Expedia travels into amusing territory with three new commercials from Ogilvy & Mather in London. In each spot, achingly average people become intensely interesting to friends and co-workers after taking trips booked through the client's website and mobile app.

In fact, they become so darn fascinating—sharing silly holiday snaps and gushing about their experiences—that a magician who saws himself in half, a stuntman riding fiery explosions and an acrobatic horse whisperer can't compete in the battle for attention.

The ads are the latest from Expedia's pan-European "Travel Yourself Interesting" campaign, which won a Creative Effectiveness Lion last month at Cannes. Gerry Human, chief creative officer at the agency, says the goal is to "steer away from travel marketing clichés."

Indeed, the work achieves that objective in entertaining fashion with its tongue-in-cheek appeal to our ingrained vanity and sloth. Who wouldn't want to earn praise just for taking a vacation? Making talented folks who worked hard to master their craft look like dull dweebs is the cherry on top. (Stupid magician—make yourself disappear!)







CREDITS
Client: Expedia
Senior Marketing Director: Andrew Warner
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather London
Copywriters: Simon Lotze, Jon Morgan
Art Directors: Miguel Nunes, Mike Watson
Executive Creative Director: Gerry Human
Planner: Mattijs Devroedt
Account Leads/Directors: Mark Lainas, Larry Ball-Piatti
Account Managers: Briony Gittins, Joseph Grigg, Anastasia Selezneva
Media Agency: PHD
Production company: TV - Moxie Productions; Online film - Disqo
Music: Track - "Travel Yourself Interesting"; Siren Music - Stuart Hancock
Exposure: TV, online, radio

Ahh, the morning paper. You've just settled into your seat on the train, or perhaps a park bench, to enjoy the morning light and digest the news of the day. But there are two things missing: your cup of morning joe, and another person to enjoy this peaceful moment of solitude with you.

Yes, the folks at Nescafé France have deemed reading a newspaper to be "a rather lonely moment." As a cure for this intolerable isolation, they've invented branded newspaper wrappers that come with pop-up paper mugs, apparently with coffee powder in them. If you happen to be near some hot water, well you're in luck! Instant coffee!

There are two mugs: one for you, and one for the person you are now sharing your Metro newspaper with! 

See below as actors convincingly use these paper advertisements as actual mugs, filling them with scalding liquid. And note the relief on their faces as they once again avoid another moment of being totally and inescapably alone. 

Via Ads of the World.



CREDITS
Client: Nescafé
Agency: Geometry Global, Paris
Chief executive officer: Reza Ghaem-Maghami
Executive creative director: Yvan Hiot
International creative director: Patrick Sullivan
Art director: Nicolas Gagner
Copywriter: Romain R. Nonis
Account manager: Margaux Delacommune
Art Director: David Lin
Art buyer: Annette Hallum
Chief Creative Officer / Worldwide Creative Director: Michael Kutschinski
Designer: Olivier brechon
Print manager: Karine Prigent / Redworks
Media planner: Severine Bernelin / Neo
Production: Ateliers Marina, Marsellus

Snask, an agency in Stockholm, made a huge 3-D poster for this year's Malmö Festival, which is essentially a massive street fair that runs through the second half of August. The "poster" is actually a series of giant 3-D letters, numbers, and shapes that took 14 people over 900 hours to make. They're made out of plywood, in case anyone out there cares.

Calling this thing a poster feels a bit off. It's more of an art installation. You can't even see the whole image from the ground; you have to be up in the air to do that. That said, it's way cooler than your typical poster, and it's going to be a centerpiece of the festival, so visitors can climb all over it and stuff.

See more images and the photographed poster below.

Via Joquz and Design Taxi.

Renowned ad critic Neil deGrasse Tyson should really be the one reviewing Skyy Vodka's new ads from Venables Bell & Partners, but we'll fill in for him this time.

The spots, which break Wednesday on TV, honor the brand's spirit (indeed, its very name) by looking to the heavens for inspiration. They take place in a kind of planetarium setting, where a spokesman entertains a raptly earnest TED-like crowd by pondering mundane issues of drinking etiquette through the grand lens of science and cosmology.

"With a little fresh thinking, the universe can be surprisingly smooth," the spokesman, played by improv actor Paul Welsh (who exudes a kind of arch Malkovichian charm), says in one spot—after explaining how apples and oranges (stand-ins for Mars and Venus, stand-ins themselves for men and women) can get along better in bars with the help of a third celestial body: the "wing lemon."

Another spot suggests tipping your bartender—portrayed here by a mouse in a maze getting a piece of cheese, and serving a tiny cocktail in return.

The new tagline is, "West of expected."



It's a quirky campaign for a quirky brand, whose unconventional views stem from its California roots. (In a market full of Old World brands, Skyy was launched in the Bay Area in the '90s.) And while sending up snobby cocktail culture with witty observations is hardly unconventional in alcohol ads these days, the agency believes these ads are unique enough to stand out—and are true to the brand's personality.

"In the industry as a whole, and especially vodka, everyone is trying to out-cool themselves and appeal to people's ego and vanity," says Will McGinness, executive creative director at VB&P. "We wanted to push off the industry norms and the Russian or Eastern European vodka companies and do our own thing and celebrate this different kind of vodka."

"In 1992, Skyy was born in San Francisco with the belief that everything can be made better with a little fresh thinking. It's how we created our vodka and the way we see the world," adds Kathleen Schuart, senior marketing director for white spirits and cordials at Campari America. "It's with this spirit that Skyy's new marketing platform is inviting us to take an optimistic view and reimagine the world around us. We are kicking off our campaign by challenging our thinking around the givens in our social lives, interactions and experiences in a fun and clever way."

The TV buy includes ESPN, FX, AMC, IFC, Bravo, Comedy Central, Logo, TBS, TNT, NBC and VH1. Digital includes Hulu, YouTube, Urban Daddy and Vice. Out-of-home ads will appear in markets including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Seattle, Milwaukee, Dallas, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., New Jersey and Boston.

CREDITS
Client: Skyy Vodka, Campari
Agency: Venables Bell & Partners
Executive Creative Directors: Paul Venables, Will McGinness
Creative Director: Will McGinness
Associate Creative Director: Eric Boyd
Art Director: Alex Rice         
Copywriter: Daniel Bonder
Director of Integrated Production: Craig Allen
Agency Executive Producer: Joyce Chen
Account Director: Robert Woods
Account Manager: Katie De La Hoya
Design Director: Cris Logan
Designer: Angie McDonald
Production Company: Biscuit Filmworks
Director: Mike Maguire
Director of Photography: Nigel Bluck
Executive Producers: Colleen O’Donnell, Shawn Lacy
Line Producer: Tracy Broaddus
Editing Company: Final Cut
Editor: Matt Murphy
Visual Effects: The Mill
Visual Effects Producer: Kiana Bicoy
Telecine: Sean Coleman @ Company 3
Sound Design: Barking Owl
Sound Designer: Michael Anastasi @ Barking Owl
Music: Mophonics
Mix: Loren Silber @ Lime Studios

When it comes to airports and traveling by plane, what's not to love?

GSD&M spins the Beatles' flower-power anthem "All You Need Is Love" in these Southwest Airlines ads celebrating the carrier's emancipation from the Wright Amendment. The 35-year-old legislation restricted long-distance flights from Love Field in Dallas to protect business at the competing Dallas/Fort Worth International. When the amendment expires in October, Southwest can jet nonstop all over the country from Love Field.

Happy spots feature fireworks, a colorful water-cannon salute on the tarmac and an "All You Need Is Love" sing-along at a Texas Rangers game. "Love Moment," the most offbeat commercial of the bunch, captures a few seconds of Love Field activity in super slow-motion—which is exactly how time seems to pass when your flight's been delayed. Kidding, of course. The folks look as pleased as punch to hang around the terminal taking selfies.

An indie band called Echosmith provides the Fab Four cover. Their version's got nothing on the original, but it sure beats airport muzak.

The next time you're perusing the shelves at your local beer shop and you hear a voice coming from the cooler, there's a chance it's a sixer of Shock Top Belgian White trying to chat you up.

Not since Red Stripe's bodega bonanza have we seen something this odd happening to unsuspecting potential party people. Liquor store shoppers and bar-goers alike find themselves face-to-citrus-face with Shock Top's chatty mascot in a series of videos.

The mascot, named Wedgehead, is like the PG-13 lovechild of Andrew Dice Clay and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog—a kind of Joe Pesci Lite, but quite a bit smoother with the ladies. He actually gets some good zingers in, like when he tells one curiously investigative customer, "Take it easy, CSI." 



He also takes a few digs at the competition. "You guys know these beers, they're trying too hard, you know what I mean? Fifteen names? Wildebeest Three-Headed Unicorn? What is that? Seventeen varieties served in a fedora. Come on. I'll do mine in a glass."

Check out the clips below to see how it all went down. There's also an outdoor ad that continues the talking motif.

We've reached out to several agencies linked to Shock Top, but so far none has taken credit for the videos, so we'll update when we hear back on credits. UPDATE: The work is by Anomaly in Toronto.

The real question, of course, is whether the stunts are real or staged. Without a behind-the-scenes video or official word from the marketer, we're left to watch and decide for ourselves. If Wedgehead were here, I'm sure I know what he'd say.

Sometimes experience proves more powerful than youth. That's certainly true in this new long-form spot for Pfizer's Centrum from Leo Burnett in Chicago, which pairs middle-aged basketball players against a group of twentysomething guys.

We won't spoil what happens, but you can probably guess.



Yep, it's not surprising that in a film made for a multivitamin, we'd see the older gents have still got game. Though that doesn't make it any less entertaining to watch the young punks get schooled.

The film was shot in Goat Park in Harlem, New York, and has already garnered half a million views online. Maybe the appeal of watching real people play basketball has something to do with it. Or maybe we're a bit sick of the soccer.

Credits below.

CREDITS
Client: Centrum, Pfizer
Agency: Leo Burnett, Chicago
Ad or Campaign: "Stay on Top of Your Game"
Chief Creative Officer: Susan Credle
Executive Creative Director: Jeanie Caggiano
Creative Directors: Amanda Butts, Nuno Ferreira
Associate Creative Directors: Dave Derrick, Stephanie Simpson
Creative Team: Roberto Blanco, Javier Valle, Lauren Wetula
Digital Strategist: Ian Beacraft
Executive Producer: Juan Woodbury
Producer: Mark Phan
Production Company: Greenpoint Pictures
Directors: Michael Kuhn, Niles Roth
Executive Producer: Tatiana Rudzinski
Producer: J.P. Bouchard
Visual, Special Effects: Utopic
Editing: Utopic
Editor: Tim Kloehn
Music Company: Jira Productions
Composer: Dejion Madison
Director of Photography: Nate Corbin

The Ad Club, the advertising trade organization of New England, recently held its first "Brand-a-thon" contest for creative agencies to come up with branding campaigns for area startups in just three days.

Eight shops competed on behalf of nine startups. (Hill Holliday worked on two.) Third place and a check for $500 went to Forge Worldwide for its work on eyewear-on-wheels startup Project 2020. In second place, earning $1,000, was Allen & Gerritsen, which teamed with Supplet, an organic products subscription service for new moms.

The night's big winner was Nail Communications in Providence, R.I., which took home $2,500 and bragging rights for its work on Spray Cake, a product invented by a pair of Harvard students that "makes warm, fresh and delicious cake as easy as a whipped cream-style can of our batter, a pan, and an oven or microwave."

That cash prize seems like a fair payout for a couple of all-nighters—even if Spray Cake, which won an innovation contest at Harvard and could be on store shelves by the end of the summer, isn't the future of dessert.

Check out Nail's Spray Cake video below.

Battery life is the burning issue in "Wall Huggers," the latest installment in 72andSunny's "The Next Big Thing Is Here" campaign for Samsung.

The minute-long spot shows frazzled, unhappy iPhone-carrying travelers sitting on airport floors, hunched around wall outlets, waiting for their handsets to charge. They should've bought the Samsung Galaxy S5 with ultra power-saving mode and interchangeable battery; then they'd be free to wander around the terminal and … I dunno, stand by the windows and watch planes take off and land?

I've come full circle on Samsung's anti-Apple strategy. At first, I found the campaign's tone condescending, but then I warmed to its scrappy approach and enjoyed the way it zinged Apple and its zealots without stepping over the line. Hey, I own an iPhone, but I can take a joke and laugh at myself. Maybe Samsung has some features Apple's lacking. Maybe I should consider giving the brand a try.

Now, I'm thinking the inspiration is running low, and like a dying smartphone battery, needs a recharge. Sure, "Wall Huggers" has charm and low-key humor—and 3.5 million views in a week—but it rubs me the wrong way.



Maybe I'm just getting tired of being implicitly called naive or stupid for buying another brand's products. Or maybe it's the premise of this particular ad. As MacObserver notes,"In reality, things are not as the Samsung ad portrays. Apple customers as a whole seldom have frequent, desperate moments. … Frequent business travelers, with great needs, either carry an extra battery pack or use a case with a built-in battery."

At least Samsung is being more accurate about the travel experience than Southwest Airlines is in its new lovey-dovey campaign. In Samsung's airport, most folks look miserable. Now that's truth in advertising.

CREDITS
Client: Samsung
Agency: 72andSunny

Neutrogena is very concerned about "Junkface," which is apparently what happens when a man washes his Downtown Manville and then his face with the same bar of soap. Naturally, the brand suggests its own Men's Face Wash as a solution to this problem.

This Canadian campaign from DDB Toronto assumes that men start low and move up in the shower, but what if they wash their face first? Even if we assume Junkface is a real thing and not another pseudo-problem invented so a product can then solve it, the concept is pretty easily undone.

The Junkface website has its moments, though. The importance of keeping owls away from your mating parts cannot be overemphasized.

And if you do buy Neutrogena products to fight Junkface, be sure to also invest in the True Clean Towel—the only towel that keeps you from drying your face with your testicles.

Greenpeace takes a page from Chipotle's marketing playbook—haunting animation plus a distressing cover of a well-known song—in its continuing assault on Lego for partnering with Shell on a set of Shell-branded Lego products.

Attacking a beloved brand like Lego isn't easy. But if you're going to do it, you need to do it right. And this spot, showing a Lego version of the Arctic drowning in a sea of oil, is incredibly well made by creative agency Don't Panic—which, you'll remember, also did the memorable Save the Children ad that brought the Syrian war to London.

The visuals in the Greenpeace spot are beautiful, and the ethereal cover of "Everything Is Awesome," from The Lego Movie, is the perfectly ironic backdrop. Yes, it is angering people (check out the YouTube comments if you're looking for a grand old time), but Greenpeace is rarely interested in making friends as it pursues its enemies.

You can debate whether Lego was right to partner with Shell—here is Greenpeace's point of view, and here is Lego's reply to the attack ad. But as a pure PR play, "Everything Is NOT Awesome" (which has topped 1 million views since Tuesday) is itself pretty awesome.

Just when we thought we'd seen enough reaction to Germany's shellacking of Brazil in Tuesday's World Cup match, here is German radio station Radio Bayern 3 with a concise metaphorical translation. Um, cheers?

Via Digg.

Hey there, incredibly hip and hot millennials. Packaged-seasoning brand Flava-it wants you to know its marinades are like a raunchy meat party in your mouth.

This loony new ad for the U.K. marketer features a gathering of twentysomethings sporting all the obligatory styles—fluorescent daisy dukes, thick-rimmed glasses, mountain-man beard. One bite of a sandwich leads a magenta-haired woman into a phantasmagoria of inappropriate food play, ultimately leaving her with eyes wide and hair mussed.

Because, in case the innuendo was too subtle, the brand's wares will make you feel like you're having an orgasm.

The "Meat Lust" campaign, created with digital agency Code Computerlove, also includes a BuzzFeed-style quiz, because that's what the kids are doing these days. It will judge how much you love meat by asking you what your favorite MeatLoaf song is, but replacing real titles with food wordplay (e.g., "I Will Eat Anything for Love (but I Won't Eat That)" and "You Took the Meat Right Out of My Mouth") and by telling you to pick an animal you can milk (a cat, goat, cow, donkey, potato or naked woman).

In other words, it certainly strikes the right ironically over-the-top tone for a certain kind of fun-loving dude. Or maybe just for very cheeky meatheads.

Who needs Tinder when Tatia Pilieva is making ads?

The director of Wren's super-viral "First Kiss" ad (86 million views to date) moves to the next stage of intimacy in this new promo for Showtime's Masters of Sex, whose second season begins July 13.

"I asked strangers to undress each other and get in bed. Nothing else. No rules," the director says on her YouTube page.

The resulting footage (we know you're not reading this, you quickly went and pressed play, as you should) is just as disarming and charming as its predecessor. Little trysts between consenting models who have never met are filmed in black and white, and some of the moments seem genuinely awkward but fun. "These are my favorite trousers!" one model says to her clumsy new mate who ruins her pants in his horny haste.

We can't wait for the parodies, especially the version where all the actors aren't models.

Your move, Seth Rogen and James Franco.

Boyz II Men's Pretzel Bun Love Song for Wendy's is here, and if a fast-food ballad could make you swoon, it would.

The more generic first video in the campaign was pretty excellent in its own right. In the Boyz II Men clip, the core joke—mocking mawkish tropes—is the same. The lyrics are still crafted from consumer tweets, and there are still fun sight gags. But the classic R&B group's vocal chops alone add more to an already absurd premise than you might expect. Just listen to the trio (formerly a quartet) explain the meaning of an emoji, or harmonize a cappella on syllables like "omnomnom."



Clearly, the brand certainly picked the right act to poke fun at all things sappy. "We know all about romance, heartache, love lost and found, but we have never had the chance to sing sweet harmonies about, of all things, a pretzel bun," said Boyz II Men member Nathan Morris in a canned statement released by Wendy's. "We sing about searching for your better half on our new album Collide, and with our #PretzelLoveSongs video, we put a humorous twist on what some fans are saying is their better half—Wendy's pretzel bun."

Because these days in the music business, nothing tastes better than having a consumer marketer pay you lots of money so it can help you promote your new record … even if you also have to talk publicly about a sandwich as if it were a person.

Hey, look, the new Apple isn't just the same old monolith after all.

A video released by the brand this week features thousands of the company's employees, including CEO Tim Cook, and their family members all gathering to march in last month's San Francisco Pride Parade.

It's unusual to see Apple's workers show up in its consumer advertising. It's also nice, especially in support of a worthwhile cause (even if Apple does, yes, just ultimately want to sell more gadgets). Set to Coldplay's new single "A Sky Full of Stars," the video opens on the company's prep for the parade, with rows of bicycles, and a barista pouring beverages, and staffers donning boxes-on-boxes worth of special Apple-logo T-shirts reading "Pride," before the montage crescendoes to the main event. Cook's appearance is brief, nestled among a sequence of less-recognizable faces. "Inclusion inspires innovation," says the closing copy.

That reads, though, as more than just a corporate show of force for LGBT rights, which the company has a history of supporting in its own employment policies. Everybody always knew Cook would have a hard time replacing messianic figure Steve Jobs as the face of Apple. The perhaps obvious answer, hinted at subtly here, is that Cook is not doing it alone.



After much handwringing in recent years over the new CEO's vision—or perceived lack thereof—the blueprint of Cook's Apple that's now trickling out suggests a company that's less closed off and more collaborative than during its mythic era under Jobs, a notoriously exacting master who crafted its reputation for shrouding itself in secrecy and keeping a tight focus on products—including in its advertising.

In other words, it's hard to imagine an ad featuring a smiling Jobs milling around with his underlings. Yet, here is Cook, doing just that.

The clip itself is a little slow to get off the ground, but the payoff, focused as it is on people—namely Apple staffers and the LGBT community writ large—is well worth the wait. That's something of a coup, considering the company's ill-fated detour into advertising around its corporate culture in 2013, by way of a botched attempt at a manifesto about the significance of products.

The new ad, meanwhile, also aligns with Cook's championing, including in his CEO role, of human rights broadly defined, as well as other causes like environmentalism. Such are the trappings of inheriting a powerful company with the ability, and arguably an obligation, to contribute more socially. But in 2011, Cook also made a point of saying that one of Jobs's last pieces of advice to him was never to ask what Steve Jobs would do, and instead to "just do what's right."

Maybe those who want to can still see Jobs pulling the strings, even from beyond the grave. Subtle perception games aside, that just might mean the next great Apple product everyone's been waiting for is just around the corner, too.

Sure, we could listen to pundits or statisticians to try to predict the outcome of the World Cup final on Sunday. They've got suits and numbers. But what they don't have is a black cat.

Why listen to logic when there's a feline (named Lucky, natch) who can—and will—tell you who will lose the World Cup. At least, that's what Leo Burnett and Lapiz have cooked up for Allstate's interactive World Cup campaign. Let's not forget that Allstate is a fan of mayhem, and black cats, of course, are well-known harbingers of bad luck.

If you tweet the hashtag #EnviaMalaSuerte (translation: "Send bad luck") with the name of the team you'd prefer to lose, some cat food will drop into that team's bowl. On Sunday, before the game, during a live YouTube broadcast, Lucky will get to choose between the Argentina and Germany bowls. Whichever bowl Lucky chooses to nosh at—well, that team will not win the World Cup. Allegedly.

It's a silly (and cute) campaign. Rooting for sports teams can bring out some odd behavior, so why not play with people's fan rituals?

Respect. That’s what Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees is about. Everyone from Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan to Yankee haters tip their caps to Jeter in an epic 90-second commercial from Nike’s Jordan Brand that breaks during Fox’s broadcast of the MLB All-Star Game Tuesday night (7:30 pm ET).

Nike’s Jordan division gave Adweek an exclusive preview of the celebrity-filled spot saluting its longtime endorser, who’s retiring after the 2014 season. The classy Jeter is no Alex Rodriguez. The Yankees captain has always respected the game, teammates, opponents. The respect is returned big-time in the super-sized spot created by Wieden + Kennedy New York and directed by Matt Aselton of Arts & Sciences.

As the commercial opens, we see No. 2 digging into the batter’s box with his Jordan-branded cleats at Yankee Stadium. Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester tips his cap to Jeter. That small mark of respect spreads like wildfire.

At Yankee Stadium, everyone from ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and movie director Spike Lee to fans in the stands and the NYPD begin tipping their caps.

Around the country, we see fellow Nike endorsers Woods and Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks doff their caps—along with rapper Jay-Z, comedian Billy Crystal, WNBA star Maya Moore and others.

Jeter’s former Yankees manager Joe Torre and ex-teammates Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Tino Martinez offer their respect, along with power couple Phil Jackson of the Knicks and Jeanie Buss of the Los Angeles Lakers. With their faces blurred to protect their identities, players from the crosstown rival New York Mets surreptitiously pay homage (including mascot Mr. Met).

In a nice touch, we even see a pair of die-hard Red Sox fans saluting Jeter as they watch him on TV. At the end, His Airness himself doffs his cap as we hear fans chanting Jeter’s name. Cut to an overview of Manhattan with the tagline, “RE2PECT,” and Jumpman logo.

Following Tuesday All-Star Game, the 90-second spot will air in its entirety during the ESPYS Awards July 16.  A shorter 60-second version of the spot will run across the Yankees’ YES Network, ESPN and other sports programming.

Jordan Brand marketers and W+K came up with the creative idea from Jeter’s own routine in the batter’s box. Along with his familiar raised right hand, Jeter tugs at his batting helmet as he faces the pitcher. What if Jeter saluted his opponent — and the world saluted back thought Nike marketers.

Jeter’s scheduled to play in his 14th and final Midsummer Classic at Target Field in Minneapolis on Tuesday night. The Jordan Brand spot will likely kickstart a host of Jeter marketing campaigns as corporate sponsors salute his career and try to position his post-baseball brand.

Fox’s MLB history is closely connected with Jeter. The network began showing MLB games in 1996, when Jeter earned the first of his five World Series rings. So look for Fox announcer Joe Buck to focus heavily on Jeter while he plays his final All-Star game.

To help expand its reach in Canada, Netflix has released a series of new ads that play off the streaming video service's role as a sort of cultural watering hole from which we can draw endless references.

Created by DDB Vancouver, two of the spots continue the vibe of the "Pep Talk" spot from earlier this year by showing how citing movies and shows on Netflix can help you in tough situations like asking someone to marry you or sharing a hospital patient's prognosis. 

A third spot takes a pretty different approach, although the setup's quite similar. I'll let you watch without spoiling it, though.

CREDITS:

Agency: DDB Canada Vancouver
Executive Creative Directors: Dean Lee, Cosmo Campbell
Creative Directors: Dean Lee, Josh Fehr

"AIRPORT"
Associate Creative Director: Daryl Gardiner
Art Director: Daryl Gardiner
Copywriters: Daryl Gardiner, Jessica Schnurr, Geoff Vreeken

"PROPOSAL"
Associate Creative Director: Daryl Gardiner
Art Director: Daryl Gardiner
Copywriters: Daryl Gardiner, Jessica Schnurr, Geoff Vreeken

"TEST RESULTS"
Associate Creative Director: Daryl Gardiner
Art Director: Daryl Gardiner
Copywriters: Daryl Gardiner, Geoff Vreeken

Agency Producer: Karen Brown
Account Team: Patty Jones, VP Client Services Director; Roger Nairn, Account Supervisor
Project Manager: Matthew Sy
Strategy: Rob Newell

Production Company: Steam / Anonymous Content
Director: Brian Billow
Senior Executive Producer-Anonymous Content:  Eric Stern
Executive Producer-Steam:  Krista Marshall
Executive Producer-Steam:  Tony DiMarco
Director of Photography: Dion Beebe
Line Producer: Kelly King
Post-Production Company: Cycle Media http://www.cyclemedia.net/
Editor: Matthew Griffiths
Visual Effects/Animation: Peter Debay at Cycle Media http://www.cyclemedia.net/
Colorist: Stefan Sonnenfeld at Company 3
Audio House: Vapor Music
Audio House Creative Directors: Joey Serlin, Andrew Harris
Audio House Producer: Natalie Schnurr
Casting Agency in LA: Ryan Bernstein
Casting Agency in Toronto: Andrew Hayes http://powerhousecasting.com/

Talent/Lead Roles only:
"PROPOSAL"
Jake: Chris Smith
Kate: Cali Fredrichs

"AIRPORT"
Stephen: Gary Smith
Elizabeth: Abigail Marlowe

"TEST RESULTS"
Patient: Mike Beaver
Doctor: Richard Waugh

Many brands promise to make literally anyone more attractive to the opposite sex, but Old Spice takes this promise to the extreme with its new ads starring a hapless, barely functional android.

In a pair of spots from Wieden + Kennedy, a robot with the head of male human consistently wins with the ladies because he smells nice, all despite his best efforts to ruin his chances.

By positioning its products as deus-ex-machina sex potions that women simply can't resist, Old Spice comes off smelling quite a bit like competitor Axe, which has actually been moving away from these kinds of tropes in favor of more cinematic fare.

But the spots manage to keep Old Spice somewhat distinct with the sort of over-the-top humor that has defined the brand since Isaiah Mustafa first transformed a pair of theater tickets into a fistful of diamonds. And the commercials—TV ad "Soccer" and Web spot "Nightclub"—definitely have their bizarre moments.

Plus, Old Spice has already made the case, powerfully if insanely, that its products could turn men's hair into impossibly talented gophers, and mother-smothered boys into men. So it was really only a matter of time before it told us it could seal the deal for cyborgs.