Celebrity

 

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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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.

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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Oh, let’s bring it, strut, shuffle and all with a new campaign from Saatchi & Saatchi London, which gives us the “James Brown Challenge.” The goal of the agency’s rather formidable effort is to meld filmmaking and music while also celebrating the man that serenaded Apollo Creed in Rocky IV. Damn you, Drago. For those interested, you have four tracks from the godfather of soul to choose from, create a full-length video around it and June 25 to complete it. Saatchi is no stranger to the music mashup game, as we call recall the agency’s efforts to promote Moby last year.

A couple of months ago, we told you about the latest project from former BBDO copywriter/current Google employee Chris Baker, who decided to have a little fun with celebrities, get them to do something atypical, and support their charities in the process via a project dubbed “Charity Bribes.” The first celeb on Baker & Co.’s list was none other than Seinfeld/Curb Your Enthusiasm mastermind, Larry David, who the group has been trying to lure into the Twitterverse. Well, it took a little bit of time, but Baker informed us this morning that “It fucking worked. Larry joined twitter. His people got in touch with us and he sent his first tweet Friday night.”

As you can see above, the comedic maestro’s first tweet as @LarryDavid4 calls for the “Bribes” crew to make good on their offer and pay his organization of choice, the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has made its way into Curb storylines in seasons past. See a larger image of David’s first tweet after the jump. Next up to bat on the “Charity Bribes” list? None other than Conan O’Brien (below). Go here to join in on the fun or submit your own celeb bribes and vote.

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It looks like documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock is using his exploration of the advertising industry, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, as a blueprint for his new commercial business venture, Warpaint Productions.

Merging his NY-based prodco, Warrior Poets, with Greatest Movie co-producer Keith Calder‘s LA-based company, Snoot Entertainment, Warpaint is launching with the assistance of 16-year industry veteran, Shannon Lords. In a statement about the merge, Spurlock said, “After working directly with brands and advertising agencies in the placement expose ‘The Greatest Movie Ever Sold,’ as well as directing multiple commercial spots for other production companies, I saw an opportunity to create a much more director driven entity.”

Warpaint currently has nine directors signed on, including Spurlock (The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, JetBlue, Hunt’s, Ally), Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Gary Hustwit (Helvetica, Objectified, Apple), Adam Wingard (You’re Next), Liz Garbus (Bobby Fischer Against the World), Adam Lisegar (LonelySandwich.com), Michael Tucker (Fightville, Gunner Palace, Mastercard), Maggie Choo (Nike) and Damien Toogood (Olympus, Target, Pepsi). See more at Warpaint’s website here. Also, yes, Spurlock is using his work with POM Wonderful as a case study, so feel free to wonder aloud if this was Spurlock’s long-term plan with Greatest Movie all along.

In case you needed more of a Spurlock fix, check out our Media Beat interview with man himself, where he discusses producing/directing The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special in 3D on Ice!, offers video/filmmaking tips to journalists and reflects on making his breakthrough doc, Supersize Me.

 

Though the “King of Pop” passed away nearly three years ago, his spirit continues to loom large over PepsiCo, which announced that it will ship out one billion cans of Pepsi adorned with a silhouette of Michael Jackson, who appears to be dressed in his duds from the “Smooth Criminal” video. According to USA Today, the announce comes on the heels of Pepsi’s new, global partnership with the estate of Michael Jackson and is part of the brand’s 25th anniversary celebration of the moonwalker’s Bad album and tour (couldn’t they just have waited a year to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his far superior album, Thriller?). Of course, opinions are split down the middle, with some calling it “macabre” and others hailing it as “brilliant.”

In addition to the cans, the AP reports that a TV spot featuring Jackson’s image will air in some markets and there will be chances to download remixes of the artist’s classic tracks and win tickets to Cirque du Soleil’s “Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour” performance. The late pop star’s relationship with Pepsi dates back to 1983, and while we’ll always remember the infamous hair-burning scandal, why not just reflect on the 1984 ad starring the future Carlton from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air that eventually made it to air (below).

Nearly nine months after being tapped as Jagermeister’s first AOR for the U.S. market, L.A.-based shop Mistress has unveiled the first-ever U.S. TV campaign for the brand that yours truly and almost everyone else we know swore off after college.

Anyhow, the campaign is dubbed “Stronger Bond” and as you can see in the spot above directed by Alastair McKevitt, Jagermeister calls for some sort of booze-soaked knights of the round table that features an odds and sods mix of sports figures and rockers including former NFL receiver/current ESPN analyst Keyshawn Johnson, always-intimidating Slayer guitarist Kerry King, boxing trainer Freddie Roach, and finally of course, a rodeo clown. Oh, to be a fly on the wall during these confabs.

And now, a riddle: What do each of the men in the above dating video have in common? Stumped? Well, you’ll never believe this, but they’re all actually Two and a Half Men star and former Mr. Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher! Oh, the headline of the article and the title of the video gave it away? Well, the press release we were sent along with this video said, “Viewers won’t believe it’s Ashton until they see his cameo!” We deeply apologize for ruining the surprise.

From L.A.-based agency Zambezi comes a series on online video spots advertising fake dating site WorldWideLovers.com. Interested viewers who follow the URL will actually find themselves at Popchips’ Facebook page, where a custom web app allows users to send personalized messages to their Facebook friends from each of Kutcher’s exaggerated stereotypes alter-egos. You can send a greeting from Raj, a 39-year-old Bollywood director, Nigel, a 24-year-old hippie stoner, Daryl, a German fashionista of unknown age, and Swordfish, a 29-year-old biker dude with a beard.

The “Play Matchmaker” campaign from Popchips follows last year’s popular and similarly vexing effort “Who Wants to be Ashton Kutcher’s VP?” where fans applied for a one-year gig and $50K salary to join Kutcher’s entourage. Watch each of the character’s personalized digital shorts on Popchips’ YouTube page. Credits after the jump.

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Well, looks like one agency in particular is pretty stoked about former Baylor QB/standout Robert Griffin III getting drafted and joining up with the Washington Redskins. RP3, which is based in Bethesda, MD, counts staffers including D&G/Mendelsohn Zien alum Claudia Caplan and has worked with clients including Norfolk Southern, the National Geographic Store, the United Way and Honest Tea during its three-year existence, is for the time being, RG3.

To show you the depth of their enthusiasm for the arrival of Griffin III, the agency’s VP, account management Tiffany Bacon, who also captained the Redskins cheerleading squad at one point, goes back to her roots in the image below. We’re just wondering how Robert Griffin himself will stack up against top pick Andrew Luck and if he can help his new, dismal team rebound.