Hasta La Creative!

Good lord, Beats by Dre is getting great at sports commercials.

We wrote at length last month about how the music company and ad agency R/GA have teamed up to make some of the year’s best sports ads—with Kevin Garnett, Colin Kaepernick, Richard Sherman and Cesc Fabregas. But nothing could prepare us for this five-minute World Cup extravaganza. It’s about pre-game rituals, yes, but Beats is proving to be surprisingly adept at all aspects of the sports ad game—which at times like these is supposed to be the purview of Nike and Adidas.

The top star in “The Game Before the Game,” fittingly for this World Cup, is Brazil’s Neymar Jr. His pre-game ritual involves talking to his father, whose pep talks are so inspiring, you’d think an agency copywriter wrote them (well, yeah). Among the other stars featured here: Spain’s Fabregas, who kisses the ring his girlfriend gave him exactly four times; Uruguay’s Luis Suarez, who kisses the tattoo on his wrist of his son and daughter’s names; and Mexico’s Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, who prays on his knees as his father taught him. (Elsewhere you’ll see Bacaray Sagna, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Blaise Matudi, Daniel Sturridge, Jozy Altidore, Mario Gotze and Robin Van Persie.)

There are also many, many cameos by non-soccer players—everyone from LeBron James to Lil Wayne to Nicki Minaj to Serena Williams—which lends a very Nike-ish vibe. The latter’s grand World Cup spot this year sneaks in Kobe Bryant, Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, Irina Shayk and even the Incredible Hulk.

Being a music company, Beats can also get away with making its ad basically a giant music video. The stars just slip their headphones on, and away we go. (Indeed, the director here, Nabil Elderkin, is known for his music videos.) Jimmy Iovine is known to handpick the tracks for the Beats ads, and here we get the thematically apt and swagger-filled “Jungle” by Jamie N Commons & The X Ambassadors.

The concept precludes in-game footage, but you don’t really miss it. It could do with a dose of humor, maybe. But throw in some risqué moments (girl on top at 3:02!) and some globe-trotting glimpses of obsessive fan antics (love the British woman’s 1966 tattoo), and you have an impressive smorgasbord of hype, hysteria and hero worship.

Back in 2010, Nike claimed to be writing the future. But who knew the future would include such a determined usurper as Beats?

Credits below, along with some great movie-style posters from the campaign.

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CREDITS
Client: Beats Electronics
Agency: R/GA
Production Company: The Sword Fight
Directed By: Nabil Elderkin
Starring: Neymar Da Silva Santos, Jr.
Featuring: Bacaray Sagna, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Blaise Matudi, Cesc Fabrigas, Daniel Sturridge, Chicharito, Jozy Altidore, Luis Suarez, Mario Gotze, Robin Van Persie
Special Appearances By: Lebron James, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Rafaella Beckran, Rio Ferdinand, Serena Williams, Sydney Leroux, Stuart Scott, Thierry Henry and Neymar Da Silva Sr.
Original Music: “Jungle” by Jamie N Commons & The X Ambassadors

With the 2014 World Cup in Brazil now just over a week away, Innocean has kicked off Hyundai’s World Cup campaign, entitled “Because Futbol.”

In the campaign, two new in-game 30-second spots featuring the redesigned 2015 Hyundai Sonata will accompany digital, social, CRM, and retail executions. The spots will air on ESPN and Univision “as part of Hyundai’s exclusive whistle-to-whistle automotive advertising sponsorship of the World Cup series broadcasts on the networks.” The creative theme behind both “Avoidance” and “Boom” is fan passion, with Innocean likening fans loyalty to their team to Hyundai’s number one ranking in customer loyalty. In “Avoidance” a passionate fan leaves the office having recorded the day’s match. Seeking to keep himself in the dark on the game’s outcome, he goes through all sorts of trouble to avoid interacting with those who would spoil the surprise. “Boom” looks at a completely different aspect of fan passion. The campaign also includes a “#BecauseFutbol” site, built on the Tumblr platform, which “inspires and engages fans with unique content and tools developed by dozens of leading Tumblr artists and content creators.” Tumblr artist content will also be featured on the Times Square Billboard in New York during the days leading up to the World Cup.

“Soccer fans are more than just supporters of the game – they are die hard, loyal fanatics for their teams and countries,” said Steve Shannon, vice president, marketing, Hyundai Motor America. “As the industry leader in customer loyalty, Hyundai knows a thing or two about passion. This year’s World Cup campaign shows what being a ‘true’ fan really means; and how for 30 days people come together, lives change, emotions rise and unexpected moments happen.”

Stay tuned for credits and “Boom” after the jump. continued…

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Where else? Texas.
Chipotle, that farm-friendly, Denver-based home for burrito mavens, has earned a fair amount of love in marketing circles for its witticisms, its literary credentials and its dedication to original content.

Now you can add Austin’s GSD&M to the chain’s long and winding wrap list of aficionados.

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DDB Chicago teamed up with Smuggler and Whitehouse Post to create “McDonald’s GOL!,” an online and broadcast spot for the World Cup sponsors.

The 1:50 video (above) celebrates amateur trickshots, including a few from unexpected sources, as players around the world show off their skills in anticipation of the 2014 World Cup, now less than 10 days away. It’s a fun approach, and many of the trickshots are quite impressive. At the conclusion of the video, viewers are prompted to visit gol.mcd.com, home of the campaign’s augmented reality trick shot game. The app utilizes Qualcomm Vuforia AR technology to allow players to bounce a digital soccer ball off real world items, but only after it is triggered from any of the 12 limited-edition FIFA World Cup™ fry boxes — which have supplanted the iconic red boxes for the World Cup promotion. Over the course of the campaign, the game will “be available to play from 1.5 billion fry boxes in almost 120 countries,” making it the largest AR experience ever created. Stick around after the jump for credits and a look at some of the fry boxes. continued…

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JWT Amsterdam has put together a World Cup campaign for ING, main sponsor of the Dutch national football team.

The campaign is built around the tagline/question, “What’s it going to be?” Visitors to the campaign website are encouraged to share their own answer to that question and predictions about the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The campaign launched in earnest on May 17th, with the above 50-second television ad, directed by Marco Grandia. Shot on location in Rio de Janeiro, the spot follows 32 children who represent 32 nations as they prepare for their own version of the World Cup. The second spot in the campaign will debut on June 12th, the day the World Cup kicks off in Brazil. At the end of the spot, voiceover from Dutch football commentator Evert ten Apel will invite viewers to enter an online pool filling in their predictions for each scheduled World Cup match.

“Of course it’s every creative’s dream to come up with a World Cup campaign, especially when you have a client that loves football as much as you do,” said Bas Korsten, executive creative director, JWT Amsterdam. “Because next to a campaign with an online heart that spreads across 8 or 9 different channels, it’s mostly the love of football that wins. It has the power to bring together a nation. And we hope this campaign from ING will help achieve just that goal.”

Stick around for credits and the second spot after the jump. continued…

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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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