Out to Launch
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Grab a tissue. Ads for cereal and gum will make you cry. Let's launch!
  • Droga5 launched the second part of a campaign for Clearasil called "Teacher Truths." The 60-second ad informs teens that those awkward high school moments, like having acne, are fleeting. For high school teachers, however, these moments last forever. Teachers are interviewed throughout the ad, regaling viewers with jokes that never go away. There's a teachers who sees a lot of boobs... on a calculator, Uranus jokes and fart jokes. When the teachers realize they will be stuck in this realm forever, they lose it, but at least the teens can feel better about high school years. The ad ends with information on #TeacherTruthsContest, where teens can enter to win a $5,000 scholarship if they submit their teachers' truths on either Twitter or Instagram. See it here.

  • Company Chairman Gert Boyle is back -- and so is her no-nonsense attitude -- in a massive print, OOH and TV campaign for Columbia Sportswear. Boyle makes cameo appearances in each of the three TV spots where Columbia gear is tested in extreme conditions by company employees. Employee orientation at Columbia involves stranding newbies on a ski lift in frigid temps, with Boyle delivering dinner in a cherry picker. See it here. I'm more impressed that a printer, buried in snow, still works in "Snow Shovel." No snow day for the employee who shoveled out part of the printer -- only to get a paper jam. He'll be outside a while. Watch it here. Even company bathrooms are nontraditional; men gear up for a bathroom break like they're going outdoors -- because they are going outside. See "Nature Calls" here. One of the campaign's out-of-home ads features Boyle holding a cougar on a leash. "Where cougars really are cougars" says the ad. North created the campaign.

  • Mattel launched a campaign for Barbie that positions the brand as a force for girl power.  In "Imagine The Possibilities," a series of young girls are working high-level jobs, much to the surprise of the adults around them. Girls hold the roles of soccer coach, college professor, veterinarian, museum tour guide and sales executive, while hidden cameras watch the reactions of unsuspecting adults. My favorite is the young girl gabbing on the phone in an airport and watching the nearby adults try to contain their laughter. I'm also partial to the soccer coach who tells her team to get their "knees up like a unicorn." The video ends with one of the young girls playing with her Barbie dolls in her room with the message: "When a girl plays with Barbie, she imagines everything she can become." See the video here, created by BBDO San Francisco and directed by Karen Cunningham of Slim Pictures.

  • Cheerios has a knack for tugging at viewer's heartstrings -- and the brand's latest ad, "Grandpa," is no different. An adult daughter helps her aging father, unable to live alone, pack and move in with her. The car ride home is quiet, and it's clear that the man is apprehensive of the move. That all changes when the man is greeted at home by his adorable granddaughter. She doesn't know what flavor Cheerios her grandpa likes, so she has a variety of flavors on the kitchen table for him to choose from. Watch it here, created by Saatchi & Saatchi, New York and directed by Matt Smukler of Community Films.

  • This seems to be the week when advertising is tugging at heartstrings. First, we had Cheerios and its touching spot about a man who moves in with his daughter and her family, and now we have a beautiful love story told through gum wrappers. This isn't the first tear-jerking ad from Extra Gum; the brand launched a multiple-tissue ad two years ago about the special bond between a father and daughter. "The Story of Sarah & Juan" is set to Haley Reinhart's cover of "I Can’t Help Falling in Love," and tells the story of two high schoolers who fell in love at first sight. Extra Gum has a special place in their relationship: Sarah offers Juan a piece of gum when he helps her clean a spill, before their first kiss, and after they have a fight. Unbeknownst to Sarah, Juan saved each gum wrapper and drew the moment in time he got the gum. So when Sarah meets Juan at a gallery, she finds that each special moment in time is framed and depicted on a gum wrapper. The final gum wrapper shows Juan proposing; Sarah turns around, and it's happening in real life. See it here, created by Energy BBDO.

  • Building on Nike Women's global "Better For It" platform, Nike Russia launched a campaign that celebrates the "Real Girls of Moscow," a group of the country's top female athletes who are changing the way that women and sports are portrayed. In the first ad, we see a woman hold an extreme yoga pose for what seems like forever. It's beyond impressive. See it here. Next, there's a a trail runner who prefers her mud mask to come from nature, rather than a spa. Watch it here. The inner thoughts of a boxer come to life in the next video. Rather than being someone's trophy wife, she takes to the ring to earn her own trophy. See it here. Figure skaters fall hard, but they get back up, thinking of the ultimate goal: a gold medal. Watch it here. The final ad shows a ballerina who demands perfection from herself, so she keeps practicing. See it here. Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam created the campaign.

  • I can only imagine the number of earplugs used during the making of this ad for Sony's MHC-V7D speaker. The video illustrates what sounds look like, via a series of Cymatics experiments. If the MHC-V7D can make water and sand dance, imagine what it will bring to a house party, aside from tinnitus? It's interesting to watch, from a scientific perspective. First, a petri dish filled with vodka is placed on a sub-woofer, where the music makes the liquid move in mysterious ways. Next, a thin metal sheet covered with sand is attached above the speaker, creating interesting patterns that change with the music. Lastly, three colors of paint are placed on the woofer and, needless to day, dance and jump around. See it here, created by UNIT9.

  • Random iPhone App of the week: Social platform Sayer launched an iPhone app where users can crowdsource opinions and predictions on thought-provoking questions. Users can also pose their own questions, called "Sooths," to their friends and the Sayer community. Sooths come in two forms: predictions and polls. A Sooth can cover an array of subjects and interests, and can include a link to external content. The Sooth is then published for the community to weigh in on. Users can challenge friends to answer Sooths via SMS, Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels. Download the free app here.

  • Ebates, a site that pays consumers for shopping online, launched a TV spot highlighting the sheer number of checks it sends to members. One man fills the position of check writer, and it's akin to a competitive sport, since he needs to sign a crazy amount of checks. Sure, he could have someone help, but he prefers to go it alone. Would a follow-up ad focus on the check writer's carpal tunnel? See the ad here, created by EVB and directed by Jared Hess.