Campaigns

Memorial Day! Since it’s probably going to rain all over your weekend, here’s some sort-of-ad-related videos to entertain you. Or, more likely, to help you waste time before the bell tolls marking the end of this gods damned week. Videos, mofo, in yo face. This week, The Gatsby is greater than we remember he was in grade school, people get it on in Australia and some late week dubstep that will remind you of your childhood.

9. Fruit! It’s delicious and nutritious. Now that the word play part of this blurb is done, here’s the part where I describe how a juice company convinced some fruits to grow themselves in the shape of juice boxes. I’d like to try this technique on my gut, and somehow convince it to grow into David Beckham‘s abs. But then I’d still have these man boobs, so what’s the point.

8. You remember most of 7th grade, right? The random, uncontrollable erections, lack of body hair and more to the point, the shift from books like Goosebumps to actual books like The Things They Carried and The Great Gatsby. The latter was a bit hard for this writer’s 7th grade brain to comprehend (what with all those naked ladies floating around in there), which is best exampled through this trailer for the Great Gatsby. Old Gats seems like a cool guy with a cool car and superfluous shirts. My memory doesn’t recall any of those factors, but apparently they happened.

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Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

The brains at Stink Digital came up with this interesting concept during downtime (and yes, it’s a side project), which shows us how Nike’s Fuel Band (hit or miss, we hear), to show the health of your Twitter tweeting. From what we’ve been told, the Stink guys built, designed and developed all of this, including the rig itself, in just over one week. Well, as you’ll see, the shop had some help from open-source electronic prototyping platform Arduino. Enjoy.

 

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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If you don’t know who “Scumbag Steve” is, he’s a brah who has provoked a wellspring of memes in recent times (you can view a pretty comprehensive list here) and was popular enough to be the centerpiece of a new campaign celebrating the partnership between Pepsi’s Brisk iced tea brand and image-sharing service, Imgur. Brisk’s ad agency Mekanism is behind the campaign, which will feature this “promoted image” ad across social and on Imgur galleries to promote the product. Even Scumbag Steve–aka Blake Boston–is taking part in the effort as it does leverage his name and image after all. Anyhow, we’re being told this particular meme’s in the experimental beta stage, but it seems to fit the “Scumbag” tone properly enough.

After just setting Burger King staffers’ hearts aflutter, David Beckham continues his advertising tear with a far more active spot from Cheil USA for the Samsung Galaxy Note. Directed by Tool’s Jason Zada, the commendable clip features Becks reinterpreting Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” the best way he knows how. Of course, we imagine there was some decent amount of editing involved, but it’s nice to see that the soccer star still has it in him.

The Samsung spot also marks Lars Bastholm‘s first work as CCO at Cheil USA, which he of course joined towards the end of last year. As for Beckham, one would think that being a player for the L.A. Galaxy would have something to with his appearance in a Samsung Galaxy spot, but the athlete and brand are both in fact heavily involved in the London Olympics, with Beckham serving as an ambassador and Samsung serving as sponsor for the 2012 festivities. So, you see, it all makes sense now. Credits after the jump.

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A couple of tipsters were raving to us over the weekend about this new, five-minute ditty from The Marketing Arm for PepsiMax, which has garnered nearly 1.3 million views since its Friday debut. So, what happens when a college-turned-NBA star decides to go undercover and take part in a little game of street hoops in Bloomfield, New Jersey?

Well, look no further than the clip above starring NBA’s 2011-12 Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving, the former Duke standout and current Cleveland Cavaliers guard, who goes incognito and decides to do some hustling in a pickup game. If you feel like watching “Drew” really take off and talk smack in the process, just fast-forward to around the 2:00 mark. Or, just stick through the whole clip and see how Kyrie transformed into character for this PepsiMax piece, which, to be specific, was concepted/produced out of the Omnicom-owned Marketing Arm’s L.A. office. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ll go figure out how Irving’s game compares to the pickup battle that Kevin Durant engaged in and destroyed last year. Credits for “Uncle Drew” after the jump.

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It’s that time again, when we fill the remainder of your day with ad-related videos. Huzzah and you’re welcome. This week, get down with the People’s Car project and, if you dare, take flight in this new hover craft thing. But wait! There’s more: MasterLock got some ‘splainin to do after a 5 year old picked their shit faster than you can say “today, i watched a video where a 5 year old picked a Master Lock…I am useless both because I can’t pick a lock and I spend my time watching videos of children who are more talented than myself.” Say it with me! Enjoy the weekend.

 

5. Universal Hovercraft! This is a machine that can literally go anywhere. Being enamored with this kind of thing isn’t weird so stop judging.

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Those rapscallions at Boulder-based TDA are at it again, this time launching a new campaign for Sir Richard’s, the condom brand that kicked off its launch by giving us wild postings in NYC nearly 18 months ago and is now honoring National Women’s Health Week with “Vagina Rules.” To be specific, TDA’s effort calls on the ladies to offer “rules about what they won’t put in their vagina” to raise awareness for the lesser-known chemicals that are often found in condoms and lubricant, including spermicide, parabens, and glycerin. You can check out an image from the campaign below or go to the website for info. San Francisco, Denver and Austin, meanwhile, can expect Sir Richard’s wild postings of their own in the near future. Credits after the jump.

 

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Believe it or not, 2012 marks a decade since Comedy Central canceled their robot fighting show, BattleBots. The show had it all, from destruction to hilarity to scantily-clad “correspondents” to cameos from Bill Nye the Science Guy. If you’re anything like me, and you consider these attributes the recipe for televised greatness, you were devastated when BattleBots went off the air.

So, understand that I’m a little biased when I call the above spot for Atlanta-based agency Fitzgerald+Co a wonderfully creative way to demonstrate the durability of Pergo floors. Not only do I get to see my old robot friends, but I suddenly have quite an affinity for a flooring product that I’d never heard of before. Of course, this begs the question: Do married women, who I assume are the ones generally responsible for making the purchasing decisions when it comes to flooring (as depicted in the spot), respond to BattleBots in the same way that I do?

The campaign also features a Facebook page where consumers can “Like” the video for a chance to win a new floor, learn more about the BattleBots featured in the spot, and browse different Pergo styles and key features. Credits follow after the jump.

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Perhaps James Joyce would be proud from the ether. Minneapolis-based ale brand Finnegans, which has been around since 2000 we’ve been told, has teamed up with fellow Twin Cities op Martin Williams to launch its own “confessional” of sorts on Facebook. Who needs a priest when an algorithm can play judge & jury and provide you with penance in the form of Irish Amber brew? We don’t know if you want to go all Michael Corleone and confess your deepest, darkest sins, but however you play, there’s brew involved as well as your Facebook friends. Feel free to give it a go, whether Catholic or not.