AdWeek : All News

Ad of the Day: Shock Top

Gabriel Beltrone — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:55:49 +0000

Rest assured: If the world does come to a dramatic, fiery end in 2012, it won't stop advertisers from hawking their wares.

Extinction-level events have become a popular theme for brands lately, and the Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned Shock Top beer is the latest to dive in with a new spot from 72andsunny. How do the end times look? A stereotypically slick pitchman strolls through the urban wreckage holding a bottle of the wheat beer, nonchalant about the mayhem unfolding around him. As meteors crater the street behind him, he toasts a Mayan prophet and shrugs off the end of mankind. "You don't care. You're out there doing all the things you always wanted to do." One cell-phone snapshot of a cranky, sharp-fanged alien lizard later, the pitchman is down at a post-apocalyptic block party, suggesting you make your last brew a Shock Top.

The ad would have been in production before Chevrolet aired its Super Bowl commercial urging viewers to drive a Silverado pickup truck—not a Ford—if they hope to live through the apocalypse. Both came well after Lynx advised survivalist bachelors to use its "Final Edition" body spray to lure hordes of scantily clad women to a handcrafted wooden bro-ark to ensure their safety from the flood (and the future of the species).

In other words, steel yourself for more apocalyptic spots, if not the apocalypse itself. Whatever happens, it's pretty clear that the salesmen will last at least as long as the cockroaches.

CREDITS:
Client: Shock Top
Spot: "End of the World"

AGENCY
Agency: 72andSunny, Los Angeles
Creative Director: Barton Corley
Copywriter: Jay Kamath
Art Director: Peter Vattanatham
Producer: Erin Goodsell
Brand Team: Sherri Chambers, Elisa Silva, Ryan Warner
Executive Creative Directors: John Boiler, Glenn Cole
Director of Film Production: Sam Baerwald

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Arts & Sciences
Director: Matt Aselton
Executive Producer: Mal Ward, Marc Marrie
Line Producer: Eric Sedorovitz
Director of Photography: Marcelo Durst

EDITORIAL
Editorial Company: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: Adam Pertofsky
Post Producer: Juliet Batter, Justin Kumpata
Post Executive Producer: CL Weaver

VFX
VFX Company: A52
VFX Supervisor: Andy McKenna
Flame Artist: Andy McKenna
VFX Producer: Scott Boyajan

MUSIC + SOUND DESIGN
Music+Sound Company: Noises Digital
Sound Designer: Kim Christensen

MIX
Mix Company: POP
Mixer: Mitch Dorf
Producer: Susie Boyajan

Cablevision Selects Finalists in Optimum Creative Review

Andrew McMains — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:55:52 +0000

Four agencies have advanced to the final round of Cablevision’s search for an agency to craft image ads for its Optimum brand. This week, Cablevision executives will brief the shops. Final presentations are slated for late March.

The assignment is new and will complement product-specific ads from current lead agency Gardner Nelson + Partners in New York. Account revenue is estimated at $2 million.

Gardner Nelson is among the remaining contenders. The others are Vitro in San Diego and New York agencies Amalgamated and Mother.

The cable company’s review committee includes Kristin Dolan, a senior evp and wife of CEO James Dolan; evp of marketing Jon Hargis; and vp of marketing and advertising Joe Leonard.

In its initial request for information distributed by Cablevision to interested agencies, the company cited the “existing heat of the competition” and a need to “find our voice” as reasons for the search. Optimum’s digital TV, Internet access and digital phone offerings compete with the likes of Verizon and DirectTV.

The company’s media business is not in play and remains in-house. Hasan + Co. in Raleigh, N.C. is managing the search. Hasan did not return calls and the Bethpage, N.Y.-based Cablevision declined to comment.

Privacy Group Petitions FTC Over Google's New Privacy Policy

Katy Bachman — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:10:00 +0000

Pressure is mounting on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the changes to Google's privacy policies slated for March 1. Adding to the stack of letters from lawmakers and privacy advocates, the Center for Digital Democracy, a consumer privacy organizations, petitioned the FTC Wednesday to review Google's policy changes, charging that Google did not come clean with consumers as to why they are being made.

Google announced last month it was consolidating some 60 privacy policies across its products and services into one main privacy policy, allowing it to track users across all its platforms. In explaining the change, Google said it would result in a "simpler, more intuitive" experience for consumers.

But the CDD argues in its petition that Google is talking out of both sides of its mouth, saying one thing to advertisers and the business community, and another to the consumers who must make decisions about protecting their own privacy.

"An analysis of Google's business operations over the last year will demonstrate the true rationale for the changes to its privacy policy, which has nothing to do with making it 'easier' or 'more convenient' for users," the CDD complaint said. "In particular, Google fails to inform its users that the new privacy regime is based on its own business imperatives....Google should have explained to consumers what it told a private industry meeting, that to help fulfill its February 2011 prediction that display advertising will be a $200-billion-dollar global industry, it would need to better integrate user data across platforms and application using digital ad marketing automation."

After Google announced the planned changes in January, the FTC got an earful from lawmakers, privacy advocates and was even named in a lawsuit from the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which is asking the court to compel the FTC to investigate whether or not Google's planned changes violate its privacy consent decree with the FTC.

"We hope this notches up pressure on the FTC to force Google to back down," said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the CDD. "I think this complaint will provide insight into Google's actual business practices so the FTC can act in the Google case. All along I've said, what Google needs to tell their consumers is what they tell each other and to publications like Adweek."

Arby's Shifts Account to Crispin From BBDO

Noreen O'Leary — Noreen O'Leary

They could probably use some "good-mood food" over at BBDO today. Arby’s, a client at the Omnicom agency since the end of 2010, awarded its nearly $100 million account to Crispin Porter + Bogusky without a review.

The move reunites Arby’s new CMO Russ Klein with the MDC Partners agency he hired in 2004, when he was global chief marketing officer at Burger King. Klein left BK in late 2009 and joined Arby’s last month.

“BBDO’s work for Arby’s was exactly what the brand needed at the time,” Klein said of the change. “This transition is about where we are taking the brand and how we are going to get there.”

While no incumbent can be surprised when replaced by an agency that had a previous working relationship with a new CMO, the news follows recent public endorsements of BBDO by Arby’s executives, including Klein. Just last week, Bob Kraut, Arby's svp of advertising and brand communications, publicly acknowledged the brand’s marketing as playing a role in the initial stages of a turnaround at the fast-food chain. Speaking at an Association of National Advertisers’ event, he said BBDO’s new “Good-mood food” tag registered 60 percent awareness in 10 months and that in 2011 the company posted its highest sales increase in 10 years.

“There’s not much to say. The numbers speak for themselves,” said John Osborn, president and CEO of BBDO, New York. “We’re proud of our contributions to the Arby’s business. We wish the brand continued growth.”

Klein and CP+B had years of initial success with a BK strategy that targeted young men. By the end of the marketing exec’s tenure at the burger chain, however, his partnership with CP+B was marred by controversial ad campaigns, sliding sales and friction with franchisees. Following six quarters of declining sales, BK’s new owners split with CP+B in March 2011 and hired mcgarrybowen in June of that year.

BBDO won Arby’s in December 2010 following a review. The agency replaced sister Omnicom shop Merkley & Partners after declining same-store sales.

Arby’s other marketing partners, Initiative Media and its co-op ad agencies, are not impacted by this shift. Alcone Marketing also remains Arby’s agency of record for creative and print production.

Oreo Launching 100th Birthday Campaign With Nascar

Gabriel Beltrone — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:00:05 +0000

Oreos turn 100 this year, and the brand is turning to longtime partner Nascar to help tease a new yearlong celebration launching next month.

Limited edition Birthday Oreos, which have rainbow sprinkles added to the standard vanilla cream filling, have already started to hit shelves, and the majority of the new advertising campaign around the anniversary won't launch until the sandwich cookie's official centennial on March 6. But this Saturday, A-list racing star Tony Stewart will trade in his regular Office Depot-sponsored Chevy Impala to drive a special-edition version of the same model painted in homage to Oreo's 100th at the Nationwide DRIVE4COPD 300 event in Daytona, kicking off the Nascar Nationwide Series.

Stewart, who signed a deal with Kraft in 2010, will unveil the new Oreo colors today at a press event—a "preseason preparty" with a to-scale cake in the shape of Stewart's Oreo Impala—in Daytona (sister Nabisco brand Ritz is also getting a little space on the car). Stewart will return to his regular colors for the Daytona 500 on Sunday, which kicks off the Nascar's Sprint Cup Series, the racing association's highest profile schedule of events.

Why roll out a high-profile packaged-goods campaign at a Nascar event? The idea grew out of Kraft's longtime partnership with Nascar—the brand has been a sponsor since 2000—said Michael Tilley, associate director of consumer engagement at Kraft. "We've found that Nascar fans are very passionate about their sport," he said.

Nascar is heading into the 2012 season after 2011's ratings saw a sharp increase, ending a three-year decline. And while conventional wisdom would have the sport's audience skewing heavily male, Tilley said the gender gap isn't as wide as it's perceived to be. "The reality is we find that Nascar['s audience] is more balanced and all-family than most people would think,” he said. In other words, the partnership also reaches plenty of women, who are still generally believed to drive the majority of grocery store purchases—as well as other members of the household who, as Tilley put it, "influence" the shopping list—even though some reports have cases of men pushing carts on the rise.

As for the rest of the new Oreo campaign, look for an integrated effort around "carefree moments of fun," Tilley said.

Data Points: Big Screen

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 02:22:02 +0000

Infographic: Carlos Monteiro

Comcast Sets 4 New Digital Networks

Sam Thielman — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:17:19 +0000

Comcast is making good on its promise to beef up minority involvement in its cable division, though it's doing so with digital networks instead of terrestrial cable channels. It's not quite what it sounded like when, as a condition of its purchase of a majority stake in NBCUniversal (then 80 percent held by GE), Comcast agreed to create cable networks with minority leadership. Still, a channel is a channel.

The company is launching four new digital nets with headliners including Magic Johnson, Sean "Diddy" Combs and film director Robert Rodriguez, starting as soon as April. The four networks will be available on Comcast's digital basic tier, but they won't be taking the place of any existing cable channels. Instead, they'll be digital subnets, a growing sector of the cable market that is mostly occupied by public access-style programming at this point.

Johnson, whose title will be chairman, will lead Aspire, a new network with an African-American focus and inspirational programming. In a statement issued Tuesday, David Jensen, Comcast's vp of content acquistion, said that the Atlanta-based network (a partnership with GMC TV) will involve "an enduring focus on delivering quality programming that positively resonates with ethnically diverse communities."

Combs' network, Revolt, will also have an African-American focus when it debuts next year but will be more of a music and news network. Revolt will be heavily engaged with social media and already has aspirations beyond Comcast's subscriber base. In a release issued by the new network this morning, Combs said that his hope was "that this new network will spark a revolution in entertainment and encourage other media and communications companies to bring Revolt to their audiences.”

Rodriguez's network, El Rey, will focus on the Latino audience, with content created by the net's new production company, Tres Pistoleros, which will develop programming for the channel. Rodriguez's background as a director of films including Sin City and Planet Terror is mirrored in his vision for the channel: "The majority of the players today are doing a fantastic job serving the first generation [of Latinos in America]," Rodriguez told Deadline, "and what we want to do is serve their offspring.” The start date for El Rey is some time in 2014.

The fourth network will be BabyFirstAmericas and will focus on early childhood and will be run by Constantino "Said" Schwarz.

What Google's Privacy Snafu Means for Self Regulation

Katy Bachman — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:55:20 +0000

Will Google's latest privacy misstep compromise the ad industry's self-regulation efforts? The discovery that Google and a handful of other companies were circumventing the privacy settings on Apple's Safari browser and had to recant has already brought back the privacy debate in Washington with a vengeance.

Following the reports, more lawmakers raised questions and many called for the Federal Trade Commission to step in.

But the controversy also could have repercussions for the integrity of the ad industry that has been working hard to convince Washington that it could self regulate privacy policies. Just last week, days before the Google-Safari contretemps, the Network Advertising Association, of which Google is the largest ad network member, put out its annual audit confirming its members were in compliance with the organization's privacy code and guidelines.

The whole incident with Google leaves the Network Advertising Initiative, a member of the Digital Advertising Alliance that is rolling out a self-regulatory program across the industry, in an awkward spot.

In a statement emailed to Adweek, Marc Groman, the executive director of NAI, reiterated the organization's commitment to enforcing its privacy guidelines.

"The NAI has an established process to review alleged violations of the NAI code and NAI policies," said Groman. "In accordance with these procedures, NAI compliance staff is reviewing the allegations contained in last week's articles with respect to all NAI members identified in the articles."

What's so disappointing to the ad industry is that Google may have torpedoed some of the goodwill it has built up at the Federal Trade Commission, which at the end of the year had encouraging words for the industry's self-regulation program.

The ad industry is serving up about 900 billion in-ad privacy icons per month, per the Digital Advertising Alliance, progress that is getting overshadowed by self-inflicted wounds that scare consumers and incite regulators and lawmakers.

"As an industry, we're taking steps forward and taking steps backward at the same time, and that's not doing anybody any good," said Chris Babel, CEO of Truste, a privacy management firm. "The FTC will push harder for faster progress. Issues are building, not diminishing."

Demonstrating that the ad industry can regulate itself will be key.

"This puts added pressure on us to make sure we have an enforceable program," said Mike Zaneis, svp and general counsel of the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

Ad of the Day: Sony PS Vita

Sam Thielman — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:21:21 +0000

It's an all-too-familiar experience. You've punched a hole the size of the Holland Tunnel in the slime-drooling alien overlord with an incredible trick shot using your very last shotgun shell, and when you look up from your portable gaming device expecting some hard-earned gratitude, all you see are people trying hard not to make eye contact with the guy at the end of the subway car who keeps staring into his lap and grunt-cursing.

Consider this ad for the European launch of Sony's PlayStation Vita handheld console to be a public-service announcement, then. "Where I appear to be alone, I'm surrounded by thousands," explains one extravagantly hatted young man as he sits, apparently alone, under a neon sign. The spot, directed by Cary Fukunaga for Dutch agency 180 Amsterdam, focuses on a variety of young, cool Europeans in the middle of doing cool things like leading a platoon through a DMZ while at the beach, boxing during a manicure, and so on.

Fukunaga, who directed last year's well-received Jane Eyre film, is a pretty standard choice for PlayStation, which is to say a nonstandard choice for anybody else. Avant garde filmmaker Chris Cunningham's hellishly weird PS1 ads are among the best in the category, and I suppose it makes sense for Fukunaga, whose film is nominated for a costume-design Oscar, to come in to class up the joint. Gone are the days when you could just slap some gameplay footage up on the screen.

This spot is frankly a little too busy. There are lots of nice touches—the girl at the beach unconcernedly brushing sand off her book when her husband/boyfriend cracks open a big chest of guns is my personal favorite. But some of the gaming genres used are less familiar than others. Most notably, there's the globetrotting adventure category, represented by the German-speaking guy whose ride on the U-Bahn turns into a backpacking trip through what look like the Andes. It's pretty obviously there solely to promote the Vita's flagship launch title, Uncharted: Golden Abyss. But the Uncharted games really aren't like anything else in the gaming world, and so you're left going, "Wait, I get the boxing game, and the war game, and the soccer game, but what's that guy doing with the backpack?"

Overall, though, it's an interesting way to illustrate the most basic concept in portable gaming: effortless escapism, anytime, anywhere—and of course, the PS Vita's assertion that its new system will be more immersive than any other.

CREDITS:
Client: Sony PlayStation Vita
Agency: 180 Amsterdam
Production Company: Independent
Director: Cary Fukunaga
ECD: Al Moseley
CD: Galen Graham
AD: Martin Terhart
CW: David Chalu
Planning Director: Jonas Vail
Agency Producer: Richard Firminger
Producer: Emma Butterworth
Executive Producer: Jani Guest
Editor: Russell Icke
Postproduction: MPC
Producer: Scott Griffin
Postproducer: Scott Griffin
Flame Operator: Ludovic Fealy
Sound Design: Factory
DOP: Adriano Goldman
Production Designer: Chris Jones
Composer: Pete Raeburn
Photographer: Alex Telford
Agency Print Producer: Meredith Bergonzi
Media Planning, Buying: OMD

Yet Another Streaming Service: Comcast's Xfinity Streampix

Sam Thielman — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:26:12 +0000

All right, it's more or less raining new streaming services at this point. Comcast is the latest company to unveil a new streaming VOD client, hot on the heels of competitor Verizon a scant two weeks ago. The service will be called Streampix, it will play on the Xbox 360 and Android phones, and while it won't come with a fruit basket and a note begging you not to cancel your cable subscription, the message is pretty clear.

The service will be available exclusively to Xfinity customers for free on the higher-end packages and as a $4.99-a-month add-on on others. At launch, it will include past full seasons of 30 Rock, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, Lost, Married...With Children, The Office, Ugly Betty and The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Comcast announced additional kids' programming, including Disney Channel's hit Wizards of Waverly Place. Several theatrical films were also announced, all several years old, but with Comcast a majority stakeholder in NBCUniversal, expect further deals down the road to support the new service.

There are a couple inclusions worth noting on the theatrical films list: Ocean's Eleven and When Harry Met Sally. Neither one streams on Netflix because they're Warner Bros. films. Warners (especially head honcho Jeff Bewkes) has been notoriously suspicious of Netflix and has kept the company at arm's length, adding few of its titles to the streaming library and including roadblocks even to the old-school snail-mail DVD service. The library at Streampix is reportedly small, but Comcast is uniquely sympathetic to the needs of a company like Warner Bros., since it owns one of Warners' main competitors. Netflix may be the way of the future, but the company that controls the rights to the Harry Potter films, The Sopranos and every single Bugs Bunny cartoon is still a major player, and it hasn't picked a side.

A large part of the TV industry doesn't want to deal with Netflix because they'll lose life-sustaining revenue streams of subscriber fees and advertising. If Streampix and its ideological twin TV Everywhere hit it big, they could help create a new model for cable companies losing money to cord-cutting consumers. The service is available starting next week.

It's worth noting that Netflix isn't sitting still. The company had its own announcement this morning as well. In a multiyear deal, the streaming service added content from the Weinstein Company to its ever-expanding library, including Oscar favorite The Artist, along with Undefeated, Coriolanus and other recent films.