Though one of the most consistently hilarious campaigns in the history of television advertising, it’s been a while since we’ve seen a “This is SportsCenter” spot really knock it out of the park. That is, until today.

ESPN and W+K NY fulfill the fantasies and daydreams of fans nationwide with this spot, in which mild-mannered, buttoned-up NFL analyst John Clayton finally shows his true colors, or at least the colors that we’ve all been hoping he’s been secretly hiding. Yes, Clayton’s mythical ponytail makes an appearance. Yes, Clayton is secretly the world’s biggest Slayer fan. And yes, he still lives with his mom.

I don’t know what else to say about this, other than bravo ESPN, bravo W+K, and take a bow, John Clayton. Not that we needed any help getting revved up for the NFL season, but damn, who’s ready for some football? 

(h/t Deadspin)

Update: The spot will make its TV debut, aptly enough, on Sept. 10 during ESPN’s Monday Night Football double-header.  Credits after the jump.

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We promise to keep this short, but since you were all clamoring for it, we might as well give you the rundown of the Advertising and Integrated juries for the 91st Annual ADC Awards. You have already received notice that Natalie Lam and 72andSunny’s John Boiler were jury chairs for Interactive and Advertising, respectively, but after the jump, you can check out the full jury roster for the latter category as well as Integrated. We’re sure there are some names you might recognize (Ian & Scott–ok, we’ve now been told that the former of the dynamic duo is not able to participate, Faris, etc.)

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It’s been a while since we’ve seen a great ESPN spot from W+K, hasn’t it? Don’t get me wrong, I got a few good chuckles in while watching last year’s “Jumbotron Marriage Proposal.” But, I still yearn for the days when I would hear things like “Yeah, the game was boring, but did you see that new ESPN/SportsCenter spot they aired during the commercial break? It almost made watching that travesty worthwhile.”

“Shake On It” marks a subtle new take on W+K NY’s long-running “It’s Not Crazy, It’s Sports” campaign. In the past, we’ve seen spots showcasing fanatics doing outrageously flamboyant things in the name of sports because they want to. In the above spot, we see these people doing similar stupid feats because they have to. After all, it’s written in the Man Handbook that “If you make a bet and lose, you have to accept the consequences.” If you bet that you’d dance around in a dangerous part of town while wearing a diaper and bonnet if you favorite team lost, then you have to do it. That’s what being a grownup is all about.

And, before you say that these kinds of extreme bets rarely happen, I give you this poor bastard’s thigh tattoo of centaur Tim Tebow as evidence otherwise. Credits after the jump.

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“The Handlebar Moustache” is Heineken’s and W+K NY’s sequel to “The Snakeskin Jacket,” and like its predecessor, it takes a look a when certain bold fashion statements are appropriate. Of course, the handlebar moustache has become a hipster facial-hair fixture over the past few years, and Heineken has definitely been appealing to young 20-something urbanites since W+K Amsterdam’s “The Entrance” was released at the beginning of the year. Hell, they were even the official beer sponsor of Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago this past weekend, and plenty of Heineken Lite cups were devoured by indie rock snobs who indifferently listened to the offensive hate-rapping of OFWGKTA.

But, as has been the case with all of Heineken’s spots from 2011, we get memorable characters, a playful sense of humor and eye-popping cinematography. While “Snakeskin Jacket” was mostly about where not to wear your odd fashion of choice, “Handlebar Moustache” is about how awesome you could look entering into an early 1900s bare knuckle boxing match (and how a victory could snag you the dream girl). With Pabst Blue Ribbon on the brink of “selling out,” this brand has the foresight to target a market looking for an iconic beer of choice to rally behind, choosing to emphasize style over blue-collar credibility. Thus far, W+K is delivering in a big way. Credits after the jump.

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Now that the Ian Reichenthal/Scott Vitrone era  is over, Y&R New York has found a new creative leader in Jim Elliott, who will be joining the agency as chief creative officer. Elliott arrives from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, where he spent the last five years as GCD on Haagen-Dazs, Hyundai, Denny’s, HP, Netflix and Yahoo and was part of the team that won the agency the Sonic account.

Though Elliott won’t assume his new title until June, once he does, he will (obviously) be responsible for overseeing creative for Y&R clients including Land Rover, Campbell’s, Dell, LG, Dannon, Fisher-Price, the NHL, UNCF, Virgin Atlantic and Xerox. Prior to Goodby, Elliott served as a creative director at Cole & Weber United and had a stint at Mullen as well. Y&R’s global CCO Tony Granger says in a statement that Elliott’s hire is an “evolution” of the agency’s Big Apple branch, adding, “Jim is a fantastic creative leader, who enjoys drawing the best out of his teams.  We’re excited he’s joining ours.”

Gerry Graf‘s New York-based start-up, Barton F. Graf9000, LLC, which the former Saatchi & Saatchi CCO launched last fall, has found a new ECD in Eric Kallman, the award-winning copywriter of Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign who has spent the last three years at W+K Portland. As a result of joining BFG9000, Kallman (pictured) is reuniting with Graf, whom he worked with while the former was a CW and the latter was an ECD on Mars at TBWA\Chiat\Day NY (continuing the game of agency musical chairs, meanwhile, their former cohorts on Skittles, Scott Vitrone and Ian Reichenthal, are now back at W+K. Still keeping score?). Following Graf’s departure from Chiat NY, Kallman and creative partner/art director Craig Allen split for Portland.

Kallman, who officially joins Barton F. Graf 9000 on May 1, tells Creativity, “When [Graf] offered me the opportunity to not only work for him again, but also to be a part of starting something new that I believe has the potential to be great, I was honored.”

BFG9000′s current clients include Kayak and Diageo (the latter on a project basis).

In an effort to help combat human trafficking, Y&R NY and MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) produced the above video, titled “Planet Better.” The video is premiering today (probably as it wasn’t the most uplifting Valentine’s Day fodder) across MTV properties and will be available to purchase from the iTunes store. The touching clip follows a young girl who moves across borders for love, only to be sold into the sex trade before MTV gives its viewers worldwide human trafficking statistics and information about how they can help.

Lending their talents to the project are media/advertising music collective Black Iris and their friend Bethany Cosentino of the band Best Coast. Together, they recorded the song “When Will I Find Love?,” which Black Iris wrote specifically for this project. All proceeds from iTunes downloads of the songs will go directly to organizations for people working to rescue and rehabilitate victims of human trafficking.

“Human trafficking, especially of young women for sexual exploitation, is a crime which violates basic human rights; rights to freedom, equality and dignity. MTV’s unique global network can support and promote these rights.” says MTV International’s SVP, social responsibility George Arnold in a statement. “‘When Will I Feel Love’ is a powerful video, and a powerful way to reach out and raise awareness among young people, across borders and language barriers,”

Credits follow after the jump.

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It didn’t take long for former Y&R New York creative leads Scott Vitrone and Ian Reichenthal to regain their footing. Just days after it was announced that they were out at the aforementioned agency, the pair has now moved over to W+K New York to take over as co-executive creative directors.

Vitrone and Reichenthal, who have been a tandem since 1999, actually began their partnership at Wieden, where they worked on Nike. The duo replaces Jerome Austria and Kevin Proudfoot, who left W+K last month, and will work alongside New York MD Neal Arthur. Arthur if you recall took over as managing director for Buz Sawyer in April of last year. Regarding their return, Vitrone says in a statement, “When we accepted the job, Dan [Wieden] said, ‘Welcome home.’ And that’s exactly how we feel, too. To come back to W+K, 11 years after meeting there and first working together, is really special for us.”

After nearly three years spent as day-to-day creative leaders at Y&R New York, the duo of Scott Vitrone and Ian Reichenthal (l-r), who last held the title of co-CCOs (well, at least according to the Y&R site–we’re told they were still co-ECDs), have parted ways with the agency. Vitrone/Reichenthal joined Y&R from TBWA\Chiat\Day NY, where they were GCDs and worked on Mars projects for Snickers, Skittles and Starburst. Here’s a statement from both Y&R and Jane Barratt, president of the NY office, below:

GENERAL RESPONSE FROM Y&R:

“Y&R NY, Scott Vitrone and Ian Reichenthal have decided to part ways. The office’s two former co-ECDs are leaving to pursue other interests.”

Y&R is in the process of identifying a replacement.

STATEMENT FROM JANE BARRATT:
We wish Scott and Ian the best of luck with their next endeavor. Their contribution to Y&R New York has been outstanding. We see this as an opportunity to build our team of great creative storytellers with deep experience across all channels.

Taking a cue from Jaws, Y&R New York sets the scene in this spot for the LG Kompressor Elite vacuum cleaner. Everything is all fine and dandy, as all the toys are enjoying a day at the carpet until a couple gets separated from the group. They start, well, having fun until (cue the score) things go to hell real quick when some uninvited guests show up for dinner.

The team at Psyop (with the help of Smuggler) built a set on a stage, keeping the CG to a minimum and shot all the plastic toy soldiers, Barbie look-a-likes, designer toys, stuffed animals, etc on that set and implemented CG to give the dolls different facial expressions. The sharks and other subtleties were obviously generated as well.

Psyop CEO and CD Marco Spier says in a statement, “We of course got personally connected with the toys, their characters and the story. Carefully placing them personally on set to get the best performance out of them, kind of like actors. We also liked the idea of having unusual combinations of different characters because that’s how kids play – free form, mixing and matching, and grouping things together based on what they have no hand, or what their siblings or friends have.”

We think it’s safe to say this turned out to be a nice spot with some good imagination – much better than an infomercial of a vacuum sucking up coins and marbles. Credits after the jump.

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