Hasta La Creative!

If there is a rivalry between the two, it is by many measures a mismatch. But that hasn’t stopped the salivation at the story line: Netflix, the Silicon Valley interloper, taking on HBO, the establishment player.

The New York public television broadcaster said it would return the funding in the face of charges that it solicited inappropriate underwriting for the series.

With a youthful Jimmy Fallon taking over the “Tonight” show, NBC hopes to attract a younger audience to late-night network TV.

When they stumbled upon archival pictures of a man and his 1955 Beetle, Volkswagen Canada and Toronto-based agency Red Urban realized they had a story to tell. As it turns out, that story is pretty amazing. They tracked down the man in the photo, Paul Loofs, who has driven the car around the world three times. Amazingly enough, that car is still running.

So Volkswagen Canada and Red Urban teamed up with Academy-nominated director Hubert Davis to tell his story in an (approximately) 30-minute documentary film. That documentary, Once More, The Story of VIN 903847, premiered on Discovery Channel and Bravo in January and is featured above (not a bad way to spend a lunch break). It tells the story of Loof’s unlikely, low-budget solo treks around the globe, which included many obstacles and unexpected, fortuitous events. Loofs eventually sold the car back to Volkswagen for use in an advertising campaign. A man named Emmanuel Thuillier bought the car and tracked down Loofs on the Internet, then surprised him by reuniting him with the vehicle for the first time since 1967.

“We feel that it really speaks to our fans, not only reinforcing the emotional connection so many people have to the brand, but celebrating the truly remarkable stories that so many of our owners have. It is not so much about a single car, although this Beetle is remarkable, it is more about how one car connects so many different people and their experiences, proving itself as The People’s Car,” said Volkswagen Brand Marketing manager, Lynne Piette. The documentary will continue to air on Discovery Channel and Bravo until February, with the following showtimes:

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Matt Lauer is filling in for Bob Costas, NBC’s longtime Olympic host, as he tries to get a painful and worsening eye infection under control.

BBDO Toronto has crafted a new spot for the Canadian Paralympic Committee in anticipation of the upcoming Sochi Paralympic Games, with the uplifting message/tagline “It’s not what’s missing, it’s what’s there.” The line describes the need to look past physical differences to the incredible talent of these athletes and all the hard work they put in to train for the games.

“When we look at Paralympic athletes, we can make the mistake of focusing on their disabilities, instead of their extraordinary abilities,” said Simon Craig and JP Gravina, Associate Creative Directors, BBDO Toronto. “This campaign forces the viewer to see all the amazing things that make these Paralympic athletes great. To catch them in the midst of competition is an awe-inspiring experience by any definition.”

To accomplish this, the 60 second spot employs a letterbox effect to focus in on a select portion of each athlete, only revealing their identities toward the end of each scene, and thereby highlighting their athletic prowess and impactful performances rather than their disabilities. It’s an interesting fusion of form and function that really underscores the message behind the campaign, even if it risks alienating some viewers who complain about such a small portion of the screen being used at the start of the spot.

The athletes featured  here are snowboarder Michelle Salt, sledge hockey players Tyler McGregor and Dominic Larocque, and cross country skier/biathlete Mark Arendz. Arendz called the campaign “an awesome opportunity to increase awareness and demonstrate what we as Paralympic athletes are capable of.”

Nomination for the Canadian Paralympic Team is still going, with the full team set to be officially announced at the end of the month. The 2014 Sochi Paralympic Winter Games will be held from March 7-16. Canada will send approximately 50 athletes to the games, competing in all six sports, with the goal of placing in the top three nations in the gold medal count. Credits after the jump. continued…

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Chicago-based Energy BBDO are behind this new cannibalistic spot for Lay’s, featuring the classic Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head characters.

The 30 second spot, which was created in collaboration with production company Psyop and directed by Lauren Indovina and Borja Pena, shows Mr. Potato Head arrive home from work unable to find his wife. When he finally locates Mrs. Potato Head, he discovers her hiding in the pantry eating Lay’s. Mr. Potato Head overcomes his initial trepidation at delving into cannibalism immediately after trying a potato chip, accompanied by the tagline, “One taste and you’re in love.” Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head’s abhorrent crime against nature becomes their “little secret” in what, in a bizarre way, is something of a Valentine’s Day themed ad. The choice of Mr. and Mrs. Potato is something of a curious one, since Energy BBDO and Psyop had little chance of competing with Pixar’s likeness of the characters in the Toy Story series, and viewers will undoubtedly make that unfavorable comparison. Chalk this one up as a head spud scratcher. Credits after the jump.  continued…

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Cable television operators pulled the plug on the Dozhd channel after Russia’s ruling party said a poll on a Sunday evening talk show was unpatriotic.

There’s not much to say, but as The Walking Dead crawls, groans, lurches, etc. to the telly soon, here is a nice little stunt set up in Union Square today by NYC-based, MDC Partners-owned experiential marketing agency, Relevent. I promise to never walk over a sidewalk subway grate again (ok, at least for today). In case you missed this one, here’s a prank from just a couple of weeks ago on the AMC show’s star Norman Reedus in London.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

As the Winter Games from Sochi, Russia, begin, it is worth remembering that four years ago from Vancouver, NBC streamed only hockey and curling. Now, all 15 sports will be streamed live.