The college acceptance letter, that iconic feel-good document that every university-bound student cherishes, gets a disturbing makeover in a campaign from Goodby Silverstein & Partners and production company Prettybird that broke Saturday with a print ad in the Harvard Crimson.

The point of the campaign is to raise awareness of sexual assault on campus, and pressure schools to protect students better. The creative approach: Mock up an acceptance letter that takes a dark turn halfway through, in which the admissions director apologizes in advance for the accepted student eventually getting raped on campus—and for not doing enough to protect her.

The ad below ran on Saturday with a print buy in the Harvard Crimson newspaper, timed to the college's accepted-students weekend. A letter will also run in USA Today from Wagatwe Wanjuki, one of the sexual-assault survivors who stood on stage with Lady Gaga when she sang "Til It Happens to You" from The Hunting Ground at the Oscars.



"This is a true story. One in five women are sexually assaulted in college," the ad in the Harvard Crimson read. "If they accept you, don't accept this. DontAcceptRape.com."

There are online films, as well, that darkly spoof the popular genre of social-media video in which students open their acceptance letters from the college and freak out with joy. The spots, which aren't quite as joyful, were shot on iPhones by directors Ben and Alex Brewer to make them look real.



The hashtag #DontAcceptRape aims to start a conversation online, gain more signatures supporting survivors and hold hundreds of colleges accountable for behavior that is unacceptable.

GS&P executive creative director Margaret Johnson and Prettybird co-founder and president Kerstin Emhoff were both earlier involved in The Hunting Ground, the 2015 documentary that showed college students who have been raped on campus facing retaliation and harassment while fighting for justice. The film featured Johnson's alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

"The first six weeks of college is the period when freshmen have the highest likelihood of being raped," says Johnson. "So we timed our campaign to raise awareness at the earliest point when college becomes a reality—the time when incoming freshmen receive their acceptance letters. The cover-ups are just as unacceptable as the attacks, and the campaign aims to hold these colleges accountable. We hope that people will take action through social media."

Adds Emhoff: "When we were approached by the filmmakers of The Hunting Ground to get involved with their film, they had no idea that not only did I have personal experience with this subject, but my son was just starting his freshman year in college. We were shocked by the statistics and the stories the film had uncovered. We hope that this campaign inspires parents and students to take action with their schools and watch the film."

See more of the videos below. 

CREDITS

Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners
Title of Creative Work: Unacceptable Acceptance Letters

Creative
Co-Chairmen: Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein
Executive Creative Director/Partner: Margaret Johnson
Creatives: Laura Petruccelli, Rohan Cooke
Designer: Todd King

Production
Director of Broadcast Production: Tod Puckett
Executive Broadcast Producer: Hilary Coate
Director of Graphic Services: Jim King
Associate Technology Director: Andre Cardozo
Retouching: Quinn Gravier

Account Services
Account Director: Cassi Norman

Brand and Communication Strategy
Director of Brand Strategy: Bonnie Wan
Director of Communications: Meredith Vellines
Sr. Communications Strategist: Caitlin Neelon
Brand Strategist: Gabriella Svensk

Business Affairs
Business Affairs Manager: Heidi Killeen

Production Company
Company Name: Prettybird
Executive Producer:  Kerstin Emhoff, Suzanne Hargrove
Associate Producer:  Nick Miller
Producer: Nathan Scherrer
Director: Brewer

Editorial
Company Name: Cut + Run
Executive Producer:  Deanne Mehling
Editor: Christopher Kasper

Finish
Company Name: Spy Post
Executive Producer: Lori Joseph
Colorist: Chris Martin

Music
Company Name: Yessian
Composer: David Gold

Mix
Company name:  One Union

End Treatment Graphics
Company Name: eLevel

In its ongoing efforts to become Taylor Swift's personal Goop, Apple Music just released a day-in-her-life ad that provides an intimate peek into how Swift gets ready to go out. The ad dropped on her Instagram with a caption flanked by telltale shout-outs (to her credit, she's not shy about her sponsors). 

In the ad, she dutifully chooses the right life moment from a selection of Spotify-esque Apple Music playlists ("Getting Ready to Go Out," naturally) and settles on Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle."

"Oh my God, I love this song," Swift says (or thinks?). "I used to listen to this in middle school." And the jam-out begins:

We can't recall seeing a time when Swift wasn't already perfectly made up, down to her trademark lipstick, and this ad is no exception. Apart from dancing around in a Versailles-caliber bathroom while lip-syncing and using various makeup implements as microphones, she doesn't do much getting ready, apart from touching up her still-cherry-red lips from time to time. At the end, she dramatically drops the "mic," which is why this ad is handily called "Taylor Mic Drop."

The piece follows the "Distractingly Good" ad, which was released earlier this month and depicts the singer/songwriter complaining about cardio before choosing a playlist that helps her get a little too into it. 

If it was a smidge satisfying to see the star fall off a treadmill, "Taylor Mic Drop" kinda reminds us why: These ads are meant to feel insider-ish, exposing a side of Swift we rarely see, including her humor and ability to let loose. But what they actually remind us of is how tightly Swift, and Apple, cultivate their brand image, all the way down to how beautifully, how inaccessibly, they "get ready." Swift in particular is painfully conscious of her appearance on camera, eyeing it (us?!) from time to time with penetrating attention, even while rocking out.

And that "middle school" shout-out? It's cute, but it's also a well-chosen stab at relatability (not unlike complaining about how much she hates cardio). While we don't doubt Swift loves herself some Jimmy Eat World and hates treadmilling as much as the rest of us, the lines feel so cultivated that their delivery makes us wince. 

But it also reminds us why Swift just works: She's a perfectionist who knows who she's talking to, providing just enough fuel to maintain the sensation that you guys could maybe be friends. (Even as a lingering voice, somewhere hidden deep inside you, whispers, If you're worthy.)

To bring things back around to Goop, this really isn't all that different from that one time Gwyneth tried selling us on her morning smoothie—which sounds innocent enough, until you discover the ingredients alone will set you back $10.52 per day, or $200 overall—depending on how you like to tell the story. 

(Maybe what this really tells us, though, is that we shouldn't be hanging out on Goop until we can manage to prepare a breakfast that's as painstakingly considered as birthday dinner.)

This weekend, the internet came alive over an elementary-school kid's cheeky drawing for the Gilliland & Howe Funeral Home in Greensburg, Indiana.

The illustration was created for a Greensburg Daily News contest inviting youngsters to make ads for businesses advertising in the newspaper. Originally posted on G&H's Facebook page—along with several other ads, so locals could vote for their favorite (they were taken down when voting ended)—the drawing has generated considerable attention and debate.

Here is the ad:



Some appreciate the artist's offbeat humor. Mashable calls the effort "darkly hilarious," while Metro UK notes, "there is no questioning its genius." 

On Reddit, where the ad became popular, it sparked an animated conversation. Redactor Sarah-la1 asks, "Why would you ever think it's a good idea to ask children to design an advert for a funeral home?!" While Zolo49 counters, "Kids should be exposed to the concept and reality of death at least once. Otherwise they'll be completely unprepared when they have to deal with it eventually."

Some doubt the ad's veracity. "Ok, I have to call bullshit," writes SlowpokesBro. "No funeral home in their right mind would even consider including children in the process of planning a funeral, including its advertising."

Sorry, SlowpokesBro, but the ad really was drawn by a kid as part of a contest—approved by the advertisers—for students ages 8-10. (Owing to privacy concerns, the pint-sized publicist shall remain anonymous for the time being.) 

"People should clearly see it was done by a child," G&H manager Leslie Thackery tells AdFreak. "You never really know where a kid is in his or her level of development. This is what a funeral home meant to him. It's an expression of creativity. He's expressing himself."

Regardless of whether the entry ultimately tops G&H's contest, it clearly won the internet. So we feel confident proclaiming it the last word—or, if you'd prefer, the living end—in funeral-home testimonials.

"We thought it was hilarious," Thackery says, adding that it's a shame people couldn't lighten up and appreciate the joke, or at least try to see things through a child's eyes. 

Droga5's new work for Chase's Freedom Unlimited card is advertising about advertising. It stars Ellie Kemper, who amusingly points out how the world is inundated by commercials, billboards, product placement and more—but the upside to endless ads is that, thanks to Chase, you get 1.5 percent unlimited cash back on whatever they convince you to buy.

The self-referential campaign launches with the spot below, in which the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star, as charming as ever, navigates this world swimming in sales pitches with typical good humor and self-deprecating comedy.



In a particularly meta touch, the campaign includes other spots in which Kemper comments wryly on old ads—ones, not coincidentally, that were also made by Droga5—beginning with a Quilted Northern spot that we wrote about last May starring a frog toilet-roll holder.



More spots are forthcoming with other brand partners, beyond Quilted Northern, that are also Droga5 clients. (Not that the average viewer will be aware of that connection.) 

The idea could be dismissed as navel-gazing, and there's certainly an element of that. But Kemper's involvement balances it out: The actress—who is suddenly a major ad star, following this and her extensive Buick work—makes the work more broadly appealing and keeps it from falling too far into solipsism.

"What I love about the Chase Freedom Unlimited campaign is that it's fun and unique," she said in a statement. "The tone of the campaign is funny and fresh, and I think we're bringing the new product to life in an interesting way. We had a blast making it."

The campaign was developed with media agency Zenith. "Having a creative idea that is dependent upon media placements is a dream for a media agency to sink its teeth into," says Eric Pisick, the Chase account lead there. "We had a blast coming up with new to market opportunities that brought this funny, lighthearted notion of the inundation of sales messages to life."

"With the insight that, as consumers, we are bombarded daily by thousands of selling messages on every conceivable media, we simply decided to immerse our message within and around them," says Duncan Marshall, creative partner at Droga5. "With the help of the delightful Ellie Kemper, as well as several enthusiastic brand partners, we played with the world of the sell to promote our own."

As part of the campaign, Chase is partnering with NBC's The Voice to create custom bumpers that reference upcoming ad breaks and remind viewers they can get 1.5 percent cash back on anything those ads are selling.

CREDITS
Client: JP Morgan Chase
Campaign: Chase Freedom Unlimited "Everything Unlimited"
Agency: Droga5 NY
Creative Chairman: David Droga
Chief Creative Officer: Ted Royer
Creative Partner: Duncan Marshall
Creative Director: Casey Rand
Creative Director: Karen Short
Senior Copywriter: Pete Gosselin
Senior Art Director: Jay Hunt
Copywriter: Colin Lord
Art Director: Inna Kofman
Associate Design Director: Devin Croda
Junior Designer: Alex Lumain
Chief Creation Officer: Sally-Ann Dale
Head of Broadcast Production: Ben Davies
Executive Producer: Carlin WilsonWebb
Group Integrated Production Manager: Topher Lorette
Associate Broadcast Producer: Jackie Omanoff
Head of Interactive Production: Niklas Lindstrom
Executive Interactive Producer: Thomas Longo
Interactive Media Producer: Madison Goldberg
Senior Social Producer: Chris Parke
Associate Social Producer: Kylie Loeffler
Head of Art Production: Cliff Lewis
Senior Art Producer: Bianca Escobar
Senior Print Producer: James Deprima
Senior Retoucher: Peter Gibson
Global Chief Strategy Officer: Jonny Bauer
Group Strategy Director: Colm Murphy
Strategy Director: Tom Haslow
Senior Strategist: Nick Maschmeyer
Senior Strategist: Ned Sonnenschein
Group Communications Strategy Director: Alan Smith
Senior Communications Strategist: Yan Wang
Communications Strategist: Parks Middleton
Executive Group Director: Agnes Fischer
Account Director: Megan Gokey
Account Supervisor: Caroline Engram
Account Manager: Taylor Holland
Associate Account Manager: Kelby Schmidt
Project Manager: Emma Tonetti
Client: JP Morgan Chase
Chief Marketing Officer: Kristin Lemkau
Chief Brand Officer: Susan Canavari
President of Chase Branded Cards: Pam Codispoti
General Manager, Chase Freedom: Naney Pandit
Executive Director, Card Brand & Advertising: Ryan MacDonald
VP, Card Brand & Advertising: Greg Stranz
Marketing Analyst, Card Brand & Advertising: Stephanie Byard
Production Company: Hungry Man
Director: Hank Perlman
Executive Producer/Managing Partner: Kevin Byrne
Executive Producer/Head of Sales: Dan Duffy
Executive Producer: Mino Jarjoura
Executive Producer: Nancy Hacohen
Producer: Tom O'Malley
Production Supervisor: Lucy Sheridan
Editorial: PS260
Editor: JJ Lask
Editor: Ned Borgman
Senior Producer: Laura Patterson
Postproduction: The Mill
Executive Producer: Chris Kiser
Producer: Andrew Hamill
Lead Flame: Mike Smith
Animator Clemens: Den Exter
Music: Dutone
Sound: Sonic Union
Mixer: Steve Rosen
Photography: Walter Schupfer Management
Photographer: Andrew Eccles

If you lose sight of supermodel Gigi Hadid in BMW's new ad, it's probably because you're too distracted by one of the automaker's sexy new M2 sports cars. 

The fashion celebrity and popular Instagram personality anchors a new campaign from agencies KBS and Serviceplan, built shamelessly around the fact that she's a looker, combined with a high-speed shell game. 

Clad in a tight red dress and spike heels, Hadid climbs into the passenger side of one of three blue 2016 M2 Coupés, which proceed to take off. Joined by two more, the cars weave in and out of each other's lanes while tearing down a runway. 

After all five come to a stop in a neat row, the ad invites viewers to guess which car is Hadid's—in essence, testing your capacity to stay laser-focused on the ride with the beautiful woman in it.



Choose correctly at the campaign's website, EyesonGigi.com, gives you an extra, leggy clip of Hadid climbing out of the car, fixing her hair and smiling at the camera (because she's so impressed, you cunning fox, you). 

Choose incorrectly, and you see a lone stunt driver summarize your incompetence with one of various wordless gestures—including an amusing use of the car stereo in the best one. 

The main ad makes it tricky, if not impossible, to track the proverbial pea in the shell—at least in the standard YouTube version. Things get hairier in the 360° version below, where viewers must swivel their smartphones to track the cars from different perspectives. 



Director Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace, Monster's Ball, World War Z) and cinematographer Mauro Fiore (Avatar, The Equalizer) shot the ad, a single uncut tracking shot, with production company Tool at an airfield in the Mojave desert. 

It does look awfully good. And to be fair, the 2016 M2—the first-ever version of the model—is a gorgeous car. So in that respect, there's a certain logic to the concept, even if it's also a bit leering at heart. Framing the fast, flashy car as a ticket to a hot young girlfriend is a hackneyed trope that doesn't exactly keep this from seeming like a mid-life crisis mobile ... even if that is a classic—and often effective—confidence trick, much like the sleight-of-hand game on which this is based.

Otherwise, a largely digital campaign built around Hadid—a savvy social media player with more than 15 million followers—has a pretty good chance of luring young men into buying the car, too.

CREDITS

Client:
BMW Global and BMW NA:

KBS
Co-Chief Creative Officers: Jonathan Mackler and Dan Kelleher
Executive Creative Director: Paul Renner
Senior Art Director: Nigel Gross
Senior Copywriter: Ben Cascella
Head of Production: Jenny Read
Senior Producer: Melissa Tifrere
Executive Director of Content Affairs: Robin Oksenehendler
Group Account Director: Samantha Smeach
Account Supervisor: Keisha Townsend
Planner/ Strategist: Benjamin Zoll
Integrated Producer: Colleen O'Rouke

Serviceplan
Global Chief Creative Officer + Partner: Alex Schill
Creative Director, Art: Michael Wilk
Account Manager International: Sabrina Schwartz
Creative Director Copy: Kolja Danquah
Art Director: Sanaz Shaafy
Senior Copywriter: Angeliki Karnoupaki
Account Manager Online: Kim-Julien Korkmaz
Backend: Jan Scafer
Frontend: Michael Gillig and Casten Behrends
Concept: Patrick Hoyer
Design: Christian Mellin

Production
Production Company Name: Tool of North America
Director: Marc Forster
Managing Partner-Live Action/Executive Producer: Oliver Fuselier
Managing Partner-Digital/Executive Producer: Dustin Callif
Executive Producer: Robert Helphand
Producer: Lisa Cowan
Director Of Photography (DOP): Mauro Fiore
Lead Stunt: Eric Norris

Editorial
Editorial Company Name: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: Biff Butler
Senior Cutting Asst: Dan De Winter
Assistant Editor: Noah Benezra
Executive Producer: Eve Kornblum
Producer: Lisa Barnable

Finishing/VFX
Finishing Company Name: Framestore
Executive Producer: James Razzall
Sr. Producer: James Alexander
Line Producer: Morenike Dosu
Executive Creative Director: Aron Hjartarson
Tvc Compositing Supervisor And Flame: Alex Thomas 360
Compositing Supervisor And Nuke: Michael Ralla
FX/Nuke/Previsualisational: Multiple Artist
Design: Duncan Elms
Animation: Evan Harbuck

Music/ Sound Design
Sound Design Company: Q Department 360
Sound Studio: Mach 1
Vr Music Company: Duotone
Composer/ Artist/ Title: Jordan Lieb / Jack Livesey
Executive Producer / Producer: Ross Hoppman / Gio Lobato
Creative Director: Pete Nashel
Managing Director: David Leinheardt

Audio Mix
Company Name: Sonic Union
Audio Mixer: Mike Marinelli
Vo Recorded @ Sound Lounge:

Color
Company Name: Company 3
Colorist: Tim Masick
Color Tweaks By: Beau Leon @ Framestore

Photography
Gigi Photographer: Jonathan Mannion
Photography Agency For Jonathan: Bernstein Andriulli
Additional Car Stills: John Clark

Advertisers have been trying forever in commercials to communicate the power of music, and it's almost an impossible task.

Yes, ads can use particular songs as examples of music's transcendence (the iPod silhouettes series is probably the most notable example). But that hardly gets at the universality of music's power. Beyond that, commercials have just words and pictures, but visual and textual metaphors often fail at describing something that is neither. 

Enter Pandora's new 60-second spot from twofifteenmccann. For its latest stab at capturing people's deep, meaningful and personal connection to music, the streaming service gave up on licensed music entirely—the spot has none—and instead recruited "real people" to simply describe in their own words what particular songs mean to them. 

It's Pandora's first campaign without using music or musicians. Check out the spot here:

The characters are charming and quirky and nicely diverse. And their emotion is evident and seems genuine—particularly the crying guy, whom we meet, somewhat jarringly, after he's already weeping. And if their words are a poor approximation of the feeling they're trying to describe, that's just par for the course in this category. 

In fact, the spot (inadvertently?) admits as much in its final scene, when an off-camera interviewer asks one of the music fans, as she's taking out her headphones, "Tell me how this song makes you feel." When it comes right down to it, she can't. And when she doesn't even try—the honesty of that—is when the spot finally hits its stride. 

The tagline remains, "The next song matters."

The campaign includes a :30 and upcoming :15s and spans national broadcast, online, DR, music festival activations, email marketing and custom digital/social across media partnerships including Thought Catalog, Cracked, Cluep, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Periscope, Twitter and Whisper.

CREDITS
Client: Pandora

Agency: twofifteenmccann
Chief Creative Officer: Scott Duchon
Executive Creative Director: Adam Reeves
Creative Director: Ezra Paulekas
Art Director: Sean Flores, Nicole Birch
Copywriter: Ben Wolan, Matt Bunnell, Bri Hand
Director of Integrated Production: Alex Spahr   
Sr Producer: Kacey Hart
Sr Digital Producer: Eryn Lovich
Digital Producer: Amanda Punzalan
Digital Video Assistant Producer: Brandon Chen
Interactive Art Director: Ken Macy
Digital Video Editor: Carson Bell, Ivan Shumaker
Account: Charlie Byron, Anne Cathcart
Strategy: Gabrielle Tenaglia, Janene Lin, Paige Robertson

Production Company: Smuggler
Director: Henry-Alex Rubin
Director of Photography: Ken Seng
Line Producer: Leah Fleischmann-Allina
Executive Producer: Drew Santarsiero

Editorial: Stitch
Editor: Dan Swietlik
Assistant Editor: Weston Cadwell
Producer: Ben Bragg
Executive Producer:  Mila Davis

Colorist: Tim Stipan
Company: Efilm

Mixing: Lime Studios
Original Music: Cliff Martinez

It's a small, windowless room on the second floor of ad agency Team One's expansive Playa Vista, Calif., complex, yet it's also a portal for globe-trotting, deep-sea exploration and space travel. Or, as executive creative director, digital, Alastair Green puts it, "Alice stepped through the looking glass, and this is the other side."

Green is describing Team One's newly opened virtual reality lab, a technology geek's dream and the agency's ground zero for fully immersive marketing concepts for clients like Lexus, The Ritz-Carlton, Indian Motorcycle and EA.

Agency execs launched the on-site lab so they could study the still-nascent VR and home grow some of their own experts. They're banking on what's predicted to be a meteoric rise in the sensory platform now that consumers are starting to lay hands on Oculus Rift and other sophisticated hardware.

The goal wasn't just to build a tech nerve center, though it fits that bill with HTC Vive and Oculus headsets, 3-D modeling tools and a "low-level haptic platform," actually an 8-by-9-foot shag rug that serves as a kind of physical playpen for virtual experiments. But ad mavens wanted to figure out the best way to tell brand stories using head-mounted devices.

"Without truly knowing what the medium can do, you can't concept for it, and you'll always be following other people," Green said. "We're learning a completely new creative language, and it's a different way of looking at consumer behavior."

The lab is an example of how invested ad agencies, particularly those close to Hollywood's production and gaming community, are in digging into the emerging technology. And they want to go beyond asking the question "What can it do?" to understanding how it makes people feel. Pro tip: On the most basic level, if the content dips below 90 frames per second, it tends to make people motion sick. Marketers are looking for emotional resonance, Green said, not projectile vomiting.

Saatchi & Saatchi's Team One recently created a VR mini-episode of the ABC hit drama, Quantico, with Lexus integrated into the 360-degree bonus content. Separately, 180LA, working with St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital and Expedia, launched an immersive campaign that let cancer-stricken kids virtually bust out of their confined spaces to live their "Dream Adventures."

Meantime, 360i premiered an animated VR short for Oreo, dubbed the Wonder Vault, that's racked up 5 million-plus YouTube views to date. Santa Monica, Calif.-based RPA's Music From Every Angle, a 360-degree video for the new Honda Civic with musician Moses Sumney, has more than 3.4 million Facebook views.

The current state of VR in marketing is "a weird and wonderful Wild West situation," said Wesley ter Haar, founder of prolific digital production company MediaMonks, who noted that two of every three brand briefs he sees these days have a VR element.

Many ad agencies will continue to partner with outside vendors, relying on the expertise of companies like MediaMonks, Framestore, MPC and The Mill for the nuts and bolts of VR content.

But agencies that refine their in-house knowledge "will be more adept at big thinking in the space," ter Haar said. "They get enthusiastic about it, they evangelize the technology. Then they start to push against the medium, challenge us and bring us something ambitious. That's when great work happens."

DIY for VR

It's possible to build your own virtual reality play place if you're willing to devote some time, money and manpower to gathering high-tech pieces and learning how to use them. But first, here's a great hack: Get on a platform developer list, like Sony or Samsung or HTC, so you can try out the latest gadgets first. 

What you'll need:

• Head-mounted devices like the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, smartphones, Google Cardboard. Team One's collection shows the quick progression and streamlining of the hardware over just a few years, with models from 18 months ago already looking cumbersome and clunky.

• VR development station, aka a computer, with the brand ASUS being a hot commodity in the space

• Development software such as Unreal (game engine), Adobe Suite (design tools), Cinema 4D (3-D modeling tools); save a few bucks with free stuff like Unity3D, Blender and Gimp
  

• Enough space for demonstrations because, as Team One's ecd, digital, Alastair Green said, "Clients don't buy what they don't understand." And room to expand: AR, HoloLens and other technologies are just around the corner.

• Team of coders, creative technologists, developers

• Caffeine and snacks

This story first appeared in the April 18 issue of Adweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Specs
Current gig Global head of digital, Bloomberg Media
Previous gig Svp, digital, Time, Inc.
Twitter @msh200
Age 44

Adweek: Why did you want to come over to Bloomberg from Time?
Scott Havens: The resources at this company are pretty amazing for somebody like me who really wants to build editorial and data-driven products on a global scale. It offered an opportunity that truly is unrivaled and unsurpassed in a media market which is challenged right now. I was really interested in growing my experience in international expansion. That wasn't something that I had done before and wasn't going to be able to do too much of it at Time. And video, I really saw the opportunity here, given that we have a linear cable TV channel and a robust digital original video team to help grow that business to the next level.

You mentioned international expansion. What markets are you focused on right now?
In combination with our TV and digital business, we've gone into Canada and we're in Mexico. We're heading to the Middle East; we've got stuff going on in India, and a few other areas that we're looking at, including Australia, Africa and South America. We've got a whole list of countries and regions that we'd like to go into in a more profound way.

Speaking of digital video, what are you trying to do in that space?
We're investing heavily in our OTT platform; we were pretty early to the game. What you'll start seeing from us is programming to help grow our OTT presence, because really that's the future of television. We're lucky enough that we have live TV right now as a product we can offer up in OTT when others have to be authenticated and are locked down. We're able to play in a different space. That makes us appealing to this whole rising cord-nevers and cord-cutters demographic.

What's the best way for Bloomberg to reach these cord-cutters and cord-nevers?
We have a live TV signal. If some world event like Brussels happens, and you're a cord-cutter or a cord-never and you go to Roku, who are you going to fire up? There's not that many options. We have a news desk that is running 24/7 globally that we can beam into. So you have that option. I know from the data and focus groups that cord-nevers and cord-cutters want that. That's one area where we can start to establish ourselves in way that they may not have thought of us in a linear way.

What other digital platforms will Bloomberg be eyeing this year?
Facebook is the 800-pound gorilla in terms of discovery and traffic referral. We are going to look first and foremost at the platforms that deliver the most value to us, and that would be Facebook right now. We're absolutely watching the rise of messaging platforms­—WeChat, LINE—especially around the world as ways to dip into content. We don't use LINE and WeChat here to share content, but they do in Asia. We're going to have a more regional-centric view of the world on those new messaging platforms. We're pretty focused on the business executives around the world. We're not necessarily looking to connect with 15-year-old kids that want to listen to Justin Bieber. It's one of the reasons we've not gone aggressively into Snapchat yet. It's a relatively young, although it's getting older, demographic, so we've got to pick and choose.

This story first appeared in the April 18 issue of Adweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.

NBA star Stephen Curry is famous for shooting three-pointers. So, for each one he sinks during this year's postseason, Under Armour will honor him with a new three-second ad.

The sports marketer launched the campaign on Twitter last Saturday, when the playoffs first started, tweeting the first round of spots under hashtag #BreaktheGame during a match that saw Curry's team, the Golden State Warriors, crush the Houston Rockets 104-78.

In the playoffs, we are dropping a 3-second Curry ad every time @StephenCurry30 drops a 3. #BreakTheGamehttps://t.co/V2ar9GMFh1

— Under Armour Hoops (@UAbasketball) April 16, 2016

The mischievous three-second videos feature Curry wondering—not once but twice—what a pile of bricks are doing courtside. Other bits in his comedy act include starting to share the secret to his success before being cut off, and taping a marker at the three-point line to ensure his enemies—whoever they are—don't move it to thwart him. 

Can you keep a secret? #BreakTheGamehttps://t.co/SBHd6LWhhv

— Under Armour Hoops (@UAbasketball) April 16, 2016

It's good to be prepared. #BreakTheGamehttps://t.co/8opecFTleW

— Under Armour Hoops (@UAbasketball) April 16, 2016

A numerically themed campaign might seem a little on the nose (and any super-short ad can't but evoke Miller High Life's famous 1-second Super Bowl ad from 2009). Still, Under Armour and agency Droga5 are clever to capitalize on Curry's knack for scoring an obscene number of long-distance shots. This season, he shattered his own—and the league's—previous record for three-pointers, raising the high bar from a measly 286 ... to 402.

In other words, viewers might easily see five new ads per game—about on par with Curry's performance during 2015 playoffs, when the Warriors won the championship after 21 matches. Assuming similar performance from him and his team (who are strongly favored to win the crown again this year after a blistering 73-9 season), Under Armour looks topical, and is only on the hook for about five and a half minutes of footage. 

Then again, that's still a lot of three-second ads. Follow along on UAs Twitter account.

CREDITS
Client: Under Armour
Campaign: #BreaktheGame

Agency: Droga5 NY
Creative Chairman: David Droga
Chief Creative Officer: Ted Royer
Group Creative Director: Tim Gordon
Copywriter: Benjamin Bliss
Art Director: Evan Schultz:
Designer: Toga Cox:
Chief Creation Officer: Sally-Ann Dale
Head of Broadcast Production: Ben Davies
Executive Producer: David Cardinali
Associate Producer: Isabella Lebovitz
Head of Interactive Production: Niklas Lindstrom
Head of Art Production: Cliff Lewis
Global Chief Strategy Officer: Jonny Bauer
Group Strategy Director: Harry Roman
Strategy Director: Sam Matthews
Junior Strategist: Newman Granger
Head of Communications Strategy: Colleen Leddy
Senior Communications Strategist: Hillary Heath
Social Communications Strategist: Maureen O'Brien
Data Strategist: Anthony Khaykin
Group Account Director:  : Julian Cheevers
Account Director:  : Bola Adekoya
Account Supervisor: Lucy Santilli
Associate Account Manager: Scott Bubis
Senior Project Manager: Courtney Kosup
Project Manager: Connor Hall

Client:
CEO and Founder: Kevin Plank
Chief Marketing Officer : Kip Fulks
SVP, Global Brand Management: Adrienne Lofton
SVP, Global Communications: Diane Pelkey
VP, Global Creative: Brian Boring
VP, Global Consumer Engagement: Jim Mollica
Director, Global Marketing Operations—Process
& integration : Teresa Oles
Director, Global Basketball: Tai Foster

Production Company: O Positive
Director: Jim Jenkins
DOP: Roberto Schaefer
Executive Producer: Ralph Laucella:
Line Producer: Ken Licata

Editorial: Droga5 Studio
Editor: Matthew Badger:
Studio Coordinator: CJ Strahan

Post Production: The Mill
Executive Producer: Sean Costello
Senior Producer: Nick Strange Thye
2D Lead: Brandon Danowski
Colorist: Michael Rossiter
Color producer: Natalie Westerfield
Color Assistant: Evan Bauer

Sound: Heard City
Engineer: Jeremy Siegel
Executive Producer: Gloria Pitagorsky
Producer: Talia Rodgers

Houston, we have insurance. 

The latest iteration of American Family Insurance's "Insure carefully, dream fearlessly" campaign from BBDO New York blasts off this week, led by an evocative minute-long film that presents a child's notion of space exploration. 

It's a pretty amazing mix of fantasy and reality from Smuggler director Adam Berg. Note the suburban garage embedded in the "Martian dune" near the beginning. (And what kid wouldn't love to zip around the neighborhood—er, surface of an alien world—on his or her astro-cycle, wearing that rad spacesuit?) 



"We filmed in the California desert, which, luckily, bore an amazing likeness to Mars," Susan Golkin, executive creative director at BBDO, tells AdFreak. "Instead of positioning insurance as who you call when something bad happens, we love this idea of positioning American Family as who you call to help make things happen. One of those times in life when we felt free to dream big was childhood. If you were lucky, you felt truly protected then. American Family can help reignite that feeling."

In the next spot, touting home insurance, a young girl peacefully dreams the night away while her dad and his pals indulge in a noisy rock 'n' roll fantasy of their own:



Maybe one day they'll make it to Top of the Pops.

"By promoting insurance through the aspirational dreams lens, we are specifically speaking to people who believe in taking good care of the things in life they've achieved because they believe in their own unlimited potential," says AFI brand and creative manager Anne Norman.

Finally, in an ad about car insurance, a young couple in a pickup truck chase the sunset down a scenic country road: 



Well, that's certainly a bright, romantic notion.

Overall, the campaign does a fine job of positioning AFI as an intrinsic yet unobtrusive partner in customers' lives, steering clear of category clichés and relying on soft-sellng, cinematic pitches to deliver its message. 

A digital and social push called "Kid Coaches" supports the TV buy. Created by Mirum, the work presents youngsters advising adults about overcoming obstacles and achieving their dreams. Here's the series' intro video:

While the concept is cute, and some of the online spots are quite precious—gotta love those artsy twins!—they tend to drag, and might have been more effective at half the length. That's not to say things weren't hectic behind the scenes, though.

"The parents were instructed to have their kids energized when they arrived," recalls Mirum creative director A.J. Scherbring. "We meant, 'Inspire your kid with encouraging words and empowering support.' They heard, 'Lots of sugar.' Kids are wild cards. Even with all their incredible insight, you never really know what they are going to say or do. Or grab. Or pull. Or kick. Or tackle. Or throw. Or write on. Or eat. Or at least chew on."

Ah well, that's why production crews carry insurance.

CREDITS

Client: American Family Insurance

Agency: BBDO "New York"
Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer, New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Director: Susan Golkin
Senior Creative Director: Eric Goldstein

Senior Producer: Becky Burkhard
Asst. Producer: Mike Ritchie
Music Producer: Rani Vaz
Business Manager: Maria Elia

Sr. Account Director: Jim Santora / Christine Smith
Account Director: Kelly Harrington
Account Manager:  Justin Choy

Agency: Mirum

Production Company: Smuggler
Executive Producer: Drew Santarsiero / Brian Carmody
Director:  Adam Berg
Line Producer: Karen O'Brien
Director Of Photography: Alwin Kuchler         

Editorial Company: Cosmo Street Editorial
Executive Producer: Maura Woodward
Producer: Anne Lai
Editor: Paul Hardcastle
Assistant Editor: Nellie Phillips

Telecine Company: MPC
Telecine Artist: Mark Gethin
Producer: Meghan Lang/Rebecca Boorsma

Conform / Finish Company: MPC
Conform Artist: Chris Moore/Michael Gregory
Producer: Elexis Stearn/Brian Friel

Graphic Design Company: Suspect
Producer: Rob Appelblatt

Visual Effects Company:  MPC
Lead Cg Artist:  Micheal Wynd/Chris Moore/Ben Persons/Michael Gregory
Producer: Brian Friel

Music Company: Beacon Street (re-arrangements)
Composer: Andrew Feltenstein
Producer: Leslie DiLullo

Mix & Record Company: Heard City
Engineer: Phil Loeb
Producer: Talia Rodgers

VO Talent: Isaiah Johnson
Agent Name: Neal Altman (Abrams Artists)

It was just a matter of time before the small-batch/local/craft product snobbery that ruined contemporary beer would spread to marijuana ... and it's not even fully legal yet! 

That hasn't stopped Flow Kana, a group of Northern California organic pot farmers, from putting together a multichannel marketing blitz (the first of its kind for marijuana) to promote its "brand." 

Flow Kana's campaign will make landfall in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley on 4/20, naturally, and pits the salt-of-the-earth pot farmers of California's Emerald Triangle region against dastardly corporate farms. And while marketing itself as "artisanal" might be the most obnoxious way possible to express its difference, the alternative is irrelevance. 

Marijuana is the backbone of the Triangle's economy. It has made such significant business that growers even opposed legalization, because it would open them up to outside competition. An execution like what you see above—just one example of what will be diffused in a couple of days—should come as no surprise. 

We understand Flow Kana's motivation, but we also watched the entire run of Deadwood, and right now they're Al Swearengen. Their only hope is that the tide doesn't rise against pretentious West Coast "conscious consumerism" before they have the chance to make the impact they want.

Whether you find them adorable, hilarious, creepy—or maybe all of the above—Evian's famous advertising babies aren't going anywhere. And they return today with a splash in a new campaign from BETC Paris that includes a surfing-themed global commercial and North American outdoor ads starring Gigi Hadid.

The new spot, "Baby Bay," rolled out moments ago online. It features the babies—whose prior amusingly adult-like physical exploits famously included rollerblading—grabbing surfboards and catching some waves, much to the surprise of the one grownup on the beach. (Everyone else has been drinking Evian and reverted to a childlike state, you see, while our confused hero still needs his refreshment, which awaits him at the bar down the beach.)

The tagline remains, "Live Young."

Check out the 90-second spot here: 



Olivia Sanchez-Castro, vp of marketing for Danone Waters of America, spoke to Adweek exclusively about the babies and the secret of their staying power.

"We're just not tired of them," she said. "The babies are the embodiment of youth, and that's always been a part of Evian's DNA. We don't feel it's over yet. It's about entertainment and the embodiment of youth for us." 

Sanchez-Castro said the surfing theme was a perfect evolution of the campaign. "It's all about nature, and we felt like it went really well with Evian's vision of youth," she said. "It's this carefree, very relaxed style, and that's the embodiment of what 'Live Young' is for us. We felt this natural setting really brought forth what Evian is, which is this pure water from the Alps." 

BETC creatives Agnes Cavard and Valérie Chidlovsky said in a email that the new commercial is less about the sight gags of showing babies doing grownup things, and more about just telling a fun story.

"The film isn't made to be a new choreographic feature, where the surf replaces rollers or street dance," they said. "On the contrary, we wanted to change the style into something more psychological and storytelling-based. Less music video and more realistic. The brief from the client was to reintroduce the Evian bottle, put the product at the heart of the film and to talk more about the Evian effect." 

Having said that, "we really like the surf universe," they added, "not just for the spectacular physical thrills, but also for the healthy lifestyle, the philosophy and the cool spirit. Very 'Live Young!' "

The spot is running globally online and on TV in select markets, including France, the U.K. and Japan. The U.S. won't have the commercial on TV but is getting another major piece of the campaign—outdoor ads starring Gigi Hadid and her surf-baby doppelgänger.

Check out those ads here:

Adweek spoke with the 20-year-old supermodel, who insisted she really uses the product.

"To me, a bottle of Evian is just as much an essential accessory as a great pair of sneakers or sunglasses. It's so important to keep a bottle with you, especially when you travel like I do. I grew up a serious athlete, so I learned the importance of staying hydrated all day," she said. "Today, when I'm on the road or at shoots, I always make sure I'm hydrating every break I get. [This campaign] was a natural fit since I love the brand. I also feel strongly about always keeping a youthful spirit, which is what Evian is all about." 

Hadid says she loves how the ads turned out. 

"I enjoyed getting to re-enact the faces of my surfer-baby look-alike," she said. "I loved that they took a beachy-sporty route with the creative, because I'm from Malibu and I know that surfing is more than just a sport—it's a way of life. It's so connected to nature that it brings to life Evian's vision of living young as a state of mind." 

For BETC, which has worked on Evian for 22 years, the trick is to keep the babies evolving and relevant. The infants were introduced in 1998 with the beloved French spot "Water Babies" and made famous a decade later by the global "Roller Babies" ad (one of the most-watched ads ever on YouTube).

They're not purely an advertising gimmick, either. Evian was recommended by doctors as the perfect water for babies way back in 1935, thanks to its pH-neutral mineral composition. From that product-based connection sprang the fanciful idea that a baby could also represent an adult's inner child.

"The babies are part of the DNA of the brand. The water was originally known as the babies' water in France, handed out in the maternities," BETC's Cavard and Chidlovsky said. "The babies are a fun, cute and spectacular way of symbolizing Evian's promise of youth. But of course it's important that the babies keep surprising us. We can't let them become boring and expected but just keep them as a constant source of inspiration."

CREDITS

—Film

Client: Evian
Client Management: Véronique Penchienati, Céline Barral, Dorothée Sénard
Media Responsible: Benoit Radenne
Agency: BETC
Agency Management: Marielle Durandet, Gaelle Gicqueau, Charlotte Bals, Fanny Buisseret
Creative Directors: Rémi Babinet
Art Director: Agnès Cavard
AD Assistant: Félix Falzon
Copywriter: Valérie Chidlovsky
Traffic: Alexandra Chini, Elise Herfort
Media Strategy Director: Martine Picard (BETC)
TV Producer: Fabrice Brovelli
Assistant TV Producer: Marine Monbeig
Production Compagny: WANDA Paris
Director: James Rouse
Visual Effects: Mikros Images
Music: BETC POP
Music Director: Christophe Caurret
Sound Production: Green United Music
Song & Artists: Kokomo, Lilly Wood and The Prick
First Broadcast: 20th april 2016
Media Agency: GroupM
Media Plan: Digital, TV, Cinema
(France, Belgium, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Russia, USA, Canada, Israel, Hong-Kong, Singapore, China, Émirates, New Caledonia):
Available Formats: 90'', 60'', 30''

—Print/OOH

Client: Evian
Client Management: Véronique Penchienati, Céline Barral, Dorothée Sénard
Agency: BETC
Agency Management: Marielle Durandet, Gaelle Gicqueau, Charlotte Bals, Fanny Buisseret
Creative Director: Rémi Babinet
Art Director: Agnès Cavard
Ad Assistant: Félix Falzon
Copywriter: Valérie Chidlovsky
Photographer: Benni Valsson
Art Purchase: Isabelle Mocq-Orain
Production: Rita Prod
First Publication: 11th april
Media Plan: Pack, POS, Outdoor

Hub & Community Management:
Client: Evian
Client Management: Véronique Penchienati, Céline Barral, Dorothée Sénard
Agency: BETC
Agency Management: Gaelle Gicqueau, Charlotte Bals, Fanny Buisseret, Adeline Belin, Sophie Lourdelle
Creative Directors: Agnès Cavard, Valérie Chidlovsky
Art Director: Mathilde Fallot, Gabrielle Debeuret
Copywriter: Gullit Baku
Development: Versus fully tailored creation
Strategic Planning: Tom Aguilar

Out-of-home advertising continues its recent quest to make the outdoors a better place to live—not just a place to sell stuff—with interesting billboards in Brazil that kill mosquitos, and hope to make a dent in the spread of the Zika virus.

The boards were designed by Brazilian advertising agency NBS and OOH agency Posterscope, both part of Dentsu Aegis Network. Their panels are equipped with technology that attracts and kills the Aedes Aegypti mosquito—by mimicking the essence of human sweat and breath.

The boards emit a solution into the air containing lactic acid, which reproduces the smell of human sweat, and also carbon dioxide, which replicates human breathing. The combination of these substances attracts mosquitos at a distance of up to 2.5 miles, the agencies say. 

The headline on the ads reads, "This billboard kills hundreds of Zika mosquitos every day."

Here's a video explaining more about how it works:



Once trapped inside the billboards, the mosquitos die of dehydration. The ads were placed in specific areas based on where Zika and dengue outbreaks were happening.

The technology used here is available for free online at mosquitokillerbillboard.com under a Creative Commons NonCommercial-Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license, meaning anyone can download and reproduce the boards anywhere in the world.

Billboards in general have been getting more socially conscious in recent years, some of them through pioneering tech that helps ease environmental problems around them. The most famous example is FCB Mayo's billboard that drew moisture out of humid air and turned it into potable drinking water. 

Billboards that attract insects also have something of a history, including this 2010 board from England that used queen-bee pheromones to draw a giant swarm of bees and raise awareness of the declining honey-bee populations. 

CREDITS
Project Name: The Mosquito Killer Billboard
Advertising Agency: NBS
Creative VP: André Lima
Chief Creative Officer: Carlos André Eyer
Creative Director: Marcello Noronha
Creative: Augusto Correia, Bob Ferraz, Hagall Muniz
RTVC: Andrea Metzker
Account Managers: Antonino Brandão, Camilo Coelho.
Business Intelligence: Rafael Bica
Media:  Poliana Tonelli
PR: Camilo Coelho, Karina Okabatake, Caroline Lessa, Máquina Cohn & Wolfe
Film Producer: Cinerama
Director:  Daniel Vargas
Account Managers: Evelyn Oliveira
Executive Producer: Mario Nakamura
Coordinator of Post- Production: Luiz Meliga
Editor: Cris Sampaio
Coordinator of Production: Taís Quadros
CG: Ricardo Brizio
Colorist: Ari Marins
Production: Nina Riviello
Cinematography: Silvia Gangemi
Additional Cinematography: Thiago Lima, Bernardo Richter and Alexandre Rosa
Camera Assistant: Edmar Rosa
Electrician: Paulinho Et
Sound Production: Sonido
Direction and Music Production: João Miguel
Art Directors: Angelo Henrique, Rodrigo Santos
Planning Supervisor: Paulo Farias
Out of home agency: Posterscope
Posterscope lead: Otto Frossard
Production: Julio Pires
Development/Media: Clear Channel

Never again will you be able to complain about an unsexy client that doesn't inspire you.

The proof in the pudding: For one such El Salvador brand, Ogilvy & Mather created a moving sports "documentary" about Jorge Chávez, national champion for a most curious sport indeed.

"Ever since I was a kid, I've always had a passion for sports. It's a family tradition," Chávez begins. His father was a soccer player; his grandfather, a boxer. "I knew there was a place in sports for me."

Check out the film here: 



Hold that "WTF" in!

The surprisingly developed ad features dead-serious interviews with Jorge's trainer, Josué Jovel; referee Germán Romero; and even Jorge's mother, Yanira de Chávez, who manages his rigorous training diet. 

"I always tell them that every fart my son lets out makes me proud," de Chávez says as she whips out a tall jar of beans, ready to serve her champion. 

Jovel explains what goes into the fictional sport of Air Farting with a precision we haven't witnessed since J.K. Rowling's explanation of Quidditch. In Air Farting, he says, athletes perform "a high jump full of flair and style, while farting at the highest point." 

Four critical factors are taken to account, per referee Romero: height, style, odor and sound.

The most prevalent refute to Air Farting's acceptance in mainstream culture will be easy to relate to for anyone who's defended their fringey challenge of choice, from esports to snooker: "Anyone can fart, but not everyone can control them," says Chávez. "When you can make them longer, noisier and smellier, farts transcend sports and become an art." 

"Air Farting is 80 percent in the colon, 20 percent in the mind," adds Jovel with zero irony. 

But this wouldn't be a story without an arc. For Chávez and his team, drama hits right before the national championship, when—like that time in Nymphomaniac when Charlotte Gainsbourg discovers her clitoris is "broken"—the hero realizes he can't fart. 

"You feel powerless," he opines. 

But like any true athlete, Chávez powers on, amping up his training and refusing to pull out at the last minute. The great climax of the ad occurs in slow-mo, when he runs across the gymnasium and takes his glorious leap into farting history. Nearby, Romero delicately waves a hand, drawing the aroma to his nose with expert care. 

Notably, we never hear the fart, which is a shame after so much buildup. But it probably would have broken the lovingly crafted suspension of disbelief, throwing us face-first into the wackness of the whole premise. 

Still, let's be real—it's ridiculous. But it's done so well, and with such gravitas, that you can't help but admire the effort (not unlike how we felt after watching this artful and stoic treatment of a fist-fucking cottage).

Things wrap with a quiet reveal for the actual brand here: Colonfine Gotas, a natural colon regulator that—wait for it!—"gets rid of Olympic gases." 

And now we're just sitting here, stunned by the triumphant weirdness of it all. This is probably also the most we've ever mentioned farting in a single article (12 times, which will make an excellent cocktail statistic)—a fact that can't but help the brand as it boldly storytells its way toward becoming the Stella Artois of colon comfort. 

CREDITS

Client: Colonfine Gotas
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, San Salvador, El Salvador
Creative Directors: Joshua Rueda Mego, Patty Del Cid, Rodrigo Tablas
Art Director: Juan Joel Rivera
Copywriters: Roberto Mata, Joshua Rueda Mego
Photographer: Roberto Mancía
Additional Credits: Raúl Olivares, Traffic Films, Garage Films, Paolo Bianchi

Big-budget advertising used to be the exclusive province of, well, brands with big budgets. But no more. Now, thanks to classifieds mobile app letgo, anyone can sell any old piece of junk with a commercial that will knock a buyer's socks off.

Letgo and agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky just introduced the "Commercializer." It's an ingenious addition to the second-hand selling app that takes whatever you're trying to offload and seamlessly inserts it—using motion blur, image blending, motion tracking, color correction and rotoscoping technology—into one of four comical, big-budget ad parodies.

You choose a theme—'80s action-movie trailer, home-shopping segment, prescription-drug ad or overwrought perfume spot. Then, the Commercializer scrapes your letgo profile and specific listing to integrate the item you're selling, its description and price into an amusing ad that you can share with friends. 

Dolph Lungren was good enough to poke fun at himself in the '80s action-movie spot. Check out the templates for all four spots here: 

We've seen this kind of customized video technology before, of course, mostly with apps that scrape your Facebook (or other social media) profile and cobble together a video all about you. Such apps have indulged in everything from pure narcissism (Intel's "Museum of Me") to privacy-promoting scare tactics ("Take a Lollipop").

What's different here is that this goes beyond entertainment or advisories and has a useful selling purpose within an existing platform, says Jay Gelardi, executive creative director at CP+B Miami. "We'd seen [these kinds of things] before, but never in a way that had a use beyond a bit of fun. It's fun, but it also creates a more powerful medium for the seller," Gelardi tells AdFreak. 

Tool of North America developed the proprietary backend technology. The spots were directed by Matt Villines of Saturday Night Live and comedy directing duo Matt & Oz.

"Every shot had to be lined up right," says Gelardi. "There were lots of tracking markers involved. That's stuff that we're used to. We don't usually export that tracking data out in a consumer-facing way. It was pretty unusual." 

Users create the videos right in the app, and they are viewable within the listing itself. But Gelardi says the much bigger potential viewing market is each seller's social network—which isn't typically leveraged much in the world of classified ads. 

"People create these kinds of classified listings all the time on these socially connected apps, but they never really share them," he says. "If you're selling this old chair that you've got lying around, you're not necessarily going to post it to Facebook and use the power of your own social network to sell it. But because we've created a shareable piece of content, we think people will start sharing it with all their friends and wherever else they can."

He adds: "When people do stumble upon it, then they'll be tempted to go and make their own. That's where the virality of the thing really comes to life. We imagine people will start selling stuff they have lying around just to have the chance of making a commercial."

Indeed, CP+B says users have already made 54,000 commercials in the beta phase.

Selling something incredibly boring in a flashy way is, of course, exaggeratedly comical here. "The juxtaposition of the dullness of their product and the excitement in the spots is where a lot of the humor lies," says Gelardi. But actually, it's not that different than what the ad industry does in non-parody work every day.

"We do it all the time," Gelardi says. "We use the power of the entertainment to sell toilet brushes. This just makes it a more social thing." 

Below are some other short previews of what the finished spots look like: 

It's one of the unhappy side effects of binge-watching—that deep emptiness you feel inside after burning through your favorite on-demand series. 

Amazon calls the common condition a "Showhole," and two new 30-second ads promote its Fire TV line of internet-streaming hardware products as the solution. 

The first spot stars a couple who are struggling to find their next source of entertainment. The fruitless search has strained the relationship to the point where its very future hangs in the balance. (The guy worries this could be cause enough for his partner to flee back to her ex—not a good sign.) 

Cue the Fire TV, with analytics that make it easy to dive right into a new show that appeals to both your tastes and your significant other's, ensuring love lives to fight another day. 



In the second ad, a man panics over the impending end of his beloved series. When Fire TV comes to the rescue, his next dose of tranquilizer is queued up and ready to go.



Agency Wongdoody created the ads, which join a previous spot from November:



It's a solid insight, based on a funny (if slightly shameful) truth about current TV consumption habits. In December, Netflix launched a campaign based on a similar premise. (In that 90-second ad, a series-bereft young woman's best friend tries consoling her by rattling off the titles they could watch next, over tortuous hours actually spent doing things away from the screen—though his deep knowledge of the catalog suggests he might, in fact, be a recommendation algorithm

The Amazon ads, for their part, are amusing, with nice little touches of the ridiculous. The boyfriend—who looks like an everyman Zach Galifianakis, with a dose of Nick Offerman mixed in—lip-syncs the voiceover while summoning his remote as if by telekinesis. In the other spot, the young bachelor is literally swallowed up by his couch, a great visual manifestation of a feeling everyone has probably had. 

Naturally, the campaign doesn't point out that the showhole is really just a return to the emotional void that made you want to binge-watch in the first place. But it's probably safer to keep downing an endless stream of charming pixels than reflect on that too much.

CREDITS: Amazon Fire TV #Showhole

Agency: WongDoody
Chairman, Executive Creative Director: Tracy Wong
Creative Director: Adam Nowak
Associate Creative Director, Art Director: Mishy Cass
Associate Creative Director, Copywriter: Matt McCain
Senior Producer: Nikki Castillo
Group Account Director: Megan Meagher
Account Director: Erin Billmaier

Client: Amazon
Executive Creative Director: Michael Boychuk
Senior Marketing Manager: Augie Gramaglia

Production Company: Dummy
Director: Michael Illick
Director of Photography: James Whitaker
Executive Producer: Eric Liney
Producer: Paul Manix

Postproduction: Whitehouse Post
Editor of "Showhole Couple": Corky DeVault
Editor of "Showhole Stuck": Brian Gannon
Producer: Jennifer Mersis
Head of Production: Joanna Manning
Executive Producer: Joni Williamson

Visual Effects: Carbon VFX
Executive Producer: Matt McManus

Audio: Clatter & Din
Engineer: Sam Gray

Color: Company 3
Senior Colorist: Sean Coleman

Talent:
Voiceover: Malcolm McDowell

"Couple"
Husband: Steve Berg
Wife: Sylvia Panacione
Hot Guy: Kirby Heyborne

"Stuck"
Stuck Man: Kwame Boateng

When a brand as iconic as Coca-Cola decides to change its packaging, it's a big deal. While different colors have always denoted different products—red is classic Coca-Cola, silver is loved by Diet Coke fans, black for the Coke Zero drinkers—the soda giant is moving to put a big red disc on each can and bottle.

The changes are rolling in Mexico first (their Coca-Cola Light is our Diet Coke) and will reach additional countries throughout 2016 and into 2017, the brand says. Coke adds that it's still exploring new "one-brand" packaging graphics for North America, but any design changes here are at least a year away.

"By applying the Coca-Cola Red Disc to our packaging in such a bold way, we are taking the next step towards full adoption of the 'one brand' strategy, uniting the Coca-Cola family under one visual identity and making it even easier for consumers to choose their Coca-Cola with or without calories, with or without caffeine," Coke chief marketing officer Marcos de Quinto said in a statement.

We'd probably be happier if the designs stayed the same. But maybe we're just so used to them, it's like seeing Grandma doing a keg stand—a little uncomfortable, but we're not quite sure why. 

Strawberries make a powerful statement in "Save the Food," a public service campaign breaking today from the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Developed pro-bono by SapientNitro through The Ad Council, the initiative focuses on a sad reality: Some 40 percent of all food purchased in the U.S. each year goes uneaten, wasting money, water and energy to the tune of $162 billion. 

And consumers are mostly to blame. We throw food away too soon and too often. In fact, each of us trashes nearly 300 pounds of food every year. Wow, we suck. 

To illustrate the problem, a remarkable two-minute online film (with TV commercial edits) from Partizan director Martin Stirling follows a single strawberry from its salad days on the vine through its packaging odyssey and purchase by a typical American family.

Forgotten at the back of the fridge, our hero (and his increasingly funky bunch) fall into a sorry state, and we get the feeling things won't end well. 



It's a juicy performance, though the strawberry has the advantage of playing itself.

Moms are a primary target here, because "no one makes more of the decisions around food—planning, shopping, cooking and disposing," Gary Koepke, North American chief creative officer at SapientNitro, tells AdFreak. "We know that moms are compelled by facts that tie food waste to household finances, so the campaign emphasizes this information." 

Millennials are also a key audience, says Koepke, because they are "engaged and idealistic about helping the environment" and show an interest in "life hacks that help them experience more and waste less." 

If the strawberry's jaunty theme music sounds familiar, that's because it served as the soundtrack to the 2009 animated film Up, winning an Oscar for composer Michael Giacchino. (Disney donated the tune to the campaign.) 

Print, web and out-of-home ads are also in the mix, urging consumers to "Cook it. Store it. Share it" rather than prematurely trash milk, eggs, bread and chicken:



That "Best If Used" line really says more with less, and the crisp, uncluttered art direction is a highlight. A clean visual aesthetic also graces SaveTheFood.com, which provides detailed information and tips for cutting down on waste. 

Relying exclusively on donated media, the push includes outreach on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, plus support from Getty Images, Buzzfeed, Social Native, Upworthy and influencers like celebrity chef Tom Colicchio. 

Unlike hunger, pollution, poverty and other global concerns that seem insurmountable, food waste is imminently addressable, and the actions we can take are largely painless. "With small steps, we can save large amounts of food, and along with it, money and precious natural resources," says NRDC president Rhea Suh. 

What's more, ending food waste can save consumers money, an outcome wisely played up by the campaign, which maintains that throwing away less food can save an average family of four about $1,500 a year. 

Appealing to consumers' pocketbooks is always a smart tactic. After all, saving money has no sell-by date. More creative appears below.

CREDITS

The Advertising Council – NRDC – Save The Food
SapientNitro:
Alyssa Altman - Vice President Business Consulting
Ronald Shamah – Senior Vice President
Shade Vaughn – Vice President Marketing
Chris Hall – Vice President General Management
Peter Shanley – Vice President General Management
Donald Chestnut – Global CCO
Gary Koepke – Chief Creative Officer
Matthew Atkatz – Executive Creative Director, Creative Lead
Jenessa Carder – Strategy Lead
David Serrano – Client Services Director
Mary Zumba – Account Supervisor
Jacqueline Murphy – Manager Program Management
Monica Alameda – Senior Associate Producer
Bill Pauls – Executive Creative Director
David Iglesias – Senior Designer
Faye Ibars – Copywriter
Andrew Goldstein – Creative Director
Jason Levine – Creative Director
James Allen – Creative Director
Stephen Frederick Levy – Designer
Eduardo Santiesteban – Retouching Manager
Jose Acosta – Head of Production
Amy Houston – Print Producer
John McHale – Executive Creative Director, Experience Lead
Katie Plua – UX Design
Alicia Marshall – Designer
Jessica Gray – Designer
Andrew Hodge – Designer
Sara Commet – Copywriter
Bryan Scott – Art Director
Chris Burke – Senior Manager Interactive Development
Graydon Pleasants – Interactive Developer
Ravi Evani – Director of Technology
Sarah Jones – Senior Content Strategist
Sophia Calderone – Junior Interactive Developer
Kevin Rossum – Associate Marketing Strategy + Analysis
San San Ng – Designer
Louis Palacios – Editor
Alejandro Roses – Motion Graphics
Luis Giron – Sound Mixing
Ariel Bellumio – Post Supervisor
Stephie Wassmann – Producer
Alejandro Villanueva – Developer
Emilio Acebo – Developer
Yvette Gomez – Business Affairs Manager

Partizan:
Martin Stirling – Director
Lisa Tauscher – Executive Producer
Georges Bermann – Executive Producer
Molly Griffin – Head of Production
Megan Moore – Producer
Carlos Veron – Director of Photography
Nico Cotta – CD
Chris Allen & Beatrice Bowdon – Producers
James Cornwell – Lead Flame
Christopher Maslen – Flame Assist
Sezen Akpolat – 3D Producer
Tony Landais – Lead CG

Emre Samioglu, Utku Ertin, Doruk Saglam, Zafer Ercevik, Caglar Ozen, Altug Yılmazer, Enis Uzbek, Bogi Gulacsi - CG team

Steve Akyrod - Editor

One in eight women will suffer from breast cancer at some point in their lives, and such a serious health challenge deserves its own well-meaning PSAs. 

But the slightest hint of bare breast—and particularly a bit of nipple—will get your ads banned from Facebook faster than you can click Zuckerberg's new angry button. So, how does a breast cancer prevention advocacy group help women more effectively check their breasts in the comfort of their own bathroom mirrors? 

For ad agency David in Buenos Aires, the answer was simple—man boobs.



They're real ... and they're either hilarious or disturbing, depending on your sensibilities.

David executive creative directors Joaquin Cubria and Ignacio Ferioli said: "It's hard to get women over 25 to examine their breasts regularly to prevent breast cancer. But it isn't hard to make them check their phones every five minutes. So that's how we decided to get to them." 

They had a problem, though—the mostly automated morality police.

"Breasts aren't very welcome. They're censored," the creatives said. "Even when teaching how to perform a BSE for the early detection of breast cancer. That's where 'manboobs4boobs' comes in. A health-related campaign that requires men to partake in order to succeed."

At the very least, we think you'll agree this video is a more effective demonstration of proper breast self-examinations than any peeling doctor's office poster or infographic. The final belly slap was a nice touch, too. 

CREDITS

Client: MACMA
Agency: David Buenos Aires
Executive Creative Directors: Joaquin Cubria / Ignacio Ferioli
Copywriter: Juan Peña
Art Director: Ricardo Casal
General Accounts' Director: Emanuel Abeijon
Account Director: Lucila Castellani
Account Executive: Brenda Ranieri
Head of production: Brenda Morrison Fell
Agency's Producer: Felipe Calvino
Production House: LANDIA
Executive Producer: Adrian D'Amario
Producer: Thomas Amoedo
Director of Photography: Nicolas Hardy
Sound Mix: PORTA Estudio
Music: Cluster
Editor: Ana Svarz
Clients: Irene Marcet / Isabel Geraige

Steve McQueen helped make Persol 649 sunglasses famous. But recently, the glasses got a modern redesign, which is being supported by more modern storytelling—including a "Choose your own adventure" style graphic novel unfolding on Instagram.

You can see the beginning of the story here—or on Persol's Instagram page.

"The campaign puts users in the shoes of Frankie Malone, a rebel seeking to overthrow a regime that has outlawed free thought and stamped out individuality," the brand says. "It's a classic dystopian thriller that takes its cues from films like Blade Runner, Gattaca and Minority Report while modernizing the story for the world of social media."

Illustrator Jonathan Bartlett is drawing the new scenes after users collectively vote, with likes, for how the story should proceed.



The Instagram project, from ad agency Kettle, is a social extension of an above-the-line campaign titled "Meet the New Generation," starring Scott Eastwood.

CREDITS
Client: Persol
Agency: Kettle