Is Boring, Oregon, Really Boring? Find Out in This Wonderfully Weird Ad Shot There

Pop culture is full of stories about people trying to escape the boring-ass town they were born in. Not so in Boring, Oregon. As one inhabitant remarks, “Nobody leaves. They think they’re gonna go, but they stay.” 

Just like the Hotel California! 

In a short film by Ogilvy & Mather London, a brand that we won’t mention until later (to avoid spoiling the reveal) takes us directly to Boring—which actually exists!—to learn its charms, attributes and history. 

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BBDO Russia Turns Mosquito Blood Into Art for Glorix

glorix2In a rather odd yet novel approach to promoting mosquito repellent, BBDO Russia Group transformed what remains after slapping that post-bite bug into what the team calls “blood portraits.”

The agency’s effort for Unilever brand Glorix serves two purposes: it’s both a micro-scale art exhibition created to help launch the bug-be-gone product and a social advocacy campaign urging visitors to donate blood.

The case study:

The main goal of the micro-portrait show put on by the parties involved was not just to show how Glorix protects consumers from mosquitoes, but to relay the message that every drop of blood taken from the bugs could potentially save someone’s life.

As the video above proclaims, approximately 80 percent of visitors were willing to donate blood on the spot at the event. It’s morbid and quirky, yes, but still effective.

Client: Unilever
Andrey Kutuzov: Senior Marketing Manager
Maria Shramko: Junior Brand Manager

Agency: BBDO Moscow, BBDO Russia Group
Creative Director: Mihai Coliban
Creative Director: Gatis Murnieks
Art-Director: Konstantin Tokarev
Senior Copywriter: Victor Lander
Group Account Director: Anna Sokolova
Account Manager: Maya Annakulieva
Producer: Ivan Davydenko

Event Agency: Pelican
Elena Novikova
Anna Budzyak

Production: Zebrahero
Director: Andrey Paoukov
Producer: Artem Tsaregorodtsev
Cinematographer: Dmitry Novikov
Lighting Designer: Andris Rutinsh
Motion Design/Colorcorrection: Denis Ageev

Mizkan Group Launches Review for Ragú, Bertolli

Mizkan Group, who acquired Ragú pasta sauces and Bertolli olive oil from Unilever last year for $2.1 billion as part of its consolidation of food brands, is now launching a creative review for the two brands, Adweek reports. The brands spent $32 million in measured media last year, according to Kantar Media, but that number could jump given the change in ownership.

In a statement, Mikzan Group said the brands were “beloved by consumers, and the R&B Foods team is excited to begin the journey of accelerating growth for these iconic brands.”

According to Adweek’s sources, the review is down to a handful of finalists, with Mizkan Group expected to choose one global agency for both brands. The review, which being managed by Joanne Davis Consulting in New York, is expected to conclude sometime this month.

 

Pereira & O’Dell, Ad Council Encourage Bathroom Recycling

The Ad Council teamed up with San Francisco-based agency Pereira & O’Dell for a series of new PSAs promoting the recycling of bathroom products for Keep America Beautiful, with funding by Unilever.

Based on research showing that, while recycling of kitchen items has become commonplace, 45 percent of Americans aren’t recycling their bathroom products, the new ads hope to change this behavior with a series of broadcast and digital spots functioning as an extension of the ongoing “I Want To Be Recycled” campaign. The ads are narrated by shampoo bottles who dream of being recycled into something more. In “Smile,” the shampoo bottle just wants to be noticed. After being tossed in the recycling bin, the bottle returns as a hair brush to “make people smile.” Things get a bit more over-the-top in “Superhero,” when another shampoo bottle dreams of becoming a superhero and decides, after being recycled as a comb, that this mission has been accomplished. Both spots end by directing viewers to IWantToBeRecycled.org for more info and an interactive recycling game.

“Washing your hair, putting on deodorant, applying skin cream — common bathroom activities — are all associated with packaging that can be recycled,” PJ Pereira, chief creative officer and co-founder of Pereira & O’Dell, said in a statement. “The new creative aims to change people’s mindsets about recycling in the bathroom. While we use all these personal care products to take care of ourselves, we can also help take care of the world by making sure the products we use in the bathroom make it to the recycling bin. The spots continue to demonstrate how you can give your garbage another life by recycling.”

Credits:

Client/Brand: Keep America Beautiful/Recycling
Client Brand Manager: Advertising Council
Agency: Pereira & O’Dell
Chief Creative Officer: PJ Pereira
Executive Creative Director: Jaime Robinson
Creative Director, Copywriter: Eduardo Marques
Creative Director, Art Director: Rafael Rizuto
Copywriter: Sara Uhelski
Art Director: Leila Moussaoui
Project Manager: Adam Russel
Account Director: Ashley Brown
Senior Account Executive: Jennifer Wantuch
Vice President, Director of Strategy: Nick Chapman
Strategist: Beth Windheuser
Executive Producer: Jeff Ferro
Broadcast Producer: Judy Kreiter
Production by Hello!
Director: Graeme Joyce
Executive Producer: Mike Brady
Head of Production: Dominick Ferro
Producer: Valerie Thomas
Editorial by Cut & Run
Editor: Sean Stender
Executive Producer: Carr Schilling
Producer: Remy Foxx
Music
Composer: Skylar Bishil
VFX/Online Finishing by SpyPost
Colorist: Chris Martin
Executive Producer: Lori Joseph
Sound Design & Mixing by One Union
Lead Mixer / Sound Designer: Matt Zipkin
Producer: Lauren Mask

We Hear: Unilever Planning Multiple Agency Reviews

Today AdAge reported that Unilever is poised to review its “massive” global media buying and planning account in what has become something of a three-year ritual. But we hear that the company is planning more changes.

For context, here’s what company CMO Keith Weed told The Wall Street Journal back in June:

“In the old days I could go to one agency that would meet all my advertising needs. Not today. It’s a specialist world now…”

His words were prophetic. Just over a week later, the company launched a multi-faceted agency review: details were scant and unconfirmed, but creative, PR, digital, media, and more would allegedly be up for grabs.

A source close to the company now tells us that, in addition to the global media business, London-based Unilever will also be putting some of the consumer goods under its mantle up for international review.

Hairdressing company Toni & Guy is rumored to be first in line. In keeping with Weed’s comments about “the threat of fragmentation” and the need to “find ways to lead with brands and not channels,” Unilever plans to produce much of the brand’s future above the line work in-house. (For more on this subject, an earlier Wall Street Journal report also held that the company is “looking to reduce the fees” it pays to its various digital agencies.)

Because of this shift, the review (allegedly) includes not just traditional agencies but digital shops and even content-ready PR agencies. According to the source, competitors for the Toni & Guy account (currently with JWT) include R/GA, London’s Karmarama, and PR giant Edelman.

Toni & Guy may not be the last Unilever property up for creative review, either. Here is a helpful list of some of the many brands that “two billion people use…on any given day.”

Unilever’s press contacts declined the opportunity to comment; updates when we receive them.

Unilever CMO No Longer a Fan of Advertising

Maybe not so much?

Unilever stays fairly busy with a range of products running the gamut from food to personal care to just about anything that requires advertising to maintain its market share.

According to a blog post in the Wall Street Journal (and a stage appearance at Cannes-Lions), Unilever CMO Keith Weed is a bit terse about the industry’s new digital direction. Weed believes that advertising “is chaos and is only going to get worse.”

(more…)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Fun Prank or Abuse of Power? Cops Pull Over Drivers to Give Them Ice Cream

Their intentions were good, but this ad about real police stopping motorists to give them free ice cream has left some critics saying the feel-good attempt is little more than a corporate-sponsored abuse of power.

Opinions are clearly mixed on the commercial for Unilever-owned Wall's Ice Cream, known in America under brand names like Eskimo and Good Humor. With 500,000 views and 1,266 thumbs-up votes (compared to just 96 thumbs down) on YouTube, the spot seems to be a winner. But the video's comments are awash in negative feedback.

"Oh great, make me late for an appointment so you can play a joke on me," notes one commenter. "I'm sorry, but this is an unacceptable use of government resources.?"

"Apparently abuse of power and playing on people's fear of arbitrary prosecution is cute now," says another.

This isn't exactly an easy time to be building social media goodwill around police officers. The recent #MyNYPD initiative meant to encourage positive photos of cops in the community instead led to a deluge of images of police beating and wrongfully detaining suspects. So it's understandable that some viewers wouldn't enjoy seeing police (or in this case California's Plumas County Sheriff's deputies) pulling over innocent people on a corporation's dime.

But the ad also has its share of fans, several of whom laughably dismissed the haters by pointing out that the ad ends with the comment, "People need to lighten up a little bit."




How Real Women Would Actually Respond to a Dove ‘Experiment’

Every time Dove launches a new effort to remind women they're beautiful, the brand seems to pause first to also remind women how much they hate themselves. 

A new parody video from comedy troupe Above Average skewers Dove's tear down/build up approach by creating a faux "True Beauty" experiment in which women are asked to look in a mirror and see how they feel about the results.

"Look at yourself in the mirror," the moderator says soothingly. "Do you feel unattractive? I bet you do."

You can watch the video below to see exactly what happens and, most entertainingly, how more realistic women would react to the formulaic "surprise twists" of Dove's recent marketing efforts inspired by its award-winning Real Beauty Sketches.

Most Dove parodies simply recreate the original video with a different outcome, like the Real Beauty Sketches for Men. With this one, Above Average skips the easy gag of satirizing the recent Beauty Patch viral hit and creates its own experiment to show just how far Dove has tilted toward flat-out condescension. 

My favorite part is when the woman running the experiment becomes visibly flustered because it's not working out as planned. "Just thank Dove," she angrily tells one of the participants while gesturing to the camera. "Hashtag TrueBeauty. Thank them. We showed you using science!"




Dove Billboard Tells New Jersey to Be Proud of Being the Armpit of America

Dove's billboard attempting to redefine New Jersey's reputation as the "Armpit of America" seems to be getting the state in quite a lather. The backlash, while not unexpected, is especially notable considering the billboard won't even go up until July.

"Dear New Jersey," the Unilever billboard says, "when people call you 'The Armpit of America,' take it as a compliment. Sincerely, Dove."

With its North American headquarters based in New Jersey, Unilever swears the outdoor board is  positive. 

"The message that we want to get out there is that the armpit is not a bad thing," senior marketing director Matthew McCarthy tells The New York Times, "and that we stand for caring for the armpit."

Not everyone seems to share that assessment of the message.

"I can think of a another body part to describe the person who thought up this ad," notes a commenter on News 12.

Several commenters on NJ.com say they'll be boycotting Dove products over the billboard. Others are encouraging readers to write to Unilever about their anger toward the ad. My favorite commenter, though, handles it like a true New Jerseyan: "I guess it's OK to be the armpit. Kansas is the butthole."


    



? Websérie de Knorr mostra com bom humor o dia a dia de um chef de cozinha

Para reforçar seu relacionamento com restaurantes e estabelecimentos comerciais, a Knorr resolveu conversar de maneira diferente com os chefs e donos desses locais.

Através de uma websérie de 6 capítulos, chamada“O Poderoso Chef”, a marca irá mostrar com bom humor o dia a dia de uma cozinha, e também como os caldos Knorr podem ser parceiros nas horas mais complexas. Nos vídeos, um renomado chef desafia Carlos, um jovem aprendiz de cozinheiro, a preparar cinco receitas especiais para, assim, se tornar seu chef.

A série será veiculada na fanpage de Unilever Food Solutions no Facebook e no canal do YouTube. Um projeto inovador para o mercado de foodservice, que utiliza a internet como plataforma de conteúdo e vai além da comunicação porta-a-porta com vendedores.

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[Esse post é trazido a você por Unilever Food Solutions. Texto de responsabilidade do anunciante.]
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Emotionally Charged Ad Asks, ‘Why Bring a Child Into This World?’

Unilever asks a heavy question—"Why bring a child into this world?"—in a four-minute video touting Project Sunlight, its new  global sustainability initiative. The consumer-goods titan created the short film in collaboration with acclaimed director Errol Morris and many of the same folks from Ogilvy's South American office who created the award-winning "Real Beauty Sketches" for Unilever's Dove brand.

Actually, this is a film within film, as real expectant parents share their hopes and fears about the world their kids will inherit. They also react as they watch a movie that mixes footage of violence and despair with hopeful messages about the future. The tone is emotional, but positive, backed by a pensive piano cover of The Pixies' "Where Is My Mind?"

"Your child could have more possibilities of having a healthier heart than any living person today—and the same chance of a broken heart," the narrator says. "No one can escape that. … And by the time they find the right person, our children will have better chances of meeting their great-grandchildren than we ever did."

Nearing 2.5 million YouTube views in just two days, the clip clearly resonates with many viewers, such as this commenter on Unilever's Facebook page: "I cried at this video. … Righteous work! I hope more people see this video and are inspired."

Of course, not all viewers were won over. One YouTube commenter scoffed at the premise of a consumer brand helping save the world: "So they claim they 'save lives?' They make soap, people. Look, if they really cared they would invest all the billions of euros they make in profit into cancer research or something … Unilever is once again trying to take credit for something they have no business taking credit in by putting together some overdramatic commercial to fool people into thinking they are not in business to make those billions of euros."

The existential implications of the central question—"Why bring a child into this world?"—are so intense, I give Unilever points for having the guts to go this route in the first place.

But do we really need a big company to ask such questions? Is it Unilever's place to curate such a conversation which, no matter how well intentioned, is ultimately designed to improve the image of its brand and boost the bottom line?

Via Mashable.


    

Por que trazer uma criança a este mundo?

Decidir entre ter ou não um filho é uma das maiores incertezas na vida de uma pessoa. Tentar imaginar como será o mundo em que ele irá viver, levando em conta a miséria, as guerras, o clima e tudo aquilo que não podemos controlar é o tipo da coisa que faz a gente pensar e repensar, mudar de ideia n vezes até tomar uma decisão definitiva. As dúvidas, entretanto, não acabam quando alguém resolve ter um filho, muito pelo contrário: elas parecem ganhar ainda mais força. É daí que o filme Por que trazer uma criança a este mundo, da Unilever, tenta trazer uma mensagem positiva, mostrando que para muitos dos problemas que imaginamos, também há soluções sendo criadas.

O filme, lançado oficialmente hoje no Brasil, Estados Unidos, Índia, Indonésia e Reino Unido, quando comemora-se o Dia Universal das Crianças, tem criação da David/Ogilvy & Mather e lembra bastante a pegada de Retratos da Beleza, de Dove. A diferença é que, aqui, futuros pais são confrontados com seus medos e têm uma resposta a eles.

Por que trazer uma criança a este mundo também marca o lançamento do Project Sunlinght, que segundo informações divulgadas pela marca ”foi desenhado para atrair pessoas de todo o mundo, em particular os pais, incentivando-os a se unirem ao que a Unilever vê como uma comunidade crescente de pessoas que querem tornar o mundo um lugar melhor para seus filhos e para as futuras gerações”.

Apesar de não sanar todas as incertezas que fazem parte da decisão de ter ou não um filho, o filme é bem-feito – a direção é de Errol Morris e a trilha sonora é a perfeita Where is My Mind, dos Pixies – e traz uma mensagem positiva e emocionante. É um começo para quem quer acreditar que o futuro poderá ser melhor.

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Axe cria tutoriais bem-humorados de penteados masculinos

A Axe resolveu dar uma “forcinha” para ensinar os homens como deixar os cabelos com uma aparência mais bacana, de acordo com a personalidade de cada um, com o lançamento de quatro tutoriais muito bem-humorados. Criados pela BBH de Londres, os filmes destacam penteados nos estilos arrumadinho, bagunçado, natural ou arrepiado, misturando informação e entretenimento com aquela pegada Axe de sempre.

O destaque dos tutoriais é a narrativa, que descreve a personalidade de cada homem que usaria aquele estilo de penteado – ou pelo menos a imagem que ele gostaria de passar. Depois, mostra como estilizar o cabelo, usando os produtos da marca, colocando os protagonistas em situações às vezes um tanto complicadas, mas sempre com a garantia de um final feliz.



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Unilever Shampoo Gives You Hair So Strong, You Can Make Violin Bows Out of It

When you hear the words human hair orchestra, don't you just imagine Hannibal Lecter conducting? Not so for this Unilever-sponsored stunt in the Philippines from JWT Singapore and JWT Manila. To show the strengthening effect of its Cream Silk hair-care line, the marketer enlisted a custom bow-maker and used human hair washed with the products instead of the usual horsehair to string four violin bows. An all-female quartet then used them to play 40 songs over four hours in a busy Manila mall. They reported no broken strands through the four-set concert, which drew a crowd of more than 600 people. The live music's lovely, and the idea's unique, but doesn't the whole thing have a slightly creepy it-puts-the-conditioner-on-its-head vibe?

    

Unilever Debuts New Logo

New Unilever LogoA new logo is expected to be unveiled by Unilever soon, a move that is hopes to boost the value of its corporate reputation. Unilever also owns other companies such as Flora, Persil, and Marmite.

It is understood that the FMCG company’s logo will appear in its product advertising across all media later this year in the UK and Ireland. A spokesman for Unilever confirmed the decision.

‘Our research tells us that people who already buy one Unilever brand will buy others, if they know they come from the same maker,’

(Source) Marketing Magazine

A Unilever institucional de 2009

A Unilever, do alto do seu gigantismo, lançou campanha institucional para falar de trabalho comunitário, potencial humano e auto-estima. É a mensagem que a empresa vai trabalhar no Brasil durante todo o ano de 2009, quando completa 80 anos de presença no país.

Criada pela Ogilvy Brasil, a campanha utiliza alguns dos 25 elementos do logo da Unilever, ícones como sol, abelha, flor e colher, etc. Abaixo você pode assistir os quatro primeiros filmes, produzidos pela Hungry Man e dirigidos pela dupla 300ml.

Comerciais simpáticos, com aquela cara de sociedade do século XXI moderna e socialmente responsável. É o mea culpa das gigantes multinacionais.

| Flor

| Colher

Desodorante do Burger King e celular Nokia da Rexona

Enquanto algumas marcas viram desodorante, um desodorante vira celular. São dois casos:

O Burger King lançou o Flame, um desodorante em edição limitada que, segundo a empresa, captura a paixão americana pelo Whopper. Além do aroma de sedução, tem um toque de carne grelhada.

Pensa que é brincadeira? Você pode comprar aqui por 3,99 dólares. Uma ação com o sarcasmo já característico de Burger King. Criação da Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

Burger King Flame

Burger King Flame

Já a Unilever, em parceira com a Nokia, anunciou hoje o lançamento do Nokia 3210 Rexona Men Quantum no Brasil. O celular em edição limitada trará temas especiais e jogos relacionados (?) ao desodorante Rexona Men Quantum.

Não é a primeira vez que as duas empresas trabalham em conjunto, recentemente fizeram o lançamento do Nokia 5200 Pink Seda Teens. Quem tiver interesse, pode adquirir os modelos com exclusividade na Nokia Store SP.