Hasta La Creative!

We’re only 16 days away from the start of the World Cup. And ESPN—which will present all 64 matches of the quadrennial tournament across the ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC networks—released its latest teaser commercial on Tuesday, this one devoted to the time warp that happens for viewers around the world every four years.

The spot, by Wieden + Kennedy in New York, feels like the beginning of an action movie, where the team is getting together before a big heist—except here, we’re seeing how different people around the world are getting ready for the World Cup. And wherever they are in the world, day or night, they’ll be setting their countdown clocks to Brazil time.

The spot moves seamlessly from metropolis to metropolis, with business executives, children, fisherman, etc., getting ready for the event. It opens on a favela rooftop in Rio and goes around the world—to a pub in England, a social club in Ghana, a fishing boat off Spain, an apartment in Russia, a car heading to Tehran, a bar about open at dawn in Japan, an office in Seattle, a family barbecue in Mexico and a research station in the Andes—before returning to Brazil.

“Every 4 years the world has one time zone,” says the end line. (That follows a spot earlier this month that said, “Every 4 years the conversation starts again.”)

Thanks to our longitudinal proximity to Brazil, Americans will see the matches at exceedingly humane hours, with kickoffs generally scheduled for noon, 3 p.m. or 6 p.m. ET. That’s a lot better than other recent World Cups—in particular, the 2002 tournament in Japan and South Korea, whose daily slate of matches began at 2:30 a.m. and wrapped up shortly after breakfast.

CREDITS
Client: ESPN

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, New York
Creative Directors: Brandon Henderson, Stuart Jennings, Gary Van Dzura, Caleb Jensen
Art Director: Mathieu Zarbatany
Copywriter: Andrew Jasperson
Producer: Luiza Naritomi
Executive Producer: Temma Shoaf
Account Team: Casey Bernard, Katie Hoak, Alex Scaros

Production Company: Imperial Woodpecker
Director: Stacy Wall
Executive Producer: Doug Halbert
Line Producer: Terry Shafirov
Director of Photography: Corey Walter

Editorial Company: Final Cut
Editor: Jeff Buchanan
Assistant Editor: Geoff Hastings
Post Producer: Beth Fitzpatrick

VFX Company: MPC
Senior Producer: Matthew Loranger
Production Asst.:
Lead Flame Artist/Creative Director: Gigi Ng

Mix Company: Heard City
Mixer: Philip Loeb
Producer: Sasha Awn

Music Company: Travis + Maude
Creative director: David Wittman
Producer: Kala Sherman

W+K New York called on the services of Stephen Strasburg for the latest in their “This is SportsCenter” series and the Washington Nationals ace doesn’t disappoint.

In the 30-second spot, “Frozen Lunch,” SportsCenter host Bram Weinstein angrily searches the break room for his Lean Cuisine while Strasburg ices his arm. Weinstein decides that the best way to find the culprit is to send out an angry email and storms out, while the true whereabouts of his “glazed turkey tenderloins” are revealed. Strasburg and Weinstein’s interactions make for some pretty entertaining moments, including a funny throwaway line from Weinstein near the spot’s conclusion, and it’s nice to see Strasburg getting the spotlight from W+K and ESPN. When successful,”This is SportsCenter” spots can be a lot of fun, and this latest entry from W+K New York definitely qualifies as a success. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

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A couple of weeks ago we brought you news of “Baseball is Better,” Mutt Industries’ campaign for MLB 14: The Show, the latest iteration of Sony’s long-running baseball simulation series. Now, Sony and Mutt Industries seem to have a reason to celebrate, as MLB 14: The Show’s first week sales were the highest in franchise history. As you may remember, Mutt Industries recruited Danny McBride (best known for playing Kenny Powers on Eastbound and Down) for the anthem ad launching the game.

In the weeks following the launch of the campaign, Mutt Industries has continued to roll out content at campaign site www.baseballisbetter.com, including the recent, slightly misogynist “Miguel Cabrera Gets Faster with Quick Counts.” As the season progresses, Mutt Industries and Sony will release over 100 unique videos via YouTube, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, featuring various MLB stars. So far, in addition to Miguel Cabrera, Andrew McCutchen, Brandon Phillips, Jason Heyward, CC Sabathia, David Ortiz, and Brett Lawrie have all joined in on the action to show how “Baseball Is Better.” You can check out Cabrera’s recent spot above, and stick around for a refresher of the Danny McBride anthem ad after the jump. continued…

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Saatchi New Zealand and cereal brand Weet-Bix has solicited the help of handful of players from native team The All Blacks, perhaps one of the most well-known rugby franchises in the world, to help make a young fan’s dream come true. How? By surprising the lad at his breakfast table, obviously. Ten-year-old Auckland boy Bailey Paki‘s reaction says it all as he’s greeted by All Blacks teammates Ben Franks, Wyatt Crockett, Tom Taylor and Frank Halai. To make the surprise that much sweeter, the parties involved set up a pitch in Paki’s grandfather’s backyard. Of course, a hearty breakfast comes in handy prior to the athletes getting down to business. In a statement, Saatchi NZ ECD Antonio Navas says, “”The experience of bringing Bailey’s dream day to life has been an incredible journey for everyone involved. I think we have all been a little inspired by his passion and determination along the way. Creatively, the opportunity to bring together two of New Zealand’s most iconic and loved brands together in this way was our very own dream day.” Nothing like a a quick heartwarming clip for lunchtime, now who else is hungry? Credits after the jump.

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Brandblack, the recently-launched “futurist performance sports brand” from David Raysse and Creative Director Billy Dill, teamed up with the L.A. Clippers’ “Sixth Man of the Year” Jamal Crawford and RSA Films, the production company founded by director Ridley Scott and Tony Scott, for a new campaign highlighting their high performance basketball sneaker, J.Crossover.

The global campaign, named “FUTURELEGENDS” after the opening track on David Bowie‘s 1974 album Diamond Dogs, centers around a 60 second spot of the same name. Directed by Antony Crook, the spot puts viewers in Crawford’s perspective in an examination of the “insightful and reflective approach he takes to each and every game.” Other heavy hitters tapped to collaborate on the project include creative director Glenn Kitson, executive producer Arrow Kruse, and director of photography Trent Opaloch (District 9, Elysium, Captain America: Winter Soldier). The copywriting doesn’t quite live up to the production side of thing, with a somewhat predictable voiceover about being the ice “when they bring the fire” and finding order in the chaos. But it sure does look nice.

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AMV BBDO’s new campaign for Currys & PC World, entitled “Football? What Football?”  — their first work for the brand — manages to be World Cup-themed without ever mentioning the words “World Cup” (although at one point they come pretty close). The new broadcast spots for the UK’s largest specialist electrical retailing and services company each feature a hopelessly transparent man attempting to (not so) slyly suggest to his significant other that they should buy a new television, positing the purchase as selfless, and certainly having nothing to do with the impending 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The approach is clever, examining the types of subtle and not-so-subtle manipulations partners in relationships make surrounding expensive purchases. In my favorite of the spots, “Pride and Sensibility,” a man tells his wife, over dinner, that him and his friends watched that “Pride and Sensibility” program and it really looked great on his buddy’s widescreen TV. He’s not nearly so slick as he thinks he is, and his significant other’s incredulous facial expressions really bring the spot together as he almost mentions the World Cup and claims the new TV is for “that castle program” she likes so much.

The other spots follow a similar formula, finding humor in a man suggesting to his wife that her gardening programs would look great on a new television, and a father attempting to justify the purchase as a way to better enjoy upcoming penguin documentaries to his daughter while a disbelieving mother looks on. It’s the kind of approach that works because of its relatability, with humor that is at once universal and distinctly British coming from true to life scenarios. The broadcast campaign launched on the first, along with accompanying 30 second ads appearing on sports radio. Stick around for credits and the other two spots after the jump. continued…

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W+K Portland went all out in getting celebrity talent for “Winner Stays” the latest iteration of their “Risk Everything”campaign for Nike.

The 4:12 film plays off the idea of pretending to be your favorite star players while playing a pickup game with friends. “Winner stays” says one side of one such pickup game, and soon players are claiming to be famous soccer stars and taking on their unique skill sets. It’s a fun idea, although it’s stretched a bit thin at over four minutes long. W+K is betting that with World Cup fever spreading people will stay around for the star power, which includes the return of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar Jr. and Wayne Rooney, a host of other soccer stars from around the world, and a few unexpected cameos. During the action, the spot offers the first glimpses of Nike’s new Magista and Mercurial Superfly.

“We connect to players’ passion for the game, whether it is the world’s best in Brasil or players in the park or street, explains Davide Grasso, chief marketing officer for Nike. “‘Winner Stays’ taps into an experience that every young player around the world will recognize – competition with friends and the idea of playing with your heroes or pretending to be them.”

While it may be fun and expertly crafted, it’s pretty hard to get over the run time for the full-length “Winner Stays.” Four minutes is just a really long time to expect people to sit through an advertisement and the new product reveals are relatively deep into the spot. Thankfully, there are abridged versions, with run times of 3 minutes (still pretty long), 90 seconds, 60 seconds, and 30 seconds. Stick around for full credits after the jump. continued…

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Ahh yes, its playoff time in both the NBA and NHL and Arnold Worldwide’s hometown hub is taking the reins on the latter by adding Glenn Fleshler–aka the “Yellow King” from HBO’s True Detective–to its roster. In case you didn’t know, the Bruins are rocking it in hockey this year and Fleshler plays a role in the second spot following “The Calm” up above dubbed “The Wolfpack.” As a sort of semi-casual hockey fan who’s more interested in the NBA playoffs, I can still rejoice in the intensity, etc. Check out credits after the jump.

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Charlotte full-service independent agency BooneOakley created a new campaign for Bojangles’ Restaurants, the first spot of which stars recent Master’s champion Bubba Watson.

The spot, created to promote Bojangles’ breakfast offerings, is meant to give a “a public face to Bojangles’ internal biscuit-quality efforts.” Apparently, every Bojangles location has an official “Biscuit Maker,” who has undergone at least 40 hours of training for the position, on staff. (For some reason, they don’t mention this in the ad.) The 30-second broadcast spot pits one of these biscuit makers against Bubba Watson in a celebrity competition parody (wakka wakka). Watson kneads his dough with his driver before launching the biscuits toward the oven. At the end of the ad, Watson tees off on a completed biscuit, causing it to explode  — according to BooneOakley’s PR team, this was done at Watson’s insistence.

The second spot in the campaign will run in late spring/early summer and feature sportsfisherman Guy Eaker of the Bass Master series (you can’t wait, right?), with future celebrity spots in the campaign undetermined. Brief credits after the jump. continued…

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As you may have gathered, the Boston Marathon is a pretty big deal to natives of the city. So, with the marathon on the horizon, AMP Agency created the #WeRunTogether digital mozaic for John Hancock, who have sponsored the Boston Marathon since 1985.

Designed to bring together the Boston Marathon running community in anticipation of the event on April 21st, the digital mozaic invites marathon enthusiasts to share their reasons for participating in the form of photos, videos and/or text. All of the submitted content is then aggregated into the mozaic visualization. AMP hopes that by “creating a shared space for conversations around the race, John Hancock was able to show its commitment and support for the Boston Marathon, drive national awareness of their sponsorship and promote their non-profit fundraising partnership with CrowdRise.”

AMP also worked with John Hancock to create a suite of eCards featuring the “We Run Together” theme, housed over at www.OpenMe.com/bostonmarathon.

Obviously, the mozaic takes on added significance in the wake of last year’s tragedy, a sign of the marathon community coming together to move forward in the wake of such an event. “It has been an emotional year for this city,” said Gary Colen, CEO at AMP Agency. “Our hope in this effort was to celebrate the perseverance of this city, whether you are running or not.”

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