Archives: May 2010

With Gary Coleman yesterday and now the news of Dennis Hopper‘s passing after a long battle with prostate cancer today, it’s been a sad start to the Memorial Day weekend. Anyhow, let’s pay some tribute to the latter actor, who of course symbolized late 60′s counter-culture in Easy Rider then creeped us the hell out in Blue Velvet before providing one of the best monologues in film history in True Romance.

Of course, Hopper played to type in the ad world as well, perhaps most notably in a series of ads in the 90′s for Nike Football as referee-gone-mad Stanley Craver. Here are a couple of select choices below as well as his way more subdued commercial work for Ameriprise from a few years back after the jump. RIP, Dennis.

More: “Patrick Swayze Dies at 57”

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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.

AKQA is taking a cue from its own DIY NikeID effort by launching “Your Heineken” for the beer brand. Now, you can personalize Heineken sleeves with provided photography/images, see 3D visualization of your creation and order a six-pack of the Heineken bevvies for friends, loved ones or yourself.

Your Heineken, though, looks like a Euro-centric effort thus far, having launched in Ireland last week, with Spain and further European markets coming up shortly.

More: “Heineken Simultaneously Pleases Soccer Diehards and Their Girlfriends”

-CP+B debuts a spot for Kraft Mac n’ Cheese, an account the agency won in March. link

-Yep, the iPad DJ craze is now upon us. link

-Dan Aykroyd is definitely happy that he sold the millionth bottle of his crystal skull vodka. link

-32 nations, 32 works of art. link

-YouTube launched a platform for crowdsourcing suggestions. link

-Five ways to own your brand online. link

-Carly Simon‘s Starbucks spat continues. link

-The Museum of London launched a pretty nifty AR app. link

-Yahoo and PointRoll set a precedent with their Macy’s Memorial Day ads. link

More: “Thursday Odds and Ends”

-MacGruber’s Nude Photo Shoot Reveals Tiniest of Tinies (NSFW Penis Alert)

-McCann ACD/Flash Enthusiast Sends Message to Steve Jobs

-Jerk Copywriter/Director Wins 2 Pencils and a Clio for Getting Job

-Blind Item: Be Careful What You Wish For

-LOST’s Real Winner Was Target

-Wieden + Kennedy Gets Smirnoff Ice Some Unexpected Attention

-Oh Chic: Brand Finally Discusses Actual Poop

It figures since Zimmerman Advertising is based in Fort Lauderdale that its founder, chairman and namesake would have gone to one of the local high schools. This week, Jordan Zimmerman (one of America’s most productive CEOs according to Inc.) turned from ad exec to Confucius, packing a room of 700 students at his alma mater Piper High (shout out to 88.5 radio) to spout gems like: “If you haven’t been dreaming, you will start today. And dream big. It’s all about today–don’t be a procrastinator. The more prepared you are, the more success you’re going to have.”

Zimmerman, who was introduced by actor/singer Tyrese, was speaking to the kids on behalf of PASS (Partnership to Advance School Success), a Florida program that prepares youngsters for “real world success.” Damn, seems like a good cause so it’s harder to bust the guy’s balls though it sounds like the speech was taken from one of those inspirational posters from the walls of fifth-period social studies. According to the release, Zimmerman will serve as a mentor to Piper High School students and staff for the next three years. Knowing Piper kids, best of luck, Jordan.

More: “Zimmerman Reels in Captain D’s”

“Elimina Los Gases” is the tagline in this spot for Bristol Myers Squibb’s Luftal, where bubbly bathwater is caused by quite a farty fellow. Thanks, Draftfcb Sao Paulo, for at least providing us with a fetching lady to glare at who we can also commend for her tolerance of her lover’s gasiness.

Via Illegal Advertising

More: “The Marriage Blanket, Better Than a Dutch Oven”

Gone are the paunch, glasses and grin and in their place is a skinnier, smirking stork thanks to a new rebranding of the Vlasic character courtesy of Omnicom’s Merkley + Partners. I dunno, the look of this new pickle pitchman, though, leaves a bit of a sour taste. *Buh-dum-chh*

According to the announce:

“The Stork-centered campaign is grounded on consumer behavior uncovered by the marketing team at Vlasic, the campaign introduces a new tagline–”Taste What a Vlasic Can Do”–to illustrate how pickles improve any occasion. All of the messaging is delivered by the Vlasic Stork, who offers new ideas and new usages, making pickles more top of mind. The fully integrated marketing campaign is comprised of :15 and :10 television spots, print advertising and various digital components including a microsite, pre-roll advertising, web banner ads and social media. The digital and TV elements of the new creative launched on May 24th and print insertions will debut in July magazine issues. This multi-million dollar campaign is by far the biggest yet, with a 20% spending increase up from the last campaign.”

More: “BP Gets Rebranded by Environmentalists”

McCann New York CCO Joyce King Thomas is ending her tenure at the IPG shop’s Big Apple branch after six years in the post. King Thomas, who had spent 16 years at the agency in total, will officially bow out at the end of August. According to Adweek, McCann has been searching for a new creative lead for over a month while King Thomas is voluntarily leaving and had been plotting it for a while. Tipsters tell us that King Thomas sent a company-wide email earlier this morning confirming the news. McCann isn’t responding to inquiries as of yet.

Update: A rep for McCann has provided us with this statement: “Joyce sent out a memo this morning announcing that she was going to leave. She made it clear that she’ll be here until the end of August so she can wrap up all ongoing client business and oversee client initiatives. The two biggest projects she’s been involved with is the Passion Project, where five staffers took a sabbatical to pursue their passions and The Ad Lab. Her oldest son, Aidan, taught at a school in Harlem about the ad business. From our perspective, that’s one thing that Joyce was known for: everything inside and outside the ad business.”

The source continues, “Joyce is going to India to spend some time with her other son. We all wish her joy and success and we love her. She said in the staff memo that 16 years is a long time in dog years.”

As for King Thomas’ replacement: “We’re looking for a new chief creative officer and it’s in the earlier stages rather than the latest stages. We expect it to be an A-list name.” Just don’t expect any sort of announce before July or August, our source says.

After the jump, check out McCann’s internal memo about the Passion Project and the winners.

More: “McCann Seattle: The Agency With a Thousand Names”

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The advertising gods are once again smiling upon BBDO as the agency’s AlmapBBDO unit–whose clients include Bayer, Greenpeace and Mars Brazil–in Sao Paulo picked up Agency of the Year honors at last night’s Clios, which this time focused on interactive/innovation and was buoyed by a better MC in Daily Show alum Rob Riggle as well as the Lifetime Achievement presentation to Goodby/Silverstein. Meanwhile, BBDO won Network of the Year and Nike won Advertiser of the Year honors. Full list of winners is after the jump.

More: “Jerk Copywriter/Director Wins 2 Pencils and a Clio for Getting Job”

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-Paul Price resigned as global prez of Rapp. link

-The iPad launches internationally, everyone cheers. link

-TV upfront is helped by freer ad spending. link

-Attik’s “Reinvent the Wheels” campaign for Scion drives on. link

-Don’t count on a Verizon iPhone. link

-Keep track of media culture to make better ads. link

More: “Thursday Morning Stir”