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Ad of the Day: Ballantine's Publishes a Magazine About Whisky Entirely on Instagram

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Instagram publishing is all the rage. Earlier this week, we wrote about RPA's Jason Sperling releasing his new book on the photography app. And now, Ballantine's is publishing a new magazine about whisky exclusively on Instagram.

The magazine, which Ballantine's is calling an "Insta-zine," is titled W. The first issue can be found at @w_issueone on Instagram. (It's linked from Ballantine's Instagram account, of course.) Created by London agency Work Club, the magazine features a mosaic-style grid of images that together make up the front page. Tapping on individual posts leads you to different articles.



There are three articles in the first issue: "The Rise of Bitter Drinks," which visually explores cocktails with a bitter taste profile; "Did the Sims Introduce Mixology to the Masses?" which looks at the connection between mixology and the popular Sims game; and "The Women Shaping Whisky," featuring interviews with three such women.

"We are confident that the concept and the content of the Ballantine's Insta-zine will excite whisky, design and pop-culture enthusiasts alike as we continue to bring the proud heritage of our whisky into a dynamic digital future," says Peter Moore, Ballantine's global brand director.

Brands have toyed around with the Instagram grid before, of course. One of our favorite examples was last year's brilliantly art-directed campaign by Mazda and JWT Canada. The downside of such campaigns, of course, is that people don't typically consume Instagram images in grid form, but rather in a feed—where fully art directed grids fall apart.

Check out more images from the Ballantine's campaign below.


Put Your Finger on the Screen, and This Music Video Becomes Delightfully Fun

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If you want to see all the clever things your fingertip can do, check out this cool new interactive music video from Japanese pop star Namie Amuro.

The video offers a pop-art cornucopia of wit and silliness based on one simple instruction—you're asked to put your finger on the screen and leave it there as the video plays. It's an apt concept for the song, which is called "Golden Touch," and it's reminiscent of the classic Canadian campaign from Skittles that played around with the same idea.



Keep your finger at the center of the video, and let the camera do the heavy lifting—scratch a vinyl record, light up a chill dachshund's touch-sensitive LED jacket, trap a monster under its manhole cover, and much more. The clip rewards you for sticking it out to the end, with a range of unexpected applications—some abstract, some literal, some cheeky.

But maybe the credit should go to Ze Frank for pioneering the gag, even if his take wasn't as refined.

Tiny Dolls Act Out Hilarious Soap Operas Over Single Pieces of French Toast Crunch

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Consumers bowled over by the recent return of French Toast Crunch after a nine-year hiatus should enjoy "The Tiny & The Tasty," a strange and silly soap-opera parody that casts dolls as actors to reintroduce the General Mills cereal. McCann, Picture Mill and Beacon Street collaborated on the campaign.

All the classic daytime-drama tropes—amnesia, family intrigue, murder mysteries, surprise pregnancies—are played out in overwrought fashion on finely detailed miniature sets by poseable Ken- and Barbie-style action figures whose mouths never move.



Bill Wright, global executive creative director at McCann, says the idea stemmed partly from "the 1990s origin of French Toast Crunch. That was the decade when daytime dramas were at their height of popularity. So when you take soap operas and cross them with tiny dolls, you get a strangely awesome mashup."

Real soap opera actors do a fine job of hamming it up on the tongue-in-cheek, breakfast-themed scripts. And director Matt Piedmont, a writer for Saturday Night Live, establishes just the right tone. The spots channel the vibe of early SNL films by Walter Williams or Tom Schiller, though they're less manic and, of course, more on brand.

Served up in brief, tasty bites, this serial really satisfies.

Ad of the Day: W+K Gets Yoplait Back in Touch With Its Adorable French Side

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Yoplait taps into its French roots to celebrate that it's now made with 25 percent less sugar—hurray!

Two 30-second spots—Wieden + Kennedy's first work for the General Mills brand—use an unexpected but welcome voiceover with a playful French accent. It's a fitting choice, as Yoplait was founded by two French farmers in the 1960s. It also explains the fun '60s vibe that comes through.

The ads use bright pops of color tied to the yogurt flavor—reds and pinks for strawberry and blues and greens for blueberry. Two more spots, featuring two additional flavors, are forthcoming. "The four work together in harmony—each showcasing a different flavor and aspect of this magical Yoplait world," said Susan Pitt, marketing manager for Yoplait.



The work is delightfully surprising, and that French accent is just downright charming. We caught up with Karl Lieberman, creative director at W+K in Portland, Ore., to hear a little more about what it tooke to find the perfect French accent and more.

Why use a voiceover? And one with a French accent?
As a nod to Yoplait's French heritage, we wanted a real French voice to narrate the work. We didn't want an American pretending to do a funny French voice. We wanted it to be authentic.

We were actually struggling to find this truly authentic French voice that we all loved through the casting agencies, when our ecd Joe Staples saw the rough cuts and said, "I know exactly who would be perfect for this: her name is Julie, she's French, and she owns a sock shop up the street."

We brought Julie in, talked socks, talked yogurt, then she got into the booth and was perfect. Julie's French accent, along with the subtitles, made us feel like we could deliver these very simple and straightforward messages around Yoplait having 25 percent less sugar in a pretty unique way that was true to the brand's history.

How did you find the on-screen talent?
We went down to L.A. and saw a lot of casting with our director Autumn de Wilde. Phoebe Neidhardt was probably the second-to-last person to come in at the very last hour of casting before we had to rush back to Portland.

She was perfect. Completely charming and funny and likeable and had a seemingly endless inventory of energy. Phoebe's an actress, but she also writes and does comedy, so she had a really good grasp of what we were trying to do on the shoot. It's probably the single best shoot I've ever been on.

The spots have a quirky, retro feel to them. How did you land on that direction?
We actually never set out to make anything intentionally quirky or retro. We just wanted the spots to look great and not take themselves too seriously. There's a lot of what I would call "worthy" advertising out there right now, and I think messaging around something as significant as "25 percent less sugar" could have gone that way, but we didn't want it to.

Eating Yoplait is a fun and enjoyable experience, and we just wanted to make spots that elicited those same feelings.

My partner Eric Baldwin and I really liked the tonality of the work the director, Autumn de Wilde, had done for artists like Beck and the Decemberists. There's this eclectic mix of fashion, beauty and humor she brings to the work, and we wanted to see what that might look like for Yoplait.

CREDITS
Client: Yoplait

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Creative Directors: Eric Baldwin, Karl Lieberman
Producer: Molly Tait
Strategic Planning: Angela Jones
Media, Communications Planning, TV: Zenith Optimedia
Digital: John Rowan, Jaclyn VanSloten
Account Team: Ken Smith, Kelly Quinn
Business Affairs: Laura Caldwell
Executive Creative Directors: Mark Fitzloff, Joe Staples

Production Company: Anonymous
Director: Autumn de Wilde
Executive Producer: Eric Stern
Line Producer: Paul Ure
Director of Photography: Chris Soos

Editing Company: Joint Editorial
Editor: Steve Sprinkle
Post Producer: Mike Early
Executive Post Producer: Leslie Carthy

Visual Effects Company: The Mill
Visual Effects Supervisor: Kathy Siegel
Flame Artist: Nick Taylor
Visual Effects Producer: Kait Boehm
Color: Adam Scott

Music Supervision: Jon Huck
Artist: Dawn Landes
Tracks: Strawberry, "Picture Show"; Blueberry, "La Vie au Lasso"
Sound Designer: Joint Editorial, Autumn de Wilde

Mix Company: Joint Editorial
Mixer: Noah Woodburn
Producer: Michael Early

Watch 12 Famous Logos Evolve Before Your Eyes in These Mesmerizing GIFs

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Unless you're hiking the Appalachian Trail, or staring at your walls all day, or living under a rock, or running ad-blocking software for your eyeballs, you're bombarded with brand logos all day long.

Here's a fun and downright trippy project by the folks at Zing, who have taken some of those famous logos and GIF'ed their histories. The results are pretty neat, and you might just want to just sit and stare at them morph from old to new, over and over.

Then maybe go on a hike, but not after seeing them on white. Enjoy. 


Samsung Filled Its Frantic New Ad With GIF-Style Hiccups and Loops

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Do you often find yourself compulsively stuck in GIF-style sequences where you're repeating the same everyday action in a continuous loop just for fun? If so, Samsung would like you to consider its Galaxy S6.

The new ad below shows a bunch of happy young people doing a series of happy activities—flipping eggs, subway dancing, popping champaign. But instead of featuring each activity just once, the ad cuts them into a stuttering sequence of mini-clips that the brand is describing as GIFs, and which it's also planning to use individually to promote the phone.

Big Spaceship selected the video's music track, "When I Rule the World" by Liz, which will be released on Columbia Records in the coming weeks. It's a gleefully shrill, domineering record, apparently meant to appeal to youthful hubris, though if the rest of you olds can clear the blood out of your ears long enough to hear the lyrics, the sexual undertones are actually kind of subversive for a major marketer. It's not every day you hear Samsung telling you to "get down on your knees and then do as I please until I tell you to stop" (even if that hope might be the basic premise at the heart of all of its messaging).



As fun as it might be, beating viewers about the head with fun and optimism could read as symptomatic of not having very much to say. Instead, Samsung harps on an intrinsically generic "new phone feeling," which it suggests this phone will give you over and over again. And while the GIF approach theoretically fits the zeitgeist, the concept ends up feeling a little half-baked. How hypnotizing or rewarding is it really to watch a guy pour coffee on repeat?

GIFs at their best tend to turn on some kind of exceptional visual cleverness or silliness or weirdness that's riveting in its own right—not just a circular, slick, relatively mundane sales pitch. That, even if it is possible to tie simpler loops into a clearer narrative and proposition, as Spanish soccer magazine Libero proved with its dancing players.

At least nobody can accuse Samsung of not getting enough product shots in, though.

Throwback Thursday: Don't Know What to Do With Dad? Drug Him!

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How do you calm grandpa down when he gets in one of his moods? Well, in the 1950s, you cooled him out with some heavy-duty amphetamines. This 1959 magazine ad heralded the wonder drug Thorazine, a failed malaria cure later found to have major sedative effects. This ad also marked the start of the age when consumers began expecting cures for nearly anything from a pill bottle. In fact, later ads for Thorazine promised more than just peace for the cantankerous elderly, but relief from pain, anxiety, insomnia, stress, mania, menopause and even alcoholism. Unfortunately, Thorazine was never more than a wicked chill pill, and one that sometimes caused heart failure. But doctors still prescribe the stuff—cautiously.

FedEx Can Help Your Micro-Business, No Matter How Patently Ridiculous It Is

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No matter how absurd your small business has become, FedEx wants to help streamline it.

BBDO New York is out with a handful of amusing new ads pitching the ways its shipping services can save you money, and maybe some embarrassment.

You can be a startup CEO who's running a bed and breakfast as well as a home office to make ends meet. You can be a precocious son ruthlessly professionalizing your parents' canning operation. You can be a miniature Glengarry Glen Ross run by hard-charging, smack-talking 15-year-olds. Or you can be a legitimate enterprise saddled with a dysfunctional open floor plan and a leader who leaves you guessing whether he's out of touch or just doesn't care.



The ads, directed by MJZ's Tom Kuntz, are running under FedEx's "Solutions That Matter," tagline, which BBDO introduced in 2011. They're the latest in the agency's long run of creating humorous little scenarios for the brand. (Earlier this year, Ogilvy rebranded FedEx competitor UPS under the banner "United Problem Solvers," with a much more serious global anthem ad.)

Here, though, the best moment might have nothing to do with FedEx's business, and everything to do with that pug pushing a stroller.

The ads will run heavily on the Golf Channel, golf broadcasts on NBC and CBS, and on PGA.com through the summer and on FedEx's social channels.



CREDITS
Client: FedEx

Agency: BBDO New York
Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer, New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director: Gianfranco Arena
Executive Creative Director: Peter Kain
Creative Director/AD: Eli Terry (Hotshots and Bed & Breakfast)
Creative Director/CW: Jessica Coulter (Hotshots and Bed & Breakfast)
Associate Creative Director/AD: Justin Bilicki (Family Business & Open Floor Plan)
Associate Creative Director/CW: Matt Herr (Family Business & Open Floor Plan)
Group Executive Producer: Amy Wertheimer
Executive Producer: Tricia Lentini
Group Planning Director: Sangeet Pillai
Managing Director: Kirsten Flanik
Senior Account Director: Kathryn Brown
Account Director: Amanda Cruz
Account Manager: Joshua Mesquita
Account Executive: Trent Lyle

Production Company: MJZ
Director: Tom Kuntz
Executive Producer: Scott Howard
Line Producer: Emily Skinner
Director of Photography: Jo Williams

Edit House: Mack Cut
Editor: Ian Mackenzie
Assistant Editor: Mike Leuis
Executive Producer: Sasha Hirschfeld

Visual Effects House: Schmigital
Sound Mixer: Philip Loeb/Heard City
Casting: Francene Selkirk


Man Incredibly Plays 25 Jingles on Piano Using the Products They Advertised

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Love 'em or hate 'em, jingles are effective for recall. In fact, I bet you can recall all 25 of the popular jingles that YouTube artist Grant Woolard has collaged together into this impressive earworm.

The piece, which is technically a quodlibet—a piece of music combining several different melodies, usually popular tunes, in counterpoint—is made all the more impressive because each jingle is played with an object representing the brand.



Woolard has been playing piano since age 7, but only started hammering out tunes with objects a year ago when he mashed up Lady Gaga's "Telephone" and Katy Perry's "Firework," playing each tune with a telephone and a firework, respectively.

Woolard told AdFreak that he "wanted apply the same concept to jingles, which are easier to work with and more instantly recognizable." But he is saddened by the fact that "this video is completely lost on my international audience. Even in countries where these products are sold, the jingles used to advertise them aren't necessarily the same."

So, to our international readers: Sorry, if you're not lovin' it.

Ad of the Day: Subaru Just Made Another Great Father-Daughter Tearjerker

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Does any advertiser do father-daughter storytelling better than Subaru?

The automaker and Minneapolis agency Carmichael Lynch have been churning out emotional "Daddy's girl" spots for years. Most famously, of course, there was "Baby Driver," the wonderful 2011 spot that was nominated for an Emmy (eventually losing out to another car spot, Chrysler's "Born of Fire" with Eminem). There was also "Cut the Cord" in 2013, with a dad putting his daughter on the school bus for the first time.

Now, agency and client add to that legacy with "Making Memories." The plot this time has a father cleaning out his old Forester as he prepares to pass it on to his now driving-age daughter. But it's taking him a while, because he keeps having flashbacks to moments he's spent with her over the years.



With its poignant visions, the spot is more fantastical than usual for Subuaru, whose ad style is usually more rooted in realism. But it still works, largely thanks to the nice handling of the flashbacks by director Noam Murro (whose auto résumé, of course, is lengthy—much of it involving Volkswagen). It's skillfully crafted from the very opening shot—a gradual pull-back from the car that nicely sets the stage for a story about letting go.

The music is Gregory Alan Isakov's 2013 track "Time Will Tell."

The time-traveling device is a subtle way of pushing one of Subaru's key selling points, too—the longevity of its vehicles. And by the way, judging by everything Dad finds in the car, you apparently don't need to clean your Forester for a decade or more, either.

Check out the old "Baby Driver" and "Cut the Cord" spots below.



CREDITS
Client: Subaru of America
Spot: "Making Memories"

Agency: Carmichael Lynch
Chief Creative Officer: Dave Damman
Exec Creative Director: Randy Hughes
Writer / Group Creative Director: Dean Buckhorn
Art Director / Associate Creative Director: Brad Harrison
Head of Production: Joe Grundhoefer
Senior Executive Content Producer: Brynn Hausmann
Business Manager: Vicki Oachs
Account Management: Brad Williams, Adam Craw, Kate Moret, Greta Hughes, Robert Ar

Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks
Director: Noam Murro
Managing Director: Shawn Lacy
Executive Producer: Colleen O'Donnell
Line. Producer: Jay Veal
Director of Photography: Simon Duggan

Edit House: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: Stewart Reeves
Assistant Editor: Luke McIntosh and Arielle Zakowski
Executive Producer: Angela Dorian
Producer: Ashley Bartell
VFX House The Mill
Exec Producer: Sue Troyan
Sr. VFX Producer: Dan Roberts
Production Coordinator: Mary Hayden
Shoot Supervisor: Chris Knight, Robert Sethi
Creative Director/2D Lead Artists: Chris Knight
2D Artists: Steve Cokonis, Daniel Lang
Design: Eugene Gauran
Telecine: Company 3 / Stefan Sonnenfeld
Audio Mix: BWN Music / Carl White
Sound Design: BWN Music / Carl White
Post Production Audio Producer: BWN Music / Annie Sparrows
On-Line Editor: Volt Studios / Steve Medin

Music: "Time Will Tell"
Performed by: Gregory Alan Isakov
Written by Gregory Alan Isakov
Music Supervisor: Venn Arts / Jonathan Hecht

On-camera talent: PJ King (Dad)
Fay Masterson (Mom)
Madison Beaty (Teen)
Cordelia Zawaraski (Tween)
Margaret Clark (Grade-schooler)
Quinn Porter (Toddler)
Voice Over Talent: PJ King
Justin Beere (Announcer)

Miller Lite Hits the Bodega for Indie-Style Ads About Neighborhood Characters

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Silver Man—a dude in a top hat and glasses, every inch of him coated in silver paint—really shines in TBWA\Chiat\Day's new campaign for Miller Lite.

But he's just one of many characters, oddball and otherwise, who visit a typical neighborhood bodega to pick up some suds and chat with wise, friendly Fred, the bilingual owner of the store. Other customers include a pair of muscular twins who say the same things at the same time; One Tripper (he doesn't need help, dammit, toting a mountain of snacks and brewskies out the door); and a karaoke singer whose rendition of "Carry On Wayward Son" doesn't quite match the sonic impact of the original.



Tagged "As long as you are you, it's Miller Time," the campaign includes ads in English and Spanish, targeting millennial and Hispanic audiences at a time when craft brews have eroded the sales of big-name beers. These eight spots have a relaxed, indie-film feel, inspired by the convenience-store settings in movies by Jim Jarmusch and the team of Wayne Wang and Paul Auster.

"The market seems to be rich with plenty of, let's just say, less subtle beer advertising," Arts & Sciences director Matt Aselton tells Fast Company, "so it seemed like a nice way of telling personal stories and not jock-rock archetypal stories. It's like Sesame Street—the people in your neighborhood—except with a light beer."



In real life, all sorts of people drop in and out of bodegas, so "anything is possible," says Aselton. This makes the stream of strange customers in the commercials seem plausible, with the low-key and slightly askew humor hitting home every time. (The Silver Man, presumably a street performer, is a highlight, particularly when he's joined by a glittery sidekick for an impromptu pose-down.)

Through it all, Fred serves as a calm, all-knowing foil, doling out advice and yakking it up with the clientele. Smartly underplayed by Eastbound & Down actor Marco Rodriguez, he keeps the proceedings firmly centered. The silver men may steal the show, but Fred is pure gold, one of the most welcome pitch-characters to hit screens in recent memory.



CREDITS
Client: Miller Lite
Campaign: "Bodega"
Andy England: Chief Marketing Officer
Gannon Jones: VP of Brand Marketing, Miller Family of Brands
Ryan Reis: Senior Director, Miller Family of Brands
Greg Butler: Director, Miller Lite
Jeanne-­ette Boshoff: Senior Marketing Manager, Miller Lite
Julia Watson: Marketing Manager, Miller Lite Multicultural

Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day LA
Stephen Butler: Chief Creative Officer
Fabio Costa: Executive Creative Director
Mark Peters: Creative Director
Jason Karley: Creative Director
Rick Utzinger: Creative Director
Bob Rayburn: Creative Director
Matthew Woodhams-­Roberts: Creative Director
David Horton: Creative Director
Jeff Dryer: Senior Art Director
Chris Rodriguez: Senior Art Director (Last Minute Gift)
Guy Helm: Senior Copywriter (Last Minute Gift)
Harris Wilkinson: Creative Director (Twins)
John Stobie: Art Director (Twins)
Brian O'Rourke: Director of Production
Anh-­Thu Le: Executive Producer
Stephanie Dziczek: Producer
Jill Nykoliation: Business Lead
Chris Hunter: Group Account Director
Scott McMaster: Group Planning Director
Bryan Reugebrink: Account Director
Alice Pavlisko: Project Manager
Linda Daubson: Director of Business Affairs
Nora Cicuto: Business Affairs Manager
Dorn Reppert: Business Affairs Manager
Dessiah Maxwell: Director, Traffic Operations
Judy Brill: Senior Traffic Operations Manager

Agency: Team Ignition
Erick Rodriguez: Senior Art Director
Raul Mendez: Senior Copywriter
Giovanni Chiappardi: Account Director
Elsa Gonzalez: Account Planner

Production Company: Arts & Sciences
Matt Aselton: Director
Mal Ward: Managing Director/Partner
Marc Marrie: Executive Producer/Managing Partner
Zoe Odlum: Producer
Sal Totino: Director of Photography
David Wilson: Production Designer

Editorial: Spot Welders
Haines Hall: Editor (Advice, Silverman)
Kevin Zimmerman: Editor (One Tripper ENG, Twins, Karaoke)
JC Nunez: Editor (Rivals, One Tripper SPAN)
Oli Hecks: Editor (Last Minute Gift, Present)
Carolina Sanborn: Executive Producer
Evan Cunningham: Producer

VFX: MPC
Karen Anderson: Executive Producer
Abisayo Adejare: Producer
Mark Gethin: Colorist
Mark Holden: VFX Lead
Benji Davidson, Dylan Brown, William Cox, Sandra Ross: VFX

Music Supervision: Good Ear Music Supervision

SFX: Barking Owl
Michael Anastasi: Sound Designer
Kelly Bayett: Creative Director
Whitney Fromholtz: Head of Production

Mix: Lime Studios
Mark Meyuhas: Mixer
Matt Miller: Assistant Mixer
Executive Producer: Jessica Locke

Adweek's Top 5 Commercials of the Week: June 1-5

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Three beverage brands, including two beers, gave us some refreshing advertising this week. They were joined by a breakfast cereal and an automaker. Check out all five spots below, and vote for your favorite.

This Ad Kicks Off Pride Month With a Sweet, Sad Story of Forbidden Love

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Far too often, repression and discrimination fester in an atmosphere of silence, which makes it essential for those who can speak up to raise their voices for equality and understanding.

That's the message of this minute-long film by McGann + Zhang, created for NYC Pride Month. At first, its imagery is serene, almost dream-like: Two young women in long, flowing dresses run through a field in bright sunshine, sharing a special day. As the romantic but vaguely ominous piano track swells, a male authority figure appears, and the women hurriedly, sadly, conclude their rendezvous.



The costumes and a brief glimpse of an old-timey car place the action squarely in the past, as does the on-screen call for viewers to "Shout for those who couldn't."

Of course, the LGBT community still faces prejudice today. In some societies, people are put to death because of their sexual orientation. The need to speak out—clearly and unequivocally, for everyone to hear—is perhaps as urgent now as it ever was.

Ad of the Day: Hugh Jackman Wants Your Help Changing the World, One K-Cup at a Time

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Here's one good way to get a celebrity pitchman for your ads: help turn his local passion project into a national brand.

Keurig Green Mountain, the single-serve coffee company, is launching a new line of Laughing Man coffee pods, filled with ground java from Hugh Jackman's Laughing Man coffee company.

Inspired by a visit to Africa, Jackman launched the business "to bring distinctive products to market while supporting individual producers and the growth of local communities," according to its Facebook page. The company has pledged to donate 100 percent of its profits toward improving communities in the developing world.

Havas Worldwide, Keurig's agency of record, created digital banner and preroll ads to announce the partnership.

"Before we even had to ask, they said Hugh Jackman was on board," said Tim Maleeny, chief strategy officer at Havas, New York.

The cheerful and optimistic spots feature Jackman enjoying a coffee and telling the brand's origin story. He's standing in front of a scrolling line-art drawing that, in the 60-second spot, is revealed to be a backdrop placed in front of the Laughing Man Café, in New York's Tribeca district.

"I traveled 4,800 miles to find a perfect cup of coffee," the actor says in one of the spots. "You only have to walk to your kitchen."

Laughing Man sells fair-trade coffee from independent farmers in Ethiopia. Jackman and his wife, on an outreach trip to Ethiopia, met a coffee farmer named Dukale whose delicious coffee and cheerful disposition inspired the coffee shop, Jackman explains. The actor contributes the profits to the Laughing Man Foundation, which supports education programs and community development in impoverished parts of the world.

"This is really a marriage of three brands," said Laure Ayel, who manages the account for Havas. "It's Hugh Jackman himself, Keurig and a virtually unknown brand in Laughing Man."

This kind of goodwill effort is exactly what Keurig needs this year, as it has faced repeated and vocal criticism over its shifting stance on refillable cannisters and the environmental impact of its disposable K-cups.

The Havas work focuses less on Keurig than on Jackman's personal brand to tell the Laughing Man story. "We wanted to keep it humble, human, true and real," Ayel said.

Keurig's Laughing Man pods are, for now, only available online. They're expected to reach retail stores in the fall, at which point a larger media buy is planned.

CREDITS

Client: Keurig Green Mountain
Agency: Havas Worldwide, New York

Group Executive Creative Directors, Managing Directors: Israel Garber, Jason Musante
Executive Creative Directors: Dustin Duke, Jon Wagner
Creative Director: Donnell Johnson
Associate Creative Director: Rhea Hanges
Head of Content, North America: Rich Rosenthal
Co-Head of Production, North America: Sylvain Tron
Executive Producer: Arlene Steinwald
Junior Producer: Wendy Luong
Digital Producer: Thao Le
Group Account Director: Laura Dartnall
Account Director: Laure Ayel
Account Supervisor: Lindsay Stanislau
Assistant Account Executive: Alex Zubak
Production Company: Tool
Director: Erich Joiner
Managing Director: Oliver Fuselier
Executive Producer: Lori Sonebraker
Producer: Joby Ochsner

Ad of the Day: Harrowing Abortion Tutorials Show How to Violently End a Pregnancy

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Chile is one of only a handful of countries in the world where abortion is illegal in all its forms without exception. New legislation could ease that restriction in cases of rape or medical emergency. And it is being backed by three shocking PSAs from Grey Chile that show the desperate measures to which women resort when forced to seek abortion illegally.

The spots are styled like YouTube tutorials, though they quickly become dark and disturbing. They were released by Miles, a non-governmental organization, to rally support for an initiative by president Michelle Bachelet to ease the ban.



Abortion for medical reasons was legal in Chile from 1931 until 1989, when the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet outlawed it. Women found guilty of having abortions face up to five years in jail. An estimated 120,000 illegal abortions are performed in Chile every year, according to Miles.

CREDITS
Client: Miles
Agency: Grey Chile
Creatives: Alberto Osorio, Robert Canales, Pancho Rojas
Digital Creative: Felix Padilla, Mauricio Anaya, Roberto Aravena
Executive Creative Director: Carles Puig
Producer: Mauricio Medina
Account Managers: Javier Herrera, Oscar Lizarralde
Production Company: Funky Films
Executive Producer: Sole Sahie, Marco Jara
Director: Diaz+Garry


Pro Athletes Go Way Back in Time to Hype the Ultramodern Sports Drink BodyArmor

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BodyArmor fields an impressive lineup in "This Is Now," a cute commercial that positions the brand as an alternative to established players like Gatorade and Powerade.

Director Brian Ford and production company Schema Media strove "to make sure we had a unique creative approach to draw consumers in and hammer home that we are the sports drink for today's athlete," vp of marketing Michael Fedele tells AdFreak.

Quick cuts depict passé eras with which the brand would rather not be associated. The best bits include: Rockets guard James Harden, topped with a 'fro, committing fashion fouls in obscenely high socks and dangerously short shorts; Angels outfielder Mike Trout rocking a blonde mullet and loud tennis garb (he looks like Bjorn Borg crossed with Farrah Fawcett); and Colts quarterback Andrew Luck pimped out '70s-cop-show pimp style.



"That handlebar mustache on Andrew Luck was an impromptu shave that he actually did himself," says Fedele. "Back then, many pro QBs were very flamboyant. They threw on the fur and hit Studio 54, and the next morning did a photo shoot by the pool."

Richard Sherman, Buster Posey, Skylar Diggins and Rob Gronkowski also goof around in the ad. (Patriots' tight-end Gronk doesn't twerk, but he does dig in to a mountain of hot dogs.) "Filming the spot was a lot of fun," Fedele says. "We had Rob Gronkowski and Richard Sherman together for the first time since the Pats beat the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. Mike Trout and Buster Posey, both MVPs, spent time talking shop when we filmed them during [Major League Baseball's] spring training."

It's a cool commercial, but can upstart BodyArmor (in which Kobe Bryant bought a stake last year) really make entrenched market leaders like Gatorade sweat?

"Young athletes, and the moms and dads who shop for them, compare BodyArmor to what's out there, and the facts speak for themselves," Fedele says of the brand's mix of coconut water, vitamins and electrolytes. "A 15-year-old athlete today doesn't want to drink the same sports drink their grandfather did."

If Men Had Periods, These Are the Ridiculously Advanced 'Manpons' They'd Use

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WaterAid wanted to draw attention to the 1.25 billion women worldwide who don't have access to a toilet during their period. So, the charity made an ad suggesting if men had periods, they would need manpons.

When you figure out how those things are connected, you can let me know.

They made two other strange spots—one about how men having periods would change football (soccer to us Yanks), and another about how men having periods would change office interactions. But the true viral standout is the fake spot for ManPax Manpons, which people seem to be sharing because men using tampons is funny, and of course, they'd have to be super manly manpons designed by NASA.



Manpons are more advanced than your average feminine product, with their Kevlar skeleton and heated therma-core. The bait-and-switch appeal is also fairly advanced. Perhaps WaterAid was getting tired of no one giving a damn about the myriad of other videos on their channel—the heartfelt true stories of those living without clean water and the transformative effect that sanitation makes in their lives.

So, they made a spot about men needing tampons, and lo, the attention started to flow. Even more amusingly, they actually collected a bunch of speculative data about how people think the world would change if men did have periods, and created a press release out of it.

Charities, take note. If people don't care about your cause, find something for them to care about, even if it's a ridiculous hypothetical question. Now let's hope they care enough about it to actually change something.

Here are the two other spots:

This Clever Billboard From Fiat Actually Helps Drivers Parallel Park

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How easy would it be to parallel park if you always had a friend to help you—even when you were driving alone?

A new Fiat billboard created by Leo Burnett Germany invites viewers to imagine just that. The agency hooked up a digital screen with special software and a sensors to measure how far a driver's rear bumper was from the car behind it, and then projected synchronized images of human helpers guiding the driver's parking job—just like a passenger might get out and do.



It's a simple, clever concept, appropriate to promote Fiat's Parking Assist technology, an alarm system that warns drivers in reverse of objects behind them. The billboard even offers a range of different playful avatars for the computerized assistant—a biker, a child, a wise old-man. And the brand's marketing team couldn't resist designing one of them—a woman in a skimpy bunny outfit—to appeal to the leering set.

Unfortunately, that seems like the kind of thing that might make some drivers more likely to hit the car behind them.

Via The Inspiration Room.

Housewives Get Hot and Heavy With Their Books in New Ads for Harlequin Romances

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Desperate housewives enjoy illicit entertainment right under their oblivious husbands' noses in this campaign for Harlequin, the romance novel publisher, from BBDO Toronto and Someplace Nice director Pete Henderson.

The campaign, themed "Whatever you're into," is designed to communicate that there's something for everyone in Harlequin's wide range of book series. So, whether you prefer snogging on a washing machine with a cowboy or humping on a couch with a sailor, Harlequin has you covered (because the ads would be even more awkward if the ladies started getting uncovered).



Despite the sudden scare from Fifty Shades of Grey, Harlequin remains the juggernaut in romance publishing, putting out more than 100 books a month in 34 languages in 110 markets. The imprint was bought by News Corp. last year and now operates a as a division of HarperCollins.

With the "Escape the Everyday" campaign, it hopes to rekindle passion for its products among the average woman, who's read only one Harlequin romance novel in the past five years. Also check out the Harlquin website, where you can play a game called "Date, ditch or marry," which is a certainly a racier trifecta than the publisher's official tagline, "Entertain, enrich, inspire."



CREDITS
Client: Harlequin
Agency BBDO Toronto
Executive Creative Directors: Carlos Moreno, Peter Ignazi
Associate Creative Director: Linda Carte
Copywriter: Shiran Teitelbaum
Art Directors: Linda Carte, Alice Blastorah
Account Directors: Martina Ivsak, Paul Forrest
Account Coordinator: Zach Kula
Agency Producer: Aimee DeParolis

Production Company: Someplace Nice
Director: Pete Henderson
Executive Producer: Chilo Fletcher, Estelle Weir
Director of Photography: Jonny Cliff
Editing: Matt Dell, Ricochet
Music/Sound House: Ricochet
Colour: Eric Whipp, Alter Ego
Casting: Shasta Lutz, Jigsaw Casting

Ad of the Day: Honda Stretches Your Face in Fun, Trippy Launch Spot for HR-V

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Conventional wisdom says millennials don't buy a lot of new cars. They're too busy playing with their iPhones. Or they're ideologically opposed to gas-guzzling, pollution-spewing automobiles.

Conventional wisdom is often wrong, however. And American Honda Motor Co. will try to prove it with the rollout of the all-new HR-V subcompact crossover SUV, supported by a couple of eye-catching new commercials from RPA.

Along with rivals such as the Jeep Renegade and Chevrolet Trax, the HR-V will take dead aim at Gen Y consumers in their 20s and 30s. Sometimes called "city utes," these mini SUVs are easier to park on crowded streets and get better mileage. Most important, they're cheap.

The HR-V starts at less than $20,000. That makes a big difference to younger consumers struggling with murky job prospects and student loan debt.

And guess what? Honda sold out its first month's supply of HR-Vs in two weeks. Even if millennials in big cities like New York aren't car shopping, those in the rest of the country definitely are, said Tom Peyton, Honda's assistant vp of advertising.

"I've got news for you. If you go to the suburbs of Chicago, they want a car," Peyton said.

To lure this audience, Honda is launching a lighthearted new HR-V commercial from RPA called "Give and Take." It shows young people who are magically able to adjust their own noses, ears, foreheads and eyebrows.



"What if you could find that sweet spot? Where everything is just the way you want?" asks the voiceover. "Introducing the crossover that gets it all right."

Peyton said the spot has a "youthful, fun, more millennial feel." Nick Lee, Honda's national brand manager, said "Give and Take" will be part of wide-ranging campaign that will include a more heritage-driven HR-V TV spot titled "Great Thinking Inside," along with a clever fold-over print ad as well as digital banners. (See below.)



Both spots were directed by Smith & Foulkes, the Nexus duo who have a long and acclaimed history working on Honda ads through Wieden + Kennedy London, from 2003's "Grrr" to 2013's "Hands." and 2014's "Inner Beauty."

Jason Sperling, executive creative director at RPA, said he wanted to create an "attention-getting" spot because the HR-V is essentially pioneering a new car category.

"We're talking to people who are probably in their mid-20s," he added.

The print work:

The digital work:

Adweek responsive video player used on /video.

Adweek responsive video player used on /video.

CREDITS
Client: American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
HR-V Campaign Credits

Spots: "Great Thinking Inside" :60 and "Give and Take" :50

Agency: RPA
EVP, CCO: Joe Baratelli
SVP, ECD: Jason Sperling
VP, CD Copywriter: Ken Pappanduros
VP, CD Art Director: Chuck Blackwell
Sr. Copywriter: Paul Fung
Sr. Art Director: Marcella Coad
Sr. Copywriter (for "Great Thinking Inside"): Audrey Attal
Sr. Copywriter (for "Great Thinking Inside"): Forrest Boleyn
Copywriter (for "Give and Take"): Adam Gothelf
Art Director (for "Give and Take"): Michael Enriquez
SVP, Chief Production Officer: Gary Paticoff
VP, Executive Producer: Isadora Chesler
Producer: Matthew Magsaysay

VP, Director of Business Affairs: Maria Del Homme
EVP, Management Account Director: Brett Bender
VP, Account Director, National/Corporate Advertising: Jeff Moohr
VP, Management Supervisor: Cathy O'Gorman
Management Supervisor: Rose McRitchie
Account Supervisor: Patty Mira

Production Company: Nexus
Director: Smith & Foulkes
EP: Tracey Cooper
EP (for "Give and Take"): Jeremy Smith
Line Producer (for "Give and Take"): Max Fink
Production Manager (for "Great Thinking Inside"): Fernanda Garcia Lopez

Post Production (for "Great Thinking Inside"): Time Based Arts
Animators: Chris Wood and Sam Osbourne
Flame Artists: Mike Skrgatic, James Allen and Sheldon Gardner
3D Artists: Ben Cantor, Mike Battcock, Kristoffer Andersson, Poul Resen Steenstrup, Eva Kuehlmann and Simon Goodchild
Additional Grade: Simone Grattarola

Post Production (for "Give and Take"): MPC
VFX Supervisor/Lead Flame: Benoit Mannequin
Flame: Vincent Blin
CG Lead/Lighting: Dameon O'Boyle
CG Lighter: Tim Kafta
CG artist: Clement Renaudin
Offline Editor: Billy Sacdalan
EP: Jo Arghiris
Senior Producer: Juliet Tierney
Producer: Jake Fenkse

Vehicle Scanning & Modeling: ACME Digital Content
Kevin Malling, Brandon Acree, Tyson Hill and John Wang

Music Supervision (for "Great Thinking Inside"): Squeak E Clean Productions, Inc.
Music Composer (for "Give and Take"): Squeak E Clean Productions, Inc.

Licensed Music Track (for "Great Thinking Inside"): "Gonna Build A Mountain"
Composers: Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley
Performed by: Sammy Davis Jr.
Label: Rhino Entertainment Company, A Warner Music Group Company

Sound Design: Factory
Sound Designer: Anthony Moore

Music For "Great Thinking Inside" :15's: ANTFOOD
Mix & Sound Design: Lime Studios
Engineer: Mark Meyuhas
Assistant: Matt Miller
Executive Producer: Susie Boyajan

—Digital Credits
Client: American Honda
Launch Date: 6/8/15

Agency: RPA
EVP, Chief Creative Officer: Joe Baratelli
SVP, Executive Creative Director: Jason Sperling
VP, Digital Design Director: Michael Takeshita
VP, Creative Directors: Ken Pappanduros and Chuck Blackwell
Associate Creative Director: Jesse Golden
Sr. Art Director: Jason Ringgold
Jr. Copywriter: Caleb Nyberg
Digital Production Artist: Martin Odisho
Sr. Production Artist: Chris Gomez

SVP, Chief Production Officer: Gary Paticoff
VP, Director of Digital Production: Dave Brezinski
Executive Digital Producer: Linda Kim
Digital Producer: Annie Hough

Executive VP, Management Account Director: Brett Bender
VP, Group Account Director: Jeff Moohr
Management Supervisor: Rose McRitchie
Account Supervisor: Patty Mira
Account Executive: Paul Sulzer
Account Assistant: Nicole Hansen

Production Partner: Time Based Arts, Inc

—Print Credits
First Insertion Date: 6/8/15
Agency: RPA
EVP, CCO: Joe Baratelli
SVP, ECD: Jason Sperling
CDs: Ken Pappanduros and Chuck Blackwell
Sr. Art Director: Jesse Echon
Copywriter: Josh Hepburn
Digital Artist: Digital Giant
Typographer: Lisa Jay
Art Producer: Sari Rowe
Production Manager: Susan Cockrell

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