Hasta La Creative!

If there’s one thing that Detroit has going for it right now, it’s the Tigers. And if there’s one thing the Tigers always have going for them, it’s the super-dependable Miguel Cabrera, arguably the best hitter in baseball. So, if you’re a Detroit car company, just slap Miguel Cabrera in an ad and you’ve got a winner, right?

Doner (which will inevitably be mocked as “boner” in the comments section) has tapped Cabrera’s talents for their latest spot for Chrysler. Alternating between shots of Cabrera, aspiring young baseball players training, and the Chrysler Town & Country while talking about how there’s “one road to greatness” and there are “no shortcuts” whether “you’re trying to become the world’s greatest player or build the world’s greatest car” the spot pretty much sticks to a well-trodden formula. Ending with the irritatingly nonsensical “Imported From Detroit” tagline, and the better thought out #NoShortcuts hashtag, the spot certainly feels familiar.

There’s really nothing new about Doner’s approach, but as a baseball fan, the spot works for me. The background music sounds like it was taken from a “serious sports spot” stockpile somewhere and the “work hard to achieve greatness” message is certainly nothing new for Chrysler. But Miguel Cabrera isn’t just a great baseball player, he’s a seriously likable one, no matter what team you root for, with a truly photogenic swing. So despite the tired tropes of the spot, I can’t find it irritating (except for that tagline). The hometown appeal is obvious, but having people associate your product with Cabrera is a good thing, no matter where they’re from. But please Doner, work on a new tagline. Credits after the jump.

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When you’re selling a product that in all likelihood will provide people with absolutely nothing, appearances become even more important.

So the Multi-State Lottery Assocation tapped director Jay Silverman and Silverman Productions for a $30 million campaign for Powerball, featuring NFL Hall of Fame players Terry Bradshaw, Warren Moon, Joe Namath, Jerry Rice, and Barry Sanders. They were very pleased with the results. Chuck Strutt, executive director of the Multi_State Lottery Association says in a statement, “Jay and his team manage to pull out the true personalities behind these legends, capturing them for all to see, without any guesswork.”

The campaign capitalizes not just on the popularity of these all-time great NFL players, but also on Dancing with the Stars, via Jerry Rice’s inclusion. There’s also an “Ultimate Tailgate Party” promotion, which will allow Powerball players to win admittance to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Fan Festival at Cleveland’s I-X Center on May 3–4, 2014 and attend a special tailgate party the night before.

The Ultimate Tailgate Party is plugged in the spot “Anniversary Gift,” in which a woman suggests to her significant other that they get each other Powerball tickets for their anniversary. “You could hang out with some of the greatest football players ever,” she suggests as we flash to a scene of the man interacting with Barry Sanders and Joe Namath. “But what will you do?” he asks, as we flash to a scene of her dancing with Jerry Rice. The woman claims to just be thinking of him, with a knowing smile.

In another spot, “The Fun of Powerball,” we see the same couple trying to decide on “something exciting to do” in the grocery store. Jerry Rice pops up out of nowhere and suggests they play Powerball. “Is that Jerry Rice?” the woman asks, excited. “The Hall of Fame football player?” responds the man, to which the woman says, “No, the dancer.” It’s a little hokey, but a humorous examination of how a couple might see Jerry Rice a little differently after his turn on Dancing with the Stars. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who only know Rice from his time on the popular show. Each spot concludes with Terry Bradshaw enticing viewers to play Powerball for their chance to win.

This campaign has an almost nostalgic kind of cheesiness to it. These spots feel like they could have been made anytime between the 90s and now, if only Dancing with the Stars had existed back then (I’m really grateful it didn’t, though). There’s something reassuring in that.

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Question: What would a contemporary soccer-related version of “Les Miserables” look like if we replaced all the singing actors with kids and threw in the craftiest living man in cleats? Answer: This tw0-minute Leo Burnett commercial promoting Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 and accompanying smart watch. When Lionel Messi isn’t dominating the pitch or allegedly evading taxes, he’s also rebuilding cities as an urban developer! For the kids!

From a narrative perspective, this spot is about as corny as it gets – I think it will be very tough to top the new pair of Samsung ads that show the progression of pop-culture smart watches over the years and harp on some brilliantly revealed nostalgia. But “The Developer” is enjoyable on a micro level if you don’t think about it too hard, kind of like every James Cameron movie. Messi on his suit and tie. Kids singing a cute version of Lorde’s single “Royals.” There’s even a building demolition scene if you’re into that. And if you’re not, there’s always Messi, on his suit and tie, smiling, playing soccer with kids. Everybody loves that.  Credits after the jump.

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Ogilvy Chicago’s latest spot in their “People Who Get It” campaign for CDW features Charles Barkley, Doug Flutie, and a technologically advanced stadium without a team.

In the spot, Jim Gordon takes you on a tour of Gordon and Taylor stadium, a domed football stadium he touts as “the most technologically advanced stadium in the world,” thanks to CDW. Features include “3,000 screens, stadium-wide wi-fi, seamless POS systems and a cloud infrastructure solution.” The funniest moment of the spot comes right after this list of features. “Do I know what those are? Not exactly,” Gordon admits. “But they sound impressive.” This should hit home with a lot of people who fall a good deal short of IT expert, myself included.

Over the course of the spot it’s revealed that Gordon has the perfect stadium, a half-time show, cheerleaders, a mascot, Charles Barkley and Doug Flutie on board — basically everything he needs, except a team. He seems to get more and more panicked about this as the spot goes on. Looks like Flutie may have to QB himself. The spot is fun and lighthearted, although I wish Barkley had more lines as he has a good comic presence. I wouldn’t be too surprised to see a follow-up spot

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Hours after Derrick Rose tore his ACL, way back in April of 2012, the Nike designer who created the shoe of LeBron James tweeted out this:

You got one guy only getting stronger, and one guy breaking down before our very eyes. You chose poorly Pooh… #shouldasignedwithNIKE #GWS

— Jason Petrie (@sevenzro1) April 28, 2012

Pooh is the nickname given to Rose by his grandmother. @sevenzro1 is the Twitter handle of Jason Petrie, a dummy. The insensitive remark viraled its way around the Internet and added another layer of brand machismo to the Nike v. Adidas debate.

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While 49ers fans would prefer if the Seattle fanbase could keep the noise level down to polite golf claps and the occasional “Good job, sport,” Seahawks fans will continue to bring the noise.

After setting a world record for crowd noise Sunday night, and pissing off some 49ers fans in the process, Seahawks fans, aka the 12th man, are synonymous with the word “loud.” Hometown agency Wexley School For Girls and Pico Sound have embraced that identity with their new spot, entitled simply “Louder.” The :30 spot shows Seahawks fans raising the decibel level while 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick tries to call a play at the line of scrimmage, only to be forced to settle for a timeout due to the deafening noise. “Louder” concludes with the tagline “Bigger Faster Stronger Louder” and the hashtag #Louder. That hashtag should provoke enthusiastic responses from the Seahawks faithful, and its share of angry tweets from 49ers fans, who would prefer the hashtag #SettleDownPleaseIt’sGettingALittleTooNoisyAtThisFootballMatch.

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Ogilvy and Mather NY’s latest spot for Time Warner Cable Sportscast, “Crazy,” directed by David Gray, asks if it’s crazy to love football so much that you do things that might be a little…unusual.

The simple :33 spot highlights a series of super-fan behaviors as a humorous way to advertise how missing a game is what would really make you crazy. The spot may have been more effective if they had went a little further out there with the “crazy” fan behaviors though, as most of them are pretty tame. The touchdown dance one, in particular, could have been replaced with something a little “crazier.” A lot of people don’t know how to dance.

Wearing the same outfit every game day? Setting up your daughter’s Brownie troop in shotgun formation? Growing a lucky beard?

No, Time Warner, that’s not crazy. But accidentally broadcasting porn on a children’s channel is. Credits after the jump. continued…

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McDonald's and Burrell Communications update a classic Super Bowl spot from 1993, pitting Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens and Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers, the opposing quarterbacks from the big game in February, against each other in a contest for the chain's Mighty Wings. Their competition features improbable passes through distant goalposts. First one to miss watches the winner eat.

The original commercial starred Larry Bird and Michael Jordan playing a game of Horse for a Big Mac. Their increasingly crazy contest took them from a basketball arena to the top of Chicago's Sears Tower as Jordan called a fantastical shot: "Off the expressway, over the river, off the billboard, through the window, off the wall …"

That tale was self-contained, and fittingly, there was no winner, giving the impression that the two titans would battle for all eternity, ultimately bouncing balls off the moon and stars in their quest for a burger. (Luckily, McDonald's food would still be in decent condition no matter how long they played.) The reboot has two parts. The first 30-second installment (posted below) breaks on TV tonight and ends on a cliffhanger, as a power failure throws the quarterbacks into darkness—"Oh man, not again!"—and someone apparently tries to make off with their box of wings. Who could it be? Jordan and/or Bird? Tim Tebow? Miley Cyrus? (OK, we know it's not Tebow.) The revelation comes in Part 2, set to air Oct. 6.

Marlena Peleo-Lazar, chief creative officer at McDonald's USA, calls the remake "a fresh take on an idea our customers have loved, but in a sport they haven't seen us do it with." That's all well and good, and the effort is certainly getting buzz. Still, a remake with stars from a different sport was hardly necessary. And regardless of the big reveal, and even with original director Joe Pytka behind the camera, it was doomed to pale by comparison with the original commercial.

Don't get me wrong. The new ad is well-made and amusing … but Bird and Jordan, in this context, cannot be replaced. They were more than great athletes. They were transcendent figures who helped define the popular culture of their generation. Flacco and Kaepernick are gifted on-field performers, and seem like nice enough guys, but they lack the stature and quite frankly, the charisma of their predecessors. The 1993 spot felt right because you really could picture Larry and Michael playing a little one-on-one for their personal edification, sans cameras, ribbing each other for each missed shot. Flacco and Kaepernick, well, I guess they'd have a throwing contest if McDonald's paid them lots of money to do it in a commercial.

Plus, the blackout, echoing the one that stopped Super Bowl XLVII for 30 minutes, and the "To be continued" aspect feel like cutesy gimmicks added to compensate for the new spot's inability to match up to its inspiration.

If Bird and Jordan don't make an encore appearance in Part 2, it would be disappointing, because that's what the setup demands. If they do, it could seem pat and predictable. The original was nothing but net. So far, the remake feels like an incomplete pass.

Fresh from his U.S. Open triumph, Rafael Nadal comes on like the candy man in ESPN's latest tongue-in-cheek SportsCenter spot from Wieden + Kennedy in New York. Network personalities John Anderson and Bram Weinstein just can't figure out why Rafa is such a chick magnet around the ESPN offices. Could it be his tan? His dimples? Keep your shirts on, gentlemen, because the answer comes at the end, when we learn that it's the sweet, sweet stuff in Nadal's big, shiny cup that keeps them coming back for more. Roger Federer's commercial performances, even when he's pimping Lindt chocolates, are never as tasty.

A Wisconsin golf course posted an apology on Facebook late Monday for a newspaper ad pledging to commemorate 9/11 with an offer of "9 holes with cart for only $9.11." The ad for Tumbledown Trails Golf Course, which reportedly ran in Monday's Wisconsin State Journal, offered the $9.11 rate (or $19.11 for 18 holes) only on Wednesday, Sept. 11, to honor the 12th anniversary of the terror attacks on New York and Washington.

As the ad spread online, critics came out in droves, sparking two apologies from the business on Facebook. First, the course said it would raise the rate back to normal and donate the difference to the National September 11 Memorial. A follow-up comment pleaded, "We are a family owned business & proudly support all local charities and have always gave 20% off everyday to all Police, Fire, Emergency, Military, etc. Please accept our apology." Finally, in a third Facebook update, the course said it might simply close on Wednesday because "we are now worried about what people will do/say to our staff & do not want anything to happen or get out of control."

Hat tip to Josh Orton on Twitter, via Scott Stratten.