In this food-themed roundup, we talk to Starbucks' CMO via Instagram, look at the evolution of Snickers tagline and discuss Food & Wine's launch of a new brand for the food-obsessed youth.
In its first work for Hotels.com since adding the business last October, Crispin Porter + Bogusky goes the self-consciously wacky route by introducing Captain Obvious. As his name suggests, the new spokesman says lots of self-evident stuff to make the point that Hotels.com is the obvious choice for booking rooms.
The House Worldwide has announced its second piece of new business this month with the addition of Lenovo. The tech manufacturer said The House's network of communications partners will handle creative responsibilities in its Europe, Middle East and Africa region. On Feb.
PepsiMAX had an enormous viral hit last year with its "Test Drive" video, in which Jeff Gordon, in disguise, took a car salesman for the most terrifying ride of his life. With more than 40 million views, the spot was an unquestioned success. The only problem? A vocal minority complained that the stunt had been faked. Travis Okulski of auto blog Jalopnik was among the loudest critics.
Coca-Cola loves smart, bossy vending machines. It loves them so much, it helped turn them into an entire marketing category. This year, the brand brought back its Valentine's Day edition, further escalating the arms race to develop manipulative beverage dispensers. Actually a virtual vending machine projected on a wall, this iteration would only appear for couples, helping single people feel even worse about being alone.
YouTube star Ryan Higa takes some well-aimed shots at the college experience with this Honest College Ad video. He's a little confused about which college experience he's targeting, though. The name of the fake college (EveRy) and the video's tone and aesthetics are a send-up of diploma mills like ITT Tech and DeVry, where annual costs are closer to $25,000 than $56,000. Higa's description more closely matches the pitfalls of a state university.
Here's more billboard crack for you out-of-home addicts. This fun digital subway ad in Sweden for hair-care products was rigged up to recognize when trains entered the station—and then showed a woman's hair blowing all around, as though windswept by the train. It's a simple, delightful effect—playful, responsive and seemingly magical in the way it erases the line between ad and environment.
Specs Who Peter Judd (l.), creative director, director of design; D.J. O’Neil, CEO, creative director What Advertising, design and production shop Where Presidio Bowling Center, near the agency’s San Francisco office Twelve years ago, D.J. O’Neil assembled a network of freelancers that became Hub Strategy, to deliver the specialist executions smaller agencies don’t have in-house.
Much like songwriters, brand marketers play variations on a theme. Coca-Cola’s famous tagline “It’s the real thing” from 1970 became “Can’t beat the real thing” 20 years later. KFC’s unforgettable “It’s finger-lickin’ good” slogan of the 1960s and ‘70s morphed into the more compact “So good” in 2011. And L’Oréal’s successful “Because I’m worth it” slogan has modulated twice, first into “Because you are worth it” and then “Because we’re worth it.” Most of these evolutions have to do with the usual things: changing consumer tastes and shorter attention spans.
Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), the outgoing chairman of the House ways and means committee, unveiled his tax reform package Wednesday, and the bad news for the advertising and media industries is that it includes new limits on the advertising tax deduction. As feared, Camp's proposal would cut the deduction by half in the first year with the rest amortized over 10 years. To help out small businesses and local advertisers, Camp's draft would allow companies to expense the first million dollars of advertising, provided the total advertising budget does not exceed $2 million.
