This week, Hurricane Sandy and Halloween vied for our attention, brands got into heavy metal, and a famous former NYPD detective wants to make sure you know what you're dealing with in that Subway sandwich.
Many of the hundreds of TV commercials that air each day are just blips on the radar, having little impact on the psyche of the American consumer, who is constantly bombarded by advertising messages.
These aren't those commercials.
Adweek and AdFreak have brought together the most innovative and well-executed spots of the week, commercials that will make you laugh, smile, cry, think—and maybe buy.
Belvedere Vodka said it selected BBDO in New York to handle a new creative project for the upscale spirit.
The Omnicom agency won the business after a review which also included 72andsunny. The MDC affiliate declined to comment.
According to Nielsen, in 2011 Bevedere spent $10.4 million in U.S. measured media, an amount that does not include digital spending.
The Arnell Group has been Belvedere’s lead agency since 2009 when it won the business from Berlin Cameron. Execs at Arnell could not be reached for comment.
Earlier this year Belvedere caused a lot of controversy after an ad appeared on its Twitter page showing a woman struggling to break away from a man’s grasp. The headline read “Unlike some people, Belvedere always goes down smoothly.” Charles Gibb, Belvedere’s president, issued a public apology at the time and said as an expression of regret the company made a donation to Rainn, America’s largest anti-sexual violence organization.
At the time, Arnell CEO Sara Arnell acknowledged her agency was the brand’s lead ad partner but said it did not create that ad.
A quartet of creative agencies has advanced to the final round of Honda’s advertising review. Sources identified the shops as The Martin Agency, Mullen, 72andSunny and the incumbent, RPA.
The finalists emerged from a broader pack of seven agencies that also included Havas Worldwide, Draftfcb and Crispin Porter + Bogusky, according to sources. Honda marketing executives visited all seven shops last week.
Both Honda and its luxury nameplate, Acura, are in play. Media spending across both brands totaled about $840 million in 2011 and $784 million in the first nine months of 2012, according to Nielsen. Those figures don’t include online spending.
Honda is expected to brief the remaining creative contenders next week. Final presentations are slated for next month. Roth Associates in New York is managing the process.
The automaker also is reviewing its media planning and buying business in separate but parallel pitch. RPA is the incumbent on that as well. Sources identified the other media finalists as Horizon Media, PHD and MediaVest.
The consultancy did not return calls and Honda declined to comment.
The titular character in 72andSunny's trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 - Revolution is portrayed by veteran actor Peter Stormare, who riffs on his tough-guy persona to great effect as a dude in a dark suit who literally substitutes for guys so they can enjoy more game time.
We see him in a delivery room ("Don't worry about your husband. I'm your husband. Just get that baby out"); getting flustered as he tries to assemble furniture ("There are supposed to be four wheels and I've only got two!"); and cleaning the monkey house at the zoo ("Now you're gonna pick up my…" BLEEP!). There's even a nod to his memorable role in Fargo, as he feeds a birdhouse into a wood-chipper.
In describing the actual update to the iconic Activision franchise, he delivers one of the best commercial lines in recent memory: "For the first time ever, you get to play a freakin' zombie. If that's the kind of business you're into."
The script's solid, but Stormare's performance makes it soar. (He totally upstages the snippets of shoot-em-up game footage.) With his menacing grin and impossibly-intense-yet-goofy line deliveries, he's always on edge, seemingly seconds away from committing acts of extreme violence—just like gamers in real life. (Just kidding ... I think.)
The franchise should introduce a game where spokescharacters battle it out: Ad Ops: The Replacer vs. The Negotiator and Mayhem. I'd play as Shatner every time.
CREDITS Client: Activision Publishing
Chief Executive Officer: Eric Hirshberg Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer: Tim Ellis
Senior Vice President, Consumer Marketing: Todd Harvey
Senior Director, Consumer Marketing: Susan Hallock Consumer Marketing Manager: Mike Pelletier
Associate Consumer Marketing Manager: David Cushman
Agency: 72andSunny
Chief Creative Officer: Glenn Cole
Executive Creative Director: Frank Hahn Creative Director, Writer: Josh Fell
Creative Director, Designer: Rey Andrade
Lead Writer: Zach Hilder
Writer: Matt Spicer
Designers: Will Lindberg, Nicky Veltman
Director of Film Production: Sam Baerwald
Senior Film Producer: Dan Ruth
Junior Film Producer: Peter Williams
Director of Business Affairs: Christine Claussen
Business Affairs Manager: Jennifer Jahinian
Junior Business Affairs Manager: Maura McNulty
Group Brand Director: Mike Parseghian
Brand Director: Luke Lamson
Brand Manager: John Moloney
Brand Coordinator: Erica Goitia
Production Company: Hungry Man
Director: Wayne McClammy
Executive Producers: Dan Duffy, Kevin Byrne
Line Producer: Nate Young
Director of Photography: Tim Ives
Editing: Arcade Editorial
Editor: Christjan Jordan
Assitant Editor: Andy Trecki
Producer: Ali Reed
Executive Producer: Nicole Visram
Visual Effects, Online: Method
Lead Smoke Artist: Jason Frank
Producer: Stephanie Allis
Executive Producer: Robert Owens
Motion Graphics: Logan
Executive Producer: Matthew Marquis
Head of Production: Scott Siegal
Producer: J.R. Tuason
Art Director: Kenneth Robbin
Designers: Kenneth Robbin, Neil Tsai
2-D Animators: Neil Tsai, Morgan James
Sound Design: 740 Sound Design & Mix
Executive Producer: Scott Ganary
Sound Designers: Rommel Molina, Nicholas Interlandi
Mix: Lime Audio
Mixer: Rohan Young
Assistant Engineer: Jeff Malen
Producer: Jessica Locke
This week, Starbucks shows some love for the most hated day of the week, Dean Winters brings more mayhem for Allstate, and Internet Explorer—like many of us—is nostalgic for the '90s.
Many of the hundreds of TV commercials that air each day are just blips on the radar, having little impact on the psyche of the American consumer, who is constantly bombarded by advertising messages.
These aren't those commercials.
Adweek and AdFreak have brought together the most innovative and well-executed spots of the week—commercials that will make you laugh, smile, cry, think and maybe buy. Video Gallery: Top 10 Commercials of the Week
If you've got a job, there's a decent chance you're dealing with a dual-device situation—you know, a work phone given to you by the office (probably one that's useless for anything beyond taking calls and writing emails, otherwise known as a BlackBerry) and a personal phone you bought yourself (which has a touchscreen, a music library and a ton of apps, unless you're stuck in 2003).
Usually, the work phones have superior safety features, so your precious company emails won't end up in the wrong hands. (God forbid someone finds out who's in charge of ordering the cake for the IT guy's birthday.) Also, it's just how things are done.
But according to Samsung, it doesn't have to be that way.
In this new spot from 72andSunny, Samsung shows how its smartphones, using SAFE technology (short for Samsung For Enterprise), are secure enough to use at work, but won't force you to sacrifice fancy features.
The setting is an app developer's office—how 2013—where tech dudes in hoodies and glasses are working on a big new game, Unicorn Apocalypse. They've just been told they can start using any phone they want for work. So, of course, all the cool, young employees immediately switch to Samsung Galaxy devices that let them simultaneously watch basketball games and design zombie unicorn graphics and wirelessly share files and (probably) cat memes. Meanwhile, the sad, elderly people in the office (i.e., anyone over 35) insist on holding onto their BlackBerries because of lame excuses like "This is business" and "I have a system" and … blah, blah, blah, my ADD meds are wearing off and I have to go send a Snapchat, old man!
Although Samsung makes a point of poking fun at the seriousness with which certain tech-y types view their debatably useless work, the message of the spot is clear: If you want to be smart and forward thinking and modern, get your employees some shiny new Samsung phones.
If you want to be old and lame, by all means make them use a BlackBerry.
CREDITS
Client: Samsung
Agency: 72andSunny
Chief Executive Officer, Partner: John Boiler
Executive Creative Director: Jason Norcross
Creative Directors, Writers: Matt Heath, Barton Corley
Lead Writer: Patrick Maravilla
Lead Designer: Brandt Lewis
Senior Designer: Allison Hayes
Junior Writer: Jack Jenson
Director of Film Production: Sam Baerwald
Senior Film Producers: Angelo Mazzamuto, Erin Goodsell, Nicole Haase
Group Brand Director: James Townsend
Brand Manager: Andy Silva
Brand Coordinator: Nadia Economides
Production Company: Epoch Films
Director: Michael Downing
Executive Producers: Jerry Solomon, John Duffin
Producer: Eric Sedorovitz
Editing: Arcade Editorial
Editors: Paul Martinez, Greg Scruton, Will Hasell
Managing Partner: Damian Stevens
Executive Producer: Nicole Visram
Producer: Amburr Farls
Assistant Editors: Andrew Legget, Mike Campbell
Visual Effects, Animation: Mission Studios
Creative Director: Rob Trent
Executive Producer: Michael Pardee
Visual Effects Producers: Ryan Meredith, Stacy Kessler Aungst
Lead Compositor: Miles Essmiller
Compositors: Joey Brattesani, Katrina Salicrup, Michael Vagliente, Colleen Smith
Designer: Aaron Benoit
Rotoscope: Chris Cortese
Telecine: The Mill
Colorist: Adam Scott
Music: South Music
Head of Production: Dan Pritkin
Creative Director: Jon Darling
Composer, Arranger: Robin Holden
Sound Design: Barking Owl
Sound Designer: Michael Anastasi
Executive Producer, Creative Director: Kelly Bayett
Mix House: Play Studios
Mixer: John Bolen
Executive Producer: Lauren Cascio
Assistants: Ryan Sturup, Hermann Thumann
72andSunny has turned to a key player at a rival shop to build an event marketing practice at the agency.
Audrey Eden, evp of experiential marketing at Deutsch/LA since late 2010, joins 72andSunny at an opportune time: the MDC Partners shop is a finalist for Honda’s creative business in the U.S., and much of her work at Deutsch revolved around another car brand: Volkswagen.
That said, the search that led to Eden began before Honda launched its review. Indeed, 72andSunny’s Matt Jarvis said the hire represents a long-term play. Still, Eden could become a key contributor in a hotly contested review.
“Great strategy and great creative is the difference maker in that review. Given Audrey’s strategic and creative chops, we certainly think we’re better off with her than not,” said Jarvis, the agency’s chief strategy officer. “But there was no, ‘Hey, let’s go get an experiential group and then let’s go pitch an account where we know experiential is really significant.’”
Rather, Jarvis explained, the timing of the hire was a “happy coincidence.”
Among the VW-related events that Eden help conceive and execute at Deutsch were a sweepstakes for @VW followers to camp out and see the final shows of the Dave Matthews Band’s U.S. tour last year and a rare series of performances by seminal German band Kraftwork at the Museum of Modern Art, also last year. Eden also contributed to the automaker’s bread-and-butter test drive opportunities.
Other Deutsch accounts she worked on included Target and HTC. Eden’s other agency experience includes the Tequila unit of TBWA\Chiat\Day and GreenLight Media and Marketing, a consultancy that she helped form.
The thread that runs through Eden’s career is music, having started as a promotions coordinator at a radio station and later working for the likes of Miles Copeland, Roger Davies and Lindsay Scott. As she explained in an email: “Originally planning to become an attorney, my plan was thwarted when my childhood friend, the bass player from AC/DC, traveled through my college town. I was invited to join for a few shows and decided the music industry was the play.”
Jarvis, who has known Eden for a decade, described her as a “spark plug of energy” who’s equally adept at hatching ideas and executing them. He also believes that experiential marketing is the “next frontier of great creativity.” And, of course, car brands aren’t the only ones who can benefit. The agency’s other accounts include Samsung, Activision and Target.
Samsung has some fun with the NFL's strict trademark rules around the Super Bowl (see Adweek's own banner above for evidence of that) in the 60-second spot below starring Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd and Breaking Bad's Bob Odenkirk—a teaser for the company's two-minute in-game commercial.
The finished ad, created by 72andSunny and directed by Jon Favreau, will air during the fourth quarter of Sunday's broadcast.
UPDATE: Late Saturday night, the company released the full spot, with a cameo by LeBron James, which is posted here:
In the earlier 60-second teaser, posted below, Rogen and Rudd pitch ideas to Odenkirk for a Super Bowl commercial—except Odenkirk won't let them say "Super Bowl," or the names of the two teams that are playing.
Consumers will be able to weigh in on their favorite moments from the full ad, titled "The Big Pitch," and win prizes using the hashtag #TheNextBigThing.
"The anticipation of Super Bowl ads creates a unique consumer experience," said Todd Pendleton, chief marketing officer of Samsung Mobile. "'The Next Big Thing' campaign has allowed us the flexibility to tap into significant cultural moments and relevant conversations while showcasing our innovation."
The teaser and finished spot were cut by Geoff Hounsell and Will Hasell at Arcade Edit.
Last year's Samsung Super Bowl ad, directed by Bobby Farrelly, wrapped up the marketer's sarcastic portrayal of Apple fanboys with a circus-like execution.
One of these days, Carl's Jr. may go back to selling food rather than women. But until then, there are plenty more glistening, jiggling body parts to show in extreme close-up, and more off-puttingly moist biting and chewing noises to simulate. At least they change the models up once in a while. The latest one—following in the notorious footsteps of Kate Upton and Kim Kardashian—is noted swimsuit wearer Nina Agdal, who undresses and fornicates on a beach with the chain's new Charbroiled Atlantic Cod Fish Sandwich in the spot below, which broke in some markets during the Super Bowl. At the end, she is approached by a sunburned man—but sticks with her sandwich, because she prefers flesh that's charbroiled rather than fried.
The client's first quote in the release is about religion. "For almost half a century, whenever fast-food customers wanted to get a fish sandwich during Lent, they had one choice: fried," says CMO Brad Haley. "With our new Charbroiled Atlantic Cod Fish Sandwich, we've changed all that. For the first time in the industry, our guests can get a premium-quality fish sandwich that tastes great and is lower in calories because we charbroil it just like we do our burgers."
Glenn Cole, creative director and partner at Carl's Jr. agency 72andSunny, speaks to the talent in the spot. "Nina was a casting no-brainer," he says. "We have a healthy product, we're at the beach, we're in SI Swimsuit season. And it didn't hurt that she is very accustomed to being hit on by dubious sunburned guys."
See the director's cut (more body parts) and a behind-the-scenes video after the jump.
The Super Bowl already feels a world away. But in this week's top 10, we'd still like to recognize some of the spots that weren't released before the game—specifically, RAM Trucks, M&M's and Oreo.
All three were high points during last weekend's broadcast, and for very different reasons. The Oreo spot brought a welcome wackiness, thanks to Wieden + Kennedy and director Tom Kuntz. M&M's, through BBDO New York, delivered its trademark charm and wit. And the RAM Trucks ad, via The Richards Group, was simply the best ad of the game—beautiful and moving, a great example of advertising craft at its most powerful.
Elsewhere on this week's list, we've got comedy and horror, a trip back to medieval times, and plenty of celebrity skin—male and female. Check out all the spots at the link below.
And on the ninth day, God looked down and very much enjoyed RAM's "Farmer" commercial on the Super Bowl.
The stunning two-minute spot for Chrysler's truck division, created by The Richards Group in Dallas, was chosen by viewers as this year's best Super Bowl commercial in YouTube's 2013 Ad Blitz contest, held this year in partnership with Adweek.
One of three auto spots among the top five Ad Blitz finishers, the RAM spot was also chosen by Adweek earlier as the game's best spot.
Budweiser's 60-second "Brotherhood" spot from Anomaly with the baby Clydesdale finished second. Samsung's amusing two-minute "The Next Big Thing" spot by 72andSunny with Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd and Bob Odenkirk placed third.
Another Chrysler production—Jeep's two-minute "Whole Again" spot, created by GlobalHue—was fourth. And Hyundai's unassuming 30-second "Team" commercial from Innocean USA finished fifth, beating out more lavish car productions from Kia and Mercedes.
The top five show how viewers can appreciate quieter and more poignant moments during an often-hectic Super Bowl telecast. Three of the five, including the top two, are heartwarming productions, rather than the broad comedy for which Super Bowl ads have generally become known.
The results also indicate that longer spots can be undeniably compelling—with three two-minute ads and a :60 comprising Ad Blitz's top four.
Combined, these five spots generated more than 61 million views on YouTube in two weeks, the Google-owned video site said, accounting for more than 30 percent of all views of game-day ads and teasers on YouTube as of Feb. 14.
See all five spots below. And join us at this link this afternoon (Saturday, Feb. 16) at 3 p.m. ET/noon PT as Adweek's James Cooper and Tim Nudd interview some of the creative heavyweights behind the winning ads at a Google+ Hangout.
A movie version of Unicorn Apocalypse doesn't sound like Oscar material, but Samsung is flooding this year's Academy Awards with ads around its development anyway, and has gotten a major Hollywood director on board for the campaign.
The tech marketer is airing six spots totaling four and a half minutes of airtime on Sunday's broadcast, extending the Unicorn Apocalypse theme introduced earlier this year by 72andSunny in a campaign that shows how Samsung Galaxy products can be used for work, not just for play.
The ads take place at a game-developer startup company that's working on the launch of a new game called Unicorn Apocalypse. The new spots continue to show the company's young employees using Galaxy devices in various work environments.
The series, beginning with a 60-second spot and then four :30s, wraps with a :90, in which Tim Burton brainstorms a movie version of the game with the overexcited hipster developers.
"This is all the kind of stuff I love. You know, zombies, unicorns, the apocalypse," Burton says in the spot. "Did you guys know that unicorns are basically goats?"
The campaign was directed by Michael Downing of Epoch Films and edited by Arcade Edit's Paul Martinez, Will Hasell and Greg Scruton.
Beyond the TV spots, Samsung is also integrating Galaxy products throughout the ceremony and online through social channels—with various influencers outfitted with Samsung Galaxy devices delivering exclusive content from the red carpet and backstage to Samsung's social channels.
Samsung's big Oscars ad buy was a huge success on Twitter, according to data from Networked Insights, which found that the brand had the largest volume of social media chatter and highest positive sentiment among ABC advertisers last night.
Grey Poupon also performed well on the big TV stage by going back in time with its 1980s "Pardon Me" theme, per the New York-based analytics firm.
For Samsung, Hollywood director Tim Burton's cameo drove a substantial portion of the conversation, said Networked Insights. Burton appeared in a :90 spot that continued a "Unicorn Apocalypse" theme introduced earlier this year by 72andSunny. The commercial's creative is designed to highlight how Samsung Galaxy products can be utilized for work, in addition to play. It was one of six spots Samsung ran during the big television event.
Grey Poupon's stab at going retro was evidently a bonafide hit with Gen Xers and other social media consumers. With the brand's agency, Crispin Porter+Bogusky, deciding to breathe life into "Pardon Me," the brand received four times the social media conversations compared to its daily average, according to Networked Insights.
Using its SocialSense analytics system, the company broke down 8.9 million social media conversations about Oscars advertisers, with 98 percent living on Twitter and most of the rest on Tumblr.
Other key results, per Networked Insights' data:
—JCP had the third-most-positive social media response for its "Yours Truly" campaign, which entailed six Oscars spots.
—Apple drew the second-highest amount of chatter, but saw polarizing results.
—Coca-Cola's ads performed similarly to Apple's.
—McDonald's effort created the fourth-highest degree of buzz, but sentiment was middling.
February is traditionally the month when the vast majority of marketers stand down and let the Super Bowl advertisers battle it out for dominance in YouTube views. But this year, someone forgot to tell PlayStation.
The Sony gaming brand outlasted three strong Super Bowl spots from Samsung, RAM Trucks and Jeep to take the top spot on Google and Adweek's YouTube Ads Leaderboard for the month of February—all thanks to the main teaser video for the PlayStation 4 console, which racked up an impressive 26 million views, 5 million more than the closest contender.
Remarkably, the six other spots on this month's Leaderboard come from three advertisers—with Pepsi, Chevrolet and Oreo each placing two spots on the list. Chevy's two entries are actually two different versions of the same spot—the 60- and 90-second iterations of its "Find New Roads" anthem commercial. But even taken as one, those view counts would not have placed Chevy in the top four.
One of the two Oreo spots was from the Super Bowl. And one of the two Pepsi spots was Super Bowl related—it's the fake behind-the-scenes look at Coke's Super Bowl ad.
The view counts are as of March 4. To be eligible for the YouTube Ads Leaderboard, videos must be marked as ads on YouTube (i.e., they get some paid views) but must also earn significant organic views. See all 10 spots at the link below.
Heidi Klum is the latest person who doesn't eat Hardee's/Carl's Jr. to film an ad for the fast-food chain. The spot, from 72andSunny, which spoofs The Graduate for whatever reason, has Klum chowing into a Jim Beam Bourbon burger in front of a younger man (and his pathetic attempt at a mustache) while the voiceover sort of compares the experience to losing one's virginity. Gross. What they should compare it to is unhinging your jaw like a boa constrictor. That burger is as big as Heidi's head. Beyond that, ads like this are destined to underperform, in a way. As an audience, either we don't pay attention to the burger because of Heidi's fabulous body, or we do pay attention to it and, well, that's weird and off-putting. If Morgan Spurlock taught us anything, it's that fast food can't be sexy. Period. The spot was directed by H.S.I.'s Chris Applebaum and edited by Will Hasell of Arcade Edit.
Carl's Jr.'s notorious Memphis BBQ Burger commercial, which features two half-dressed women fighting over pulled pork on a cheeseburger—aka, "barbecue's best pair"—recently arrived in New Zealand. It was promptly banned there, however, for running afoul of two of the country's advertising rules—prohibiting the use of sex appeal in an exploitative and degrading manner, and the use of sex to sell an unrelated product. (Are there any Carl's Jr. ads that New Zealand doesn't ban?) In response to this particular censure, Carl's Jr. decided to describe the TV spot in a radio ad—which, left to the listener's imagination, is perhaps as suggestive as the TV spot. (Special Group did the radio work; 72andSunny did the TV.) It's not a bad use of radio, which is sometimes said to be the most visual medium. Of course, the radio spots will probably be banned soon, too. Via The Ethical Adman.
Activision needed some high-impact firepower to tout its downloadable Black Ops 2: Uprising content, which is set for release next week on Xbox 360. Two riotous "replacers" answered the Call of Duty. Veteran movie tough guy Peter Stormare reprises his role as a nattily attired, ludicrously intense dude who substitutes for average Joes in their daily lives so they'll have more time to play the massively popular game. Stormare, just as insanely on edge as he was in his January debut, is joined by equally well-dressed, righteously kick-ass sidekick J.B. Smoove, aka actor-comedian Jerry Brooks.
The pitchmen wring every drop of humor from absurd "replacement" situations in this new three-minute clip from 72andSunny. They're both tightly wound, yet handle pressure differently. Stormare speaks softly and with great deliberation; it seems like his face might crack open from the tension building up inside. His barely repressed murderousness bubbles up as he tells a slow-choosing customer to "Pick a Sammmich" when he and Smoove substitute for counter help at an oddly named fast-food joint. (Note how he threateningly brandishes a knife, just as McDonald's crew members do in real life if you don't order fast enough.)
Smoove, conversely, lets it all hang out, and his loud, rapid-fire bursts of dialogue ricochet through the pair's adventures. Replacing an attorney, he delivers his closing argument: "Is my client guilty? Probably. Who cares?" When Stormare chides him from the defense table ("You're doing it wrong"), Smoove explodes, "I'm doin' it the way I'm gonna do it, OK? Let me do this, OK? … I'm in my zone right now! Did he do it? I DON'T KNOW!" He's also great as a happy-happy, hyperactive fill-in TV weatherman, emoting to the max as he warns, "There's a 45 percent chance of swamp ass today, New Orleans. Be careful out there!"
Sure, it's basically just a sendup of the familiar buddy-cop/action-flick formula—there's even a "Bad Cop, Bad Cop" bit where both actors smash every prop in an interrogation room. But these two elevate the material, which is superior to start with, to a stratospheric level. They share a rare chemistry, the kind attained by John Hodgman and Justin Long in Apple's "Get a Mac" campaign, or James Garner and Mariette Hartley in Polaroid commercials of yore—for those of a certain age who, like myself, have to bump up the point size to read these advertising reviews. Stormare, Smoove—what are you waiting for? Guys, for the love of God, replace me!
There are knights in armor, Aztec warriors, ninjas, samurai and special ops commandos outside. There goes the neighborhood! This trailer by 72andSunny (and director Mark Romanek from Anonymous Content) for Activision's upcoming Call of Duty: Ghosts features assorted masked warriors, most sporting ornate headgear or fearsome face paint. "There are those who wear masks to hide. And those who wear masks to show us what they stand for," the voiceover says. "There are those who wear masks to protect themselves. And there are those who wear masks to protect us all." That's about it. We don't really learn anything about the nature of Ghosts itself. I'm guessing it's one of those games where you bat a blob of light across the screen, but I could be wrong. We'll know for sure when Ghosts debuts at an Xbox event on May 21, with the actual release set for November. Some may yearn for gameplay footage, but I'm enjoying Activision's teaser approach, which initially masks the details. The riotous "Replacer" spots for Black Ops 2: Uprising, by the same agency, generate excitement while giving little way, and I'd wager the ominous tone and impressive visuals of the Ghosts promo will get the faithful stoked for battle. Well played!
Some smartphones are smarter than other smartphones," Samsung proclaims in this new 90-second spot, which aired Thursday night on Conan. But mostly, some smartphones appear to be younger than other smartphones. Every adult at this graduation pool party has an iPhone, and every kid has a Samsung Galaxy S4—just like the real world, where iPhone popularity is plummeting and…
No, I'm sorry, that's not happening. But you can't blame Samsung for trying. A company that comprises 20 percent of the GDP of South Korea has a lot of mouths to feed, to say the least.
This is a good ad, but it is a little strange that there's only one joke feature in an ad about really neat stuff that actually does seem kind of off the wall and science fictional. Smellable photos aren't coming out until the GS6, at the soonest. (The phone does all the other stuff, though, right? I mean, I used to have a Palm Pilot that could turn on the TV. God, I'm old, you guys. Like, iPhone old.) I'm also not entirely clear on what the hovering-finger text-reading thing actually is.
72andSunny's best idea here is the music, a plucked-string, piano and viola combo that points up the humor and easily accommodates breaks for punch lines. The casting is good, too, especially the girls by the pool and every one of the parents, who are all very game about playing baby-boomer cluelessness.
As a devoted Apple denialist, I am always up for a few cheap shots at the iPhone. But this ad actually has more on its mind than "Apple users are cultists," which was the point of its very funny campaign for a while. Now, Samsung is actually emphasizing the features of the phone itself, which is … yes, I'm going to definitively call that a good idea.
Here are two more spots. The first will break Tuesday on TV; the second is online only for now.
CREDITS
Client: Samsung Telecommunications America
Project: GS4 Launch Campaign
Agency: 72andSunny
John Boiler CEO, Partner
Jason Norcross Executive Creative Director
Matt Heath Creative Director, Writer
Jason Ambrose Creative Director, Designer
Allison Hayes Sr. Designer
Jason Pollock Lead Writer
Robert Teague Designer
Sam Baerwald Director of Film Production
Angelo Mazzamuto Senior Film Producer
Esther Perls Film Producer
James Townsend Group Brand Director
Andy Silva Brand Manager
Nadia Economides Brand Coordinator
Production: Epoch Films
Michael Downing Director
Melissa Culligan Executive Producer
John Duffin Executive Producer
Francie Miller Line Producer
VFX/Animation: Chemical Effects
Sandy Beladino Senior Executive Producer
Liz Lydecker Producer
Dan Lorenzini Lead Sr. Flame Artist
Shauna Prescott Sr. Flame Artist
Jorge Tanaka Flame Assistant
Mat Stevens Head of 3D
Telecine: The Mill Los Angeles
Gregory Reese Colorist (Graduation Party, Graduation Photo, Easy Mode)
All other spots TBD
Music: South Music
Dan Pritkin Head of Production
Jon Darling Creative Director
Robin Holden Composer/Arranger
Sound Design: Barking Owl
Michael Anastasi Sound Designer
Kelly Bayett Executive Producer/Creative Director
Mix House: Play Studios
John Bolen Mixer
Lauren Cascio Executive Producer
Hermann Thumann Assistant
In April, not one but two viral juggernauts did even better than the Pepsi MAX video. The first was Dove's "Real Beauty Sketches" video from Ogilvy Brazil, uploaded to YouTube on April 14. Then, five days later, Evian posted its latest babies commercial from BETC Paris. Both spots stormed past the Pepsi MAX view count to become 2013's most-watched YouTube ads so far.
Click through to the gallery here to see which one emerged victorious in this particular clash of the titans:
Fernando Machado, vp of Dove Skin, spoke with Adweek about the phenomenal success of the Real Beauty Sketches campaign. YouTube view counts are nice, he said, but it's the emotional connection driving that engagement which is key.
"The brand has been overwhelmed by the positive response to the Dove Real Beauty Sketches film," he said. "We launched the film in mid-April and it has already received over 100 million views globally—45 million in the U.S—across Dove branded video platforms. The moment the film was uploaded to the Dove YouTube page, it received an overwhelming response and quickly started to gain traction around the world with women, men, media and even other brands sharing the film."
He adds: "Dove believes that all women are beautiful and is saddened by the fact that only 4 percent of women around the world think that they're beautiful. The Real Beauty Sketches campaign struck an emotional chord with millions of women who recognize that they are their own worst beauty critic. People felt compelled to share the film with others to inspire them to see the beauty in themselves that others do. Since the film launched, Dove has received an outpouring of testimonials from women around the world telling us how deeply the Real Beauty Sketches film has resonated with them."
The view counts on this month's YouTube Ads Leaderboard are as of May 2. To be eligible for the Leaderboard, videos must be marked as ads on YouTube (i.e., they get some paid views) but must also earn significant organic views. See all 10 spots at the link above.
