Two weeks ago, Verizon and broadcasting app Color kicked off a three-year deal that will bring live-streaming video and audio to its 4G LTE smartphones, including all compatible Androids and, yes, the iPhone. During what appears to be the last week heading up to Saturday Night Live‘s season finale, McCann and Verizon Wireless decided to head to the Rock and give us a backstage view of the goings on. From what we see, which is not much thanks to what appears to be several hazy videos, Color needs some work. Anyhow, check out another clip of “digital Short” co-mastermind Andy Samberg below and more after the jump.
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Ah yes, our old pal Alec Brownstein is at it once again in his post-agency career, this time tackling scripted comedy he’s dubbed “Forever Wrong.” Now that he’s played office mischief-maker, the former Y&R creative has moved on to write, direct and co-create a show that stars a half-goblin named “Bernie,” who’s been dealing with immortality for 400 years in all the wrong ways.
If you’re not a Sopranos diehard like yours truly, Bernie is played by Will Janowitz, the co-creator of the show who played Meadow Soprano’s boyfriend Finn on the HBO show. As you’ll see, even Meadow herself, or Jamie Lynn-Sigler rather, does her part in “Forever Wrong” as do other bit Sopranos players. Feel free to point them out if you can. Anyhow, it’s an interesting evolution for Brownstein, who after leaving his senior copywriting gig at Y&R New York last summer, has evolved from t-shirt maker to TV show runner. Best of luck in the network pitches, dude.
This somewhat incoherent diatribe found its way into our Anonymous Tips queue on Thursday. Without commentary, we present our sequel to the epic Team Sprint rant we posted last month. Read on, and feel free to offer your interpretation in the comments section:
I may put down the gloves for a minute…we haven’t done shit to Leo besides stating truth and this is horrible for not all parties- I enjoyed the comments the most. A full re-organization of the Team Sprint team. Unfortunately, I can’t upload the org chart anonymously. But, what it has is a “team” broken out by focus: integrated programs, acquisition, strategy and analytics. Then sub groups like Product, Brand, Sports, B2B, etc. Still lots of holes to fill. There’s supposed to be 300 people on the business and we’re just shy of 100.
It doesn’t take a genius to see that the org chart isn’t exactly the Team Sprint model that was promised. Division of work by company, with Leo leading all branding. Seems a lot like the old model, not a paradigm shift, as was promised in the press releases.
It also doesn’t take a genius to see which boss the Leo account director, that was referenced in your previous post, is sleeping with and why it’s such a problem for the team model. When the person your sleeping with is the boss of the Digitas account lead, it’s no wonder she can do whatever she wants without reproach. Add in the internal memo, off the record of course, where we’re supposed to make sure we redirect as much revenue as possible back to us to cover the Samsung and Allstate losses.
Yes, we are a team! What you have here is a picture of dysfunction. It looks even worse on the creative org chart. Anyone want to place bets on how long this re-org sticks?
Last year, the folks at TBWA\Chiat\Day LA used animated, biographically-focused TV spots to preview the 53rd Grammy Awards. Judging by the above spot, the agency seems to be employing “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mantra when it comes to marketing the 54th installment of music’s biggest night.
Though Bon Iver is not performing at the Grammys, the band is nominated for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist. Also, the band’s history is one that quickly found its place in folk music lore. Even passive fans know how singer/songwriter Justin Vernon started his project in humility, writing mournful songs from his parents’ cabin during a cold Wisconsin winter. To the ghostly sounds of the band’s track “Holocene,” a snowy scene evolves into a silhouette of Vernon and his guitar.
Could this be the year that Bon Iver becomes a pop sensation, played on Top 40 stations around the country? Well, you have to remember that the Grammys are now finally attempting a stab legitimacy, and Arcade Fire’s Album of the Year victory last year could be a sign of things to come. Bon Iver’s “We are Music” spot is one of four, with the others focusing on pop crooner Adele, middle-aged rockers Foo Fighters, and the worst thing to happen to music in 2011, dub-step phenom Skrillex.
Pictured above is a pumpkin portrait of Ryan Rachko, one of eight of Honda’s over 1.3 million Facebook fans who the auto brand honored with a jack-o’-lantern courtesy of Maniac Pumpkin Carvers. Last year, a few Facebook fans paid tribute with Honda-themed pumpkins, which in turned inspired the “True Love Can Be Scary” Facebook photo gallery. As a thank you, Honda and agency RPA’s used the social media campaign “Honda Loves You Back” to create a new gallery featuring the orange mugs of last year’s carvers. Over two years in, “Honda Loves You Back” shows no sign of slowing down, and props to Honda and RPA for consistently finding news ways to use social platforms to extenuate the brand’s devotion to customer service.
While we’re on the subject of Honda and RPA, we would be remiss not to give some mention to Honda’s surprise parade last Thursday for Maine resident Joe LoCicero, whose odometer on his 1990 Accord hit the million-mile mark (or at least 999,999). The celebration included a congratulatory airplane banner, three local marching bands and, as one would hope, a brand new set of wheels. Peep the parade video below.
With video streaming site Hulu on its last legs and desparate for a buyer and Netflix a target of popular ridicule, HBO has picked the perfect time to launch its own streaming video product, HBO GO.
Through one’s local cable provider, every HBO original series is available to stream on web browsers, mobile devices, and connected video game consoles and televisions. Helping the company roll out its new product are BBDO and production company B-REEL, who together created this interactive site built to introduce the capabilities of HBO GO and the environments where streaming episodes of True Blood, Boardwalk Empire and Curb Your Enthusiasm would be a handy tool to pass the minutes. Whether you’re at home, at work or waiting for the bus, wouldn’t an episode of Game of Thrones help soothe the pain of your otherwise grueling existence? HBO thinks certainly thinks so.
If only we had the budget to do this with our comment thread. Today, Domino’s has unveiled a 4,630-square-foot billboard in the heart of Times Square that will feature good, bad and neutral (what about ugly?) customer comments derived from the pizza chain’s online ordering Tracker. The feedback, which we’re assuming will be sanitized for the tourist-y Times Square crowd, will be posted by Domino’s at various times throughout the day (don’t envy that job) and through August 23. The OOH effort, created by CP+B of course, also lets customers post photos and if your comment runs on the billboard, you’ll get a link to a video clip of it to treasure forever.
In addition to the Times Square launch, CP+B also created a complementary TV spot that highlights the Tracker and stars real, New York-based Domino’s managers. You can peep it after the jump.
Three months after CP+B and Burger King’s well-publicized split, we have what we’ve been told is the final effort from the brand, called “Whopper Lust.” The campaign is exclusively aimed at DirecTV subscribers and essentially comes down to a staring contest with your telly whereby if you win, you get a 1 Free Whopper coupon. Camp CP+B sent us a note claiming that 50,000 whoppers have been given away this week and counting on DirectTV. We’ve been told that at this rate, America will have stared at this spinning Whopper for 13,500 hours (810,000 minutes) before the weekend rolls around. I don’t know if we’d have the attention span, but hey, we’re stuck with Time Warner Cable so guess we’ll never know.
1. Tune to Channel 111
2. Watch the show “Whopper Lust – Get Free Whopper Sandwiches.”
–You’ll need to watch this for ~5 minutes during which you’ll be prompted with remote control commands.
3. After 5 minutes you can accept 1 Free Whopper Coupon (mailed to address used on your DirecTV account). You can double or nothing, or triple or nothing to receive a 2nd or 3rd Free Whopper Coupon (have to wait longer than 5 minutes).”
How do they know people are watching? Well, alerts pop up at random intervals and if you don’t press the corresponding button on your remote, then you don’t get the Whopper. Check out some screen grabs from Whopper Lust after the jump. So what do you think of the final chapter in the BK/CPB relationship? Now, we’ll just wait and see how McBarryBowen manages with the baton in its hands.
It’s hard to believe that it’s almost been eight months since LeBron James participated in one of the most tasteless media stunts in professional sports history. It still feels like yesterday when almost anyone outside of Miami would tell you that they were no longer a fan of James and would spend the 2010-11 NBA season rooting against the Heat.
Outside of Cleveland and New York, the team that felt the most snubbed by James’ decision was the Chicago Bulls. Most NBA analysts believed that Chicago would be the wisest decision James could make, and the team was stacked with the kind young talent that could hang banners in the United Center next to Michael Jordan’s squads of the 90s. So now, with the NBA playoff run turning into full gear after the All-Star break, Derrick Rose has led the Bulls to third place in the Eastern Conference, right behind the Heat. So, Chicago is going to start upping this rivalry with Miami, and Windy City-based Allstate, with the help of its agency Leo Burnett, has been calling out James–who’s endorsed rival State Farm, of course–for his silly decision.
As actor Dennis Haysbert says, Allstate is “from Chicagoland, for Chicagoland” as the company is offering lower rates to Chicago drivers. Basically, a car insurance company has more integrity than LeBron James, and Allstate isn’t afraid to say it.
With the possible 2011 NFL lockout looming over Super Bowl XLV, fans, players and team owners are becoming increasingly more aware that Feb. 6 might be the last professional football game played this year (the arena league doesn’t count). In order to give light to the players’ side of the debate, the National Football League Players Association made the “Let Them Play” campaign, showing fans and players alike who just want to see the 2011 season unfold in a normal manner with the players’ disgustingly monstrous multimillion dollar contracts still intact.
As The Consumeristreports, the players’ union was attempting to buy some ad space the day before the Super Bowl on CBS, but the network is refusing the air their entry, with the network defending its position stating that it didn’t want to have to show the team owners’ counter-opinion, thus taking a side in the matter. Of course, the NFLPA is accusing television networks of showing their allegiance to the league and owners by not airing the players’ commercial, as networks like CBS, FOX, NBC, and DirecTV will still buy the television rights to the games whether or not the lockout occurs.
Even if the NFLPA somehow convinces some network to air the spot, what with their Twitter hashtag campaign gaining support, it treats all fans as if they’re complete idiots who will blindly follow their favorite athletes’ whims (Lord knows those guys need new Escalades every year). The truth is that all fans care about is paying $100 per ticket, $10 per beer and $25 per parking to see their favorite team play the game they love to watch, so they don’t really care about making the players happy with contracts the average fan can’t even begin to comprehend. They also don’t support the wealthy owners for running their favorite sport like a cutthroat business where the rich get richer. They just want to watch some damn football, and if only there was an alternative, non-profit system to these mean owners and whiny players. Oh wait, there is, and it’s working in Green Bay.
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