A picture is worth a lifetime of memories in this
tear-jerker ad for iFolor, a site that turns memories into photo books. In "Grace," a woman, played by actress Helen Ryan, visits her husband at a nursing home. The man suffers from
dementia, so Grace made a lovely picture book that documents when the couple first met. The two locked eyes at a party many years ago and one memorable dance sealed their destiny together. Even a
cruel disease can't rob this man of all his memories, for the book triggers that special moment in time and he dances with Grace as the autumn leaves fall. "Make your greatest moments live forever,"
closes the ad, seen here, created by Walker Zurich and directed by Nigel Cole.
Talk about a brand loyalist. Coach
launches a 60-second Christmas ad where things don't end well for Santa Claus, but one naughty woman gets what she wants: a Coach Swagger bag. It's the day after Christmas, and Santa's relaxing at
home with milk and cookies when there's a knock at the door. He slides opens the peephole and sees a well-dressed woman, whom he immediately lets in, only to be punched in the face. The woman walks
over Santa, opens up a secret shelf and takes out the Coach Swagger handbag that she did not receive for Christmas. #GiveCoachOrElse closes the ad, as Santa is seen adding liquor to his milk. Watch the video here, created by Droga5 New York.
As a clementine fan, I can see this must have been
one fun campaign. Clementeenies, a new brand of clementines, is launching in the U.S. by way of Morocco. Omelet teamed up with Dandrea Produce, a
family-owned business from New Jersey, to help name the fruit, create the branding and launch the fruit in BJ's, Food Lion, Giant, Safeway, and Shop Rite stores, to name a few. And Clementeenies are
marketed to everyone, not just kids. Most clementine brands come from drought-stricken California, unlike the East Coast-based Dandrea Produce. Check out a brand video here. And, as the video states, it's great that the tiny fruit is launching in the winter. It might help those of us
allergic to cold weather get through the season unscathed.
Planet Fitness launched an in-theater
spot that coincided with the launch of "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part 2." The 90-second spot, "Battle Gym," likens a typical gym setting to a scenario in "The Hunger Games," where only the
strong survive. An average woman enters the gym only to hear "Attention members, the reckoning has begun," over the loudspeaker. Poor Carrie finds out that she's supposed to go head-to-head with
Demitri, a man twice her size, in a battle to the death. She just wants to use the treadmill while Demitri wants to crush her. Carrie eventually joins Planet Fitness since one of their selling points
happens to be zero battles to death. Watch it here, created by Red Tettemer O'Connell + Partners.
I always wonder the same thing when baseball players huddle at
the mound: Are they really talking about the hitter, or just making plans for after the game? State Farm pokes fun at NFL referees to promote its Discount Double Check feature. The ad
stars Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and his encounter with a referee post-game. The ref is happy that Rodgers introduced him to the Discount Double Check feature and only wishes he had
it during a pivotal moment in the game. None of the refs saw an important play, so they huddled and pretended to discuss it anyway. The only problem was the ref forgot to turn off his mic, so the
entire stadium heard their plans. "It pays to Double Check," closes the ad, seen here, and created by DDB Chicago.
This ad launched earlier this fall -- but watching it
still makes me smile and long to sing opera. EA SPORTS launched a two-minute video to promote its FIFA 16 game that's full of famous soccer stars and operatic voices.
The global campaign stars Lionel Messi Sergio Aguero and Alex Morgan -- both as real people and video game avatars -- making tackles, strikes and goals in both realms, as a tweaked version of an aria
from the "Barber of Seville" plays. Watch out for cameo appearances from Kobe Bryant, Pele and the fat lady singing. See the video here,
created by Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam and directed by Traktor.
Not a holiday ad, but still heartwarming:
Chevrolet selected 11 kids from across the globe as "Chevrolet Mascots," based on their love of soccer. "Journey" begins with the moment these kids -- from Brazil, China, India,
Thailand and the U.S. -- were named mascots. The kids received the good news in a video piece from famous soccer players. The kids were then flown to Manchester to meet their idols and see their own
faces on a massive billboard outside the stadium. "Where there's play, there's beautiful possibilities," closes the ad, seen here, and created
by Commonwealth//McCann.
Random App of the week:EA
Sports launched an NBA Live Mobile Companion App that allows players to scan their faces and customize players so that they, along with their friends, can be in the game. The
process of scanning your face and downloading the finished product in-game takes less than five minutes. If you try to use a picture in bad lighting or one that doesn't feature your face prominently,
the app alerts you. Huge created the free app which is available in the App Store and Google Play.