Hasta La Creative!

Brands with real-world appeal have been faux-criticizing social media for years—often in social media—by suggesting that you get off the damn phone already and take stock of your actual surroundings and the actual people in it.

Coca-Cola is the latest to do so with the amusing video below, advertising a (presumably fake) product called the Social Media Guard, which is basically a giant, human-sized, Coke-red dog collar. This gizmo will possibly stop you from checking your phone every eight seconds, though actually it seems like you could still take a selfie if you wanted to. (You can also, not coincidentally, still drink a Coke.)

"Did you know that the world spends 4 million years online every month?" the soda giant asks. "If you're watching this video on your mobile phone, it's time to put it down. Look around you, there is probably someone special you can share a real moment with. Enjoy it with an ice-cold Coke :)"

The Social Media Guard, the brand adds, "takes the 'social' out of media and puts it back into your life."

The video is pretty goofy for Coke, which usually prefers more feel-good stunts that don't liken its target market to animals that can't stop licking their stitches. But there's some honestly there, at least. Just don't share this with your friends. Coke wouldn't want that.

Via Reddit.

Reebok has selected indie agency Venables Bell & Partners as its new global lead agency after a review.

The account had flip-flopped between Omnicom’s DDB and Dentsu’s McGarrybowen over the course of the last decade. DDB most recently picked up the account about a year ago, and work from the agency just started airing early this year with another spot expected to launch this spring.

DDB said it declined to participate in the review, though it’s believed that the agency will remain on the brand’s global roster in some capacity for digital work in Europe. The review was handled by Santa Monica, Calif.-based Select Resources. It’s understood that other contenders in the review included Omnicom’s Goodby Silverstein & Partners and New York-based Mother.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Joshua Davis, media arts director at NYC/London experience design firm, Sub Rosa, co-directed the new music video for fellow New Yorkers Phantogram’s “Fall In Love.” Davis also produced all the graphics for the video, which debuted last week in anticipation of their new album Voices, which was released yesterday.

The music video, directed by Timothy Saccenti, “blends digital and physical experiences created via a series of randomly generated graphics that are projected through software in real time.” Davis created the graphics using 55 different JAVA programs that each “had a unique composition and animation.” For the video, the team narrowed it down to 12 programs, and projected the animations onto the band and dancers live while filming. Phantogram (Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter), which just released their second full-length, Voices, and are described with little accuracy as an “American hazy dream-pop duo,” are not bad. Blending elements of trip-hop, dance pop and R&B in the song, the video above fits their style well. Stick around for credits after the jump. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

(TrendHunter.com) Using the composite material of carbon fiber, the Common Fibers wallet was developed to be able to bend and hinge the sturdy material at specific points and hold its shape.

Often used to produce…

Stockholm-based freelance creative Robbin Ingvarsson and Hyper Island interactive art director student Kali Adams have created a different kind of recommendation site, with help from developer Alexander Wallin, called “Not Recommended For You.”

Tired of computerized “personalized recommendations” based on things like “our prior browsing history, likes and dislikes, keeping us inside the same algorithm bubbles,” Not Recommended For You attempts to re-humanize the world of online recommendations. Visitors to the site are met with random recommendations (that are decidedly “not for you”) from random people from all over the world. The recommendations range from serious life advice to places to visit, to film recommendations, to how to start a night of drinking…and . It’s an intriguing idea, and quite the departure from the usual online recommendation experience. Give it a shot for yourself, there’s no telling what kind of recommendations you’ll get (which is what makes it fun).

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

If 2014's battle cry for women is "Love who you are" (see all the "real women" campaigns out there), then weight-loss brands need to tread lightly in their marketing. Weight Watchers has done that in a body-positive way with its new spot from McCann New York featuring Jessica Simpson.

The opening lines are a hit. "This body made two amazing little human beings. I love this body and what it's capable of, no matter what size," she says.

Simpson looks stunning (in an LBD, of course), healthy and happy as she goes on to say: "My life, like my body, is a work in progress." Diet plans, of course, aren't really about loving who you are. Still, big ups to Weight Watchers for creating an ad that's relatable and inspiring without putting anyone down or making any claims about how women should or shouldn't look.

After spending nearly the last five years at W+K, where he most recently served as strategic planning director on P&G corporate, Dave Burg has left the agency’s HQ to join up with fellow Portland operation, Roundhouse. Burg has now assumed the role of head of planning at Roundhouse, a creative agency that works with clients including Microsoft (on Xbox, primarily), Red Bull and Adidas.

During his time at W+K, meanwhile, Burg not only led strategy on P&G projects (“Proud Sponsor of Moms” campaign, for example) but worked on Dodge and Target and served as planning director on Coca-Cola including past Super Bowl efforts like the polar bear work during the last Giants-Patriots battle. Prior to W+K, Burg spent four years at Leo Burnett Chicago as a senior brand strategist, leading day-to-day duties on the McDonald’s national account. No word yet on if there are plans to replace him at W+K, but we’re checking. Update: W+K is “reallocating resources internally” following Burg’s departure.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The consolidation of social marketing companies continues.

A couple months after Apple bought social data provider Topsy, social marketing software company Sprinklr has acquired social analytics firm Dachis Group to help marketers wrap their heads around the meaning of social media mentions. Sprinklr founder and CEO Ragy Thomas declined to disclose the terms.

Dachis Group CEO and Razorfish’s former CEO and co-founder Jeff Dachis will join Sprinklr’s board and become the company’s chief evangelist.

Continue reading at AdAge.com