Hasta La Creative!

How do you get beach bums to take a break from the sun? If you’re one nonprofit, by luring them into the shade with free WiFi.

The Peruvian League Against Cancer has built a special tower on the Playa Agua Dulce, which offers wireless internet connectivity—but only to people standing in the tower’s shadow.

On top of the structure, a directional antenna attached to a sensor limits the scope of the signal and rotates with the sun. The login page for the network, which supports some 250 users at a time, includes prevention information about skin cancer. Agency Happiness Brussels helped set up the rig and is planning similar installations in partnership with local organizations in San Francisco and New Zealand.

It’s pretty clever to capitalize on the fact that pretty much everyone these days will follow their smartphones around blindly, even if the beach seems like one of those places WiFi is least essential. Then again, why not have your cake and eat it, too — catch some rays, then catch up on your latest Netflix binge while you take a break from spending time doing something other than having your face glued to a mini computer.

Via psfk.

Anomaly continues to “Spread Love” for Dick’s Sporting Goods, launching its “Holiday Hoops” extension of its “Gifts That Matter” campaign today on “Giving Tuesday.”

The ad follows on the heels of this heart-tugging spot and similarly explores how a basketball hoop can bring people together. This time around, though, Anomaly employs a “social experiment film” documenting people’s reactions when they leave basketball hoops, and a tray of balls with a “Play with me” sign, at various locations around Cleveland, Los Angeles and New York City. Naturally, the hoops caused strangers to bond over pick up games and Anomaly captured their genuine enthusiasm for the spot.

The video, however, is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of Dick’s “Spread Love” charitable initiative. Cleveland Cavaliers star Kevin Love teamed up with The Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation today to surprise over 200 students at Scranton Elementary School in Cleveland with two new basketball hoops. The brand defines “Holiday Hoops” as a “‘pay it forward’ movement” which will ultimately donate over 100 hoops to organizations (all either schools or non-profits) across the country. Dick’s will select two such organizations every day, and then give them the chance to “pay if forward” to two of their own choosing, announcing the participants on social media with the #HolidayHoops hashtag.

“This holiday season, we wanted to enhance our “Gift That Matters” campaign by exploring the unique power a basketball hoop has to unite people and communities,” said Lauren Hobart, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Dick’s Sporting Goods and president of The Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation. “We believe that sports really do matter and Dick’s Foundation is thrilled to be able to provide 100 hoops to schools and communities across America.”

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PETA is certainly no stranger to provocative advertising, and its latest attempt to take on the wool industry with its “#WoolFreeWinter” campaign is no exception.

The group created two separate ads featuring models in open red long johns scratching their junk, one male and one female, ending with the tagline “Scratch Wool From Your Shopping List” and directing viewers PETA.org to watch a video exposing animal cruelty in the wool trade. Both ads were intended to run on digital billboards, above 42nd Street and at 1500 Broadway from November to January, but Neutron Media deemed the male version — which, unlike the female one, contains a hint of pubic hair, too suggestive, so it is running on PETA’s website instead. The website also features an editorial questioning if Times Square is sexist for rejecting the male ad. We’ve included it after jump, so you can decide for yourself.

“PETA routinely uses both men and women in sexy ads advocating for animal rights,” said PETA Senior Vice President Dan Mathews. “It was especially important in this campaign, as wool is marketed to both men and women who have no idea how violently sheep are mutilated in the shearing process.”

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If you like good tennis and cool murals, then the U.S. Open has an advertising campaign for you.

The tournament’s organizers are paying an artist to climb up to a billboard each day over the course of the games and piece together a painting based on the event’s notable moments and online chatter.

The first eight installments have included, for example, interpretations of Gaël Monfis’s crushing 110 miles-per-hour match winner, 15-year-old Catherine “CiCi” Bellis’s on-court antics and Roger Federer’s selfie with Michael Jordan.

Each day’s addition is live-streamed on Facebook and later recapped in a YouTube clip. The painter, Josh Cochran, whose previous credentials include some spectacular Grammy-nominated album art for Ben Kweller, features heavily in the videos.

Agency DDB New York created the campaign, titled “Story of the Open” and tied it into social media with the hashtag “#StoryoftheOPEN.”

While viewers of the billboard over New York’s Midtown Tunnel might not get the full effect without watching the videos for context, Cochran’s illustrations are spectacular, and it’s fun to see the mural take shape.

Times Square isn’t just a place for confused tourists and Creepy Elmos.

From static ads to multimedia, if you want your (client’s) name in lights, it’s the place for creative shops across this great land of ours to test the waters and see what floats.

How much do those shops spend? How hard will clients break the bank? Who do they all want to attract?

Carlos Monteiro, infographics editor of iNewspaper in Portugal, collected some interesting stats to answer those riddles after the jump.

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Fizzie, a character in the upcoming game Sunset Overdrive from developer Insomniac Games, made an appearance at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo in the form of a large, interactive balloon flying in the lobby at the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 10th – June 12th.

Brought to life by Xbox and twofifteenmccann, Fizzie takes questions from the E3 crowd, offering up invariably sarcastic answers. In Sunset Overdrive, Fizzie “is a talking balloon that hovers over Sunset City and is the cheery face of the Fizzco Corporation while acting as the perfect corporate shill.” So what better place for Fizzie to make an appearance than the largest trade show in the video game industry, rife with event marketers attempting to woo customers and media alike. If you’re not lucky enough to make it to E3 this year, you can still keep up with Fizzie’s antics on Twitter via the hashtag #FizzieSays. For footage of Fizzie in action, check out the video above, and stick around after the jump for credits. continued…

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Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand created a flaming billboard to launch Sealord’s new line of hot smoked salmon.

The billboard was constructed using Manuka wood branches (the same type used in Sealord’s smoked salmon), which were then set on fire to replicate Sealord’s traditional smoking process. Sealord’s billboard reads, “Smoked: Just Like Our New Manuka Salmon,” although it’s pretty hard to read through all the smoke and fire. As you might recall, this is not the first burning billboard we’ve covered, but it is the first non-steakhouse-related burning billboard we can recall, so there’s that. The campaign also includes the above online video documenting the creation of the billboard, as well as pre-rolls and digital banners.

“When we learned about the wonderful artisan techniques involved in the creation of this delicious salmon, we were inspired to try and find a way to make this process the hero,” explained Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand executive creative director Antonio Navas. Credits after the jump. continued…

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Today, Marriott International announced “#LoveTravels,” a collaboration between Marriott Creative Agency and photographer Braden Summers featuring LGBT celebrities like Brooklyn Nets center Jason Collins and fashion model Geena Rocero.

“#LoveTravels” is part of Marriott’s new LGBT social media and marketing campaign and seeks to “share exclusive and powerful images celebrating inclusion.” The images featured in the campaign will be displayed as building wraps at five hotels in Washington, D.C., a series of print ads in LGBT media, an online portrait gallery and display ads in cities throughout the U.S., and a social initiative encourages guests to share their own experiences using the hashtag #LoveTravels. Campaign content will be hosted at marriottlovetravels.com.

“Braden’s work so beautifully illustrates the inclusiveness and equality that we embrace,” said Kristine Friend, senior director, segment marketing. “We are committed to ensuring that all of our guests feel comfortable at all of our hotels and are proud to stay with Marriott.  #LoveTravels is a universal theme we believe is shared by all cultures and communities and truly represents our company’s philosophy and values. We also want to encourage our guests and travelers around the world to share their own journey and story through #LoveTravels @MarriottIntl.”

You can check out behind-the-scenes footage from the campaign’s photo shoots above.

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Yesterday M&C Saatchi LA launched a new campaign for the San Diego Zoo Safari Park’s new Tiger Trail exhibit, opening to the public on May 24, 2014. The multimedia campaign consists of TV, print, digital, outdoor and transit, targeting the Southern California region.

All three of the TV spots in the campaign feature kids visiting the new Tiger Trail at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and meeting a real Sumatran Tiger face to face, allowing them to tap into their own “tiger power,” which they put to unexpected use. In “Guitar Star” featured above, for example, a tween boy (with a somewhat disturbing mustache) continues rocking out at full volume even after his father pulls the plug on his amp.

“Tigers have an almost mythological connotation for their power and mystique. We wanted to show kids tapping into that to develop their confidence, their own tiger power, explained James Bray, creative director at M&C Saatchi LA.

“With the debut of this new exhibit, our guests will have a thrilling and awe-inspiring personal encounter with majestic Sumatran Tigers, and at the same time learn of the threats to this critically endangered species,” said Ted Molter, Chief Marketing Officer for San Diego Zoo Global.  “This campaign playfully asks our guests to identify with the confidence and power of tigers in the hopes that it will build greater appreciation for one of nature’s top predators.”

Stick around for “Monster Truck” and “Fireman,” along with credits, after the jump. continued…

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McCann Worldgroup Milan created “Fair Play Machines” for Coca-Cola, bringing together rival fans at the San Siro Stadium in Milan.

Internazionale di Milano and A.C. Milan have a fierce rivalry dating back decades, which often leaves neighbors, friends, and even family enemies when the two teams meet. So, as part of Coca-Cola’s ongoing “#ShareTheGood” campaign, in the moments leading up to kickoff at an important Internazionale di Milano versus A.C. Milan match at a very divided San Siro Stadium in Milan, McCann Worldgroup installed two vending machines in the stadium, one on each side of arena. The catch: fans couldn’t get a Coke for themselves, only for fans of the rival team. Pressing a button on one of the machines, connected to the other via video and audio, sent a Coke down a chute and delivered it to a rival fan. In under an hour, both machines were emptied, bringing rival fans closer together and supporting fair play.

“Coca-Cola reminds us that even in the face of seeming differences, happiness can be found through simple moments of human connection,” explains Claudia Navarro, director, integrated marketing communications, central & southern Europe. Check out the video above to see the campaign in action, and stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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