John Cusack wants to know: “Why just go from A to B when imagination can take you everywhere?” It’s a valid question, especially coming from the guy who played Lloyd Dobler. Would  the boombox move from Say Anything exist with conventional thinking?

The tagline is the adspeak centerpiece of Commonwealth’s new Chevrolet campaign titled “Find New Roads.” The 90-second spot premiered last night alongside irresponsible tweets about Katy Perry‘s cleavage and Justin Timberlake‘s bad haircut. Chevy’s ad acts as a trailer for what’s to come, showing off the Volt, Spark, Sonic, Impala, and Stingray. There’s also a robotic pet dog and a doe interacting, which may be awkward symbolism for combining technology and nature, but we can just pretend that part doesn’t exist. The response thus far has been positive, and the ad already racked up a six-figure view count on Youtube.

It makes sense for Commonwealth to jump outside the box. The agency, which unites folks from Goodby and McCann, was born thanks to unconventional thinking from ex-GM CMO Joel Ewanick, who didn’t want to waste money on Super Bowl ad space. One could easily see “Find New Roads” debuting during last week’s game, but it didn’t have to compete with farmers and sloppy kissing noises. GM fired Ewanick last summer, but his auto agency and some of his ideas are still in play, apparently.

I guess he didn’t try the boombox move with GM’s senior leadership. Credits after the jump.

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We’ve been told by those in the know that this new effort from McGarryBowen NY for Verizon called “Powerful Answers” actually marks the wireless carrier’s first ever corporate branding campaign. Set to the sounds of legendary composer Philip Glass, Verizon veers from the usual Wireless and/or FiOS promotion to, according to parties involved, “showcase tech solutions that no one knew they did.” As you can see in the spot directed by Park Pictures’ Lance Acord above as well as the anthem clip below, some Verizon folks are lab rats whose tech prowess translates into solutions for medical emergencies just as easily as they could the classroom. We didn’t know there was side to them, but hey, you learn something new every day. Exhaustive list of credits after the jump.

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As part of Goodby Silverstein & Partners’ ongoing “BIG” work for the NBA, we leave your this Turkey Day with this double-dribble-galore tune brought to you by Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony and Russell Westbrook among others to herald the Association’s Christmas uniforms. We need not explain more, but we with you a Happy Thanksgiving in the process. Let’s just hope there are no David Stern fines to be levied. You, like us, are hopefully looking forward to the NBA Finals matchup between the Heat and Thunder come Xmas. Credits after the jump.

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-VFX studio MPC promoted Ed Koenig to US EP of Color Grading and signed  Adrian Seery as colorist in its New York studio. link

-Bacardi turns 150 and celebrates its liberation from Cuban confiscation 52 years ago (above). link

-Santa Monica-based studio a52 promoted Megan Meloth to executive producer. link

-How many more ad rev stats can you take? Let’s try one more. link

-SoftBank and Sprint make nice, like $20 billion nice. link

Rudy Adler, who you might remember from his days as a copywriter at W+K Portland (where he last helped create the Levi’s “Go Forth” campaign), has launched a follow-up to his rather interesting labor of love, “1,000 Memories.” The sentimentality remains, though Adler and a crew of his old W+K collaborators are now moving from online to mobile with the launch of “Shoebox,” which turns your smartphone into a social photo scanner that lets you scan traditional photos and share them with your loved ones, strangers at a bar, or whomever you please.

Adler tells us, “There are trillions of photos out there, waiting to be shared with friends and family, but getting them online has traditionally been difficult and time-consuming. By putting a scanner in people’s pockets, we hope to change that and make it incredibly easy and social for people to digitize and share artifacts from their pasts.” Check out of the video above that explains things and download the app here if you so choose. Credits after the jump.

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It took the joint efforts of W+K’s Portland HQ and Sao Paulo branch to come up with this new sport for Nike, which arrives just a week after AKQA launched its own running-themed piece for Nike+. Maybe it’s that time of year to motivate people to get off their asses and get in shape (but wait, isn’t it almost winter?). Whatever the case, W+K’s latest Nike work features an athletic, extremely focused gal who is undeterred by whatever life throws at her and can give Forrest Gump a run for his money (Rocky doesn’t stand a chance, but we’re somewhat reminded of his classic jog through Philly here). The spot, dubbed “Some Time Together,” promotes Nike’s Lunarglide + 3Shield line and will be complemented by weekly “Never Stop Running” challenges on Facebook and other social media channels. Credits after the jump.

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