Jägermeister Picks Opperman Weiss as Its Global Creative Agency

In news that we missed last week, Jägermeister appointed Opperman Weiss as its lead global creative agency, tasked with launching a heritage campaign for the brand next year. Deutsch New York has handled the brand’s U.S. creative since being awarded those duties following a 2014 internal review.

Opperman Weiss was selected “based on prior relationships it had with the spirits brand,” co-founder Jeff Weiss told AdAge

Jeff Popkin, CEO of Sidney Frank, the company that imports Jägermeister in the U.S., said Opperman Weiss was able to “connect with and immediately look into the brand and articulate the story that has yet to be told.” 

That language hints at what Jägermeister and Opperman Weiss have in store for next year’s campaign. While the brand, which Popkin said was “built in North America” on Jager bombs, will not completely shy away from its party image, the campaign, he said, aims to “reintroduce Jägermeister to current consumers and introduce it to a new generation of consumers who will be surprised by the level of detail and meticulous planning that goes into the brand.”

The work will mark Jägermeister’s first national brand campaign in five years. While more recent spending information doesn’t seem to be available, the brand spent around $5.6 million on U.S. measured media in the first nine months of 2013, according to AdAge, and Popkin told the publication the current budget is “easily double that.” The effort will include broadcast, digital, mobile, OOH, experiential and influencer marketing initiatives and is expected in the first quarter of 2017.

Opperman Weiss, Team USA Head to the Olympics in Chobani Campaign

Opperman Weiss launched a “No Bad Stuff” Olympics campaign featuring a slew of Team USA athletes,including soccer star Alex Morganboxer Marlen Esparza, wrestler Jordan Burroughs, paratriathlete Melissa Stockwell and decathlete Ashton Eaton

All of the aforementioned athletes appear in the 60-second anthem ad at the heart of the campaign, and each appears in shorter ads detailing their “#NoBadStuff” philsophy and fuel. The anthem ad in question starts with the line, delivered via voiceover coupled with footage of Stockwell swimming, “To be great, you must be full of the strength to overcome adversity.” Each athlete gets a moment in the spotlight as the ad goes on to explain what it takes to be great and what you have to stay away from. The phrase, of course, is meant to apply to the kind of negativity athletes must shy away from, as well as the yogurt being free of unhealthy additives.

The idea is explored further in the short spots, such as one featuring Morgan give the advice to not listen to your detractors with a philosophy that boils down to “Don’t listen to them, listen to you.”

The approach is a well-worn one. While the “No Bad Stuff” message has a double meaning which applies well to the brand, the anthem ad feels more than a little familiar, which detracts significantly from its effectiveness. With a growing pack of similarly-minded Olympics ads, it just doesn’t do much to stand out.

“In order for these athletes to really reach their ultimate place of greatness it’s not only that they can’t let shitty food get into their body—they can’t eat sugars and preservatives and chemicals and all that stuff—but they also can’t allow negativity into their being and spirit, whether that’s racism or hatred or jealousy or pride, all of those things that are blocks to greatness to athleticism,” Opperman Weiss co-founder Jeff Weiss told Adweek.

Credits:
Brand: Chobani
Founder: Hamdi Ulukaya
Chief Marketing and Brand Officer: Peter McGuinness
Marketing: Jessica Lauria, Scott Bacco, Danielle Palmer
Communications: Michael Gonda, Blair Aires

Creative Agency: Opperman Weiss
Creative Directors: Paul Opperman, Jeff Weiss, Antonio Navas
Design & Integration Director: Benjamin Bailey

Executive Producer: Mark Johnston
Managing Director: Julian Shiff
Account Supervisor: Alexa Beck

Production Co.: SUPERPRIME
Director: Laurence Dunmore
Executive Producer: Rebecca Skinner
Executive Producer: Roger Zorovich
Managing Director: Michelle Ross
Producer: Michele Abbott
DP: Jeff Cronenweth

Editorial Co.: Bug Editorial
Editor: Andre Betz
Executive Producer: Caitlin Grady

Color: The Mill NY
Colorist: Fergus McCall
Senior Color Producer: Natalie Westerfield

VFX: Blacksmith
Flame Artist: Danny Morris
Executive Producer: Charlotte Arnold
Producer: Bomyee Hwang

Music: Duotone
Music By: Jack Livesey
Executive Producer: David Leinheardt
Producer: Gio Loboto

Mix: Heard City
Mixer: Cory Melious
Managing Director: Gloria Pitagorsky
Producer: Sasha Awn

Strategic Partnerships: DDCD
PR Agency: Weber Shandwick
Media Agency: OMD
Shopper Agency: Momentum
Digital Agency: RGA

Opperman Weiss Touts Simply 100 for Chobani

Opperman Weiss, who launched a pair of ads for Chobani following the brand’s decision to drop Droga5 as its agency of record, has released a follow-up touting the brand’s new Simply 100 line.

Arriving during Pride Month, the spot showcases a woman eating Chobani Simply 100 in bed over voiceover describing it as 100 calories, naturally sweet and “simply delicious,” while acting as a continuation of the brand’s “Love This Life” campaign. As she gets up out of bed, taking the sheets with her, the spot reveals that her partner is a woman, who smiles as she walks away. While the voiceover itself is a bit hokey in delivery and ad a tad on the bland side, it is nice to see the company get in on the Pride Month celebration and the spot does a better job tying itself to the product than its predecessors.

Chobani chief marketing officer Peter McGuinness told Adweek featuring a lesbian couple was a “natural progression” for the brand as they look to tell “modern American stories,” adding, “For us, it’s why not [feature a same-sex couple]—not why. There’s nothing new here, per say. Inclusion and equality has been and is foundational and fundamental to the company.”

Watch the Year’s Most Beautiful Ad About Booze, Rain and Death

A dreary rainstorm and a friend's apparent death might not seem like promising raw materials for an uplifting ad. But this one takes place in Ireland, so it all makes sense. The two-and-a-half minute spot for Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey was made by New York ad agency Opperman Weiss and directed by Laurence Dunmore of RSA Films. It features four friends all dressed up and trudging through the gloriously bleak countryside of Ireland, bottle of booze in hand, seeming to eulogize a fallen friend by singing the Irish folk song "A Parting Glass." Lovely stuff. Fast Company has an interview with creative director Paul Opperman, who says the men recorded the song in Saint Kevin's, the stone church in the film, known for its great acoustics. The film tries to capture what Irish music is like, he adds—"that sense of both melancholy and victory at the same time."

CREDITS
William Grant & Sons Marketing Ltd
Shane Hoyne – Global Brand Director

Opperman Weiss
Paul Opperman – Writer
Jeff Weiss – Art Director
Mark Johnston – Executive Producer

Duotone
Creative Director/Arranger: Jack Livesey
Vocal Arranger: Eamon O'Leary
Executive Producer: David Leinheardt

Bug Edit
Andre Betz Editor
Caitlin Grady Executive Producer

Nice Shoes
Lez Rudge – Colorist
Melissa Dupre – Producer

Heard City
Philip Loeb – Mixer
Gloria Pitagorsky – Managing Director