Out to Launch
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
NiceBot makes Twitter a kind platform. Nissan Leaf aims to "Electrify The World." Let's launch!
  • Spoiler alert: Even Santa needs help at Christmas. A family touring the North Pole at Christmas goes behind the curtain and discovers Santa's true talent: outsourcing the gift delivery duties to FedEx. A young son slips under the red velvet rope and discovers Santa Claus in a back room, wearing his long johns, eating breakfast and watching sports on TV. Behind Santa, the real magic is at work: a pair of FedEx employees shipping Christmas goodies. Santa, not great on the fly, shows the family his sleigh, which clearly hasn't been used in years. It's covered up and rusty, but that doesn't stop Santa from trying to hop on. It takes the remainder of the ad for Santa to make it in one sidestep. Did I mention that both Santa and the sleigh creak? See #HowTheHolidaysArrive here, created by BBDO New York.

  • Paying tribute to its roots, Crown Royal launched a 90-second spot that recreates a special moment in time for the Canadian whisky. In 1939, Britain's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrived in Canada and were presented with the whisky, created in their honor, in its signature purple bag. "The One" begins with a team of Canadians being informed of the King and Queen's upcoming arrival. Rome wasn't built in a day and Crown Royal went through countless versions until the perfect batch was crafted, not to mention the ideal bottle design and signature bag. Good thing the royal family came by boat and train. With seconds to spare, the spokesman for Crown Royal receives a bottle at the last second to gift the King and Queen. The spot ends in the present day with a bottle of Crown Royal sitting on the top shelf. Watch it here, created by Grey New York and directed by Peter Thwaites.

  • Absolut Vodka teamed up with Water for People to launch an online campaign promoting Absolut Elyx. For every bottle of Aboslut Elyx purchased, a week's worth of drinking water will be brought to people in need. The charity video is directed by and starring Fred Armisen. Once you watch the video, you might agree that Armisen should stick to acting. When actors and musicians like Taylor Kitsch, Tracee Ellis Ross, Miles Teller, Aimee Mann, Natasha Lyonne, Chloe Sevigny and comedian George Wallace audition for the ad, Armisen gives them each the job, because he's too nice! This backfires when Wallace gets wind of Lyonne winning the role. Armisen can't take the pressure, so a traditional ad was never filmed. Instead, highlights from the auditions were strewn together to make an amusing three-minute video. See it here, created by Naked Luxury.

  • Spreading positivity one tweet at a time. Champions Against Bullying is hoping to combat cyberbullying with The NiceBot. The goal is to send one positive tweet to every Twitter user, all 200 million, every 36 seconds. This may take some time, but The NiceBot is up for the challenge. Using a specially designed API, the NiceBot is programmed to pair a random nice message with a random Twitter user's handle. It sends a single message out as an @ reply, and then moves on to the next user on its list. Follow The NiceBot on Twitter and watch its progress using the hashtag #TheNiceBot. Deutsch created the campaign.

  • World Kindness Day is Nov. 13, and KIND snacks wants to reward those who do a good deed with a KIND snack bar. It's a multistep process: First, you need to witness a good deed -- hopefully by someone you know, since the next step is to visit a custom KIND site to send the nice person a #kindawesome card that is redeemable for a free KIND snack. The person that did a good deed will also receive a new digital #kindawesome card to pay it forward and reward someone else. It doesn't have to be a big act, as witnessed by an online video promoting the initiative. It can be as simple as reaching something off a top shelf for a co-worker or removing toilet paper from underneath a stranger's shoe. That person should get a box of KIND bars! Check out the video here and maybe someone will reward you with a #kindawesomecard on Friday. The Barbarian Group created the campaign.

  • My first thought was "How'd he do that?" Chicago Blackhawks player Jonathan Toews gets paid big bucks for his impressive wrist/eye coordination. The hockey player stars in a 50-second stunt video that promotes Bauer's new Nexus 1N hockey stick. Toews places a water bottle on top of a hockey net and takes two impressive shots within seconds of one another. The first shot hits the net and sends the water bottle flying, while the second hits the airborne water bottle, sending it into the protective glass. And he does this more than once! I'm lucky if I can just keep my balance on the ice. Watch the video here, created by Olson.

  • Nissan Leaf launched a 60-second brand campaign to "Electrify The World." The ad positions the Leaf, along with its designers and engineers, as light-years ahead of the competition. The voiceover throughout the ad describes the difference between a talker and a doer. "Talkers talk. Doers do things that get talked about," says the v.o. as viewers watch a creative, risk-taking man who basejumps off buildings for fun. He has a grander plan in the works, and his visionary attitude is shown as similar to Nissan Leaf owners'. Once a fleet of white Nissan Leafs reach their destination -- the top of a mountain -- viewers notice that the basejumper has also arrived, and he's ready for his close-up. Along with a few friends clad in lighted jumpsuits, the basejumper gets into a hot air balloon, and the group take a massive plunge and lights up a darkened sky. Check it out here, created by TBWA\G1 Paris and TBWA\London.

  • Random mobile app of the week:Aardman Digital launched the latest Shaun the Sheep game, which will be a hole-in-one for golf fans. The popular BBC children's TV character needs help conquering Puzzle Putt, a golf game to the extreme. Puzzle Putt consists of 72 levels across eight courses. Good luck scoring a hole-in-one with bouncy pumpkins, catapulting mole holes and bushels of hay placed throughout. Players can also create their own customized golf courses from scratch and challenge friends to best them. Download the $1.49 app from the App Store or Google Play.

  • Like "Saturday Night Live" star Kate McKinnon, I would rather be dipped by a studly Spanish dancer than fill in online shopping forms. In a 30-second spot for MasterPass from MasterCard, McKinnon stands inside a giant online shopping form, lamenting that she would rather be buying a dress than typing her address. With MasterPass, she has fewer forms to fill in, leaving her more time to wear her new dress, in which she's dancing with a handsome Spanish dancer who loves to dip his partners. Watch it here, created by McCann XBC.