New Ad Campaigns

Thursday, May 26, 2011

New Ad Campaigns

Our weekly update from Amy:

Betty White to aging boomers: "Get over it." Singing sour cream. Let's launch!

Everyone's an ad critic, even Michael Imperioli in one of eight ads for 1800 Tequila. In "Commericals," Imperioli dislikes ads that are outlandish and make it hard to determine the product being advertised. He doesn't beat around the bush when hawking tequila. Watch it here. Imperioli knocks rival Patron in the next ad, called "Men." He yearns for the days when men drank real tequila and talked sports, rather than sipping poser tequila and talking hair tinting. See it here. In another ad, "Conversation," Imperioli mocks texting. Why not meet your friend for a drink to talk, instead? Watch it here. Dead As We Know It created the campaign.

Captain Morgan knows how to ease the tension in a life-threatening situation. Rather than walking the plank, he dives off, adding a decent flip to the mix. "Dive" is the first ad from "To Life, Love and Loot," a campaign that focuses on the enigmatic Captain Henry Morgan himself. The TV ad launches in June and an extended version is running on the brand's Facebook and YouTube pages. Set in the mid-1600s, the ad begins with Captain Morgan being alerted to an enemy ship close by. As the crew prepares for a showdown, Captain Morgan calmly strips down to his skivvies and dives off the plank, breaking the ice and making friends out of potential enemies. See the extended ad here, created by Anomaly and directed by Tom Hooper who directed "The King's Speech."

Audi launched two TV spots that illustrate consumers' extreme love for the brand. In "Car Carrier," so many people are abandoning BMWs, Mercedes and Lexus cars in favor of Audi, that some drivers actually vacate their moving vehicles for a slew of Audis on a car carrier. The spot ends before the unmanned cars inevitably crash -- and what's with the guy who chose an Audi with someone already in it? I'd like to see them duke it out for ownership. See it here. "Spring Cleaning" is better than rolling out the red carpet for the Audi A7. The streets are cleaned with vacuums and brooms while yellow lines are hand-painted and pigeons are shooed away from street poles. "Ready the road" closes the ad, seen here. Venables Bell & Partners created the campaign.

Allstate's Mayhem is back and he continues to make life miserable for those not insured by Allstate. Take this man, who's selling his motorcycle. A potential buyer, someone he doesn't know very well, comes to test-drive the bike. The test driver is Mayhem, who hardly makes it to the end of the road before wiping out and severely damaging the motorcycle -- a major cost to the owner, if he doesn't have the right insurance. See the ad here, created by Leo Burnett.

Breakstone's sour cream launched two adorable TV spots starring an animated tub of sour cream professing his love to other foods. Love knows no language barrier. Sour cream consults a Spanish/English dictionary to properly confess his love to a pair of tacos. Watch it here. When it comes to his love of potatoes, sour cream takes a page from John Cusack's character Lloyd Dobler from "Say Anything." He takes his stereo and plays REO Speedwagon's "Keep on Loving You" to the potatoes. See it here. Each ad closes with the tagline "the food your other food loves." The Martin Agency created the ads, directed by David Hicks of B-Reel Films, with visual effects by axyz.

Can Betty White do wrong? Answer: No, says the person who owns every season of "Golden Girls" on DVD. She is such an ideal spokeswoman for AARP, given that much of her success occurred after she turned 50. White tells soon-to-be 50somethings to "Get Over It," in a TV ad encouraging those 50 and older to join AARP. White proves that joining AARP doesn't make you old by hosting a telethon, answering every phone call and performing with her band to entertain viewers. Watch the ad here, created by GSD&M.

Mars launched a print and outdoor campaign positioning itself as a candy that fixes things. So what if your surfboard has been half-eaten by sharks? Eat a Mars and get back in the water. Is your BMX bike bent out of shape with two flat tires? That shouldn't stop you from "getting back on track," by careening down a massive bike hill. See the ads here and here, created by CLM BBDO.

AT&T launched "Spider," promoting its Samsung Infuse 4g phone with colors so real, you'll want to beat it, if your phone's wallpaper happens to show a large spider. That's exactly what happened when a man placed his phone on a table in a crowded restaurant. A woman sees the spider screen, thinks it's a real spider, flips out, and a third person at the table beats the phone senseless. Watch the ad here, created by BBDO New York.

Random iPhone App of the week: And it's another graffiti app. Elite Gudz upgraded its Graffiti Spray Can Pro app to offer more texture choices, colors and a more realistic spray paint movement. Users can now share their work on Facebook, Twitter and email or upload it to the "Wall of Immortalz," an online graffiti community accessible from within the app. The app costs 99 cents in the App Store.