Hegarty gives audio tour for Johnnie WalkerBBH London has posted a series of "audio walks" on the Johnnie Walker Web site, in which folks like Richard Branson, Ranulph Fiennes and, yes, John Hegarty are heard ruminating about life and work while walking around places that mean something profound to them, personally or professionally. In the clip above, BBH founder Hegarty strolls through Carnaby Street and Soho in London, recapping his career. He covers lots of ground—why he was petulant and angry as a young creative, his advertising philosophy now, the interplay between inspiration and fear, what he learned about business from playing tennis, etc. The best moment comes early on, when he talks about his early days at Benton & Bowles. Told that he's being paired with some guy named Charles Saatchi, Hegarty despairs at the very sound of the name. He recalls thinking: "Charles Saatchi? He's obviously Italian, he lives at home with Mum, and he can't spell. Just my bloody luck. Anyway, I was right on two of them, but not on the third. He did live at home with Mum, he couldn't spell, but he wasn't Italian." —Posted by Tim Nudd |
|
Published on December 8, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (2)
|
DonQ's ladies will teach guys a thing or two
DonQ Rum and interactive shop Undercurrent (with help from Odopod in San Francisco) have launched a digital campaign called LadyData, which offers guys advice from hundreds of "real women" on things like dating, style, success, nightlife, manners and worldliness. A campaign with Lady Gaga, in spandex, would've been so much better! The site presents typical tongue-in-cheek guy questions like, "What's the maximum number of days I can wear the same underwear?" The responses are predictably glib. "What underwear?" says one. "Ewww," says another. The issue of whether the underwear is on the inside or outside of a guy's pants is never even addressed! Look, guys who are knocking back DonQ's at the bar don't care about this stuff. When they want friendly female advice that makes their eyes roll, they'll get married! UPDATE: It's better than having 100 Axe girls judge your hair, anyway. |
|
Published on December 4, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (2)
|
Enjoy that Guinness, wherever it came fromHere's the most recent Guinness commercial from BBDO New York, in which a pint of the stuff makes an unlikely slide from quiet neighborhood bar to thirsty corporate ladder-climber. "Fortune favors the bold," the spot says. It also favors guys who drink openly at work. —Posted by Tim Nudd
Previously on AdFreak: |
|
Published on December 1, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (3)
|
Guinness plays God in its latest lavish spot
AMV BBDO didn't take many short cuts for this new Guinness ad (video below), called "World," which breaks today in the U.K. According to the Guardian, they shot in four countries (New Zealand, Canada, Fiji and the U.K.); took three months to build the set for the underwater scene; got army assistance to film the grass-hauling shots at an old bombing range; and hired the set designer from the third Lord of the Rings film to pull it all together. Was it worth it? The ad shows a bunch of men bringing a new world into existence. The connection to Guinness is a bit vague—a churning pint of just-poured Guinness apparently also evokes a sense of rebirth. Or something like that. The tagline, "Bring it to life," is also new, replacing the long-running slogan, "Good things come to those who wait." —Posted by Tim Nudd |
|
Published on November 4, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (3)
|
Saatchi's fight for the last beer ends meekly
This Malaysian commercial for Tiger beer from Saatchi & Saatchi has such a visually arresting buildup, I never felt like I was being primed for a punch line until the trap sprang at the end. Two faux-macho goobers try to one-up each other for the last Tiger on the table, transforming into imposing characters ranging from a robo-Stormtrooper type to Tarzan and a gorilla. The latter steals the show, and of course calls to mind Cadbury's drumming simian, but this guy seems more intent on delivering a beat-down than keeping the beat. (Oh man, that's clever writing!) The "twist" ending is predictable, but I didn't see it coming. You might ask: They're in a bar, why not just order more beers? Answer: They're men. And in fact, I've seen this kind of scenario play out similarly in real life. Complete with Stormtrooper and Gorilla. We had way too many that night. |
|
Published on October 28, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (0)
|
Learn about Kraken rum's beastly namesake
Conflated mythologies are the latest fashionable mixer in liquor advertising. From John Jameson's recent bout of drinking and diving to Dos Equis' Most Interesting Man in the World, imaginative histories are popping up all over. In the same vein, New York agency Dead As We Know It has created a delightful campaign for The Kraken Spiced Rum that fills us in on some of the more fraudulent details of the Kraken sea creature's storied mythology. The three main spots, posted here, prove that someone actually reads those word-a-day calendars. You can also check the site, where you'll eventually be able to acquire a book of the Kraken's mythology. The copy manages to be highly amusing and somehow tastefully done. After all, if this were DDB for Bud, they'd manage to work in some joke about your Ass Kraken. Now, there's a beast I'd rather not encounter. —Posted by Rebecca Cullers Previously on AdFreak: |
|
Published on October 26, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (3)
|
TBWA goes overboard for Jameson whiskey
Dos Equis' Most Interesting Man in the World had better move over and make room for John Jameson! TBWA\Chiat\Day in New York goes the historical namesake/founder route in what's billed as the first-ever TV ad for the venerable Irish whiskey. Johnnie Walker recently played the history card, too, but that ad was like 90 minutes long. Jameson's narrative takes 30 seconds, so barflys won't have to look up from their drinks very long to take in the plot. J.J. leaps overboard to rescue a barrel of spirits that's broken loose and slipped beneath the waves. The brogue's thick, the action's tense, and that squid puts Dentyne's fetid sushi roll to shame. This spot could almost double as an alcohol-awareness PSA if Jameson hadn't surfaced at the end. I'll say it anyway: Don't drink and dive! —Posted by David Gianatasio Previously on AdFreak: |
|
Published on October 22, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (5)
|
Vanilla Ice reprises 'Ice Ice Baby' for beer ad
Yes, it's 2009, and ad agencies are still asking Vanilla Ice to perform "Ice Ice Baby" for TV ads. This one's from Ogilvy South Africa, and it promotes Castle Lite beer's new thermocromatic-ink labels, which appear blue when the brew is extra cold. Ice himself could use a freshness-dating label. —Posted by Tim Nudd Previously on AdFreak: |
|
Published on October 20, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (1)
|
PSA reminder: you're an ass when you drink
Lowe Bull wisely avoids the clichés of the genre in these alcohol-awareness ads for South Africa's Association for Responsible Alcohol Use. I expected a bloody fistfight in the "Rugby" spot (above), tears of humiliation in "21st Birthday" (below) and lots of mangled bodies in "Road Block." We get none of these, although the threat of each provides an undercurrent of unease that propels the message. In some ways, that makes the spots tougher to watch than the more graphic stuff. The work might make some parents think twice about whether one more drink is one too many. But the campaign could resonate most strongly with teens. They're immensely self-conscious, and for them, public humiliation can seem like a fate worse than death. Via Ads of the World. |
|
Published on October 19, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (1)
|
Brewer's ad turns Snow White into Ho White
A new ad from Australia's Jamieson Brewery shows a whole different side of Disney's Snow White. They've turned her into "Ho White," a floozy who lounges around naked in bed, blowing smoke rings, next to her brood of shag-mates, the Seven Dwarfs. See the full ad here. Created by an agency called The Foundry, the ad is part of a campaign that positions the brewer's raspberry ale as "Anything but sweet." According to Sydney's Daily Telegraph, the dwarfs were given new names like Filthy, Smarmy and Randy. We wouldn't know, because The Foundry has pulled the campaign materials off its Web site after admitting, somewhat ominously, that the agency had "a little bit of contact" with Disney about the ad. |
|
Published on October 16, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (7)
|
Captain Morgan doesn't enjoy sausage fests
The latest Captain Morgan ads are ludicrous, which probably means they're going over great with the college crowd. In the spot above, four buddies stumble into a bar that's literally a "sausage fest," the classic frat-boy phrase meaning a party with too many dudes. (They flee in disgust, but not before one of them, confident in his masculinity, orders five pounds of kielbasa.) In one spot below, a bottle of Captain Morgan is preferred over a bottle containing a ship with tiny sailors singing a poor man's Gilbert & Sullivan. The other features a "reverse ventriloquist"—a big puppet operating a small human. The ads are part of the rum brand's new "Calling all captains" campaign, which naturally includes a prank-call game, too. —Posted by Tim Nudd
Previously on AdFreak: |
|
Published on October 14, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (3)
|
Tooheys cider thankful for Eve's original sin
This spot by BMF Sydney for Tooheys Extra Dry 5 Seeds is probably the wildest hard-cider ad you'll see this year. The category tends to prefer William Wallace epics over creation stories, but after downing a few, they probably figured, go Biblical or go home. In the spot, the Genesis story is turned upside down. Birds have beaten Eve to the apple, and they noisily rule the earth from above, as the scrubby, unevolved humans muck about below, fighting over fallen, half-eaten cores. But by the end, we realize it's all been a bad dream, as Eve—presented as a clean-scrubbed, long-haired hottie—plucks the apple from the tree of knowledge. Original sin never tasted so good. I'll have what she's having. Via Adland. —Posted by David Gianatasio Previously on AdFreak: |
|
Published on October 14, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (2)
|
NFL rivalries get heated in Seagram's spots
David&Goliath based this cute Seagram's vodka campaign on NFL rivalries. Patriots vs. Dolphins and Bears vs. Packers I got right away. I had some trouble with the Eagles, though, even though our feathered friend actually refers to his rival as a Giant. To me, the guy just looks like he needs a shave. And he doesn't seem especially tall, though with just half his face in the frame, it's tough to tell. Oh, alright, I just suck. Frankly, the trash talking between opposing fans would get a tad much more nasty (though ultimately incomprehensible) if vodka were involved. —Posted by David Gianatasio |
|
Published on October 9, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (2)
|
Ad asks what kind of horrible drunk you are
The Swedish Web site IQ.se has an online test where you can determine which type of drunk you are, ostensibly as some kind of anti-drunkenness campaign. (If you can't understand the site, it's not necessarily because you're plastered. It's because it's written in Swedish.) Ad agency Forsman & Bodenfors made this spot to promote the site. Hopefully the test itself is more varied than this ad, which divides drinkers into three basic categories: violent asshole, amateur stripper and pathetic old binger nodding off in his food. If the test has any merit, it'll include vomiters, awkward huggers and ill-advised phone callers, too. —Posted by David Kiefaber Previously on AdFreak: |
|
Published on September 29, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (1)
|
Pure Blonde's lonesome dove has rough life
Clemenger BBDO pulls off a satisfying twist in this fun Australian spot for Pure Blonde beer. It's no spoiler to say there's a twist, because you can feel one coming all the way. I thought maybe the Bonnie Prince Billy-ish guy would nurse the pigeon back to health and fatten it up, only to wash it down with a cold Pure Blonde, or that the bird would repay his kindness by pecking his eyes out. This commercial wisely takes an entirely different route, coming around in a full circle at the end. Sans eye pecking. Maybe next time. Via Ads of the World. |
|
Published on September 21, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (0)
|
People with hangovers love Captain Morgan
In MRM's new game for Captain Morgan's rum, you prank-call hungover friends by filling out a Mad Libs-type form at CallingAllCaptains.com. You can pick one of three personas for the caller: the "cute bar girl," the "angry boyfriend" or the "unpaid bartender." They'll either flirt with or berate the callee, in reference to supposed events of the previous night, which your friend might confusingly think actually happened. I thought the Captain partied much heartier than this. Or is it "party hardy"? After a few shots, you won't care which word is correct or have any interest in this game. If you come across the site while sober, well, the whole dated enterprise (it's so 2005) might drive you to drink. And yes, I chose to be the "cute bar girl" and pranked myself because I have no life. Happy now, Cap'n? —Posted by David Gianatasio See also: |
|
Published on August 27, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (0)
|
Are these guys in a beer commercial or not?
This Quilmes beer spot from Young & Rubicam in Argentina is a pretty funny bit of meta marketing. The two guys have an impressive eye for detail, particularly in noticing that all the beer glasses have the same amount in them. But clearly it's a commercial, because these two dweebs would never get into a club full of hot chicks any other way. In fact, Big Nose's buddy should thank his lucky stars he's in an ad, because otherwise he'd be stuck playing the pervert neighbor in a Lifetime Original Movie. |
|
Published on August 21, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (1)
|
Carling ads toast some great beer decisions
"Does this look like a whore's mouth?" That's the best line from a TV commercial so far this year, and it's served up in the ad above—one of several spots in Taxi Canada's winning "Great Beer Decisions" campaign for Molson Carling. The "whore" bit caught me off guard, uttered by a puritanical house-frau berating her balding, henpecked husband, who simply asked if he can have a beer rather than milk while catching the game on TV. In the spot below, the voiceover tags the hero as a "cheap bastard" for paying his pals just one bottle of Carling each for a hernia-popping day of heavy lifting. This type of humor is par for the course in the category, but the quippy scripts, cartoonish performances and self-deprecating attitude shine. The ads are honest enough to admit that beer-driven decisions usually aren't so great, and reveal the decision makers as schlubs just trying to get by. After all, handing the car-keys to someone sober is probably the only truly good "beer decision" anyone could ever make. —Posted by David Gianatasio |
|
Published on August 20, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (2)
|
Coors Light is asked not to laugh at Toronto
It doesn't take much to get an ad pulled in Canada. Coors Light billboards like the one shown here, featuring harmless regional Canadian humor, have been deemed offensive to people in Toronto, and the brewer has now axed the campaign. The ads had been running out west in British Columbia, where jokes about Toronto abound—though putting them in ads is beyond the pale. Says one B.C. resident: "We hear stuff about Toronto people all the time, but we couldn't believe anyone would put it on a billboard." Adam Moffat, a rep at the brewer, says the campaign was based on "insight gleaned from people in the west," but that a handful of people e-mailed to complain, causing him to quickly cave. "Sometimes we get it wrong," he says. "This is one instance where we misfired, and we realized that after seeing people's reaction here in Toronto." See also: |
|
Published on August 19, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (10)
|
Foster's speaks Australian again in new ads
Since nothing about its beer separates it from the pack, Foster's is returning to its classic "How to speak Australian" ad campaign for the U.S. market. Luckily, the GPS spot above is one of the funnier ones they've done, and makes up for the two spots below, which trade in lame topical humor and lame relationship humor, respectively. Adweek says the campaign, by Digitas in Chicago, "targets 25-34-year-old males ... but should also appeal to older consumers who remember the brand from the 1980s and '90s." You know, the ones who enjoy their Foster's with a shrimp off the barbie. |
|
Published on August 13, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (8)
|
A stroll through history with Johnnie Walker
Best ad of the year so far? It just might be this brilliant five-minute-plus spot by BBH London, in which Robert Carlyle, in a single continuous take, narrates the progression of Johnnie Walker whiskey from the backroom experimentation of a humble shopkeeper to the multinational powerhouse it is today. The combination of bagpiper abuse, well-timed visual cues, pitch-perfect writing and music, and Carlyle's charisma keeps the mini-movie chugging right along. (When was the last time you sat through an ad this long, and one that really just puts in motion the boring brand-history page from the Web site?) It's also nice to see the renowned gloomy Scottish countryside put to good use. UPDATE: Shots has an interview with the director, Jamie Rafn of HLA in London. See also: |
|
Published on August 7, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (20)
|
British people again being told to drink less
How refreshing—an anti-binge-drinking advisory from Europe that doesn't involve someone ralphing uncontrollably. "Don't spend the entire concert urinating" is an anti-drinking angle I haven't seen before. Still, the star of the ad, some British DJ and TV personality, obviously hasn't been to many outdoor music festivals, as she clearly doesn't know that only drunk, stupid kids jump off the stage nowadays. See also: |
|
Published on August 6, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (2)
|
Absolut goes all out for unexceptional copy
So, Absolut vodka and TBWA\Chiat\Day in New York got some international folk artists to shelve their integrity long enough to physically build, word by word, Absolut's new theme line. Considering the time, money and effort involved, one would hope it would be a really catchy, inventive phrase, instead of a clunker like "Doing things differently leads to something exceptional," which reads like a motivational poster from sixth-grade homeroom. At the risk of sounding trite, this is Absolut crap. —Posted by David Kiefaber See also: |
|
Published on August 5, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (15)
|
It's always clear skies with Malibu rum radio
DJ Bernhard and MC Wonder Full are having way too much laid-back, Caribbean-style fun in Malibu rum's tongue-twisting "Radio MaliBoom Boom" campaign by Publicis in London. The multifaceted push features a real Barbados-based Internet-radio station starring the DJs and all manner of social-media outreach. In this spot, Bernhard forecasts sunny weather throughout the world, even where it's raining or nighttime, explaining that he's not overly concerned with "details." I guess that counts as truth in advertising, because after a few Malibus, people do tend to let life's finer points slide. They might even say stuff like "Gimme another MaliBoom Boom" when ordering the next round. MC Wonder Full seems a bit confused. He says they work for "a non-commercial radio station." Excuse me, but unless I'm missing something, isn't the whole thing one big ad? —Posted by David Gianatasio |
|
Published on August 5, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (5)
|
PSA: chicks love guys who drunkenly puke
Belgium's drinking culture is a lot different than America's. In Belgium, you can get wasted enough to barf, and then still make out with hot girls who aren't turned off in the least. If you take away the guitar player, the anti-binge-drinking PSA above pretty much depicts the most unexpectedly happy ending to anything, ever. Oh sure, there's the "Don't fool yourself" message tacked on at the end, but that does little to shake the fantasy vision presented before it. They'd probably do better by just sticking with reality. Bonus points if it turns out the guy's kissing a dog. |
|
Published on July 27, 2009 | Permalink
| Comments (2)
|
