Out to Launch

by Amy Corr, Mar 7, 2012, 3:43 PM

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Facebook launched an online video promoting its new Facebook Pages. Profiled are a small business, Bay Cities Italian Deli; a large brand, Red Bull; and musician Alex Winston. The video shows how each entity interacts with its fans and consumers. The Bay Cities Italian Deli posts pictures of daily sandwich specials, Winston announces her world tour dates and Red Bull promotes its Red Bull District Ride. The more information posted, the greater the audience interaction. See it here, created by Strike Anywhere.

Security Service Federal Credit Union launched a series of spots running in the San Antonio market that highlight the company’s commitment to service. Ads feature Jimmy and George, two overzealous employees who take it upon themselves to emphasize the service in Security Service Federal Credit Union in outlandish ways. In one ad, the pair climb atop a company billboard and paint over every word but service. Watch it here. While a bus sits at a red light, the duo use construction cones to cover parts of their bus ad. They didn’t think ahead about what to do when the light turned green. See it here. “Lobby Art” is my favorite. The pair ransacks anything not bolted down in the office and creates a large fire hazard in the lobby to hide most of the company’s name. Watch it here. In the last ad, seen here, people sitting on a branded bus bench are forced to sit on every word but service. Proof Advertising created the campaign.

How can we not discuss the most talked-about ad of the week? It comes from the UK and retells the story of “The Three Little Pigs.” I’m talking about the two-minute video for The Guardian. The ad shows how a marriage of traditional and digital media can change how someone interprets a story. Using the classic fairytale, the ad begins with a powerful print headline: “Big Bad Wolf Boiled Alive.” After the three pigs are arrested, readers online voice their support of the pigs defending their homes. Until, that is, a YouTube video surfaces showing the wolf using an inhaler. How could he blow those houses down? The next print headline: “Wolf Suffered from Asthma.” The pigs confess to insurance fraud and framing the wolf, all because they had fallen on difficult financial times. Online, the pigs garner support from other financially strapped families who understand what the pigs are going through. The ad closes with riots erupting throughout the city and the tagline: “The Whole Picture.” Consumers are shown reading the news via tablets, computers, cell phones and good old-fashioned print. Watch it here, created by BBH London, produced by Rattling Stick and directed by Ringan Ledwidge.

Charlie Sheen can be found in not one, but two TV ads this week. Let’s start with DirecTV. The latest spot shows a man frustrated by not being able to record his favorite shows. This sets off a chain of events, starting with the man going to happy hour and then visiting a Turkish bath house, where he meets Charlie Sheen. The pair reenacts scenes from “Platoon” in the man’s living room. This is not good. Sheen has a crossbow and is not afraid to use it. Watch the ad here, created by GREY New York.

 

If anyone can make house arrest look fun, I’m not surprised that it’s Charlie Sheen. In an ad for the Fiat Abarth 500, a party takes place at a palatial mansion. Inside, a Fiat is driven throughout the house, cracking a handful of windows. Who steps out of the car but Charlie Sheen and his ankle bracelet. He grabs the closest model and asks her what he gets for good behavior. “Not all bad boys are created equal,” closes the ad, seen here and created by Doner Detroit.

 

The Los Angeles Zoo launched a TV campaign promoting its reptile house, The LAIR (Living Amphibians, Invertebrates and Reptiles). The ads use an odd couple, Betty White and former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, as spokespeople. What the pair does have in common is a love for animals. Each ad follows White and Slash as they visit the LAIR and its inhabitants. In the first “Alive in LA” ad, Slash wonders how often a snake sheds it skin. The snake wonders if Slash ever takes off his hat. See it here. In the next ad, White explains how she can tell the difference between male and female frogs. The frogs converse, wondering how they can determine the sex of their visitors. Watch it here. Betty and Slash look at lizards in amazement. The lizards look back and see oddities. See it here. Slash shows his knowledge of pythons in the next ad, seen here. The final ad, seen here, shows a pair of turtles wondering whether Betty and Slash are friends or foes. Allen & Gerritsen created the campaign.

Keeping with the museum theme, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science launched a Twitter campaign called "Tweetaconda." The goal is to drive traffic to the new Lizards & Snakes exhibit and create a Tweetaconda that matches the length of the world’s longest snake, found in Indonesia and measuring 32.75 feet. Users can tweet directly at Tweetaconda.com or use the hashtag #tweetaconda to lengthen the digital snake. Visitors can scroll the body of the Tweetaconda and learn facts about the live snakes in the exhibit, which houses more than 60 reptiles from five continents. Carmichael Lynch created the campaign.

Farmers Insurance launched “Fire Suit” during the Daytona 500, promoting its sponsorship of Kasey Kahne and Hendrick Motorsports. Actor J.K. Simmons stars as Professor Nathaniel Burke of University of Farmers. His students meet racecar driver Kasey Kahne and wear customized fire suits to signify the custom coverage Farmers Insurance offers its customers. When one student comes in late, wearing a suit with fire emblems on it, Kahne douses him with a fire extinguisher. See the ad here, created by RPA.

 

Random iPhone App of the week: “The Lorax” recently hit theatres -- and naturally, there is an app for that. The app lets users turn friends into the mustached forest guardian by taking a saved image and adding the mustache to the picture – or snapping a new picture and positioning the mustache and changing its size to fit properly. Images can be posted to Twitter and Facebook. Additionally, users can hold their phone in front of their mouth – and, as they talk, a full-screen Lorax mouth moves along with their words. Click3x for Universal created the free app, downloadable here.

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