Hasta La Creative!

Bacon doesn’t make everything better. Hughes Carwash “wanted to capture the emotional relief one feels after having their car washed.” So TAXI Vancouver took that idea and ran with it — all the way to crazy town.

Their four new spots for Hughes Carwash — “Bacon Underwear,” “Rabies Shot,” “Nose Hairs” and “The Internet?” — all feature a couple coming clean with each other about various things they’ve been keeping secret. Three of the four spots open in the same way: with the woman revealing she’s not a natural redhead and the man revealing that the necklace he bought her (and that she is currently wearing) is actually just a string of sausages. That should give you an idea of the crazy brand of humor that fills out these spots. One of these thirty second ads contains a full 25 seconds of the man laughing. So clearly over-the-top is what TAXI was going for here.

While the campaign as a whole may not be laugh out loud funny, they do have a certain meshugana charm to them, and the actors portraying the couple do an admirable enough job. The exception being the one that wastes most of its thirty seconds on the man laughing. If you don’t already know the concept behind the spots, the idea may not make sense until the end of the ad, with the “It Feels Good to Come Clean” tagline. Without such an excellent tag to tie things together, it would be easy to forget why we’re watching these crazy people in the first place. All four of these spots will air during Canadian coverage of the Super Bowl. Click through for “The Internet?” and credits. continued…

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We hope you’re ready for Thanksgiving, because the Turkey Day items are starting to pour in. If you’ve noticed that the word “turkey” rhymes with the word “twerky” and find this funny, then you’re in for a treat. For whatever reason (blame Miley), twerking turkeys seem to be a thing this year, and the folks over at independent full-service Dallas agency Firehouse couldn’t resist getting in on the action. Maybe they were just in a celebratory mood after being named creative AOR for San Antonio-based Mexican restaurant chain Taco Cabana last month.

They’ve created a video full of twerking turkeys (actually people dressed in turkey costumes), entitled “Happy Twerky Day.” That pretty much sums things up: dudes holding speakers blasting dance music while people twerk, dressed up as turkeys. If you find that premise funny, you’ll get a good chuckle out of the above video. If you don’t, you’d probably be better off spending that 58 seconds elsewhere. And if all that turkey twerking still isn’t disturbing enough for you, try this GIF of a Miley Cyrus twerking turkey. Or don’t, if you’d still like to sleep at night.

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It seems that the fight for the craziest, most absurd holiday ad is in full force, with McGarryBowen Chicago being the latest agency to throw their hat in the ring with three new spots for Sears that introduce us to “The Denskies.”

While Draftcb’s currently causing controversy with its Joe Boxer jingle for Kmart (and let’s not forget the earlier Satan/Genghis Khan layaway spot), McGarryBowen makes that holiday effort seem tame in comparison to its “Squirrel Revolt” ad. It wouldn’t stand out from the other two “Denskies” installments, in its “let’s be as crazy as possible” humor, were it not for the line (assuming I’m hearing this correctly), “Oh god, it’s mating with my mouth.”

The aforementioned spot (which you can watch above, though you probably shouldn’t) begins with Papa Denskie explaining to his wife that he’s trained “those pesky squirrels” to cut coupons. Everything, though, soon goes haywire, the squirrels attack the man and elicit the crazy, over-the-top response from the above paragraph. (You know, the one where the guy gets orally raped by a squirrel with a rage boner.) If people were pissed off about Kmart’s “Show Your Joe,” I can’t imagine how they’ll respond to this one.

The other two “Denskies” spots for Sears have plenty of crazy to spare as well. In “Robo Granny,” the same man builds a robotic grandmother so that the family won’t have to go visit their real, living grandmother. Predictably, chaos ensues, dragging on for way too long, with the spot clocking in at 1:23 but seeming more like a 5-minute endurance test. Meanwhile, “Medium” sees agency and client portraying their subject as some kind of crazy, possessed witch lady. I’d almost feel bad for real mediums if it weren’t for the fact that they make their living by pretending to talk to dead people (sorry, Sylvia Browne, RIP). The message from Sears this holiday season seems to be the tired “Don’t do something crazy to save time and money, shop here” approach–just with the crazy pushed well beyond the point of reason. You can check out the other two after the jump, along with credits.

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You may have read about the controversy surrounding Draftcb Chicago’s new Joe Boxer spot for Kmart, “Show Your Joe.” If you actually watch the spot (featured above) and have any sense, you may wonder what all the fuss is about. Kmart, of course, is no stranger to controversial advertising: a recent Kmart spot featured Satan and Genghis Khan, and their “Ship My Pants” spot is still our favorite of the bunch.

“Show Your Joe” opens with a group of tuxedo-wearing men behind a curtain, ringing bells. After a few seconds the curtain is whisked away to reveal the men clad in only boxer shorts from the waist down, and they begin playing “Jingle Bells” by shaking their hips. Presumably the, uh, bells, are tucked away somewhere in those boxers. The men perform the chorus of the song…and that’s it. To be clear: there’s nothing all that risque about the execution — the camera is panned way out and these dudes are in boxers, okay? No junk visible. Repeat: no junk visible.

The holiday effort is a little juvenile perhaps, but offensive? Hardly. The most offensive thing about it may be that it’s not all that funny. Either the cries to arms are coming from those who feel this ad violates the “sanctity of Christmas” (you can see these people riding around in cars with “Put the Christ back in Christmas” bumper stickers and complaining about government handouts), or they are the typically hypocritical complaints that arise from anything remotely provocative associated with male body parts. Overtly sexualizing women in every single women’s underwear ad ever? That’s okay. Suggesting that a group of guys are playing “Jingle Bells” with parts tucked away in their boxers, away from view? Congratulations, you’ve just awakened the seven horses of the apocalypse.

Kmart has reportedly refused to pull the ad, despite a long list of complaints on their Facebook page (although a quick glance at the page while writing this turned up at least as many comments supporting the ad). Good for them. If anything, the controversy will just call more attention to the spot, Kmart and Joe Boxer. Let us know what you think about the so-called controversy surrounding “Show Your Joe” in the comments section. Credits after the jump. continued…

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Last Thursday saw soccer star Lionel Messi become the world’s “first life-size, living avatar” dubbed Lifesize Messi, to promote EA Sports’ FIFA 14 for PS4 and Xbox One. W+K Amsterdam have just rolled out the follow-up TV campaign, “Messimorphosis.”

W+K chose to show a gamer morphing into Lifesize Messi as a metaphor for “how the game now feels more alive” than ever. The execution comes across something like an Aphex Twin music video. In other words, quite unsettling.

The spot opens with our gamer sitting on his couch, loading up his Xbox One. As he presses a button, he looks at his hand to see it changing before his eyes. Soon, his entire body is morphing into the Messi avatar, and it’s pretty damned creepy. There’s a shot of the kid’s unnerving smile, and a really freaky one of his face melting into Messi’s. This is pretty strange stuff. The close-up of his feet turning into cleats is just plain gross. We don’t see any gameplay (which looks pretty good, but not mind-blowing) until the final few seconds of the spot, with most of the 58 second ad devoted to the Lionel Messi metamorphosis. Clearly, W+K is banking on Messi’s star power and the lifesize avatar schtick — and presumably not factoring in that the morphing stunt will weird some people out. One thing you can say about “Messimorphosis” is that it’s certainly memorable.

If you’re easily disturbed or grossed out, avoid this one at all costs. If, on the other hand, you’re a big fan of FIFA, Lionel Messi, or are under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs, then this one’s for you. Credits after the jump. continued…

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People like crunchy cereal. Oatmeal Crisp is a cereal that is crunchy. Cossette took this idea and handed it to a bunch of deranged copy writers who escaped from a mental institution. The result is their batshit crazy new campaign, “Competition Crunch.”

The four spots that comprise the campaign all feature varying degrees of absurd, random humor. Think of recent Old Spice campaigns for a point of reference, though that only gives you the basic idea. For whatever reason, Oatmeal Crisp’s spokesman is a Scottish dude in a kilt, who introduces “Competition Crunch.” Each spot features a new opponent for Oatmeal Crisp — a hungry tortoise, a ginger wedding, an elitist marionette, and romantic robots. That should give you some idea of the kind of crazy we’re talking about. This is filed in our “What The…?” category for a reason.

The spot featured above (my favorite), “Hungry Tortoise Vs. Oatmeal Crisp” presents a hungry tortoise, for absolutely no apparent reason on a Japanese game show, eating a crunchy head of lettuce. Our Scottish spokesman admits that the hungry tortoise eating a head of lettuce is very crunchy, but it’s no match for Oatmeal Crisp. Believe it or not, this is on the less crazy side of the campaign. Out of all the spots, it comes the closest to making sense.The only tamer spot might be the “Romantic Robot” spot, in which two romantically inclined robots make a toast and break their glasses.

On the crazier side, we have “Elitist Marionette” and “Ginger Wedding.” What can even be said about these? “Elitist Marionette” centers around — you guessed it — an elitist marionette who flaunts his “100% Egyptian cotton” strings, and his overall superiority to a second marionette. Then the puppeteer controlling him loses his cool and repeatedly stomps on him. Yes, it’s as crazy as it sounds. “Ginger Wedding” almost matches its mishigas, when a wedding of gingerbread people is interrupted by the Aflack duck, who massacres the congregation. If you’ve ever wanted to hear a church full of screaming gingerbread people, this is probably your only opportunity.

These spots are worth a chuckle and/or befuddled stare, but I’m not sure what they’ll do to sell Oatmeal Crisp. Check out “Ginger Wedding” below, and “Elitist Marionette” (along with credits) after the jump.
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And now for the simultaneously most goofy and most hipster-y thing you will see today…

Hungry Castle and Umbrella teamed up to create Laser Cat, an art-eating cat that projects said art with its laser eyes, constructed by ADC Hall of Famer and SVA teacher Kevin O’Callaghan.

In the Laser Cat video, directed by Luka Kostil, the guys at Hungry Castle claim there are three things everyone loves: “lasers, cats, and art and craft.” Laser Cat combines all three (or four, depending on your count) for the 93rd annual ADC Awards in Miami. They want you to submit your art (drawings, sculpture, painting, photography, cat photography, etc.) to Laser Cat. Depending on the number of works submitted, Laser Cat will project the works onto different objects. With 100 artworks submitted (fed) to Laser Cat, he will project the pieces onto a wall; with 1,000 submissions, a building; and with one million submissions, Laser Cat will project the art work on the f***ing moon. If that sounds cool to you, start submitting at lasercatmiami.com. So far 360 works have been submitted, with Ogilvy, BBDO, and Fallon listed as the first three agencies to submit. The first to feed Laser Cat their art was well-known designer Stefan Sagmeister, who you may remember from the Art Grandeur Nature/Absolut controversy.

Laser Cat will be eating submissions until November 30th, so get your work in now. The ADC Annual Awards of Art + Craft in Advertising and Design will take place at the Bass Museum in Miami Beach on April 8, 2014. Laser Cat will be there; what he projects his art on remains to be seen. Why not try to make it the moon? 

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Amsterdam agency Kingsday and production company The Ambassadors combined 2D and 3D graphics to create a pop art inspired world for MINI auctions, a campaign which allows fans of the brand to “bid for a new MINI at a lower price, over a five day period between the 11th and 15th of November.”  I can’t speak Dutch, so I can’t tell you too much about what’s going on, but it sure looks cool, featuring everything from kaleidoscopic cars to a disco-inspired neon clock.

The spot, directed by Manuel Ferrari, attempts to create buzz around the new MINI campaign and target a “youthful, style-savvy audience.” It certainly succeeds at creating a stylistically intriguing aesthetic in its one minute duration. But the approach was also a way to deal with some practical limitations. “Due to the time and budgetary constraints of the project we knew that that we needed a playful, stylized creative route. The result is simple, impactful and stays true to MINI’s incredible brand heritage,” explains Ferrari. The Ambassadors had just three weeks from receiving the brief to the project going live. Given those limitations, the results are pretty impressive.

Check out the spot above and, if you speak Dutch, please tell us what the hell is going on in the comments section. Credits after the jump.  continued…

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Dana Larson, chief content officer at San Francisco-based agency Extractable, has returned with another column, this time *gulp* tackling what is basically the most controversial/notorious aspect of this site, the comment thread. Larson, who has spent 20+ years in the biz, holding a wide range of positions including copywriter, CMO, content strategy director and ECD, asks a question that has been posed to us by many an agency staffer–whether they be in PR, creative or in senior exec level–over the years. We only wish her the best. Read on and chime in if you please.

Writing a post for AgencySpy is not for the faint of heart. It’s a bit like splitting the lanes on the Bay Bridge—there’s always a chance that you’re going to find yourself in the comments equivalent of eating asphalt. (For those of you who don’t ride, the drawing of blood is involved here.) Sure, there are plenty of posts that get no comments at all, but when the comments start flying, they really get going and they’re usually not very kind.

In a review of 220 posts on AgencySpy over the last month, 25 posts had 10 comments or more. That’s a fairly engaged audience, but don’t confuse engaged readers with fans. Only two of these posts garnered predominately positive comments—the rest were mostly snarky, and some were downright mean. Here are a few select gems for you:

SpewInThis  type99 

• 25 days ago

Ugh. I think I just choked on my own vomit. Are you for real? I’m guessing yes, probably because you’re one of Justin’s bosses and not someone who actually had to work with him. If you did, you’d realize what an arrogant, overrated douche he is.

 

Chim-Chim  Spritle 

• 20 days ago

You’re right. If you work in advertising you should have zero moral compass and cling to the dogma that got you that Porsche. Keep believing that you can manipulate dumb Americans into buying whatever bullshit you’re selling the same way you always did because nothing’s changing.

In 5 years you will have no career.

 

Nigel

• 11 days ago

Did you just accuse Sigma Beta Bogusky of being insensitive to women and people of other races who play video games? Preposterous! Us mountain honky bros love chicks and darkies.

 

And trust me, this isn’t even the worst of them (or best of them, depending on how you look at it). So what gets people commenting? I found that there are two breeds of posts that get people’s fingers flying on the keyboard—the “people on the move” post and the “commercial spot review” post. In the latter category, it was interesting to see how often the comments were more directed at the creative talent or agency that worked on the piece than it was about the creative itself. That said, the comments on the post “Dietzen Out at Energy BBDO” expressed pretty much united love for Jimmy Dietzen’s Wrigley’s Extra spot, which was a pleasant surprise.

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Lexington, KY-based Cornett-IMS, the agency behind “Beardvertising” and whose creative/biz dev guy Whit Hiler also co-masterminded  “Kentucky Kicks Ass,” have crafted the best long and short-form advertisements for a horse farm I’ve ever seen (and also the only long and short-form advertisements for a horse farm I’ve ever seen).

They teamed up with Eye Level Films to create “The Lane’s End Experience: A Short Film,” actually a long ad for Lane’s End Farms, which we’re told is “one of the world’s premier Thoroughbred farms.” It’s not hard to believe that after watching the video. There’s rolling green grass as far as the eye can see, attentive caretakers, and plenty to eat. If I was a horse, I think I’d really enjoy living at Lane’s End. The ad tells the story of Lane’s End beginnings and rise to prominence, with plenty of breathtaking scenery and majestic horses galloping through the countryside. If you’re looking for a horse farm, are a horse, or just love horses, it may be worth sitting through the 4:20 ad.

All kidding aside, it’s very well put together, managing to tell a story in a visually stimulating way over the course of its somewhat long running time. “The Lane’s End Experience: A Short Film” is available at the new Lane’s End website. There’s also a :30 version, which will premiere (appropriately enough) this weekend during the 30th Annual Breeders’ Cup World Championships on NBC Sports.

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