New Ad Campaigns

Our weekly update from Amy:

Chicken. Beer. World Cup. That about covers it. Let's launch!

Roger Federer is a good listener... just stick to your allotted time frame. The tennis star helps struggling players regain their mojo in an ad for Wilson BLX tennis racquets. Patients sit on a couch the color of a tennis ball and express their lack of feeling on court. One player goes from no feeling to feeling incredible, once he switches to a BLX racquet. He asks Federer if he can keep the racquet, but Federer refuses, since it's his personal racquet. Federer then asks his patient how he feels, now that he's taken away the racquet, but their session is over and Federer doesn't wait for a response. "Feel More. More Feel," closes the ad, seen here and created by Doner.

Heineken Light launched a series of light-hearted ads that follow the lives of Jamie and Gavin, two young lottery winners who relocated to a retirement community in Florida. The pair learn important life lessons from three older gents, Maurice, Terry and "The Judge." In "Poolside," Jamie learns about Lawn Mowing 101 when he hits on an older woman going for a swim. Maurice, the group's Lothario, swiftly replies: "Son. Don't mow my lawn." See it here. "Golf," the weakest of the spots, teaches Gavin to improve his golf swing by slowing it down. Watch it here. "Cetera" is my favorite ad. Maurice has an impressive wall containing pictures of women he's bedded. He also owns a Peter Cetera record. Huh? "The ladies love Cetera. And if you love the ladies, by default you love Cetera," says Maurice, as the ad closes with "Restless Heart," one of Cetera's many hits. Watch it here. Print ads feature Heineken Light bottles along with the tagline, "See the Light" and copy such as, "The good life requires a bottle opener" and "Not available in red plastic cup." See one here. Euro RSCG NY created the campaign.

Think it's easy to make Sapporo beer? Rethink your position while viewing this two-minute ad for the Japanese beer, which creates a colorful journey throughout history while the hypnotic sound of drums play throughout. Each level of history ascends like an elevator in "Legendary Biru." The brewing process of Sapporo beer is interspersed with scenes of Japanese culture, including rice gathering, sumo wrestling, and stacking beer barrels -- all ending with a view of modern-day Tokyo and a large glass of Sapparo atop a roof. Watch the ad here. Dentsu Canada created the ad, co-directed by Mark Zibert of Sons and Daughters and Gary Thomas of Crush.

Say hello to Genny Light's new spokesman, Chet Hammerton, a man similar to Genny Light's target audience of men ages 21-45. Chet takes on a bhut jolokia chili pepper in his latest video, which plays out like a reality TV show. His fridge is packed with Genny Light and the chili is packed with 1,041,427 Scoville units (the scale to measure the heat of chili peppers). He handles the initial chili contact well, but promptly gulps water and milk in hopes of relief. Listen for the camera crew in the background laughing while he's writhing in pain. See it here. The VIA Group created the campaign. Interestingly enough, Keystone bowed its new spokesman, Keith Stone, around the same time Chet launched. Check out an ad for Keith Stone here, and if you've seen "Rock of Ages," as I have, you will recognize Keith Stone as actor Mitchell Jarvis, the narrator in the Broadway musical.

Hunger takes precedence over everything else in a trio of ads for Bojangles' Restaurants. A man about to pop the question stops mid-proposal to announce, "It's Bo time." He leads his lady to a speedboat, where they Eskimo-kiss through their helmets and arrive at Bojangles wet and engaged. See it here. A woman has labor pains while her husband has hunger pains in "Horse." She makes it to Bojangles, holding her new addition. Watch it here. "Police Car" is the funniest ad. A cop pulls over a stocking-wearing driver when hunger calls. He and his partner whisk the criminal to Bojangles, hitting a mime en route. The spot ends with the robber getting tasered at Bojangles. See it here. BooneOakley created the campaign and media buying was handled in-house.

Chick-fil-A launched two TV spots promoting its spicy chicken sandwich. The cows are happy. A bevy of bovines sound the alarm by mooing loudly throughout a city, working to inform passersby about Chick-fil-A's spicy chicken sandwich. Watch it here. A security guard working the night shift breaks up a warehouse party in "Celebration." A room full of cows, complete with DJ, is brought to a standstill. No tipping. See the ad here. The Richards Group created the campaign.

Nike has tweaked its global football campaign, "Write the Future," and added a social media and interactive twist. "Write the Headline, Write the Future," allows fans to submit a 57-character personal message through Facebook.com/nikefootball, Twitter, Mxit and QQ to more than 50 Nike athletes. Here's where it gets fun. Up to 100 headlines are selected nightly and projected across Johannesburg's Life Center building, which is outfitted with 90-meter-tall images of Nike footballers and an interactive LED screen that displays fan messages. Fans receive a personalized notification if their message is projected on the Life Center. In addition, Nike created "Write Your Future" on Facebook, which uses a person's picture and profile information to create a personalized football film starring the fan. See it here. Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam created the campaign.

If you were a brand, would you encourage your target audience to be stupid? I wouldn't, either. Shows what I know. This line of thinking scored Diesel an outdoor Grand Prix at this year's Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. The brand's "Be Stupid" effort encourages consumers to take a chance, or the path less traveled... like allowing a bear cub to rummage through your refrigerator. See the winning campaign here, here, here and here, created by Anomaly, New York.

Random iPhone App of the week: MGD 64 launched a pedometer app that does what you would expect: measure the number of steps you take in a day, how far you walked and calories burned, simply by adding your height and weight. The app challenges Facebook users to apply their burned calories and steps to strange goals, like "Walking up Mt. Everest 64 Times," (only 704,000 steps, kids) or "Burn Calories from 64 Pizzas." Thanks to this app, I know what I'm having for dinner tonight. Digitas created the free app, available in the App Store.

Amy Corr is managing editor, online newsletters for MediaPost. She can be reached at amyc@mediapost.com.

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