According to the parties involved, specifically Arnold Worldwide and Jack Daniel’s, the spot above marks the first one in a quarter-century for the latter spirits brand’s Gentleman Jack rare premium whiskey line. The focal point of the campaign is what agency and brand are dubbing “The Order of the Gentleman,” which sounds like a more refined version of the Stonecutters or the secret society/motley crew assembled by Jagermeister and Mistress. The spot itself called “Secret Meetings,” which debuted during last night’s premiere of Anthony Bourdain‘s new CNN show, Parts Unknown, stars apparent “Order of the Gentleman” member Titus Welliver, who among other things has appeared in all three Ben Affleck-directed movies in recent years.

As we’ve been told, the somewhat mysterious clip above is just the beginning of a campaign that will roll out over the next few months and includes online components among other things. Indulge your urbane self further if you care to here. Credits after the jump.

Read more

Call it the inspirational true story of a billboard that won’t quit. Directed by Ben Affleck, produced by Grant Heslov, starring Gary Busey as the billboard. Ok, maybe next year…

But last year, Burt’s Bees and Raleigh, NC-based Baldwin& followed up their “Music from Nature” Earth Day effort by creating an  11′ x 6′ billboard made entirely of tear-off product coupons to promote the brand’s Intense Hydration line of moisturizers. Once the coupons were removed in October, the billboard revealed the Burt’s Bees ad. Five months later, the billboard is still kicking. The original 11′ x 6′ vinyl sheeting was given to the Durham School of the Arts, which recycled it into a rain catchment system that could allow farmers to reuse 6300 gallons of rainwater per year.

Plenty of advertising is about mental and physical waste (see couchgating), but this is a cool example of how ads can be reused and integrated into a positive campaign. In the spirit of smooth skin and better farming practices, it’s worth a watch. Credits after the jump.

Read more

-TED is celebrating the fact that its cumulative talk views have surpassed the one-billion mark by launching “TopTED” playlists, which includes submissions from members such as Bono, Ben Affleck and Bill Gates. link

-Boston.com has launched a new content marketing/advertising program for New England businesses called Insights. link

-The organizer behind the StopBeck effort to get Glenn Beck removed from Fox News is back with a new petition that urges Macy’s to dump Donald Trump. link

-Sir Martin Sorrell is facing more backlash from shareholders over his pay package. link

-Toronto agency, tag idea revolution, which works with the likes of Philips and Swiss Natural, has acquired hometown boutique marketing agency, adlib group. The latter will retain its name an independence with the support of tag resources.

-Red Bull blows our mind once again with the “Kluge” (above).

It’s been a while since we dusted off the Call, but since this is an agency that proposes “game changing marketing  ideas” (how novel), we were only compelled to post. Anyhow, there’s a new shop in Boston starring president Tom Schneider and EVP, creative/strategy David Abend, who have teamed up to form the HaloEffect. Schneider served as CMO at Alloy Media & Marketing for three years while Abend spent four-plus years as VP/GCD at Digitas and had copywriting/creative director stints at the likes of Hill Holliday and Arnold (lordy, this guy’s more loyal to Beantown than Ben Affleck).

As for what HaloEffect has accomplished, the agency has completed the launch of Groupon for grocery and are currently working on marketing concepts for Nuance, Sokolove Law and Johnsonville Sausage. We’ll leave the “game-changing” judgment up to you,but here’s the Halo’s site to help you make your decision.