Hasta La Creative!

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…

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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:

After forever tainting beards and depressing me by winning the World Series (disclosure: I’m a Baltimore Orioles fan), the Boston Red Sox said goodbye to their playoff-grown facial hair in a mass “Shave Off” at Gillette World Shaving Headquarters on Monday, November 4.

If you’d like to commemorate that event, you’ll be glad to know that the “Gillette Fusion ProGlide razors that were used to shave each champion beard,” as well as the beards themselves — called beard ball trophies — are up for auction on eBay thanks to agencies Grey and Ketchum. It’s kind of gross and creepy, but at least it’s for a good cause. All of the proceeds for the auction are being donated to Movember, the global mens charity raising awareness and funds for prostate health through the growth of November mustaches that you may have read about here this month. If you’re interested, you can bid on Shane Victorino‘s beard ball here (the current bid is $1,550), or World Series MVP David Ortiz‘s beard here (current bid 3,050). “I’m glad that the beard that helped me throughout the series can now help raise funds for a great organization like Movember,” said Ortiz.

Gillette senior brand manager Hooman Shahidi says of the Red Sox shavings, “their facial hair has been the symbol of the team since spring training and became part of baseball lore. We hope the shavings help raise awareness for important men’s health issues and find good homes with passionate fans.” I know this is for a good cause and everything, but I’m trying to imagine the type of fan who spends thousands of dollars to obtain and display the facial hair of their favorite player, and “passionate” is not the word that comes to mind.

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We catch Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star Kevin Love and NBA commentator Mike Breen in medias res, driving through some nondescript green chunk of Basketballville in the latest NBA on ESPN RV spot from W+K New York.  With Breen’s steady hand at the wheel, Love turns to the passenger side window and notices a large billboard featuring his sultry face and a phone hotline called The Love Dial. They drive a bit farther and pass a second billboard. Love has no idea who’s behind this, so like any great detective, he decides to call the number. Another man picks up – it’s Love’s teammate/on-court soulmate Ricky Rubio, moonlighting as a sex-hotline entrepreneur in a dingy room that also has a video camera set-up to film something. I guess there isn’t much to do in Minnesota.

“Billboard” may not be as funny as a few of the more recent RV spots ESPN uses to promote its NBA coverage, but the clip has some edgy subject matter compared to the usually benign hijinks. The network probably won’t push the envelope any more than this, but this 30-second ad is an interesting sidestep in the NBA on ESPN commercial canon. Credits after the jump.

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Last year, Goodby Silverstein & Partners celebrated the holidays with their “BIG: Color” spot for the NBA, which they sometimes refer to as “Carol of the Balls” (sounds a bit gross to me.) Following on the success of that spot, the agency has put together another NBA Christmas carol for hoops fans, this time taking on the ubiquitous Christmas song known variously as “Jingle Bells” and “One-Horse Open Sleigh.”

The spot, “Jingle Hoops,” (the folks over at Goodby are undoubtedly referring to it as “Jingle Balls”) features five of today’s biggest NBA stars – Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, James Harden, Steve Nash and LeBron James – wearing Special Edition Christmas Day Uniforms and shooting hoops rigged with jingle bells, to a certain famous Christmas tune. Since the song normally ends with a shout of “Hey,” they had LeBron finish things out with an enthusiastic dunk. It’s a simple idea, well executed (personally I think they did a better job than with “Carol of the Bells” last year), that I imagine most NBA fans can appreciate.

Personally, I think it’s a bit early for Christmas/holiday stuff (Can we please wait until Thanksgiving?), but that’s a losing argument since the entire world has decided that November 1st (and sometimes earlier) is the proper time to start the winter holiday onslaught. Given that, the song choice is kind of appropriate, since “One-Horse Open Sleigh” was originally composed for Thanksgiving.

The Special Edition Christmas Day Uniforms are part of the Adidas Winter Court collection and will be worn by NBA players exclusively during Christmas Day games. Interested parties can purchase the uniforms online at the NBA store. Credits after the jump. continued…

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A delightful new campaign from Y&R Midwest and Anonymous Content director Brian Billow for BMO Harris Bank finds credit card holders joined by Bulls and Blackhawks players in their everyday lives. Above we see Bulls players Joakim Noah and Jimmy Butler accompany a family in the monotony of suburban living, from chatting about potholes getting to taking the dog outside for a bathroom break.

Meanwhile, your Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks are represented by Patrick Kane, Andrew Shaw, Corey Crawford, Bryan Bickell and Brandon Saad, who swim laps donning their complete uniforms and pads.

What makes these spots much funnier than other commercials for team credit cards is the fact that the players don’t seem to enhance the lives of BMO Harris cardholders. Instead, they just take part in the tedium of every day life. The juxtaposition of game-ready professional athletes and the typical morning routine help make these ads stand out, and they’ll definitely cause a few belly laughs from Chicago sports fans. See the whole campaign, which marks the first time BMO Harris Bank has featured Chicago Bulls players in its advertising, and the third time BMO Harris has featured Chicago Blackhawks players, here.

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On October 1, Zambezi released the first installment of an uncensored interview with Michael Jordan to coincide with the release of NBA 2K14. We’re pleased to cover the release of the second part as MJ, known to be private over the years, opens up a bit about his career, life, and family. When MJ talks about on-court incidents, the viewer can see brief reenactments of his most famous moments using the game’s graphics. The game has been out for awhile, but now that the NBA season is hitting its stride, 2K is looking for another marketing jolt to go with the PS4 and Xbox One releases in the next 10 days.

The best part is when MJ muses on his favorite Jordan shoe of all time, comparing it to choosing a favorite child, but then he goes ahead and rattles off his top-three in the next breath. By the transitive property, MJ could probably rank his offspring, which actually fits perfectly with his competitive and results-based history. Nothing wrong with that, just interesting insights that come from this four-minute candid interview.

Credits after the (basketball-related segue) jump.

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We’ve covered a few W+K New York RV spots for NBA on ESPN in the past here at Agency Spy including this recent effort. In the latest installments including  the one above dubbed “Notebook,” we have yet another healthy dose of awkward humor from the cavalcade of ESPN and Association talent.

The spot features NBA commentator Mike Breen, Warriors head coach/former ESPN analyst Mark Jackson and his shooting star, Steph Curry. The trio stumbles upon Jackson’s old draft notebook while storing luggage, complete with some rather unflattering notes on Curry. Predictably, this results in the comic awkwardness that’s been synonymous with this ongoing campaign and continues the long line of funny RV spots W+K NY has created for ESPN.

The second spot of the campaign, “Clapper,” is not as noteworthy. It features Breen and Curry in some by-now old hat clapper humor. You can view this quick spot and credits after the jump.

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From NYC-based All Out, this two-minute short film shows what it would look life if a gay Olympic medalist were able to celebrate with her partner in Sochi. Of course, it’s not that simple in Russia, where public displays of homosexuality are banned by the government, and systemic discrimination has prevented gay people from simply feeling like people in their own country. All Out is hoping to change that, at least legally, before the Sochi Games start in February 2014. The organization is asking that people share the video with #LoveAlwaysWins on social media. The goal, as the video shows, is to close the gap between what should be allowed and what is allowed. I wouldn’t bet on it, considering that the Olympics has always struggled to balance the messy mix of politics, human rights, and competition, but at least someone is trying. Credits after the jump.

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