As we near any holiday—July 4 is coming up!—we watch brands try to capitalize on it by using social media to link themselves to the milestone. The West Coast dairy brand Tillamook is amusingly taking its turn with an effort to change Independence Day into revolutionary moment for 100 percent natural cheese products. 

As you most likely already know, American cheese isn't, strictly speaking, cheese; it's a type of processed cheese. The FDA, in fact, has pretty strict regulations about how cheese brands label it. Tillamook's currently campaign, launched earlier this year by 72andSunny, is "Dairy Done Right," and the brand thought this July 4 would be an apt time to take a stance on American cheese. The funny, overwrought ads feature an animated Abraham Lincoln campaign against (and at one point stabbing with a sword) artificial American cheese.

"We wanted to start educating people that there's a right way to make dairy products and a not-so-right way," said John Russell, chief marketing officer at Tillamook. "We realized we had an opportunity to make our message that much more culturally relevant [during certain times of the year]."

In the new spots, which launched Wednesday, the brand says it hacked its own media buy: instead of airing its previous "Dairy Done Right" ads, the brand has been and will continue to air its "Un-American Cheese" spots through the Fourth.

"Everyone knows what processed, or American cheese, is but they don't know exactly what it is and how it is different from 100 percent natural cheese," said Russell. "Everyone is going to be going out buying a bunch of cheese slices for their Fourth of July barbecues, so this is a great time to point out, in a fun way, that American cheese is not so good." 

The brand has also launched a White House petition to get "American" removed from the processed cheese's name. They hope to garner 100,000 signatures for said petition, which they hope will make the White House respond. 

"People eat a lot of American cheese over the Fourth of July," said Kelly Schoeffel, co-head of strategy for 72andSunny. "This was a great way to call out American cheese without calling out an existing brand. It's a moment where you can call out just the existence of American cheese."  

Schoeffel said that the agency chose Lincoln as its activist for "a very specific reason—he's honest Abe! He cannot tell a lie. And American cheese posing as cheese is just that. Or as Seb, our writer, put it in the petition: 'processed, plastic-wrapped slices of deception.'"

Creative Credits:
Brand: Tillamook
Project: Un-American Cheese Campaign

Client: Tillamook County Creamery Association
President & CEO: Patrick Criteser
Senior Director of Marketing: John Russell
Integrated Marketing Manager: Gillian Kennedy
Corporate Communications Manager: Tori Harms
Paid Media and Research Coordinator: Ashley Riggs
Digital Marketing Coordinator: Laura Schatz
Social Media Strategist: Amalya Haver
Events and Retail Marketing Supervisor: Katie Moreland
PR and Packaging Coordinator: Katie Weltner
Consumer Relations Coordinator: Callie O'Sullivan

72andSunny Team
Chief Executive Officer: John Boiler
Chief Creative Officer: Glenn Cole
Group Creative Director: Grant Holland
Creative Director/Designer: Jason Ambrose
Designer: Jessica Lasher
Writer: Sebastian Lyman
Jr. Social Writers: Hilary Smith, Emily Frederick
Jr. Social Designer: Fabienne Wente
Group Strategy Director: Kelly Schoeffel
Strategist: Anneliese Rapp
Group Brand Director: Josh Jefferis
Brand Manager: Laura Hoffman
Brand Coordinator: Lauren DesRosiers
User Experience Design Director: Melissa Bell
Director of Film Production: Sam Baerwald
Sr. Film Producer: Ann Parker
Art Production Coordinator: Nicole Rejwan
Business Affairs Director: Christina Rust
Business Affairs Manager: Maggie Pijanowski
Business Affairs Jr Manager: Jesse Sinkiewicz

Editorial: 72andSunny Studio
Editor: Thomas MacVicar
Creative Director: Ryan Zunkley
Designer / Animator: Jae Yoo
Executive Producer: Jenn Locke
Editorial Producer: Becca Purice
VFX Producer:Tom Slovick
Audio / Sound Design: Matt Kravitz

72andSunny catches a new wave with Samsung in this short film created with the World Surf League, which Samsung Mobile sponsors.

A sequel of sorts to last year's Cannes Gold Lion-winning "Every Day Is Day One," the new clip, part of a new campaign themed "We Are Greater Than I" (there's also a gripping cycling spot) focuses on the intense interconnectedness of the surfing community. "No individualism, no ego, no celebration of one hero," the WSL says on its site in a brief description of the 90-second spot, stressing that all surfers, regardless of their age, sex, race or skill level, are "intrinsically co-dependent, and tied together for better—and for worse."

The ad's imagery, captured by Stink director Eliot Rausch, stirringly sustains this theme as it creates a cycle-of-life effect. We open with a moody shot of dark, swelling waves that seemingly give "birth" to a solitary rider. Later, a solemn circle of surfers, their hands joined, float waist-deep in the ocean, bidding farewell to a fallen comrade.



Surfing, we come to understand, is more than a sport. It's an almost religious calling shared by a group of people who simply wouldn't live any other way. This special passion connects enthusiasts who hit icy waters for early-morning, pre-work rides to elite pros like Gabriel Maedina, Sally Fitzgibbons and others who compete around the world.

The voiceover contains a litany of "thank you's" to friends, sponsors, groupies, haters—everyone and everything that could push surfers to the max. Invoking "pain," "paradise," "heaven" and "hell" might seem like a bit much. Still, the self-conscious hyperbole suits an adventurous, driven, highly spiritual culture greater than the sum of its parts.

While the ad has generated considerable praise, and topped 5 million YouTube views in its first week, some hardcore surfers have complained. They accuse Samsung of co-opting their "pure" sport, and question the emphasis of group over individual.

Samsung's patronage can only help surfing grow, pushing it further into the mainstream and attracting new fans and devotees (which might be the problem for those who feel the waves are already too crowded). As for the group vs. individual argument, perhaps the ad should be viewed as celebrating the way in which each person brings a unique style and spirit to the community. They strengthen the whole, and draw strength from each other.

This bond is as deep as the sea. Even the solitary surfer doesn't ride the waves alone.

Spellbinding scenes captured by adventure seekers and even wildlife made GoPro the hottest video camera around. And now, the company wants to give marketers a sharper view. Hundreds of those videos, like those from the perspective of a dolphin swimming alongside his pod or a dude jumping from a tall building, will soon be at marketers' fingertips via a platform dubbed GoPro Licensing.

"We've gotten calls almost daily from creative agencies, TV networks and film studios that want to use our content," said Adam Dornbusch, head of programming at GoPro, which just began taking marketers' applications via its online portal.

Michelle Slusser McKinney, director of business affairs at 72andSunny, said the clips stand to build more consumer engagement than your standard user-generated content on YouTube, offering that her agency's sports clients may be planning to incorporate GoPro material into campaigns.
 

GoPro Licensing makes hundreds of videos available to marketers. 

 
"The most significant difference between regular user-generated content and GoPro content is higher quality and footage [that comes from] in and around spaces that are not easily captured," she explained. "When you want adventurous high quality, then GoPro fills that space. It brings a unique, first-person experience with content that also differs from traditional licensed content."

At launch, GoPro Licensing will feature more than 600 videos from amateur and professional videographers with whom the San Mateo, Calif.-based company has struck licensing agreements. It plans to continuously expand the number of clips available, with the aim of making GoPro to videos what Getty Images and Shutterstock are to still images. Videos start at $1,000 apiece, depending on the extent of commercial use and distribution.

"This is going to stay at a very premium level," Dornbusch said. "If you are looking for top-shelf content, this is the platform."

Video ads are now a $7.7 billion industry, per eMarketer. 

Insiders predict GoPro Licensing could grow into a significant contributor of revenue for the company. Its timing seems fortuitous. Video ads are now a $7.7 billion industry, per eMarketer. And the marketers that produce that content seek a higher level of creative. Forty-eight percent of marketers polled by PAN Communications this past March expressed a lack of confidence in their content.

"I believe licensed video is another step in the evolution of user-generated content in brand marketing," said David Karnstedt, CEO of branding consultancy Quantifind. "There is a significant demand from marketers for quality video content, and with proven economic models from [periphery incumbents like Getty Images and Shutterstock], I believe this new market could be a significant value-creation event for GoPro."

Could GoPro videos shake up the agency model? Karnstedt thinks they could. "I do think agency executives may be somewhat resistant," he said. "Instead of a two-day video shoot, brands can now purchase a video and take the production expenses out of the equation, which could reduce creative costs in a significant way."

The clients most likely wouldn't see that as a negative.

"A lot of brands want one-of-a-kind, crazy types of content but don't want to pay for the necessary production," said Jeremy Greene, CEO of PingTank, a social-animation app that counts McDonald's and Coca-Cola as clients. "And we are going to eventually see TV commercials that are made by the hands of GoPro creators. Some kid from Omaha, Nebraska, is going to be watching TV and suddenly realize, 'Hey, I made that,' which is pretty cool."

This story first appeared in the July 20 issue of Adweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.

If you were looking forward to drooling over whatever hot, near-naked model would grace Carl's Jr.'s notoriously lascivious advertising next, you're in for a disappointment.

In a new 30-second commercial, the crass burger chain plays on its reputation for portraying women as pieces of meat who love to eat smaller pieces of meat in the most ridiculously carnal way possible. But here, it turns out the sweaty, glistening curves belong to something way less titillating.



Titled "Natural Beauties," the concept is essentially a rehash of one of the older jokes in the book, if cleverly tailored to poke fun—in a nonetheless leering, winking sort of way—at the brand's history of scantily clad talent including Charlotte McKinney, Kate Upton, Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton.

In the end, it's all just part of Carl's Jr. attempt to make its products seem less terrible for your health—i.e., natural. Everyone knows that's a nonsense classification to begin with, and seems particularly half-hearted here—which is fitting, because each time you eat one of the brand's hot-dog-and-potato-chips-on-a-burger burgers, half your heart is probably liable to just give up.

CREDITS
Client: Carl's Jr.
Chief Executive Officer: Andy Puzder
Chief Marketing Officer: Brad Haley
Senior Vice President, Product Marketing: Bruce Frazer
Director of Advertising: Brandon LaChance
Vice President, Field Marketing, Media, Merchandising: Steve Lemley
Director, Product Marketing, Merchandising: Christie Cooney
Product Marketing Manager: Allison Pocino

72andSunny Team
Chief Creative Officer: Glenn Cole
Group Creative Directors: Justin Hooper, Mick DiMaria
Creative Directors: Tim Wettstein, Mark Maziarz
Senior Designer: Marcus Wesson
Group Strategy Director: Matt Johnson
Strategy Director: Kasia Molenda
Strategist: Eddie Moraga
Group Brand Director: Alexis Coller
Senior Brand Manager: Scott Vogelsong
Brand Coordinator: Anthony Fernandez
Director of Film Production: Sam Baerwald
Executive Film Producer: Molly McFarland
Junior Film Producer: Kira Linton
Film Production Coordinator: Taylor Stockwell
Business Affairs Director: Amy Jacobsen
Business Affairs Manager: Jennifer Jahinian
Business Affairs Coordinator: Ryan Alls

Coast Public Relations:
Founder, CEO: Jeanne Beach Hoffa
Group Director: Melissa Penn
Director: Kate Franklin

Production Company: Strange & Wonderful
Director: Will Hyde
Executive Producer: Celeste Hyde
Producer: John Gomez

Editing: 72andSunny Studio
Editor: Doron Dor
Executive Producer: Jenn Locke
Producer: Becca Purice

Online Finishing: Brickyard VFX
Visual Effects Producer: Diana Young
Visual Effects Artists: Patrick Poulatian, Mandy Sorenson
Computer Graphics Artist: David Blumenfeld

Telecine: Beach House
Colorist: Mike Pethel
Producer: Denise Brown

Audio, Sound Design: On Music and Sound
Mixer, Sound Designer: Chris Winston

Music:
Track: "Beastie"
Written and Performed by: The Blancos
Used courtesy of Godiy Music

In 1990, a group of disabled people pulled themselves up the steps at the U.S. Capitol building to advocate for the Americans With Disabilites Act, protesting delays in an event that became known as the Capitol Crawl.

Now, a new outdoor ad campaign from Google and 72andSunny marks the 25th anniversary of the landmark legislation by featuring painted portraits of key figures in the disability rights movement on the steps of major cultural buildings in Washington, D.C.

Posted from July 24-27, the billboards featured a range of notable activists—like Claudia Gordon, the first deaf female African-American attorney in U.S. history, and Ed Roberts, a leader in the drive for the ADA as well as the movement more broadly—at buildings like Gallaudet University and the National Portrait Gallery, respectively. They also celebrated legislators like former U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa and U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island.

A quote accompanied each portrait. "This vital legislation will open the door to full participation by people with disabilities in our neighborhoods, workplaces, our economy, and our American Dream," reads Harkin's, posted on steps in the Newseum.



The steps leading up to the Carnegie Library also feature a quote—sans portrait—from President George H.W. Bush, who signed the ADA into law.

72andSunny hired artist Darren Booth to illustrate the campaign. An accompanying website features more in-depth tellings of each figure's role in the movement, including, in most cases, video interviews with the subjects themselves. It also ties more directly back into the brand's products, with a Google Map offering a "tour" of the locations that hosted the portraits.

Here are all the paintings and their locations:

 
Claudia Gordon at Gallaudet University

 
Tom Harkin at the Newseum

 
Patrick Kennedy at Woodrow Wilson Plaza

 
Justin Dart Jr. at Woodrow Wilson Plaza

 
Tia Nelis at the National Museum of American History

 
Kathy Martinez at the National Museum of American History

 
Ed Roberts at the National Portrait Gallery

 
Judy Heumann at the National Portrait Gallery

 
Tatyana McFadden at the National Portrait Gallery

CREDITS
Client: Google
Agency: 72andSunny
Artwork: Darren Booth

Former MDC Partners chief Miles Nadal has already paid the company back $8.6 million and owes an additional $12.7 million in the wake of the SEC inquiry into his expenses, company CFO David Doft told financial analysts on MDC's second-quarter earnings call.

Last month, Nadal quit the company he founded amid the continuing investigation.

Doft, along with new CEO Scott Kauffman, reassured Wall Street the continuing inquiry has not cost MDC agency affiliates any business or caused problems with talent recruitment or retention. Still, Kauffman ended the analysts' call by emphasizing the company's need to "regain your trust."

Kauffman said MDC just completed a deal to purchase the 49 percent of 72andSunny it doesn't already own, with the agency's three principals pledging to stay on another five years.

MDC also disclosed it has spent $3.9 million in legal fees related to the SEC investigation of Nadal, but the company hopes to recoup some of it under its insurance policy. Kauffman and Doft said company execs continue to cooperate with the SEC inquiry.

Kauffman, a nine-year MDC board member, made his Wall Street debut by promising no change in MDC's core strategy of making entrepreneurial acquisitions by initially buying less than 100 percent in agency affiliates. He also said MDC will continue to bolster its North America holdings, scale media operations and look at expansion outside North America, where international operations now generate 9 percent of revenue.   

In the second quarter, MDC reported a 7.8 percent rise in organic revenue and an increase of 11.3 percent in overall revenue. The company reported an "expected" loss of $2.5 million compared with income of $7.6 million in the 2014 period, blaming revenue recognition on certain accounts. MDC affirmed full-year revenue growth of between 6.5 percent and 8.5 percent to about $1.3 billion.

Kill your idols, as they say. Or, at least stop worshipping them so much. That's what Adidas' new inspirational 60-second spot from 72andSunny is about, though it'd be easy to get caught up in the ad's focus on soccer star Lionel Messi. 

Instead of zeroing in on well-known athletes to pitch their products—though they're still featured in the campaign—Adidas is looking to champion up-and-coming talent. 

"We live in a world where typically athletes are told to follow or emulate their heroes," said Lia Stierwalt, senior director of global communications and media for Adidas. "We want to inspire creators to defy the norm of sports today, so they can focus on shaping their own reality and ultimately create their own game." 

"In terms of marketing [championing young players' skills over star athletes'], that's a topic that's skirted by these companies, because no one wants to upset their athletes," said Glenn Cole, chief creative officer of 72andSunny in Los Angeles. "By saying we're promoting and sponsoring you, but now we're going to tell everyone to 'unfollow' you ... I think it's brave of them and the athletes involved to be willing to go there." 

Much of the new spot was stitched together from material found online, according to Cole. The agency did, however, work with Messi for a reaction shot. 

What's inspiring about a dusty patch of ground in Venice, Calif., populated with a few scraggly weeds and hemmed in by a chain link fence? Plenty, according to the team at 72andSunny's in-house creative residency, 72U.

The six-member group looked at the forlorn piece of property and saw an opportunity for a community gathering spot and open-air workspace. Using crowdsourced info, they spent eight weeks creating a 1,500-square-foot pop-up park with free wi-fi, portable desks, fences that convert to tables and art installations. The space on Abbot Kinney Boulevard, meant to "inspire and connect the community," its designers say, will be open for nine months.



It's the latest project from 72U, which gathers creative thinkers from outside the traditional ad world, tosses them together for three months and challenges them to create art-meets-technology-meets-culture concepts. Other fruits of the program's labor include a Craigslist-style interactive music video and two four-story murals about privacy in the digital age.

For years Carl's Jr.'s spots have had a consistent formula: Take one beautiful and scantily clad model that would probably never eat Carl's Jr., add a few double entendres that highlight the model's attributes, then mention the sandwich a few times.

But lately the brand seems to be playing with consumers' expectations, and it's quite fun. 

Instead of the usual waifish model, the brand has now tapped undefeated MMA champion Ronda Rousey to introduce its Cinnamon Swirl French Toast Breakfast Sandwich.

Here 72andSunny takes the public perception of Rousey—a merciless fighter known for her lightning-fast KOs—and then shifts to showing her lighter side. (You don't have to look much farther than Rousey's recent Reddit AMA to see how charmingly nerdy she can get when she starts talking Pokemon and video games.)

And yes, playing up the sex appeal of a a female fighter could be seen as a less than progressive stance, especially for a brand with Carl's Jr.'s reputation. But the ad shows several sides of Rousey, making it clear that she, like most human beings, doesn't fit into any convenient stereotype.

Plus, it's nice to see an ass-kicking spokeswoman who can actually take a bite out of the food they're meant to be selling.

CREDITS

Client: Carl's Jr.
Chief Executive Officer: Andy Puzder
Chief Marketing Officer: Brad Haley
Senior Vice President, Product Marketing: Bruce Frazer
Director of Advertising: Brandon LaChance
Vice President, Field Marketing, Media and Merchandising: Steve Lemley
Director, Product Marketing and Merchandising: Christie Cooney
Product Director: Kathy Johnson

Agency: 72andSunny
Chief Creative Officer: Glenn Cole
Group Creative Directors: Justin Hooper, Mick DiMaria
Creative Directors: Tim Wettstein, Mark Maziarz
Senior Designer: Gabo Curielcha
Senior Writer: Chad Goodnoe
Group Strategy Director: Matt Johnson
Strategy Director: Kasia Molenda
Strategist: Eddie Moraga
Group Brand Director: Alexis Coller
Senior Brand Manager: Scott Vogelsong
Brand Coordinator: Anthony Fernandez
Director of Film Production: Sam Baerwald
Executive Film Producer: Molly McFarland
Senior Film Producer: Juliet Diamond
Junior Film Producer: Kira Linton
Film Production Coordinator: Taylor Stockwell
Business Affairs Director: Amy Jacobsen
Business Affairs Manager: Maggie Pijanowski
Business Affairs Coordinator: Calli Howard

Public Relations: Coast Public Relations
Founder, Chief Executive Officer: Jeanne Beach Hoffa
Group Director: Melissa Penn
Director: Kate Franklin                                                 

Production Company: Wondros                                      
Director: Chris Applebaum                                  
Executive Producer: Timory King                                            
Head of Production: Doron Kauper
Producer: John Hardin                                                                                          
Editing: Whitehouse Post                            
Editor: Paul LaCalandra                                    
Executive Producer: Joni Williamson                                          
Producer: Jonlyn Williams                                                                                              
Editing: jumP LA                      
Editor: Erwin Fraterman                                    
Executive Producer: Betsy Beale                              
Producer: Callie Beckman        
Online Finishing: Brickyard VFX
Visual Effects Producer: Diana Young
Visual Effects Artists: Patrick Poulatian, Mandy Sorenson
Telecine: BeachHouse                                
Colorist: Mike Pethel                                  
Executive Producer: Denise Brown                                                                                            
Audio, Sound Design: On Music and Sound                                          
Mixer, Sound Designer: Chris Winston

Music: South Music                                                                      
Track: "South for Cinnamon Swirl"                                                                           
Written and Performed by: South

UFC® footage provided by Zuffa LLC, ©2014-15

It's been around since 1987 and is judged by advertising experts from 42 countries, but the Epica Awards hasn't enjoyed the sort of U.S. exposure seen by the likes of Cannes, the Clios and The One Show. 

This year, the awards show hopes to expand its profile and position itself as "a legitimate and necessary alternative to other global creative competitions," said Mark Tungate, the organization's chief spokesman and editorial director, tasked with assembling an annual 400-page coffee table book about the show.

Acknowledging that it cannot compete against iconic events like the Cannes Lions in terms of scale, Epica—scheduled for Nov. 19 in Berlin, and open for entries through month's end—has added timely, trendy awards categories and expanded its jury pool in an effort to attract more attention, especially in key markets like the United States.

New and enhanced prize brackets include personal electronics, humor, product design and virtual reality, among others, increasing the number of overall categories to 68, up from 62 last year. In addition, the international jury has been enlarged, and the show expects to welcome 53 judges, compared to 43 in 2014.

"If you're a creative professional, this is the only chance you'll have to get your work judged and celebrated by a jury that combines the objective viewpoint of the public with a deep expertise that comes from years of covering the industry," Tungate said. He makes that claim because—since the show's founding in 1987—the Epica jury has been composed entirely of journalists who follow marketing and media. (Adweek digital managing editor David Griner will serve as a first-time juror in November.)

Jurors are not allowed to vote for work from their own countries, subtracting traditional awards-show politics from the equation. "No one has an ax to grind. You get an award if you do your best work—that's it," Tungate said.

"At their best, journalists are proxies for the audience," said Teressa Iezzi, the former Fast Co. senior editor, who served as Epica's jury president last year. "And the audience is the ultimate arbiter of whether advertising is good or effective or not." So, handing over the judging reins from industry practitioners to the press helps keep the show in tune with broader public opinion.

Michael Aimette, executive creative director at BBDO New York, which won the show's Grand Prix in Film last year for GE's "The Boy Who Beeps," buys into that logic, calling Epica "an important one to win." The agency enters the show every year.

That's not true for all shops, however, so Epica is looking to add value beyond the awards. For the second year, the show will also sponsor a Creative Circle conference, giving ad professionals and the press a chance to discuss topics such as virtual reality, photography, graphic design and the impact of urban life on creativity. In a sense, the event is transforming itself into a forum for insightful sharing—where the best concepts of a given year also happen to receive prizes.

Room for improvement

Despite its lofty goals, Epica, which focused on European creativity until going global three years ago, remains somewhat obscure. The show received about 4,000 total entries in each of the past two years, roughly one-tenth as many as Cannes this year.

"It feels completely unfair, and probably pointless, to compare [those two shows] as their character and purpose are different," said Carlo Cavallone, executive creative director of 72andSunny Amsterdam. The shop won a digital Grand Prix at Epica last year for "Night Walk," an immersive journey through Marseilles, created for Google. "Epica has an appeal as an interesting prestigious award outside of the closed advertising circles."

Fair enough. But "every award show is competing with Cannes and every other show for the agency awards-entry dollar," said Iezzi, who suggested that expanding the jury pool beyond the trade press would be a plus. "Open up the jury invites to a broader array of plugged-in journalists who work in the wider business and culture worlds. Doing so, she said, would "help with exposure and bring fresh eyes to the work."

Several recent attendees decried the show's low-key, almost restrained atmosphere. They said it's more like a typical industry conference with a gala dinner than a full-on awards show—and it doesn't generate enough excitement. "A proper social gathering" before and after the prize ceremony would help attract more attendees and drum up publicity in the press, Cavallone said.

Francois Kermoal, former publisher of French marketing journal Strategies, and jury president in 2013, noted that other shows have become places where "people network and see each other," while Epica sorely lacks this dimension.

Some people in the industry suggested Epica's late-year timing could work in its favor; it offers a preview of campaigns that could win big at the following year's events. "Epica is often a bellwether for next year's shows," said Tungate. "We were the very first show to award 'Epic Split' [the Volvo spot won a Gold in 2013], and '#LikeAGirl' won a Grand Prix with us before it went on to further success in Cannes. So we do create a momentum, and even set trends in our own small way."

Fewer than 1 percent of high school girls plan to study computer science in college. Hoping to change that, Google's Made with Code initiative recently encouraged girls to design a "little black dress" for the digital age. 

The result debuted as part of Project Runway judge Zac Posen's spring 2016 collection at New York Fashion Week. Coded by LED dress technologist Maddy Maxey, it incorporated animations designed by a group of girls from around the world.



Using Block.ly, a basic programming language, girls could change the look of their dress by moving shapes, colors, patterns and other variables.



Agencies Swift, 72andSunny and Nexus supported the LED dress initiative, including the social media, website and Block.ly coding app. Offline executions include Made with Code digital trucks, which enable people to learn basic programming while designing their own LED dresses. The trucks appeared in Times Square on Wednesday and at the Harlem Children's Zone on Thursday; mobile coding stations will also be available Friday and Saturday during the Re:Make summit and festival.



Maddy Maxey is a "coding mentor" at Made with Code, whose goal is to teach girls to code using challenges that capture their imagination. Whatever reservations people may have about using fashion to bait young girls into more erudite pursuits, it bears mentioning that this is a complex industry in its own right, and that the "little black dress" is only the most recent of a string of diverse projects, including a dancing yeti, music mixer, beat-maker and the ability to code your face into a kaleidoscope.

"If you like Made with Code projects, try JavaScript or something else that's similar," encourages Maxey, who believes coding knowledge is critical to the future of fashion. "Keep diving in. Don't stop yet."

Other fashion endeavors she envisions include clothing that responds to body temperature, outfits that change color ... or simply cashmere sweaters that are machine washable.

Below is a video of the dress reveal, featuring interviews with Posen, Maxey and some of the girls who came out to watch their work come to life.

What do George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft do late at night at National Park, while winding down after their daily Presidents Race? They watch SportsCenter, of course.

Specifically, the 11 p.m., midnight and 1 a.m. broadcasts, which ESPN is specifically advertising for the first time in a new campaign called SC@Night from 72andSunny and Red Interactive.

The launch spot below, directed by Aaron Stoller of Biscuit Filmworks, was filmed at an empty National Parks, where George, Tom, Abe, Teddy and Bill kick their feet up together. Three more spots are on the way. The campaign, with the tagline "End your day on a highlight," aims to re-energize fans' love for SportsCenter in a way that emphasizes the key nighttime watching period for young viewers (and departs from the iconic "This is SportsCenter" work).



Starting Monday, in addition to TV, spots and digital placements will run in 19 stadiums across six markets (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta and Philadelphia) as well as in ESPN's social channels. Digital banners on ESPN.com and in mobile will feature a countdown to each hour until the show starts. Countdown billboards will be also featured around highways, bus stops and train stations during the evening rush hour.

Messaging in banners throughout the campaign will include lines like:
• "Smile, you'll be on SportsCenter tonight." (in stadiums)
• "The sports you missed while you were watching sports."
• "Your couch called, said 'See you in 4 hours.' "
• "Like bedtime stories for sports fans."
• "Today's top 10 plays starting at 11."

In the male-centric sports world, where the likes of LeBron James score $65 million in endorsement deals, female athletes have largely been an afterthought. But thanks to a constellation of superstars—including a reenergized U.S. women's soccer team, powerhouse tennis players and UFC's unbreakable Ronda Rousey—more marketing dollars are ending up in the pockets of female sports figures.

With the exception of tennis, women athletes historically have not racked up lucrative contracts with brands. On Forbes' recent list of the world's highest-paid athletes, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams were the only women to crack the top 100, racking up $23 million and $13 million in endorsements, respectively. While impressive, those paydays pale in comparison to male tennis stars like Rafael Nadal, who banked $28 million over the last year, and Roger Federer, with $58 million.

Alex Morgan for Nike 

But the tide is slowly turning. Williams has landed campaigns for Gatorade, Chase and Beats by Dre, plus many other brands. Rousey teamed up with Carl's Jr., Reebok and MetroPCS, ringing up $3.5 million in endorsements over the last year. Meanwhile, U.S. women's soccer player Alex Morgan, hot off the U.S. team's 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup win, rakes in an estimated $3 million per year from her pacts with Nike, Coca-Cola, McDonald's and others. (Morgan is also featured on the cover of EA Sports' FIFA 16 with Lionel Messi—the first time the game's U.S. edition, available Sept. 22, sports a woman on the cover.)

Peter Laatz, evp of sports marketing firm Repucom, attributes advertisers' growing interest in female athletes to the potent purchasing power of women—who control 70-80 percent of consumer purchases—coupled with the growth of the women's activewear market, with $18 billion in annual sales, per NPD Group.

Laatz observed that brands have finally figured out that female consumers, especially millennials, connect best with authentic stories, and many of those stories are from female athletes.

"The ability to speak to women with a relevant personality versus, say, a burly male athlete with his shoulder pads on, that brings a degree of reliability for women," he said. "These women athletes have different stories that are unfolding, and they're doing things at a more grassroots level."

Take Under Armour. When the brand wanted to move away from its testosterone-heavy image in reaching out to millennial women with its "I Will What I Want" campaign, it enlisted underdog Misty Copeland of the American Ballet Theater, who rose to the top of her field despite being told her body type didn't fit the bill of a ballerina. "The insight behind the pressures surrounding female athletes and having the inner strength to overcome that, with Misty as a vehicle to tell that story, made the campaign so powerful," said Candice Chen, senior strategist on Under Armour at agency Droga5. Since Copeland's spot premiered in July, it has achieved 10 million views on YouTube, while Under Armour's women's business has grown 60 percent year over year to $600 million.

Ronda Rousey for Carl's Jr. 

After Carl's Jr. aired its spot with UFC champ Ronda Rousey, 72andSunny group creative director on Carl's Jr. Justin Hooper pointed out that sales soared. "She's a huge name in a male-dominated sport, and she's at the top of the game," he said. "Her background and work ethic are really impressive. I think the target audience really crave that in a spokesperson."

Added Matt Powell, sports analyst at NPD: "Women have always performed at a high level. But the industry has started to figure out that they're not just celebrities and fashion icons, but athletic heroes as well."

This story first appeared in the Sept. 21 issue of Adweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Before Nate Sutter worked in advertising, he was a professional yo-yo-er. Sponsored by Duncan Yo-Yo, he traveled the country performing tricks at toy stores, children's hospitals and schools. He then spent a year and a half apprenticing as a body-piercing artist, and after that worked as a bartender in New Orleans' Bywater neighborhood. That is where, in 2012, he met someone from GumboLive, a creative think tank that had recently opened in town.

An ad job sounded interesting, recalls Sutter, 27, "so I just applied." Sutter's twisting career path represents just the kind of unconventional background GumboLive was designed to attract. Owned by Interpublic Group's Momentum Worldwide, the initiative has quietly operated for the past three years with the mission of drawing fresh, millennial talent from beyond conventional sources like portfolio schools.

"The market is changing so dramatically if you look at how we as marketers and advertisers communicate … but if you look at agencies, the way we recruit is still pretty much the same way it's always been," says Chris Weil, CEO of Momentum."We trade people back and forth from agency to agency. And then when we need some new talent, we hire somebody, a junior copywriter or a junior account person, and we put them on a small account in the corner and then have them fight their way up."

As chairman of the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A's) from 2012 to 2014, Weil was involved with talent research at both the trade group and Momentum, putting him in a prime position to diagnose why more people don't put advertising at the top of the list when picking a career path. "Part of it is just the pure pressure or the monotony as you come up," he says. "You're jamming it out and trying to bill the hours so that you can then move up and get to the point of what this industry is all about, which is creativity and ideas."

GumboLive has turned that problem on its head. Staffers don't have to worry about time sheets or account management. Instead, they focus on cranking out big-picture ideas on a wide range of fast-turnaround briefs for brands forwarded on from Momentum and sometimes its sibling agencies. "It could be anybody from Coca-Cola to American Express to United Airlines," notes Weil. "And the client may not even know that these guys are working on it."

Momentum isn't the only agency going outside the industry for talent. In 2011, 72andSunny launched 72U, a 12-week creative residency designed for non-ad professionals (recent participants included an architect, an audio engineer and a Ph.D. who'd studied gender roles in remote fishing villages in Spain). The agency has gone on to hire 21 full-time staffers and six freelancers out of the program's 48 graduates. Maria Scileppi, 72U's director, says the larger mission is to help participants grow creatively and professionally, emphasizing collaboration, experimentation and "creating a safe place" for what she calls, affectionately, "wonderful weirdos."

GumboLive's 15 or so staffers (who get "competitive compensation," according to Momentum) tend to rotate on 18- to 24-month cycles—though three years in, Sutter is the notable exception. In addition to being an ideation resource for the entire Momentum network (Weil recalls one quarter in which they turned around 85 briefs), GumboLive staffers are plugged firmly into its new-business machine. Sometimes, that means producing spec ideas to pitch to clients. Others, it means Momentum execs fly down to New Orleans for blue-sky brainstorming sessions. Prospective clients can buy sessions, too. New York-based Westfield Corp., which operates shopping centers in eight states, bought one, reports Weil, "and they're a client now."

To be fair, GumboLive, co-run by executive creative director and Momentum veteran Mark Masterson, doesn't discriminate against those with formal ad training or experience—the current class includes a couple of art directors and Miami Ad School grads. But it does skew toward the eclectic. To land his job there, Sutter cooked up an elaborate sample strategy to rebrand a wine company around Gen Y consumers. A colleague, Ben Johnson, 26, joined the shop this past May after bootstrapping Big Charity, a feature-length documentary about the controversial closing of Charity Hospital following Hurricane Katrina. One of three co-producers on the film, Johnson also composed the score. Earlier, he worked on HBO's Treme for two seasons, helping source, sign and manage musicians.

And before she landed at GumboLive in March of this year, Sophia Osella, 24, studied philosophy at Rhodes College in Memphis, where she produced a concert series featuring musicians like Rosanne Cash at Elvis Presley's pre-Graceland residence, which is owned by the school. Osella thought she would end up in politics, law or video production, but now hopes to pursue a career in market research.

As for GumboLive's first class (2012-14), half moved on to jobs in the industry. Call it millennial wanderlust, but Sutter—even with his other boss, GumboLive managing director and former NBC integrations exec Ann Egelhoff, sitting in on this telephone interview—won't commit to the advertising business for the long haul. "Totally, totally something I'm considering," he says. "I feel it's a field where there's a lot of really good work to be done."

This story first appeared in the Sept. 28 issue of Adweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.

72andSunny has won the competition for MillerCoors' creative assignment, marking the agency's return to the beer category.

The Los Angeles agency, a unit of MDC Group, bested Deutsch and 180 L.A. in a review launched two months ago by David Kroll, who was elevated to chief marketing officer in July. MillerCoors spends nearly $150 million annually in domestic measured media.

72andSunny will work mainly on Coors Light and Coors Banquet, succeeding WPP-owned Cavalry in Chicago. Kroll relieved that agency of its duties shortly after his promotion. Cavalry's fate was sealed this summer after a planned ad campaign, "The Cold One," was scuttled because distributors weren't confident in the creative direction.

Formed in 2012 specifically to handle work for MillerCoors, Cavalry has about 50 employees. It has no other significant clients apart from the brewer, and its survival has, understandably, been called into question.

As for 72andSunny (Adweek's U.S. Agency of the Year in 2013), "They demonstrated an inherent understanding of today's drinker and how to engage them in a multi-channel, unplugged world," Kroll said. Adding market share and appealing to millennial drinkers amid the flood of increasingly popular craft brews will be part of 72andSunny's mission.

Though best known for frequently quirky work on behalf of Activision, Carl's Jr. and Samsung, 72andSunny does have some cachet in the beer category, having worked on Anheuser-Busch InBev's Corona brand. By adding Coors Light, the agency gains a high-profile creative platform. The brew trails only AB InBev's Bud Light among best-selling domestic brew.

Carl's Jr. likes being provocative, but not in the realm of politics.

That's the message from parent company CKE Restaurants, which has gone on the record to deny claims that its latest ad with scantily clad women, "Border Ball," plays off the current national debate over immigration.

The spot, from 72andSunny, broke Sept. 28. It features Texan model Elle Evans (previously seen also being scantily clad in Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" video) and Mexico City cover model Alejandra Guilmant. The ad sells the new Tex Mex Thickburger, which is apparently equal parts Tex and Mex. So, the commercial shows two women's beach volleyball teams—one from Texas, one from Mexico—trying to settle things with a game on the border.



Innocuous enough, if gratuitous in the classic Carl's Jr. style, right?

Except another of the models in the spot raised eyebrows with this statement to FOX411:"I don't think it goes too far. I think it's really sexy, and I think it's playing up on what's going on politically right now with immigration. I think it was a bold move for Carl's Jr."

Whoa there, Carl's Jr. replied.

A CKE rep quickly told Fox: "Our new ad for the Tex Mex Bacon Thickburger is not a political statement. It is simply a fast-food ad, and, like all of our ads, the premise helps to paint a picture about the food. If a connection was made between the ad and politics—it was certainly not our intent."

The rep added that the ad was simply in keeping with the chain's years-old marketing strategy of using nearly naked models and celebrities to sell sandwiches.

It's a bit of an ignominious development for an ad that 72andSunny seemed to be quite proud of. As the agency told us last week, the new spot was inspired by actual volleyball games that are played across the U.S.-Mexico border.

CREDITS
Brand: CKE
Project: Tex Mex Bacon Thickburger - "Borderball"
Overview: When Tex meets Mex, it's a win win.

Client: CKE
Chief Executive Officer: Andy Puzder
Chief Marketing Officer: Brad Haley
Senior Vice President, Product Marketing: Bruce Frazer
Vice President, Field Marketing, Media, Merchandising: Steve Lemley
Director of Advertising: Brandon LaChance
Director of Product Marketing, Merchandising: Christie Cooney
Product Marketing Manager: Allison Pocino
Public Relations Specialist: Claire Eastburn
Public Relations Team: Coast PR
President: Jeanne Hoffa
Director: Kate Franklin

Agency: 72andSunny
Chief Creative Officer: Glenn Cole
Group Creative Directors: Justin Hooper, Mick DiMaria
Creative Director, Designer: Tim Wettstein
Creative Director, Writer: Mark Maziarz
Senior Designer: Gabo Curielcha
Senior Writer: Chad Goodnoe
Group Strategy Director: Matt Johnson
Strategy Director: Kasia Molenda
Strategist: Eddie Moraga
Group Brand Director: Alexis Coller
Senior Brand Manager: Michal David
Brand Manager: Ali Arnold
Brand Coordinator: Kristyn Kazanjian
Director of Film Production: Sam Baerwald
Executive Film Producer: Molly McFarland
Senior Film Producer: Juliet Diamond
Film Production Coordinator: Taylor Stockwell
Director of Business Affairs: Michelle Mckinney
Business Affairs Director: Amy Jacobsen
Business Affairs Manager: Jennifer Jahinian
Business Affairs Coordinator: Taylor Henriquez
Director of Communications: Jeff Sweat
Communications Managers: Ginny Adams, Nicole Ryan
Production Company: Wondros
Director: Chris Applebaum
Chief Creative Officer: Anne-Marie Mackay
Executive Producer: Timory King
Head of Production: Doron Kauper
Producer: John Hardin

Editing: Jump LA
Editor: Fred Fouquet
Executive Producer: Betsy Beale

Visual Effects: JAMM Visual
Telecine: Beach House
Colorist: Mike Pethel
Executive Producer: Denise Brown

Audio, Sound Design: On Music and Sound
Mixer, Sound Designer: Chris Winston
Music Company: Extreme Music

One of the key features of the upcoming Guitar Hero Live is the real-time reaction of a live-action crowd, who'll tell you pretty quickly if you suck at lead guitar. And both Lenny Kravitz and James Franco don't exactly rip it up—at least in the early scenes—in this new commercial for the Activision game from 72andSunny.

Kravitz, as you'd expect, pulls himself together. But Franco, amusingly enough, never looks very comfortable in the spot—apparently, playing guitar is the one cool thing this cool actor can't fake. (And surely being told to "Kravitz it up a little" doesn't help.)



Franco and Kravitz were both reportedly fans of Guitar Hero, which made it easier for their enthusiasm on set to seem authentic and genuine.

"Guitar Hero Live gives you the chance to live out your rock star fantasy in front of a real audience that reacts to how you play, so watching James Franco and Lenny Kravitz challenging each other to win the crowd in the game brought that excitement to life in a really cool way," says Tim Ellis, CMO of Activision Publishing. "Some of the best moments we captured on film were purely spontaneous between James and Lenny. They had great chemistry and had a lot of fun with the game. We just let them loose."

Guitar Hero Live rolls out Oct. 20, returning from a five-year absence for the franchise. Check out the reveal trailer, and lots more about the game, here.

CREDITS
Brand: Guitar Hero, Activision
Chief Executive Officer: Eric Hirshberg
Chief Marketing Officer: Tim Ellis
Vice President, Consumer Marketing: Ian Trombetta
Senior Manager, Consumer Marketing: Orlando Baeza
Coordinator, Consumer Marketing: Jared Castle

Project: "Win the Crowd" Guitar Hero Live Launch Trailer

Agency: 72andSunny
Chief Creative Officer: Glenn Cole
Executive Creative Director: Bryan Rowles
Group Creative Director: Frank Hahn
Creative Director, Designer: Peter Vattanatham
Creative Director, Writer: Tim Wolfe
Lead Writer: Evan Brown
Senior Designer: Jon Hall
Writer: Ryan Iverson
Group Strategy Directors: John Graham, Bryan Smith
Senior Strategist: Hamish Cameron
Strategist: Jake Watt
Group Brand Director: Mike Parseghian
Brand Director: Torie Gleicher
Brand Manager: Sarah Donze
Brand Coordinator: Mariam Al-Hooty
Chief Production Officer: Tom Dunlap
Director of Film Production: Sam Baerwald
Executive Producer: Dan Ruth
Senior Film Producers: Kara Fromhart, Zeynep Taslica, Dave Stephenson
Director of Business Affairs: Michelle McKinney
Business Affairs Director: Alex Lebosq
Business Affairs Coordinator: Ashley Pesses

Production Company: Caviar
Director: Jonathan Krisel
Executive Producer: Michael Sagol
Director of Photography: Damian Acevedo
Head of Production: Kelly Bowen
Line Producer: Jeff Tanner

Editing: Rock, Paper, Scissors
Editor, GH LIVE: David Brodie, Gabriel Britz
Editor, GHTV: Carlos Arias
Post Producer: Dina Ciccotello
Recording, Mixing: Lime Studios
Audio Mixer: Zac Fisher
Audio Assistant: Kevin McAlpine
Executive Producer: Susie Boyajan
Visual Effects, Online: Method
Senior Flame Artist: Thomas Downs
Producer: Sumer Zuberi
Telecine: CO3
Colorist: Siggy Ferstl
Producer: Matt Moran

Dropbox—one of the first and most familiar names in cloud storage—is hoping to shed its image as a utility in favor of being seen as an incubator of creativity.

In the tech company's first work from agency 72andSunny and production firm Nexus, we see Dropbox illustrated as a collage of more than 100 real collaborations. Included in the examples are work from scientists at the Imperial College of London, designer Barber & Osgerby, food photographer Yuki Sugiura, data visualist Marcin Ignac and the jelly sculptors at studio Bompas & Parr.

The film was directed by Johnny Kelly, who chose people he'd worked with in the past and others he's admired.

"We wanted to show off Dropbox's most unique feature, which is the freedom to work any way you want, with files, people, locations, etc.," said John Boiler, CEO and founder of 72andSunny. "It's the opposite of a walled-in ecosystem of rules and restrictions. Conceptually we were inspired by the idea of a creative snowball, in that, the more freedom you give people, the more interesting and inspiring the outcomes can and will become."

Dropbox marketing vp Julie Herendeen said it's a way to celebrate the 400 million people who use the company's services and to highlight the ways it's expanded and evolved since being founded in 2008.

"Many people think of Dropbox as a safe home for their most important information, but that's really just the starting point," Herendeen said. "While we began in 2008 as a simple way to access your files on any device, today people and businesses use Dropbox to sync, share, create, and collaborate from anywhere. Dropbox gives them the freedom to work however they want."

The campaign, which launches today and will be rolled out through the month, also will feature other films, out-of-home advertising, radio and social strategies, along with some "brand citizenship efforts" still in the works.

Boiler said it's "just chapter one in a much bigger story."

"This was a really pivotal moment to partner with Dropbox to help tell their story," he said. "As they continue to grow and evolve, we see using this platform of 'creative freedom' to full effect with the goal of activating it and really special and meaningful ways."

CREDITS

Client representatives: Kristen Spilman, Patrick Rowell, Sheila Vashee, Julie Herendeen and Preston Hershorn

Agency: 72andSunny
Chief Creative Officer: Glenn Cole
Group Creative Director: Matt Murphy
Creative Director/Designer: Robert Teague
Creative Director/Writer: Claire Morrisey
Senior Writer: Dave Carlson
Designer: Nick Marx
Senior Film Producer: Angelo Mazzamuto
Senior Film Producer: Perrin Rausch
Film Producer: Emilie Talermo
Group Brand Director: Rhea Curry
Senior Brand Manager: Shannon Reed
Brand Coordinator: Zachary Hill
Business Affairs Director: Kallie Halbach
Senior Business Affairs Manager: Lara Drew
Business Affairs Coordinator: Calli Howard
Business Affairs Coordinator: Michelle Fink
Co-Head of Strategy/Group Strategy Director: Bryan Smith
Strategy Director: Brooke-Lynn Luat
Junior Strategist: Gigi Braybrooks

Film Credits:
Design/Production Company: Nexus Productions
Director: Johnny Kelly
Executive Creative Director: Chris O'Reilly
Senior Producer: Isobel Conroy
Production Manager: Lucy Banks
Production Manager: Thomas Cullen
Studio Director of Photography: Matthew Day
Locations Director of Photography: Matthew Fox
Project Lead: Elliott Kajdan
Project Lead: David Walker
Editor (60): David Slade
Editor (30): Nick Gartner
3-D Animation: Eaton Crous
3-D Animation: Joao Monteiro
2-D Animation: Tom Bunker
2-D Animation: James Hatley
Compositing: Bence Varga
Compositing: Pete Baxter

Postproduction: Time Based Arts
Compositor: Sheldon Gardner
Colorist: Simone Grattarola

Music & Sound Design: Human

Mix: Formosa Group
Mixer: John Bolen
Mixer: Hermann Thurmann
Executive Producer: Lauren Cascio
Assistant: Jeff King

Yesterday, Google France launched the second edition of "Les Heures Magiques" ("The Magic Hours"), created with 72andSunny Amsterdam. For 31 nights, the interactive, mobile-first campaign will invite Parisians—and tourists—to rediscover the City of Light with a variety of after-sunset activities.

Activities include a lit-up bike ride through Paris' darkened streets, insect-based cooking (cleverly dubbed "Crunchy Crickets"!), an underwater music show, and a neon safari, where you can tour the retro neon signs that color Paris' bars and clubs. (Check out short videos promoting each event below). 

The campaign is a charming way to experience the vibrant, creative dynamism of Paris, which is often written off as a dying museum city. It's also one in a number of recent efforts to reinvigorate interest in city activities; others include last month's no-car day, initiated by Mayor Anne Hidalgo, and Airbnb's Halloween sleepover sweepstakes in the Catacombs, dubbed by some as the Empire of Death.

To access the program, visit the Magic Hours website via mobile, where you'll find different activities nested within Google Maps. The mobile positioning is practical for both non-locals and townies; France has among the highest smartphone penetrations in Europe, with 81 percent of people from 18-24 carrying one, and 26 percent of 60-69-year-olds as of last year. Parisians will also see a lot of social coverage, courtesy of WeAreSocial.

Partners include the City of Paris, and various lifestyle publications like Paris Zig Zag, Society and Fricote. Locals can share their favorite activites via the #HeuresMagiques hashtag for a chance to be featured on the site.

To learn more, check out the Magic Hours case study from its last installment.

CREDITS

Google France

Raphael Goumain - Google France, Head of B2C Marketing
Jean-Philippe Bécane - Google France, Product Marketing Manager
Chloe Broughton - Google France, Product Marketing Manager
Martin Bruniquel - Google France, Product Marketing Manager Intern

Google EMEA

Kristell Schuber - Google South-West Europe, Marketing Director
Graham Bednash - EMEA Google, Director of Consumer Marketing,
Ramya Raghavan - Head of Brand and Reputation Marketing, EMEA
Dave Armstrong - Director Brand Studio EMEA
Andre Le Masurier - Group Creative Director, Brand Studio

Creative Agency: 72andSunny Amsterdam

Carlo Cavallone & Stuart Harkness - Executive Creative Director
Richard Harrington - Director of Design
Gregg Clampffer - Creative Director
Nastassja Bonnabel & Chermine Assadian - Writer
David Troquier- Designer
Matteo Gallinelli - Jr Designer
Stephanie Feeney - Director of Strategy
Alexandra Matine - Senior Strategist
Tom Griffin - Group Brand Director
Stephane Fevrier - Brand Manager
Philippine Putman Cramer  - Brand Coordinator
Stephanie Oakley - Director of Production
Sanne Drogtrop - Executive Producer
Tobin Nageotte & Matt Marty - Senior Interactive Producer
Gabor Szalatnyai - Creative Technologist
Claudia Casagrande - Adaptations
Niels Hagels - Business Affairs Manager
Lotte van Dongen - Interactive Production Coordinator

Digital Production Studio: Unit9

Peter Altamirano - Tech Lead
Michał Kleszcz, Alexander Crush & Michał Przyszczypkowski - Frontend Developers
Krzysiek Kokoszka & Kamil Cholewiński - Backend Developers
Mario Epsley - Motion Designer
Quentin Gauvrit - UX Designer
Rebecca Hudson & Emma Willis - Producers
Vianney Comot - Project Manager
Dominic Berzins - Head of QA
Mark Hinge - QA Lead
Eve Action - QA Senior Tester
Andrew Heraty & Testology - QA Testers

Production Agency: SO Films

Franck Annese - Producer
Agathe de Coularé de la Fontaine - Executive Producer
Adeline Sclafert - Director of Production
Lorette Delva - Location Manager
Sophie Lévy - Director
Renaud Bouchez & Marc Cortès - Photographer
Sophie Lévy & Julian Nodolwsky - Editors

MUSIC -  Stainless Sound & Music

72andSunny's latest work for Activision is also its latest work for Carl's Jr. and Hardee's. That's no weird coincidence. In fact, that's the goal of the agency's Brand Partnership Incubator, a new practice that "initiates, develops and executes brand partnerships," according to Matt Jarvis, chief strategy officer and partner at 72andSunny in Los Angeles.

The agency is working to bring brands together, find ways they might intersect and produce creative that benefits both. 

"At the core of each project is strategy and creative," said Jarvis. "We have to understand where the brands' needs intersect and then craft ideas that are win-wins. We've done it enough to know it works, and it speaks to what every brand is looking for. Partnerships create news for the brand, open new ways to connect with an audience, and can be really efficient when partners pool resources."

The Carl's Jr. and Hardee's partnership with Activision, for instance, yielded a 45-second spot featuring model Charlotte McKinney. The ad promotes products for both brands (the Tex Mex Bacon Thickburger for Carl's Jr. and Hardee's and Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops III). Content across both brands' digital and social channels is also part of the deal. 

The success of brand partnerships created by the agency—Google and Target, Samsung and Jay Z, K-Swiss and HBO's Eastbound and Down—inspired the incubator. According to the agency, the partnerships extend reach and increase market share for each of the brands involved.

"We drive an exploration where we look for overlapping strategic interests between brands," said Jarvis. "From that intersection, we build some platforms that advance all the parties and use those to drive the conversation forward so that a relationship can be formed. That execution component is really crucial, because without it, conversations can get on a circular loop pretty quickly."

The new practice is agencywide—all of 72andSunny's offices are involved. Brands pay a flat connection fee to participate. 

"The Brand Partnership Incubator allows brands to borrow from the other to do something they couldn't afford to do on their own, all with greater reach and a bigger overall impact," said Jarvis. "The right partnership puts brands in cultural conversations outside of their category and gets an audience to lean forward and engage in ways that a single-brand effort cannot."