New Ad Campaigns

Friday, September 11, 2009

New Ad Campaigns

from Amy at Mediapost:

Jay-Z recreates his album covers. Halo 3: ODST bows 2:30 minute ad; Hefner watches his girlfriends' "Risky Business" in a thirty-second Guitar Hero 5 spot. Let's launch!

The face that promotes Las Vegas tourism is that of a chinchilla. Believe it. The furry creature and friends return in the latest TV spot for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The first ad for Chinchilli day described a war between rebel chinchillas and the owners who fought them. See it here. The current ad features the duped boss from the first ad using a similar line on his boss, all for a three-day weekend in Vegas. This time around, the setting is a French village where three chinchillas rescue residents from three rogue musketeers. See the ad here, created by R&R Partners.

Are you ready for some English football? Sky Sports is celebrating the new season of U.K. football, televised on Sky Sports and Sky Terrestrial networks, with an ad that portrays the varying degrees of emotion felt by fans. The spot opens and closes with a runner declaring that "some of you may feel the way I do." Scattered throughout the ad are fans of all ages proclaiming their love for the sport, whether it's a mild passion or full-blooded obsession. "We know how you feel about it, because we feel the same," ends the ad, shown here. Brothers and Sisters created the campaign, edited by Dan Robinson from Cut + Run.

Give Jay-Z 30 seconds and he can recreate more than a decade's worth of album covers. Set to Jay-Z's latest single, "Run this town," the ad for Rhapsody promotes the release of "The Blueprint 3" by stepping back in time to watch the rapper smoothly remake 10 previous album covers. "Jay-Z fans get it," concludes a voiceover. Fans will also enjoy hunting for their favorite Jay-Z cover in the ad, seen here. I know I did. Droga5 created the ad.

The print component for Old Spice's "Different Scents for Different Gents" campaign comes with a phone number. Don't call it. I did. There's an option for both men and women, but unless you have time to kill, I recommend not listening to the spokesman, who does his best to channel his inner Barry White. "If you're a man, we have a scent for you. If you're not a man, please call me. I love you," reads one ad, seen here. See a second ad here, both created by Wieden + Kennedy Portland.

I'm not a gamer, but I just watched a 2:30 minute spot for Halo 3: ODST, set for release Sept. 22, more than once. The extended ad ran stateside on Spike and on FX in the U.K. The mini-film has been edited down to 90-, 60- and 30-second versions, but here's the long version. The ad follows a young man from the moment he decides to become a soldier while, presumably, attending his father's funeral. We watch the young man undergo rigorous training, which prepares him for the battlefield. The ad comes full-circle, concluding with a soldier's burial. We see our character, now a middle-aged man, reflecting back upon a near-death experience he encountered years prior. He then leads his soldiers onward. Watch the ad here, created by T.A.G. San Francisco.

Hugh Hefner does what he does best in an ad for Guitar Hero 5: Sits around young, scantily clad Playmates while exerting himself minimally. Ten Playmates rock out to "Old Time Rock and Roll" in the Playboy Mansion as Hef watches. "What? I like variety," he says, as his twin blond girlfriends writhe beside him. Watch the ad here. Crispin Porter + Bogusky created the ad and Mediavest handled the media buy.

I'll never hear "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star" the same way again. The Partnership for a Drug-Free America and the Office of National Drug Control Policy launched an anti-meth TV campaign. Spots will run in 16 states, primarily in the West and Midwest where meth use rates are highest. In "Laura," based upon testimonials from former meth addicts, a woman visits a museum that's full of things lost to meth: happy childhood memories, stuffed animals and videos of her former self, pre-addiction. "Nothing destroys lives faster than meth," ends the ad, shown here. "Downward Spiral" depicts a chain reaction of events in a household that's quickly destroyed by meth addiction. Watch the ad here. Publicis & Hal Riney San Francisco created the campaign.

Boston Harbor Cruises ran a trio of TV ads this summer promoting its array of aquatic offerings. The Provincetown Fast Ferry is a smarter option when driving to Cape Cod then, say, driving your car into the water. See the ad here. Water skiing squirrels are fun to watch, but a Thrill Boat Ride lets humans get in on the fun. See it here. The final ad promotes BHC's whale-watching tours by depicting the excursion as more entertaining than human belly-flops in pools. Watch the ad here. Rattle created the ads and Konjolka Media handled the media buy.

Random iPhone App of the week: Lone Star Brewing Company created an app that helps consumers decode the puzzles found under the beer's bottle caps. A rebus or pictogram puzzle is located under every bottle cap of Lone Star and Lone Star Light beer. Each puzzle has a correlating number that can be entered into the puzzle cap decoder app to uncover the answer. The app, created by Archrival, can be downloaded for free from the App store.