Meet Deadpool, a Marvel supervillain-turned-superhero who comic book fanatics regard as “awesome” and non-comic fans refer to as “who?” Deadpool came into existence during the early 90s, a time when a collector-driven mentality molded the industry into what some regard as the “Style Era.” With sales at an all-time high, comic books publishers made an effort to churn out as many different characters as they could, focusing more on pizazz (elaborate costumes, big muscles, and huge breasts) than actual storytelling. Many now regard the early 90s as a low-point for the industry, a time when publishers bankrupted themselves both morally and financially to put whatever they could on the shelves in the flashiest packaging possible only to have demand nosedive.

However, a few characters from this era didn’t get swift deaths when the industry adopted a back-to-basics approach to storytelling in the early 2000s. Among them is Spider-man’s black-suited monstrous nemesis Venom, who has a ridiculous backstory but looks too cool to dislike. Another is Deadpool, originally an X-Men villain whose Peter Parker-esque sarcastic, quippy persona endeared him to fans who enjoy honest-to-God humor in their superheroes’ repertoire.

In fact, the above trailer from Ignited alums and Activision for Deadpool: The Game actually hits the character’s personality right on the nose, even if his whole backstory of looking for a job at Marvel HQ makes abso-fucking-lutely no sense in context. Why would Deadpool look for a job at Marvel? It isn’t explained at all during this trailer’s 2-minute runtime, nor is it hinted at during the character’s public appearance at Comic Con. Either way there’s a Deadpool video game coming out in June, so fans are probably almost as stoked as they were when Ryan Reynolds played the character in 2009′s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Have fun, you guys!

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

San Francisco shop Heat, who you may know best for their high-profile work on a bevy of EA Sports video game franchises, just launched a brand new agency website that reveals a new logo, in which the “e” in “Heat” is backwards because that’s how you know someone is hip to 2013, yo. But, you gotta keep dat ish lowercase, because you don’t want to end up like KoRn with a backwards capital “R” or you’ll look super 90s. You don’t want that.

Having worked in an agency during a full site redesign, I know the hard work and excitement that goes into the endeavor. Many times, almost every creative in the agency contributes to the finished product, which you’ll talk about at length to your friends in the weeks leading up to the launch. “Just wait until our new site launches,” you’ll say, eyes wide with excitement and wonder. “It looks amazing.” It’s hard to blame you for being so giddy, as it feels as though your employer’s site is representative of your own job. The cooler it looks, the more it validates you. “I work at ‘x’ agency,” you imagine saying to a hot young thing at a bar. Oh, what’s that? Bam, show them that sexy new site on your phone (it better be responsive), and explain how cool your job is.

Of course, the problem is, no one outside of your agency gives the slightest shit what your site looks like. Now, this SHOULD NOT make you feel you bad about being emotionally invested in a redesign. After all, even though your friends don’t care, it doesn’t mean that potential new business won’t. So go ahead, be like Heat. Hire a weird second-line style band confused if they should be from New Orleans or Germany to dance around your office for a little while. Film yourself looking at your new sign, backwards “e” and all. Get stoked and know that, for the record, I think your new (responsive!) site looks pretty frickin’ cool. So cool, in fact, that I’m going to link it again right here. Congrats!

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Not sure if you’ve peeped this epic effort just yet, but in case you haven’t, Tim Nolan, former JWT New York creative director and current head of BBH Labs/interactive GCD at BBH New York, has spearheaded a book project called The ABCs of Contemporary Creatives. As mentioned, Nolan, along with partner/Droga5 creative Jen Lu, have unleashed an alphabetical guide of sorts to the creative industry, complete with visual accompaniments for each letter from a roster of designer/illustrators repped by New York-based talent management agency, Bernstein & Andriulli.

This is not a snapshot, mind you, but a tome (ok, maybe not Ten Commandments-esque). It’ll take a few minutes of your time at least to scroll down and not only check out forewords from the likes of BBH CCO John Patroulis, but an elemental A-Z breakdown of what defines contemporary creativity, at least in Nolan’s mind. Some folks on the Spy line (perhaps haters, if you will) call it “advertising douchebaggery,” but being from the outside looking in, we can totally appreciate the effort.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

There’s not too much to say about this video. A creative advertising student, who wishes to stay anonymous at the moment, has made this one-minute digital pitch aimed at senior-level industry folks (from CDs to CCOs to CEOs) who have yet to pick out an errand boy or girl for the upcoming 2013 Cannes Lions Festival. The animated video is cloaked in some 80′s synth beats, pastel colors, and dry narration humor, which may not be your thing, but if it is, the anonymous creator wants you to find more information at the “Personal Assistant de Cannes” Facebook page. In return, the student is hoping to receive a Cannes Young Lions pass and accommodations  We’ll leave it up to you to decide if this is clever or cheesy or irrelevant. At times like this, it’s better to just report the facts and see what happens next.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

It’s not a surprise that older people like classical music more than younger people. For the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra (OSB), that trend needed to be fixed. Since most of their audience is older than 65 years, the OSB started playing orchestral themes from blockbuster movies like Jaws, E.T., and Star Wars to show younger people that they had an unknown appreciation for classical music.

Rio de Janeiro agency Artplan also incorporated YouTube videos of film clips to add a visual presence to the experience. As a result, the OSB saw a 40% increase of young people in the audience. The case study gave a healthy boost to the box office draw as well: all of the orchestra’s concerts in the upcoming season are already sold out. Unfortunately, young people still like Kesha more than Wagner, but I don’t think there’s a lot that the OSB can do to remedy that. Credits after the jump.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Arguably the best part of the ongoing tech wars is just how catty all of these Silicon Valley giants are when it comes to their competitors. While a Microsoft spokesperson allegedly told Mashable that the above spot was “not meant for public consumption,” it’s an obvious continuation of the brand’s “Don’t Get Scroogled” campaign, which started running late last year. Perhaps all they needed to add before it went live was a Microsoft logo. Oh, and if you’ll notice after the jump, it’s a direct parody of Chrome’s “Now Everywhere” spot from early March.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

There was a time, all the way back in April, when the Internet was outraged at actor/director Zach Braff. You see, after seeing Veronica Mars fans quickly pony up over $2 million to turn the cult 2000′s TV show into a movie, Braff figured he’d turn to the same platform, Kickstarter, to get his next film project funded.

This caused a lot of butthurt, especially on social media, where complaining is an art form of sorts. “But, @ZachBraff is a multimillionaire,” tweeted the world in unison. “Why should people be give the rich #Garden State douche their hard earned money to make a second #douchetastic film?” Comedian Tim Heidecker took the complaining to the next level, actually tweeting Zach Braff a one-page script about his douche-y idea. This was all fun for a while, but despite the Internet outrage, Braff’s Kickstarter investors already raised more than he needed for the movie, and everyone stopped caring. Well, almost everyone.

Starting today, the guys behind the website Screen Junkies (featuring that “brand rapper” former Deutsch LA copywriter dude Jason Pickar) have turned to Kickstarter competitor IndieGoGo to start “Don’t Back Zach Braff.” The campaign discourages people to donate to Zach Braff’s movie, despite it already being funded last month and everyone moving on to more important things like Angelina Jolie and the How I Met Your Mother season finale. With $10,000, Screen Junkies will take out a full-page ad in the print edition The Hollywood Reporter discouraging the people to give money to Zach Braff’s already funded project which, even if it wasn’t, would still be a waste of money, because you’d be making a media buy in The Hollywood Reporter and this isn’t 1954. With $200,000 Screen Junkies pledges to make whatever this is into even more of an exercise in futility by buying a full-page ad in (hold onto your butts) Entertainment Weekly.

Yes, of course they’re doing all of this ironically and the purpose of stopping celebs from crowdfunding their future vanity projects. After all, when has doing things solely for the sake of irony not led to great ideas? Donate here, or, you know, you could not let whatever Zach Braff or other Hollywood folks are doing have any impact on your spending habits. Credits after the jump.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

“Jenny and the Chicken,” a Mash+Studio slideshow illustrated by Danny Mcclain, is one of those metaphorical stories that lets you know it’s metaphorical halfway through the narrative. A boy named Brand wants to befriend a a girl named Jenny, but he can’t figure out how to make her like him. He tries all of the usual friendly activities, like connecting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., but Jenny doesn’t seem interested in a guy who talks about himself all the time. Remember, his name is Brand. Get it?

This type of wink-wink story is typically not as clever as its creators think it is. Anthropomorphic chickens aside, engaging with consumers effectively is a lot more complicated than showing how a brand sees the world. I’m not sure who Mash plans to target with this slideshow, which is partly why it feels disjointed, but unless they start teaching brand equity to second graders, you might want to turn the page.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

DraftFCB Chicago has invoked the cuteness theory for their latest Del Monte Foods work, which suggests that people will always respond positively to cats or babies. The Facebook campaign lets users personalize a digital cat avatar with pet photos and create a jingle. Aside from the obvious cooing and awwing, those who play along could win a $100 daily prize or a $10,000 grand prize. I can almost hear the creaky bones of cat ladies crunching as they try to get up from their rocking chairs and walk to their computers without stepping on one of their 47 cats.

The app has been so successful thus far, according to echoes from the Chicago office, that the agency’s needed to add more servers to accommodate the traffic. That means cat ladies are probably making 47 entries for each of their kittens, giving them more chances to win and less chances to ever reclaim a normal life that involves other human beings.

Credits after the jump.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

This is the true story about how one agency locked three creative types (a copywriter, art director and creative technologist) in a room for 24 hours and challenged them to, you guessed it, “get creative.” The end result was a viral hit of sorts from a few weeks ago called “Couchella,” which debuted just in time to coincide wit the annual weekend-long music extravaganza in California. As we previously mentioned, the trio who were put to the test were Julie Matheny, Scott Blew, and Ivan Cash, whose experiment is captured in the clip above. The “Couchella” project, essentially an internet music festival, actually marks 72andSunny’s involvement with Portfolio Night 11, specifically the Los Angeles installment. Whether it worked or not is up to the audience that took part, but hey, at least “Couchella” provided a free alternative to the now-bloated event that inspired it.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Over the past few years, VITRO’s work for ASICS has been consistently high-quality, doing a remarkable job of depicting products’ ability to allow athletes achieve the impossible but not quite the unbelievable. I’m talking, of course, of popular spots that feature athletes out-running arrows and kind of walking on water, which I would link here but I know you’ve seen them hundreds of times already.

Because of this history, a new spot, “What’s Next” is a bit surprising. There’s nothing superhuman or jaw-dropping here. Just some good ol’ fashioned working out. In a note from VITRO, they mention that the spot was “shot in three days, in two countries, 4 parks, 3 gyms and an Italian restaurant, using 3 Olympians (Bryan Clay, Andy Potts & Ms. Lolo Jones) 12 elite US athletes in all — a hurdler, shot putter, javeliner, golfer, tennis star, triathlete, decathlete, pole vaulter, and track star. Cool Stuff: Our creative director wrote the lyrics for the song which provides the backbone of the piece.” Even more cool stuff: “Javeliner” is apparently a word. Try to use it in a sentence sometime this weekend!

While “What’s Next” certainly looks beautiful, and is very well directed (by some dude named “Xander”), it doesn’t exactly employ an execution brand new to the area of sports apparel. Perhaps as a results of heavy marketing, ASICS feels it doesn’t need to be different to stand out, having gained that brand recognition of the last few years. In short: It’s great, but not the groundbreaking work we’ve come to expect. Credits after the jump.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Audi has switched gears from commuting with Iron Man to inject some ad gusto into another blockbuster franchise about to hit theaters: Star Trek into Darkness. The latest spot – produced by PMK-BNC – pits the wily veteran against the smooth newcomer. Spock v. Spock. Leonard Nimoy against Zachary Quinto in a battle of intellect, trash-talk, and automobile semantics. Quinto may be prettier, but Nimoy has an old-man game full of tricks up his sleeves.

The two-minute video promotes the new Audi S7 as the perfect vehicle for anyone in need of a smooth ride with technological toys. This may not be the USS Enterprise, but it can get Quinto to the golf club faster than Nimoy’s Mercedes, at least until the twist ending. The response has been overwhelmingly positive on YouTube thus far, and it’s a safe bet that sci-fi geeks will get a kick out of the Spock-off in the coming weeks. Can those geeks buy Audis? Probably not, but at least they’ll chuckle at the playful banter. Credits after the jump.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Well, it took nearly a decade, and Campbell-Ewald has decided to celebrate this auspicious event (we think) with a web-based onslaught led by group digital CD Iain Lanivich that includes a Tumblr site, livestream footage, a birthdate pool, the Twitter hashtag #CEfalcons and even a meme generator (thanks for the personalized pic). Too bad we’re just stuck with a multitude of less-exotic pigeons here in NYC.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

After battling several “international adversaries” as we’ve been told, Dutch digital shops Momkai was tapped to create a new visual identity and website for Red Bull Studios, which spans a network of ten recording studios from L.A. to New York to London to Auckland. The end results of Momkai’s efforts can be found in the case study clips above and below. The goal of this project for Red Bull, which is based in Austria (news to us), is to give the brand’s studios some digital uplift while helping support creative talent and introducing visitors to both known and unknown artists. Well, it sure beats the hell out the spots we’ve been jamming and practicing at over the years.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

5. The world of Russia is foreign to many, a land known most for its inability to pick a good government and generally being grumpy, shows us its softer side with this collection of dash-cam goodness. Dash-cams, for the uninitiated, are dashboard mounted video cameras that Russians just love to run all the time like they’re on Cops. Natch, some good things get picked up, and while usually we find epic crashes here we get something fresh – random acts of kindness. At “301+” this video is probably getting blown up right now. Expect to see this one on the Today Show.

4. Jimmy Fallon + Zach Gali…gal iii…fa…nock.us. Anyway they’re really just having a good time in this one and then BAM, Olive Garden gets a shout out. A puny 3,100 have enjoyed this one, but Olive Garden kids better get on this one. I have nipples, Greg, could you milk me? Yes, yes I could.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.