Another year, another round of PETA’s “Great Ape Pledge” PSA campaign which aims to bring awareness of the plight of primates that suffer physical/psychological abuse at the hands of the entertainment industry. BBDO New York, which has taken the “Pledge” before with its nifty auto-correct effort from two years ago, joins forces with PETA once again for the spot above, which also features VO services from Oscar-winner Adrien Brody and VFX/production work from The Mill. If you stick around for the end, you’ll see that no real ape was used in the above PSA, which reemphasizes PETA’s whole purpose for launching “The Great Ape Pledge” in the first place.

Instead, the parties involved hammer home the message that primates shouldn’t be used as actors by creating  a photo-real CG chimp that’s seemingly at its wit’s end. If the stark message touched a nerve or inspired you to pledge (it’s perhaps a bit more effective than auto-correct messaging), you can go here. Credits after the jump.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Has it really been ten years since The Matrix: Revolutions tarnished the Wachowskis’epic saga? Time flies, but while we’d rather forget the third and final Matrix installment, we’re happy to once again see Hugo Weaving as the relentless Agent Smith, whose dapper yet menacing visage appears along with several doppelgangers in this latest effort from BBDO New York for GE called “Agent of Good.”

The spot, which was directed by David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express), debuted over the weekend and showcases GE’s industrial internet technology and how the corporate giant connecting its medical hardware to its software is benefiting hospitals–or something to that effect. Despite being a decade removed from the Matrix films, Weaving shows no signs of rust as he brings the snarl of his most iconic character to the most sterile of environments. Stick around for the final moments for your most obvious Matrix reference, minus Morpheus. Credits after the jump.

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If General Electric’s “Brilliant Machines” campaign was a movie, the brand’s “Robots on the Move” commercial would only be a teaser trailer. Although it’s full of intrigue and suspense, the ad fails to actually promote anything other than pop-culture nostalgia.

BBDO New York and GE teamed up for the sixty-second spot, which premiered on Thanksgiving and was directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, the husband/wife duo who helmed feature films such as Little Miss Sunshine as well as several music videos including Smashing Pumpkins’ “Tonight, Tonight.” The pitch itself is clever: famous machines looking for new, powerful machines that will make the world better. If we were to grade the effort, we’d have to say incomplete. What are these revolutionary machines? Do they look any different? How will they make the world a better place? Will they cost less than the retail price of an iPhone?

Regardless, sci-fi geeks across the country won’t be able to hide their vinegar strokes. Star Trek fanatics will appreciate a Data sighting. Props on including K.I.T.T. as well, but GE needs to follow up this style-over-substance spot with something concrete—a fridge, a washer, anything that isn’t swiped from an 80’s TV show. The knockoff Avicii soundtrack is pretty fresh, though. All that’s missing is some Hasselhoff. Credits after the jump.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

You have a lot of choices for speedy package delivery this holiday season. And, if you’re the kind of person people describe as “manic,” “spazzy,” or “downright insane,” FedEx desperately wants you to consider their service for all your gifting needs.

A trio of new 15-second spots from BBDO NY depicts the worst holiday shoppers among us. We have the guy who realized at the last-minute that he should send a gift, ANY gift. We have the poor woman in a sleeping bag, camped outside a storefront with the hopes of scoring a sweet deal. We also have the neglectful dad, who allows his daughter to sit on the lap of a complete stranger at his local FedEx location. Depressing? Sure, but isn’t that feeling of overwhelming hopelessness as much a part of Christmas tradition as warm eggnog and predictable disappointment?

Credits, and the final spot, follow after the jump.

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Tonight marks the opening ceremonies of the XXX Olympiad in London, England. Directed by British filmmaker Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire, etc.), the event (which will reportedly feature farm animals) is expected to be watched by 1 billion people worldwide. In other words, if a bunch of doves get torched during the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron, it will be very, very awkward.

Similar to the competing athletes, the games are an opportunity for brands to internationally showcase their abilities in a myriad of ways. GE, owner of United States Olympics TV broadcaster NBC, is no exception. Over the weekend, GE is launching three TV spots as part of the brand’s “GE Works” campaign by BBDO NY. The first spot, “Measure” (above), is an anthemic decree by the brand that highlights how GE’s advanced imaging technology helps athletes learn more about their bodies. However, the other two spots take a turn for the emotional.

Though “Homerton” is just one of many Olympics spots we’re expecting will feature babies and children, it doesn’t lessen the impact of seeing a helpless little infant with medical abnormalities. The games are a time for triumphing over life’s challenges and, of course, the resulting emotional impact. Those who intend to watch an lot of Olympic competition over the next few weeks should come prepared with tissues, a tub of ice cream, and a copy of Harry and the Hendersons to watch when it gets to be a little too overwhelming. Watch the third spot, “Darius,” that follows a young baseball player with heart defects, and view credits after the jump.

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The state of New York and Governor Andrew Cuomo tapped BBDO NY for the above TV spot, “The New New York, a Whole New Approach to Business.” And, before you pushed play, you could probably guess what celeb they got to narrate the spot, who they got to direct it, and what pop song they selected for its soundtrack.

Yes, Robert DeNiro, Spike Lee and Jay-Z are definitely the most New Yorkiest New Yorkers in all of New York-dom. Now, I’m not criticizing BBDO for going with the most obvious choices here. In fact, the spot would probably feel incomplete without DeNiro’s gruff voice and “Empire State of Mind” playing against shots of the New York City skyline. Not including DeNiro and Jay would be like the city of  Chicago shooting a similar spot and not asking Vince Vaughn and Kanye West to take part. Sorry, Chicagoans, but you know that’s what would inevitably happen.

The spot is part of a state-driven $50 million business marketing campaign that, among other things, includes a $5 million contest to redesign the iconic “I ❤ NY” logo. Needless to say, some people in the media aren’t too fond of this initiative. Regardless, it’s a big win for BBDO, whose president and CEO John Osborn says in a statement, “We are a New York state business and have been here for over 100 years. We know what New York has to offer. So we wanted to create a campaign with a pace and energy that captures, celebrates and reinforces the State’s renewed focus on the business community. At the same time we wanted to demonstrate the depth and breadth of business services that New York State offers.”

Visit the campaign’s new website here and view credits for the spot after the jump.
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BBDO wasn’t satisfied with just a Youtube page to plug GE’s “Ecomagination” effort. It’s been done to death lately so the agency decided to go with an iAd, which once loaded, invites users to explore a world where they can shake, swipe and spin to discover how GE is working to “help us live in perfect harmony” (wasn’t that a lyric from a Coke commercial?).

There are four interactive experiences for you to play around with: Watt Station, making energy from waste, clean water and wind for clean energy- each highlighting a specific GE innovation.

For those who don’t possess an iPhone (sorry), there’s always GE’s Ecomagination brand channel for you to find out more about the experience. Credits after the jump.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.