Commentary

Out To Launch

LenovoLenovo aptly named its new ultrabook the Yoga for its extreme flexibility and portability when on the run from villains by land and sea. This spot begins with a woman who steals the Yoga, equipped with Windows 8, from a shipping crate at a dock located near the Black Sea. The Yoga helps her escape by jet ski and map coordinates to a building that houses an expensive painting. She photographs the painting and escapes with a pair of security guards hot on her track. The woman transfers her data to a man on a motorcycle, boards a train, exits the train, changes outfits and hair colors and stores the Yoga in a locker. Leaving the station, she hands her locker key to a man casually dressed and looking strikingly like one of the security guards that was chasing her. See it here, created by Saatchi & Saatchi New York.

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Dell launched a series of corporate identification TV ads to highlight the brand’s technological advances across various industries. A 60-second spot, “Anthem,” showcases Dell’s headway in the automotive, financial and medical industries. The nod to the medical industry had a nice touch, showing a team of doctors working to treat a woman’s cancer. She is then seen hiking in the woods, having reached her five year in remission mark. Watch it here, created by Young & Rubicam, produced by B-Reel and directed by Filip Tellander.

MellowMushroomThis campaign is both creepy and brilliant. It might make social media users think twice when posting their whereabouts. You never know who could be lurking behind the bushes. Mellow Mushroom, a laid back pizza place with an equally laid back looking mushroom for a mascot, told the Twittersphere, "if you follow us, we’ll follow you." That equated to a Twitter follow back by the brand plus some mild real-life stalking. In the course of a week, Mellow Mushroom followed 20 people in real life who began to follow the brand on Twitter. Thanks to the help of the friends and family of those being followed, “Mel” and “Dude” were able to pop up in places Twitter followers might not expect, like a farmer’s market, sidewalk, or their office. On the plus side, they did get free pizza, T-shirts and a good laugh. See it here. The promotion was launched on FollowMellow.com, where visitors can watch additional videos and enter to win free pizza for a year. Fitzgerald+CO created the campaign, produced by Arts & Sciences.

NikonIf a tree falls on Ashton Kutcher in a forest while he is taking pictures, who will update his Twitter status? Nikon launched a TV spot starring Kutcher and its D3200 camera, equipped with 24.2 megapixels and the ability to share pictures with one click. Each time Kutcher takes a scenic picture of a tree or animal, he shares it, resulting in thousands of “ahhhs” heard behind him. Even in a forest, Kutcher has a virtual crowd following his every move. He’d probably have more peace and tranquility if he weren’t so keen on posting things immediately after photographing them. Watch it here, created by McCann NY.

DishNetHow do ranchers communicate? By showing animation with their thumbs in their jeans and the rest of their hands doing the talking, in a series of TV ads for DISH's high speed Internet service, DishNET. In “Point,” two ranchers point to various places outdoors where DishNET would work, never once taking their thumbs out of their jeans. See it here. One “Rancher” hightails it to his neighbor’s farm to tell him that he signed up for DishNET. Now, he can video chat with his neighbor rather than ride over when he wants to talk. Watch it here. “Thumbs” is too funny. The ranchers surf a laptop by bending low and typing with their fingers while their thumbs remain in their jean pockets. It looks uncomfortable and back-wrenching. See it here. Barton F. Graf 9000 created the campaign.

CaliforniaMilkThe California Milk Advisory Board launched another TV spot targeting moms and teenage daughters… and the family cow. “Shower” begins with a female singing loudly in the shower. We’re led to believe it’s a teenage daughter with the loud pipes given the reaction of mom, dad and brother, but in reality it’s the family cow. Singing Cher Lloyd’s “Swagger Jagger.” Watch it here, created by Deutsch LA.

 

KnottsFarmCramer-Krasselt created a scary campaign for Knott’s Farm’s annual “Crop of Scares.” Every Halloween, the farm turns into a bonafide scare fest, treating southern California residents to corn mazes, grade-A, organic fed zombies and menacing clowns. I loved the warning sign hanging next to a group of penned-in zombies: “Please don’t feed fingers to the zombies.” See it here.

 

Cole Webley directed, photographed and edited a lovely video called, "For Those Lost, Just Not Forgotten," about anyone who has ever felt emotionally lost. Film images are set to a poem written by Chateau Bezerra, an art director at AKQA, who went to school with Webley. “Life disciplines in silence,” reads one verse, as images of people, young and old, tormented and emotionally lost, appear onscreen. Watch it here.

 

Run4GoodRandom iPhone App of the week: BEAM and Saucony launched Run4Good, a running app that lets users collect mileage goals that in turn help raise money to fight childhood obesity. Each month, when a predetermined mileage goal is reached, Saucony and its corporate partners will double their donations to selected youth running programs. The first charity to benefit was the American Diabetes Association. The app is available for free in the App Store.

 

1 comment about "Out To Launch".
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  1. Thomas Siebert from BENEVOLENT PROPAGANDA, October 24, 2012 at 5:36 p.m.

    That Mellow Mushroom spot is really funny, if a bit too long. Why didn't they just keep it as a :60? Still, good to see my old Atlanta pals at Fitzgerald & Co. still putting out decent work.

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