For a company that specializes in mundane activities like box building and document copying, FedEx made some jazzy choices in their latest campaign. To sell FedEx as a company providing “solutions that matter,” BBDO NY worked with Caviar and Haus to show businesses what they won’t be getting.

It all takes place in the Jingle Studio Facebook app, where companies can create the cheesiest of jingles. They pick a band–possibilities include mariachi feat. singing cactus, hip hop ensemble, glam metal band. Then, using text-to-singing technology, they can insert their company name and info into an ad reminiscent of what you might see on a tiny town’s television channel (read: tacky).  Then, of course, the jingle-maker shares their fresh video along with its tacked-on FedEx promotion.

Maybe it’s just me, but the example video is going to be stuck in my head for the entire day. “Let’s fiesta like zillionaires!!” If FedEx’s strategy backfires and inspires a rise in bizarre singing ads, a ton of 90’s bands are going to have lucrative side-jobs.

Credits after the jump.

Read more

Who the hell is Digital Broadcasting Group, you ask? Well, the shop is actually proclaiming itself as “lead sponsor” for the aforementioned thinkLA “AdJam,” which as we said before, also includes the likes of Deutsch, Saatchi, Team Mazda, RPA and others in an ad bands free-for-all. Growing up in the ’80s as a new-wave/post-punk/industrial fan, what the hell happened?

Deutsch LA, which is no stranger to quirky/goofy in-house videos, has sent in this entry for “AdJam 2012,” which takes place this Thursday, Sept. 27 at House on Blues on the Sunset Strip. While we’ll bear witness (for better or worse) to our own annual agency battle of the bands next week during Advertising Week here in NYC, this version from thinkLA will feature the likes of not only Deutsch LA, but Saatchi LA, RPA, The Garage/Team Mazda and O&M. Anyhow, here’s the “Hellvetica” music video from the Deutsch camp, in which a brainstorming session turns into an all-out agency jam that pays tribute to Kiss’s arguably most-popular tune (apparently, the agency already had a giant Kiss sign ready to go in the office, so yeah, that helped).

(h/t LA Egotist)

In case you were wondering what the latest word is with Mauro Cavalletti, the former Mullen chief digital officer and current JWT Brazil chief integration officer, the exec has filled us in on some interesting work for Coca-Cola.  Specifically, Cavalletti and crew at Group JWT, which includes JWT’s Sao Paulo branch and local units Casa and iCherry, have launched a new print effort to hype Coke’s online radio platform Coca-Cola FM on their home turf. With the FM platform turning a year-old, Group JWT decided to turn the cover of Brazilian teen magazine Capricho into a loudspeaker for the iPhone.  We knew the numerous covers of the Twilight cast and other teeny-bop faves served a better purpose. Check out some of the print images after the jump, which may also explain things, along with Portuguese-infused credits you can pretty much figure out after the jump.

Read more

Today is Channel Thirteen’s 50th birthday! To commemorate the occasion, they’ve collaborated with CHI & Partners to organize a mobile celebration. Throughout the day, “The Knights,” a NY-based orchestra, is touring Manhattan on the top of a double-decker bus, stringing tunes for sidewalk strollers and fellow vehicles. The orchestra-bus combination reflects pretty perfectly on Channel Thirteen’s purpose—New York City coverage.  Instead of throwing a glamorous exclusive party, Channel Thirteen brings festivity to their community PBS-style. By which we mean it’s slightly nerdy but inevitably smile-inducing.

Check out the “The Knights” in action via livestream and find out more about the project on THIRTEEN’s site.

User-generated content can be a fickle mistress. Brands love it, as it tends to make them think, “You mean influential Internet users will create FREE CONTENT for me to use at my discretion? Because they love my brand? Gosh golly, let’s do a YouTube thing!”

On the flipside, UGC can be a pain in the ass for an agency to figure out, as your campaign must be incredibly creative to actually inspire such time-consuming action on the part of the consumer. (Or feature a barrier to entry so low and a prize so outstanding that people would be foolish not to act. This is how the lottery positions itself.) With ORGNL.TV, New York digital agency Rokkan and Stoli have chosen to use a cavalcade of up-and-coming artists including electronic artist RJD2, singer Nina Sky, fashion designer Nary Manivong, and street artists Jeremyville and Charlie Becker to get consumers to contribute to their video channel.

These hand-picked artists will then vote on user-submitted videos to determine the best undiscovered young talent in art, music and fashion. Above, we go inside the studio with RJD2, who most of you are probably know best as that guy behind “A Beautiful Mine,” the theme song to Mad Men. If you would like RJD2 criticizing your work and are over the age of 21, submit your video at ORGNL.TV here.

If only our karaoke nights ever went this smoothly. The folks at Pasadena-based video content company Conscious Minds are at it again, this time for eHarmony. Recently, CM set up an open mic in the heart of downtown Santa Monica, hired an appropriately dressed piano player and encouraged those passing through to step up and kick out a love jam. The participants in the clip, who range from beatboxers to Temptations fans, actually do an adequate job–though we wish we could see the outtakes because we imagine there were a few stinkers in the bunch. Your move, Match.com.

Credits:

Director- Blake Heal
Producer- Jason Richardson

If you weren’t aware, Fallon executive creative director Todd Riddle, who’s been with said agency for nearly five years, has a musical side project called, yes, Riddle. The ECD and his Riddle partner-in-crime Gib (yep, just Gib), who’s a principal at music prodco Verite, just released a new single called “We Didn’t Know” and what you see above is the accompanying video. As you’ll see, an animated love story of sorts unfolds in a live-action setting on the streets of NY, serving as a fitting accompaniment Riddle’s forlorn, folksy ‘choon.

“We Didn’t Know” is part of Riddle’s upcoming debut album, Notes From the Whiskey, which from what we’ve been told is a “complete rock opera telling the story of a fictional musician in Los Angeles.” This should be interesting. Production credits after the jump.

Read more

And now, your early afternoon just for shits and giggles post. It’s been some time since we heard from DJDave, aka David Wittman, a composer at Elias Arts (and Cannes Gold Lion winner for Nike Tag a decade ago) whose rhymes about the culture of Whole Foods’ parking lot was effective enough to grab the attention of Hyundai’s agency, Innocean. The latter, if you recall, leveraged diggity Dave’s mic-spitting skills in a holiday campaign, which of course was still complete with the Jeff Bridges VO. Anyhow, the man who’s also a part of the Cali “collective of creative culture vultures” known as Fog&Smog, gives this shout-out to his crew while making fun of “mixologists” in the process. We’re not sure if lightning will strike twice and that Dave can once again parlay this into more commercial appearances, but it at least elicited a chuckle or two from us.

Last weekend, Chicago’s Union Park played host to Pitchfork Music Festival, a three-day concert curated by the venerable indie music publication that featured over 45 bands. Lady Gaga was totally there too for five seconds, but did not perform because she was there to watch music and not to appease the crowd, who in turn angrily demanded that she contribute in some way because you don’t just make surprise appearances at #P4k if you’re Lady Gaga and not follow through in some way like stage-diving during the AraabMuzik set or something.

Anyway, eMusic also made an appearance at the festival, though unlike Lady Gaga’s, Twitter wasn’t freaking out about it and I didn’t Instagram a photo of it. Setting up a giant pod near the dugout of one of Union Park’s fabulous softball fields, eMusic and Mother NY continued their digital “eMusic Investigates” campaign, in which the online music subscription service measures the impact that indie rock has on listeners and their environment.

While I saw the giant pod at the festival, I did not enter it because 1. I was frightened they were going to try to sell me something 2. I was busy watching bands and 3. I don’t enter dark booths without a compelling reason to. However, other festival goers didn’t share my reservations, and they heard bands like A$AP Rocky, Lower Dens and Beach House through headphones. They could have been hearing those bands without headphones during the bands’ sets, but then, how would they know what they’re feeling? eMusic’s study on music and emotion seemed pretty questionable, but the company concluded that basically “different people like things for different reasons.” Science!