Out to Launch
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
The Manning Brothers rap for DirecTV. Look out for the Wheat Thins trap door. Let's launch!
  • coloradolottoThe emotions of robots are so... robotic in a pair of ads for the Colorado Lottery. There's next to no emotion at the thought of winning $500,000 in "Roboto Bucks: Sarcastic," when one robot tries to deliver a sarcastic remark. It doesn't go over well. Watch it here. The retro robots are discussing Roboto Bucks, a new $10 scratch-off ticket from the Colorado Lottery with a $500,000 top prize. In "Antenna," the robots describe smiling from antenna to antenna if they win the jackpot prize. When it's delivered in a monotone voice, the enthusiasm is lost. See it here. Cactus, Denver, created the campaign.

  • twixTwix Bites is getting in on the Throw Back Thursday craze with a series of online videos explaining why the bite-sized versions of the beloved Twix bars weren't created sooner. Blame the 90's, especially Y2K and dial-up Internet access. Videos will appropriately launch every Thursday, with two already available online. In Y2K, a woman wants to save her plans for Twix Bites before Y2K hits and possibly destroys everything. While she talks to IT, a crazed co-worker smashes her computer, destroying it before it could destroy them. See it here. In "Dial-Up," two co-workers begin the slow dial-up download process of plans for bite-sized Twix. The pair continue to wait long into the night and then one man picks up the phone to call his wife. There goes the file. Watch it here. There's also a print ad with a working phone number that people can call for additional reasons why Twix bites took so long to invent. 1-844-WHY-SO-LONG. BBDO New York created the campaign.

  • wheatthinsSome folks are doomsday preppers and others just want to protect their stash of Wheat Thins. A man built an impressive "Trap Door" inside his kitchen that activates when someone gets too close to his beloved Wheat Thins atop the kitchen counter. There's just one tiny problem; the man falls through his own homemade booby-trap. Rather than reach his hand out to grab the snacks, he takes a step forward and falls through the trap door... twice. He's like a human version of Homer Simpson. "Must! Have! Wheat Thins!" closes the ad, seen here, and created by BEING NY.

  • directtvIn an alternate, fantasy universe, the Manning brothers are famous rappers during the off-season. And Joe Namath gives your mom cooking lessons. You can't unsee that. DirecTV scores with "Fantasy Football Fantasy," a 3:15 music video, starring Peyton and Eli rapping with and without autotune, promoting DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket's new Fantasy Zone Channel. The video has everything one might expect to see in a rap video: fancy cars, large mansions, an entourage of friends and groups of dancing women. Before the Manning brothers delve into their fantasy alter egos, the video begins with the preppy-dressed Manning brothers discovering DirecTV's Fantasy Zone Channel. And then begins the brothers' fantasy career as rappers, throwing footballs to fans, wearing fur coats and tuxedos, rapping about the Fantasy Zone Channel. They're not half bad. In Eli's fantasy, he explores space on a winged white horse, bumps into his father and his brother is actually the man on the moon. Watch it here, created by Grey NY.

  • skkyvodkaDon't be that friend who doesn't buy a round of drinks for your pals. Be a "Leader," or risk the group taking a swan dive. The follow-up spot to SKYY Vodka's "West of Expected" campaign stars the same quirky host who likens a night out with friends to birds flying in formation. In both scenarios, a leader is needed to buy a round and keep the birds in motion. No leader means birds out of sync and a night filled with disarray. Keep the group in formation and pick up the next round. Watch "Leader" here, created by Venables Bell & Partners and directed by Mike Maguire.