With the new “MY ASICS” training app, runners can log workout times, post motivational content to Facebook, and create a comprehensive exercise diary. There are digital timelines and unlockable articles, videos, pictures, and all this is great for athletes who are in need of a capable app. However, in 2013, this type of technology isn’t new. Although the design may be slicker than similar apps, “MY ASICS” could struggle to have an impact in a field where RunKeeper and MapMyRun have already been go-to social exercise platforms for the past few years.

The app is the latest addition to the “Journey of Improvement” campaign, and if it catches on, you’ll be able to scroll through your newsfeed and ridicule all the people sharing their running times and making you hate yourself for watching The Big Bang Theory instead of improving your cardiovascular health. Maybe, just maybe, it will force you to go for a jog and buy ASICS sneakers. Then, you can continue the cycle by downloading the app and posting your own workouts to Facebook. Then someone else can secretly despise you and start jogging. People helping people, it’s a beautiful thing.

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Competitively, not abusively. The Asics “Better Your Best” campaign created by 180 Amsterdam asks you to embrace the athletic quest for self-improvement that usually disappears from New Year’s resolution lists by mid-January. It’s encroaching on that “My Better is Better than Your Better” Nike sentiment from years past, but not enough to warrant the benign fury of the commenters. Winning against yourself is always less messy than whooping on others.

The commercial’s message can only be described as marathon running sessions inspired by zombie apocalypses inspired by Memento. However, the problem with bettering your best in a race against yourself is that you always lose–probably a fallacy Asics doesn’t want you to think about if you like the glass half-empty. Still, a viscerally powerful spot worth watching.

On a side note: there are six short films where international athletes like tennis player Gael Monfils and volleyballer Dragan Travica discuss ways they focus on continuously improving at their respective sports, but these don’t add much to the campaign. They’re full of athlete-speak cliches we’ve all heard a thousand times too many. Asics and 180 can still better their better for next time. Credits and one of the shorts after the jump.

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Though they struggled through injury during most of the 2011-12 NBA season, the Chicago Bulls had a very positive outlook at the beginning of the post-season in late April. After all, the team’s star and best player, Derrick Rose, had just returned to the team after a series of afflictions had kept him sidelined for a good chunk of the year. Rose was looking in prime condition, and the Bulls had the NBA Championship in their sights.

But, we all know what happened next. With the Bulls comfortably ahead of the 76ers in the waning minutes of their first playoff game, Rose went down with a season-ending ACL tear. Some blamed Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau for leaving his star in the game too long. Some blamed Rose himself for taking too many risks while still recovering from injury. Some, like Nike designer Jason Petrie, famously blamed Rose’s choice of shoe sponsor for the injury. (#shouldasignedwithNike) In any case, as the following photo shows, it was very, very sad.

But, Adidas is getting everyone’s hopes with a new spot from (we think) from 180 LA Caviar and director (not to mention 180LA alum) Amir Farhang. “The Return of Derrick Rose” helps confirm what some are reporting: D-Rose’s rehabilitation is ahead of schedule. With Chicago’s “bench mob” broken up by trades, we’ll need Derrick Rose for as much as possible if we hope to make it to the playoffs. Without him, there’s basically no chance in hell for this team. It’s the truth, and hopefully, Adidas is being honest with us as well.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, #thereturn is currently blowing up on the Twitterz. Production credits after the jump.

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According to a statement from 180 Amsterdam managing partner/ECD Al Moseley, Hall will serve as CD on various projects “across all our business, create his own work, and mentor teams. He’s going to be busy.” Prior to heading to the U.S. and joining Y&R, Hall spent five years at DDB London, where he worked as a creative on campaigns for Harvey Nichols, Marmite and various projects for VW.

We’ve been told he officially starts at 180 Amsterdam tomorrow.

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One of the biggest benefits of sponsoring what is arguably the world’s most famous professional sports teams is being able to use its likeness in advertising. While logistics company DHL isn’t Manchester United’s main partner (insurance company AON is actually what takes up the most space on the team’s jerseys), a new campaign from 180 Amsterdam that continues the brand’s “Speed of Yellow” mantra finds Man U stars wearing slightly altered uniforms.

180 Amsterdam ECD Al Moseley says in a statement that the spot for DHL is, “Not another celebration of a sponsorship but a demonstration of a true partnership between global brands.” As a flying ball of yellow energy travels across continents, from London to Tokyo to Dubai to Rio de Janeiro, it soars near Man U’s biggest stars including Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Nemanja Vidić, Park Ji-Sung, ‘Chicharito’ and coach Sir Alex Ferguson.

A second spot that sheds (bright yellow) light on DHL’s various partnerships features the brand’s speed of delivery racing Formula 1 drivers. And, just like the first, it’s scored with DHL’s theme, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” So, how do you think this compares to UPS’ recent logistics TV spots? Credits, and that terrible “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” sing-a-long from the 1998 Susan Sarandon/Julia Roberts comedy Stepmom for your immediate gratification after the jump.

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Four years after first serving as city host for the Los Angeles installment of Portfolio Night, which in essence is a speed-recruiting/networking event for young art directors, copywriters and designers, 180LA is back in the mix yet again. In the 2008 version, the agency fulfilled its promise that whoever presented the best portfolio that evening would be offered a full-time gig immediately (this is guy they chose).

In the video above, 180LA ECD William Gelner explains that with the economic downturn in the ensuing years after their first Portfolio Night collab, such an opportunity won’t come so easy nowadays. But he does have a solution, which reminds us somewhat of the intern-firing ploy pulled by San Francisco shop Mortar. Anyhow, the 180-hosted Portfolio Night 10 Los Angeles takes place on May 23. Get ticket info here.

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Despite Allen’s move up the ladder, 180 founder Chris Mendola will remain on board and lead the agency as chairman. Allen, meanwhile, will continue overseeing day-to-day in LA while also handling the responsibilities that come with his new appointment. Along with Mendola and Allen, 180′s global management team includes Amsterdam president Kevin Dundas, Amsterdam ECD Al Moseley, as well as LA ECD William Gelner and head of production, Peter Cline.

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Just when we thought we were done with the annual Movember coverage, along comes this image in the tips box, which appears to show 180 LA partner/ECD William Gelner (wait, is that him?) sans pants and doing his best Walter White/Breaking Bad parody. We’ll give it up to Gelner for showing some cojones, literally and figuratively, all while raising over $10,000 for the Movember movement. Anyhow, good on all of you who raised some scratch for the month of men’s health, even if you’re just in your skivvies.

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Two months after they first teased their deep-sea endeavor called “Project Shiphunt,” Sony, Intel and 180 LA have unveiled “Shipwreck Alley,” the first of two web films to be released this summer (the second arrives on July 13) that promotes the efforts of five Michigan students who are using Sony Vaio laptops to find a shipwreck within, yes, Lake Huron’s Shipwreck Alley. If only our school field trips were like this.

The young whippersnappers’ adventures are being captured by @radical.media director Paul Bozymowski, who says in a statement, “Over the course of just a few weeks, I saw a profound transformation in the students who participated in this project. I think this is not only a testament to the environment that was created for the students, but also a testament to engaging with technology through immersive project based learning.” From the looks of it, we’d just feel claustrophobic and get seasick. Anyhow, you can follow the project here and totally distract yourself and try to earn a million bucks by playing the Google Earth-based “Oceans of Treasure” game that ties into the “Shiphunt” effort. Credits after the jump…

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There’s nothing like D.J. introducing her pops, Danny Tanner, to bring back memories of those Friday nights we’d be rushing back on our bikes to watch ABC’s TGIF lineup in the late 80′s (props to you, Balki). Besides dating myself a bit, that young chap you see clapping for Bob Saget is none other than Derek Richmond, who was named director of integrated production at 180LA this week.

While we’re pretty sure his stirring Full House moment had plenty to do with his ad career, Richmond has some agency background on his resume, working as director of digital production at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners–where he spent over four years–and was a key part of the team that developed the “Now Network” rebranding effort for Sprint. Now at 180LA, Richmond will work alongside Peter Cline, head of production and managing partner. But can the new hire tell us what the hell happened to Dave Coulier?

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Though he’s been nestled in Amsterdam for the past several years, Vail has plenty of stateside experience, having served as an account planner at FCB then spending the next five-and-half years as a senior account planner at Goodby before heading to Europe to work at Saatchi & Saatchi London. So why the move now to 180? One of the reasons, Vail says, is the chance to work again with the agency’s CEO Kevin Dundas, who he was colleagues with at two other agencies and whose leadership he has “always admired and respected.” Vail adds, “We work too many ridiculous hours in this industry, so why not be surrounded by people you genuinely like, are inspired by, and respect? I hope to be that for people here as well.”

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Mendola, who started up 180 back 1998 and served as an account director at Chiat\Day New York and W+K Portland/Amsterdam beforehand, adds, “I will continue to oversee all of 180 (Amsterdam and LA) with my partners, splitting my time between offices.”

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Drawing inspiration from the world’s first online test drive, in which the Mitsubishi Outlander Sport was awarded its first Guinness World Record for the longest distance driven by a vehicle operated online, 180LA took the automaker’s Outlander and Outlander Sport to Alberta Canada’s Ghost Lake to showcase the tech wares of said vehicles and break as many world records possible within 24 hours.

Driven by stuntman Garvin Cross, the SUV and CUV broke five world records: Greatest distance driven by a vehicle in reverse on snow in 30 seconds, shortest braking distance by a vehicle on ice, most vehicle figure eights on ice in two minutes, fastest vehicle slalom relay on ice and fastest driven square lap, which all in all dubbed Mitsubishi the most awarded family of all-wheel drive vehicles in its class, so the automaker claims.

Digital marketing includes homepage takeovers, online banners as well as a strong social media push all leading consumers to their website to find out more.

Check out the “See How We Did It” video and full credits after the jump.

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Previous to WO, Striefler spent a handful of years at TBWA, where he split his time between Chiat\Day LA and \Media Arts Lab as director of media arts planning and worked with clients including Pepsi, Visa and Infiniti. Regarding his gig at 180, Striefler sounds happy enough with his new employer, saying in a statement, “180 has a history of doing what its name implies: making a 180 degree shift from the tried, tested and obvious and going in the opposite direction.”

Early on his career, Striefler worked on the client side as a marketing exec at Nike Germany, EA and Wrangler before eventually joining Berlin Cameron United.

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Creative team Ben Hartman and Neil Durber are joining 180 Amsterdam as senior copywriter and senior art director respectively, with their work primarily focused on the agency’s DHL account, acquired in January.

Hartman and Durber spent time at Leo Burnett, DMB&B, and BBH before moving to RKCR where they won awards for their work on Virgin Trains and Visit London. Joining them at 180 Amsterdam is former McCann Erickson Senior Copywriter David Chalu, who previously had done stints at BBH and Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper. All three appointments follow the hiring of Creative Director Galen Graham in September.

With renewed focus on the DHL account, ECD Al Mosley says, “Ben and Neil haven’t just got experience and talent, they’re also entrepreneurial. And David brings something totally different to the department. We expect big things from the next twelve months, so to have added exceptional creative skills to our armoury can only be a good thing.”

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