Out to Launch
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Shake your Orangina pulp. A toilet that cleans itself. Let's launch!
  • Don't read this post on an empty stomach. Blue Apron, a recipe and fresh ingredient delivery service, launched a 60-second TV spot that explains the brand's concept and mission to reinvent the food system. Rather than eat processed, modified foods, Blue Apron's vision involves farmers and chefs working together, creating recipes and planning crops. Food goes from the farmer to Blue Apron customer, cutting out the middleman, warehouses, grocery stores, etc.

    The last 12 seconds show examples of Blue Apron food when it's delivered and when it's cooked. Yum. This service looks delicious and makes me actually want to eat my vegetables.

    Droga5 created the campaign.

  • From highest to lowest, on Super Bowl Sunday, I care about the food, advertising and the game itself.

    In preparation for the big game, Johnsonville launched an online reality show where six Johnsonville employees judge contestants on their best sausage dish for Super Bowl Sunday. The winner of each episode has their recipe added to Johnsonville's recipe binder for eternity and wins a year's worth of sausage.

    Contestants on The Sausage Dome bring their A-game recipe to be judged by "The Sausage Six," a group of Johnsonville employees with hearty appetites and no judging experience.

    The first episode, "A Twist of Fate," launched this week, with remaining episodes dropping in the next two weeks. I won't spoil who won this week's episode, but it was the recipe I liked best. Droga5 created the campaign.

  • Orangina launched a clever campaign in France that plays off the brand's motto of vigorously shaking the beverage before drinking.

    Drink machines were placed at La Defense and Lille Europe and looked completely normal — until it was time for the drink to fall out. Instead, each drink got stuck, and this was done intentionally.

    As frustrated consumers stared at the suspended drink, they would be prompted to shake the machine. If they didn't shake it hard enough, the machine would tell them so. Eventually, the machine would let the drink go, when it deemed time.

    This machine is an ideal therapeutic device for anyone having a bad day. Buzzman created the campaign.

  • Chevrolet launched an amazing Lego-version of its "Real People, Not Actors" TV campaign to promote its new Lego Batmobile.

    In the 60-second spot, real LEGO Minifigure characters critique the type of person who would drive a Lego Batmobile. With Batman part of the focus group, you know he's expecting a slew of high compliments.

    Instead, characters describe the owner as a loner with self-esteem issues who is defensive and friendless, because there's no backseat. Batman naturally goes on offense; he describes the driver as someone with a ton of friends who is envied by most. The spot ends with Batman leaving the focus group, wishing he'd conducted his own.

    Commonwealth//McCann created the campaign.

  • Bensimon Byrne created a campaign for Ontario's Ministry of Environment and Climate Change that makes climate change personal. In a series of TV spots, people of all ages feel its negative effects.

    Ontario residents could lose pizza in one ad, since climate change threatens agriculture. A young girl with a snow shoveling business might have to lay off her brother if temperatures stay above freezing.

    Forget about epic fishing trips if there's no trout to catch — and skiing if there's no snow. One man wears his ski suit 24/7 and is ready to leave at a moment's notice.

    Superstorms could lead to regular basement floods. There goes the man cave. The final ad hits home. A couple begin stomping grapes to make their own wine when the thought of a vino shortage became a possibility.

  • Talk about useful inventions. I would love to see this bowl in action. Does it clean the big problems as well as minor ones? American Standard launched the ActiClean self-cleaning toilet that scrubs the bowl so you don't have to.

    There's a quick-clean and a deep-clean option. The quick clean option is demonstrated in a 30-second TV spot where in-laws make a surprise visit and their first stop is the bathroom. Of course. Solve created the campaign.

  • Arla Protein launched a 30-second TV spot that combines hard work and an adorable dog.

    In "Bootcamp Doggy," viewers watch an outdoor Boot Camp class in session. One man is tasked with holding a plank, which is a humbling move. He's shaking, but maintaining his form, when an adorable dogs gets loose from its owner, comes up to the man and licks his face.

    The man maintains his post, even when the dog jumps over him and gives him more kisses. Talk about staying the course.

    "Arla Protein. Stay strong, keep fit as a Britain," closes the ad, created by Wieden + Kennedy London and directed by The Bobbsey Twins From Homicide.

  • "Truckerball" is back in a 60-second ad for Nissan Europe. Basically, it's a spirited game of soccer played on the beds of Nissan vehicles. I have a hard time playing soccer on terra firma, so these athletes are impressive to watch.

    "Raise Your Game" promotes Nissan's range of commercial vehicles and debuts the mid-sized NV300. The campaign follows the soccer coach, who constantly pushes his team to do better. He uses his NV300 as a means to help his players raise their game.

    Although it's played on truck beds, the ad includes a streaker on the field and hard-core fans praying their favorite player makes a penalty kick. Did I mention the ad is set to House of Pain's "Jump Around?"

    TBWA\G1 Paris created the campaign, directed by Emil Möller.

  • Random iPhone App of the week:TheGeneralistGroup created the Shot Spot app to track every act of gun violence in America. The free app lets users enter their addresses and view every place in the United States someone has been shot. The app updates every 24 hours and provides links to news stories on the shootings.

    The app organizes shootings into four categories: Fatal, Nonfatal, Mass and Police shootings. It will soon send push notifications to users when entering an area with a high volume of incidents.

    According to the app, at least 60 people die from gun violence daily: 31 are murdered. The rest are the results of accidental shootings or police intervention, per gunviolencearchive.com.