Hasta La Creative!

Toronto FC has partnered with Sid Lee Toronto for a campaign highlighting their signing of star English striker Jermain Defoe (formerly of English Premier League’s Totenham Hotspur).

Working under the assumption that “soccer isn’t seen as big news in North America until it has become ‘footie news’ across the pond,” Sid Lee crafted a spot documenting the perceived shocked reaction to the news in England. “Our idea for the campaign came pretty early on – let’s elevate the magnitude of Jermain Defoe swapping Tottenham for TFC by having a bit of fun with how people might react to the news in Great Britain,” explains Jeffery DaSilva, creative director at Sid Lee.

Set in the London boroughs where Defoe has been front page news since the beginning of his career, the 30-second spot manages to depict shocked Londoners’ reactions in a clever and funny way (to say anything more would give too much away).  The “It’s a Bloody Big Deal” tagline acts as the perfect ending to the spot, emphasizing the importance of the deal and the connection to how the news is perceived in England.

The integrated campaign launched earlier this week with :10 and :15 second teaser spots appearing in high rotation on major sports networks; the full 30 second spot (featured above) debuts today. In addition to television ads, the campaign includes “a variety of print, online, and OOH executions that will blanket the city for the next five weeks.” Each of the campaign elements feature “a specially commissioned illustration” of Defoe outfitted in his new Toronto FC uniform.

Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Okay, so my Spanish may be a little rusty but I’m pretty sure the chorus to “Canción de Futbol” — the new song written by the band Kinky for Orci’s new Hispanic campaign for the 2014 Honda Civic Coupe — is “This song, song of soccer.” That being said, the song, which acts as the centerpiece for Orci’s “Gol!Gol!” campaign, is actually kind of catchy.

With the 2014 World Cup less than six months away, Orci decided to capitalize on people’s rabid obsession with the sport of soccer (I apologize to all international readers for using the term “soccer” but I’m American and am required to by law), as well as the popularity of Mexican electronic band Kinky. Orci wanted to tie fans’ youthful excitement for their favorite sport with the more fun, youthful features of the 2014 Honda Civic Coupe, using the song as a link between the two. “The same young, fun, excitement also applies to the 2014 Civic Coupe, so the song and futbol theme were a natural fit,” explains executive creative director Ricardo Cardenas.

“Gol!Gol!” — filmed by well-known Mexican director Diego Luna — features a couple of young soccer fans driving to a match in their new 2014 Honda Civic Coupe, singing along to “Canción de Futbol.” They soon realize that people they pass are also singing along to the song’s chorus, and dancing goofily — including star player Rafa Marquez. That’s pretty much the gist of “Gol!Gol!” — people jamming out to “Canción de Futbol.” Kinky’s song really is the heart of this campaign, and everything else seems built around it. You can check out the full, two minute version above, and keep an eye out for the 30 and 15 second versions which will air on national Spanish network and cable TV. The campaign was just launched today, and also includes online and mobile executions. Orci will also be taking over Honda’s Hispanic Twitter feed @HondaLatino for the “Gol!Gol!” campaign. “Canción de Futbol,” meanwhile, will receive an iTunes release later in the year. Credits after the jump. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Is there anything more heartwarming than watching children of all ages fall over repeatedly?

From Proctor & Gamble and W+K comes “Pick Them Back Up,” a new spot that’s part of the “Thank You, Mom” campaign running during the length of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. If you’ll recall, P&G and Wieden have been leaders in mom joy, child guilt and intermittent bouts of crying since a 2010 Mother’s Day campaign, which set the stage for the very viral 2012 London Olympics spot “Best Job.” Since the initial broadcast of “Best Job,” most of the world has been stuck in a routine of enthusiastic weeping followed by hugging their mom until it hurts.

Adding a little humor to the affair (this is, if you’re a sociopath like me), “Pick Them Back Up” sees attractive young mothers repeatedly watch their children fall down before picking them up, thus transforming them into successful Olympic athletes. For those mothers whose children didn’t grow up to be competitive in winter sports on an international scale, well, your time was better spent leaving your kid on the ice and just working on you for a while.

Of course, this spot also begs the question, how did they film so many babies falling over? Were they stunt babies, or did they trip them with invisible wires or something? In any case, after seeing this on TV, your mother’s gaze will slowly drift over to the photo she has of you as a baby on her nightstand, and she’ll sigh a million disappointed sighs because you were once so cute and loving and now you apparently don’t “have the time” to give her a call once in a while. She’s right, you know, because you just watched this and it caused you do to nothing. Credits, and one in a series of new athlete-specific video, follow after the jump.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The image of fat, overpaid athletes who don’t care about what they do as much as they should is an easy shot for fans to take. It’s occasionally true. But this angle almost never comes from the house, since gambling companies don’t need to take a stance one way or the other to make money. But in the UK, bookmaker Paddy Power has teamed with CP+B for “Fat Watch” a contest to the bottom that rewards soccer players who take the least shots or spend the most time on the bench. Fans who support the clubs of the laziest players (Fernando Torres) will win some undisclosed prize, which seems more like compensation for rooting for FC Shame.

The 30-second spot is pretty funny and plays more like a comedy sketch than a commercial. I don’t think this idea could play in America, but for the stodgy fans across the Atlantic, the campaign’s sneering tone feels like a great fit. Credits after the jump.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

TBWA/Chiat Day celebrates Peyton Manning breaking the NFL single-season touchdown record with an inspirational campaign for Gatorade.

At the heart of the new campaign is the thirty second spot, “51 And Counting.” The simple spot shows photos of Peyton unleashing each of his 51 touchdown passes, set to inspirational narration about ignoring those who tell you what you can’t do. It’s a timely response to Manning’s record-breaking season, and the association with Peyton is sure to win Gatorade some points with fans. That TBWA/Chiat Day couldn’t follow up the last photo with footage of the record breaking pass being completed is something of a letdown, but I imagine logistical/legal concerns are to blame. The campaign also includes a celebratory print ad in Sports Illustrated, congratulating Manning on winning the Sportsman of the Year award “by painting a picture of what it means to win from within using only words and Manning’s number, 18.” Stay tuned for the print ad, and credits, after the jump. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Texas stalwart The Richards Group teamed up with Sugar Film Production and director Chris Smith to create a new, four spot campaign for H-E-B.

The 30-second spots – “One For Each,” “Laundry Sorting,” “Splendid” (featured above)– all feature those fundamental playoff perennials/San Antonio Spurs stars Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan, and Kawhi Leonard in humorous scenarios. Each of the spots employs a type of self-depreciating humor too often absent from self-serious athlete endorsements. Even more refreshing is that the majority of the spots actually succeed at being funny. This is all thanks in large part to solid writing. The Richards Group delivers “scripts tailor-made…for the personalities and idiosyncrasies of the players…” and it really shows.

The funniest of the spots, “Splendid,” features Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili taking a steak dinner at home a little too seriously. “Laundry Sorting” is almost as amusing, highlighting Kawhi Leonard’s impressive laundry skills. “One For Each” and “Tough Talk” see the Spurs stars talking up H-E-B sauces and Mootopia (a type of post-workout drink) respectively. Stick around for “Laundry Sorting” after the jump.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

ESPN has a new in-house effort promoting their NBA Christmas lineup, and Calvin Broadus has yet another name. Santa Snoop narrates the effort, which riffs off the classic poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (better known by its first line, “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”).

The NBA Christmas spot is about as straightforward as it gets, supplementing Snoop’s narration with highlights of the teams featured in the Christmas day matchups. It all works, thanks mostly to Santa Snoop’s immediately recognizable voice. Who doesn’t love to hear this this guy? He could narrate a shopping list and make it sound intriguing. Beyond that, I really like the idea of Santa Snoop. He’s probably skinny enough to actually fit down a chimney, and I imagine he brings the kind of treats Santa normally wouldn’t feel comfortable trafficking in. So keep an eye out for Santa Snoop this Christmas morning and if you’re a hoops fan, tune in to the NBA on ESPN and ABC. The opening game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Chicago Bulls tips off at noon, followed by a doubleheader on ABC (Knicks/Thunder, then Heat/Lakers), and capped off with a prime-time doubleheader on ESPN, with the San Antonio Spurs hosting the Houston Rockets at 8 p.m., followed by the Golden State Warriors hosting the Los Angeles Clippers at 10:30 p.m. Credits after the jump. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Today, Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive and ESPN senior vice president Justin Connolly debuted a new brand campaign celebrating the planned launch of the SEC Network. Both national television spots and previews of print ads “were revealed as part of a series of SEC Network programming announcements made at a press conference prior to the SEC football championship game at the Georgia Dome, in Atlanta.” The new campaign, developed along with North Carolina agency McKinney, is called ”Take It All In,” which may or may not be a reference to butt chugging.

The campaign includes “a series of print, TV and online ads that not only focus on the overarching SEC Network, but also on each of the 14 schools of the SEC.” The full “Take It All In” campaign will roll out next year, leading into the launch of the network in August.

The debut TV spot, called ““Not Just a Casual Fan” (which, come to think of it, would have made a better campaign title), can be viewed above. It, in Justin Connolly‘s words, ”bring fans the grandeur of the SEC in a celebratory, immersive and real way.” As the title of the spot suggests, it features die-hard fans both old and young, many of them ridiculously dressed. This is a solid tactic, since these are the kind of rabid SEC fans who might shell out for the new network. It’s just too bad they didn’t think of all the implications to their tagline/campaign title. Or maybe they did. Credits after the jump. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Last year, Lionel Messi and Kobe Bryant faced off in an ad for Turkish Airlines, competing for a young fan’s attention. The ad, “Legends on Board,” became a gigantic viral success, now with over 105 million views on YouTube.

For better or for worse (definitely for worse), 2013 might as well be the “Year of the Selfie.” The ubiquitous word found its way into the vocabulary of everyone from grade schoolers to their grandparents and was even named Oxford English Dictionary’s Word of the Year. If you’re sick of hearing people jump at every opportunity to use this word, we’re with you. At any rate, it’s undeniable that the selfie has won itself a lasting position in our culture.

In an attempt to recapture the success of last year’s “Legends on Board” spot, CP+B has brought back the Bryant Vs. Messi formula, this time positioning the two in a “Selfie Shootout” in which each attempts to one-up the other with self-shot photos in exotic locations. The spot is the first ad CP+B put together for Turkish Airlines since winning ad duties for the airline back in September, and it’s a fine first effort. Without giving too much away I can say that Bryant and Messi both jump through hoops to one-up each other, and their photos get more and more exotic and over-the-top as the minute long spot progresses. CP+B manage to work something of a surprise ending into “The Selfie Shootout,” incorporating another Internet photo phenomenon.

Can “The Selfie Shootout” hope to match the success of “Legends on Board”? We would say yes. The entertaining ad incorporates the selfie phenomenon, has a much larger production budget than Alametifarika’s work last year, and is designed to jumpstart conversation. “The Selfie Shootout,” which was uploaded to YouTube yesterday, has already surpassed the 5 million view mark, and is certainly not showing any signs of slowing down. Its combination of star power, humor, and topical references make it just about unstoppable. Make no mistake, people will be talking about this one for some time. Our reservations about the overuse of “selfie” aside, we can’t blame them. “The Selfie Shootout” is just plain fun. Credits after the jump.  continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

A year ago, State Farm released a wonderful commercial from agency Translation suggesting NBA star Chris Paul had a twin brother, Cliff, who happened to be a State Farm agent—because he was "born to assist." In April, agency and client released an amusing follow-up spot. And now, they're cleverly extending the campaign all the way into product design through a deal with Nike's Jordan Brand.

Yes, the Los Angeles Clippers star's Jordan CP3.VII sneaker is now available in an argyle design—inspired by Cliff, who is always seen in an argyle sweater in the State Farm spots. (The CP3.VII sneaker is also the first Jordan brand shoe with iD customization on the Nike website.) A new State Farm spot, posted below, shows Chris and Cliff brainstorming ideas to bring their fans together—and landing on the custom shoe idea. Paul, as always, is doubly great in the new ad playing both himself and his nerdy alter ego, even if the plot line of the new :30 isn't as magical as the two previous :60s.

"I am always amazed at how people have connected to Chris and Cliff," Paul said in a statement to AdFreak. "I enter an arena and people call out 'Where's your brother?' Working with State Farm and Jordan on the argyle customization of my new shoe adds another level of creativity to marketing both the shoe and State Farm."

State Farm marketing chief Tim Van Hoof said the argyle iD customizations are "an exciting and cool way to connect with NBA fans and increase our relevance within the NBA culture." And Translation creative director Emily Sander said the agency wanted to "dig deeper and give fans a culturally relevant way to own a piece of the story. … We found the perfect way to organically continue infusing State Farm into sports culture, while adding more dimension to the character and his story."

See the previous spots below: