Hasta La Creative!

We know what you’re thinking: “Holy shit, Sarah motherfucking McLachlan!!” But you should probably sit back down, take a deep breath, maybe drink a glass of water. You don’t want to get yourself too worked up. We don’t want you to start pounding your desk and throwing chairs in excitement. Hopefully you didn’t just scream that out loud for your boss to hear.

The Lilith Fair founder stars in this bizarre Super Bowl teaser that Venables Bell and Partners put together for its longtime client and perennial big game advertiser, Audi. In the spot, McLachlan parodies her own advertisements in support of the ASPCA, offering up a “special new song” to raise awareness for “misunderstood animals.” In this case, the “misunderstood animals” are Doberhuahuas (a cross between a Doberman and Chihuahuas, get it?). The freaky-looking things populate the spot, pictured hanging on couch by the fireplace, on a walk along the beach, tearing up a couch, and hanging out with kittens, ducklings and bunnies. It’s a bit bizarre, but it certainly should get people’s attention. And it features the always exciting music of Sarah McLachlan. You might want to wait until later to watch this, so you can appropriately rock out and get your Sarah on. Just saying.

The ad marks the second teaser from Audi, following “Dog Show,” which debuted earlier this week. Audi’s latest Super Bowl effort will be promoting the automaker’s all-new A3, billed as “the brand’s entry-level luxury sedan.” It will mark Audi’s seventh return to the Super Bowl. Keep an eye out for the spot during the first in-game break and following the third quarter kickoff. Stick around for “Dog Show after the jump. continued…

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San Francisco-based Venables Bell & Partners continue their ”Protect Yourself from Your Digital Self” campaign for McAfee LiveSafe, produced by its in-house content production facility, Lumberyard, with a new spot entitled ”Beth vs. @simply_the_beth.”

The spot builds on the notion of the careless, naive digital self they’ve explored in the past. In this case, @simply_the_beth’s carelessness leads to identity theft, an opportunity for VB&P to tout McAfee’s identity protection. The way in which this happens is a bit over-the-top, and I have to think the spot would be more successful if  @simply_the_beth got in trouble in a more realistic way. I understand the ad is attempting to be humorous, but it really pushes things way past believability. Aren’t you trying to get people to identify with Beth and her digital self? And by making Beth’s digital self a complete idiot, aren’t you kind of insulting your potential customers? Making @simply_the_beth so unbelievably stupid just seems like a big misstep. On an unrelated note, I really want that owl mug Beth is holding.

In the slightly more successful Gregg vs. @greggs_benedict (featured after the jump), VB&P plays on the animosity between Greg and his digital self without making the digital self quite so cartoonish (he’s more of a dick than a moron). Let us know what you think of the new spot, and the ”Protect Yourself from Your Digital Self” campaign in the comments section.  continued…

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Here's one from the warm-and-fuzzies school of advertising.

Jack Andraka, barely a teenager, decided to develop an early-detection test for pancreatic cancer after his uncle died from the disease. He asked 200 researchers and other experts for help. Only one, a doctor of oncology at Johns Hopkins, provided him with lab space to use after school. At age 15, Andraka succeeded in developing a test that is 168 times faster, 400 times more sensitive, and 26,000 times less expensive than the medical standard.

Intel tells Andraka's story in the ad below. What does a computer-chip manufacturer have to do with his invention? Not much, but Intel is the headlining sponsor—and has been since 1997—of the International Science and Engineering Fair, which gave Andraka its $75,000 grand prize for his work.

The spot, from Venables Bell & Partners (and director Britton Caillouette of Farm League, himself a bone-cancer survivor), is a little self-congratulatory on Intel's part. But it's clever, too. The ad, which proceeds in reverse chronology, might make you feel the same sort of skepticism about Andraka that his idea met—but then you'll feel like a fool when you realize how quite amazing his accomplishment is. Credits below.

CREDITS
Client: Intel
Spot: "Look Inside. Jack A."
Agency: Venables Bell & Partners
Executive Creative Directors: Paul Venables and Will McGinness
Creative Director: Tom Scharpf
Associate Creative Director: Eric Boyd
Art Director: Ezra Paulekas
Copywriter: Rob Calabro
Director of Integrated Production: Craig Allen
Agency Producer: Emily Moore
Production Company: Farm League
Director: Britton Caillouette
Director of Photography: Devin Whetstone
Executive Producers: Tim Lynch/Tieneke Pavesic
Producer: David Burden
Editing Company: Farm League
Editor: Dana Shaw
Sound Design: One Union SF
Sound Designers: Joaby Deal
Music: Elias/Michael Fraumeni
Mix: Joaby Deal/One Union SF
VFX/End Treatment: Brand New School
VFX Producer: Amy Russo

In 2012, a creative director fell into Herman Melville’s 720-page trap and reimagined Ahab as a tow truck driver, madly chasing his white whale, an Audi Quattro. “Sometimes, I actually think it’s mocking me,” Ahab says in a gruff voice, anxiously twisting his thermos as he waits in the arctic tundra.

Said creative director then got distracted by Cetology, but has now resurfaced to produce “Ahab Redux,” in which, obviously, our automotive whale has yet to meet his driver. Ahab has retired on an island “most folks would call paradise,” but he can’t escape his all-wheel drive demon. “There isn’t a road on earth that can stop it.”

Thankfully this ad is a departure from the old winding-mountain-road glamour reel, and I appreciate the attempt at literary allusion. We’re all familiar with Moby Dick, whether we became obsessed like Ahab or SparkNoted its entirety. “Ahab Redux” is a bit of a cop-out due to its repetition, but the general idea probably gives Audi’s target affluent audience a twinge of self-satisfaction: “Oh, I know that story!”

Credits and original Ahab after the jump continued…

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The founder of a San Francisco advertising agency says he would advise college graduates starting a career to volunteer for a task their boss hates.

Audi has been busy lately, pumping out ads for their newest cars in sponsorship deals with Iron Man while simultaneously pitting past and present versions of Spock against each other. The automaker seems to be at it again, now with longtime agency Venables Bell & Partners, for a 60-second spot that traces back to the origin of the company. Retro footage of Audi’s founder, August Horch, and old-school automobiles plays for most of the spot, set to narration of the children’s poem It Couldn’t Be Done, written by Edgar Albert Guest. I guess Dr. Suess was busy.

By design, most of the commercial feels like it belongs to pre-1980, but the dissonance of the kid’s poem and the speeding-car shots strikes a cool chord. While previous car spots may be clever or topical when full of movie stars, this one stands out in a good way. It’s smooth and engaging, presumably, like a ride in a new Audi. Credits and a couple of :15 second spots after the jump.

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What the beep? is right. Venables Bell & Partners is teaming with gasoline company 76 to stop honkaholism, a vicious nonexistent affliction that doesn’t actually affect many people. If you happen to live in New York City, you may hear the occasional overzealous honker, but building an ad campaign around the concept of overhonking seems overzealous in and of itself. Not to mention the humor rooted in the idea of a gasoline company trying to stop noise pollution, which is like a drug dealer trying to stop people from taking Tylenol.

The campaign comes fully stocked with website, billboards, the above 30-second spot, and even a touring “Stop Honkaholism Bus.” If you’re compelled to dig deeper, you can receive a free Honk Suppressor for your dashboard, which means instead of hitting your car horn, you pound a fist into the suppressor instead. Kind of like a Nicotine patch for your vehicle. It is free, so VB&P and 76 should get points for that. Credits after the jump.

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