The obsession with emojis comes to ad agencies' corner of the universe today with the launch of Advertising Emojis, created by Swedish ad agency Dogwash.
Among the 70-odd images are famous ad awards of all kinds (from Lions to Clios), advertising characters (from the Old Spice guy to Van Damme in full epic split), Mad Men's Don, Roger and Peggy, and other visual shorthand for ad issues.
Download them here. Surely they'll add an Adweek cover in the next update.
The best marketing embodies, rather than just projects, the message it's trying to deliver. And 360i's new tourism campaign for New Orleans is a good example of that.
Three TV spots all use the same voiceover script, but completely different characters and locations, to cleverly communicate the point that you can have all sorts of diverse experiences in the city.
Check out the ads below, directed by Henry Mason and produced by Chelsea Pictures, with an original score by David Torkanowsky and renowned New Orleans musicians:
The ads, for the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation, must be played sequentially to make the most sense, and that's the plan on TV and digital (via Facebook) in 35 target markets.
The campaign continues the "Follow Your NOLA" theme and showcases the city as a unique, one-of-a-kind experience. It will also use radio, influencer marketing, mobile and live events to court travelers. On mobile, the upgraded followyournola.com will feature curated itineraries for each of the TV ads, as well as celebrity itineraries by Anthony Bourdain, Emeril Lagasse and John Besh.
NOTMC is also getting social influencers to create their own ideal New Orleans trips and share them on Instagram, YouTube and their own blogs.
"New Orleans has an incredible range of experiences and attractions for people of all mindsets and interests—that's the insight at the heart of 'Follow Your NOLA.' Our challenge was to bring this to life with stories that live up to the beauty and creative spirit of the city itself," said Pierre Lipton, chief creative officer at 360i.
"The result is an integrated campaign with digital at the core. Our videos and TV executions illustrate visitors' top interests discovered through social listening; the mobile site showcases itineraries featured in the spots; social influencers bring their own NOLA trips to life online; display and mobile ads target the right people at the right time; and the events bring the NOLA experience to life across the country."
There's a famous scene in Sleepless in Seattle where Meg Ryan's character looks out the window and sees the Empire State Building all lit up with a heart in the windows, setting unrealistic expectations for every starry-eyed romantic in the free world.
To celebrate White Day in South Korea (another romantic holiday a month after Valentine's Day), agency Innored and Post-it were clearly inspired by Meg—creating a clever stunt that uses plenty of Post-its to communicate a man's affection for his girlfriend. Watch as this resourceful dude has 250 messengers create a special message for his special lady:
With almost 2 million views on YouTube, it's already a viral hit. As the guy places a Post-it on the window in front of her at the end with "OK?" on it, we're all still wondering if she replies, "Uh, totally."
McDonald's in France makes some of the most spare, striking outdoor ads anywhere. For the past couple of years, the OOH ads have shown just the menu items, with almost no branding at all—first in closeup photography, then with simple drawings of the products.
This summer, the brand, working with TBWA Paris, is evolving the campaign by adding emojis to the images. (Emojis are now a requirement of every ad campaign everywhere, by the way.) The product drawings are now made up, pointillist style, of tiny emojis—reflecting the emotion stirred by the products.
For example: The Big Mac is made up of hundreds of little thumbs-up signs; the fries are made from smiley faces; the sundae from musical notes; and the Happy Meal from heart symbols. (Those are the only four menu items highlighted this time. The Happy Meal is new to the campaign, while the Quarter Pounder, Filet-O-Fish and Chicken McNuggets have been dropped from the ads.)
McDonald's says the "pictograms" campaign has "placed the brand at the heart of the pop culture." Indeed, the marketer clearly believes the work is practically high fashion. This year's campaign includes a McDonald's collection at Colette, the Paris fashion and lifestyle store, consisting of six products bearing the campaign's imagery—T-shirts, tote bags, scarves, iPhone cases, notebooks and postcards.
See the rest of the images below.
The outdoor ads:
The Colette collection:
Thinking of littering in Hong Kong? You could soon be a poster child for the problem.
A remarkable campaign from Ogilvy & Mather takes DNA from trash on the ground and uses Snapshot DNA phenotyping to generate physical likenesses of the litterers, who then end up on outdoor ads telling people not to litter. (DNA phenotyping is the process of predicting a person's physical appearance based on their DNA alone.)
The legalities of labeling people as litterers this way must be awfully complicated, and it's not entirely clear how close the images might be to the real people. But the campaign is certainly fascinating in a CSI kind of way.
"This campaign is one of a kind," says Reed Collins, chief creative officer at Ogilvy Hong Kong. "It's interactive. It's innovative. It's our own science experiment that we're using to create social change. Litter is such a major problem in Hong Kong, and thanks to technology, we can now put a face to this anonymous crime and get people to think twice about littering."
Read more at Ecozine. Via Laughing Squid.
Not everyone thinks having a so-called beach body means being a svelte, bikini-clad model. Now, British people are creatively reminding one advertiser of that.
U.K. fitness brand Protein World has been running billboards in the London Underground featuring a skinny woman in a revealing swimsuit, alongside the incendiary tagline, "Are you beach body ready?"
Summer is around the corner - Lets get beach body ready!!pic.twitter.com/COD2NQlo9o
— Protein World (@ProteinWorld) April 14, 2015Unsurprisingly, a number of people have taken exception to the implied standard for beauty, and have been hijacking the campaign as a canvas for messaging about positive body image—by posting new versions online.
Some of the critiques amount to simple graffiti, adding copy like, "Yes, everybody is. Love your body the way it is." Others have gotten more inventive—like a pair of women who photographed themselves in their own bikinis in front of a copy of the ad, and pointed out that best way to get a beach body is to "take your body to the beach."
One particularly clever satirist even cooked up a fake response ad from soap brand Dove—ever the body-image opportunist—under the umbrella of the brand's famous "Campaign for Real Beauty" tagline. ("Though we think ALL bodies are beach-ready, this image was not created or sanctioned by Dove," reads one tweet from Dove U.K. A second further explains, "We agree with 2/3 of UK women who'd prefer to see more women of all shapes & sizes.")
The incredibly charming Protein World, for its part, seems to be relishing the backlash, taking to Twitter to blast the "insecurities" of detractors, brand them "terrorists," and whine about a nation of "sympathizers for fatties"—while also crowing that the campaign has tripled sales and that the company has granted its public relations team a bonus. (A Change.org petition petition to remove the ads has reached 45,000 signatures, but the company's CEO is holding out for 1 million).
In other words, the brand doesn't want you to think it's being persecuted for an honest, well-intentioned misstep, and would rather be crystal clear that the whole thing is an ongoing, brazen and snide attempt at trolling that is playing out pretty much exactly as intended.
Or maybe its execs just sat out in the sun too long.
@ElectricAlley@ProteinWorld@RossalynWarren sales have tripled and the PR department has got a bonua #Winning
— Arjun Seth (@arjun_seth) April 26, 2015Coca-Cola has embraced a useful visual shorthand for friendship—the fist bump—in its new marketing in Latin America. But that's just the beginning of a campaign that talks frankly to teens about stepping up for friends in difficult moments.
The work, by Pereira & O'Dell, includes Web films, social activation, mobile, print, TV, radio, packaging and out-of-home. The fist bump is being employed most notably within Coke's iconic white ribbon on a red background—it will even be on the packaging, and on merchandise including T-shirts and iPhone cases. (This isn't the first reworking of the white ribbon—Ogilvy won a Grand Prix at Cannes in 2012 for its own version of it.)
The broader Pereira & O'Dell campaign focuses on friendship by framing it against its opposite—the cruelty, loneliness and isolation that can be worse than ever nowadays because of cyberbullying. It's a theme Coke tried to tackle on the Super Bowl. But that work, with its grand visual metaphor for spreading good vibes online, felt a bit removed from the real social difficulties teens face. By contrast, this new work feels fresh and immediate.
The campaign suggests that shared moments offer a sense of identity and belonging. And in three short Web films (two have been released so far), high schoolers step up for their friends at crucial times—when it's uncomfortable, and requires bravery, to do so.
"The Rumor" is about a breakup and some scandalous gossip that ensues:
"Something Unexpected" deals with dating and an embarrassing moment in class:
"Coca-Cola is shedding light on what we're referring to as 'crossroad moments.' These are the times when friends can choose to step up for a friend in need selflessly," says P.J. Pereira, chief creative officer of Pereira & O'Dell. "We hope these scenarios inspire conversation among teens and put a spotlight on how we can choose not to be cruel to another human being, especially with words."
The campaign calls for teens to show not just friendship but "true friendship." The hashtag is #VerdaderoAmigo. The insight is that a true friend is the most valuable commodity at a time when cruelty is everywhere.
There is a TV spot as well, showing another moment of friendship in a time of crisis:
The stories are well told and memorable, and feel like they might actually have an effect on behavior, even if the fist bumps and product integrations at the end feel a little blatantly commercial.
One Direction's "Clouds" is the featured theme music across the campaign. The band will also appear in Coke print ads and Vines. The brand is also working with MTV on short documentaries about digital influencers and their own crossroad moments. Finally, the campaign will also feature Vines, print and a choose-your-own-adventure interactive video staring soccer players such as Javier "Chicharito" Hernández and Raúl Jimenez.
Print work and credits below:
CREDITS
Client: Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola Latin America
IMC Director LATAM: Marta Fontcuberta
IMC Director: Ismael Pascual
Content Excellence Director: Diego Bracamontes
Coca–Cola IMC Sr. Manager: Eduardo Ruiz
Coca–Cola IMC Manager: Layla del Razo
Coca–Cola IMC Jr. Manager: Adriana Sahagun
Coca-Cola Design Team
Global Design Director: Rapha Abreu
Vice President Design: James Sommerville
Senior Global Design Director: Tom Farrel
Global Design Project Manager: Craig Stroud
Global Designer: Chrsitine M Lee
Global Designer: Megan Libby
Sr. Design Manager: Aidee Rodriguez
Agency: Pereira & O'Dell
Chief Creative Officer: P.J. Pereira
Executive Creative Director: Jaime Robinson
Creative Directors: Rob Lambrechts, Rafael Rizuto
Senior Art Director: Luke Acret
Senior Copywriter: Omid Amid
Senior Designer: Moses Kelany
Chief Strategy Officer: Ana Cortat
Strategist: Sara Lezama
Senior Film Producer: Victoria Whitlow
Co-Director, Client Services: Henry Arlander
Account Director: Mona Gonzalez
Account Executive: Rose Valderrama
Trailer, Interactive Editor: Collin Kriner
Vice President, Distribution: Josh Brandau
Project Manager: Lauren Parker
Business Affairs Director: Russ Nadler
Visual Effects: Laundry!
Editing: Umlaut Films
Editor: Alex Rodríguez
Poster Designer: Erik Buckham
Illustrator, Retoucher: Adhemas Batista
Theme Music: One Direction, "Clouds"
Music Supervisor: Aminé Ramer
Original Score Composer: Grayson Sanders for Music Dealers
Extra Space Storage—which offers storage space for your old drum set and boxes of Beanie Babies, not your digital files—created this ad, believe it or not, about the joys and woes of parenting.
In "10 Things I Wished I'd Known Before Having a Baby" (created by Utah agency Issimo), parents run through pieces of advice like "Take time for yourself" and "Be prepared for the unexpected." It gets increasingly emotional (watching the parents choke up stirs up some feelings) and ends with the No. 1 poignant piece of advice—about love.
It's an interesting (strange?) angle for a storage company to take. But it's clearly resonating, having already topped the 1 million view mark on YouTube. And Extra Space Storage quietly ties it together with simple copy: #makeroomforlife.
Is this any way to celebrate Mother's Day?
A trio of unholy terrors—pre-pubescent boys, presumably brothers—wreak havoc in a gas-station convenience store in "Mom," an amusing Volkswagen spot from Deutsch L.A.
These little rowdies like their carbonated beverages shaken, not stirred, and heavy on the Cheese Whiz, please! (Teach that chili dog a lesson!) Their acts of impish mayhem are captured in glorious Sam Peckinpah-style slow motion as the Willie Nelson-Waylon Jennings version of "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" plays in the background. The clerk looks horrified. Guess he doesn't like that song.
While all this is going on, Mom is outside, filling up at the pump. Too bad she doesn't drive a 2015 VW Passat Clean Diesel. It gets "up to 814 highway miles per tank," so you can "stop less, go more."
If you ask me, the store got off easy. The Golden Sisters and Stinky would've burned that mother down.
CREDITS
Client: Volkswagen of America
President, CEO: Michael Horn
Vice President, Marketing: Vinay Shahani
General Manager, Brand, Communications: Jennifer Clayton
Marketing Analyst: Steve Kuzemchak
Agency: Deutsch L.A.
Chief Creative Officer, North America: Pete Favat
Executive Vice President, Executive Creative Director: Todd Riddle
Senior Vice President, Group Creative Director: Heath Pochucha
Vice President, Creative Director: Paul Oberlin
Partner, Director of Integrated Production: Vic Palumbo
Vice President, Executive Integrated Producer: Erik Press
Integrated Producer: Kaitlin Moore
Associate Integrated Producer: Alex Saevitz
Music Director: Dave Rocco
Executive Vice President, Group Account Director: Tom Else
Senior Vice President, Group Account Director: Monica Jungbeck
Vice President, Account Director: Alex Gross
Account Supervisor: Aleks Rzeznik
Account Executive: Ashley Broughman
Vice President, Director of Product Information: Jason Clark
Product Information Supervisor: Eddie Chae
Chief Strategic Officer: Colin Drummond
Group Planning Director: Susie Lyons
Director of Integrated Business Affairs: Abilino Guillermo
Group Director Integrated Business Affairs: Gabriela Farias
Business Affairs Manager: Jade McAdams
Director or Broadcast Traffic: Carie Bonillo
Broadcast Traffic Manager: Courtney Tylka
CEO, North America: Mike Sheldon
President, Los Angeles: Kim Getty
Live Action Production Company: Hungry Man
Director: Hank Perlman
Executive Producer: Nancy Hacohen
Executive Producer, Director of Sales: Dan Duffy
Line Producer: Caleb Dewart
Editing Company: Spot Welders
Editor: Haines Hall
Assistant Editor: Oliver Hecks
Managing Partner: David Glean
Executive Producer, Director of Development: Victoria Guenier
Executive Producer: Carolina Sanborn
Producer: Evan Hunningham
Color Correction: Apache
Executive Producer, Managing Director: LaRue Anderson
Producer: Caitlin Forrest
Senior Colorist: Steve Rodriguez
Postproduction, Visual Effects: Arsenal FX
Executive Producer: Ashley Hydrick
Senior Producer: Pravina Sippy
Lead Flame Artist: Matt Motal
Flame Artist: Jeff Aquino
Track: "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys"
Performed by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson
Composed by Ed Bruce and Patsy Bruce
Courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment
By arrangement with Sony ATV Music Publishing
Audio Post Company: Lime Studios
Executive Producer: Susie Boyajan
Mixer: Mark Meyuhas
Assistant Mixer: Matt Miller
A wedding day is among the happiest moments in a person's life, a milestone to look back on for years to come—which makes it all the more strange that people are still denied the right just because they love someone of the same sex.
"Nobody's Memories," a new ad from FCB for LGBT advocacy group PFLAG Canada, imagines—and laments—the joys missed by couples unable to legally marry in years past. They're seen walking down the church steps to applause, piling into the wedding car, sharing a bite of cake at the reception, and the myriad other little images and traditions associated with the big day.
It's a simple, powerful illustration of why the right to gay marriage matters in societies that purport to pride themselves on ideals like freedom, equality and the pursuit of happiness. (The fact that whole thing looks like it was shot through various Instagram filters, much of it with shaky home-style hand cams, could border on distracting, but actually sets the right, intimate tone.)
Same-sex marriage is currently legal in Canada, as well as 36 states in the U.S., Washington, D.C., and some 15 other countries around the world. But with the U.S. Supreme Court currently hearing arguments on the constitutionality of other states' bans on the right, the spot certainly makes for a timely reminder of what's at stake.
And for anyone who's having trouble wrapping their head around it, it's also a good cue to remember that gay marriage, in fact, does not spell the end of the world.
CREDITS
Client: PFLAG Canada
Title: "Nobody's Memories"
Agency: FCB Toronto; FCB Chicago
Chief Creative Officer: Jon Flannery
Group Creative Director: Jeff Hilts
Writer: Krystle Mullin
Account Team: Cynthia Roach, Rebecca Gorveatt
Print Producer: Victor Carvalho
Media: Initiative Shannon Pluem, Ryan Ghaeli
Production Companies: Lord + Thomas; Duckpond Creative
Executive Producers: Katie Roach, Josh Greenberg
Line Producer: Carra Greenberg
Director: Ben Flaherty
Editing House: Lord + Thomas
Editor: Ilsa Misamore
Music House, Sound: RMW
Sound Engineer: Jason Ryan
Executive Audio Producer: Jared Stachowitz
Grey New York makes a ton of gun violence PSAs—from the famously brutal (and award-winning) "Ed" spot in 2013 to this year's stunt in which it opened a gun store in the middle of New York City. But this new project might be its craziest yet.
Millennials apparently love the combination of music and severed fingers, because that's the target market and the theme of this new video from Women Against Gun Violence.
It was directed and animated by Johnnie Semerad of Quiet Man, and is set to a folk song (that might remind you a bit of "Dumb Ways to Die") scored and performed by singer/songwriter Stephen Krauss.
WAGV says the gun violence prevention movement doesn't have the attention of millennials right now, but the group believes this video could change that.
"This may not be your dinner table video but it gets the point across, and it gets people talking which is the ultimate goal," says Josh Stepakoff, gun violence survivor and WAGV's youngest board member. "I want my peers, the millennial generation, to use their power to affect change, and I believe this PSA will help get them engaged in the conversation."
And if nothing else, all these cleanly severed fingers might also serve as a reminder to be careful around knives, too.
CREDITS
Advertiser: Women Against Gun Violence
Spot Title: "Keep Your Finger Off the Trigger"
First Air Date: 4/28/15
Agency: Grey, New York
Worldwide Chief Creative Officer: Tor Myhren
Deputy Worldwide Chief Creative Officer: Per Pedersen
Chief Creative Officer: Andreas Dahlqvist
Executive Creative Directors: Stephen Krauss, Ari Halper
Singer, Songwriter: Stephen Krauss
Creative Directors: Marco Pupo, Joao Coutinho
Executive Vice President, Director of Broadcast Production: Bennett McCarroll
Director of Audio Services, Sound Engineer: Dante Desole
Vice President, Account Director: Elizabeth Gilchrist
Account Supervisor: Katie Stirn
Business Manager: Cecilia Critchley
Executive Vice President, Director of Music: Josh Rabinowitz
Vice President, Director of Licensing: Amy Rosen
Project Manager: Emma Tonetti
Production Company: Quietman
Director, Animator: Johnnie Semerad
Executive Producer: Carey Gattyan
Associate Producer: Clare O'Brien
Editor: Morgan Mitchell
Flame Artist: Stephanie Greenberg
Call it branded oral surgery.
In a ridiculous, hilarious and, yes, very real campaign from Ogilvy Argentina, Salta beer has designed tooth implants for the country's rugby players who have lost teeth in games. And very special implants they are—they function as bottle openers.
Check out the video below, which really goes into detail about how this is done. In other words, be warned—it's not for the squeamish.
CREDITS
Client: Salta
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather Argentina
Executive Creative Directors: Javier Mentasti, Maximiliano Maddalena
Head of Art: Diego Grandi
Creative Directors: Juan Pablo Carrizo, Patricio Elfi
Art Director: Bruno Franchino
Copywriters: Horacio Sormani, Damian Martinez, Alejandro Juli
General Account Director: Natalia Noya
Business Intelligence Director: Carolina Coppoli
Head of Planning: Rodrigo Garcia
Responsible for the Client: Nicolás Rubino
Head of Production: Valeria Pinto
Agency Producer: Alejandro Travaglini
Production House: Huinca Cine
Director: Fernando Roca
Executive Producer: Diego Turdera
General Production: Merlina Scalice, Cristian Izzi
Postproduction House: ControlZ
Postproducer: Cristian Martino
Director of Photography: Martin Nico
Editor: Rulo Gomez
Locution: Juan Antonio Middleton
Consistency—supposedly the hobgoblin of small minds—might seem like an unlikely driver for evocative brand storytelling. Yet, Lowe Cape Town and Prudential South Africa have created memorable, moving short films illustrating the company's credo that "Consistency is the only currency that matters" when it comes to managing clients' money.
Their latest effort is "The Fishermen," directed by Kim Geldenhuys via production house 0307. Shot on a lush, remote island off Madagascar and cast with local villagers, it tells the story of a young boy and his grandfather who venture out on their boat, day after day, in search of a big catch, undeterred by empty nets and long, hard hours at sea.
"It's a very simple analogy which conveys Prudential's message in a humble and poignant manner," Lowe executive creative director Kirk Gainsford tells Adweek. "We wanted to steer clear of all the clichés of showing aspirational people getting ahead in life and so on." Ultimately, he says, the film is meant to subtly convey the message that "the power of the human spirit, not the force of big business, is what makes Prudential an enduring brand."
"The Fishermen" has no dialogue, relying on moody but ultimately uplifting imagery and music to make its point. The brand tie-in, straightforward and unforced, doesn't appear until nearly the end of its 1:45 run time.
Stylistically, the film marks a shift from "South Pole," a much-praised Lowe-Prudential ad from 2013 that told the tale of Robert Scott's calamitous 1911-12 Antarctic expedition.
"In the 'South Pole' TV ad, we showed very powerfully what happens when one is not consistent," says Prudential South Africa marketing chief Sumayya Davenhill. "In this TV ad ["The Fishermen"], strategically, we really wanted to show the power of being consistent … in a positive way."
Adweek chatted further with Lowe's Gainsford about the new commercial:
How did you pick the location?
We felt that the village should be humble but proud. The village had to survive on the fish, so a sense of it being remote was very important to us. Some other locations felt too desperate and impoverished. These are poor people by world standards, but live happy lives.
Can you tell me more about the village?
Nosy Iranja—it's a small island village about four hours from the mainland. There are about 300 people who live on the island. There is no electricity, no toilets for the villagers and no running water. A small school serves the children's education, and for supplies the villagers use their sailing boats to travel to the mainland and other islands.
The whole village was involved. The cast is villagers. The boy was from a neighboring island, and the grandfather another island—they weren't actually related. The boy's father is also featured in the ad. The casting process was very interesting. The people of Madagascar speak Malagasy. We used interpreters we met on the island to try and communicate. Even the interpreters don't speak English well.
"The Fishermen" feels different than "South Pole," stylistically. Why the change in approach?
We don't see them as that different. They are both human stories, both show human grit and determination in a very physical and humbling way, and both are in extreme environments. The "South Pole" ad showed blizzards and freezing temperatures, while the fishermen in the new ad had to contend with 100 percent humidity, hot days and heavy downpours during the cyclone season.
And so, while the ads may appear to be different on the surface, to us they remain very much part of the same family, with the same values and common touch. The biggest difference was focusing on the positive and not the negative aspects of consistency.
You must have encountered difficulties on the shoot, given the location.
It was a real challenge. There is no film industry in Madagascar. We only had 16 crew, including a media and a boating specialist. Our catering was eating what the village ate: fish and sometimes chicken. The heat was often unbearable. I had to change my T-shirt three times a day as the humidity was so intense; I would be dripping with sweat.
The days were long and with no electricity we made do with one generator. The camera crew was very lean. Stomach bugs were rife. We stayed in rustic chalets on the island. Shooting took five full days, plus a couple of days on either side for travel. We also had to wait for a cyclone to pass before shooting could start.
On a personal level, what did you take away from the experience?
The project reminded me of why I got into this business in the first place. Our courageous client trusted us throughout the whole process—willing us to be better, do better and try be more creative. The experience shows that great client trust, dedication and old-fashioned hard work can lead to beautiful results.
CREDITS
Agency: Lowe Cape Town
Producer: Riska Emeran
Executive Creative Director: Kirk Gainsford
Creative Director: Alistair Morgan
Art Director: Bruce Harris
Account Manager: Sarah Hall
Sound Design: Stephen Webster, TheWorkRoom
Music Production: Pulse
Editor: Kobus Loots
Editing Company: Upstairs Post
Postproduction House: Black Ginger
Production Company: 0307 Films
Producer: Tess Tambourlas
Director of Photography: Alard De Smidt
Director: Kim Geldenhuys
Assistant Director: Craig Brorson
It's best to go slow, even on YouTube.
BBDO Russia uses the YouTube interface brilliantly for the video below, which purports to show dash-cam footage of a fatal accident. (Such videos are popular on YouTube in Russia.) But in fact, the 10-minute film shows nothing of the kind—just one car passing another.
However, if you fast-forward through the video by moving your cursor along the timeline (as viewers of this kind of material often do, searching for the accident), the preview thumbnails do depict a head-on collision with a truck. Thus, those who "speed" through the film experience an accident, while those who don't speed do not. (The thumbnails also lead to the message "Don't Rush" from the advertiser, insurance company Intouch.)
Clever as hell. Try it for yourself below.
Maybe you saw the billboard, or the documentary about Frank La Rant, or the lookbook. If so, you were probably disappointed to learn that Plastique, the high-end plastic pants supposedly designed by La Rant, aren't real. And that Fruit of the Loom was behind it all.
The spoof by Crispin Porter + Bogusky originally came from the brand's TV ad in which Fruit of the Loom purportedly tested its boxer briefs by having people wear transparent plastic pants. (If anything would make underwear ride up, it would presumably be that.)
From there, CP+B launched a full-scale high-fashion parody—poking fun at underwear brands like H&M that pretend to be all glamorous in selling the most basic attire out there. The campaign included fashion ads, outdoor, digital, a Web experience, social media accounts, and even men in Plastique parading around SoHo and Rodeo Drive.
"Throughout the campaign, Fruit of the Loom held the position that they didn't really get how you could call plastic pants fashion," the agency says. "But it was very clear that they were behind (and underneath) this entire story, giving this long time underwear maker the innovation and style cred they deserved."
See more from the campaign below.
Dove has released another ad beauty, this time in Sweden and from the perspective of three women who are blind. From their perspective, beauty is a feeling brought on by actions and circumstances rather than aesthetics. Though they share some personal criticisms about their own appearances, all three equate beauty with feeling strong and energetic, with having fun, with being in love.
We've covered the "Real Beauty" campaign in depth, and many of the familiar criticisms apply. Even putting aside how being owned by Unilever complicates things, so many of Dove's ads reinforce the idea that women are dominated by insecurity about their looks and need to be corrected by someone else (say, a company trying to sell them something).
There's less of that here, though, and overall I think Dove is slowly listening and adapting to criticisms of its approach. Diversity is still a problem, and beauty as an aspirational value remains a thorny issue (albeit an unavoidable one for any beauty products brand). But promoting beauty as an internally generated feeling is a step in the right direction.
Warren Buffett is known for many things, but singing hasn't been one of them—until now.
Buffett played "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" on a custom ukulele (presented to him recently by Wieden + Kennedy) in a video Wednesday that opened the company's annual meeting as it celebrates its 100th birthday.
Odd? For sure. But certainly on brand. The billionaire investor and philanthropist does love Coke. Not only does he own $16 billion in Coca-Cola stock, but he told Fortune in February that he's "a quarter Coca-Cola" and drinks five 12-ounce servings of the soda daily.
The custom ukulele, which has a sound hole in the shape of the classic Coke bottle, was made by Portland-based luthier Mark Roberts. Crafted in five weeks out of European Carpathian spruce from Romania, reclaimed Honduran mahogany and Malagasy ebony, the red ukulele was given to Buffett last month at his Berkshire Hathaway office in Omaha.
"He picked it up and practiced the song, changing the key a few times," said Thomas Harvey, account director at W+K. "You can see him tuning up and singing at the start of the film. The whole process only took about 30 minutes."
Billboards don't usually ask a lot of you, beyond a cursory glance. But these Powerade boards from Ogilvy Berlin put you right to work.
They're more like exercise installations than billboards. One of them features a scrolling climbing wall; another invites you to punch it as hard as you can. And all of them will make you work up a thirst that Powerade can then quench.
Your move, Ikea. Via Ads of the World.
CREDITS
Client: Powerade
Project: "Workout Billboards"
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Berlin
Executive Creative Directors: Tim Stübane, Birgit van den Valentyn
Creatives: Matthias Bauer, Janne Sachse
Athletic women are increasingly wearing workout gear as everyday fashion. And so are women who never go near a gym—giving rise to the "Athleisure" fashion trend. And with women's activewear booming, Dick's Sporting Goods is prepping its first ad campaign aimed directly at fitness-minded women.
Dick's CMO Lauren Hobart gave Adweek an exclusive preview of a new spot—"Choices: Who Will You Be?"—from Anomaly, New York, that's scheduled to break May 15 on ESPN, E!, Bravo and other networks. It's the first ad to target women specifically in the retailer's broader "Who Will You Be?" campaign, which launched in March.
In the 60-second spot, women must juggle their busy lives to meet their fitness goals. A young mom jogs on a treadmill—while listening to her baby monitor. Another mom jogs to pick up her son at grammar school rather than driving there.
"Who will you be?" asks the spot. "Every run. Every workout. Every day. Every choice. Every season starts at Dick's Sporting Goods.
Women now make up half of the shoppers in the sporting goods category, according to Hobart. If they're not shopping for their families, they're shopping for comfortable, stylish activewear for themselves. That's why the retailer is expanding floor space devoted to women's attire across its 600-plus U.S. stores, which generate over $6 billion in total sales.
"The big insight behind this campaign, as it pertains to women, is that women juggle a lot. There is a lot that women need to get done in any given day," Hobart said. "So the choice to work out—and the choice to fit in fitness—is a challenging choice for people. They have to find the time."
The debut spot will be followed by eight 15-second vignettes. The effort runs from May through July. (The digital effort breaks May 3.) "Success for me would be if women watch this spot and see themselves in it," said Hobart. "And understand that we understand the choices they have to make every single day."
Dick's is hardly the only advertiser targeting this market. Under Armour has rolled out campaigns starring ballerina Misty Copeland and supermodel Gisele Bündchen. Ditto for Nike, which reports sales from its women's business are growing faster than men's.
CREDITS
Client: Dicks Sporting Goods
Agency: Anomaly
Global Creative Officer/Partner: Mike Byrne
Group Creative Director: Seth Jacobs
Sr. Copywriter: Johnny Dantonio
Sr. Art Director: Matt Walton
Sr. Copywriter: Barry Katz
Sr. Art Director: Alex Kaplan
Copywriter: Dan Shapiro
Art Director: Chris Araujo
Copywriter: Jeremy Straight
Art Director: Bryce Cline
Head of Broadcast Production: Andrew Loevenguth
Sr. Producer: Matt Flaherty
Sr. Producer: Jenn Pennington
Business Director: Damien Reid
Account Director: Ji You
Account Director: Mike Reuter
Business Affairs: Annemarie Cullen/Carla Curry
Project Manager: Allison Uecker
Prod. Company: Park Pictures
Director: AG Rojas
Director: Lisa Rubisch
Director: Chris Wilcha
Executive Producer: Justin Pollock
Executive Producer: Jackie Kellman Brisbee
Head of Production: Anne Bobroff
Producer: Pete Vitale
Producer: Nina Shiffman
Producer: Michelle Currinder
Director of Photography: Bradford Young
1st AD: Andi Budman
Production Designer: Rodney Becker
Wardrobe Stylist: Summar Shalah
Casting/Sports Supervisor: Mike Fisher/Varsity Casting
Casting: The Cast Station
Director of Photography: Jody Lee Lipes
1st AD: Peter Jackson
Production Designer: Amelia Battaglio
Wardrobe Stylist: Laura Jeane Shannon
Casting: Janine Martel/Martine Casting
Director of Photography: Adam Beckman
1st AD: Peter Jackson
Production Designer: Harper Hellams
Wardrobe Stylist: Giselle Knee
Casting/Sports Supervisor: Mike Fisher/Varsity Casting
Casting: Universal Casting
Editorial: Consulate
Editor: Peter Johnson
Editor: Ryan McCally
Executive Producer: Alan Lopez
Post: MPC
Executive Producer: Jesse Kernit
Producer: Michele Watkins
Telecine: Company 3
Colorist: Tim Masick
Sound Mix: Heard City
Audio Engineer/Sound Design: Eric Warzecha
Producer: Heath Raymond
Music: Search Party, Duotone Music
Surf's up—so let's suit up business-style and catch a wave!
That's the thrust of a new project by TBWA\Hakuhodo and Quiksilver, which have teamed up to introduce True Wetsuits in Japan. These 2-millimeter-thick neoprene suits help guys look smashing at the office—or while hanging ten, shooting curls or whatever the hell people do on surfboards these days.
The well-dressed dude in the two-minute clip below certainly seems to be having fun, playing hooky at the beach and texting work that he's stuck in traffic. Such a rebel. He'll make CEO in no time.
So, why is Quiksilver selling such an item? In the making-of video, Tokyo salaryman Masashi Yuki explains: "It takes too much time to put on a wetsuit and then take it off again, you know?" Quiksilver brand director Shin Kimitsuka adds, "As your lifestyle changes, you have less time to go surfing. I thought it would be interesting to offer this product as a new solution to deal with this issue."
These made-to-order suits are, at present, available only in Japan and exclusively in men's styles. Delivery takes two months, and jacket, pants, shirts and ties are included for about $2,500 total. That's a bargain! At Barney's, some sportcoats alone will run you more than that. And think how much you'll save on dry cleaning!
