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With Help from Nike, Spain Seizes Liverpool

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Liverpudlians adopt fragments of Spanish culture in "Turning Spanish," created for Nike by 72andSunny.

They won't be reading any Don Quixote, though.

The spot aspires to cash in on the emotional cachet of Fernando Torres. He's the English Premier League's current It Guy. And while I guess it's funny to hear some 'Pud go "Gracias, mate!", the whole thing felt like a really long "Sorry ... you had to be there"-type story.

In this case, I think you have to be from Liverpool.

by Angela Natividad    Jun-20-08   Comments (1)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Celebrity, Commercials, Television

Don't Just Love Obama as He Is. Love Him as He Was

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Look, look: It's Obama's first General Election spot, courtesy of AgencySpy and Tribble. I'm guessing much of the footage came straight out of his wedding video collage, because there are a ton of baby pictures in that bad-boy. See Obama at left, all James Deaned-out.

The video's a rehash of his values and how he proposes to graft them onto the US of A. It's an old story, but there's just something about the guy. He's magnetic. He's ... witchcraft.

Impulse donations go here.

by Angela Natividad    Jun-20-08   Comments (4)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Celebrity, Commercials, Good, Political, Television

Sorry, Samantha. You're a Girl. It Happens.

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To promote The Travel Channel's Passport to Great Weekends with Samantha Brown, Moroch put together a spot where Samantha returns to work -- only to find naughty colleagues foiling her office.

"Aren't you supposed to be traveling?" one accuses.

"I was," she snaps, moody and tired and still dragging her luggage. "The new show is called Passport to great WEEKENDS. It's a weekend."

"You're not gone all week!" one concludes, squinting in concentration.

But the best line comes at the end, when she throws open a door full of styrofoam surprise and growls, "They'd never do this to Bourdain."

by Angela Natividad    Jun-19-08   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Commercials, Good, Promotions, Television

Rock Band Brings Moshers to Suburbia ... Which is Where Most of Them Live Anyway

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Who's that sexy unstoppable band?! Oh, it's just a bunch of teenage Rock Band junkies.

by Angela Natividad    Jun-19-08   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Commercials, Television

Uniqlock Scores, Gawker Goes Gorilla, Rio Sees Future, Ludacris Flows Mobile

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- Repeating successes at One Show and the Clios, Uniqlo's "Uniqlock" (agency: Projector) won the Cannes Cyber Grand Prix. "Year Zero" for NIN (agency: 42 Entertainment) took Best Viral; "Sol Comments" (Mediafront Oslo) won Online Advertising.

- Gawker chose Gorilla Nation to sell its ads in Canada. The deal is exclusivo, no word if it's multi-year.

- Diggin' R&R's Tarot-style print campaign for the Rio Suites Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Adfreak isn't sold, though.

- WeMix and VoodooVox enable anyone to "drop a flow" (THEIR WORDS! NOT -- MINE!) from their phones and broadcast them. Ludacris is sponsoring. More cringey self-laud: "VoodooVox is the leading In-Call Media revolution." What does that mean?

- MTLB is upset about PETA, the one-sidedness of 30 Days (esp. the carnivore-meets-vegan episode), and changing people via persecution instead of supplying appealing alternatives to destructive lifestyles.

by Angela Natividad    Jun-19-08   Comments (1)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Agencies, Brands, Campaigns, Good, Industry Events, Magazine, Mobile/Wireless, Online, Opinion, Poster, Television

'Music is' a Fusion of Good Beats, Pretty Sights and Heartstrings

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To promote its all-music TV network, Fuse.tv launched "Music Is," a $15 million ad campaign that taps into emotional connections with music.

The tagline ("Get your music on") is pretty lame but the the videos are good. Haven't seen any bad ones but I'm partial to Soulmates, probably because Lamp Chop died before I could grow out of his show.

Videos below.

more »

by Angela Natividad    Jun-19-08   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Good, Online, Television, Video

So THAT'S Why the Jack Always Feels Sticky.

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Forget about cows, celebrities and good health. After watching this video for BC Dairy, you will never see poker the same way again.

"I have longed for your heart."

"I have longed for your spade!"

The online video debuted in tangent with Teen Power Team, a TV spot that parodies Team America: World Police and crime-fighting dolls in general. (I dig how there's a token Spanish-speaker. Those saucy Canadians!)

Expect more where those came from. All ads, however random, conclude with the same tidy moral: must drink more milk. Dot com.

And you probably expect this by now, but I'll say it anyway: the website lets you UPLOAD VIDEOS and WIN STUFF.

Put together by Bent Images Labs for DDB Canada in Vancouver and Tribal DDB Canada (for the digital stuff).

by Angela Natividad    Jun-18-08   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Commercials, Online, Spoofs, Strange, Television

Twix Tears One Out of the 'Choose Your Own Adventure' Playbook

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Remember those Choose Your Own Adventure books that pretty much let you decide whether you'd die two, or twenty, pages into the story? Visit Twix.com for a grown-man version of the game. You won't get to ride any unicorns, but if you're lucky, you might get to ride something else.

The adventure is called "Get the Girl." The protagonist convinces a girl to come home with him by inviting her over to blog about the media. (That gets me every time.) But there are obstacles! Mull your options over with Twix. (Helpful hint: at the very end, pick "Be honest." You'll dig what happens.)

Accompanying spot: "Oh, blogging! I love blogging!"

by Angela Natividad    Jun-17-08   Comments (1)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Commercials, Good, Online, Television

Lotus Toilet Paper Absorbs More than Its Fair Share of Moisture

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Check out The Giant by agency Les Ouvriers du Paradis, possibly the most charming bathroom fairy tale ever. You don't have to speak French to infer why Lotus' Just 1 is the toilet paper of choice for mythically large men.

It's so absorbent, you'll only need one sheet! That's the kind of claim that titillates T.P. abusers like me. (I like to yank generously. It's a habit I'm trying to break.)

I want to argue the spot's more logical in the manner of its pitch than Charmin's squeeze-fetish Whipple spots, but that argument fell to pieces when the giant made with the elongated Lotus-fondling.

by Angela Natividad    Jun-16-08   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Commercials, Good, Online, Television

AIG Uses Risk-Averse Five-Year-Old to Push Insurance Packages

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Nothing warms the heart like the sight of a kid schooling his parents on the importance of travel insurance.

Also see Did you have a nightmare?: "Dents are easy to fix, but liability's the nightmare! Ah, don't get up. I'll tuck myself in." I kinda want to hug him. Or buy him a graphing calculator.

You know what would be awesome? If this kid and the Umpqua lemonaire got together and built the ultimate risk-free lemonade stand, equipped with biodegradable paper cups (to appease the environmentalists) and curved corners for child safety.

by Angela Natividad    Jun-15-08   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Commercials, Television

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