Hasta La Creative!

Ad agency Preacher shoved live ferrets down actors’ shirts for latest Tommy John commercial. It did so to illustrate the indignities men often suffer owing to ill-fitting undershirts, and position the client’s products as the solution.

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Since the dawn of time, humans have been confounded by cats, those mystifyingly aloof creatures whose inner thoughts are famously inscrutable. But no longer! Temptations Cat Treats has invented a cat collar that lets your feline speak in a human voice—so you can finally understand (though probably not) exactly what she is trying to tell you.

The Temptations Catterbox, created by London ad agency adam&eveDDB, contains a microphone, speaker, Bluetooth technology and wifi. It captures the cat’s meows and translates them into human speech—words that may or may not actually be what they’re trying to say.

The Catterbox is the work of the new Temptations Lab, a scientific-sounding “research workstream dedicated to the future of fun times with your cat,” according to the Mars brand. It is 3-D printed, coated in rubber lacquer for the cat’s comfort and comes in four colors.

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Lots of kids play with barnyard toys, but the reality of factory farms isn’t as rosy.

A new anti-factory-farming campaign takes that probably obvious truth to the extreme, with a series of online mini-games, and an actual block set, featured in a biting—if also smug—product demo parody.

Animal welfare group Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) and agency Nice and Serious created the ad, website and physical toys, which include box-shaped hens, pigs and cows that cram too perfectly together into cages inside a barn. There are even little removable bacon strips.

The whole thing is basically a more square, interactive version of Chipotle’s famous and similarly themed “Back to the Start” campaign, minus Willie Nelson’s killer Coldplay cover and Johnny Kelly’s stunning animation.

The online games are basically farming-themed skins on classics like Whac-a-Mole (in this case, Whack-a-Sick-Chicken-with-Antibiotics, which will become less effective for humans the more they’re used in food). Other gripes include that cramped quarters make animals more prone to sickness, that rainforests are being torn down to make room to grow their feed, and that factory farming methods may result in meat that’s less nutritious (though given what people are willing to stuff in their faces, less delicious might be a more convincing argument).

It also casts labels like “100 percent natural” as misleading—a case that another group has made in more compelling fashion. In fact, CIWF runs into a familiar problem for animal advocacy organizations in that it feels like it’s preaching to the choir, even if its goal is to accrue signatures on a petition. 

And sadly, the toys themselves don’t appear to be actually available for purchase—which puts them at a distinct disadvantage to popular competitors like the John Deere Farm Set.

During the Oscars, PetSmart and Christopher Guest launched a pretty excellent campaign themed around Best in Show. Now, they’re back with more.

The new material from GSD&M is particularly reminiscent of Parker Posey and Michael Hitchcock as Meg and Hamilton Swan, who, in the movie, love J. Crew (and other clothing catalogs). But the man and woman in this latest ad, “The Avant Guardians,” are more haute, if equally insane, describing themselves, and their dog, as “fashion forward.”

That’s to say, in keeping with the Best in Show tradition, they ridiculously project all kinds of human qualities on their coddled shih tzu, Ford (presumably a nod to Tom Ford). And because it’s Guest-directed, the delivery is awkward in a perfect kind of way, with the actors ping-ponging between nonchalant and over the top, making crazy eyes and stammering out too-enthusiastic punch lines.

It almost makes it easy to forget that it’s a sales pitch. Then again, that’s pretty easy to do when you’re basically just copying a classic … even if by inbreeding.

CREDITS
Client: PetSmart
VP Marketing Communications: Shane McCall
Director, Traditional Creative: Valerie Lederer
Assoc. Creative Manager, Traditional Creative: Tara Niederhaus
Dir., Marketing Strategy and Nat’l Promotions: Debbie Beisswanger
Creative Manager- Store Environment: Chris Windsor
Project Manager, Salon Strategy: Megan Mouser
Titles: “The Avant Guardians” :15/:30; “Nooks and Crannies” 2:18
Agency: GSD&M
Group Creative Director/Art Director: Scott Brewer
Group Creative Director/Writer: Ryan Carroll
Assoc. Creative Director/Art Director: Ross Aboud
Assoc. Creative Director/Writer: Kevin Dunleavy
Art Director: Morgan McDonald
Writer: Scott Chalkley
Agency Producer: Abigail Hinojosa
Associate Agency Producer: Adriane Weist
Business Manager: Lindsay Wakabayashi
SVP/Managing Director: Scott Moore
Account Director: Sabia Sidiqi
Account Supervisor: Ben Creasey
Account Manager: Nadia Elias
Production Company: GO
Director: Christopher Guest
Managing Director: Gary Rose
Executive Producer: Adam Bloom
Executive Producer: Catherine Finkenstaedt
Line Producer: Mark Hyatt
DP: Kristian Kachikis
Editorial: Mackenzie Cutler
Editor: Gavin Cutler

Among the gajillion emoji campaigns out there right now, here’s a clever one.

Wieden + Kennedy London creatives Jason Scott and Joris Philippart recently had an idea for how to use emojis to help endangered animals. So, the agency approached the WWF with a proposal. The result is the #EndangeredEmoji campaign, which launches just in time for Endangered Species Day this Friday.

The key insight was that 17 animal emojis that people use every day actually depict endangered species (see the list below). The WWF today tweeted out an image of the 17 animals, and asked people to join the campaign by retweeting the post.

We’re using #EndangeredEmoji to save real animals from extinction. Please retweet to sign up and help. pic.twitter.com/hX1p1GEDZ9

— WWF (@WWF) May 12, 2015

Those joining the campaign agree to donate 10 euros (about 11 cents) every time they use any of the 17 emojis in a future tweet. (You get a monthly statement, essentially.)

“We’re proud to announce the launch of our global social campaign with WWF and Twitter, created with technical partner Cohaesus,” the agency says.
 

“You save a dog. A dog saves you.”

That’s the poignant message of “First Days Out,” a four-minute online film for Pedigree by Almap BBDO in Brazil that follows Joey and Matt, two former inmates who begin to turn their lives around after they adopt rescue dogs.

Joey, who served 12 years for armed robbery, finds the world transformed, and in some ways unrecognizable, after his release. At first he’s alone, confused and frightened about his future, but a trip to the pound changes everything.

“Having a dog with me in this house was so much better,” he says. “Sadie became my family.” Soon, he’s training kennel dogs for adoption.

Matt, who served two years for burglary, is initially estranged from his father and reluctant to connect with others. At one point, he draws a heartbreaking parallel between his own life (inside and out of prison) and the lives of the dogs in the animal shelter: “They all looked kind of sad, just like I was—just caged in.” After adopting Jeanie, he feels as if his “future’s bright again,” and he starts going on job interviews and brings the dog to meet his dad.

The immensely moving documentary, directed in a relaxed, naturalist style by Ricardo Mehedff via Hungry Man, is part of Pedigree’s new “Feed the Good” campaign, its first global push in several years.

“By nourishing the lovable innocence in every dog, Pedigree helps feed the good they bring to the world,” explains Leonid Sudakov, CMO of Mars Global Petcare.

That same theme informs all campaign elements, which include TV, print, online, in-store and social media. Of course, interpretations will vary. For example, a 30-second spot by Colenso BBDO in Australia, titled “Good Fight,” feels more like a typical “commercial” than “First Days Out.” Still, its quirky take on an a street fight about to happen is far from typical pet-food ad fare.

We chatted about “First Day Out” with Mehedff and his brother Alex, who produced it.

AdFreak: “First Day Out” sort of takes the “cute puppy” commercial in a fresh, more meaningful direction. Can you speak to that a bit?
Alex: Advertising is moving into this new territory of content storytelling. A more emotional engagement. With this in mind, we need to approach the narrative of the film differently. The creative [idea] behind this film is just brilliant. That moved us in a big way to get involved and tell a moving story.

Anytime you move away from the “typical” creatively—and hats off to the agency for this brilliant idea—it becomes a golden strategy. We’re happy to have been able to deliver up to par with the idea. We hope it will move people, engage emotionally with the audience … and place the brand in a very special place.

Take me through the process of putting the project together.
Alex: The process is just deep character research, where you cast real people and see what they can bring to the story. You definitely need a couple of weeks. If you rush this phase, you’re dead in the water.

Ricardo: We started nationwide, and were able to get many candidates. Some were inmates who had participated in dog training programs while in prison. This is how we found Joey. He’d done 12 years, and in the last four, he got into the dog training program that, in his owns words, changed his life. When he got out, he was truly alone, and since he spoke so well about dogs, Pedigree helped him adopt a dog for himself. And the incredible thing is, you could really see the change in his spirit and mood. Sadie really brought a smile to his face. The job he got as a dog trainer was directly related to his experience in the dog training programs in prison.

Matt never had any contact with dog training programs in prison. He was just a kid going through a rough patch with his father and having a hard time getting adjusted to life on the outside. Pedigree suggested that he adopt a dog and see what would happen.

What were the biggest challenges in making the film?
Ricardo: We found many other good characters in our research, but were limited to only shooting two of them. Then, shooting in a way that could capture the emotion and truth of their stories and experiences. I found that the best way to do this was to shoot them in the most naturalistic way, with as little interference as possible.

What surprised you most?
Ricardo: How the dogs really helped these guys. I thought it would be strong, but their connections were really intense.

From the first day I met Joey, he was always a very serious, soft-spoken guy. He was really nice, but very quiet. Almost never smiled. Sometimes I would kindly ask him to smile, but it just didn’t look right. The moment he adopted Sadie, he was became a different person, a natural smile formed. This guy truly loves dogs. And his facial expressions show this.

It must be tough not to make this kind of material seem overly manipulative.
Ricardo: That was my goal in making this film. I have a strong background in documentary filmmaking, having worked closely with Eduardo Coutinho, one of the most important doc filmmakers in Brazilian cinema. I direct and edit my films, so that really helps in the storytelling process. As I’m directing, I’m usually editing the film in my head.

This film was about capturing the magic that occurs between man and dog. I knew this magic exists. I just wanted to shoot it in a way that was non-invasive and let their relationship flourish and grow naturally.

CREDITS
Advertiser: Mars
Agency: AlmapBBDO
Title: First Days Out
Product: Pedigree
General Director Creation: Luiz Sanches
Executive Director Creation: Bruno Prosperi, Renato Simões
Creation Director: André Gola, Pernil
Digital Creative Director: Luciana Haguiara
Creation: Pernil, André Gola, Fabio Cerdeira,  André Sallowicz,  Felipe Cirino, André Leotta
Rtvc: Vera Jacinto, Ana Paula Casagrande, Diego Villas Bôas
Producer: Hungry Man
Managing Partner: Alex Mehedff
Executive Producer: Rodrigo Castello e Renata Corrêa
Direction: Ricardo Mehedff
Photography: Grant Weiss, Mike Alex and Ricardo Mehedff
Line Producer: Mariana Barbiellini
Track: Big Foote
Assembler / Editor: Ricardo Mehedff
Post-production Supervisor: Rodrigo Oliveira
Finishing: Great Studio
Color Grading: Psycho N’Look
Assistance: Fernanda Antonelli, Pedro Fragata, Samantha Kechichian and José Maria Fafe
Planning: Cintia Gonçalves, João Gabriel, Daniel Machado, Augusto Veríssimo and Marília Rodrigues
Media: Flávio de Pauw, Brian Crotty, Fábio Cruz, Juliana Melo and Carolina Pimentel
Digital Media: Kaue Cury, Livia Novaes e Rogério Beraldo
Business Director: Rodrigo Andrade
Approval: Leonid Sudakov, Marina Sachs, Oduvaldo Viana, Fernando Manoel

Holy mackerel, this octopus can use a camera!

Sony and FCB Auckland trained a female octopus named Rambo (no relation) to take pictures with a Cyber Shot TX30 camera for this captivating minute-long video.

This particular sea creature was used to promote the water- and shock-resistant camera because octopuses are among the most intelligent denizens of the deep. (Besides, clams can’t take direction, and lobsters are too darn tasty.)

A special rig helped Rambo push a shutter button to capture images of visitors outside her tank at Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Aquarium in New Zealand. Rambo’s trainer, Mark Vette, says it took her just three attempts to understand the process, though at times she behaved like an eight-armed diva, smashing several cameras to bits during a two-month training process. (Elsewhere, this little dude mastered octo-selfies in no time!)

Sony’s “Octographer” ad has gotten nearly 400,000 YouTube views in a week and lots of media play. Still, the brand message, while present in most coverage, has been somewhat overshadowed by the sheer novelty of a photo-taking octopus, especially in casual social mentions. For many, Rambo is the breakout star, while the camera is an afterthought. Props to the cephalopod for playing her mammalian, land-lubbing overlords for suckers.

FCB group account director Toby Sellers answered some of our questions about the stunt.

Why use an octopus?
We wanted to show the world that even an amateur photographer can take amazing underwater photos with Sony’s TX30. That led us to the idea of using a photographer who actually lives underwater.

They are one of the most intelligent underwater creatures, so we felt they would be a really good fit with our amazing underwater camera. We enlisted the help of Mark Vette, the animal expert behind our hugely successful “Driving Dogs” campaign (for Mini and the SPCA). He was really excited about the chance.

Was the concept a tough sell?
FCB Auckland had a lot of success with the “Bottled Walkman” campaign, so Sony was keen to see what we could do with their TX30. Their first reaction to the idea was amazement that it could be pulled off. We talked them through the plan we had developed with Mark, and they got very excited.

Was it more difficult than you imagined?
This project was far harder than any of us imagined it would be. Rambo got her name because the first few times we put the rig in the water she wanted to fight it. You could say she drew first blood. Despite the reports that it only took three tries [to learn the process], Rambo and Mark worked their way through 10 rigs and nearly as many cameras.

What would you say to activists who disapprove of using animals in ads?
Mark Vette and Kelly Tarlton only agreed to be involved because the process was enriching for the octopus. These creatures thrive in an environment where they are being mentally stimulated. When you have nine brains, you need to keep yourself occupied. So the project was not only fun for the octopus involved, it was also a chance to show the public how amazing these creatures are. The money people paid to have their photos taken goes to Kelly Tarlton’s Marine Life Trust.

Tell me about the April 10 photo event at the aquarium.
Rambo had a great time. She photographed over 100 visitors. Many were there because they had seen the story on TV, but a few foreign tourists just walked in and lined up. They were blown away to have their photos taken by the world’s first Octographer, and we were happy to give them a unique memento of their visit.

CREDITS
Client: Sony
Agency: FCB Auckland, New Zealand
Regional Executive Creative Director: James Mok
Executive Creative Directors: Tony Clewett, Regan Grafton
Writer: Peter Vegas
Art Directors: Leisa Wall, Christiaan Van Noppen
Head of Content, Executive Producer: Pip Mayne
Head of Art: Nick Smith
Director, Director of Photography: Michael Braid
Group Account Director: Toby Sellers
Account Director: Hannah Downes
Account Executive: Laura Little
Lead Behaviourist, Animals on Q: Mark Vette
Assistant Handlers, Animals on Q: Jazmin Vette dal Bello, Rosie Miles
Curator, Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Aquarium: Andrew Christie
Marketing Manager, Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Aquarium: Claire Wheeler
Rig Developers, Harrison & Watkins Ltd.: Harry Harrison, Blair Muchamp
Director of Photography, Event Coverage, Traction Films: Nic Fay
Editor, 6Twenty: Simon Wade
Editor, FCB: Grant Nicholson
Media Director: Rachel Leyland
Media Planner, Buyer: Erin McCaughley
General Manager, Public Relations: Angela Spain
Senior Account Director, Public Relations: Kimberley Kastelan
Digital Director: Kate Grigg
Customer Experiences Director: Ele Quigan
Music Composer: Peter van der Fluit
Music Composition: Liquid Studios
Studio Producer: Sarah Yetton

Plenty of birds can sing, but how many can dance the skank?

Well, none, probably. But the pigeon in this minute-long Virgin Money spot that just broke in Britain comes damn close, strutting its feathered stuff to The Selecter’s 1979 ska thumper “On My Radio.”

“We just thought banks are boring, mundane, normal at best. Virgin is cooler,” Gavin Torrance, a creative director at The&Partnership who worked on the spot, tells AdFreak. “So, we came up with the idea of taking something normal, and making it cool.”

That’s a real pigeon, and its movements are genuine, though creatively edited, of course, to construct the commercial. “It was a very tricky thing to capture all in-camera,” Torrance says. “That’s why we chose to work with [director] Andy McLeod at Rattling Stick. He had a cunning way to manipulate a real pigeon to get it to perform those intricate dance moves.”

Hmm. Did the dude squawk directions? Coo in the bird’s ear? Torrance isn’t saying. “It took a full day’s filming to capture all the moves we needed,” he says. Several pigeons were on hand, but the performance on screen comes from just one bird.

It’s no moonwalking Shetland pony, but what is, really? Besides, this particular rat with wings (no disrespect intended) gyrates way more realistically than that nag ever did, bopping its beak to the 2-Tone beat and tapping its talons on the sidewalk.

The film combines footage of an actual road with a stylized street set, and clearly, some other visual trickery was employed. You’ve gotta love the dance-club ambiance achieved by the flashing lights of a passing police cruiser and the smoky exhaust of a nearby car.

Leaning more heavily on effects would’ve simplified matters, but “we wanted it to look totally real and authentic,” says Torrance. “There’s no magic in seeing a CGI pigeon twerking. But a real one—now that’s sexy!”

With about 20,000 YouTube views in its first day online, the clip is no instant smash, but cats everywhere should be driving up those stats in short order.

CREDITS
Client: Virgin Money
Marketing Director: Paul Lloyd
Agency: m/SIX
Chief Executive Officer: Jess Burley
Account Director: Beatrice Clarke
Producer: Emma Hovell, The&Partnership
Creatives: Danny Hunt, Gavin Torrance, The&Partnership
Content Agency: AllTogetherNow
Chief Executive Officer: Conor McNicholas
Production Company: Rattling Stick
Director: Andy McLeod
Producer: Simon Sanderson
Postproduction: Big Buoy
Visual Effects: Jim Allen
Producer: Barny Wright
Music: The Selecter, “On My Radio”

Cats aren’t just great alarm clocks. They’re also excellent sleeping masks.

Two gag infomercials for the Animal Foundation animal shelter in Las Vegas (created by agency R&R Partners) hawk exciting new multi-purpose products for your home—”Pet Cat” and “Pet Dog.”

Dogs are surprisingly efficient vacuum cleaners and capable concierges. What else can they do? “The list goes on and on,” the voiceover assures you—and you should pause it while it’s scrolling by, because most of the options are great (even if maybe one too many is about warming some body part … as accurate as that may be).

The writing is sharp and funny, the acting perfectly overdone, and the voiceover as cheesy as possible—dead-on parody. Each pet even comes with a free accessory—for the dog, a leash, aka an instant gym attachment, and for the cat, a paper bag (it’s better than having a TV).

So hurry up and don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity. Litter box and Nature’s Miracle not included.

CREDITS
Client: The Animal Foundation (Las Vegas)
Agency: R&R Partners
Executive Creative Director: Arnie DiGeorge
Creative Director:  Ron Lopez
Copywriter: Chrissy Deem
Copywriter: Mary Money
Art Director: Rachel Hogan
Senior Brand Manager: Sarah Catletti
Brand Manager: Amber Allen
Agency Producer: Sherpa Pictures
Business Affairs: Pam Petrescu

Letter carriers should be afraid. Very afraid.

Meet Spot, a 160-pound, four-legged, dog-like robot developed by Google-owned defense contractor Boston Dynamics.

The mechanical mutt stars in the cool, hypnotic, kind of horrifying two-minute video below, which has fetched more than 4 million YouTube views in three days. Spot navigates steps and hilly terrain and, rather amazingly, stays upright and in motion after absorbing some pretty fierce kicks from Boston Dynamics staffers who emerge from their cubicles and attack. (Bad humans—bad!)

In the not-so-distant future, high-tech hounds like Spot will bury bones, all right—the bones of all humankind! Kidding, of course. Boston Dynamics manufactures cutting-edge canines large and small, and I’m sure they’ll make the world a better place. Or something. Their bark is probable worse than their byte.

At the very least, these power-driven pups will be best friends for the automatons like Baxter that will inherit the Earth. Feline fanatics, meanwhile, can check out the same company’s Cheetah bot, which runs 28.3 miles purr hour.