Hasta La Creative!

The folks over at Chicago agency Plan B crafted their own sarcastic take on the The Elf on the Shelf, “The Ad Agency Elf on the Shelf,” for the agency’s holiday card/

As might be expected, the ad agency elf is a little more ornery than his non-agency brethren, while also showing a taste for alcohol. Rather than spying on children to find out who’s naughty and nice, he instead keeps tabs on agency taboos. He calls out one employee for texting during a meeting, an intern for looking at a picture of a kitten on Facebook — “What client job are you going to bill that to, huh?” he asks — and a group creative director who “can make a big TV commercial but can’t make a pot of coffee.” As often as not, The Ad Agency Elf on the Shelf comes across as creepy (which I guess shouldn’t come as a surprise), and on more than one occasion pushes things well past uncomfortable into cringe territory. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

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Last month, Sainsbury’s unveiled a high-budget holiday ad created by agency AMV BBDO commemorating the famous “Christmas Truce” of World War I. Unfortunately for the brand, it didn’t find the reception it was looking for, with many in the British public finding the ad distasteful or even hypocritical (Sainsbury’s is planning to knock down a Bristol rugby stadium built in honor of World War I veterans to make way for one of its stores).

So now the brand has completely reversed course with an online holiday ad from Gravity Road entitled “Dads Pull Out Surprise Dubstep Dance for Christmas.” Whereas the “Christmas Truce” spot was clearly labored over with a large production budget, this effort was shot with a handheld camera in an attempt to seem like a homemade video. And while the previous ad was serious and somber, this effort couldn’t be more goofy and lighthearted. As the title implies, the spot sees some dads pull out a surprise dance routine. That the dads do so while wearing jumpers (sweaters as they’re known here in the states) seems an attempt to cash in on this year’s craze for the “ugly sweater.” Their dance is performed to a re-mixed version of Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from The Nutcracker.

“The piece was always designed as a piece of content that would live on Facebook primarily,” Pete Conolly, creative director at Gravity Road, told Digiday.

Since being uploaded around a week ago, the video has racked up over a million views on Facebook and YouTube, with at least one fan calling for it to be shown on television. The ad is unlikely to generate the same kind of backlash as Sainsbury’s previous effort, as its hard to get too offended over Christmas sweaters.

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Grey London created one of the more off-the-wall Christmas spots you’ll see this year with “Christmas Choir,” promoting McVitie’s Victoria cookies.

In the spot, a family sits around on a sleepy holiday evening when the father decides to open up a box of McVitie’s biscuits. Upon opening the container, a chorus of tiny, adorable animals begins barking, meowing, quacking and otherwise vocalizing to the tune of 80s hit “Only You” by Yaz. The chorus of cuddly critters is, clearly, meant to evoke the happiness evoked by digging in to a box of McVitie’s (in this case punctuating a case of holiday doldrums), but that’s not important right now. What’s important is that around the 44 second mark a tiny narwhal whale emerges from the depths of a punch bowl. For that, Grey London, we thank you. (more…)

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Does your office include a steam room? And why not?

We shouldn’t be surprised by this clip after witnessing hasan&partners chief Ami Hasan undergo voluntary shock therapy back in April. But this faux news segment, in which a “reporter” casts Hasan as the ultimate guide to Helsinki as it prepares to host the Eurobest festival, took us aback for some reason.

It’s a little slow to start; you may even miss the subtlest joke around the 1:16 mark:

Did you get all that?

For the record, Mark Maher is not journalist, but he is a copywriter who serves as hasan&partners’ “sole native English specialist.”

Unfortunately, Maher has yet to sell us on the Helsinki experience. We’re also very disappointed to report that the site listed at the end of the video, in which Hasan promises to give us more “restaurant, sightseeing and sauna tips,” does not exist…yet.

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When Arby’s received a friendly reminder in October that they had yet to release the second of their promised ads featuring Pepsi they realized they had a problem. The brand and its agency, Fallon, had already wrapped on their creative for the rest of the year.

Rob Lynch, chief marketing officer and brand president of Arby’s, explained to The Wall Street Journal that with the brand focusing on its revamped marketing, centered around the “We have the meats” tagline, the obligations to Pepsi simply got forgotten. Lynch did not look forward to breaking the news to Fallon. “Their ads are kind of like their babies. To go in after we shot them and shoehorn something in is like the worst client move you could ever make,” he told The Wall Street Journal.

But Fallon proved up to the challenge. The Minneapolis-based agency created a new, 30-second ad poking fun at the whole debacle. A tall glass of Pepsi stays on camera for the entire ad as the sonorous Ving Rhames explains the situation: “Arby’s has an agreement to feature their good friend Pepsi in two commercials a year…Well Arby’s messed up and forgot about the second commercial!” In a clever touch, the ad ends by replacing the usual “We have the meats” tagline with “We have Pepsi.” So what did Pepsi think of the approach?

“We applaud Arby’s unconventional approach to marketing and when they came to us with this idea, we thought it would be a fun, creative way to highlight our partnership,” Roberto Rios, chief marketing officer for PepsiCo’s food service division, told The Wall Street Journal in an emailed statement.

So it seems like everyone is happy with the situation. The spot will run from December 7th-13th in the Minneapolis, New York, and Los Angeles markets, fulfilling Arby’s end of their agreement with Pepsi to feature the beverage in two advertisements this year. Presumably the creative Fallon had to put on hold for the ad will run in the near future.

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W+K has a new spot for Old Spice’s “#SmellcometoManhood” campaign entitled “Dadsong,” a follow-up to to the goofy musical “Momsong,” in which mothers lament Old Spice turning their sons into men while engaging in some pretty creepy behavior.

The follow-up, with music and lyrics written by Bret McKenzie (Flight of the Conchords, The Muppets), reprises the sad moms of that spot, but with an answer from the dads. It opens on one of the moms from “Momsong” singing, “Where’s my little boy, I miss him so? Who’s this man living in our home?” while clutching her sons teddy bear as he slow dances with a girl. Soon a chorus of fathers replies that they’re “overjoyed” that they’ll be using their son’s room “for storage pretty soon.” The song is a step up from its predecessor — not a surprise given McKenzie’s involvement — and strikes more of a balance between goofiness and creepiness (which mostly comes across through visual gags). And while it deals in over-the-top portrayals of stereotypical motherly clinginess and fatherly aloofness, it’s also pretty clear that it isn’t dealing in anything resembling reality. Fans of McKenzie’s distinct style of musical comedy, and anyone who enjoyed the original “#SmellcometoManhood” installment, should get a kick out of “Dadsong.” (more…)

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The company is supposedly worth $10 billion, and its newest venture provides users with a way to (securely) send cash to one another…a very appealing option for a company that is notoriously dishonest about its own privacy practices.

What could go wrong? Watch this spot and tell us:

The ad debuted yesterday in the wake of the company’s announcement that it would be creating a NEW type of ad that’s “similar to live TV” for its partners. We’re interested in seeing how they define that phrase.

We know that the product was created in partnership with mobile payment company Square, but Snapchat’s announcement doesn’t say anything about the ad itself: where it will run, how they will promote it and, most importantly, who actually made it. Campaign is in the dark too: no creative credits anywhere. At least the company has something approaching a sense of humor.

The comments on the ad’s YouTube page have been conveniently disabled, but we trust our readers to let us know exactly how they feel.

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Agency Zeus Jones worked with comedic duo Tim & Eric (Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim) to create a truly bizarre ad for Totino’s.

At the heart of the long ad is a really catchy jingle, which Tim & Eric sing along to and dance around. But add in some strange characters, such as Hard Rock Joe, the song’s supposed writer, some trippy, intentionally bad production and the duo’s typical brand of zaniness and you have “Pizza Freaks Unite” — which is to say one of the stranger ads for a pizza product you’ll ever see. Of course, the spot’s WTF factor is what makes it so memorable (along with the catchy song) and should lead to it being shared across social channels. Of course, Tim & Eric are no strangers to advertising, having most recently made waves with this ad for GE Lighting starring Jeff Goldblum. While “Pizza Freaks Unite” doesn’t quite live up to that recent success, it’s still worth a view if you have a couple minutes. It may be the strangest thing you watch all day. Unless, of course, you watch this.

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Toronto agency Cossette has released a funny video in which individuals across Canada ask, “What the fuck is going on at Cossette?”

The agency managed to bring together an impressive array of talent for the video, including BBDO’s Carlos Moreno and Peter Ignazi, Chris Van Dyke of School Editing, Ted Rosnick of RMW Music, and, perhaps most surprisingly, a cameo from the Trailer Park Boys. At the end of the video, the agency boasts that they’ve been nominated for agency of the year, digital agency of the year and media agency of the year, and “That’s what’s going on.” It’s well worth a view if you have a minute for a quick chuckle, especially if you’re amused by extensive profanity and/or have ever wanted to see Cossette Co-Chief Creative Officer Dave Daga get hit in the balls.

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…because they’re using different taglines that everyone will still hate. Maybe.

Seems that one of our commenters was right and that the company did NOT want its revised sort-of-tagline leaked last week. “Lovin’ Beats Hatin’” won’t be McD’s official slogan.

In fact — according to Businessweek – the company has “no plans to use the phrase even informally on social media,” so it may never invade your brain again.

Still, McDonald’s has definitely filed trademark claims for two phrases that are…not too different. They are:

• Lovin’ > Hatin’
• Lovin’ Is Greater Than Hatin’

So while “Lovin’ Beats Hatin’” will not be the bold, quoted line for the brand’s next Super Bowl spot, it certainly looks like McD’s will shame someone for being such a hater (though, of course, there’s no guarantee that these phrases will appear in the campaign, either).

We ask: why drop the hatin’ into the equation anyway? Feeling defensive, McDonald’s? And who were the “people familiar with the matter” who leaked that original phrase to The Wall Street Journal?

Surely they don’t work at Leo Burnett…

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