Hasta La Creative!

Gatorade really does love sweat.

Last year, the brand’s hidden-camera ads with Peyton Manning and Cam Newton required customers at a convenience store to “sweat it to get it.” If would-be consumers couldn’t show visible signs of a workout, they couldn’t buy Gatorade.

Now, an epic new spot—created by TBWAChiatDay and voiced by Michael Jordan—makes it clear that “not all sweat is created equal.” In other words, if your sweat isn’t the intense kind, spilled in pursuit of sporting glory, then your sweat is pretty boring, and you should probably try harder. (That way, you’ll sweat more, and need more Gatorade.)

It’s a well put-together, if slightly obvious play—featuring celebrities like Serena Williams, April Ross and Usain Bolt, and released on the heels of the brand’s revival of its famous “Be Like Mike” campaign. The new ad does have at least one YouTube commenter a little nervous about the contents of the sports drink, though.

Bobblehead Bret Michaels sure drives a hard bargain. Must be the frozen stare and the defiant stance. You should probably take him along on your next car-buying venture. You want the leopard-print steering wheel cover, don’t you?

The former Poison frontman trots out his cheeky sense of humor, along with his ceramic mini-doppelganger, for a digital video series promoting Nissan’s commercial vehicles. The shorts are a follow-up to a campaign that launched last summer featuring Michaels in the Arizona desert surrounded by Nissan trucks, pyrotechnics, bandana-clad crash test dummies and hot chicks.

The work, from TBWAChiatDay, also introduced the look-alike bobblehead that has since become a fan favorite. The agency, responding to Twitter and Facebook requests, just launched five “BobbleBret” videos, taking the doll off the dashboard. Michaels’ power ballad version of the sappy Lionel Richie/Diana Ross duet “Endless Love” returns as the melodramatic soundtrack.

Among other unlikely scenarios, the new snippets show Bobble Bret’s silent negotiating skills at a Nissan dealership and his rock-star-sized tantrum in a green room. No brown M&Ms, he said!

Find all the videos at NissanToughLove.com.

TBWAChiatDay launched a new spot for Gatorade, entitled “The Formula to Unleash,” featuring a slew of soccer greats.

The spot imagines different clubs as driven in different ways related to the team be it cannons, the power of sound, gears or hyper-vigilant zebras. All of them have one thing in common, though: they’re fueled by Gatorade. “The Formula to Unleash” intercuts footage of its stars — including Javier Manquillo, Lazar Markovic, Phillipp Coutinho and Lionel Messi with over-the-top CGI, set to the rave-up of Zedd’s “Addicted to a Memory.” Between the EDM music choice and the animation, the spot tries far too hard to be edgy, making it come across as a bit cheesy in the process and the product integration seems like a bit of a stretch, if not a tad nonsensical. While some fans will undoubtedly still be pleased to see their favorites, it’s hard to imagine this convincing anyone to pick up a Gatorade. It’s especially disappointing coming off of the agency’s great “Like Mike” spots celebrating the brand’s 50th anniversary.

Credits:

Advertising Agency: TBWAChiatDay, Los Angeles, USA
Executive Creative Director: Brent Anderson
Creative Director: Renato Fernandez
Global Creative Director: Jayanta Jenkins
Creative Director: Mark Peters
Associate Creative Director: Javier Castillo
Executive Producer: Sarah Patterson
Senior Producer: Lacy Plunk
Art Producer: Karishma Singh
Managing Director: Peter Ravailhe
Global Brand Director: Romain Naegelen
Director Branded Content: Marc Johns
Global Brand Manager: Ryan Moore
Global Associate Brand Manager: Kayla McLaughlin
Group Planning Director: Scott MacMaster
Global Planning Director: Martin Ramos
Director of Business Affairs: Linda Daubson
Senior Business Affairs Manager: Laura Drabkin
Talent Payment Manager: Mirielle Smith
Senior Traffic Operations Manager: Judy Brill
Executive Project Manager: Karen Thomas
Project Manager: Mark Diaz
Executive Producer: Adina Sales / Blacklist
Producer: Alex Unick, Hilary Downes
Creative director: Ingi Erlingsson / Golden Wolf
Producers: Ant Baena, Nathalie Le Berre, Anthony Taylor
Production Assistants: Corina Priestley, Emma Copeland, India Bradshaw
Storyboards / Layouts: Pedro Vergani, Jonathan Djob Nkondo
Design: Stefan Falconer, Pedro Vergani, Alex Fernandez, Marie Ecarlat, Wojtek Szklarski, Romain Loubersanes, Tristan Mernard
Animation: Henry Purrington, Thomas Purrington, Stefan Falconer, Tim Whiting, Sam Bell, Sabrina Lecordier, Simon Wottage, Phinn O’ Conner, Anselm von Seherr-Thoss, Rachel Chu, Dan Lane, Dennis Bouyer, Jeremi Boutelet, Sebastien De Oliveira Bispo
Compositing: Alex Fernandez, Max Englehart, Steffano Ottaviano, Mat Landour
Visual Effects: Absolute Post London
Producers: Ian Harland, Dan Bennet
Lead Compositor: Zdravko Stoitchkov
Compositors: Owen Saward, Chris Tobin
CG Lead: Jasper Kidd
CG Artists: Matt Burn, Jesse Baber
Colour Grading: Matt Turner
Editing By Circus Edit London
Producer: Zoe Hockings
Editor: Jono Griffith
Editing Assistant: Adam Buckmaster
Director of Photography: Barry Ackroyd
Sports Choreography and Casting: Sports On Screen
Lead Choreographer: Andy Ansah
Project Manager: Tyler Blake
Choreographer: Darren White
Choreographer Assistant: Bohdan Pylypchuk
Music: Zedd
Music Licensing: MEGA, Inc.
Sound Design: Barking Owl
Sound Designer: Michael Anastasi
Executive Producer: Kelly Bayett
Sound Mix: Lime Studios
Mixer: Loren Sibler
Executive Producer: Susie Boyajan
Production: Howler Magazine
Producer: George Quraishi
Animation: Vranizan Design
Animator: Nick Vranizan
Producer: Mallory Cash
Music Production: Comma Music
Music Producer: Lauren Pecorella
Sound Design: Nate Gowtham

Can we be even more like Mike?

Gatorade’s 50th anniversary celebration continues with three spots from TBWAChiatDay, each reimagining the iconic Michael Jordan-inspired “Be Like Mike” jingle we’ve been humming for nearly a quarter century.

An impressively remastered version of the original Bayer Bess Vanderwarker ad from 1992 was unveiled last month during the NBA’s All-Star weekend. Visuals from that spot appear in these three new commercials, but each has its own unique vibe.

“Groove Like Mike,” my favorite, feels like the ’70s, with retro-cool animations and a righteously funky take on the song. “Move Like Mike” finds gym rats, inspired by footage of No. 23 playing on monitors around the place, working out and scrimmaging to subtly insistent beats. (Maybe the NBA will adopt that backboard video screen to blast ads during games.) “Dream Like Mike” shows a kid playing driveway hoops against MJ, a bold mix of “Be Like Mike” driving him to new heights.

The clips are fun, multilayered and reward multiple plays. Animal Music did a fine job with the remixes, giving all three versions a fresh sound while staying true to the spirit of the original. There’s just one problem. Now, that damn song will be stuck in my head for at least another 23 years!

CREDITS
Client: Gatorade
Agency: TBWAChiatDay, Los Angeles
Creative Director: Renato Fernandez
Art Director: Pierce Thiot
Copywriter: Scott Cleveland
Producer: Garrison Askew
Music Production Company: Animal Music

Today we can confirm that three top executives have either left or will be leaving their respective agencies.

First: Tito Melega, who was creative director, Americas at TBWAChiatDay, is no longer with the agency as of today. Melega, who spent four years with TBWA, described his own role as “Creative Director, Americas of all things Nissan.”

At the moment, we have no word on where Melega is heading or who will replace him, though a spokesperson tells us that CCO Steven Butler ”is currently creative lead.” For context, the client most recently shared a bit of “Tough Love” via 80s rocker Bret Michaels.

Logic would lead one to believe that Melega will land another role at a major agency, quite possibly one with notable auto industry clients: prior to joining TBWA and working on Nissan, he held the VP/CD position at BBDO, where his accounts included Mitsbushi.

He was an art director at Team One from 2000 to 2005, and his earlier career includes stints at AD positions with JWT, Fallon, Ogilvy and Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles.

(more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

As The New York Times told us this weekend, Americans are eating more frozen food — and Jimmy Dean wants to move out of the freezer and onto the dinner table by expanding upon its breakfast-sausage-centered lineup.

The company’s creative AOR TBWAChiatDay L.A. will help its longtime client move t0ward that goal with a new campaign. Here’s the first spot, which aims to dispel the crazy idea that frozen dinners lack flavor by pitting them against a fresh batch of iceberg lettuce:

We’ll have what they’re having, et cetera.

Jimmy Dean also defeats the dreaded tuna fish sandwich after the jump.

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This fun clip of glam rocker and reality TV star Bret Michaels performing a high-octane take on the ’80s ballad “Endless Love” as a  paean to Nissan’s commercial vans is approaching 1.6 million YouTube views in its first week.

Putting an aging star in a wacky B2B truck ad recalls Jean-Claude Van Damme’s mega-viral Volvo outing from late last year. Here, however, Michaels doesn’t attempt to do a split between two Nissans (and, conversely, we’re probably lucky that Jean-Claude didn’t sing).

Most reviewers applaud Nissan and its agency, TBWAChiatDay, for their tongue-in-cheek approach and canny casting of Michaels as frontman. After all, the campaign, shot at the automaker’s rugged Arizona desert testing facility, focuses on the van line’s toughness and resilience, traits that Michaels has come to embody in recent years following his comebacks from thorny health issues.

For the Super Bowl, the game is the advertising. For the World Series, ads are a respite. For the World Cup, however, there’s just not as much fanfare. TBWAChiatDay hopes to change that with its new spot for Adidas.
The work features retired legends of football/soccer/futbol (depending on who you ask) David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane, who are bored watching the young guys Gareth Bale and Lucas Moura playing EA Sports’ 2014 FIFA World Cup.
And then, a jewel-encrusted goblet of male bravado spills on the hardwood floor as a real soccer game trashes “Beckhingham Palace.”

Now that you’ve recovered, click through for some credits.

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The strained relationship between Apple and TBWAChiatDay has reached a new stage.

Two months after unflattering email exchanges between Apple’s head of marketing and TBWA’s Media Arts Lab surfaced as part of the extended Apple vs. Samsung copyright battle, Bloomberg was the first outlet to report that the company will now be creating more (if not all) of its TV spots in-house.

An Apple spokesperson reminded Bloomberg that the internal team, which “includes at least two people Apple hired away from Media Arts Lab”, is responsible for recent spots like this one:

The shift has been in the works since early 2013, with Apple deciding to take control of more production duties and build up its own team rather than search for a new agency.

Other outside hires include at least two higher-ups from Wieden+Kennedy: Tyler Whisnand and Bill Davenport.

No one at MAL–which recently went through some staffing changes of its own–offered a comment to Bloomberg, so the current and future status of the partnership remains unclear. 72andSunny CEO John Boiler did weigh in, however, calling the company’s decision to hire from within MAL “…an indication of some seriously broken trust.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We’ve

confirmed, via TBWA\Chiat\Day source, that executive producer Justin Taylor has left his position at the agency’s Los Angeles office to take an in-house gig with the Nike basketball division.

Of course, we could have just checked out his Twitter account:

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT I’m going to work at @nike as Global Digital Brand Director for Basketball. Couldn’t be more excited. #swooshlife

— Justin Taylor (@TheSmarmyBum) April 29, 2014

Some backstory…

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