Out to Launch
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
World Cup ads. Is your mascara better than sex? Let's launch!
  • kraftKRAFT Dressings has revamped the taste and packaging on its Classic Ranch dressing. As a result, lettuce has its moment in the spotlight, becoming the vegetable one craves... if you are a person who craves vegetables. "Food Deserves Delicious" stands up for the underdog vegetables that adults and children alike have a tough time swallowing. In the debut campaign ad, lettuce is that sad veggie, the one you won't find in a vending machine or mall food court, the veggie that isn't carved during Halloween or used as a reason to invite friends over for dinner. But lettuce can enjoy the VIP treatment it deserves, once it's doused and smothered with creamy Kraft salad dressing. See the ad here, created by TBWA/Chiat/Day New York.

  • To coincide with the World Cup and LGBT Pride month, YouTube has created a two-minute video that pays tribute to LGBT athletes and their supporters who stand up for diversity in sports and elsewhere. 72andSunny wove together a series of clips from athletes, celebrities, the president and news anchors to create "#ProudtoPlay: Celebrating Equality for All Athletes." The video begins with scenery of Brazil, host of this year's World Cup, coupled with a speech from Nelson Mandela, describing how sports can unite people in a way that few things can. What follows are news reports announcing Jason Collins as the first openly gay man playing in a major team sport and a YouTube video by diver Tom Daley telling the world that he's dating a guy and couldn't be happier. Football player Michael Sam and soccer player Robbie Rogers are featured next, along with words of encouragement from Ellen Degeneres, President Obama and Kobe Bryant. One soccer player expresses that it doesn't matter who you love, it's scoring goals that matters. The video closes with athletes uniting, being "proud to play." Watch it here.

  • mcdMcDonald's launched a fun two-minute video to promote its global sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup. In it, everyday people display extraordinary soccer skills, making shots that appear to be impossible. There's a young kid who shots a ball inside a woman's apartment, an elderly gentleman who gets off his motorized scooter to show a group of twenty-somethings his amazing footwork, and a woman in heels and a LBD, bouncing a soccer ball while still looking club-ready. There's also a handful of shots that look unattainable, yet multiple cameras capture their authenticity. A man kicks a soccer ball to ring a bell many stories above him, while one man is tethered to the back of a moving truck while he kicks a ball over a bridge, having it land in a garbage can a few feet from him. Cool stuff. See it here. The video promotes  McDonald's GOL! app, downloadable at gol.mcd.com and triggered from any of 12 limited-edition FIFA World Cup fry boxes. Once a box is scanned, players take part in a soccer trick shot game in which they shoot, bounce, flick and kick their way to superstardom. The game includes Qualcomm Vuforia AR technology that allows players to bounce a digital soccer ball off real items. DDB Chicago created the campaign.

  • hyundaiHyundai launched a pair of World Cup ads under the #BecauseFutbol theme that celebrate the passion soccer fans have and the redesigned 2015 Hyundai Sonata. In "Boom," there's a baby boom taking place in one hospital, leading a nurse to wonder what was happening nine months earlier. Turns out, it was a country's World Cup win that actually spawned a new generation of soccer fans. See it here. You can't help but feel for the soccer fan in "Avoidance." He managed to get through an entire work day surrounded by people watching a game in real time, averting his gaze so he can go home, relax and watch the game sans spoilers. He makes it inside his house, only to have his adorable daughter run past him, saying: "Daddy! We won!" Watch it here. INNOCEAN USA created the campaign.

  • mascaraToo Faced cosmetics launched an online video for its new mascara called "Better Than Sex." The climactic video stars Jeannie Mai, host of the late Style Network TV show "How Do I Look." In the 90-second video, the voice of Barry White lives inside her mascara tube. "All I want is to give you the longest, thickest, most luscious lashes of your life," begins the tube. And it doesn't stop there. "Dip my wand and let me get to work," continues the tube, as Mai is worked into a passionate frenzy as sexy time music plays in the background. Mai gets the lashes of her life because the mascara "lashes all day and all night" and it's the tube's "duty to please her beauty." Couple these puns with Mai writhing in her make-up chair, eyes rolled back, and you have a video that you want to stop watching but somehow cannot. Mai achieves a great deal of pleasure by donning mascara. I'm lucky if I don't poke my eye out when trying to get the perfect curl. See the video here, created by Standard Time.

  • nissanNothing beats driving in your car during the summer with your favorite song blasting. YouTube performer TJ Smith does just that while driving his Nissan Sentra, and in the process puts everyone he comes in contact with in a good mood. "Spread your joy" follows Miller as he drives through a city, blaring his good mood anthem: "Mony Mony" by Billy Idol. Whether he's driving on a highway or stopped at a red light, Smith has no trouble finding drivers, passengers, school kids and pedestrians to sing along to Idol's famous hit from the '80s. His car is equipped with NissanConnect technology and a Bose sound system to spread the joy in style. See it here, created by TBWA/Chiat/Day LA and directed by Michael Gracey.

  • source_1The Source, a Canadian-based consumer electronics retailer, has launched its latest commercial, "Coffee Shop," using the brand's "I Want That" tagline. A man spies a school mascot typing away on a Microsoft Surface 3 and exclaims out loud: "I Want That." The coffee shop walls separate and a Source employee enters with a tablet, wireless speakers and wireless headphones for the man to enjoy. The worker then takes a cup of coffee and the walls return to their normal state. See it here, created by Juniper Park Toronto.

  • skylanderActivision is launching Skylanders Trap Team, its latest Skylanders video game, this October, and judging by the number of YouTube views it's already garnered for its trailer, I'd say it's going to be successful. "The Discovery" is 4:30 and stars a young brother and sister snooping in their uncle's office, an off-limits room. It's there that the pair stumble upon a frozen Skylander and send him back to Skyland. Throughout the trailer, the kids help the Skylanders find magic crystals to trap villains. Once released, the villains then use their power for good, not evil. The game includes 40 trappable villains that can be purchased separately as toys, along with the traps and crystals. Talk about a win-win for Activision. See the trailer here, created by 72andSunny.

  • theweatherchannel_1Random iPhone App of the week:The Weather Channel has redesigned its iPhone app, providing accurate local and national weather updates, along with accompanying pictures that match the weather in each area. The app also offers an airport delay module, a cold and flu module and pollen alerts during allergy season. To inform users of the updated design and functionality of the app, The Weather Channel partnered with BBDO New York to create a fun video where meteorologists were punked on live TV, during morning broadcasts of AMHQ and Weather Channel Live. I'm impressed by how the meteorologists kept delivering weather news when actors in green suits were tickling them with a feather, placing a cowboy hat above their heads, and breaking out a hula hoop. The video closes by describing the updated app as "a whole new way to mess with the weather." Watch the video here and download the app here.