There's one form of prank advertisement that will surely survive long after all the telekinetic coffee-shop surprises and sentient vending machines have faded away. And that is the celebrity-surprising-the-superfan video. 

It's irresistible. We've written about so many of them over the years—our favorite is probably the one David Beckham did for Adidas around the London Olympics in 2012. They just never get old. Fans are shuttled someplace, blatantly lied to about what's going on, and then get shocked, in a good way, when the celeb—their favorite celeb, of course—suddenly appears out of nowhere.

Without fail, tears are shed. And dammit if you don't find yourself grinning stupidly at the screen every time. It's both an embarrassment and a triumph, and succeeds like clockwork.

Here's the latest one from the U.K.: Ellie Goulding for MasterCard. Best friends Martha and Lucy, 20-year-old students at King's College, were falsely told they were recording a cover of Goulding's new track "Army" for a documentary about music superfans.

But of course, they were in for a surprise.



The spot, by McCann London, is part of MasterCard's "Priceless Surprises" campaign and celebrates the 2016 BRIT Awards. Goulding and other artists, including Mark Ronson, are taking part in surprises and gigs, helping MasterCard cardholders share their love of music.

CREDITS
Agency: McCann London
Chief Creative Officers: Rob Doubal, Laurence Thomson
Creative Directors: Matt Crabtree, Simon Hepton
Creatives: Matt Crabtree, Simon Hepton, Jean-Laurent Py
Managing Partner: Tom Bedwell
Business Lead: Oliver Morgan
Account Manager: Lauren Benezra
Planning Partner: Karen Crum
Project Director: Metz Fasano
Production Company: Craft London
Director: Blake Claridge
Head of Production: Sergio Lopez
Senior Producer: Zara Balfour
Line Producer: Ben Greenacre
Director of Photography: Berndt Wiese
Sound Recordists: Kieron Wolfson, Andy Gleed
Editor: Max Downey, Phil Conway at Craft
Sound Mix: Tim Sutton at Craft
Grade: Framestore

To emphasize its agency tenets—and reclaim the tactile graphic arts for ad land—Odysseus Arms is building a collection of self-promo posters worth framing. 

"We're using the posters to raise craft level at OA, connect to our community of designers, typos and craftsmen, and have fun making posters," says chief creative Franklin Tipton.

The San Francisco agency has made nine posters so far; the plan is to create 50 total. Of the one you see above, Tipton says, "This is a poster that no holding-company ad agency could ever make. This is why you partner with an indie agency." 

The imagery is a treat, bringing to mind '70s albums, the Nouvelle Vague, early-'90s tech aesthetics, even Sailor Jerry tattoos. Below is our interview with Tipton, followed by the other eight posters that exist so far. Some have liner notes, so watch for those.

AdFreak: Tells us where the name Odysseus Arms comes from.
Franklin Tipton: We're into big storytelling. Odysseus was the hero of the greatest story ever told. We're taking our best shot at killing off that stupid notion that misogynistic, scotch-soaked Donald Draper-types work in our industry. Everyone we know works their asses off to make their clients famous and dynamic (and profitable). We see branding as an elegant pursuit.

"Arms" just telegraphs the modern agency model; there are so many vertical disciplines out there, you need to have a multitude of specialty partners, or arms, to service the modern contract. Every agency has arms. 

Also, we know about naming; Libby [Brockhoff, agency partner and co-founder] named Mother in London back in 1996—which is a whole different story you can ask her about. Also, just something we've noticed—a good name is worth nothing without a strong commitment to doing good work. (When I was at CP+B, nobody could pronounce "Bogusky" correctly ... until we started ruling the Gunn Report.) 

What inspiration did you draw from to produce the posters?
The posters do a bunch of things at the same time. First, the world has been "Tinder-ized": We swipe through content at a blindingly fast rate. Stopping people and fascinating them is often down to powerful "key art." Posts on Instagram and Facebook, movie posters, cover art for games, retail signage and, of course, display media owe any attention they get to singularly stunning images. So we use the poster series to teach, experiment with and practice "key art" craft. 

The other thing posters do is connect us to new talent. The project is populated by a constellation of young street artists, designers, letterers and old-schoolers. Before the MP3, there was Tower Records, which, looking back, was closer to a museum gallery of album art rather than merely a retail space. We're trying to achieve the visual variety of an old record shop.

Would you say these constitute a series of fixed agency values?
Definitely. Media is far more interesting than it was 10 years ago, but we see craft and copy suffering from things like HTML fonts and project economy timelines. Our values push back on these pressures, reinforce the importance of our industry and artfully express best practices.

One of the most curious things that we've been exposed to through working with Facebook in Menlo Park is their Analog Research Laboratory; it's a cold type print shop located right across from Oculus. One of the largest technology companies on earth appreciates the tactile quality of a hand-printed poster. We see our posters as a stab at permanence in a world where content disappears into the cybersphere in a flick.

How did you choose the values to highlight?
The values are a mix of "carpe diem for creative people," old-school advice and amazing quotes we've collected from doing advertising on three continents. We have quotes from media masters like James Patterson, Alex Bogusky, Paul Arden, Paul Silburn, Robert Saville, Rich Silverstein, Jeff Goodby, Craig Davis and Graham Wills. People we've worked with; quotes to live by.

When it's not a direct quote, the line is fretted over Carmichael Lynch-style [Libby ran Ikea at CL].  The lines are allegorical and cautionary at times.

What's with all the death and snake symbolism?
Snakes symbolize small, powerful badass-ness. But we did look at that colonial "Join, or Die" poster when we expressed the importance of maintaining respect for your fellow creatives in poster No. 3, "Ego." The skull in poster No. 2, "You're Dead a Long Time," is a FOMO warning.

Finally, we re-wrote The Odyssey with a Harvard grad when we first started. It's 25 pages and is designed for modern, shorter attention spans. 

What are you guys doing next?
We're working with Mark Zuckerberg to fire up his 13,000 people and get them to join a cause. And ... there's posters! 

The agency posters—and a few handy notes—appear below.

 
Tipton on the poster below: "We were working on TV spots for Ubisoft's The Division last year, which prompted Libby to pen this for her One Show Mentor session in Phoenix." 

 
The quote below, "Creativity is a positive form of stress," comes from Benjamin Franklin, says Tipton. "Great creative departments thrive on this notion. DXTR in Berlin imagined what goes on inside an artist's head." 

 
This next poster includes an intentional typo. "If you've ever presented work to a room of people with a flaw on the screen, you probably realize that your good word is pretty much shot. Proofreaders protect us from ourselves," Tipton says. 



The next one is going to be good, the creative chief promises, and will revolve around the notion of difficulty. "To live in S.F., as you know, takes a certain ability to keep trying stuff. It's scrappy, the tech world has disrupted adland—and there's earthquakes. Kevin Cantrell is going to do the lettering."

Odysseus Arms also engaged the Designer's Republic in Sheffield for a treatment on Saatchi's Paul Silburn quote, "Digital Media: Never before have so many been bullshitted by so few about so much." Watch this space.

TV promos are usually pretty straightforward, with footage cut from the shows they're pushing. But a new ad from National Geographic Channel puts original footage to great use in hyping The Story of God with Morgan Freeman, a documentary series coming in April.

Sadly (or perhaps mercifully), the show isn't a sequel to Bruce Almighty, in which Freeman actually played God. The minute-long ad, by creative agency Holman + Hunt, opens on the Western Wall, the controversial Jewish holy site in Jerusalem, and includes shots of group ceremonies from other religions around the world, Christianity and Islam among them.

"We wanted the spot to reflect the global nature of the series—which filmed in more than 20 cities and seven countries—as well as the humanity of the questions we ask in the episodes," says Emanuele Maddedu, svp of strategy and branding at National Geographic Channel.



The promo also features slow-motion footage of a firefighter saving a woman's young daughter from a burning house, a kid praying his soccer shot will find the goal, and a motocross rider looking toward the heavens before taking off into an airborne handstand.

Explains director Chris Turner: "We used high-speed Phantom photography throughout the film to accentuate those small slices of time when we revert to an in-built gut instinct to pray for help, even if we're not religious. These moments … seek to focus on the split-second of vulnerability in the plight of our protagonists." 

To be fair, part of the spot's success is that Freeman's voice can turn anything into gold. It also helps that the subject is intrinsically fascinating: The history of belief is a topic with a direct impact on pretty much everyone participating in modern society, even those who reject religious institutions.

"This is not just a show for believers; it's a show for anyone who has ever asked themselves whether God exists," says agency creative director Richard Holman. "So we decided to build the campaign on the simple human truth that, whether we are religious or not, most of us—under times of stress—find ourselves asking for help from above. Why is this? Where does this instinct come from?" 

For a concisely programmed look at the questions that have plagued philosophers, theologians and mankind for millennia, tune in April 3 at 9 p.m.

CREDITS
National Geographic Channel
Emanuele Madeddu, SVP Strategy and Branding
Mariano Barreiro, VP Branding
Alyshia Linares, Marketing Director

Creative Agency - Holman + Hunt
Creative Director - Richard Holman
Creatives - Mark Howard & Jo Tanner
Exec. Producer - Lucy Hunt

Production Company - Able & Baker
Director - Chris Turner
Producer - Emory Ruegg
Exec. Producer - Joe Walker

Offline - Mark Whelan, The Quarry

Post production - Absolute

Music - Carly Paradis

Kanye West and Donald Trump are two very different people who have dominated the media this month.

The terrible twosome do, however, share several significant traits, including an uncanny knack for attracting haters, the power to drive entire news cycles with a single tweet, and a proven ability to inspire stunts from ad industry creatives.

In case you missed it, Kanye went on a wild Twitter rant about a week ago in which he said he was $53 million in debt and asked friends and fans to donate money for his personal creative endeavors rather than, say, helping to build a school for impoverished communities on the African sub-continent.

you'd rather open up one school in Africa like you really helped the country…

— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016

Gabriel Ferrer is a senior copywriter at Alma, the Miami-based multicultural wing of Omnicom's DDB network. He's also a lifelong Kanye West fan. But this particular freakout was the final straw, so Ferrer created the #HelpKenyaNotKanye project, a scrolling site that encourages fans to donate their money to more worthy causes and links out to related charities.

"I've always been a huge Kanye fan," Ferrer tells AdFreak, "But because he frequently makes a fool of himself, people are like, 'How can you defend this guy?' Everybody started texting and tweeting at me when he went on this latest rant and expecting a response, so instead of defending him, I figured I would shift the conversation in a positive way." 

After watching a Late Show with Stephen Colbert segment in which Kanye discussed the African schools tweet, Ferrer woke up with the idea for the site and had it live before leaving to teach his evening class at Miami Ad School. "I tell my students that when you have an idea, you have to just make it happen," he says. 

"My concept," he adds, "was to equate the value of things Kanye is selling to exactly what you can get for that total in Africa." For example, you could buy a set of books for an entire school rather than scoring a pair of West's $200 Yeezy Adidas boots (and that's not even springing for the ankle boots, which go for more than $600).

"Technically, I don't want all the help to go to Kenya," Ferrer says. "But it works with the pun." The copywriter and his wife, who is an art director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky in Miami, also had a working knowledge of Kenya after planning to vacation there last year.

Though he has worked on PSA campaigns for various clients like Tobacco-Free Florida throughout his more than five-year advertising career, Ferrer tells AdFreak: "Of all the things I've done, this has gotten the best reponse ... and it's something I did in my living room with no money. Twenty percent of people who responded said they donated. Most just tell me that it's funny, and a small percentage are saying, Don't twist this, you're just piggybacking for your cause." 

Ferrer's one regret is his inability to track how many total donations his project has inspired because each link redirects to a third-party address. 

Asked whether he might have some personal guidance for Kanye given the press his Kenya efforts have received, Ferrer said: "From a certain point, I understand that he may want to do things he can't even afford yet. But you have to live within your means, especially when you're a father of two. I'm not too worried about him financially, but I would suggest that he maybe think things through a little bit."

West will probably never come across Ferrer's advice, but two days after launching the tweetstorm that inspired this project, he did admit his own ego has always been his "No. 1 enemy."

Maybe the man with the biggest head in pop music will listen to reason after all.

Specs
Who (l. to r.): Kenny White, head of product; Paul Charney, CEO; Craig Mangan, CCO
What Creative agency
Where San Francisco

Founded by ex-Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and BBDO creatives in 2014, San Francisco-based Funworks organizes "funworkshops"—brainstorm meetings that pair brand marketers and the agency with improv comics—for clients like HP, Pandora and Virgin America. Funworks' creative and production teams then create campaigns based on the ideas discussed. "Comedians bring the ability to think really fast, and they allow clients to share their thoughts," said CEO Paul Charney. "You have to turn your self-critic off to get to original ideas." Most recently, music streaming service Pandora was paired with an improv group that asked, "What do you do when your favorite song comes on?" From there, its latest campaign was born: 33 social media influencers recently began promoting the company's personalized radio station with sponsored posts on Instagram, Vine and YouTube.

This story first appeared in the Feb. 22 issue of Adweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Divorce is a topic that's almost never explored in advertising. It's just too thorny and depressing. Yet it's also, of course, very relatable to plenty of people—and so Ford Denmark addresses it directly in an unusual three-part short film, by creative agency Very, that's beautifully made, if darker than almost all car ads you're used to.

Part one begins with a father and daughter having a snowball fight. But the girl's younger brother won't get out of the car, and we soon learn why. He's taking a stand—with the limited means he has—against his parents' impending divorce. 

The story then proceeds through parts two and three, as the family disintegrates—and then, due to a separate crisis, reunites, with some ambiguous hope for the future. Ford cars are present throughout, serving as meeting points for the family in their most trying times. There's nothing specific being sold here, though the message is obvious enough: So much of life happens in cars, so buy a good one.

Check out the film here: 

The work continues Ford Denmark's recent theme of "Success Against the Odds." (Other recent Ford films have focused on Danish surfers Oh Dawn, photographer Kenneth Nguyen and chef Søren Westh.) "Familien" was directed by Daniel Kragh-Jacobsen, who tells Adweek that Danes' high divorce rate was a basis for the concept. 

"We started thinking about how prevalent the car is in a divorce. It is both a tool and a setting," he says. "Ford's demography really is the Danish middle class, who do have the highest divorce rate in the world. And so we pitched this film under the banner 'Ford. Supporting families against the odds.' "

Kragh-Jacobsen wrote the scripts with his screenwriter, Ingeborg Topsøe, and admits there was always the concern that the material might be too dark.

"It was a main concern from the beginning, from everyone. But we had to try to submit our idea and see what happened," he says. "As you can see, the film is split into three sections, and each section has one small story which centers the car. To me it was just perfect, dark or not dark. It was about real people, and yes, the story is centered around a product, but the product is simply a prop or a setting, just like in a fiction film."

Kragh-Jacobsen credits Ford for being "very brave" and says he had total creative freedom.

In a press release, Ford said there were 23 percent more divorces in Denmark in 2014 than the average of the previous 10 years. However, "despite the difficult situation [in the film], one senses hope," the brand says. 

"Ford Denmark wants to focus on all aspects of family life, even if it can sometimes be challenging," Ford rep Lene Dahlquist says. "By standing behind a film that is based on one family's struggle, we tell the story that it may well be possible to achieve success against the odds."

Ford Denmark marketing chief Kristine Dam Jensen adds that the scenario is relatable and much more real that typical auto advertising. 

"We want to show our family cars in authentic environments and everyday situations that many can relate to," Jensen says. "The car is a rallying point for the family, even in difficult times like a divorce, and Ford Denmark wants to acknowledge families' struggle and show that the car can be a place where you get positive experiences."

Kragh-Jacobsen hopes people are attracted to the film "because they see themselves in our story. They can relate, and it isn't a glossy picture of the perfect family driving the perfect car. Whether this will influence them to buy their new vehicle, I'm not sure. I guess it is creating some attention around Ford, since they are trying something new. The most important thing for me is that our story resonates and is remembered."

CREDITS
Client: Ford Denmark
Agency: Very
Director: Daniel Kragh-Jacobsen
Actors: Peder Pedersen, Laura Bach, Bebiane Ivalo Kreutzmann, Pelle Falk Krusbæk

London-based photographer Nadav Kander, whose stunning portraits over the years have included President Obama and David Lynch, among many others, has shot a simple and powerful suicide-prevention campaign through MullenLowe for U.K. group Samaritans.

In a copy trick that's been used a few times before in advertising, the headlines capture honesty in the midst of denial by picking out key words that communicate desperation. The portraits themselves are great—the subjects are facing away from the camera, which quietly illustrates the struggle to cope and the urge to hide one's feelings. 

See the ads here:

The work was funded by Network Rail on behalf of the rail industry, and will run in railway stations across England, Scotland and Wales. The campaign is expected to run for two years.

The tagline is, "We don't just hear you, we listen," and positions Samaritans as expert listeners who can help people before they feel suicidal—as soon as they start to think that they are struggling.

"This is an incredibly important campaign about the Samaritans' quiet power of simply being there to listen to someone," says Richard Denney, executive creative director at MullenLowe London. "We worked with photographer Nadav Kander, who has an extraordinary ability to bring character to a series of beautiful yet faceless portraits."

"Life's pressures can build, without you even realizing," adds Samaritans CEO Ruth Sutherland. "It's all too easy to turn away, ignore how you're feeling, and put on a brave face. But you don't have to do that with Samaritans. Samaritans volunteers make time for you and really listen to you, because simply being listened to can help you put into words what's really going on in your life and help you find a way through."

CREDITS
Client: Samaritans
Campaign: We Don't Just Hear You, We Listen.
Agency: MullenLowe London
Chief Creative Officer: Dave Henderson
ECD: Rich Denney
Art Director: Denis Kakazu
Copywriter: Jack Patrick:
Planners: Anna Vogt, Flora Joll
Account Team: Kirsteen Scoble, Sophie Bowler, Jess Bird
Agency Producers: Bel January, Amy Murphy
Digital Producer: David Farrant
Photographer: Nadav Kander
Photographer Agent: We Folk
Designer: Ryan Self, Rob Hare
Artworker: Jeff Workman
—Radio Campaign
Agency Producer: Camille Hanish-Oates
Chief Media Officer: Jonathan Fowles, Mediahu
Media Agencies: Initiative/Rapport/MediaHub

As if the 2016 presidential election weren't enough of a farce already, a new clown is throwing his hat in the ring: Hotels.com's mascot, Captain Obvious. 

In Crispin Porter + Bogusky's latest for the brand, the charismatic buffoon, clad from the waist up in his goofy faux-military dress jacket—but wearing gym shorts below—announces his plans to run for the highest office in the U.S.

Literally.

The campaign's centerpiece TV ad continues the star's namesake tradition of doing things exactly as he says them. To wit: He delivers his speech from a treadmill instead of a podium, because he's fit for office. Get it?



Introduced in 2014, Captain Obvious always risked being a one-trick pony, but the agency has done a decent job of keeping him alive, with pieces like a Facebook autoplay video ad that's better when muted (the default autoplay setting on Facebook). The new, politically themed gag is a reasonable bit of topical opportunism, insofar as it doesn't depart from the brand's actual business.

And in fairness, there is a real connection, however tangential: Hotels.com estimates that each presidential candidate will spend an average of $405,000 on hotels, including lodging for a dozen staffers, over 212 days on the road during primaries and caucuses. 

The humor gets better as you explore the campaign more deeply. Beyond the 60-second spot, a website includes shareable, snackable content, like blasé Captain Obvious GIFs, plus 50 short videos of his "visits" to every state (alongside hotel recommendations). Green-screened on backdrops from each locale, he waxes on about the often-dubious merits of the American landscape.

Overall, it makes for a mixed bag, but the aggregate skews toward hilarious—it's broad enough to keep Captain Obvious in character, but thankfully also avoids overly easy gags. In Florida, a key election swing state, he spends the entire clip—set in the Everglades—swatting at mosquitoes.



The video for Colorado, home to CP+B, includes an inevitable pot joke ... but also recounts a lesser-known "fact": That all new arrivals to the state automatically receive labrador retrievers.



Iowa gets a nod to the tradition of deep frying everything, even butter, at its famous state fair. In a moment that showcases actor Brandon Moynihan's knack for physical comedy, he struggles with a bite of a corn dog.



California's showing is weaker, and features an offhand joke about self-important Hollywood types.



It continues down the list of the other states: Being born in Ohio presents a tactical advantage if you plan to run for president. Arizona is famous for a giant hole in the ground. We could go on, but we'll leave you to discover them on your own.

In other words, while his party affiliation isn't immediately clear, it's safe to say Captain Obvious is mostly disinterested—and irreverent. That's probably not a winning political strategy. But he does seem as well-informed any number of other candidates in the field.

CREDITS
Client: Hotels.com
Campaign: Captain Obvious Running for President
Agency: CP+B
Chief Creative Officer: Ralph Watson
Executive Creative Director: Matt Talbot
Executive Technology Director: Harold Jones
Creative Director: Brian Friedrich
Associate Creative Directors: Jexy Holman and Nuno Teixeira
Sr. Interactive Developer: Mai Hoang
Designer: Dominic Scariano
Group Executive Producer, Interactive: Jesse Jones
Integrated Head of Video: Kate Hildebrant
Executive Producer: Sloan Schroeder
Sr. Producer, Interactive: Dan Corken
Jr. Producer, Video: Rachel Noonan
Integrated Producer, Video: Addison Born
Jr. Producer, Interactive: Morgan Burrows
Associate Director, Architecture: Benjamin Sterling
Technical Lead: Tim Svensen
Associate Experience Director: David Irons
Production Company: Caviar, Los Angeles
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Director Of Photography: Ken Seng
Executive Producers (Production Co): Jasper Thomlinson, Kim Dellara
Edit Company: PLUS Productions, Santa Monica
Director of Photography: Ryan Simpson
Editors: Lawrence Young, Andrew Ratzlaff
Assistant Editor: Bryce Harvey
Post Executive Producer: Andrea Krichevsky
Post Senior Producer: Lennon Barnica
Postproduction: Method Studios, Santa Monica
Producer (Postproduction Co): Cara Lehr
Flame Artist: Wensen Ho
Quality Assurance: Hook QA
Music Company: Jingle Punks, Forman Brothers Recording (Announcement TV Spot)
Music Track: Hail to the Chief, The British Grenadier (Announcement TV Spot)
Audio Finishing Company: Lime Studios, Santa Monica
Audio Engineers: Mark Meyuhas, Matt Miller
Audio Producer: Susie Boyajan
Telecine Company: CO3, Los Angeles
Telecine Artist: Siggy Ferstl
Telecine Producer: Matt Moran
Managing Director: Danielle Whalen
Account Director: Sarah Castner
Content Supervisors: Brice Tomlinson and Kelly Boyer
Content Managers: Alyssa Fitterer and Ilyssa Schwartz
Group Director, Strategy: Dean McBeth
Executive Business Manager: Natalie Greenman
Business Affairs Manager, Interactive: Lydia Tirpak
Client Titles & Names: Josh Belkin, VP and General Manager NA, Mike Wolfe, Sr. Director of Brand Marketing, Nick Hayes, Director of Advertising, Melissa Postier, Sr. Brand Manager

Facebook's new Reaction buttons launch today, allowing users to go beyond a simple Like and choose emojis representing "love," "haha," "wow," "sad" and "angry" instead. Chevrolet celebrates this momentous occasion with a new online commercial, in which it bemoans the one-dimensional Like, mostly because you have to "love" and not just Like the new Malibu.

"Timing couldn't be more perfect for Chevrolet to bring the all-new 2016 Malibu and Facebook's new Reaction buttons together," Paul Edwards, vp of marketing for Chevrolet, said in a statement. "The midsize segment has traditionally offered many options to 'like', but only the new Malibu inspires the emotion to 'love.' "



It's a decent bit of topical content, as far as it goes. And because Chevy also posted it on Facebook, we know how people feel about the ad itself (by Commonwealth/McCann). At the time we posted this: 78 Likes, 14 Loves and a single Haha.

CREDITS
Client: Chevrolet
Spot: "Likes to Love"
Agency: Commonwealth/McCann
Creative Chairman: Linus Karlsson
Chief Creative Officer, North America: Gary Pascoe
Executive Creative Director, Copywriter: Duffy Patten
Executive Creative Director, Art Director: Bob Guisgand
Creative Director, Art Director: Tim Mattimore
Creative Director, Copywriter: John Fiebke
Executive Producer: Kelly Balagna
Producer: Gabrielle Gardner
Senior Producer: Adam Davis
Account Director: Jacqueline Redmond
Account Supervisor: Kalyn Barnum 
Production Company: Park Pictures
Director's: Katina and Daniel Mercadante
Executive Producer/Park Pictures: Scott Howard 
Producer/Park Pictures: Maya Owings
Editor/ Whitehouse: Sam Gunn 
Asst Editor/Whitehouse: Lauren Richardson
Producer/Whitehouse: Jennifer Mersis
VFX Company: Carbon
Audio: Eleven Sound
Music: Lullatone

It's the kind of zealotry of which marketers—and employers—dream.

Professional voiceover artist Kelley Buttrick is a lifelong fan of Jeep, but has never gotten to work on its advertising. So she made an entire campaign appealing to executives at the automaker to hire her.

With help from digital marketing agency Prolifik, as well as family members and friends, Buttrick shot a series of videos telling the story of her love for the vehicles—and showing off her chops on mic. Below is one of the videos; there are seven more on the site.

When she was 7 years old, her stepdad built his own Jeep with parts from Willys and CJ models. Fast-forward to adulthood, and she's owned a string of them with her husband, including bringing home her daughter in a Grand Cherokee. (At the time of filming last spring, the kid, set to turn 16, was in line to inherit one as a hand-me-down, as her father upgraded to a new one.)

No stranger to the industry, Buttrick touts a reel that includes work for brands including Dick's Sporting Goods, Amtrak, Toys R Us, Whirlpool and McDonald's. But eager to take a proactive approach to landing her dream client, she decided to cook up the personalized blitz. It bears the hyper-specific tagline "A voice for any terrain," and lots of other on-the-nose references to straying from the beaten (or, to be specific, paved) path.

Overall, it's an intense and ambitious strategy, perhaps bodering on being a little awkward. The writing is spotty at moments (to Buttrick's credit, she pokes fun at her own poor use of grammar in a written postscript to one video—blaming nervousness from being on camera, outside her usual auditory comfort zone). But her overtures also seem heartfelt.

And she displays enough self-awareness about how her tactic could suggest poor judgment, making the whole endeavor seem more like a calculated risk fueled by passion and less like an unhinged fantasy. Indeed, her efforts to research past campaigns, and sell her qualifications as a "cool mom" right in the demo for the upcoming reboot of the Jeep Grand Wagoneer, come across as further signs of her genuine commitment to the brand.

As if that weren't all enough, Buttrick's campaign also includes direct mail and email components targeting the brass at Fiat Chrysler, which owns Jeep. While she says her initial overtures to leaders at the company produced some enthusiastic responses, it's not yet clear if the brand has any concrete plans to feature her.

But if the tagline from its own powerful Super Bowl spot this year—the best in this year's big game—is any indication, she's showing the right kind of spirit. "We don't make Jeep," that ad said. "You do." 

180 Amsterdam's new European campaign for Moyee FairChain coffee might not be everyone's cup of tea.

It's an edgy brew flavored with wry wit, positioning the java brand as a caffeinated antidote to the inherent cruelty of life itself. Yes, human existence might be patently unfair. But Moyee claims its superior taste and equitable treatment of local growers provide some much-needed balance.

Consider: Rock stars. Even those of the aging, boney, burned-out variety, like the guy in the clip below, can lord it over the rest of us. "This man is hideous," the voiceover begins. "But he could have your wife. Or your daughter." That fetching fan at his side, we're told, "is someone's wife and daughter." Whoa, major drag. Facing such cosmic injustice, can anything perk up our spirits?



"A company that actually treats their coffee growers fairly is quite a serious thing, but with that comes the expectation to do something serious, or emotional," 180 executive creative director Dave Canning tells AdFreak. "We think using humor makes it stand out more, and therefore will be more memorable."

The next spot takes the "life's unfair" concept to apocalyptic heights. "Whether it's the inevitable heat-death of the universe, or a cataclysmic Earth-ending disaster, everything we've ever done will be gone," the narrator laments, clearly in need of the day's first cup. How, one wonders, will we ever find the strength to grind our way through the meaninglessness of it all?



"The contrasting of bad news/good news was funny to us," says Canning's creative partner, Dan Treichel. "What we love about the campaign device is that there's an endless amount of things that you never really think about being unfair."

The offbeat vibe of the latest spots recalls Moyee's "Under the Influence" work last year in one of Amsterdam's famous "coffee shops," where stoners were invited to sample the brand.

In the new campaign, however, radio takes the biggest risk by pushing potential hot-button topics. One ad begins: "Donuts are delicious: Powdered donuts, glazed donuts, donuts with donut crumbs on top of the donuts. It's unfair that a hardworking cop who puts his life on the line every day can't enjoy any of those without being aware that he's a horrible cliché."

Another ponders the fate of atheists: "If they're right, they will simply cease to exist … If they're wrong, they'll be drowning in a sea of fire and pain while demons stab them in the face with pitchforks forever."

If some folks take offense, well, life isn't fair, now is it?

CREDITS

Agency
180 Amsterdam
President & CCO: Al Moseley
MD: Stephen Corlett
ECDs: Dan Treichel and Dave Canning
CD: Adam Noel
Art Director: Rachel Kennedy
Copy Writer: Vito Catalani
Producer: Eline De Roo
Planner: Vincent Johnson
Brand Director: Katharina Schablitzki

Production
Director: Robert Jitzmark
Production Company: Camp David Films
Producer: Nicola Jones
DOP: Jallo Faber
Focus Puller: Johan Hannu
Production Designer: Karin Myrenberg
Stylist: Elsa Fischer
Hair & Make Up: Johanna Nomiey
Editor: Jonas Wessman (Ugly Rockstar), Stefan Ström (End of Days)
Post Production: MPC and Frost VFX
Online: Samuel Schulthess @ Frost VFX
Rockstar: Per-Urban Österman
Rockgirl: Frida Poole
Voice Over: John Cavanagh
Equipment: Dagsljus Stockholm
Audio Post Production: Wave Studios Amsterdam
Sound Design & Mix: Randall Macdonald @ Wave Studios Amsterdam

Client
Moyee Coffee
Founder: Guido van Staveren van Dijk
Creative Director: John Weich

The presidential race sure could use a dose of cute. And here she is. 

Zoe is running for the nation's highest office. Or she might be—in 2064. And she is the star of Droga5's new ads for the Y, which communicate that all kids can grow up and change the world if they're nurtured properly and supported along the way.

Zoe has her own campaign website, ZoeForPresident.net, where you can donate to her campaign, watch her videos and shop for Zoe merchandise. Donations actually go to you local Y and support the programs and services that help kids like Zoe thrive.



"While Zoe for President is a breath of fresh air during a heated campaign cycle, every child, regardless of background, needs support and guidance to reach their full potential," Kevin Washington, president and CEO of YMCA of the USA, said in a statement. "Our campaign will address actual issues that America's communities are faced with each day like access to early childhood education, safe space, meal assistance, and the Y's role in solving the challenges head on."

Zoe for President is the second phase of Droga5's "For a better us" campaign for the Y, which we wrote about here. TV spots will air on networks including CNN, HLN, TNT and TBS. Digital work will run on The New York Times, YouTube, Twitter and elsewhere.

Of course, Zoe isn't the only presidential candidate that Droga5 is working for. The agency has also been crafting ads during this cycle for Hillary Clinton.

CREDITS
Client: The Y
Campaign: Zoe for President
Agency: Droga5 NY
Creative Chairman: David Droga
Chief Creative Officer: Ted Royer
Executive Creative Director: Kevin Brady
Creative Director: Casey Rand
Creative Director: Karen Land Short
Junior Copywriter: Gabe Sherman
Junior Art Director: Gage Young
Associate Design Director: Cynthia Ratsabouth
Designer: Jen Lally
Designer: Kathryn Berlinsky
Experience Designer: Hiye Shin
Junior Designer: Hena Seo
Chief Creation Officer: Sally-Ann Dale
Head of Broadcast Production: Ben Davies
Senior Producer: Jennifer McKenzie
Associate Broadcast Producer: Jenna Alchin
Associate Broadcast Producer: Jamil McGinnis
Head of Interactive Production: Niklas Lindstrom
Director of Technology: Andy Prondak
Executive Interactive Producer: Jenn Mann
Senior Technology Lead: Joachim Do
QA Engineer: Yadira Isaac
Lead Developer: Jim Alexander
Head of Art Production: Cliff Lewis
Junior Art Producer: Nichole Katsikas
Associate Media Producer: Bethany Lyons
Junior Print Producer: Rose Mahan
Photographer: Paul McGeiver
Associate Photographer: Robert Ohman
Head of Print Services: Rob Lugo
Creative Studio Coordinator: Virginia Vargas
Retouching Studio Manager: Michelle Leedy
Retouching Coordinator: Michael Mockler
Global Chief Strategy Officer: Jonny Bauer
Head of Strategy: Chet Gulland
Strategy Director: Elaine Purcell
Head of Data Strategy: Andrew Tully
Senior Data Strategist: Eric Raicovich
Senior Data Strategist: Brad Mumbrue
Group Account Director: Matt Ahumada
Account Director: Amanda Chandler
Account Manager: Sara Fletcher
Project Manager: Rayna Lucier
Client: The Y
President / CEO: Kevin Washington
EVP, Chief Strategy / Advancement Officer: Kate Coleman
VP, Marketing Communications: Donna Bembenek
Senior Director External Relations: Ryu Mizuno
Production Company: Community Films
Director: Matt Smukler
Executive Producer: Carl Swan
Executive Producer: Lizzie Schwartz
Head of Production: Chris Spanos
Producer: Nick Shandra
Editorial: Beast NY
Editor: Jim Ulbrich
Post Producer: Sheena Wagaman
Post Producer: Melati Pohan
Post Production: Gryphyn
Flame Artist: Scott Bravo
Color: Company 3
Colorist: Damien Pelphrey
Producer: Katie Andrews
Music Score: A Score
Stars Stripes: C Joshua Johnson
Victory Starts Here: Robert Casal
Sound: Sonic Union
Mixer: Fernando Ascani
Development: BausCode

Here is 2016's most obnoxious (but fun) billboard so far.

McDonald's has more than 1,000 drive-thru locations in France. Burger King has fewer than 20. So, McDonald's is using this fact to flame-broil its rival in the most absurd fashion—by putting up a huge temporary billboard that gives driving directions to the nearest—very far away—BK drive-thru.

See the full ad here (in print ad form). Click to enlarge.



The billboard, made by TBWA\Paris, has gone up Brioude, a town of 6,700 people in the Haute-Loire region, chosen presumably for its particular remoteness from a BK drive-thru. And indeed, the directions take you some 258 kilometers (160 miles) to that BK location, by which point you'll be so famished that you might actually eat the stuff.

If you don't have that kind of time, a humble companion board, next to the gigantic one, points out that the nearest McDonald's drive-thu is just 5 kilometers away.



CREDITS
Client: McDonald's France
SVP Chief Marketing Officer: Xavier Royaux
Trade Marketing Director: José Jacinto
Trade Marketing Manager:Bérangère Dubuc
Agency: TBWA\Paris
Executive Creative Directors: Benjamin Marchal, Faustin Claverie
Art director: Philippe Taroux
Copywriter: Benoît Leroux
General Manager : Luc Bourgery
Account Director: Matthéo Pressmar
Account Executive:Gaël D'Oliveira
Production: Else, Maxime Boiron, Jennifer Bauche
Production designer: Eddy Penot
Film director: Olivier Corre
Photographer:  Yoann Stoeckel

If your last name is Fassbender, DiCaprio or Blanchett, you're sweating right now. Not only is the pressure of winning an Oscar weighing on you like an 8.5-pound chunk of gold-plated pot metal, you've also got your agents and publicists breathing down your neck like a pack of Christian Louboutin-wearing hyenas. And even if you do win, you've still got to nail the acceptance speech, because think of the potential if it goes viral, baby!

No pressure…

Thankfully, the advertising community has your back. We're no strangers to maximizing the marketing potential of the award season's premier tentpole. The suggested length of an Oscar acceptance speech is 45 seconds. We can work with that. Just think how many 30-second spots could have achieved immortality with an extra 15 seconds!

Frank Oles

While there are no awards for best Oscar acceptance speeches, there are plenty of BuzzFeed Top 10 lists. So let's do what we do best and brainstorm 10 ways to break into the pantheon of great Oscar speeches. Or at least secure that lead image on the mobile feed of fans the next morning in between their Zumba class and a juice cleanse.

10. Thank co-workers.
Greens fees! Were you drunk the last two years making this film? Start blurting out names. Thank the Academy, the director (be cool—call him by his first name), the producers and supporting cast. Score even more points by thanking the little people, like that high school drama teacher who cast you as Dancer No. 6 in Grease. Want to take someone down a notch? Just mispronounce their name. Thanks Michael Blay!

9. Thank family.
Thanks, Mom and Dad. Thanks, family who I never see. Done. This is probably the most relatable part of your speech to the home audience. But these people aren't bankrolling your next project. Spend 10 precious seconds or less here and move on. Bonus points: Dedicate the film to a relative who died before the film was finished.

8. Keep it short.
Guys like Pacino can take up to three minutes. Joe Pesci got it right—his took only five seconds. If only they had Vine back then.

7. Be enthusiastic.
The bar here was set very high by Roberto Benigni in '99. He stood on seats. He hopped up the steps. He wanted to French kiss the whole auditorium. With an adorable accent and some broken English, you too can achieve Oscar immortality.

6. Be yourself.
This can be hard for an actor. They've assumed so many roles, their own identity begins to get clouded. What's left is hidden behind a veil of alcohol, drugs, shoplifting and windows tinted to block out TMZ reporters. If you can't be genuine, try acting genuine. If all else fails, follow Clooney's lead.

5. Kiss someone.
Adrien Brody kissed Halle Berry. Angelina Jolie kissed her brother. Kissing seems to get the headlines. Just don't kiss the statue. Or Jacob Tremblay—he's only 9!

4. Mention a marketer.
Fashion designers like Vera Wang get plenty of traction supplying gowns. Why be subtle? Thank the Egg McMuffin for helping you survive those early mornings in the wilderness with Alejandro González Iñárritu. Now McDonald's is promoting your speech, too. Their Oscar spot, by Leo Burnett in Chicago, even volunteers a montage of delicious breakfast food, in case you're not as camera-friendly as Leonardo. It's 2016. Everyone sells out. Even this article is not immune from shameless plugs.

3. Talk louder.
The orchestra chimed in after only 32 seconds for Cuba Gooding Jr., but he just talked over it and stole the show. Just keep talking louder and pretend there's no music at all. Never acknowledge the orchestra pit—they'll get drunk with power.

2. Cry.
Halle Berry, Gwyneth Paltrow and countless others have opened their tear ducts wide to give their speeches that little bit of extra emotion. How the hell did you win an Oscar if you can't cry on command? Note: This kind of emotional display becomes more challenging with each subsequent Botox injection.

1. Include a talking animal or baby.
Hey, it always works for Super Bowl. Jonah Hill already stuck his toe in the water with that bear costume stunt at the Golden Globes. If the person who wins for visual effects doesn't show up looking like a Wookiee, a golden Oscar opportunity was missed. 

—Frank Oles is a creative director at Leo Burnett in Chicago.

BuzzFeed reached across the aisle for its first executive creative producer, bringing Summer Anne Burton from BuzzFeed BFF, a creative unit devoted to native content for social platforms.

"Summer helped us crack our distributed model, which has had an incredible impact on our business and the industry," wrote Frank Cooper, BuzzFeed's CMO and chief creative officer, in a memo provided to Adweek.

Burton, who will report to Cooper, will be tasked with creating content for brands that doesn't necessarily exist on BuzzFeed.com today. BuzzFeed has been looking for ways to evolve its branded content efforts, which account for all of its advertising revenue because it doesn't sell display ads.

"We're going to make sure that our clients and our teams both benefit from that R&D," said Cooper in the memo. "Content by brands can't just be 'good branded content,' but must be as good as anything out there." 

Burton has been with BuzzFeed for four years. During that time, she built out the BFF team and spearheaded efforts around new content formats. 

Burton's move from editorial to creative is also part of an effort to increase collaboration between the two, including sharing resources. Editorial staffers will not be creating content for brands, and BuzzFeed News will remain wholly independent.

Cooper's full memo is below:

Team,

As you know, since Q4 of last year, we have been in the process of transforming the Creative department.  We have set forth an aspirational goal of becoming "the North star for how brands communicate with their audiences."  As part of that transformation, we outlined an organizational structure that promised new leadership on the team.

I'm happy to share that we've landed on a hire for Executive Creative Producer from inside the walls of BuzzFeed. Summer Anne Burton will be coming over from Editorial (BFF) to help build a world-class creative team and production environment for creative work.

As some of you probably know, Summer has an amazing track record at BuzzFeed starting 4 years ago as an editor and writer. From there, Summer went on to unlock new formats and frames, leading efforts around quizzes and identity content, and had the opportunity to build out BFF where she managed a team to grow new platforms and franchises. She's worn a lot of hats, has relationships across the whole company, and has a heart for managing creative people.

Within her role as Executive Creative Producer, Summer will be focused on managing and accelerating cross-collaboration between edit and creative to further the sharing of data and insights, tools, processes and resources. Your feedback in the employee survey was clear that we needed to focus on cross-departmental efforts and this move will help unlock that. We'll be trying out new collaborative programs internally including a speaker series between Creative and Edit, classes, and more opportunities for the creative team to have independent unbranded work published on our site or social channels.

Summer helped us crack our distributed model, which has had an incredible impact on our business and the industry, and we're going to make sure that our clients and our teams both benefit from that R&D. Content by brands can't just be "good branded content," but must be as good as anything out there. It must be industry-defining work that impacts culture. Some of the best ads in the world were made by this team, and with Summer's addition, it marks an exciting time for us and the industry. And it's only just the beginning.

Join me in welcoming Summer!

LinkedIn aims high in its first-ever broadcast TV spot.

The 30-second ad from BBDO San Francisco, titled "You're Closer Than You Think," features footage shot from Earth's orbit and plays off the fact that the U.S. space agency used the business networking site last year in its recruitment efforts. "NASA is looking for an astronaut," read the onscreen graphics. "3 million LinkedIn members qualify."

"When I was a kid, every night before I went to bed, my dad would tell me I could do anything I set my mind to," client CEO Jeff Weiner says in a low-key voiceover. "Believing it changed everything."

The melodic Wilco-Billy Bragg song "California Stars," with its longing lyrics penned by Woody Guthrie, complements the spacey visuals. The song also seems appropriate given that the spot—launched online Wednesday, and heralding an integrated campaign—will air on TV during Sunday's Academy Awards telecast on ABC.



Needless to say, we all can't be astronauts. Ultimately, most of us will have to find work far closer to home. And those jobs will, most likely, lose their luster or wear us down over time, and we'll be scampering toward the launchpad in search of new horizons.

But in way, that's the whole point, and it provides the underlying power of the campaign.

At its core, the job-search process isn't about the long hours or crushed spirits of the actual working world. At its best, it's an aspirational exercise—an opportunity to explore possibilities and take steps to turn dreams into reality.

Here, LinkedIn captures that spirit of adventure and potential self-fulfillment. And if the astronaut theme overreaches, well, what's the harm? There'll be plenty of time for job seekers to come back down to earth later on.

Sifting through listings or networking on LinkedIn, visualizing better version of ourselves doing work that gives our lives deeper meaning … that's when we all deserve a chance to reach for the stars.

Back in September, Get Checked Omaha created a zombie-themed TV ad in response to news that the city has exceptionally high STD rates. In Douglas County, infection rates are 30 to 50 percent higher than the national average. 

Apparently that's still an issue, because they've just come up with a new series of outdoor and social ads ... with headlines spelled out in unwrapped (and, thankfully, unused!) condoms.

The collaboration between the Women's Fund of Omaha and Serve Media displays words like "Love," "Passion" and "Share," followed by taglines. The ads drive users to getcheckedomaha.com, which lists where teens and young adults can find free condoms and stop giving each other gnarly sex diseases.

Omaha's public image doesn't need this weighing it down, ya know? 

The image composition and design are intended to encourage sharing on social media, but it's hard to say how effective this will be. "Oh, look—a cool thing on Instagram" isn't really a statement that promises a long shelf life, especially now that thousands of advertisers are scrambling for that ad space.

But who knows? Maybe Omaha's teenagers, thus inspired, will start making their own photogenic words out of condoms ... and discover what else they're good for. 

CREDITS
Executive Creative Director: Gary Mueller
CD/Art Director: Kelsey Barnowsky
CD/Copywriter: Mike Holicek
Typographer: Whitney Anderson
Photographer/Retoucher: Anthony Giacomino
Multimedia Designer: Charlie Marsh
Developers: Fred Ziegler + Genevieve Schweitzer
Social Media: Courtney Kronschnabel + Alex Boeder
Production: Rob Birdsall + Stacey Soden
Account Executives: Heidi Halperin + Matt Larson

DBD International, the strategic design and branding agency led by David Brier, has just released its own philosophy on what ROI represents: Return on ingenuity.

It isn't the first time we've seen a fresh definition for returns on creative investments (Ted Rubin's "return on relationship"—or RoR—is probably among the most well-known. It's even trademarked!), partly because marketers are starting to struggle with justifying their rising spend in mobile and social against murky sales returns.

But this video isn't about social specifically; it's about the value of ideas generally, and reveals the "one mistake" that can impede one's flow. With motion graphics by Saar Oz and a near-meditative narration from Brier, the video begins by defining its subject.

"The power of ideas: They can make us smile. They can make us cry. They can inspire action. They can conquer defeat. They can launch a movement … or stop us in our tracks."

Where does this power come from? Well, that's simple. "Their only power lies in us," Brier goes on. "As branders, we live to usher in the future, not stroke the past. While it might ruffle some feathers, it often can advance culture." 

And ideas, he continues, agitate more ideas. That's what "return on ingenuity" is all about: "This ingenuity is what separates the remarkable from the commodity, or the disruptor from the also-ran."

The work is intended to inspire, but it also contains a handy piece of smart wisdom—to avoid the temptation to stop at either failure ... or success. "Neither success nor failure is permanent; they are themselves fleeting and transient. It's because the biggest mistake occurs when we stop at either of these points." 



Stopping at any point is thus the true enemy to ideation and innovation, the video argues, and it's here that it hits a purposeful stride. "When introducing ideas into the world, remember this: Stopping is never the right option, and is, in fact, the only thing that can ever defeat us in branding, in creating, in life." 

We can appreciate this bit of Darwinism ... even if there's a whiff of The Secret about it, and even if the three-minute running time is challenging for even motivated viewers in a snackable, Snapchat-driven time. But that's the point: Social production has made viewers less patient and content creators more hasty.

So if we can't stop anyway, we might as well take a minute (or three) to refocus on what we're doing—and why—before going back to rolling that stone up the hill, then watching it slide gleefully down again. 

Tired of Miller Time? Too busy to respond to life's beckon? Found other uses for your right arm?

Amsterdam Brewery's Boneshaker Unfiltered IPA knows you're suffering from slogan fatigue. (Probably you more than others, because you're probably in advertising.) So, to give you something a little less "miles away from ordinary," it enlisted ad agency Bensimon Byrne to create "Endless Slogans." 

The ad does exactly what it promises (and when does that ever happen?). It's one seemingly endless minute of slogans, illustrated with aggrandizing visuals that ensure there's something for everybody. You'll find the sexual innuendo, the lame pun, the "just like you," the next-frontier tribute, the hip-hop nod, the elitist ode to balance, and the folksy-awkward rhyme. Among others.

In fact, just imagine that a super-derivative copywriter invaded your agency and threw up all over your shit, then refused to murder any of his or her darlings. 

"Boneshaker is a craft brew that's an Indian Pale Ale. Their mascot is a skeleton who rides a bicycle. To say that the brand is irreverent is an understatement," says executive creative director Joseph Bonnici of Bensimon Byrne, the Toronto agency whose powers to persuade are probably best illustrated by the fact that they helped make this guy prime minister.

Bonnici adds: "'Endless Slogans' is the perfect approach for Boneshaker to take. It revels in making fun of a beer industry which takes itself too seriously, fawning over taste descriptors, and pour shots that are more like beer porn." 

The ad is running in major urban areas of Canada and the entire Ontario province, where a 30-second spot is appearing on TV. But in addition to YouTube pre-rolls and Facebook sponsored ads (about as routine as you can get, barring a slogan like "This Bud's for you"), Bensimon Byrne also envisions an eventual Instagram campaign where people can take a shot of a street name, word or sign, then hashtag it #boneshaker to compell the brand to come up with even more taglines featuring that content. 

The strategy, Bonnici says, is that "the beer drinkers of Canada help create the campaign." Think of it as a Lite version of Droga5 Sydney's last-ever execution.

"We are also running a contest to engage fans to come up with their own ridiculous slogans," Bonnici adds. "On Facebook, fans can submit a slogan and have a chance to win a year's supply of Boneshaker. We also have a landing page, asking people to submit on all platforms. The campaign lends itself to some pretty humorous social engagement."

He isn't wrong, but people might be participating for less fawning reasons than a love of beer. A quick glance at the brand's Facebook page shows users are getting a particular kick out of wielding the word "bone," which—handily—is also slang for sex:

Yum, indeed.

But to return to that image of the Mad Men reject vomming his best verbal contortions all over your whiteboard, Bonnici confirms what's probably already obvious: If you can't get on Old Spice, this campaign is a knife-shy copywriter's wet dream.

"'Endless Slogans' has endless possibilities," Bonnici says. "Currently we have hundreds of slogans written for Boneshaker. We intend to use every single one of them in every channel."

So, to the beer porn-averse, what are you waiting for? Get boning. 

CREDITS
Client: Amsterdam Brewery
Brand: Boneshaker
Title: "Endless Slogans"

Creative Agency: Bensimon Byrne, Toronto
Executive Creative Director: Joseph Bonnici
Creative Director: Dan Strasser
Associate CD/Copywriter: Dave Mueller
Associate CD/Art Director: Gints Bruveris
Art Director: Jonathan Crandell
Group Account Director: Zeeshan Hussain
Program Director: Patricia Tay
Director of Production: Michelle Pilling
Producer: Meghan Cheesbrough
Director: Dan Kelly
Production House: Creative Soul
Post-Production: The Faculty
Audio: Grayson Matthews

Despite rapid advances in technology and medicine, nearly 17 percent of the world's adult population (totaling 775 million people) remains completely illiterate. In certain parts of the world, as many as nine out of 10 women can't read.

Top educational publisher Pearson wants to help reverse this troubling trend and its many unfortunate side effects, so the company turned to London's FCB Inferno and model/actress/activist Lily Cole to launch "Project Literacy."

The agency created the following animated film with the help of famed U.K. sculptor Wilfrid Wood.

"If people are asked to name global problems, illiteracy doesn't even make it into the Top 10, even though it's proven to fuel eight or nine of the top 10," says FCB Inferno senior copywriter Martin McAllister. "In order to make Project Literacy a success over the next five years, first we needed people to understand the real impact of illiteracy and why they have to help us fight it."

Pearson, which came about in 1998 when parent company Pearson LLC purchased the educational division of Simon & Schuster, is solely dedicated to producing educational materials for both students and adults around the world.

They've used all available resources to promote the work. This week, Cole addressed Great Britain's Houses of Parliament, telling the 650 members: "People aren't directly dying or overtly suffering of illiteracy. As far as global issues go, it may feel a little vanilla."

This campaign aims to convince people in the U.K. and around the world that illiteracy is, in fact, an urgent global matter. And yes, an inability to read can be tied to a greater propensity toward drug addiction, poverty and sex trafficking.

"There's data linking every issue in the alphabet with illiteracy," McAllister said. "We created the film with the knowledge some of the links may challenge people's credulity, but then through social media and with a much more in-depth experience through the website, hoped that we could move people's understanding on. We were really strict with only accepting studies which were less than 10 years old and academically validated."

#ThursdayThoughts: Teaching disadvantaged youths to read & write can help lower violent crime. #ProjectLiteracypic.twitter.com/hGzwAb2Lt3

— Project Literacy (@rewritinglives) February 25, 2016

The deceptively wide-eyed character of the film only places greater emphasis on the gravity of the situation and the fact that life in the modern world can be even more challenging if one doesn't learn to read as a young child.

"The innocent tone works to bring together the feeling of learning the alphabet for the first time with the harsh realities of illiteracy," McAllister said. "We were really lucky to work with Wilfrid Wood, the sculptor, as his work naturally brings together naivety and more grown-up themes."

CREDITS

Agency:FCB Inferno London
Chief Creative Officer: Owen Lee
Client: Pearson
Senior Art Director: Julia Ferrier
Senior Copywriter: Martin McAllister
Head of Strategy: Chris Baker
Senior Strategist: Nic Willison
Business Director: Tom Kingham
Account Director: Helena Georghiou
Senior Account Manager: Olivia Pearson
Account Manager: Charlie Griffith
Producer: Charlotte McConnell
Producer: Kate Grenfell
Social Media Manager: Laura Visick
Production Company: 1stAveMachine
Designer/Sculptor: Wilfrid Wood
Animation: Red Knuckles
Producer: Claire Plaskow
Executive Producer: Isabella Parish
Senior Interactive Designer: Nick Vassou
Interactive Producer: Kit Peebles
Build: Mobile Bakery
Seeding: Village Communications