New Ad Campaigns

Thursday, July 02, 2009

New Ad Campaigns

This weeks edition from Amy:

Free paint. Colives. Audrina Patridge eats burgers the way all women do: in a bikini, one-handed and on her side. Let's launch!

Happy Birthday, Smokey Bear! The Advertising Council, U.S. Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters launched a set of PSAs coinciding with the July 4holiday that celebrate Smokey's 65^th birthday and provide wildfire prevention information. The first ad, seen here, shows a birthday cake lit with a number 65 candle. As a piano plays "Happy Birthday," Smokey's arm reaches in-scene and extinguishes the candle. The next ad features a couple readying to leave their camping site. The woman points out that the campfire isn't fully out, to which her boyfriend replies, "Close enough." Our heroine, taking the shape of Smokey Bear, chides her significant other about human-caused wildfires. Watch it here. The PSAs target casual campers, hikers and mountain bikers, stressing that people cause nine out of 10 wildfires nationwide. Draftfcb created the pro bono campaign.

Nike launched a TV spot and online videos featuring Lance Armstrong and inspirational stories told by cancer survivors and those who know someone living with cancer. "It's About You" promotes Armstrong's LIVESTRONG foundation and urges people to join the fight against cancer. I dare you not to cry when watching these stories. The topic is heavy, but necessary. The TV spot, "Driven," intersperses surgeons in an operating room and recovering cancer patients with snippets of Armstrong back on the bike. "The critics say I'm arrogant. A doper. I'm washed-up. A fraud. That I couldn't let it go. They can say whatever they want. I'm not back on my bike for them," says Armstrong. "Just Do It," in yellow, ends the ad, shown here. Doug Ulman, CEO of LIVESTRONG and a three-time cancer survivor, shares his story of a cancer diagnosis at a young age and the foundation he created post-diagnosis. "If you make it through a battle with cancer, 50 below, 50 mph head winds, sleep deprivation, hunger, seems easy," says dog sled racer Lance Mackey. Actor Evan Handler shares his cancer story and Patrick Dempsey explains how he became involved with the LIVESTRONG foundation. See the videos here and here. Wieden + Kennedy Portland created the campaign and handled the media buy.

Time for some mindless entertainment: the latest Carl's Jr. TV spots! Audrina Patridge chows down on a Teriyaki burger from Carl's Jr. and her portrayal is about as real as something you'd find on "The Hills." Unless, of course, the hip thing to do is eat a burger on the beach, one-handed, leaning back, after applying sunscreen. The first Audrina ad, seen here, describes Patridge as a "top-rated bikini body," while she illustrates the hardships of maintaining an amazing body. Audrina details the importance of eating fruit in another ad, seen here. Mendelsohn Zien created the ads.

HBO launched its latest series, "Hung," on Sunday. The show revolves around Ray Drucker, a divorced, financially unstable man who uses his, um, endowment to his advantage by becoming a male prostitute. His only problem: Ray needs a pimp. Enter http://www.pimpray.com. The site promotes the series... and Ray! Users can create Facebook ads chock full of clever double entendres. Ads need a title and copy, along with an adjoining image, which users can select from a gallery of options. "Love life tanking, too," begins one user-created ad. "Ray's endowment can survive any recession. Why settle for a piece when the whole pie is yours," continues the ad. The contest is live until Aug. 2. Three finalists will have their ads placed on Facebook and the winner will be chosen based on their ad's click-through rate. The grand prize is $10,000, so start crafting copy. Deep Focus created the campaign.

LAND O LAKES butter now comes with olive oil. So logically, if butter comes from a cow, and olive oil comes from olives, where does butter with olive oil come from? "Colives," natch. A "Colive" is the end-result of a marriage between a cow and an olive -- or, a black-and-white-colored olive. To me it looks more like a moldy olive. Check out the ad here, created by Campbell Mithun.

Love, investing, dogs. It's all here in an ad for State Street's SPDR family of exchange-traded funds. The spot was filmed in black and white and contains French music as a tribute to the foreign film "Breathless." We have a male dog desperately trying to woo a female dog. He brings her a soccer ball, stuffed animal, slipper and squeaky toy and his lady doesn't even move. It's not until he digs up an old bone that she perks up and shows interest. "Some things in life need to be precise. Investing is one of them," says the voiceover. Watch the ad here. The Gate Worldwide created the campaign and handled the media buy.

Glidden paint is giving product away. Until July 2, a free quart of paint will be shipped to those who visit Glidden.com or call 1.800.GLIDDEN. Get on it. A TV spot supporting the giveaway shows happy people walking around town, on the beach, and dog sledding with a can of Glidden close by. My favorite scenes are the nuns recreating "Abbey Road" and the woman who really loves yellow. It appears that everyone in the spot is carrying cans of paint larger than what Glidden is giving away. "Glidden Gets You Going," ends the ad, seen here. DDB New York and ETCETERA created the campaign.

It's almost like being there. The Juvenile Protective Association and Euro RSCG Chicago were awarded a special People's Choice Award in Cannes. A series of cause-related work was shown in the Palais des Festivals and the public voted for their favorite creative. The winning ad, "Choke," shows a hand made of abusive words wrapped around a boy's neck. "Verbal abuse is still abuse," says the ad, seen here. Two additional ads, depicting verbal hair pulls and punches, can be seen here and here.

Random iPhone App of the week: Dunkin' Donuts launched "Dunkin' Run," a Web site and iPhone application that allows customers to plan an office coffee run without having to interact with their co-workers. A "Runner" can initiate a group order online, from a mobile device or via an iPhone App, that's free at the App store. Alerts are then sent to the Runner's co-workers, informing them of an impending trip. Participants can look at a menu online and place an order. All orders are then culled onto a single page or screen which the Runner either prints or sends to their mobile device and brings to the nearest Dunkin' Donuts. See a tutorial here. Hill Holliday and Studiocom created the App.