Imagine having a client like McDonald’s that is so globally famous that you don’t even need to display the brand’s logo or name in ads. TBWAParis, which has worked with McDonald’s in France since 1985, has leveraged the power of the fast food brand’s menu in its latest campaign, which features out-of-home ads of a…
Remember The Red Baloon? The 1956 short by French director Albert Lamorisse has become something of a childhood staple and the film, which won both an Oscar for best original screenplay and a Palme d’Or, is generally remembered fondly by kids and film students everywhere.
TBWAMedia Arts Lab seems to have looked to the film for inspiration (we’re not the only ones to make the comparison) in its new spot promoting the iPhone 7’s new expressive messages capability, allowing users to send animated messages including, yep, balloons.
The spot opens on a solitary red balloon, which floats out a window, across mountains and forests to the city. There it is met by a swarm of balloons of all different colors before reaching its ultimate destination.
That description probably sounds pretty familiar if you’re acquainted with the aforementioned Albert Lamorisse film, but the 60-second spot comes across as an homage rather than a mere rip-off. Its cinematic scenes are well constructed and ultimately in service of a message that is well tied to a feature of the product. If it takes “Baloons” awhile to get to the point, its eye candy should entice viewers enough to get them there.
The spot is the latest in the brand’s “Practically Magic” campaign for the new iPhone, which launched earlier this month with TBWAMAL’s “Midnight” and the in-house effort “Morning Ride.”
This isn’t the first ad to focus on a red balloon, though the homage in W+K’s 2014 animated Coca-Cola spot was a little less direct.
Airbnb is no stranger to controversy in its marketing efforts.
The home sharing service recently teamed up with Strother Nuckels Strategies for a political campaign which claimed that the company helps middle class families. That work came in response to an effort launched last summer by lobbying group the Share Better Coalition which criticized the company, claiming that forty percent of Airbnb revenue in New York went to real estate moguls.
Last fall, the company angered some in San Francisco with an OOH campaign advocating against Proposition F, a proposed law that would have required Airbnb to be classified as a hotel chain, by lightly shaming libraries and other such organizations for the tax money they receive from the hotel industry and businesses like Airbnb. In the fallout from that campaign, CEO Brian Chesky essentially laid the blame on TBWAChiatDay, claiming the agency had “embarrassed” his company.
Airbnb’s latest move might not sit well with its agency partners, either.
The company is using content-sourcing company MoFilm to crowd-source ideas for its holiday campaign with an “Airbnb Holiday Ideas Contest.”
The call for entries, which was written by MoFilm, reads in part, “It’s a pitch situation, where we’ll put forward the best-of-the-best from our global network in an effort to gain the business.” It then calls members of its community to “Think big and think local. Infuse your ideas with knowledge of your own city, or cities you’ve been to in the past. And remember it’s not just Christmas, it’s any holiday worthy of a trip via Airbnb.”
The person running this contest is Carter Hahn, who spent several years as an account manager at Goodby Silverstein & Partners and served as lead on the HP, Adobe and Nintendo accounts.
The deadline for submissions is October 3, so if you want to participate you’ll have to hurry over to MoFilm and sign the NDA to get the brief. The top five concepts will be awarded a $500 cash prize!
TBWAChiatDay launched a new digital campaign with a series of online spots starring Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, Washington Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper and 2016 NBA Rookie of the Year Karl-Anthony Towns Jr.
In the spots, announcers point out an individual casually enjoying a Gatorade without breaking a sweat. Then one of the athletes pops up to make the person “burn it to earn it.” In “D Up with Karl-Anthony Towns,” for example, he slaps a man’s Gatorade out of his hand. Then he gives him a basketball and once he’s broken a sweat, and been thoroughly humiliated by the 7 foot tall Timberwolves center, he’s allowed to have his drink back.
The approach is very similar to a digital campaign from two years ago featuring Rob Belushi, Peyton Manning and Cam Newton. It’s essentially a defensive approach, staving off criticism of the company for peddling sugar water with the concept that the drink is meant for athletes who have “earned” the sugar by burning calories.
“With sugar being such a hot topic of conversation, especially in the beverage space, we wanted to talk about it head on — that our product is for athletes, the sugar is functional. It’s in there for a reason, to help fuel athletes and we are actually proud of it,” Gatorade head of consumer engagement Kenny Mitchell explained to AdAge. “We just want to make sure folks are earning it [and] we wanted to make sure that message is clear.”
It also calls to mind a bit by the late comedian Mitch Hedberg, who said, “I’m thirsty for absolutely no reason, other than the fact that liquid has not touched my lips for some time. Can I have a Gatorade too, or does that lightning bolt mean no?”
With these spots and the similarly-minded earlier effort, the brand seems to be saying that no, you can’t. That approach is at least a little unusual in that it risks alienating a segment of the brand’s audience (namely, just thirsty dudes). But then that may be taking the ads a bit too seriously.
TBWAMedia Arts Lab launched its first big effort for the new iPhone 7, focusing on the phone’s low-light camera in the 60-second broadcast spot “Midnight.”
The spot shows off the new iPhone’s low-light camera via a boy skateboarding around town and taking photos in the middle of the night. Set to “In A Black Out” by Hamilton Leithauser and Rostam, the spot follows the young photographers as he takes shots of moths around a lightbulb, sprinklers going off in a yard (touching on the phone’s water resistance as well), a deer roaming around a gas station and the moon over a cityscape below.
As you would expect from an centering on the phone’s perks for photography, it’s all very beautifully shot. The attention to detail in the lighting and cinematography is a step up from Apple’s usual offerings and the scene is paced well to the musical selection. It’s also not hard to see why Apple and TBWAMAL chose the approach, as the iPhone’s camera has consistently been a selling point for the brand.
“Midnight” made its broadcast debut last night during the Emmy’s and was joined by another spot promoting the iPhone 7, “Morning Ride.” The 30-second, in-house spot gives the water resistance feature center stage. It focuses on a bicyclist preparing to go out on a morning ride, in the middle of a thunderous rainstorm, concluding with the “Perfectly Magic” just as his garage door opens.
Water resistance is also one of the features promoted in “Go Time,” the brand’s in-house production for the Apple Watch Series 2. Set to the Nina Simone classic “Sinnerman,” the spot features a montage of users showing off various features, among them the aforementioned water resistance (up to 50 meters) and built-in GPS. The usual crowd is targeted, with Apple Watch users in the ad including both dedicated workout enthusiasts and young people who just want the latest accessory.
Back in March, we posted on chief strategy officer Rebecca Stambanis and executive creative director Jorge Calleja joining TBWAMedia Arts Lab following the departures of Marc-Antoine Jarry and Eric Grunbaum the previous month.
Now, less than six months later, both Stambanis and Calleja are no longer with the agency.
Executive director of integration Kaitlyn Wilkins, who joined TBWAMedia Arts Lab in March after overseeing strategy and integration for all brand and product marketing campaigns at Burberry London, has also left the Apple shop. A spokesperson for TBWAMedia Arts Lab confirmed the departures, but declined to comment further.
Before joining TBWAMAL, Stambansis spent over five years at W+K Portland as global group strategy director on the Nike account. That followed over two and a half years as deputy director of brand strategy at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, working with clients including Nintendo, Comcast and Haagen-Dazs.
Calleja joined TBWAMAL following several years as executive creative director at The Martin Agency, leading the agency’s Tic Tac, Stoli and Mondelez accounts. He also spent time as a creative director with Sid Lee and W+K, where he focused on the Coca-Cola business.
The quick exits of Stambansis, Calleja and Wilkins mark the latest in a series of executive departures at Media Arts Lab. In addition to Jarry and Grunbaum leaving in February, worldwide managing director Dave Dreyer and executive creative director Steve Turner both left TBWAMedia Arts Lab in April.
Multiple parties alerted us to the pending news, but we have not yet received any word as to why they left the agency or why their departures came so soon after the initial hiring news.
Intel Corporation appointed TBWAChiatDay as its global B2B agency of record following a three month review led by the client.
“Our company strategy is about powering the billions of smart, connected computing devices across the globe,” Intel director of business marketing strategy Kathy Garchow said in a statement. “Our work with TBWAChiatDay will help us better connect how our technology enables our business customers to achieve their success.”
The account will be run out of TBWAChiatDay’s Los Angeles office, in collaboration with TBWAChiatDay New York, while working in conjunction with TBWA teams in other markets, including TBWALondon, TBWAHakuhodo, TBWAGreater China, TBWADüsseldorf, and Omnicom sister shop Doremus. TBWAChiatDay will be tasked with developing an integrated global campaign targeting senior business and IT leaders. It is unclear when the agency’s first work is expected for the client.
For TBWAChiatDay, the win follows its New York office scoring lead creative duties for Pespi’s Izze brand as the larger organization continues to rebound from losing AOR duties on Miller Lite this April.
“We are thrilled to partner with Intel, a brand whose value, influence, and pioneering technologies continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible,” said TBWAChiatDay L.A. President Erin Riley, who succeeded 14-year TBWA vet Luis DeAnda in the position this May. “We look forward to working alongside our TBWA teams around the world to build an integrated brand platform that taps into culture and resonates with modern business customers.”
“Intel is a truly iconic brand that has powered incredible stories of innovation throughout its history,” added TBWAChiatDay L.A. executive creative director Linda Knight, who joined the agency last November. “We’re excited to create the kind of disruptive work that lives up to this spirit of breakthrough and possibility, and to bring a fresh approach to B2B communications.”
Creative, tech and entertainment agency Narrative_ promoted Benjamin Vendramin to the role of chief creative officer, tasked with “driv[ing] the agency’s creative and tech-driven approach to story-led brand experiences” from its New York headquarters.
“Benjamin’s branding experience, hybrid approach to creative and strong embrace of technology is the perfect fit for our culture,” Narrative_ co-founder and CEO Tricia Clarke-Stone said in a statement.
Vendramin joined the Russell Simmons-backed agency as an ECD in February following a brief stint as a freelancer with JWT and other area shops. He previously spent 9 years with McCann, rising to the level of VP/group creative director and creating campaigns for clients including Verizon and the Ad Council. He directed “The Greatest Action Movie Ever,” a campaign promoting Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move anti-obesity project that took home awards at The One Show, Cannes and The Webby Awards.
Previous jobs include a stint at TBWAChiatDay, where he was an ACD on Infiniti and led the network’s Toronto office as co-CD and managing partner. He also ran Canada’s Goodgoll Vendramin (formerly Goodgoll Curtis).
Narrative_ may not be quite as visible as some other New York shops, but the agency does a lot of VR and activation-based work. It also recently created an interesting mobile-only campaign promoting its founder’s RushCard company; the work, which requires viewers to flip their phones for “alternate” views of different characters, examined the way people perceive black men differently depend on the way they’re dressed.
Vendramin led creative on that work. Regarding his time with the agency, he said, “Narrative’s innovative approach, technological know-and real-time internal production capabilities really impressed me.”
Today TBWAMedia Arts Lab launched “The Human Family,” the latest in its “Shot on an iPhone” campaign for Apple.
The spot takes a different tone then past efforts in the campaign with narration Maya Angelou, who reads from her poem “Human Family.”
In its images as well as the words, the spot celebrates the similarities of that family, underscoring how “We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.” Set to a dramatic piano score, Angelou’s narration is paired with a series of images shot, of course, on the iPhone 6S, which represent people’s differences, similarities and human connections.
It’s quite the departure from “Onions,” the 60-second spot TBWAMedia Arts Lab released to promote the iPhone 6S back in April.
At the time, we appreciated that the agency was keeping things light for Apple, but while “The Human Family” takes a more serious approach for the brand, it works. That’s largely thanks to Angelou, whose words and strong narration make what is otherwise just a slide show of photos and video seem like something more substantive.
We do still kind of miss Cookie Monster, though.
TBWAMedia Arts Lab poached Katrien De Bauw from Saatchi & Saatchi to serve as regional managing director of its London office, beginning in October, Campaign reports. Saatchi & Saatchi told the publication it is currently looking for a candidate to replace her. At TBWAMAL, she will replace Tom Hares, who left in March to found a startup.
In her new role, De Bauw will be responsible for overseeing the office’s day to day operations and leading the office’s senior management team while reporting to L.A.-based executive director of international Mike Litwin.
De Bauw has served as chief operating officer for Saatchi & Saatchi London for the past three and a half years. Before joining Saatchi & Saatchi she spent over seven year as managing director with Fallon London. Prior to that she spent nearly four and a half years with TBWA London as an account director, following two and a half years as an account executive with Lowe and Partners in Brussels.
“Katrien has always been a brilliant leader at Saatchi & Saatchi London,” Saatchi & Saatchi U.K. CEO Magnus Djaba told Campaign. “But the thing with brilliant leaders is that eventually, they need their own business to run. We’ll miss her, but we also couldn’t be happier for her.”
“Leaving the Saatchi family has been one of the hardest decisions, but this is an extremely exciting time to join TBWAMedia Arts Lab,” De Bauw added. “The opportunity to work on a brand as high profile and iconic as Apple and be at the forefront of the next generation of Apple advertising is simply too good to pass up.”
TBWAChiatDay L.A. launched a new spot for Gatorade featuring Serena Williams, Usain Bolt, April Ross and Paul George training hard with some help from their younger selves.
The spot opens with Williams waking up to an alarm and Young Serena saying “It’s time to play” before heading for the court. Viewers are then introduced to young versions of the other stars, who continue to push their respective older selves through rigorous training throughout the spot, set to Jimmy Durante‘s “Young at Heart.”
The message is underscored with the line “The Best Never Lose That Love” at the ad’s conclusion, gelling nicely with the overall “For the Love of Sports” brand message. In addition to the 60-second spot, the campaign also includes “Fuel the Love Forward” spots featuring Bolt, Williams and Ross telling their own stories. Additionally, Gatorade is furthering the youth sports connection by asking visitors to the campaign landing site to vote for which youth athletic charities the brand should donate to.
TBWAChiatDay announced a series of key promotions and new hires in its New York office.
The agency named Aki Spicer (below) as chief digital officer, elevated Evan Weissbrot to chief engagement officer and named Jason Souter to head of integrated production. Trish Schmitt and Ted Guidotti (above) join TBWAChiatDay as global creative directors.
Spicer received the promotion from director of digital strategy and content planning, a role he has held since joining the agency in March of 2013. Before arriving at TBWA, he spent nearly four years as director of digital strategy with Fallon, working with clients including Cadillac, H&R Block, Travelers, Purina Petcare Brands, Totino’s, NBC-Universal, IFC and Comedy Central. He originally joined Fallon as a strategic planning director in October of 2005, receiving the promotion to director of digital strategy a little over three and a half years later.
Weissbrot joined the agency as executive director of of engagement on Nissan United two years ago, following over a year and a half as a global account director with OMD Media Direction. Before that he spent a little over a year as CMO with Echoed and over five and a half years as vice president, group media director with Universal McCann.
Souter received the promotion to head of integrated production from his previous position as group executive producer on Michelin, Kraft, Planters, BNY Mellon and beIN Sports, a role he has held since November of 2014, following four years as executive producer, production director on Michelin, Kraft and beIN Sports. He joined the agency back in 2004 as an associate broadcast producer, receiving a promotion to integrated producer the following year. After three years in that role, he was promoted to senior producer, media arts, working with such brands as Absolut, Jameson, Michelin, Skittles, Snickers, Starburst and Vonage in that role before receiving the executive producer, production director nod.
Schmitt and Guidotti join the agency from SS+K, where they have worked as freelance creative directors for the past several months, following nearly eight years as partners at creative freelance team Mighty Splinter. Prior to Mighty Splinter, the pair spent several years as creative directors and then group creative directors with mcgarrybowen.
We hear that the agency’s Los Angeles offices will have staffing announcements soon as well.
TBWAChiatDay New York launched a Father’s Day spot for Canadian retailer Sport Chek, celebrating the “#GreatOnes” with The Great One himself, Wayne Gretzky.
The spot features voiceover from Gretzky as he pays homage to his “first teammate,” who bought his “first stick,” was the “first defender” he faced and “first goalie” he scored on. While Gretzky’s voice acting abilities aren’t on par with, say, his stick handling skills, his tribute to his dad does come across as heartfelt, set to home video footage of young hockey players with their dads and, later in the spot, footage from Gretzky’s professional career. “From my first step on the ice until my last step off of it, you were there for me,” Gretzky concludes, followed by the message “To the great ones behind the great ones. Happy Father’s Day.”
You’d be pretty hard-pressed to find a bigger national hero in Canada than Wayne Gretzky, so having him signed on to this Father’s Day effort is a clear win for the brand. The message around it is a common one for such efforts, but that speaks as much to the nature of the Hallmark holiday than any creative shortcomings, and Gretzky’s involvement alone helps it stand out from the pack.
“#GreatOnes” will make its broadcast debut tonight during game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals, so the timing of the release, which comes just less than two weeks before Father’s Day, couldn’t be better. We’re guessing more than a few hockey fans will be watching the game with their fathers and the spot could act as a friendly (and timely) reminder to get dad something for Father’s Day. The ad will also live online via Spor Chek’s digital and social channels, and even received an assist from Gretzky on Twitter, using the “#GreatOnes” hashtag.
Credits:
Chief Creative Officer: Chris Garbutt
Creative Director: Sergio Flores
Associate Creative Director (Copywriter): Jake Greer
Associate Creative Director (Art): Denver Eastman
Designer: Alex Holm
Copywriter: Avi Steinbach
Head of Integrated Production: Chad Hopenwasser
Associate Producer: Katie Boyko
Group Account Director: Eryn McVerry
Account Supervisor: Emily Zale
Chief Digital Officer: Aki Spicer
Planner: Sam Glassoff
Wasn’t it fun when we were kids to doodle on restaurants’ paper placements with crayons? Well, McDonald’s has introduced a high-tech, musical version of that sort of play with McTrax—a snazzy placemat that acts like a little music production station.
TBWANeboko in the Netherlands created McTrax. The placemat, developed with This Page Amsterdam, uses conductive ink, a small battery and a thin circuit board with 26 digital touchpoints. You put you phone on it, download an app and make music with in-house produced audio loops, synths and musical effects. You can also record your own voice.
To introduce AXA’s Victory bicycle lock, TBWANeboko scoured the streets of Amsterdam looking for other companies’ broken bike locks, and used pieces of them in this memorable poster and billboard campaign (which even has its own making-of video).
The cracked, bent bits of metal form letters that spell out AXA’s message about Victory—that it’s “The lock that should’ve been on your last bike.” A sleek, shiny new Victory lock plays a key role in this found-object alphabet, serving as the “O” in the Dutch word for “lock.”
“Holland is the country of bikes,” explains agency art director Rogier Verbeek. “Almost everyone has a bike. Or had one. Because a lot of them get stolen.” More than 300 get pinched there every day, “so if you own a bike, you probably also know the feeling of having your bike stolen,” Verbeek adds.
That made using the remains of rivals’ broken locks to create the typography a no-brainer. Often, such piece are “the only thing left when your bike is stolen,” Verbeek says. “Since Amsterdam is full of bikes—and people stealing them—they weren’t that hard to find.”
Alas, Verbeek speaks from experience, as his own bicycle—not protected by an AXA lock, he concedes—was stolen while he was working on the Victory poster.
“It got stolen from in front of the agency,” he says. “I was pretty bummed, since we were working on this campaign. It was a nice bike and my kid’s seat was on it. Hope the current owner gets himself a better lock.”
As far as Verbeek knows, no cycling enthusiasts or typography fans have stolen the poster from public display, “but it would be great if someone did.”
CREDITS
Client: AXA
Advertising Agency: TBWANeboko, Amsterdam
Agency: TBWANeboko
Art Director: Rogier Verbeek
Copywriter: Matthijs Schoo
Graphic Designer: Reza Harek
Photographer: Paul Theunis
TBWA/Media Arts Lab launched a new spot celebrating the popularity of Apple’s iPhone among its userbase, entitled “Loved.”
The spot even claims that “99 percent of people that have an iPhone, love their iPhone,” which it claims makes the device unique. Without going into detail about what sets the device apart, the 30-second spot champions the device as the smart phone to have. It does show off the phone in action, in split-scene shots of two, three, four and then dozens of the device all engaging in related tasks before ending with the unfortunate tagline, “If it’s not an iPhone. It’s not an iPhone.” Still, it would have been nice if TBWA/MAL could have done a little more to point out what exactly makes the phone so “Loved” as the action of the spot is ambiguous and a bit flat. Surely some of those iPhone-lovers could offer some insight into what sets the device apart from the rest. As it is, detractors can point to the lack of substance as indicative that it’s the hype itself that makes people flock to the iPhone, but perhaps TBWA/MAL will get more specific in future ads.
TBWAChiatDay launched a new spot for the Nissan Sentra, entitled “Wake,” which shows an old Sentra being laid to rest (or, more accurately, compacted at a junk yard).
A man says his last tearful goodbyes to “Steady Betty,” along with some friends. After his friends encourage him to have one last moment alone with the car, he snatches a memento and a keyboardist plays a slow, sad version of Miley Cyrus‘ “Wrecking Ball” as the car is compacted. Realizing they all have meetings to get to, the group piles in the man’s new Nissan Sentra. One of the friends admires the new setup, to which the man replies “Too soon,” before admitting he was only joking.
It’s all a fairly entertaining and memorable way to highlight the Sentra’s dependable nature and durability, throwing in some nods to the new vehicle’s features at the end. The ad does tend to drag a bit in the middle, however, and would probably have benefited from being edited down to a 30-second spot. That being said, we’re just glad Bret Michaels wasn’t involved.
Credits:
Advertising Agency: TBWAChiatDay, USA
Chief Creative Officer: Stephen Butler
Creative Directors: Chris Ribeiro, Drew Stalker
Associate Creative Directors: Jeff O’Keefe, Marco Monteiro
Director of Integrated Production: Brian O’Rourke
Executive Producer: Guia Iacomin
Associate Producer: Dossett
Executive Business Affairs Manager: Robin Rossi
Director of Project Management: Janet Perez
Director of Traffic Operations: Dessiah Maxwell
Traffic Operations Manager: Courtneyrose Chung
Production Company: Imperial Wood Pecker
Director: Simon McQuoid
Executive Producer: Charlie Cocuzza
Line Producer: Anita Wetterstedt
Editorial Company: Cut + Run
Editor: Isaac Chen
Executive Producer: Carr Schilling
Producer: Adam Becht
Color Co: The Mill
VFX Co: Jogger
Finish Artists: Matt Trivan, Shauna Prescott
Graphic Artist: Jorge Tanaka
Producer: Lynne Mannino
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