Hasta La Creative!

M&C Saatchi created a holiday spot called “Christmas at Home” for The Silver Line, “The only free 24 hour confidential for older people that offers friendship and support.”

The ad tells the story of an older man who wakes up on Christmas day and appears to be preparing for his family to arrive. He gets dressed and tidies up, the ad cuts to a family on the phone with relatives saying “We’ll be there soon, put the kettle on” as the man brews some tea. Then the family knocks on a door and the ad reveals that it the man’s next door neighbor receiving the visit, as he looks out the window dejected. It’s a clever way to put viewers in the man’s shoes and give an idea of the devastation he feels rather than just telling them about the cause. The ad ends with the message, “More than a million older people in the UK suffer the pain of loneliness, not just at Christmas but all year round.” While this is true, the message is likely to resonate with people all the more during the holidays.

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Droga5 Europe created what very well may be the most depressing advertisement this holiday season with a 90-second PSA for KidsCo, a children’s charity founded by Camila Batmanghelidjh which plans to host “the UK’s biggest children’s community Christmas dinner ever.” The spot broke yesterday, and will air on broadcast, in cinemas and online.

The ad stands in stark contrast to the glitzy Christmas advertisements glamorizing the holiday in the UK. Willfully minimalistic, it depicts a boy who wakes up and get dressed, with the text “Thursday” appearing onscreen. He plays in the street a bit and then goes to the corner store, eyes up a rack of candy bars and leaves without making a purchase. Walking back home he passes a house lit up with Christmas lights, and we hear a group exchange holiday greetings, the first mention in the ad that it is, in fact, Christmas day (which explains why the streets are so empty). He then returns home, to a neglecting looking living room and switches on the television as the message, “For some children, Christmas Day will just be another Thursday” appears on screen, driving home the message.

“Kidsco is an amazing charity doing incredible work for thousands of children across the UK,” said Droga5 Executive Creative Director Nik Studzinski. “With this ad we deliberately wanted something that would be a genuine pause for reflection among the noise of the super-bowl style ads that clamour for our attention at this time of year.” (more…)

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KBS and AdoptUSKids is celebrating the tenth anniversary of partnership between the organizations with a campaign launching today in collaboration with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council.

The ads promote adoption by showing how flawed parents still have a positive impact on children’s lives. In the 30-second “Treehouse,” for example, a father attempts to build a treehouse without following instructions, which doesn’t end well. In “Skating,” a mother attempts to roller skate with her children even though she doesn’t know how to skate, with predictable results. Both spots are narrated with a song sung by two pretty goofy guys, and promote keeping siblings together implicitly by showing adopted siblings in the ads (although this might be too easy for viewers to overlook). The ads end with the familiar “You don’t have to be perfect to be a perfect parent” tagline. Both spots will be unveiled today by JooYeun Chang, associate commissioner of the Children’s Bureau, at a DC event celebrating the tenth anniversary of the National Adoption Campaign. (more…)

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Area 23, part of FCB Health, teamed up with diabetes advocacy organization The diaTribe Foundation for a campaign called “The State of Diabetes” launching today, on World Diabetes Day.

The campaign is based around the insight that if the 343 million people living with type 2 diabetes around the world were recognized as a sovereign state by the United Nations it would be the world’s third largest country. So Area 23 and The diaTribe Foundation launched an initiative petitioning the United Nations to recognize type 2 diabetes as a sovereign nation. While it’s fair to assume that no one involved actually expects that one to pan out, The diaTribe Foundation hopes the initiative will “spark conversations about furthering education and awareness efforts, and even inspire access to healthier food across the globe.”

“In emerging nations—where processed and fast foods are too often more accessible than healthier options—‘lifestyle choices’ may not really be choices,” explains Kelly Close, founder of The diaTribe Foundation. “Education on an individual basis is only one piece of the puzzle. We need to put type 2 diabetes awareness on the agenda, at the national and international levels.”

Area 23 also worked with artist Henry Hargreaves and director Tim Hawkey for a PSA video promoting the initiative. The video sees Hargreaves construct a world map made out of the kind of unhealthy foods that can contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes and asks “What kind of world are we creating?” before directing viewers to the campaign microsite, where they can choose to sign a petition addressed to the UN. Print ads for the campaign are designed to drive traffic to the microsite as well, while social media efforts will also support the campaign. (more…)

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Back in September, Mekanism rolled out its “It’s On Us” sexual assault awareness PSA for the United States government, enlisting the help of celebrities (including actor Jon Hamm), along with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, to deliver its message.

Now, the agency is rolling out phase two of the campaign, again calling on bystanders to help prevent sexual assault. While the initial effort relied on its star power, this time around Mekanism instead attempts to put the viewer in a realistic situation. At a drunken house party, a female guest attempts to leave, only to have her exit blocked by an aggressive guy asking, “Oh no, you’re not leaving are you? Why do you want to go home?” as another guy sits on the couch with a drink. “This isn’t a PSA about sexual assault,” says the voiceover, “it’s about being the guy who stops it.” The spot ends with the guy getting up from the couch to come to the girl’s aide, followed by the message “It’s on us to stop sexual assault” and directing viewers to ItsOnUs.org.

While lacking the visibility of its predecessor, the spot communicates its message well. By focusing on the guy on his couch just having a drink at a party as an uncomfortable situation unfolds, it puts the viewer in his position, the idea being that viewers in a similar situation will know that it’s time to act rather than simply doing nothing — to be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem. Its released is timed in anticipation of next week’s “National Week of Action” at colleges and universities across the country, a push to get students involved with “It’s On Us.” (more…)

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Miami-based agency Alma and the Ad Council are rolling out a PSA campaign for AARP aimed at the 42 million caretakers in the United States looking after elderly parents or other loved ones, with Alma specifically targeting the one in three Hispanic households which include a caregiver (according to research conducted by Evercare and the National Alliance for Caregiving).

The campaign includes 30 and 60-second broadcast spots, digital, print and radio. In the broadcast spots, the changing roles of families are examined. In “Spoon” for example, a father is shown feeding his daughter at the beginning of the spot, with the grown-up daughter trying to get her father to eat in the next scene. “Bath” takes a similar approach, with both ads ending by directing viewers to aarp.org/caregiving and aarp.org/cuidar.

“As Latinos, caring for our elders isn’t a choice – it’s an inherent cultural responsibility,” said Luis Miguel Messianu, president and chief creative officer of Alma. “It’s a big task to take on and it’s wonderful to have the opportunity to work with the Ad Council and AARP, who provide support to so many generous caregivers. It’s important to remind them that they are not alone in their efforts.” (more…)

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McCann New York teamed up with production company Private School Entertainment to create a gun safety PSA for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence entitled “Conversations.”

The 30-second spot, directed by David Kerr, was first introduced in Pittsburgh as part of a pilot project but is just now being aired nationally. It examines the kinds of awkward conversations parents have with other parents. “My son…playing…you know…” one mother awkwardly fumbles to another at the opening of the spot. Rather than finish the sentence, the ad skips to the same women engaging in other unfinished awkward conversations such as “The boys got into some of Frank’s old…magazines.” At the end of the spot a voiceover delivers the message, “Awkward conversations come with being a parent, but one might save your child’s life. Ask if there’s an unlocked gun in the house before sending your child over to play.”

The ad functions as a sort of follow up to another gun safety PSA from McCann: the sex-toy battle of “Playthings.” Not only is the style of awkward humor reminiscent of that spot, the actresses used (Iris Almario and Anna Vocino) are also the same. Interestingly, that ad was initially created for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and filmed at the same time as “Conversations,” but the group turned it down, fearing it was too provocative. Dan Gross, president of the Brady Center, told The New York Times that the Brady Center then offered it up to another gun-safety organization, Evolve. Evolve had great success with the video, which eventually racked up over 6 million views on YouTube.  (more…)

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Publicis Kaplan Thaler teamed up with the the Advertising Council to launch a PSA campaign for various groups dealing with children’s learning and attention issues.

The campaign is designed to direct parents to the new website Understood.org, designed to help parents better understand their children’s issues and help them reach their full potential. In one broadcast spot, a man asks Siri, “How can I help my daughter with her reading?” and instead gets results for “Dachsund breeding.” It’s revealed at the end of the 30-second spot that the mistake was intentional:  “…I was trying to show you how Sarah feels every day. Frustrating, isn’t it?” before directing him to Understood.org. Broadcast spots also appear in Spanish-language versions. While comparing problems with voice recognition software to learning and attention issues may be a bit of a stretch, it also should get the attention of parents struggling to understand their kids’ problems in school and get them to the website.

“The crux of the campaign is that understanding is everything,” Larissa Kirschner, a creative director at Publicis Kaplan Thaler, told The New York Times. “Put yourself in children’s shoes and you can truly understand their frustration. We took the cultural phenomenon of Siri, a smartphone not always getting you, as our way in.”

The campaign also includes print, radio, and outdoor elements, as well as a social initiative that includes weekly Twitter chats for parents. The website itself attempts to educate parents through a series of videos and interactive experiences designed to simulate the experiences of children with learning and attention issues. (more…)

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With Halloween and its accompanying sugary assault on young teeth just over three weeks away, Grey New York and the Ad Council have released a series of “Healthy Mouth” PSAs reminding parents to make sure their kids practice proper oral hygiene.

The PSAs are based on the insight that despite tooth decay being the “single most common chronic childhood disease” (yeah, we weren’t aware that it qualified as a “disease” either), a recent Ad Council survey found that 75 percent of parents admit that their kids sometimes forget to brush. So to show parents that just two minutes a day of making sure their kids take care of their teeth can make a lifetime impact, Grey New York crafted a series of PSAs about things you can’t teach your kids in two minutes. It’s a clever approach, and highlights just how little effort is needed on the part of parents to ensure proper oral hygiene. In one 30-second spot (featured above), a man gives his daughter a crash course on bike riding. In other spots a man spends 30 seconds teaching his child manners and a woman attempts to teach her son to cook. (more…)

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Droga5 enlisted the services of “writer, comedian and vagina owner” Sarah Silverman for a new spot addressing the wage gap for National Women’s Law Center.

Silverman introduces viewers to the wage gap issue, pointing out that over the course of their lives women pay a “$500,000 vagina tax,” before informing viewers that she’s becoming a man, since the operation is actually cheaper than dealing with a lifetime of income disparity. She then introduces National Women’s Law Center’s crowdfunding effort to raise the trillions of dollars American women are cheated out of by gender inequality in the workplace, to be payed back to each of them. Since the goal is basically unreachable, it actually serves as a fund raiser for National Women’s Law Center’s efforts, since they receive the money as a donation if (when) the goal isn’t reached. The video ends by directing viewers to EqualPaybackProject.com, which goes live today to inform visitors about the gender gap and accepts donations to the crowdfunding effort. It’s a clever approach, addressing the absurdity of the issue in a way people are sure to remember.

“Equal pay may not be a sexy issue, but it’s an important one,” Casey Rand, Droga5 creative director, told Adweek. “And it is absurd. Young women need to know what’s at stake. And we knew that to get them to engage, we’d need to play up that absurdity.” (more…)

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