Hasta La Creative!

Envy makes advertising go round—when creatives aren't busying copying ideas, they're coveting them. D&AD celebrates that dynamic with a series of new spots, created by Wieden + Kennedy in London, to promote the awards show's 2014 call for submissions.

In the videos, industry heavyweights including Dan Wieden share their picks for work from the past year that they "wish they'd done." In Wieden's case, it's an ad by Barton F. Graf 9000 that proposes changing the titles of devastating hurricanes from apparently random names like Katrina and Sandy to names like Marco Rubio and Michele Bachmann, in an attempt to lay blame for the natural disasters on politicians who deny climate change. It's sort of like an "Oh, diss, gotcha dummy" on the dilapidated playground of American politics—but done in a way Wieden hopes will actually have some positive effect.

The other spots focus on media beyond straight advertising. For the digital category, W+K alum Iain Tait, now at Google Creative Lab, praises Philips's Internet-connected, color-changing lightbulbs. For the design category, Jessica Walsh of Sagmeister & Walsh spotlights the new "W" logo for the Whitney Museum, in what may be, perhaps unsurprisingly, the most opaque explanation to the uninitiated—because design work that looks good doesn't always translate to the most down-to-earth or persuasive argument.

The parts of the promos most worth envying may be the opening zoetrope animations that Nexus's Productions Factory Fifteen developed. The spinning toys pack in quick references to past standout work—the advertising bit, for example, includes the Guardian's "Three Little Pigs" opus (BBH), Honda's flying motors (W+K) and Cadbury's famous Phil Collins gorilla (Fallon). For insiders, the presence of such greats should amp the challenge to submit—or maybe just render it moot. Nobody is ever going to make anything half as good as a big-feeling simian beating the crap out of a drum kit.

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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We catch Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star Kevin Love and NBA commentator Mike Breen in medias res, driving through some nondescript green chunk of Basketballville in the latest NBA on ESPN RV spot from W+K New York.  With Breen’s steady hand at the wheel, Love turns to the passenger side window and notices a large billboard featuring his sultry face and a phone hotline called The Love Dial. They drive a bit farther and pass a second billboard. Love has no idea who’s behind this, so like any great detective, he decides to call the number. Another man picks up – it’s Love’s teammate/on-court soulmate Ricky Rubio, moonlighting as a sex-hotline entrepreneur in a dingy room that also has a video camera set-up to film something. I guess there isn’t much to do in Minnesota.

“Billboard” may not be as funny as a few of the more recent RV spots ESPN uses to promote its NBA coverage, but the clip has some edgy subject matter compared to the usually benign hijinks. The network probably won’t push the envelope any more than this, but this 30-second ad is an interesting sidestep in the NBA on ESPN commercial canon. Credits after the jump.

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Another month, another clever This is Sportscenter spot from W+K New York. “Keeping Up with Fashion” shows Sportscenter anchors dealing with the residual effects of a new uniform reveal, considering the new uniforms are skin-tight catsuits that come in sizes meant for babies. The uniform farce is actually a spoof of the recent redesign trend in football, whether it be for college, the NFL, or the Pro Bowl. Nike keeps shrinking the unis that aren’t made for everyone (cough, offensive linemen). In a way, ESPN, which is a huge brand itself, is actually mocking the increased branding that comes from Nike, Under Armour, etc. Glass houses and all that, but this spot actually has layers to unpack in addition to the requisite punchlines. I’ve always said that ESPN anchors could act, as they do here, but the topic and writing in this ad digs deeper than we’re used to when it comes to ESPN. A lot to think about in 30 seconds.

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Wieden + Kennedy has confirmed that Scott Vitrone and Ian Reichenthal, the longtime creative partners who’ve spent nearly the last three years as co-executive creative directors at W+K New York, overseeing a bevy of ESPN campaigns as well as creative for the likes of Heineken along the way, announced to the agency this morning that they’re leaving for a new destination. No word yet on where they’re exactly headed to, but we’re hearing that pair’s expected to make an announcement within the next 24 hours (could we perhaps see a reunion with an old colleague who now happens to run his own NYC-based agency? Hmm).

Vitrone and Reichenthal, who have worked in tandem since 1999, rejoined W+K in early 2011 as co-ECDs after serving as creative leads at Y&R New York. From what we’ve been told, W+K is “actively searching” for their replacements. We’re sure there will be more to this tale in the next day or so, and we’ll keep you apprised.

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W+K’s new spot for Booking.com features legendary ghost hunting destination the Queen Anne Hotel in San Francisco. The Queen Anne, which was featured on an episode of the Travel Channel’s Haunted Hotels, was a boarding school before it was a hotel, and one-time headmistress Mary Lake is said to haunt it.

In the spot above, a woman sleeping in the hotel is awoken by the television turning on by itself. She sees a camera view of something approaching her room, Room 410: the very room Mary Lake is said to haunt. Later the woman sees shots of herself, presumably while Mary’s ghost approaches. We cut out just before this woman wets the bed. At the end we see the tagline “Stay if you dare,” followed by “Over 350,000 accommodations including haunted hotels.” I’m not sure there’s a huge audience who wants to stay at haunted hotels, but I suppose the idea is that Booking.com can accommodate your every whim. Even a weird one like wanting to stay in a haunted hotel. I don’t love it, but it could be the most interesting Booking.com spot since they stole Bob Marshall’s idea of showing someone booking a room during Spain’s Running of the Bulls. Now if they’d only stop the whole “Booking.yeah” thing.

If you’re a paranormal enthusiast and are serious about wanting to stay at a haunted hotel, Booking.com will totally hook you up. They’ve created a Haunted Destination finder on their site. Included are the Queen Anne Hotel, The Stanley Hotel in Colorado (the inspiration for Stephen King‘s The Shining), the Vinoy Renaissance Hotel in St. Petersburg, Hotel Galvez in Galveston, Texas, The Historic National Hotel in Jamestown, California, The Gettysburg Hotel, and the 1886 Crescent Hotel (a purportedly haunted Arkansas hotel that houses an old morgue in its basement). It’s worth a quick click through for the histories of these paranormal destinations. Credits after the jump.  continued…

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Halloween is always a good time for frightfully dark ad campaigns. And Wieden + Kennedy in Amsterdam has delivered one of the most gorgeously creepy efforts this year—a series of movie-style posters for Booking.com that dare you to stay at seven of the most haunted hotels in America. The properties, listed below, are all apparently inhabited by ghosts—and all get amazing hand-painted posters courtesy of renowned illustrator Akiko Stehrenberger.

• The Queen Anne Hotel in San Francisco
• The 1886 Crescent Hotel in Eureka Spring, Ark.
• The Gettysburg Hotel in Gettysburg, Pa.
• Hotel Galvez in Galveston, Texas
• The Historic National Hotel in Jamestown, Calif.
• The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colo.
• The Vinoy Renaissance Hotel in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The posters will roll out in movie-theater lobbies across the country beginning Oct. 25. The copy at the bottom of each ad, designed like movie credits, is wonderfully written, too—see larger details of those blurbs, along with the full posters, below.

There's also a TV commercial focusing on the Queen Anne Hotel, where room 410 is supposedly haunted by Miss Mary Lake, the headmistress of a school that used to be housed at the property. An online partnership with Fandango extends the experience.

"From The Shining to Psycho, accommodations have played a key role in the cinematic history of horror," said W+K executive creative director Mark Bernath. "It was important for us that the work stay true to the genre and pay homage to the content and design that horror fans crave. It takes a really brave client to make a truly scary advertising campaign—one that I hope will be appreciated by a very specific audience who have already opted into having the daylights scared out of them."

A closer look at the "credits" sections of the posters:

CREDITS
Client: Booking.com
CMO: Paul Hennessy
Brand Director: Cort Cunningham

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam
Executive Creative Directors: Mark Bernath, Eric Quennoy
Creative Directors: Zach Watkins, Gen Hoey
Art Director: Craig Williams
Copywriter: Zach Watkins
Head of Production: Erik Verheijen
Agency Producer: Elissa Singstock
Planner: Daisy Andrews
Group Account Director: Jordi Pont
Account Director: Courtney Trull
Account Manager: Alex Allcott
Art Buyer: Maud Klarenbeek
Digital Producer: Matthew Ravenhall
Project Manager: Jackie Barbour
Business Affairs: Justine Young

Media Buy: Wieden + Kennedy, New York

Production Company: Concrete Films
Director: Mark Bernath
Director of Photography: Maxime Alexandre
Producer: Hani Salim

Editing Company: Wieden + Kennedy
Editor: Julien Maingois

Audio Post: Grand Central Recording Studios
Sound Designer, Mixer: Raja Sehgal

Sound Design: Grand Central Recording Studios
Artist, Title: Raja Sehgal

Postproduction: MPC, Amsterdam
Flame: Lise Prud-Homme
Telecine: George K
Producer: Gerben Molenaar

Illustrator: Akiko Stehrenberger
Agent: Helene Polverelli, H Represents

The only thing better than Will Ferrell doing brilliantly stupid ads as Will Ferrell? Will Ferrell doing brilliantly stupid ads as Ron Burgundy.

As we mentioned on Friday, Ferrell has filmed some spots for the Dodge Durango as his Anchorman character ahead of the release of Paramount Pictures' Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. Check out the first six spots below. The first few aired on TV this weekend, and Ferrell perfects the role of comically idiotic pitchman—with help from a roomy glove box and a "worthless" horse. The ballroom spots will premiere tonight on Dancing With the Stars.

Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Ore., worked with Funny or Die writers on the scripts. FoD's production arm, Gifted Youth, which also produced Ferrell's famously offbeat Old Milwaukee ads, teamed with Caviar to co-produce this work. This is just the beginning, too. Chrysler chief marketing officer Olivier Francois told the ANA Masters of Marketing conference in Phoenix on Friday that this is "just a little appetizer," and that Chrysler was producing another 67 videos for the Web. "It's massive," he said.

CREDITS
Client: Dodge Durango

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Creative Directors: Aaron Allen, Kevin Jones, Michael Tabtabai
Copywriter: Mike Egan
Art Director: John Dwight
Interactive Art Director: Chuck Carlson
Producer: Monica Ranes
Account Team: Kyleen Caley, Lani Reichenbach
Business Affairs Manager: Dusty Slowik
Executive Producer: Corey Bartha
Executive Creative Directors: Joe Staples, Susan Hoffman
Head of Production: Ben Grylewicz

Co-Writing Company: Funny or Die

Production Companies: The Gifted Youth, Caviar
Director: Jake Syzmanski
Executive Producers (Gifted Youth): Chris Bruss, Dal Wolf, Josh Martin, Ryan McNeely
Executive Producers (Caviar): Jasper Thomlinson, Michael Sagol
Line Producer: Stephan Mohammed
Director of Photography: Tim Hudson

Editing Company: Arcade
Editor: Geoff Hounsell
Post Producer: Leslie Carthy
Post Executive Producer: Nicole Visram

Visual Effects Company: Method
Visual Effects Supervisor: Ben Walsh
Lead Flame Artist: Claus Hansen
Visual Effects Producer: Colin Clarry
Executive Producer: Robert Owens
Titles, Graphics: Trailer Park, W+K Motion

Color Correction: Company 3
Colorist: Dave Hussey
DI Producer: Denise Brown

Song: “Grazing in The Grass,” The Friends of Distinction

Mix Company: Barking Owl
Mixer: Brock Babcock
Producer: Kelly Bayett