Hasta La Creative!

Eight months ago, Ronda Rousey lost her UFC World Bantamweight Championship title and perfect MMA record when she was knocked out by Holly Holm. Now Rousey appears in Venables Bell & Partners’ new spot for Reebok, entitled “#PerfectNever” as part of the brand’s “Be More Human” campaign. 

“Here’s the thing about being perfect,” says a glamed-up Rousey, via voiceover at the beginning of the spot, while slowly walking off the set of a shoot, “Perfect never gets truly tested.” She continues, “Perfect never gets to silence its critics” after removing her false eyelashes and hair extensions, and then pins her hair up and wipes off her lipstick. The spot switches from full color to black and white as Rousey appears in her fighting gear, ready for her shot at redemption, concluding, “So yeah, I’m fine not being perfect.”

For Rousey’s fans, the spot will be welcomed as a likely sign of an impending comeback (she hasn’t fought since her loss to Holm), but it’s meant to have a wider appeal than just the MMA fighter’s faithful. There’s a very clear femvertising element to Rousey’s symbolic shedding of the trappings of typical glamour and beauty perfectionism, intended to echo the everyday pressures placed on women everywhere to look as close to “perfect” as possible. The message fits the overall theme of the “Be More Human” campaign, as Rousey rejects ideals of perfection, both in terms of beauty/glamour and her fighting career, while implying that her loss has helped her build character and ultimately will make her a better person. Cynics may opine that the philosophy is just a way to rationalize her loss, but Rousey’s fans will likely love her all the more for it.

Jonah Hill may have perfected the art of the intentionally awful ad.

The Hollywood star anchors this two-minute infomercial for London-based skateboarding brand Palace. The video—by MPC Creative and directors Lev Tanju, Stuart Bentley and Stuart Hammond—packs in as much awkward humor as possible, complete with bad dubs, cheesy green screening and batshit rambling sales pitches. 

The centerpiece is an upcoming sneaker collaboration between the shop and “some sportswear company called Reebok”—or “Ree-boke,” as Hill hilariously pronounces it. 

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South Korean agency Innored launched a campaign promoting the Reebok ZPump Fusion with a “Subway Pump Battle.”

Working off the insight that people spend too much time sitting and not enough time exercising (74 percent of Korean office workers admitted to a lack of exercise in a survey), Innored came up with a way to encourage commuters to work out while waiting for the subway. The agency installed a game in the subway, the “Subway Pump Battle,” in which two opponents are chosen (seemingly without their knowledge) and encouraged to participate. They then race to see who can press the most amount of pump buttons in the time allowed. It’s a clever way to encourage people to get some exercise at a time of day when they otherwise would be sitting, and the game is obviously but not overbearingly branded. The participants seemed to have a lot of fun with it and the winner of each “Subway Pump Battle” received a pair of Reebok ZPump Fusions for their trouble — and the winners looked pretty enthused about picking up the free pair of the sneakers. In addition to the game and accompanying video, other campaign elements includes social media activations on Facebook and Instagram, as well as an online event.

Instead of enlisting celebrity endorsements, VB&P celebrates the everyday athlete in “Freak Show,” the launch of a new “Be More Human” campaign for Reebok.

“Are we weirdos? Can we be obsessive, fanatical, extreme?” asks voiceover at the beginning of the spot, over footage of suburbanites training hard. After acknowledging that some of those things may be true, the ad goes on to ask, “Why do we do it?” The answer, is self-improvement: “To be more human,” the ad concludes.

“By adopting such a lifestyle, you find yourself in a community of people joined together by a common purpose—to be better versions of themselves,”Reebok Brand President Matt O’Toole told Adweek. “We’re confident that when we push ourselves, we not only transform our bodies, we transform our entire lives.”

“Freak Show” will make its broadcast debut this Sunday during NBC’s Super Bowl pregame coverage. Its approach, while certainly not without precedent, should come as something of a reprieve from the barrage of celebrity-filled ads clogging up Super Bowl airtime. It also should appeal to the kind of CrossFit gurus Reebok has courted with recent campaigns, making “Be More Human” seem like a pretty natural evolution for the brand.

It’s a big week for that neighbor of yours who can do a hundred pull-ups and toss tractor tires 20 yards. The CrossFit Games kicks off this week, and to celebrate, Reebok is releasing a new product: Reebok Bacon.

CrossFitters as a whole are notorious for also abiding by a Paleo diet, which allows and praises the consumption of smoky, savory strips of tasty bacon.  

The sneaker brand, once thought of as a go-to for mall walkers, has revamped its image to cater to a hipper, younger crowd, and there’s no doubt that bacon has taken on a cult-like status in recent years. 

Reebok Bacon was created by agency Venables Bell & Partners, which notes: “In sticking with Paleo recommendations, Reebok Bacon is uncured and contains no nitrates, preservatives, MSG or sweeteners. Packaging in dry ice will keep the bacon refrigerated until recipients throw it in the skillet.” 

Beyond sending packages directly to athletes and others in the community, Reebok will have a physical presence at the 2014 Reebok CrossFit Games with its very own Reebok Bacon Box—a food truck handing out bacon-based menu items to CrossFit Games attendees. While it’s tapping into what I feel is a little bit of an overdone trend (I’m over the bacon thing, the mustache thing, the bacon-as-a-mustache thing), Reebok Bacon will likely be a hit for CrossFit diehards. 

CREDITS:
Client: Reebok
Brand: Crossfit Community Activation
Agency: Venables Bell & Partners
Executive Creative Directors: Paul Venables, Will McGinness
Creative Director: Erich Pfeifer
Associate Creative Director: Eric Boyd
Design Director: Cris Logan
Lead Designer: Michael Sison
Art Director: Byron Del Rosario
Copywriter: Meredith Karr
Designer: Jarrett Carr
Interactive Designer: Jarrett Carr
Head of Strategy: Michael Davidson
Communications Strategy Director: Beatrice Liang
Brand Strategist: Jake Bayham
Technical Director: Lucas Shuman
Production House: Freestyle MKTG, MKTG
Director of Integrated Production: Craig Allen
Director of Interactive Production: Manjula Nadkarni
Experiential Producer: Natalie Stone
Production Coordinator: Megan Wasserman
Digital Producer: Ashley Smith
Account Manager: Ashton Atlas
Project Managers: Daniela Contreras, Shannon Duncan 

Quarta-feira sempre é um dia futebol, mas essa quarta, 27 de maio, é mais futebol do que as outras. Não por causa das equipes brasileiras, mas pela final da Champions League entre Manchester United e Barcelona.

O aguardado duelo, que acontecerá no Stadio Olimpico em Roma, coloca os holofotes não apenas no título de melhor da Europa, mas também em Messi vs. Ronaldo. Já a Reebok resolveu fazer diferente, aproveitando a final para criar uma divertida disputa entre dois de seus patrocinados: Ryan Giggs (Manchester) e Thierry Henry (Barcelona).

Além da brincadeira, a intenção é promover as novas chuteiras Instante, que serão lançadas no dia 1 de julho, mas usadas hoje por Giggs e Henry na final. Assista o filme abaixo, enquanto espera para ver que vai levar a “orelhuda” esse ano:

| Via tv spot

Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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