Dismal holidays reasonably priced at Target
I was not a fan of Target's scary 2-Day Sale commercials from Wieden + Kennedy that appeared around Thanksgiving. And I am so not a fan of the latest holiday Target ads that Wieden is now running on heavy rotation. (Neither is Barbara Lippert.) One spot is posted below; check out six more here. There's just something about having your neighbor accuse you of being ostentatious, Mom and Dad fighting about money on Christmas morning, a little girl whose Christmas is ruined by worrying about money, and that moment when you realize your girlfriend is just not that into you—it all makes me want to strike my whole Christmas list and wonder why I even bother trying. Sure, the spots are well acted and well written, but what's the point of breaking through just to bring me down? Two of the spots—one about that awkward moment when you unwrap something crappy, the other about making fun of Dad's giant ass—are harmless. But who's the target, Target? I'm sure these ads are talking to some people. Disillusioned people whose friends and family suck. People who realize the important thing to remember when Grandma gets plowed and disowns you is that at least you didn't spend a lot of money on your gift for her. But of course, you probably would have spent even less at Walmart. —Posted by Rebecca Cullers |
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Published on December 18, 2009 | Permalink
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W+K posting 'Wiedenisms' on new Web site
Wieden + Kennedy has touched up its Web site. It isn't likely to turn heads in the vein of Modernista! or BooneOakley, but it does pay tribute to the agency's founder with some "Wiedenisms." These little bon mots from Dan Wieden include well-known lines like "Fail harder" but also fortune-cookie material like, "Advertising is a weapon; be careful where you point it," and my personal favorite, "Patience and progress are fucking hard." Another touch from Wieden you don't see on many agency sites: It has ads. And not just ones the agency created—paid ads placed by local Portland businesses. —Posted by Brian Morrissey Previously on AdFreak: |
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Published on December 1, 2009 | Permalink
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Target's 2-Day Sale lady totally frightens me
Target is attempting to lure shoppers to its annual two-day sale with a cautionary tale about a Christmas-crazed housewife. Overzealous holiday shoppers are a fairly common theme, but rarely are they as serial-killery as this lady. She hasn't slept in days, she's convinced she'll "win Christmas," and I hope to God she doesn't knife me if I get to the doorbusters before her. The spot below is one of a series. Check out the other ads here. The actress, Maria Bamford, has that special kind of Christmas-crazy down pat. (Bamford is known for her stand-up jokes about depression and loneliness, which comes as no surprise whatsoever.) Target must have realized she'd frighten some shoppers, because they made another spot for people who don't "channel all their insecurities into Christmas." Unfortunately, Target has also just reminded me why I hate Black Friday: having to elbow my way through a store of people just as bat-shit as their spokeswoman while praying I don't get trampled to death. Agency: Wieden + Kennedy. |
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Published on November 24, 2009 | Permalink
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Stunt buddha jumps Benihana shrimp buffet
Benihana was hot in the '70s when it was a novelty for chefs to prepare food at your table. That's not so special now, and neither is this "Big Jump" spot via Wieden + Kennedy and Matt Lenski of Epoch Films. They use tiki-mug figurines to tell the tale of a self-styled Buddah Knievel with a salad-cycle who leaps over a spread of shrimp. This isn't nearly as wild as a real Asian ad would be, and it's undercooked as a parody/homage. Now, if the cycle guy crashed into the condiment tray, à la Gary Wells, and played a dramatic death scene in a pool of soy-sauce blood, as tattooed salt-and-pepper-shaker Yakuza blew everyone away with chopstick machine guns … now you're talking! And a broccoli-stalk Godzilla wouldn't hurt. Maybe Japanophile director Quentin Tarantino could spice up the next spot.
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Published on November 24, 2009 | Permalink
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Wieden makes jewelry out of charts, graphs
Wieden + Kennedy in London is the latest agency to wander off into the product world. Its take is jewelry inspired by sexy graphs. The idea for the PLOT jewelry line came from planner Lisa Prince, who saw a certain beauty in a jagged line from a PowerPoint presentation. She teamed with art director Nicholla Longley and jewelry maker Hannah Havana to make a product line melding data with design. First up are a bunch of necklaces with artsy representations of commodity prices over the years. Wieden managing director Neil Christie says it's all about getting away from that pesky business of making ads. "We're always looking for the opportunity to work in new ways that are beyond traditional advertising channels," he writes on the shop's blog. The jury's still out on whether these agency forays into product making are more than a diversion to keep the staff happy and maybe squeeze out a Fast Company profile suggesting they're "reinventing the ad agency model." One agency guy gave me a simple explanation for the spate of agency product projects: "That's because the ad-agency biz blows." —Posted by Brian Morrissey |
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Published on November 10, 2009 | Permalink
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Old Spice appeals to a range of douchebags
In this funny new spot from Wieden + Kennedy, Old Spice finally explains why it makes so many differently scented products: to satisfy the wide variety of smug, preppy douchebags within its target market! The guy reclining in his leather armchair has some nerve putting his own masculinity in the context of skiers and beach bums with hot girlfriends. Still, one can't help but admire the attitude, and jokes based around the absurdity of overzealous manhood will always be funny. I hope they make more of these ads, and this song plays in the background of all of them. —Posted by David Kiefaber See also: |
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Published on September 1, 2009 | Permalink
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Foley 'fartist' emits talent for EA video game
A Foley artist is the person who creates the natural, everyday sound effects for films or commercials. A Foley "fartist," apparently, is someone who does so using only his ass. In this video from Wieden + Kennedy, one such fartist named Myron Lefkowitz (aka "a farteur, a flatulist, but above all ... a professional") records unlikely effects for the MySims Racing game from Electronics Arts. Gamers like farting, so this should be right up their alley. See also: |
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Published on August 28, 2009 | Permalink
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Wieden takes a closer look at gamers' faces
Wieden + Kennedy in Tokyo has rolled out a new Sony PlayStation 3 campaign called PlayFace, showing the facial contortions that gamers make while they're playing. It's all pretty stylish and exaggerated—the players also make lots of buzzing, beeping and cracking sound effects, which gives them a robotlike aspect. But despite all the bells and whistles, as AdFreak sister blog PDNPulse points out, there's been some grousing that the PlayFace work (the idea, if not the execution) is similar to some still photos that artist Phil Toledano did in 2002, also showing gamers' faces. Toledano tells the gaming blog Kotaku that Wieden "ripped me off," but that seems a bit excessive. Toledano's insight—that people let their guard down when they're focused intently on something (like gaming), and that you can see "a hidden part of their character" in those moments—itself wasn't so new. Philippe Halsman did similar stuff in the pre-video-game 1950s, when he began taking pictures of people while they were jumping—and had to focus on that, rather than on posing for the camera. (Halsman's work eventually inspired some cool ads for HBO's Six Feet Under.) PDN further points to some 2008 gamer portraits by Robbie Cooper, who had basically the same idea as Toledano. Seems like lots of people have been down this road. UPDATE: Compare Wieden's ad to Cooper's "Immersion" video below. |
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Published on August 21, 2009 | Permalink
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Nike and Wieden pay tribute to '90s hip-hop
Back in the '90s, it seemed like pro athletes were lining up for the chance to put out terrible rap albums. Now, Nike and Wieden + Kennedy revisit those days with four NBA stars who are just as bad on the mike—but at least seem to realize it. "Don't Criticize (Hyperize)" is a bizarre and endearingly subtle parody of '90s hip-hop featuring Rashard "Ice-O" Lewis, Andre "Chief Blocka" Iguodala, Kevin "Velvet Hoop" Durant and the always awesome Mo Williams, who claims one of the best rap pseudonyms ever with "Fog Raw." At first blush, the song is pretty painful, but it's worth a few watches just to catch the endless references to decade-old fads. And for Lewis's top-notch lyric, "If you like staying on the ground, maybe you should wrestle." See also: |
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Published on August 11, 2009 | Permalink
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Avoid nasty residue build-up with Old Spice
In mulling this "Residue is evil" print campaign from Old Spice and Wieden + Kennedy, a few things crossed my mind. First, the problem surely doesn't rise to the level of "evil." Hitler was evil. The embarrassment caused by deodorant residue can be avoided by lowering one's arms. Also, was there a point where someone said, "Hey, this playground ad's not nearly heinous enough. Let's add a gratuitous view of some girl's butt!"? And is it wise to berate one's potential customers as "idiots," "weirdos" and "chumps"? Hey, Old Spice, that stinks! I should find a groovy co-ed sauna to sweat off the anxiety I get from looking at nasty ads like these, but I'd better stop at the drugstore first and pick up some Nair for Men. —Posted by David Gianatasio See also: |
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Published on August 11, 2009 | Permalink
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Old Spice Swagger ads are scientifically iffy
The guys at Old Spice make good deodorant, but they're piss-poor scientists. Their test subject in the "Arm vs. Arm" spot above had obvious advantages beyond whatever he used to make his armpits smell nice. And the guy whose arm withers in the spot below clearly had some sort of pre-existing condition. There are two more spots here (all are from Wieden + Kennedy), and they seem rigged as well. (Surely that martial artist's third arm wasn't a complete surprise.) Still, a little embellishment is worth it if you're trying to get people to make their own Old Spice Swagger ads for a chance at $10,000. However, I'm not sure if that prize money is enough to buy "helicopters made entirely of diamonds and nuclear-powered toothbrushes," though. So, don't go to Old Spice for accounting, either. |
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Published on August 3, 2009 | Permalink
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Wieden's Neil Christie smells another rip-off
Neil Christie, managing director of Wieden + Kennedy in London, is a hawk for any advertising that resembles anything his agency has done. Nine months ago, he dug up a Singapore ad that had a bread-making sequence he found eerily similar to some food porn that Wieden did in the Middle East. Needless to say, many dismissed Christie as a crank. He's undeterred. Today, he's putting the ripoff label on a print ad for Sure deodorant that shows a cricket player pointing his bat at the viewer with the tagline, "Not without a fight." As it happens, Wieden used the same line a year ago in a Nike ad featuring English rugby players looking rather menacing on the cliffs of Dover. It's anybody's guess whether the Unilever brand knowingly ripped off Wieden or some creatives simply subconsciously absorbed the image and message (that is the point of advertising, yes?). But Christie does seem to have a better case this time around. |
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Published on July 16, 2009 | Permalink
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Sports stars line up to be Federer's fanboysNike has gotten pretty good at the quick-turnaround ads for major sports events, the most recent of which was Roger Federer's record-breaking 15th Grand Slam win this weekend. The charming homage shown above features an athletic A-list that only Nike could muster: Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, John McEnroe, Serena Williams and, of course, the dethroned-but-deferential Pete Sampras. I'm guessing that Andy Roddick would have been happy to make an appearance too, if he hadn't been busy fending off Federer in a showdown that lasted longer than a Francis Ford Coppola movie. —Posted by David Griner |
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Published on July 6, 2009 | Permalink
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Walt Whitman is reborn. To sell blue jeans.This Levi's "Go Forth" spot by Wieden + Kennedy uses what many think is an original voice recording of Walt Whitman reading from his poem, "America." If so, his voice does not match his appearance at all. Judging from the beard alone, I expected Wookie noises. Nevertheless, the visuals correspond well to the audio, capturing snippets of an America blooming with endurance, opportunity, and young people running shirtless through vacant lots. —Posted by David Kiefaber |
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Published on July 6, 2009 | Permalink
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Bear simply astounded by Coke Zero's taste
This Coke Zero spot from Wieden + Kennedy is described as an "epic rock opera ... featuring such memorable cast members as a singing bear, candy-pooping birds [and] an elk with sausage antlers." There are also sheep with honeycomb wool, which I don't understand, but if that bear likes his sheep full of angry bees, more power to him. This is America, after all. (Actually, the spot only aired in Brazil, and broke just recently, even though it was completed some 15 months ago.) Anyway, the gist of this ad is that the bear is taken aback by the robust flavor of Coke Zero. Was he expecting it to taste awful? If so, he might not be the brand's ideal spokesbear. He could open for Meat Loaf on his next tour, perhaps. |
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Published on May 21, 2009 | Permalink
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Wieden's purified-cow ad deemed not racist
Given all the weird, harmless advertising that's offended the British viewing public over the years, I'm surprised that the supposedly "racist" Cravendale milk ad above, from Wieden & Kennedy London, got cleared. The ad, which shows a black-and-white cow being "purified" by having its black spots removed, was accused of having an offensive racist subtext. But the Ad Standards Authority said viewers were "unlikely to interpret the visual representations of the purification process as being racist." Except for the 10 people who complained, of course. Cravendale's explanation makes a lot more sense. They used cows to represent milk because, after all, cows produce the stuff, and the spot removal symbolizes pasteurization. Now, let's all calm down and enjoy the companion spot below, which is totally offensive to slurping shepherds. |
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Published on May 14, 2009 | Permalink
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Doers do stuff in latest Honda ad by Wieden
I must say, this new two-minute Honda ad by Wieden + Kennedy, London, talks so much about "doing" that it should have set off my innuendometer something fierce. But Garrison Keillor is somehow too soothing to be dirty. He even famously made hatred sound genial and easygoing, like a Raffi break-up album or something. So, maybe we can forgive him for being a bit redundant here. "Doers do things," indeed. |
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Published on April 14, 2009 | Permalink
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Wieden and Honda try headlight animationHere's another logistical wonder for Honda from "Cog" masterminds Wieden + Kennedy. This time around, the agency's Amsterdam office arranged a massive grid of cars and coordinated the headlights to create animation. While specifically an ad for the Insight Hybrid, the spot also launched Honda's environmental brand initiative when it debuted yesterday. Check out Eleftheria Parpis's writeup on the campaign at Adweek.com for details, and watch this behind-the-scenes video to see how it was done. |
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Published on March 27, 2009 | Permalink
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Coke's 'Happiness Factory' cranks up tunes
While Coke's "Open happiness" ad from Spain has been getting lots of blog love, the latest installment of the U.S. campaign has launched with the third "Happiness Factory" commercial, called "Yawnbusters." The spot's been viewable online since January, but just this week it was updated with a new super-pop jingle! (That's the new version, with a snippet from the single, above.) Coke teamed up with Warner Music and combined Gnarls Barkley's Cee-Lo, Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump, Panic at the Disco's Brendon Urie, Gym Class Heroes' Travis McCoy, and Janelle Monae for the song, which is on iTunes. Psyop did the animation with Wieden + Kennedy. Oh, and it also comes with a new site full of reasonably amusing Flash games, but what doesn't these days? For those of us who worried that the "Open happiness" tag meant an end to the Happiness Factory, it turns out Coke plans to churn out even more HF spots. Which is good, since they remodeled the World of Coca-Cola to start with "Happiness Factory Theatre." |
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Published on March 18, 2009 | Permalink
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Jimmy Rollins pounded by balls for Dick'sPhillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins gives an amusing performance in this Wieden + Kennedy co-op spot for Nike and Dick's Sporting Goods. Rollins flinches ever so slightly and grunts in quasi-orgasmic fashion as baseballs shot from a pitching machine careen off his body. The message: in sports, performance and pain are intrinsically linked. Fantasy baseball owners know it's true. Especially those of us who drafted JR in the first round for $40, only to see him spend April on the disabled list and hit just .277 for the year. Aww, does your widdle spwained ankle hurt, Jimmy? Suck it up this season! Who feels my pain when the dweebs in accounting finish first and win all my hard-earned pay? |
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Published on February 19, 2009 | Permalink
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Coke living in blissed-out alternate universeThis new Coca-Cola spot by Wieden + Kennedy makes me cringe, but in a good way, like a horror movie. In fact, it's fairly subversive. A guy and gal in a school library "share" fluids, literally, via pen drawings on their arms. It's not sexual; it's more like a blood transfusion or trippy IV drug-use fantasy. (The fluid they share is Coke, of course.) Below is the latest "Happiness Factory" ad, as well as the new "Avatar" spot. They're both pretty wigged out, too. Frankly, I never liked Coke's advertising—until now! What's that new slogan? "Open a vein"? Oh, sorry, it's "Open happiness." These vignettes look like scenes from the "high life" to me, but that slogan's already taken. —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on January 26, 2009 | Permalink
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CareerBuilder ad an extravaganza of misery
CareerBuilder is returning to the Super Bowl not with chimps but with cube monkeys—desperate office drones apparently not bright enough to see the signs that their work life sucks until the job site sets them straight. This ad from Wieden + Kennedy shows us a woman screaming as she arrives at work, a boss flagrantly disrespecting his staff, a guy at his desk who wears just a Speedo, and somebody punching a koala bear. In other words, it's just like every office on earth. So, this campaign basically insults the intelligence of its target audience, because anyone not sailing by on a trust fund knows that most jobs ultimately crush your soul. Except for AdFreak, of course, where the boss is a koala, all sweet and cuddly—and we scream because we love working for him so very very much. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to head down to HR. Something about my "bad attitude." Jerks. Where's that Speedo? —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on January 23, 2009 | Permalink
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Heineken ads taste good all over the worldA couple of fun Heineken ads here. The one above is courtesy of Wieden + Kennedy and stars John Turturro, who delivers an ultra-cool, tongue-twisting, philosophical monologue about the fine art of imbibing (not recommended during a field sobriety test), all while roaming the outer-spacey landscape of the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York. Our sister blog BrandFreak has more. A second 30-second spot with Turturro will air in 27 markets during the Super Bowl. The ad below, from TBWA\Neboko in Amsterdam, is just stupid guy humor, but amusing nonetheless. And lest you think the walk-in fridge is a mere fantasy, have a gander at these step-by-step instructions on how to build one in your basement. |
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Published on January 21, 2009 | Permalink
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Wieden upset by half-baked Singapore spotOne thing I learned pretty quickly about the ad world is that people get very prickly about other people's ads that bear any resemblance to their own. Usually, the grumbling over these ... tribute ads is done sotto voce. But sometimes not. Neil Christie, managing director of Wieden + Kennedy London, is calling out a Singapore agency for ripping off a Wieden spot for Lurpak spread (top). The breadmaking sequence in an ad for Qatar Airlines (bottom), by Batey Ads of Singapore, was too much for Christie to handle. He's demanding answers. "This isn't a case of 'inspired by' or 'referring to' or even 'hommage,' " Christie writes. "It's just bloody copying our ad. Poor show. Anyone out there know anyone at Batey? Can they confirm that Batey did this work and do they know why they so obviously ripped us off?" These things always perplex me. Could the breadmaking have been presented differently, or is any breadmaking a no-no? Judge for yourself. —Posted by Brian Morrissey |
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Published on October 30, 2008 | Permalink
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Nike sets a collision course for its NFL stars
David Fincher directed this epic new Nike commercial, titled "Fate," in which NFL players LaDainian Tomlinson and Troy Polamalu are literally born to pummel each other in a football game. Polamalu, it seems, has had long hair since his days in the womb. Wieden, Nike and Fincher have teamed up before, of course, notably on the Nike Gridiron stuff from 2003. |
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Published on October 14, 2008 | Permalink
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