Hasta La Creative!

TBWA/Chiat Day, LA has a new series of online spots in their ongoing campaign promoting Jimmy Dean’s new lunch and dinner offerings.

Some wondered, when Jimmy Dean announced the move into the instant lunch/dinner market, whether the brand would retain its recognizable sun character due to its association with the morning. But the brand is leaning on its mascot as much as ever, explaining its continued presence with a new series of online spots tracking him on characters across the country and throughout the day.

In “Slow Roast Shuffle” (featured above), he’s dancing up a storm while promoting Jimmy Dean Pulled Pork. Things get over-the-top pretty quickly and his dance partner can’t exactly keep up, as TBWA/Chiat Day stretch the character into some cartoonish territory. Other spots are slightly more down-to-earth, with the sun dropping change into parking meters, giving out free lunch at baggage claim in an airport and riding off into the sunset. All the videos are hosted on a website where you can also track the sun’s progress on the “Sunniest Day,” which Jimmy Dean says was yesterday.

Despite TBWA’s best efforts, the character, so long associated with breakfast, seems a little out of place in these scenarios (and past the AM). With time we’ll see if these are just growing pains or if the character continues to feel awkward promoting meals past breakfast. (more…)

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TBWAChiatDay bids adieu to Yankees captain (and regular starting shortstop since 1996) Derek Jeter in a 90-second send-off spot for Gatorade, an MLB sponsor since 1990.

While there has been no shortage of fanfare surrounding Jeter’s exit from baseball at the quickly approaching end to the season (including a somewhat excessive display at the All Star game), TBWAChiatDay’s farewell for Gatorade, which Jeter collaborated on, manages to charm. Back in July (when it still looked like the Yankees had a shot at the postseason), TBWAChiatDay and Gatorade roped off a few blocks before a home game in the Bronx and, in the words of Molly Carter, Gatorade’s senior director of consumer engagement, “just kind of let Jeter go.”

Jeter is seen interacting with some very surprised and excited fans, signing autographs and even dropping in to Stan’s Sports Bar. Most of the spot’s charm comes from the authentic reactions of the fans, delighted by the opportunity to meet the star player.

Jeter’s collaboration for the ad also extended to the soundtrack, with the shortstop choosing Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” as the song that summed up his career. “It was a true collaboration between Derek and Gatorade,” Carter told Adweek.

The spot breaks online today, followed by a broadcast premiere this Saturday on the YES Network and Fox, when it’s sure to make more than a few Yankees fans teary-eyed. Gatorade will follow this with a full-page ad, written by Jeter, in the New York Daily News and Sports Illustrated on Sept. 28-29. Addressed to New York, the ad will see Jeter thanking fans for their years of support, opening, “From my first at bat until my final out, you helped make me who I am.” The print ad is timed to coincide with Jeter’s final game on September 28th (unless the team makes the playoffs, which they won’t). (more…)

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In case you caught some of Apple’s super epic product launch event yesterday amidst all the Chinese translations and tech glitches, the company announced new versions of its signature product along with the much-discussed Apple Watch. Apple and its AOR TBWAMedia Arts Lab also launched a couple of new spots to promote the iPhone 6 and the slightly larger iPhone 6, which includes the “Plus” designation.

The celebrity hand models are Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake. In the first spot, the two break it down in what we choose to read as a (slightly off-key) a capella tribute to the late, great Stanley Kubrick:

The second spot is more straightforward, and it’s less a collaboration than a competition. (Spoiler: JT wins.)

(more…)

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Today brings news that Mark Peters has joined the LA offices of TBWAChiatDay as creative director.

Peters made headlines here in 2010 when he left mcgarrybowen for Deutsch LA after a brief stint managing the Verizon account. At Deutsch, he served as SVP and played lead on Volkswagen (which recently taught our imaginary sons how to throw a baseball). Of course, he also worked on the famous Darth Vader spot that recently lost its “most viral ad ever” crown to…a Shakira video.

CCO Steven Butler writes, “Mark has an impressive background, and a rich history of creating inspiring, needle-moving campaigns for a slew of top-tier multinational brands”. His resume includes periods serving as art director at Ogilvy LA and Martin, and prior to joining mcgarrybowen in 2010 he handled BMW, Kohler, AT&T, Legacy and L.L. Bean as ACD at GSD&M.

In his new role, Peters will no longer be a one-client guy: he will work across accounts including Southwest Airlines, Nixon, Gatorade and NKLA (No Kill Los Angeles).

One factoid we gleaned from the release: Peters played both collegiate and professional soccer before settling into a more workaday career in the ad world.

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To follow up on a story Adweek posted a whole three weeks ago (we know, we know), we did receive word today that TBWAChiat Day will officially no longer serve as the AOR for Infiniti after more than fifteen years.

In late June we heard that a total of seven agencies were chasing the account, and two weeks later sources told Adweek that CP+B, BBH, GS&P and Anomaly were the only ones left standing.

The company has apparently made its decision; this week TBWA employees received the internal memo indicating that the client would no longer be theirs effective September 1st.

On an interesting side note, General Motors poached Infiniti CEO Johan de Nysschen earlier this month in the middle of the review–a move that certainly disrupted the process a bit.

In other words, expect news on which agency won the business to arrive shortly. Updates as we receive them.

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TBWA Toronto has a new spot for Nissan Sentra that explores fears of filling up, horror movie style.

The 60-second “Gas Station” opens on a man arriving at a creepy, dimly-lit gas station. Soon the station comes to life, as the man is relentlessly attacked by the gas pumps, which also do a number on his car. Eventually, another man, driving a Nissan Sentra, comes to the rescue, beckoning him to hop in. This is followed by the message, “Don’t Fear Filling Up,” and boast of the Sentra’s “Better combined fuel economy than Civic.” In a spot that spends so much time on a ridiculous fuel-fearing message, you’d think they’d focus a little more than a quick flash of text on the Sentra’s fuel economy, but instead most of the 60 seconds are spent on building up unconvincing horror atmosphere. Stick around for credits after the jump. (more…)

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For more than 30 years, TBWA/Media Arts Lab has enjoyed one of the most prized advertising accounts on the planet. After reports from the New York Post et al. and that entity called “Madison Avenue”, agencies are salivating for a bite of the Apple.

The dirty laundry aired in the form of internal emails during the Samsung trial in April and the subsequent reports that Apple would create more of its own ads in-house may have had something to do with this latest development.

Moreover, word is that whichever outside firm may eventually work on the account will also answer to Jimmy Iovine, president and grand poobah of Beats headphones, BeatsMusic and all other things By Dre that were recently acquired by Apple.

(more…)

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In a quick bit of staffing news before the long weekend, Deputy Director/Head of Account Management Justin Manfredi left his position at TBWA’s Digital Arts Network this week.

Manfredi, who worked in accounts at JWT, Deutsch New York/LA and San Francisco’s AKQA, joined TBWA approximately one year ago. The hire was part of a move the agency made to “ramp up” its digital West Coast staff in 2013. Manfredi joined along with 72andSunny/W+K NY alum Larry Lac, former Ignited analytics lead Eric Fader, and Vaino Leskinen of TBWA Helsinki.

Before joining TBWA, Manfredi served as Senior Integrated Account Director at David&Goliath. The agency describes his new role as “client side” work with Activision, but at the moment we have no details on title or responsibilities.

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While Apple recently announced that it will be taking more of its ads in house, this latest iPhone spot comes from TBWA Media Arts Lab, and features a rather unusual song selection.

The 60-second spot, entitled “Strength,” is a relatively straightforward montage promoting the use of the iPhone 5S for physical fitness. Less straightforward, however, is the spot’s soundtrack. As Adweek reports, “Strength” is set to “The Youth Fitness Song” (also called “Chicken Fat”), which originally appeared as a song from President Kennedy’s national physical fitness program. The song, which was written by Meredith Wilson and performed by Robert Preston in 1961, was distributed to schools and played as an accompaniment to a morning calisthenics routine. Whether the song is meant to stoke Baby Boomer nostalgia or someone on board just thought it would be a fun bit of silliness, “Go, you chicken fat, go” is a pretty strange way to tell people to start exercising (while utilizing their iPhone 5S). Coming on the heels of the recent spot featuring “Gigantic,” it marks something of a trend in unorthodox song selections promoting the 5S.

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Today brings news that TBWA has promoted two veterans to key roles on its global leadership team: Luke Eid (second from left) will be Global Innovation Director at TBWA Worldwide and Juuso Myllyrinne (far left) will assume the newly created position of Global Strategy Director for TBWADigital Arts Network.

Eid, most recently Managing Partner at TBWA Hong Kong, will work on the digital front or global clients such as Nissan. He writes:
“I’ll work with the network to ensure we continually disrupt our own service offering to reflect these changes and provide clients with solutions that are grounded on the latest consumer behaviors and technologies.”
Eid will collaborate frequently with Myllyrinne, whose most recent position was Executive Director of Digital Strategy for TBWAChiatDay New York. Myllyrinne will also lead TBWA’s “product incubator” Pilot while working directly with DAN president Stuart Sproule (third from left) on creative tech and strategy for global clients.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.