Hasta La Creative!

BBDO New York released an extended 90-second version of a new spot for Mountain Dew Kickstart entitled “Come Alive,” which will run during the Super Bowl pregame show.

In the ad, three guys are sitting in a basement playing video games when one of them asks for a Kickstart. As they each take a sip, the music starts up (“Out The Speakers feat. Rich Kidz” by A-Trak, Milo & Otis) and things start to get weird. The three guys are compelled to start dancing, seemingly without intent — but that’s just the beginning. Soon everything in the room, from the dog to a head of a buck to a traffic sign hanging on a wall, join in for one super strange dance party, ending with the tagline, “It All Starts With a Kick.” The implication is that the highly-caffeinated beverage will provide you with energy for all manners of endeavor (not that it will take control over your body and perception, setting off a chain reaction of dance-madness over which you have no control). After the ad makes its Super Bowl pregame debut, the brand will promote it on social channels including Twitter, Vine, Snapchat and, of course, YouTube.

Credits:

Agency: BBDO New York
Client: Mountain Dew
Title: Come Alive

Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer, New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director: Tim Bayne
Executive Creative Director: Lauren Connolly
ACD/Copywriter: Dan Kelly
ACD/Art Director: Todd Rone Parker
Group Executive Producer: Julian Katz
Producer: Sofia Doktori
Executive Music Producer: Melissa Chester
Sr. Account Director: Ladd Martin
Account Director: Patrice Reiley
Account Manager: Kylie Halperin
Account Executive: Jillian Netzel
Planning Director: Jessica Summerfield

Production Company: Caviar
Director: Keith Schofield
Executive Producer: Michael Sagol
Executive Producer: Jasper Thomlinson
Executive Producer: Cathleen Kisich
Head of Production: Kelly Bowen
DOP: Damian Acevedo
Producer: Adrianne McCurrach

Edit House: Rock Paper Scissors
Executive Producer: Eve Kornblum
Producer: Lisa Barnable
Editor: Carlos Arias
Assistant Editor: Alexandra Debricon

Mix House: Heard City
Mixer: Phil Loeb

Post EFX: eightvfx
EP/Owner: Baptiste Andrieux
CD/Owner: Jean Marc Demmer
Executive Producer: Shira Boardman,
Executive Producer: Alyssa St. Vincent
VFX Supervisor: Yannick Leblanc
CG Lead: Jean-Baptiste Cambier
Lead Designer: Jaguar Lee
VFX Artist: Yann Mallard
Animator: Sue Campbell
Rigging: Kevin Culhane
Modeler: Diego Melgar
Look Dev: Damien Bataille
Flame Lead NY: Fabien Coupez
Flame Lead LA: Philip Ineno
Flame Compositor: Steve Miller
Flame Compositor: Alex Kolasinksi
Roto/Paint: Marianne Magne
Producer: Chad Carbone
Producer: Michael Shores
Coordinator: Kyle Leonard

Music:
Licensed Master: “Out The Speakers feat. Rich Kidz” by A-Trak, Milo & Otis

Deutsch LA is taking Mophie to the Super Bowl with an apocalyptic 60-second ad that is also the brand’s broadcast debut.

The spot, entitled “All Powerless” depicts all kinds of doomsday events, from gravity ceasing to function properly, to flying penguins, natural disasters and, for some reason, dogs walking their owners. Drawing in viewers with its visual imagination and mysterious premise, the ad finally brings everything together in its final seconds with the reveal that the preceding events were God’s cell phone losing power.

“All Powerless” was built around the insight that cellphone users feel powerless when their phone dies, which can have all kind of disastrous effects on their day. Deutsch LA places the dilemma on an epic scale by imagining what it would be like for a higher being.

“When your phone loses power, you lose power,” Pete Favat, chief creative officer, Deutsch LA, told Adweek.  “We’ve all had that feeling of vulnerability…For us, that might mean missing important meetings, getting lost while traveling or being unable to make that one important phone call. For the most powerful being in the universe, losing power truly means losing power.”

Favat went on to explain the strategy behind the fledgling brand’s costly broadcast debut, telling Adweek, “We’re trying to establish a new market with this ad. There’s 10 percent category awareness, 9 percent brand awareness for us. There’s no better opportunity than the Super Bowl to get attention for your brand.”

Mophie will support the broadcast spot with a promotional sweepstakes, giving away one million dollars worth of prizes should the game go into overtime (currently a 16:1 shot), and $10,000 in prizes if it does not.

Here’s the latest update on the year’s big Super Bowl ad scandal: GoDaddy told both AdAge and fellow trade pub PR Week last night that the kerfuffle surrounding its quickly retracted Barton F. Graf 9000 “puppy mill” campaign was completely unexpected and that the campaign was NOT a stunt designed to attract maximum media attention.

For the record, most readers of our sister site PRNewser remain convinced that the whole thing was planned…and a majority of those responding to our Twitter feed, as well as just over half of readers who voted in an online AdAge poll, feel the same way. As one tweeter put it, “client claiming ‘not a PR stunt’ is the most classic of PR stunts.”

The company seemed to offer conflicting statements yesterday: at first, reps implied that a second spot from BFG starring longtime spokesperson Danica Patrick (who recently plugged Coca-Cola for Wieden+Kennedy) was ready to air in place of the puppy…but statements to the trade pubs last night indicated that there’s still creative work to be done.

Over the past 24 hours, our contacts offered varied interpretations of the story: one calls it “a campaign turned into a stunt” while another theorizes that the client’s statements about misjudging the public reaction are honest…and too cynical by half. If that’s true, then the Danica Patrick ad that will run during the game may well have been created to serve as the second chapter in the new campaign.

On the PR side, general consensus holds that, if the events really did take the company by surprise, then at least they’ve done a good job in the cleanup aisle.

The client’s shift to BFG last year marked the second time GoDaddy has hired a new agency to “refresh” its image. While the new ad eschewed the casual sexism that usually wins the brand so much (negative) press attention, another contact told us that both client and agency seem to have forgotten that puppies — for whatever reason — are sacred figures in American pop culture.

Budweiser and Anomaly just proved that point.

What do we think? (Barton F. Graf 9000 wisely deferred to the client in every case.)

Here’s the story, of a man named Danny. Danny Trejo, that is, and he just might win the Super Bowl.

Snickers just released its full 30-second Brady Bunch-themed Super Bowl spot from BBDO New York, and it doesn’t disappoint. As expected, it features the “You’re not you when you’re hungry” joke format, and matches Mr. Trejo with everyone’s favorite eldest Brady girl, Marcia.

Without giving away too much, it takes place right after the famous scene where Peter hits Marcia in the nose with a football. (In hindsight, this wouldn’t have happened if the ball was just slightly deflated.) And it also features a very special suprise guest—and no, it’s not Tom Brady.

As promised in the teaser for this ad (also posted below), this spot was released early, as consumers did generate 2.5 million social media engagements before kick-off on Feb. 1.

And here’s the behind-the-scenes video:

CREDITS
Client: Snickers
Spot: Brady Bunch

Agency: BBDO New York
Chief Creative Officer, BBDO Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer, BBDO New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director: Gianfranco Arena
Executive Creative Director: Peter Kain
Director of Integrated Production: Dave Rolfe
Group Executive Producer: Amy Wertheimer
Executive Music Producer: Melissa Chester
Group Planning Director: Crystal Rix
Planner: Alaina Crystal
Managing Director: Kirsten Flanik
Global Account Director: Susannah Keller
Account Director: Joshua Steinman
Account Manager: Tani Corbacho
Account Executive: Jocelyn Choi

The Marketing Arm: Celebrity Talent, Intellectual Property, Music Rights Acquisition
Director, Entertainment: Brad Sheehan

O Positive: Production Company
Director: Jim Jenkins
Executive Producer: Ralph Laucella
Executive Producer: Marc Grill
DP: Trent Opaloch

Arcade: Editorial
Producer: Kirsten Thon-Webb
Editor: Geoff Hounsel
Assistant Editor: Healy Snow

The Mill: Post-Production Effects
Creative Director: Ben Smith
VFX Supervisor: Nick Tanner
Executive Producer: Verity Kneale
Producer: Carl Walters
Senior Compositor: Nathan Kane
Colorist: Fergus McCall

Q Department: Music House
Sound Lounge: Audio Mix (Tom Jucarone)
Lime Studios: Voiceover Record (Loren Silber)

A few days ago, NBC Sports leaked a 30-second teaser of its NASCAR ad starring Nick Offerman. Now, with a handful of days to go until the Super Bowl, they’ve unveiled the full spot, “America Start Your Engines” (the online version of which clocks in at just over two minutes).

The ad features Offerman lamenting the current state of our country, before offering NASCAR as an antidote. He sing-talks lyrics like “Welcome to the place where we speed all day/Where we bump and grind in a non-sexual way” over racing and tailgating footage (also featuring Offerman, naturally). It makes the most of Offerman’s persona, largely allowing the actor to play up his own personality for laughs, and is ultimately a pretty clever effort — especially considering it was  done in-house in collaboration with Hungry Man and director Dave Laden. While certain elements of the gag run out their welcome during the full duration, we imagine that will largely be taken care of during the edit for the broadcast version.

A 60-second version “America Start Your Engines” will run immediately following the conclusion of the Super Bowl, plugging NBC’s coverage of NASCAR beginning July 4th.

Squarespace has teased its ad from W+K featuring actor Jeff Bridges and if the teaser is any indication this may be the strangest ad broadcast during the Super Bowl.

The spot opens with an oddly-framed shot of Bridges as the actor says, “I love listening to intriguing sounds when I drift off into my dreams.” He’s plugging his album Jeff Bridges Sleeping Tapes, as a means of showing how even oddball ideas benefit from the Squarespace treatment. Proceeds from the album, full of “intriguing sounds, noises and other things to help you get a good night’s rest,” go to No Kid Hungry.

“We wanted to create a campaign to illustrate that any idea, no matter how wild or weird, can be presented beautifully and meaningfully through Squarespace,”  Anthony Casalena, Squarespace founder and CEO, told Adweek.

Squarespace does not plan to release W+K’s ad prior to the Super Bowl, but you can learn more about Bridges’ sleep album here. According to David Kolbusz, executive creative director at W+K New York, it really works. “[Bridges’] voice is like oak and leather and cigar smoke and the wilderness. I personally have fallen asleep to the recording on more than one occasion,” he said in a statement.

Sequels are tough. For every Godfather Part II, there’s a Godfather Part III. But Budweiser and Anomaly had such a big hit with “Puppy Love” on last year’s Super Bowl, they couldn’t resist going back to the well for another look at the “Best Buds”—the Clydesdales and their favorite golden Lab.

And so here it is: “Lost Dog.” Like last year’s ad, it was directed by RSA’s Jake Scott. We won’t spoil the plot, such as it is—the title tells you most of what you need to know. The Clydesdales, of course, come to the rescue of the wayward puppy, whom you’ll remember from the first ad has a tendency to roam and isn’t too concerned for his own safety.

Once again, music plays a key role here. This time we get a reworked version of “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by the Proclaimers, performed by Sleeping At Last. It’s a slow, acoustic version—more downbeat and poignant-sounding than last year’s choice, which was “Let Her Go” by Passenger. (Last year’s ad was itself a kind of sequel to 2013’s “Brotherhood,” featuring a baby Clydesdale and the same trainer from “Puppy Love” and “Lost Dog.” “Brotherhood” was set to Fleetwood Mac’s classic hit “Landslide.”)

“Lost Dog” is nicely produced, and will be well liked. But “Puppy Love” was a richer, more engaging story—that spot’s subtle parallels between the puppy/Clydesdale and the horse trainer/puppy adoption owner built a real connection over 60 seconds. This spot leans more on simple cuteness. It’s a decent sequel—but perhaps not a world-beating one.

Anheuser-Busch sent over these facts about “Lost Dog”:
• Eight puppies—seven females and one male—are featured in the spot, all of which were just 11-12 ½ weeks old at the time of filming.
• Seven Budweiser Clydesdales underwent training for three months to fine-tune their skills for the ad.
• It was shot at a ranch outside Santa Barbara, Calif., in early December.
• Actor Don Jeanes reprises his role as Budweiser Clydesdale trainer for a third time. Don is originally from Houston and now lives in Los Angeles.

After teasing its Super Bowl spot from New York agency Merkley + Partners some ten days ago, Mercedes unveiled the 60-second “Fable” yesterday.

As the teaser indicated, the spot is a twist on the classic fable of the tortoise and the hare. Much like in the original telling of the tale, the hare falls victim to his own arrogance. After storming out of the gate, he figures he has enough time for a game of cards while the tortoise slowly shuffles along. The tortoise, meanwhile, finds a way to win (spoiler: it’s the 2016 Mercedes-AMG GT S). It’s all cute and whimsical enough until the agency feels the need to throw in a little casual misogyny towards the end.

As Merkley CEO Alex Gellert explained to Adweek, the agency’s focus for the ad was squarely on entertainment value. “There is an expectation among consumers that Super Bowl advertising will be entertaining, that it is at least equal parts entertainment as sell if not slightly more entertaining than sell,” he said. “They are mini pieces of cinema.”

Kim Kardashian — err, Kim Kardashian West — stars in Publicis Seattle’s Super Bowl spot for T-Mobile, entitled “#KimsDataStash.”

The 30-second ad, which premiered last night on Conan, is presented as a mock PSA with Kardashian billed as “Kim Kardashian West, Famous Person.” She laments how “each month millions of gigs of unused data are taken back by wireless companies.” That’s data that could be used to look at her selfies, “sadly, all lost.” The spot ends with the line, “It’s Your Data, Keep It,” and introduces “Data Stash,” which lets users keep unused data for up to a year.

The self-skewering satire of the ad is sure to go over well with Kardashian’s fans, and while others will be as annoyed with “Kim Kardashian West, Famous Person” as ever, the spot does a good job of introducing the selling point of T-Mobile’s “Data Stash.” And between the celebrity star power and its Super Bowl airing, this one is sure to reach a lot of eyes.

After a quick attempt at entering Doritos’ “Crash The Super Bowl” competition, Droga5 began enlisting brands for Newcastle’s “Band of Brands” crowdsourced Super Bowl ad campaign, with help from Aubrey Plaza. Now, around a week after the last teaser with Plaza, the brand has revealed Droga5’s big game ad, featuring 37 different brands. The 60-second spot will run regionally in only one market: Palm Springs, California. But, like last year’s campaign, it’s sure to attract its share of attention online.

As you might expect, “Band of Brands” is a whirlwind of brand placement and big market advertising parody. Opening, appropriately enough, with a couple opening up some bottles of Newcastle, the ad manages to name drop Match and Armstrong Flooring in the first ten seconds. The pace only picks up from there as the ad gets more over-the-top and self-effacing about its brand references. At one point, the man looks at his watch and runs upstairs to pitch Charisma bedding, passing by a host of signs for other brands along the way. While the ad is basically the one joke we’ve been expecting from “Band of Brands” all along, it handles it entertainingly enough and the ad fits in well with the tone of the brand’s previous campaigns — even if it doesn’t have the staying power of last year’s “If We Made It.”

“Not only did we create the world’s first crowdfunded Big Game ad, but I’m pretty sure we just made the cheapest Big Game ad ever,” said Priscilla Flores Dohnert, brand director for Newcastle Brown Ale, in a statement. “By asking other brands to team up with our brand we are making a statement that Big Game advertising should be accessible to everyone, whether they can afford it or not.”