Hasta La Creative!

Created by Quaker City Mercantile and All Ages Productions, the animated shorts feature the unique style of Thom Lessner and Harvey Benschor, the design and animation team behind the video for The Darkness’ “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us”. These three short ads are currently airing throughout the New England market on Comcast cable stations. And they’re quirtky, did I mention they’re quirky? In that good way, like the squiggly animation way. I’m pretty sure a generation of 20-somethings will love this oddball campaign forever.

Animated fun at the beach, where Mr Universe fails to hit top top strength bell, until Miss Universe uses him as the sledgehammer. This shoot the beer & shandy up into space together where even aliens enjoy the chilled drink set to conquer the hipster market. This is so good I may have to import some of this product just to support the campaign.

Three ads in one post here – as data storage giant WD wants to remind you to save your things in your cloud. Created by R&R partners who have been WD’s AOR for the past four years. Our latest campaign for them continues the focus on a singular insight and undeniable truth: that the digital photos, videos and files that we create represent precious and irreplaceable memories and experiences. These spots personalize the value of your digital content, and positions WD as the simple, secure solution to ensure that you never lose touch with what matters.

While I really like the execution, how the images zoom out only to become flyers, wanted ads and “missing” pictures on the side of a milk carton, I wished that WD’s main USP against everybody elses cloud was stressed just a little more. While we see all the models available at the end and I really would hope people understand that this means the WD cloud is a piece of hardware that you control, instead of how Googles cloud or Apples cloud out in the ether works. It’s a secure personal alternative, a smart hardware in your house. Goodness, I sound like a client: “can we make that it’s hardware pop more?”

GMC is sharp, like a haircut in a fancy schmancy place or a handmade tailored suit. Also, black and white, helps. I mean, it’s an SUV that starts at $47,000 and goes up to $67,000 so style and fashion statements are probably the way to go ?

Here’s a perfectly stylish mood capturing series of headlines over perfectly cast scenes of tattooed bartenders mixing, shaking and serving shots of the Ole Smoky Moonshine. If I’m not being clear enough, I love the look of this brand, the Ole Smoky Moonshine brand look is perfection from bottle shape to colour choices. Even the soundtrack is perfect. It’s a young brand – 5 years – but already poised to elevate the moonshine category as the challenger-to-beat in the traditional liquor landscape. Unlike plain old vodka moonshine has roots in America, and todays quest for genuine craft from the hipster crowd has an entire generation seeking out everything that is old, as new again. It’s in this market that Standard Time, a full-service, LA-based creative agency, has been awarded the AOR account of Ole Smoky Moonshine. Their slogan “C’mon Live a Little”, is a call to action intended to disrupt routine and “incite some mischief in all of us.”

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Ole Smoky,” said Michael Sharp, Founder and Executive Creative Director at Standard Time. “It doesn’t take much ‘shine to know what Tennesseans have known for over 100 years: Moonshine is made for the best kind of wild nights. It’s time to share the jar with a much larger audience.”

“Ole Smoky is committed to the growth of the moonshine category, and we’re excited to continue to expand our reach through targeted media and sponsorships,” said John Cochran, CEO of Ole Smoky Tennessee Moonshine. “Together with Standard Time, we can’t wait to show everyone what our moonshine is all about.”

Once upon a time in America, they thought that Kennedy might not make it to the White House because he was a catholic. Now in the days after the Supreme Court ruling that made same-sex marriage legal in all US states, this ad appears. It’s your usual choddy, the talking heads, the nervous admission, the music rising as emotions are shown. We’ve seen this execution for everything from processed cheese to breast cancer awareness. The people in this ad all talk about love, acceptance and fear. “How many people can I really truly, honestly, be open with”, a young man asks, while another shyly explains “most people think I’m pretty weird anyway.” For a moment, you might even think this is an ad about stepping out of the closet, but that is the twist. The secret these people are reluctant to share is their religious view on marriage. “I believe that a marriage is between a man and a woman” one states frankly, and the video goes on; “No one should be looked down upon, no one should be oppressed…” and “you can not have a society of hatred or a society of bigotry”. One woman concludes “the best way to break down all these barriers, is to get to know people one on one”. Now, Adweek reviewed this ad stating: “the ad, with a straight face, position Catholics as a persecuted group for not having their message of intolerance (here blatantly recast as its opposite) widely accepted these days” and called it disingenuous and disrespectful, saying “you can’t reposition a group as oppressed when there is no movement to oppress them”, kind of proving the ads point. Those who through their religion believe that marriage is a sacred vow between a man and a woman and God now fear to express this idea, as they will be called bigoted for adhering to their holy scripture as they understand it.

There seems to be no shortage of lobbying groups concerned about gun violence in the USA. Filmmaker Anthony Wilson directed the latest in a series of Commonsense Solution toolkits from the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence and Americans for Responsible Solutions.

The installment, Commonsense Solutions: State Gun Laws to Protect Kids from Unintended Shootings, addresses the urgent need to keep children safe from firearms in the home, just like Evolve was, last year, however Evolve chose to tackle the topic with humor.

Wilson decided to go the emotional route, and he directed this pro-bono. This PSA was produced by Patrick Malloy with Executive Producer Rania Hattar. You can read more at www.smartgunlaws.org

Through the metaphorical use of a young boy, the symbol of our young country, and the backdrop of classic Americana; Wilson asks us to follow him as he seeks to understand what this object’s purpose is. In the end, reality shows the young boy, our young country, what the sole purpose of a gun is. It is an instrument of death; and we should hold that notion close to us when we decide who should wield this power and how.
Too many families have needlessly suffered the devastation of a child lost to a poorly stored gun. Almost 1.7 million children under the age of 18 live in homes with loaded, unlocked firearms, making them 16 times more likely to be killed in unintentional shootings than in other high-income countries. Commonsense requirements for gun storage and handling can protect the littlest among us from preventable tragedies.
The toolkit is a comprehensive legal resource for state legislators and activists that offers detailed proposals for smart gun laws and in-home best practices to keep kids from accessing firearms. Recommendations include secure locking methods, warning labels, and child access prevention laws, which hold adults liable when children gain access to deadly weapons.
The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence has made addressing the deadly intersection of kids and guns one of its top policy priorities in 2015. The Law Center’s 22nd Anniversary Dinner held on June 18 in San Francisco, focused on smart gun laws that protect children, and honored Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer for founding the organization Prosecutors Against Gun Violence and all their efforts to reduce gun violence against children. The dinner also honored Mark Barden, who lost his son in the shooting at Sandy Hook and now serves as advocacy director for Sandy Hook Promise.

Late night in the kitchen and she opts for.. no! Don’t do it! Aaaaw, the brownie. Diet resolve re-found, she tosses it in the bin. You know what happens next. Now enter the creepy vacuum robot who knows your secrets….

Behold, the earth hippie mom guiding her son to channel the earths energy before hitting the piñata. I’m surprised that Gaia’s daughter has a robot vacuum – but in the universe of commercials logic is secondary to jokes.

Mekanism developed their spot for Aquafina using a cover of The Turtles “Come on, Get happy.” The band who covered it is The Goods. Fr a commercial about water this sure is sugary. I guess it’s because Aquafina is owned by Pepsi, which also might explain why this ad seems so curiously out of touch with the times, too.