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Volvo Finds Another Use for LifePaint: Keeping Kids Safe and Illuminated on Halloween

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Volvo's LifePaint—an invisible, spray-on substance—was invented to take some of the fear out of cycling at night. And now, it's being put to good use on the scariest night of the year.

Volvo U.K. and Grey London organized an initiative called "Be Scary, Be Safe" to make sure trick-or-treating kids are visible at night using its the reflective safety spray. Parents can purchase LifePaint from local Volvo dealerships (for just £9 a can), and download a set of skeleton stencils for free online. Use the stencils to spray a skeleton on your kid—and he or she will light up in the glare of headlights.



The bigger news, actually, is that LifePaint has found a retail distribution model to satisfy global demand for it while making no profit. Volvo struck a deal with Swedish startup Albedo100, manufacturer of the product, to distribute LifePaint through Volvo's global dealer network. It's now listed in Volvo's spare parts catalog (#40005923), so any Volvo dealer in the world can now order it for retail.


Asics Just Built the World's Biggest Selfie Stick, and It's 90 Feet Tall

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It's time for the New York City Marathon again, which means another cool stunt from Asics.

The running shoe brand and its agency, Vitro—whose prior marathon campaigns have included a treadmill from hell and 3-D printed statues of 500 runners—is going big this year. Really big. With a 90-foot-tall selfie stick that is fully operational right now in Gansevoort Plaza in Manhattan's Meat Packing District. (This is in keeping with Asics' marathon theme: "It's a big race, go run it.")

The eight-story-tall selfie stick was opened to the public on Thursday and will remain up through Saturday. Visitors can affix their phones to a custom selfie-orb and push a launch button, which triggers the phone's built-in video function and sends the phone along a 90-foot, high-speed track into the sky.



At its highest point, the phone will pause to capture a special Asics message laid out on the ground, then come back down the custom track. When the recording ends, participants have an original selfie video to share using the hashtag #GoRunIt.

Marshawn Lynch and Cara Delevingne Suit Up for Call of Duty's Latest Epic Ad

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Kevin might just seem like a regular guy, but he's so nasty at Call of Duty that he gets to star in this ad for Black Ops III—complete with narration about his exploits from actor Michael B. Jordan, and a stunned reaction from football star Marshawn Lynch.

In other words, the commercial, created by 72andSunny and directed by Wayne McClammy, reprises the brand's approach of using a mix of celebrity, high-octane production, along with famous music, to play up up the role of the everyman.

Titled "Seize Glory," it features the familiar tagline "There's a soldier in all of us," and the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" as the soundtrack. (This harkens back to the original Call of Duty: Black Ops live-action trailer, from five years ago, with the Stones' "Gimme Shelter.") And—spoiler alert—model Cara Delevingne also makes an important cameo, ticking the formula's box for sassy, badass female bit role.



The trailer first aired during Sunday's NFL game between the Seattle Seahawks, for which Lynch is a running back, and the Dallas Cowboys.

Activision selected the new crop of celebrity endorsers in part because they are well known fans of Call of Duty, reports Mashable. But the ad also calls to mind 2013's epic about four friends on a tear through Las Vegas, also featuring Megan Fox and Frank Sinatra. (The first-name-paean approach also tangentially evokes PlayStation.)

And presumably, it's Carl Jr. on which Kevin is munching while he takes his lunch break.

George Clooney Is Finally Pitching Nespresso in the U.S., With Help From Danny DeVito

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George Clooney has starred in Nespresso ads in Europe and other international markets since 2006. (We've covered a lot of those campaigns, which have often paired the Oscar winner with other actors, like John Malkovich and Matt Damon.) But now, finally, Clooney is becoming the brand's ambassador in the U.S., too, and he kicks things off with a spot from McCann New York co-starring his good buddy Danny DeVito.

Clooney and DeVito are better known for drinking limoncellos together, but perhaps they rely on coffee to revive themselves after one of their epic nights out. In any case, they make an amusing pair of friends, and their new commercial is theatrical and goofy—in that charming, lowbrow-yet-sophisticated Nespresso way.

The actors meet in a movie studio commissary, with Clooney wearing a war general costume and DeVito dressed as Napoleon. Soon enough, DeVito sees that his choice of coffee is as old as his character, and he convinces Clooney to train him in the art of good taste.



"Experience a cup above" is the tagline. The spot will run on TV in 30- and 60-second versions. (The :90 above is an extended cut.)

Clooney, well known as an activist beyond his Hollywood work, has partnered with the Swiss brand for so long partly because of its social responsibility work. He even serves on the Nespresso Sustainability Advisory Board, aimed at improving the lives and futures of coffee farmers.

"I've been working with Nespresso internationally for nine years, and I really love and respect the brand, what they do, and how they do it," he said in a statement. "Nespresso and I have a shared commitment to sustainability, most recently helping to rebuild coffee farms in South Sudan. They are an incredibly responsible company, and I am excited to expand my partnership with them into the U.S."

Clooney discusses his partnership with Nespresso in the video below. Learn more about the campaign, which will also include print, digital and social ads, at acupabove.com.



Separately, below is McCann London's new Nespresso ad, starring Clooney and Jack Black. Below that, see the credits for McCann New York's "Training Day" campaign.

Adweek responsive video player used on /video.

CREDITS
Client: Nespresso
President: Guillaume Le Cunff
Vice President of Marketing: Davide Moro
Marketing Director: Justin DeGeorge
International Brand Communications Manager: Anna Lundstrom
Manager, Marketing Communications: Allison Moore
Brand Manager: Laura Hagege

Spot: "Training Day"

Agency: McCann, New York
North American Chief Creative Officer: Eric Silver
Chief Creative Officers, New York: Tom Murphy, Sean Bryan
Executive Creative Directors: Larry Platt, Lea Ladera
Creative Directors (Art Directors): Chuck Tso, Carlos Wigle
Creative Directors (Copywriters): Adam Kanzer, Scott Cooney
Chief Production Officer: Nathy Aviram
Broadcast Affairs: Danielle Korn, Su‐Mei Luk
Executive Producer: Kathy Love
Senior Integrated Producer: Wendy Leahy
Music Producers: Eric Johnson, Michael Ladman
Account Management: Dana McCullough, Sarah Louie, Athena Grammas
Strategy: Steve Zaroff, Christine Villanueva
Business Affairs: Erin Levine
Talent Coordinator: Terry Marcello
Traffic: Elly Schribman
Network Clearance: Sarah Malloy
Print, Banner Production: Sharon McKenzie, Mary Anguili, Ralph Cirillo, Teresa Tarquini, Thomas Walsh

"Training Day" Spot:
Production Company: Untitled
Director: Grant Heslov
Director of Photography: Phedon Papamichael
Editing Company: Big Sky
Editor: Chris Franklin
Effects, Finishing: Big Sky
Lead Artist: Ryan Sears
Transfer: Chris Ryan, Nice Shoes
Music Company: NA / Isley Brothers "Fight the Power"
Mix Studio: Sound Lounge
Engineer: Peter Holcomb

Web Films:
Production Company: Beware Doll
Director: Sam Jones

Print, Banner Imagery:
Photographer: Sam Jones

Ad of the Day: Ikea Products Boogie Down in Great Music Video for a Store Opening

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Ikea is opening its second store in Malaysia, and the retailer's products physically can't contain their excitement.

That's judging by this fun new music video that the brand just released, from BBH Asia Pacific, in which various products are seen celebrating by dancing furiously. The new store is located in the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Cheras, which is pronounced chur-ASS. And so, the video has the mildly risqué refrain, "Get Cheras to Cheras," which sounds a lot like "Get your ass to Cheras."

The rest of the video has plenty of puns, too, with the products' names put to good use in song lyrics like: "You people wanna DANSA / You're NORDLI only ones / Join the DUDERÖ's and GURLIS, MALMS and their PAPPIS."



"A catchy tune, a funny pun, a twerking panda. I think we used all the tricks in the book to make sure people know about the new Ikea Cheras," BBH Asia Pacific creative directors Tinus Strydom and Maurice Wee said in a statement.

The music video fits perfectly with the occasion—to get Malaysians from all walks of life excited about the biggest housewarming party in Malaysia!" added Tracy Pang, marketing manager at Ikea Malaysia.

It's another winner for BBH Asia Pacific, whose Ikea work also included the famous BookBook spot.

CREDITS
Client: Ikea Malaysia
Agency: BBH Asia Pacific
Creative Directors: Tinus Strydom, Maurice Wee
Executive Creative Director: Scott Mcclelland
Art Director: Marcus Yuen
Copywriter: KC Hong / Ross Fowler
Business Director: Bibiana Lee
Project Director: Lesley Chelvan
Account Managers: Jade Cheng, Cheryl Cheong
Social Strategist: Josie Khng
Producer: Wendi Chong
Director: Nieto
Production Company: Stink Shanghai
Executive Producers: Desmond Loh / Louis Kwan
Producer: Charles Renard
Music: Fuse Adventures in Audio

Poo-Pourri Just Dropped the Craziest Music Video About Pooping Away From Home

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Poo-Pourri brings the big guns in its holiday campaign this year, having just dropped a perfectly cringeworthy music video—from "Uptown Funk" video director Cameron Duddy—about doing your business away from home without causing a stink.

The odor-eliminating toilet spray has been making viral ads for a couple of years, and this one should do quite well, too. (The holidays are Poo-Pourri's biggest sales period of the year—either because people spend a lot of time eating rich foods away from home, or they like buying gag gifts for other people. Probably both.)

The same posh British spokeswoman from the brand's first big hit shows up here, as she bookends a Glee-like series of inspired song-and-dance routines (choreographed by Sara Von Gillern) all about carrying Poo-Pourri wherever you go, so you can go without embarrassing yourself.



Just try to keep up with the all euphemisms for defecating.

"Our CEO and founder Suzy Batiz was actually a pioneer in converting viral views to actual sales, and we continue to push the boundaries in this space—not only delivering sales but building the brand and shaping pop culture. I expect this new video will be no exception," Will Clarke, whose title is given as "vp of poo marketing," said in a statement.

CREDITS
Vision and Concept: Suzy Batiz, founder and CEO
Director: Cameron Duddy
Writer: Nicole Story
Song and Lyrics: Jeff Lewis and Poo-Pourri Creative Team led by Nicole Story
Composer: Chris Sernel
Choreography: Sara VonGillern
Vice President, Creative Director: Nicole Story
Director of Photography: Tom Banks
Story and Design: Hector Batiz, Will Clarke, Kirsten Gold
Art Directors: Lindsey Juckem, Paola Cortez
Wardrobe: Kirsten Gold, Gay Horman, Annie Cox
Editor: Adam Henderson
Broadcast Producer: Peggy Moore
Production Company: Artists and Derelicts

CAST
Tea Potty: Bethany Woodruff, Kasey Cosgrove, Vicki McCarty
Relationship Verse: Ryan Warren, Lauren Williams, Michael Sylvester, Ika Chigogidze, Oscar Seung, Tori Leigh Smith, Jordan Johnson, Michelle Keys
Office Verse: Alexis Smith, Donna Arrogante, Tyree Holmes, Tori Leigh Smith, Oscar Seung
Confident Verse: Sara VonGillern, Aaron Nedrick, Pierce Bailey
Poo-dini: C.J. Vaughn

Jack Daniel's Toasts Frank Sinatra on Instagram, and Hopes You Will Too

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Start spreadin' the news. The next round of Jack is on Frank.

Jack Daniel's celebrates the 100th birthday of its most famous fan, Frank Sinatra—who passed away 17 years ago, and would have been 100 on Dec. 12—with a contest that invites devotees to make toasts in the style of Ol' Blue Eyes.

The whiskey brand and its lead agency, Arnold Worldwide, previously resurrected the consummately cool crooner last year for a campaign touting the high-end, 90-proof Sinatra Select. Now through Dec. 12, folks can visit TheToastmakers.com and the brand's Instagram account to check out Sinatra-themed toasts.

Those who share their toasts using the #ToastSinatraContest tag could win a swingin' weekend in L.A. and Las Vegas for themselves and their personal "Rat Pack" of four friends. Sinatra staples like classy formal threads and a helicopter ride are included.

Sounds like hipsville, cats!

Adweek responsive video player used on /video.

"We chose Instagram because of the style of the program—primarily consumer generated video and photography—and the goal of reaching a new, younger audience of legal drinking age," Arnold executive creative director Andy Clarke tells AdFreak. "Frank's life is one that was so well captured on negatives, we wanted to tip our hat to those iconic images in a way that is very much 'today.' "

Musical artists Brendon Urie, Butch Walker and Scott Bradlee will contribute video toasts for the campaign. "These influencers were chosen because they embody many of the same core values as Jack Daniel's and Frank, so we want them to create toasts that are organic to the content and art they are already putting out into the world," Clarke says.

Jack Daniel's is promoting the contest primarily on its Instagram page and other owned properties, as well as through a paid Instagram ad buy during November and December.

Sinatra's avowed passion for Jack Daniel's—he traveled with cases of the stuff on tour, and toasted his audiences from the stage—does give the campaign an air of authenticity. Still, is the brand going to this particular well too often?

I'll let the man himself answer that one, from his Playboy magazine interview in 1963: "I'm for anything that gets you through the night, be it prayer, tranquilizers or a bottle of Jack Daniels."

That is the living end, baby!

CREDITS
Client: Jack Daniel's
President, Executive Vice President: Mark McCallum
Brand Director, Craft and Luxury: Ana Kornegay
Global Brand Director: Matt Blevins
Brand Director: Laura Petry
Brand Manager: Chuy Ostos

Agency: Arnold Worldwide
Chief Creative Officer: Jim Elliott
Executive Creative Directors: Andy Clarke, Wade Devers
Associate Creative Directors: Kelly McAuley, Micah Whitson
Art Director: Daran Brossard
Planners: Vaughn Allen, Emily Brown
Marketing: Paul Nelson, Emily Brooks, Nicolle Fagan, Lindsy Frank
Digital Producers: Todd Buffum, Michelle Dravis
Broadcast Producers: Jaime Guild, Alissa Feldbau
Social, Content Producers: Cristin Barth, Kyle Beaudouin
Art Producer: Ingrid Adamow
Business Affairs: Maria Rougvie

Celebrity Influencer Partner: DKC
Editing, Animation Company: Black Math
Executive Producer: Evan Fellers
Creative Director: Jeremy Sahlman
Sound Engineer: Brian Heidebrecht

Bentley's New App Uses Facial Recognition to Point You to the Ideal SUV

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In what it's billing as a "luxury commissioning experience," Bentley has launched its Inspirator app with a compelling promise: To use your emotions to recommend you the perfect Bentayga SUV.

VML London powered the app, available on iPad and iPhone, with emotion metric algorithms and data from 3.4 million faces across 75 countries. It creates a pinpoint model of your face, then gauges changes to your expression while you watch a series of "lifestyle-themed visual stimuli"—like pretty dresses, a turquoise sea or the ballet.



In theory, your reactions define each film that follows the first. As you advance, your dream SUV (assuming you dream about sport utility vehicles) is customized in the background. Other Bentley cars will be included in the app over time.

Having downloaded the Inspirator, we can say a few things: To begin with, it's impressive that it recognizes when your face moves off-screen or is blocked (say, by your coffee mug). When this happens, it stops your magic face-reading session to get you back in sync.

It's probably better on the iPad than the iPhone, but is awkward to use either way: To function, your whole face needs to be in-frame for the entire length of the short videos, so the device needs to be right in front of you and at a certain distance. If you're in the market for a Bentley, this is probably not a problem: You probably have very precise servants, or a tripod made of diamonds, to hold it in the right position.

It's also hard to avoid caricaturing the "right" expression when you see or hear something you generally like (or don't); while the smooth-talking, calm—yet somehow still rugged!—narrator walks you through each video, it still feels like watching a cobbled-together Getty slideshow ... which makes the experience feel inorganic and not all that luxurious, actually.

Here's a shot of the app reading my face over my cool, blue, light-blocking supers-pecs:



And here's the car Bentley recommended:



Once the results come out, you naturally want details about why the car was chosen. Apart from the three images you see above the car (one of which I'm pretty sure I scowled at), it wasn't clear there were any. You can learn more about the car's specs, and further customize it if you want, but Bentley doesn't elaborate on what makes the Moccachino especially "me." (Unless it just matches to skin color, in which case... good job! We will always match.)

Still, this is a promising way to make customization—often a confusing and paralyzing process—fun for the tech-savvy (yet refined!) end user, and generally we like where we think this is headed. Facial recognition technology is already pretty sophisticated; if applied alongside stimuli that's genuinely interesting and varied—like that crazy Fellini-inspired short film David Beckham did for Belstaff—the data might yield more worthwhile results.

But hey, that's what app updates are for.


Provocative Christmas Ad Reimagines the Nativity, With a Handbag as the Baby Jesus

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Saying Christmas is a capitalist holiday is like saying the sky is blue—these are accepted truths that don't need to be pointed out. And yet, that's exactly what adam&eveDDB's provocative new spot for Mulberry plays with—though in a fun and unexpected way, in keeping with this brand's cheeky take on holiday cheer.

Watching someone open a gift and gaze upon it with wonder is par for the course during the holiday season, but this setup is smart: After a man gives his girlfriend the luxury bag she desires, the bag taking the role of baby Jesus in the Nativity scene—as members of the community dote on it the way they would a divine newborn.



The game actors deftly and continuously laud the bag's beauty—gold glimmers on each of their faces when they do—all while making sure the tone is very tongue-in-cheek.

It's rare for a brand to be so bold as to tinker with something sacred, especially something like the Nativity scene. And that's what's so special about the spot—Mulberry and adam&eveDDB are willing to take the likely flack for the narrative sake of the spot.

Now let's see how many people actually use the hashtag #MulberryMiracle.

Winning an ADC Cube Is Rarer Than Having Quadruplets or a Third Nipple, Say These Ads

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Living to 110 years old, getting knighted by the Queen, becoming the Pope. They're all more common than winning the top honor—a Black Cube—at the Art Directors Club awards.

A new call-for-entries campaign for the annual show focuses on the rarity of winning its prizes, illustrating that fewer people have taken home gold trophies than have climbed Mount Everest.

Created by BBDO New York, the ads include artwork from winners of ADC's Young Guns competition. The cheeky executions also compare the likelihood of winning any accolade from the ADC show to having quadruplets, a third nipple or getting killed by an elephant.

See the ads below.

It's a cheeky, attention-grabbing way to try to drum up more submissions, and distinguish the ADC's hardware from the slew of other advertising awards—even if the comparisons probably wouldn't hold up to heavy scrutiny. (Any ad person in their right mind would still choose a knighting over another piece of metal.)

Climbing Mount Everest seems like too much work, though. As does having quadruplets.

Entries are now open for the ADC's 95th Annual Awards. The coveted Cubes will be presented at the annual awards gala in New York next June.

Walmart Is Urging People Everywhere to Do This One Simple Thing for Veterans

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Former U.S. military personnel discuss the challenges of transitioning back to civilian life in a series of straightforward yet stirring short videos from Saatchi & Saatchi New York promoting Walmart's "Greenlight a Vet" initiative.

The program, launched last week in association with veteran advocacy groups ahead of Veterans Day next Wednesday, asks Americans to change one light in their homes or offices to green in honor of those who have served.

"It's hard to show them our appreciation when, out of uniform, they're more camouflaged than ever," explains the voiceover in the 40-second TV spot below that gives an overview of the program.



Those jade flickers illuminating a city at night, and the muted olive glow of entryway lamps on a street of suburban homes, also appear in two-minute clips that put the spotlight on individual veterans. In the next video, we meet Lourdes, who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving a tour of duty with the Army in Iraq.

"Being in a place where tomorrow's not guaranteed, you learn how to value life," she says. "I went to Iraq, and I made it back home. So I can do anything."



Next up is Ian, a 14-year member of the U.S. Marine Corps who took part in dangerous missions overseas. Now in his 40s, Ian still crops his hair in classic Marine fashion and stays fit by running with a 65-pound pack on his back, just like he did in the Corps.



Then there's Lauren, who, after leaving the Army, was diagnosed with multiple disabilities, but ultimately thrived thanks to help from a service dog. Now, she runs Independence Paws, a service-dog organization.



These stories—and you can view more clips below—are inspiring and emotionally charged, but not overstated or manipulative beyond what we've come to expect from social-issues campaigns. In fact, the PSAs strike just the right tone, allowing vets to cast themselves in an honest light (detailing their setbacks and triumphs) rather than having others, who might misunderstand what they're going through, define them.

As for the green lights themselves, Walmart notes that the color universally symbolizes "go," which is meant as a tribute to veterans' willingness "to take action quickly no matter the challenge." At the very least, the campaign puts their plight in perspective, and perhaps allows civilians to appreciate the sacrifices made by men and women who routinely shine in circumstances most of us would do just about anything to avoid.

Of course, Walmart is always an easy target for criticism, no matter what it does. But to its credit, the company has pledged to hire 250,000 veterans by 2020. The company hired its 100,000th vet last month, and has committed $20 million in grants to support organizations that provide job training, education and other veterans services.

Ad of the Day: New York Lottery Says You'd Be a Better Rich Person Than Most New Yorkers

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The New York Lottery has turned 1,326 New Yorkers into Lotto millionaires since 1978, more than any other in-state lottery game in the U.S. And fresh-faced New Yorkers who become rich overnight are way cooler than deeply weird New Yorkers who've been wealthy for generations. Right?

At least, you'll be cooler than they are.

That's the questionable but comic premise behind McCann New York's new campaign for the client—spanning TV, radio, online and out-of-home ads, as well as an amusing digital field guide to identifying eccentric wealthy folks at RichPeopleGuide.com.

First, check out the TV spots:



The ads pull off the neat trick of being relatable while depicting the polar opposite of the target market. Viewers will relate not to the characters, of course, but to the caps-lock on-screen compliment: "You'd make a way better rich person." And it's hard to argue with that, given these people's preposterous habits, like bat collecting and wine bathing.

In reality, this class-focused humor is dicey—lotteries, after all, are no laughing matter for the poor, whom they exploit even as they help fund things like education. (In other words, whether or not poor people would make better rich people, the lottery will only make them poorer.) But this campaign gets away with the angle mostly because it's lighthearted and cartoony enough to be a caricature.

Also, the field guide—created with help from B-Reel—is a fun wrinkle, profiling "rich people of New York you would be better than if you were rich." These include the Eccentric Collector of Eccentric Collections, the Grown-Up Child Star, the Woman of a Million Causes and the Art Collecting Conversation Controller.



Clicking on each character on the website reveals a full snarky bio. McCann even produced actual hardcover books of the field guide—which look really nice, but frankly are a bit of an eccentric way for a wealthy marketer to spend its millions.

Check out a few OOH executions below.



CREDITS
Client: New York Lottery

Agency: McCann NY
Eric Silver, North American Chief Creative Officer
Tom Murphy, Chief Creative Officer New York
Nathy Avriam, Chief Production Officer
Mat Bisher, Executive Creative Director
Grant Smith, Executive Creative Director
Grant Smith, Writer
Jillian Goger, Group Creative Director
Jillian Goger, Writer
Matt Swinburne, Creative Director
Raphael Milczarek, Creative Director
Raphael Milczarek, Art Director
Chauncey Hollingsworth, Senior Copywriter
Stephen Icardi, Art Director
Zoe Kessler, Art Director
Molly Wilkof, Copywriter
Deb Archambault, Senior Integrated Producer
Loly McIndoe, Senior Integrated Producer
Bryan Litman, Senior Integrated Producer
April Gallo, Senior Print Producer
Lauren LaValle, Group Account Director
Geordie Larratt-Smith, Account Supervisor
Rachel Heiss, Account Executive
Mike Medeiros, Executive Planning Director
Kenny Gold, Associate Director, Social
Caitlin Bishop, Digital Strategist

Gingerpic – Frames
Executive Creative Director: Fabiano Feijo
Producers: Ana Azambuja, Ali Lewis
Art Direction: Fabiano Feijo, Fabricio Moraes
3D Manager: Fabricio Moraes
Lead 3D Modelers: Fabricio Moraes, Guilherme Formenti, Gustavo Schinner
3D Shading and Texturing: Guilherme Formenti & Fabricio Moraes
Lead Concept Artists: Flavio Hoffe / Artur Rocha
Lead Photoshop Artists: Veronica Otero, José Feijó, Fabiano Feijó

Andrew Rae – Illustrator

B-Reel – Digital Field Guide
Managing Creative Director: Ben Hughes
Art Director: Mike Potter
Art Director: Marley Stellmann
Designer : Tom Kemper
Animator: Elaine Lee
Motion Designer: Po-Chen Chia
Technology Director: Eric Heaton
Developer: Lucas Dupin
Director of Production: Myke Gerstein
Senior Producer: Ryan Leong

O Positive – TV
Director: Jim Jenkins
Executive Producer: Ralph Laucella
Producer: Marc Grill
Production Manager: Brynn Maguire

Mackenzie Cutler – Post TV
Editor: Ian Mackenzie
Assistant Editor: Mike Leuis
Executive Producer: Sasha Hirschfield

Pomann Sound – Radio
Mixer/Sound Designer: Justin Kaupp

A Woman on the $10 Bill Would Mean More If Women Didn't Earn $7.80 to Men's $10

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Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony. There are plenty of solid suggestions so far on who should grace the new female-fronted $10 bill, replacing Alexander Hamilton on redesigned bills coming from the U.S. Treasury in 2020.

But how about your face, ladies?

Here's some cold hard reality to go with that cold hard cash, however: It won't be worth a sawbuck, but rather just $7.80 if you're a woman earning it, compared to every $10 that men get paid, and even less if you're African American or Latino. That's the premise of a video from ad agency Rethink that points out the gender gap, and new social campaign by ad agency WongDoody in Los Angeles.



The website and social campaign, #TheReal10, provide a faceless bill on which women can paste their own photo. (I did it, and it's sort of a kick to be on currency, initially, but of course that doesn't make up for the battered bottom line). The bill reflects the 78-cents-to-the-dollar that the average woman earns, though the story is even bleaker for ethnic minorities: $6.30 for black women and $5.40 for Hispanics.

WongDoody partnered with the American Association of University Women on the project, with its executive creative director Pam Fujimoto calling it "a great opportunity to bring attention to another monetary issue for women."

TheReal10.org and the AAUW sites give info on ways to work toward equal pay.

Ad of the Day: Water Is Life Steals Art From Kenya, So It Can Give Back Something More

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Water Is Life "steals" from poor people in the destitute Kibera district of Nairobi, Kenya, in an effort to give them back a whole lot more in the humanitarian organization's latest innovative campaign, "Art Heist for Good."

A few years back, when the nonprofit was shooting its "Kenya Bucket List" video, the team toured Kibera, where banners by French artist JR had been installed on local rooftops. The artwork was part of JR's "Women Are Heroes" outdoor exhibition from 2009. Once the exhibition was over, the banners remained on the roofs, providing protection from the sun and rain.

"Those with the banners did not know the value," Kristine Bender, Water Is Life president, tells Adweek. "Many had been ripped up, and even stolen to put on the floor of someone else's home."

Some of the art, however, was in good enough condition to sell. The locals had no way of doing so—thus, Water Is Life and ad agency Deutsch hatched a plan to remove the banners and auction them off, with funds supporting improvements in the region's sanitation and hydration systems.



"We wanted to do something bold and brave, generating direct impact for the community," says Menno Kluin, Deutsch executive creative director.

The "heist" was meticulously planned, to avoid putting its perpetrators in harm's way. "We had a security team and local partners who helped us coordinate," Bender says. "We were very careful, as this area can be highly volatile and dangerous—and anger and violence can erupt at any given moment. Those who lived in the homes where we took the banners were elated to be getting a new iron sheet roof for protection."

So far, one banner has been sold, and four more are being prepped for auction, while others will be harvested from rooftops in the months to come. The goal is to raise $400,000, with the funds supporting:

• A 5,000-gallon-per-day water filter
• A permanent community hand-washing station
• 40 hand-washing outlets for 4,000 school children
• Overhauling the water distribution apparatus
• A training program and school curriculum about hygiene

Deutsch created the short film above to generate awareness about the project and, hopefully, get the word out to potential buyers of the art.

"Most charity advertisements have to ask people for donations," says Kluin. "We didn't. We simply saw something of value that would have otherwise gone to waste and used it to make a direct impact for the people."

It's an unusual approach. The legalities are intentionally portrayed as murky, whether or not they actually were—something the campaign emphasizes rather than downplays, as a way of generating drama. But Water Is Life, lauded for inventive campaigns of all sorts, has achieved impressive results by writing its own playbook.

CREDITS
Client: Water Is Life
Kristine Bender, President
Email: kristine@waterislife.com
Project: "The Art Heist for Good"
Agency: Deutsch, New York
Chief Creative Officer: Kerry Keenan
Executive Creative Director: Menno Kluin
Creative Directors: Sam Shepherd, Frank Cartagena, Julia Neumann
Art Directors: Brittany Rivera, Katrina Mustakas
Copywriter: Kevin Meagher
Director of Photography: Neil DaCosta
Design Director: Juan Carlos Pagan
Designer: Brian Gartside
Director of Integrated Production: Joe Calabrese
Producer: Joe Pernice
Post Producer: Francess Tom-Sahr
Editor: Pete Slife
Directors: Sam Shepherd, Frank Cartagena, Menno Kluin
Music: Found Objects
Record/Mix: Duotone

This Paypal Ad Is Getting Hundreds of Complaints That It Spoils Christmas

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Paypal has accidentally played the Grinch in Britain this holiday, according to several hundred viewers who have lodged complaints about its Christmas ad, claiming the commercial implies that Father Christmas—aka, Santa Claus—isn't real.

The spot, created by Crispin Porter + Bogusky, shows an older brother predicting that he and his sibling won't get any presents this year, because he hasn't seen his parents out shopping for any. This has infuriated some parents, who believe it implies they buy all the gifts—and Santa doesn't deliver any.

They are particularly peeved that the ad has been running when kids are still up—not after 9 p.m., which is when ads that aren't kid-friendly typically run.



PayPal has apologized, explaining that it thought kids commonly believed that parents buy some of their presents and that Father Christmas brings others.

"We just want to take a moment to say we're sorry that some people have been upset by our new U.K. Christmas TV advert," a spokeswoman said. "Our ad aims to take a fun look at those Christmas presents kids know come from their parents, and not in any way say Father Christmas doesn't also deliver presents to them."

PayPal is also working to have the spot air only after 9 p.m. The Guardian reports that the country's ad watchdog, Advertising Standards Authority, is still weighing the evidence to see if there is cause for an investigation into the ad.


Google and Facebook Made These Posters to Illustrate the Unstoppableness of the Internet

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The 20th Annual Webby Awards has a pretty cool call for entries campaign—featuring 20 prior Webby winners creating posters inspired by the theme "The Internet Can't Be Stopped." We highlighted several of them a few months ago (from Wieden + Kennedy and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, among others.) Now, here's a new batch—featuring entries from two of the Internet's biggest players, Google and Facebook.

 
1) Google

Google's poster is a series of icons, topped by a head wearing virtual reality goggles. Along the way, the poster seems to nod to Facebook and Instagram with thumbs-up and heart icons (which could double as a Twitter reference now, of course) before including Google Plus's +1 icon. Check it out here:

 
2) Facebook

Facebook's poster, meanwhile, is much simpler and more cosmic—an all-way traffic light that's green all the time, just hanging there in space. (Voiceover: "And that's why traffic lights are like Facebook…")

 
3) Forsman & Bodenfors

Swedish ad agency Forsman & Bodenfors, best known for its "Epic Split" ad with Jean-Claude Van Damme, was also commissioned to do a poster. It went for comedy with this riff on planking:

 
4) National Geographic

We like the haunting nature of NatGeo's entry, too, reminding us of how the Internet isn't separate from the "real" world at all. It's also cosmic, in its way, with more of an emotional pull than the Facebook poster.

 
5) R/GA

Finally, here is R/GA's entry. It also has a stoplight theme, although in R/GA's vision, the Internet is hardly green all the time. One day it will be, perhaps, if we can solve the pesky issue of buffering.

 
New posters are going up on webbyawards.com each week. Check out the site in the coming week for entries from Droga5, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Giphy, Mother New York and Vice. The Webbys are also featuring interviews with some of the poster makers—like this one with Wieden + Kennedy.

Watch People in Other Industries React Hilariously to Being Asked for Free Spec Work

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People in other industries don't provide their would-be clients with "spec work" for free. That would be asinine. So, why do advertising agencies continue to do it?

It's not a new question. (This Adweek story from August was just the latest assessment of a practice that goes back decades.) But Toronto agency Zulu Alpha Kilo really illustrates just how ludicrous it is—in the great video below, in which a guy approaches real men and women (not actors) in other businesses and asks them to provide him with a product or service for free, to see if he likes it before committing to more.



Zulu made the video for Strategy magazine's annual Agency of the Year event on Wednesday night, where a number of agencies presented comic videos. But despite the humorous approach, the topic is a serious one for Zulu.

The shop took part in spec pitches during its first two years of operation, but founder and CCO Zak Mroueh abruptly stopped doing so. "We haven't done a pitch that requires spec creative in five years," he told Adweek this year. "This approach allows us to support our clients' brands rather than using the resources our clients pay for to gain new business."

Now, it wants other agencies to follow its lead. "It's time we all said no to spec," says the on-screen copy at the end of the new video.

Could it be that easy?

Also, here is a list of winning agencies from Strategy's AOY event.

CREDITS
Agency: Zulu Alpha Kilo
Creative Director: Zak Mroueh
Art Director: Guilherme Bermejo
Writer: Nick Doerr
Agency Producer: Tara Handley
Production House: Zulubot
Director: Zak Mroueh
Producers: Tara Handley, Daniel Kaplan
Director of Photography: Albert Huh
Casting Director: Shasta Lutz
Post, Editing, Music Company: Zulubot
Editor: Mike Headford
Colorist, Transfer: Roslyn Di Sisto
Producer: Tara Handley
Engineer: Stephen Stepanic

The Untold Story of This Bald, Toothless Baby and Her Adorable 1993 Print Ad

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If you were the baby girl in the 1993 print ad below—by The Martin Agency for Healthtex baby clothes—you might have had reason to be a little miffed. You just got called bald and toothless in the headline, and the copy dwelled insistently—almost insultingly!—on whether you were, in fact, not a girl but a boy. An auspicious start to a modeling career, this wasn't.

Or was it?

Sage Coy rolled with it, in any case (whether or not she could actually roll over at such an age). And she and her family have nothing but fond memories of the experience—as evidenced by the fact that Sage's father, Bill Coy, recently contacted The Martin Agency, 22 years later, to reminisce about it.

Click the ad to enlarge:



"An advertising friend sent me the ad recently and said it had won some award years ago. So, I Googled the ad, and The Martin Agency came up," he tells AdFreak. "I saw that they had an office in New York City, and Sage was playing cello there, on tour with the Portland Cello Project. And I thought the man who did the ad might like to come and see her."

That man was none other than Joe Alexander. In 1993, he was a copywriter in just his third year at the Richmond, Va., shop. He has since risen, of course, to become the decorated agency's chief creative officer.

He remembers the campaign well.

"At the time, nobody was writing long copy about baby clothes," he says. "The category was all about showing cute kids with some fluffy headline. We knew that parents, and especially moms, love to read everything when they are pregnant. They can't get enough information. So my partner, Jelly Helm, and I just embraced it and tried to find truths every parent could relate to. I think we ended up writing 30 ads in this campaign over five years or so.

"We had this great insight overall for the campaign—the first baby clothes for parents. Meaning, Heathtex was the rare brand of baby clothes in 1993 that made it really easy to dress your baby: snaps, elastic waistbands, washable fabrics, big neck openings and really cute stuff. I was personally in the throes of having 6-, 3- and 1-year-old girls, so I was writing from a strong, truthful POV. The funny thing is: I always thought Sage was a boy."

She wasn't, but that was the point of the ad—to reassure parents that Healthtex would help their boys look like boys, and girls look like girls. (This was long before anyone looked down on gender labeling.) "That's why we always make it easy," Alexander's copy explained, "for your infant to look the only way he or she is supposed to look: cute."

Alexander says Sage was chosen as the model simply because "she was bald and she was amazingly photogenic." But Bill Coy admits that the modeling agency that the family had been working with did have specific orders—to find a girl who looked like a boy.

"The Wehmann Agency in Minneapolis called and asked if Sage was still bald. Yes, she was!" Bill recalls. "But as new parents of a little girl who had to tape a bow on her head because people loved our 'little boy,' we were a bit put off. Then they said it was just what they were looking for. So, game on!"

Sage's mom, Andrien Thomas—a former model herself—took Sage to the shoot and says everything went swimmingly. Funnily enough, Sage actually wasn't toothless at the time. She had a front tooth, which made for an adorable smirk—but that would have sunk the headline, so a different shot was used.

And what a memorable ad it became.

"Everybody thinks their children are cute, but when we saw her in print, she almost didn't look real," Bill says. "It was both pages inside the cover of Parents magazine and started what we think was a very successful little modeling career."

Indeed, Sage would go on to appear in a slew of ads and other projects. She did print work for brands like Target, Kohler and Kohl's. Her first commercial was for the "Virginia Is for Families" campaign. (Her big line was, "Are we there yet?") She also appeared in the 2005 film North Country, sharing scenes with Charlize Theron and Woody Harrelson.

Her biggest advertising moment was a brief appearance on the grandest stage of all—the Super Bowl—in one of the most beloved ads ever to air on the game. She's the farm girl sitting on the pile of hay at the 0:17 mark of Mullen's 1999 Monster.com spot. Her speaking line doubles as the name of the ad: "When I grow up…"

Now in her 20s, Sage is a musician. She has been touring with the Portland Cello Project, a collective of cello players in Portland, Ore. But seeing her old Healthtex ad today brings her right back to that whole other life.

"I would have to say it's a cute ad. Look at those big baby cheeks!" she says. "I'm definitely hit by a wave of nostalgia when I see this now—it's been quite a while since I did any acting or commercial work. It reminds me of a really unique time in my life, as this ad opened the door for all of the print work and acting that I had the opportunity to do growing up.

"I'm also reminded of how lovely my parents are," she adds. "They have always been very supportive of my interests, challenged me, but never pushed me to be involved in projects that I didn't want to be a part of. That's incredibly important, especially since I crawled into the industry at such a young age."

The ad brings Joe Alexander back, too. In fact, he included it in The Martin Agency's just-released coffee-table book celebrating its 50th anniversary and all the great advertising it's done in that time.

"I've always felt this ad was one of the iconic ads in our history," he says. "The headline and Sage's look—I mean, you can never lose with a cute baby, right? It's amazing to see how Sage has grown into such a cool person. That just adds to the iconic status of the ad, for me."

He adds: "Thanks, Bill, for reaching out. And Sage, I'm sorry I called you bald and toothless and took advantage of you just to sell some onesies. I'm glad it didn't hold you back."

John St.'s Latest Merciless Satire Just Destroys the Dove Style of Marketing to Women

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The trend toward female empowerment ads—or so-called "femvertising"—has been largely celebrated both within and outside the ad industry, with brands like Dove and Always earning plaudits and prizes for their celebration of women. But there have been a few downsides as well.

First, many of the campaigns—particularly Dove's—have been subject to the criticism that they prey on the insecurities of women just to sell more stuff. And second, there's been an undeniable bandwagon aspect to the genre, with some brands cynically embracing pro-woman themes with messaging that feels more calculated than heartfelt.

Toronto agency John St. brilliantly takes down the more suspect side of femvertising with the pitch-perfect parody below, in which it pretends to open a new agency called Jane St. to exploit the hell out of women regardless of whether it makes any sense whatsoever to their clients.



There are so many great details here, from the "If She's Crying, She's Buying" poster on the wall to the proprietary "Core Lady Insecurity To Target"—or "C-LITT"—model of advertising to women, which exposes "the most sensitive area for a message of empowerment."

The website is pretty fun, too, with some fake ads and testimonials—including a quote from one "Mark Burnberg" of Hank's Cabinet Hardware, who enthuses: "I didn't think female empowerment was right for our brand. Jane St. proved me wrong."

John St. has done plenty of parody videos in which it pretends to open new practices, from Catvertising to last year's Reactvertising. But this one—like the others, made for Strategy magazine's Agency of the Year event—is its most cutting yet.

Time to polish off that Glass Lion.

Also, here is a list of winning agencies from Strategy's AOY event.

Christmas Is Really All About the Food, Says This Mouth-Watering Ad for a British Grocer

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Last month, U.K. grocer Waitrose delivered a cheerful ad celebrating classic autumn meals and the warmth they bring to a chilly season. Now the supermarket is back with a similar paean to Christmas dishes—and it's a fun little trip.

The 60-second commercial from adam&eveDDB features a range of items on sale at Waitrose locations, but is less about food porn than the feelings associated with preparing (and actually eating, though we don't really see it) holiday fare.



Happiness, anticipation and comfort are the driving dynamics—an unsurprising mix for the genre, but nice despite (or rather, because of) their familiarity. Patrick McClelland and Feargal Balance, creatives at adamandeveDDB, wrote the spot. Simon Ratigan at HLA directed it (as well as the brand's autumn ad). The soundtrack, Cab Calloway's "Everybody Eats When They Come to My House" is a perfect fit—elated, lighthearted, silly in a dated but endearing way. 

"Whatever makes your Christmas, make it with Waitrose," encourages the voiceover, as the ad ends with a British holiday tradition—the flaming Christmas pudding.

Even here, across the pond, the ad makes it easy to imagine stuffing yourself at a year's-end feast, whatever your tradition—assuming you can make it through Thanksgiving first.

CREDITS
Client: Waitrose
Project name: Make it with Waitrose
Client: Joanne Massey, Senior Marketing Manager. Libby Langridge, Marketing Manager
Chief Creative Officer Ben Priest
Executive Creative Directors Ben Tollett, Richard Brim
Copywriter: Patrick McClelland
Art director: Feargal Ballance
Agency TV producer: Suzy MacGregor,
Agency TV Production Assistant: Sion Prys
Agency Print producer: Nicola Applegate
Agency Digital Producer: Sion Prys
Planner: Dom Boyd & Will Grundy
Managing Director: Tammy Einav
Business Director: Victoria Day
Account manager: Sarah Gregory and Abi Robinson
Media agency: Manning Gottlieb OMD
Media planner: David Ellis
TV Production company: HLA
Director: Simon Ratigan
Production company: HLA
Producer: Tim Daukes
Editor: Adam Spivey @ The Playroom
DOP: Martin Hill
Post Production: The Mill
Colourist: Seamus O'Kane @ The Mill
Audio Post Production: 750MPH
Soundtrack name: Cab Calloway, Everybody eats when they come to my house.
Photographer Andy Sewell
Photographer's agency Blackdog Represents
Retouching company Stanley's Post
Digital production Company: Media Monks

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