor, action and Led Zeppelin’s iconic “Immigrant Song” to hype up the game and give a sense of its feel without any game footage. (more…)

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R/GA reunites David Hasselhoff and talking car KITT from Knight Rider (voiced by William Daniels) in a new spot for Samsung Smart Home.

Hasselhooff talks up the features of the Smart Home, calling it “literally the smartest thing ever,” which causes a fit of jealousy in KITT. The remainder of the two-minute spot deals with the fracture in the relationship between KITT and The Hoff, as KITT attempts to enact revenge and sabotage the shoot. Hasselhoff also has some fun playing on his own character, at one point referencing Knight Rider while attempting to flirt with a boom mic operator — to which she responds, “I think my dad might have mentioned it.” It’s all about as goofy as you’d expect, given Hasselhoff’s involvement, and has some fun moments, although it could have benefited from being edited down a bit from its two minute run time.

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RPA recently debuted a new campaign for recently-won client ARCO, following Tesoro’s purchase of ARCO from BP.

The campaign celebrates ARCO’s “top tier” designation, as its gasoline “exceeds EPA minimum detergent requirements to help clean engines and maintain optimal vehicle performance.” To highlight the benefits of treating your car right with ARCO gasoline, RPA chose to show some of the ways mistreat their vehicles in a series of four 30-second broadcast spots.

The light-hearted approach works best in “Treat” (featured above), when a woman decides “If top-tier gas at ARCO helps clean my engine, maybe I should clean the rest of my car.” She then imagines all the hard work inherent in undoing the neglect, including some pretty gross tasks, before tossing an empty coffee cup in the backseat and deciding “I’ll do that another time.”

Other spots in the campaign take a similar approach, with “Embarassing” focusing on some of the moments your car shouldn’t have to witness and “Mishap” taking on minor vehicular abuse. “Try It” changes things up, focusing instead on a couple’s misguided decision to go somewhere other than ARCO for gas. Each spot ends with the tagline, ““Your car puts up with a lot. Help protect it from harmful engine deposits. ARCO has quality TOP TIER® gas for less.” emphasizing ARCO’s quality and top tier designation. The campaign began last month with one broadcast spot and an outdoor component, and currently supports the four broadcast spots with online and radio elements, as well as a revamped website.

“We have a long history working on the ARCO brand, and appreciate the challenges of the competitive motor-fuel category,” said RPA EVP, Management Account Director Tom Kirk. “The agency’s goal is to further support ARCO’s brand positioning, and this new work focuses on ARCO’s holistic value proposition around product quality and affordability.” (more…)

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Barton F. Graf 9000 has two new spots for Supercell’s massively successful Clash of Clans game, and each of the 30-second videos have already racked up over six million views on YouTube since being uploaded yesterday.

While last year’s spot from the agency took a broader approach, this year Barton F. Graf 9000 chose to spotlight a single character, the wizard. In “Preparation” we get a view into what the wizard does to psyche himself up for a day of fireball throwing, as well as a look at his explosive hair. In “Magic” he takes a break in the midst of fighting to pull a rabbit from his hat, but things are soon back to normal.

The new spots will break on television this weekend, according to Adweek, which should rack the view count up even higher. At this rate, it won’t be long until the ads eclipse last year’s 60-second spot’s 22 million views. The broadcast and digital spots will be further supported by an out of home component. (more…)

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BBDO New York’s latest offering for GE continues to celebrate innovation, but marks a stylistic departure from the agency’s recent work for the brand.

While “What Would Happen” and “Childlike Imagination” looked at innovation from a sense of childlike wonder, “Ideas” takes a sharp sidestep, personifying those ideas and focusing on how they often emerge as rough around the edges but grow into something beautiful. In the 60-second online spot, ideas are presented as an odd-looking creature that looks like something that could have crawled out of the reject pile at Jim Henson’s workshop.

Starting from birth, we follow an idea as it has a pretty rough time of things. Continually facing rejection, it resorts to sleeping on the streets until it is finally taken in by GE. “Ideas are scary, and messy, and fragile,” says a voiceover, “But under the proper care, they become something beautiful,” and then we see the fully-transformed idea, followed by the “Imagination at work” tagline.

Following the success of BBDO’s recent work for the brand, the shift in approach comes as a little off-putting, and the idea seems a bit dragged out at 60 seconds. But then maybe the spot being a little rough around the edges actually fits the concept. (more…)

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Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO has a new UK campaign for Uncle Ben’s, called “Ben’s Beginners,” based on the insight that one in four parents never cook with their children.

In a two minute spot — entitled “Where’s The Kitchen” — a supposed real estate agent shows families a house without a kitchen. Invariably, the families notice and complain, to which he replies that people aren’t really cooking anymore and kitchen-less houses are the wave of the future. It’s a bit of an odd way to illustrate how people are cooking less, but lets the brand avoid seeming overly preachy. Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO probably could have made the point in less time however, as the two-minute format really stretches the premise thin.

Another part of the campaign will see Uncle Ben’s launching a YouTube cooking channel. Designed to encourage parents to cook with their children, the show is hosted by DJ BBQ shows kids how to cook simple meals using Uncle Ben’s products. It’s a nice extension of the campaign, and could foster some real brand loyalty in kids who learn to cook with the program. Additional videos will feature actress and celebrity chef Lisa Faulkner teaching basic cooking skills. (more…)

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W+K Portland launched the “Don’t Touch My Dart” campaign earlier this month, pairing comedians Craig Robinson and Jake Johnson. Well, it’s a few weeks later and the duo are back for several follow-up spots the agency has released for the campaign, along with a new interactive digital experience.

In the 30-second “Craig,” Johnson tries to get Robinon’s attention by repeatedly saying his name while he cleans and admires his Dart. Robinson spends the whole time ignoring him, leading into the “Don’t Touch My Dart” tagline (along with accompanying music, composed and performed by Robinson) and a prompt for viewers to “See what happens when you touch my dart.” Clicking on the link leads to an interactive digital initiative where you can move your cursor to “touch” Craig’s dart and see what happens. Try it for yourself here, and stick around after the jump for a couple for “Voice Touching” and “Birdhouse.” (more…)

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Argonaut created a new campaign for Appleton Rum, entitled “From Jamaica With Love,” launched to coincide with Jamaican Independence Day on August 6th.

The spots celebrate Jamaican culture, as well as Appleton’s Estate Aged Rum, branded as “100 percent Jamaican.” Argonaut’s campaign marks the first by the agency since becoming the brand’s agency of record. In order to capture the authenticity of the brand, the San Francisco-based agency sent a team to Appleton’s distillery in Jamaica’s Nassau Valley to witness the production process first-hand.

“In order to be successful with this campaign, we made it a priority to send a team to Jamaica to experience first-hand the splendor of Appleton Estate and the Nassau Valley to capture the authenticity of Appleton Estate Jamaica Rum,” explains Jordan Warren, president, Argonaut. “As a result, the ‘From Jamaica With Love’ campaign gives a glimpse into the people, the beautiful Estate and the unique methods that create the only premium rum from Jamaica.”

The “From Jamaica With Love” video (featured above), in addition to the two-minute “From Cane to Cup” are part of a digital initiative created in partnership with Sharethrough. The campaign also features print and out-of-home initiatives targeting markets such as Austin, Texas; Atlanta, Miami; Portland, Oregon and Columbus, Ohio. Stick around for “From Cane to Cup” following the break. (more…)

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At the end of last month, we brought you news of Droga5?s campaign for Under Armour highlighting American Ballet Theatre soloist Misty Copeland. The latest from the brand, created by GreenLight Media and Marketing, tells the kind of story more expected from the brand, turning to Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton for a new series entitled “Huddle Up.”

The first episode in the series begins with the Panthers’ disappointing end to the 2013 season. While the season is over, Newton has his work cut out for him in a busy offseason that sees him working towards a college degree, recovering from surgery, and helping the kids at his program. Over the course of around six minutes, viewers are given a well-rounded view of Newton’s life off the field as he prepares for training camp.

Under Armour vice president of creative Brian Boring told Fast Company that the goal of the series is to “create stories that inspire athletes,” adding, “The content series format gives us an opportunity to tell a deeper story through the voice of an athlete, specifically in this case, football players.” (more…)

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