Hasta La Creative!

“There would be no such thing as extremism in the world if people knew their heritage.”

So says Aureile, one of the teary-eyed subjects in “The DNA Journey,” a stirring campaign from Danish travel site Momondo that’s become a surprise viral hit, tallying millions of global views in just a few weeks (the lion’s share for its centerpiece five-minute video).

Created with DNA testing service AncestryDNA, ad agency &Co and production house Bacon, the initiative focuses on 67 very diverse people who, at the outset, think they know a thing or two about their heritage, and some of whom hold strong views (read: prejudices) about other nationalities. Many of their expectations are upended, however, when they receive the results of DNA tests that determine their true genetic origins. 

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Expedia travels into amusing territory with three new commercials from Ogilvy & Mather in London. In each spot, achingly average people become intensely interesting to friends and co-workers after taking trips booked through the client’s website and mobile app.

In fact, they become so darn fascinating—sharing silly holiday snaps and gushing about their experiences—that a magician who saws himself in half, a stuntman riding fiery explosions and an acrobatic horse whisperer can’t compete in the battle for attention.

The ads are the latest from Expedia’s pan-European “Travel Yourself Interesting” campaign, which won a Creative Effectiveness Lion last month at Cannes. Gerry Human, chief creative officer at the agency, says the goal is to “steer away from travel marketing clichés.”

Indeed, the work achieves that objective in entertaining fashion with its tongue-in-cheek appeal to our ingrained vanity and sloth. Who wouldn’t want to earn praise just for taking a vacation? Making talented folks who worked hard to master their craft look like dull dweebs is the cherry on top. (Stupid magician—make yourself disappear!)

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CREDITS
Client: Expedia
Senior Marketing Director: Andrew Warner
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather London
Copywriters: Simon Lotze, Jon Morgan
Art Directors: Miguel Nunes, Mike Watson
Executive Creative Director: Gerry Human
Planner: Mattijs Devroedt
Account Leads/Directors: Mark Lainas, Larry Ball-Piatti
Account Managers: Briony Gittins, Joseph Grigg, Anastasia Selezneva
Media Agency: PHD
Production company: TV – Moxie Productions; Online film – Disqo
Music: Track – “Travel Yourself Interesting”; Siren Music – Stuart Hancock
Exposure: TV, online, radio

Stumped for a last-minute Memorial Day getaway destination? Travelocity created a fun Twitter game that might be able to help.

Starting at this tweet, you can interact with the @RoamingGnome by clicking your answer to a series of choose-your-own adventure questions that ultimately generate a recommendation for one of 10 destinations.

Ever the lazy, cheap contrarian, I initially chose “Stay Home” and found myself staring into the gnome’s “disappointed face.” Those sad, presumably ceramic eyes will haunt my dreams. 

When I selected West, but nixed a Vegas gambling spree, the gnome grew a tad impatient and asked, “What WOULD make you squeal with joy?” Eventually my ideal #MemorialDayRoam was found to be Dallas, where I’m told “giant steaks await.”

Wherever you end up roaming this weekend, hopefully you won’t suffer the fate outlined in this week’s other entertaining Twitter game and wake up in a rat-infested prison cell.

@ThisIsStep1 You’ve got a 3day weekend to go anywhere, ready? ?http://t.co/kqqgEyZcNe ?http://t.co/9CxwMZBCG0 ?http://t.co/OyF4bNlVkt

— Travelocity Gnome (@RoamingGnome) May 19, 2014

Via Adrants.

Source

In its first work for Hotels.com since adding the business last October, Crispin Porter + Bogusky goes the self-consciously wacky route by introducing Captain Obvious. As his name suggests, the new spokesman says lots of self-evident stuff to make the point that Hotels.com is the obvious choice for booking rooms.

A 60-second spot finds the Captain sauntering through a swanky resort, noting, among other things, that, "'All you can eat' is a hotel policy that allows you to eat all that you can," "the hotel pool is usually filled with water" and "gym is short for gymnasium." Ultimately and inevitably, he notes: "The best dot-com for booking hotels is Hotels.com. It's on the Internet."

Skinny, bearded and clad in silly military/bellhop garb (plus the occasional swimsuit hiked up to his navel), Captain Obvious is played by little-known actor Brandon Moynihan, who gives a solid performance. The spot is well shot and directed by Stacy Wall, who lensed this year's Super Bowl ads featuring Tim Tebow for T-Mobile and Ellen DeGeneres for Beats Music.

The potential problem is that this is not a one-off commercial, but an entire campaign, complete with print, online and radio. The one-joke approach is deftly handled, but I grew fidgety before the spot finished. And I wasn't phoning room service for more.

For me, Captain Obvious is worth a watch once or twice, but—like any ostentatious and irritating hotel guest—risks overstaying his welcome.

Some folks are finding Barton F. Graf 9000's latest advertising excursion for travel site Kayak.com a less than uplifting experience.

In the 30-second spot, a middle-aged man commandeers his elderly mother's stairlift for a ride as he pecks away at his laptop, searching for a good hotel. He explains that he can't waste a second doing anything else, including walking up the stairs. Meanwhile, his mother grasps the bannister, gasping for air, as Sonny Boy glides past, bragging about the great deal he's just found.

"Forcing an elderly woman to struggle up stairs while her son uses her electric stairlift. Do you think this is funny? It's not. It's mean and juvenile," says one viewer on the company's Facebook page. A YouTuber on the opposite side of the argument writes, "For those that are offended: lighten up. It's funny precisely because it is insensitive." (In an odd twist, some commenters have actually praised the spot for raising stairlift awareness.)

Stirring controversy never gets old for Kayak, whose 2012 brain surgery commercial was banned in the U.K. over perceived insensitivity toward brain surgery patients. Clearly, ads like "Stairlift" and "Brain Surgeon" are designed to be somewhat over the top and elevate Kayak's buzz. Are they mean-spirited or offensive? That's a gray area.