Isla Fisher Stars VCCP Sydney’s New Spot for ING Direct

Australian actress Isla Fisher plays a reluctant celebrity spokeswoman in VCCP Sydney’s new spot for ING Direct, entitled “Monloluge.” She nervously talks herself through the role, which only contains one line, “ING Direct, how banking can be.”

“How am I going to make that sound real?” she asks herself, walking onto the set. She goes on to complain about the tightness of her dress and work in quick jabs at fellow Australian actors Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe before the camera rolls…at which point things go awry. The spot is the latest ad to feature a reluctant spokesperson, a trope popularized with Droga5’s “If We Made It” spot starring Anna Kendrick and perfected by Ricky Gervais in M&C Saatchi’s campaign introducing Australia to Neflix for Optus. As far as the style goes, Isla’s “Monologue” falls somewhere in the middle of the pack, a good deal more entertaining than Neil Patrick Harris in W+K’s New York’s recent work for Heineken Light, but the joke is starting to get a bit stale.

Anna Kendrick Will Gently Blow Your Mind With Her Take on Reddit's 'Shower Thoughts'

Glamour magazine isn’t known for it’s Internet-savvy marketing. But when you put Anna Kendrick on the cover, you have to do something special to celebrate the occasion.

So, they had the Pitch Perfect 2 star recite some of Reddit’s “Shower Thoughts,” which are pretty much the same as SNL’s old “Deep Thoughts” by Jack Handey—but on the Internet. Anna even throws a few of her own in there. Simple, smart and effective.

If you’re familiar with “Shower Thoughts,” you will have heard most of these before, but somehow the magic of Kendrick, an advertising darling who hasn’t had a miss with a campaign, elevates those old lines into true stoner mind-blowing territory. (Not that it’s exactly groundbreaking—you can, after all, also watch Cookie Monster’s “Shower Thoughts” for The Watercooler or Nick Offerman’s “Shower Thoughts” for Mashable.)

After just one day, it’s already one of the most popular videos on Glamour’s YouTube. Peep at all the other videos on the channel, and you’ll see this is really out of character for them. But it’s perfect for the Internet.



Kate Spade Brings Back Anna Kendrick for Another ‘#missadventure’

Last November, Kate Spade teamed up with production company Helo for an online spot starring Anna Kendrick called “The Waiting Game,” billed as “#missadventure episode 1.” Now, the brand has brought back Kendrick for the second episode in the series, with additional star power courtesy of Lily Tomlin.

In “The Great Escape,” Kendrick has barely arrived in Los Angeles when she’s mistaken for “the best personal meditation instructor in Los Angeles.” After initially appearing flummoxed, Kendrick has a “what the hell” moment and decides to go with it. Since she doesn’t actually know anything about meditation, she turns to the items around her for inspiration, including a necklace and a pink skirt (a sly way to sneak in Kate Spade products) to bullshit her way through the session. Kendrick manages to be convincing enough that at the end of the session Tomlin says, “Thank you, really.” The spot very much keeps in the same tone as its predecessor, leaning on Kendrick’s awkward humor to help give voice to the brand.

“Adventure and spontaneity are at the core of both videos,” Mary Beech, Kate Spade’s CMO, told Adweek. “You will continue to see this celebration of one-of-a-kind, thought-provoking women throughout the year and beyond.”

Anna Kendrick Meets Amy Schumer, and Won't Soon Forget It, in MTV's New Ad

We know how much you love Anna Kendrick, so here she is in yet another commercial where she gets to be funny and charming—this time at Amy Schumer’s expense.

Schumer is hosting the MTV Movie Awards in April, for which this serves as an early promo. Nothing too exciting happens, but it’s entertaining nonetheless. If nothing else, Kendrick has shown time and again that she can make something out of nothing.

“It was great to work with such a variety of comedians and actors in the campaign,” said the director, Kim Nguyen of Backyard, in a statement. “It’s fun leading them into different directions and providing an environment where they are willing to take chances and bring something different to each take. That collaboration really opened up so many funny possibilities that our entire crew was holding back laughter take after take.”

The MTV Movie Awards air on Sunday, April 12, at 8/7c.



Anna Kendrick Stars in ‘The Waiting Game’ for Kate Spade

Anna Kendrick returns to the advertising world following her role in Newcastle’s “(Non-) Super Bowl Commercial” at the beginning of the year.

This time, Kendrick appears in an online ad for Kate Spade in which she has locked herself out of her apartment. Stranded on her stoop, Kendrick drinks champagne, chats on her cell phone, models her Kate Spade finds for her dog and loudly sings the Christmas carol “Good King Wenceslas” while waiting for the locksmith to show up. Finally. she hatches a plan to reach her fire escape and get into the apartment, then opening the door to let her dog in. Kendrick brings her usual charm to the ad, directed by Michael Mohan, and keeps things amusing enough, even if it’s more cute than funny.

The video is also available in an interactive format, allowing viewers to “click on the items throughout to view behind the scenes footage and shop all of the Kate Spade looks featured.” Stick around for the interactive version, along with credits, after the jump. (more…)

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These Subtly Animated Posters for Disney's Into the Woods Are Creepily Compelling

Animated posters for movies? Sounds annoying. Wait, subtly animated posters? Now you have my attention.

Disney’s cinema adaptation of the Broadway musical Into the Woods is being teased with a series of animated portraits that do a good job setting the mood for a dark fairy tale. In most of the GIFs, the only movement is in the form of shifting shadows and reflected moonlight. 

Subtle animation is quite a creative trend these days, so it’s not like Disney’s marketing team invented the idea. But it’s still a great example of when form and function work well together.

Check them all out below, via Disney Insider.

 



Newcastle, Droga5 Parody Big Game Ads with ‘If We Made It’

Droga5 New York have a new campaign for Newcastle Brown Ale making fun of all the cheesy theatrics and excesses of typical big game advertising.

Entitled “If We Made It,” Droga5′s site for Newcastle imagines the over-the-top campaign that could have been, if Newcastle had the marketing budget of a much larger, shittier brewery. Oscar-nominated actress Anna Kendrick and former NFL receiver/current ESPN analyst Keyshawn Johnson are at the center of the campaign, which includes “trailers, storyboards, focus groups and behind-the-scenes interviews.”

The campaign features “giant robots, skateboarding cats and bikini babes that would have starred in the ad – if they made it.” Above you can view the “Teaser for the Trailer” for Newcastles would-have-been huge Super Bowl spot. It’s a much needed deflation of the self-importance surrounding big budget Super Bowl ads, parodying both the content typical of such mega productions and the trend of releasing teaser trailers for 30 second TV advertisements. Stick around after the jump for a second teaser, called “Newcastle’s Cheap Ad we made for the pricey ad we didn’t make.” The bigger pieces of the “If We Made It” campaign — the centerpiece “ad” in the campaign, as well as behind-the-scenes interviews with Kendrick and Johnson — will remain under wraps until Tuesday, so you’ll have to check back in on the ”If We Made It” website next week.

By the way, if you’re looking for a relatively inexpensive beer that’s still pretty tasty, you could do a lot worse than Newcastle. It sure beats the shit you’ll see advertised during the Super Bowl. continued…

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