Out to Launch
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Make your nightmare boss your intern. Is it Hump Day or Spaghetti Day? Let's launch!
  • burts beesBurt’s Bees is promoting its seven mainstay products as a group by recreating famous literary tales on Vine. Called “Classics,” each product (Beeswax Lip Balm, Coconut Foot Cream, Shea Butter Hand Repair Cream, Hand Salve, Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream, Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Cream, Res-Q Ointment) will take the lead role in one of seven tales: “Little Women,” “20,000 Leagues under the Sea,” “Metamorphosis,” “Moby Dick,” “The Scarlet Letter,” “Julius Caesar,” and “Gulliver’s Travels.” Two of the seven Vines have launched, starting with “Little Women.” In this Vine, Lip Balm Meg says to Lip Balm Jo, “We really are quite little.” “And each of us women.” See it here. In “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” a deep sea Hand Salve with tentacles attacks a Foot Cream Nautilus. “Less leagues! Less leagues,” screams a voiceover. Watch it here. Baldwin&, Raleigh created the campaign.

  • GEICOGEICO teamed up with NCM and Screenvision to create a series of sponsored “Silence Your Cell Phone” PSAs. Created by The Martin Agency, the campaign launches in theatres this month. The first PSA stars the GEICO Gecko, and plays off the nostalgic “let’s go to the lobby” announcement for moviegoers to purchase food and drink. When the popcorn, soda and candy characters begin chatting on their cell phones, the Gecko appears, asking them to be considerate to fellow moviegoers and continue their conversation in the lobby. See it here. The next PSA features Caleb the talking camel from the brand’s “Hump Day” commercial walking through the aisles, eating people’s popcorn while informing them to shut off their cell phones. Watch it here. Horizon Media brokered the partnership.

  • dodge durangoDodge teamed up with Paramount Pictures to promote the 2014 Dodge Durango using anchorman Ron Burgundy, played by Will Ferrell, as spokesman. "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues" debuts in December and for fans who can’t wait that long for some irreverent Burgundy humor, here’s a taste, taking place on a auto showroom floor. In “Horsepower,” Burgundy compares the Durango’s 360 horsepower to that of a single horse. “That makes you feel pretty dumb, doesn't it," he tells the horse. See it here. "Ballroom Dancers" debuted during Monday’s episode of "Dancing with the Stars" and features two dancers practicing beside a Durango. Burgundy rushes out, shoos them away and later apologizes, only to invite them back out and chase the pair out a second time. Watch it here. “Gumball Machine” might be my favorite ad. Burgundy describes the glove compartment with such passion, stating it “comfortably fits two turkey sandwiches or 70 packs of gum.” Burgundy throws 70 packs of gum on the floor to prove it. See it here. In “Ride,” Burgundy has trouble describing Durango’s 25 MPGs. He tries to read it as it’s written, calling the abbreviation “emm..pah..gahs, mup-ah-gahs and imp-a-gahs.” Watch it here. Additional spots will launch in the coming weeks, on BurgundyDodge.com. Wieden+Kennedy, Portland created the campaign, directed by Jake Szymanski.

  • kleenexIt’s Murphy’s Law that whenever you carry around tissues, you never need them, but that one time you forget them you wind up using the next best thing: your glove, sleeve, or your poor dog. It’s not pretty. Kleenex highlights these awkward situations in “Embarrassing Moments,” a TV spot encouraging consumers to be proactive and carry Kleenex all the time, not just when they're sick and sneezing on everything. The spot shows people of all ages confessing to embarrassing moments, from the girl who wiped her hand on the family dog, to the man who blew his nose in a pile of streamers, and the woman who sneezed in her hand and then shook her boss’ hand. Ick. Watch it here, created by JWT New York. The campaign also includes a cold and flu predictor website , created by Studiocom, that maps out the possibilities of flu in your area as a weatherman would predict snow.

  • nabsIn Canada, October marks the third annual NABS Vintage Intern Auction. This event allows attendees in the advertising industry to bid on the chance to make 12 high-ranking executives their unpaid interns for a day. All proceeds go to NABS, a charitable group that provides assistance to people in the communications and related industries who need help due to illness, injury, unemployment or financial difficulties. A video supporting the month-long auction features bidders exacting revenge on a former boss that wronged them in the past. Up for auction is a chief creative officer whose bidders range from the “designer who had to switch religions so she could work Christmas Day” to “the junior art director who was told if he could work from home, he could work from intensive care.” See it here. The list of those up for auction can be found here, where you can also make a bid. The minimum bid is $2,000, and interns can be assigned anything from speechwriting to cleaning the kitchen or fetching coffee. Zulu Alpha Kilo created the campaign, directed by Neil Tardio of Partners Film.

  • GEGE launched the latest television spot in its "Brilliant Machines" campaign this weekend, called “Brilliant Enterprise.” “Star Trek” fans may enjoy this spot more than your average viewer, as it stars Sulu from the latest “Star Trek” movies. The U.S.S. Enterprise is in trouble and the brilliant Sulu sees no resolution in sight. He needs power and he needs it fast. Enter GE's deep-sea oil and gas technology that helps Sulu discover and maximize resources in extreme conditions, allowing the ship to power up and maneuver at warp speed. See it here. As an added component of the campaign, GE partnered with TaskRabbit, a marketplace where people and businesses can outsource tasks and longer-term jobs, for one week in New York and San Francisco. In these two cities, TaskRabbits will be morphed into "TrekRabbits," performing tasks in the shopping and delivery category at "warp speed." Take advantage! BBDO New York created the campaign.

  • noodlereunionKRAFT Macaroni & Cheese launched a website that gives a free box of Macaroni and Cheese to people with a particular last name. NoodleReunion.com was created to bring families together, like an impromptu family reunion of sorts. Last Wednesday, the winning last name was “Berry.” Anyone with that last name was directed to a link to prove it. There was also a link available for anyone who knows a “Berry” to send them information on how to claim their prize. Last Thursday’s lucky last name was Nunez. And guess what? The site had already stopped giving away free coupons to anyone with that last name in the morning. Here’s the message from Kraft: “Family love is endless, but the supply of coupons is not. We've given out all the coupons we can today. So find a family member who has one, give them a smile and get invited to dinner. And in the spirit of family, be good to your friends. Let them know about Noodle Reunion, so they can get a coupon when it's their family's turn.” I get that Nunez is a popular last name, but I’d also love to know the coupon limit number. If it’s a small number, why choose such a popular last name? And half the day is still left. Now what? The site, created by CP+B, will be live for the next two weeks.

  • prince spaghettiRemember the ad for Prince Spaghetti, showing a 12-year-old named Anthony running through the streets of Boston's North End to get home in time for dinner because Wednesday was Prince Spaghetti Day? The original spot ran from 1969 through the early ‘80s and received a remake this year, blending shots from the original black-and-white ad with new in-color shots of Anthony as an adult, still running to his mother’s on Wednesdays for Prince Spaghetti dinner. See it here. Millennium Communications created the ad that celebrates Prince Spaghetti’s 100th anniversary.

  • CoCreatorRandom iPhone App of the week: Think of CoCreator as a business speed-dating app that connects founders, CEOs or CMOs of start-ups with communication experts, so they can collaborate on building a next-generation brand. At launch the app includes talent from Berlin, Brussels, Helsinki, London, Los Angeles, New York and Paris. Once an entrepreneur and an expert have agreed to connect, talk time via Skype will be assigned. The CoCreatorapp is available for free in the App Store, with an Android version slated to launch later this year. CoCreator was developed within the TBWA\ CREATE LAB in Berlin and is run independently by co-founders Preethi Mariappan and Ulrich Proeschel.