Adweek : Advertising & Branding

Chipotle's Famous Willie Nelson Spot Getting a Run on TV

David Gianatasio — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:52:16 +0000

It's fitting that Chipotle's stirring two-minute "Back to the Start" film—released last summer on the Internet and in theaters, supporting sustainable farming practices—will make its national TV debut during this Sunday's Grammy Awards telecast on CBS. After all, "what makes the spot truly transcendent is the music," noted my colleague Tim Nudd in ranking the clip second on Adweek's list of the best commercials of 2011. Coldplay's "The Scientist," sung here with resonant intensity by Willie Nelson, sports lines amazingly attuned to the subject matter: "Questions of science, science and progress, do not speak as loud as my heart." The soundtrack adds immeasurable power and depth to the stop-motion tale (crafted by Chipotle, CAA and Nexus director Johnny Kelly) of a farmer who eschews industrial methods and releases his animals to roam and graze. Nelson's performance is achingly honest as he acknowledges by nuance and inflection the missteps of the past while looking ahead to a brighter future that's by no means assured. It's an affecting and memorable performance, one that might well upstage the selections presented on the actual broadcast.

Bing, Viggle to Partner for Second-Screen Grammy Effort

Tim Peterson — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:00:04 +0000

Microsoft’s Bing search engine will partner with mobile app Viggle to interact with viewers during Sunday night’s Grammy Awards. Bing will also air the latest ad from its “Bing Is for Doing” campaign during the show; the 60-second spot will feature rapper Wiz Khalifa who is nominated for two awards.

During the Grammy Awards Viggle will ask users poll and trivia questions that they can answer to receive rewards points. Consumers can then exchange those rewards points for offers from Viggle brand partners such as a movie ticket from Fandango. Through the Bing partnership, participants will be able to hit a Bing button within Viggle that will offers hints to help them answer the questions.

“When you find these big media moments where everyone’s tuned in and they have their phone in their hands, we found that it’s a great opportunity for us to extend the [‘Bing Is for Doing’] story into that [second-screen] experience as well,” said Aaron Lilly, senior marketing communications architect at Microsoft.

When consumers check in to the Grammys through Viggle, they will be presented with a show page that will feature the ability to watch Bing’s ad within the app, said Jason Reindorp, vp of marketing at viggle.

The partnership will extend beyond the Grammys. Lilly said the companies are determining the best ways and occasions to surface Bing within Viggle.

“It goes a lot further than just putting up a logo on a quiz,” Lilly said. “Whether you want to want to search for more information about the artist or the show or the performances...or getting more information about this quiz question, Bing’s a utility for the user.”

Created by Function(x), the Viggle mobile app launched on Jan. 26 as a TV loyalty program that incentivizes consumers to check in to TV shows. The company’s technology also allows it to make TV ads taggable, but the company is still working on rolling out that offering, Reindorp said.

Information Diet: Judah Friedlander

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:17:27 +0000

Specs
Who Judah Friedlander
Age 42
Accomplishments Stars as Frank Rossitano on NBC's 30 Rock; author of How to Beat Up Anybody: An Instructional and Inspirational Karate Book by the World Champion;tucker hat connoisseur
Base Queens, N.Y.

What’s the first information you consume in the morning?
Usually the Pentagon calls me to find out what’s going on, and then that gets interrupted because the president starts Skyping me. And then [Mitt] Romney starts Skyping me, but he just wants to talk about sports. It’s a little weird.

What do you read or watch or listen to at the breakfast table?
WWE Magazine. Print edition. I’m banned from WWE because I suplex too hard, but I still respect their organization and their periodical.

What occupies your mind in the car, on the subway, train or bus?
I usually break-dance for money on the train, but that’s actually a cover for me solving crimes. So I would say what’s on my mind is security and justice.

Are you a TV junkie or on an airtime-restricted diet?
I don’t watch a lot of TV. I’m too busy teaching karate to exotic dancers. I actually talk about that in my book, How to Beat Up Anybody. It’s currently ranked No. 55,175 on Amazon.

If you’re a couch potato, what do you watch, and how: TV, laptop or tablet?
Once in a while, I do watch old Family Ties repeats on The Hub. And I have every episode of The Six Million Dollar Man on DVD. You can’t go wrong with Lee Majors. At times, I’ll walk the streets carrying my TV set so it’s mobile. I’ll take it on the subway, hook it up to a generator and watch it right there.

Before bed, do you bite into a novel, graze on Twitter or fast until morning?
I have my own Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook, and I manage them all myself, so I go on all three of those. I just want to throw it out there—Twitter has yet to verify me. I don’t know what they’re afraid of.

Which is more nutritious: print or Web?
It really depends on the product. If it’s raining outside, and you forgot your umbrella, you can put a newspaper over your head. You’re not going to do that with a computer. And you’re not going to pick up after your dog with your iPad.

Give us the skinny on your favorite app.
I like Action Movie FX and Super 8 from J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot. Super 8 makes anything you film with your phone look like an old 8-millimeter movie, and Action Movie adds all kinds of really cool machine gun and explosion effects to your videos.

What’s your biggest digital indulgence?
I’m going to go old school and just say talking on the phone. It’s something that nobody does anymore. If you call someone directly on the phone, it’s like you’re breaking the front door of their house or something.

With such a bloated media universe, how do you cut out the fat?
I just stick to bionics, wrestling and sports. All the political, serious world stuff—it comes to me. And I don’t read celebrity gossip. I just hide in celebrities’ homes and overhear things. That’s where you get the real story.

Portrait: People Ideas & Culture

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:55:41 +0000

Specs
Who Doug Raboy(l.); Domenico Vitale, founder
What Creative agency
Where PI&C, New York

Domenico Vitale likes to keep a lean shop. Launched by the former Lowe strategist in January 2009, People Ideas & Culture survived the economic downturn by using outside production partners to serve its clients. Three years later, the agency is plugging away on centerpiece account Mohegan Sun and churning out projects for clients like Ask.com and AOL. Creative Doug Raboy joined as a partner last summer, bringing a long working relationship with Match.com. The shop’s focus on creative and strategic insights appears to paying off: It’s staffed up to more than 25 and earned $5 million in revenue last year.

Photo: Axel Dupeux

Falling on Def Ears: Marketers Slow to Embrace HD Ads

Anthony Crupi — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:52:44 +0000

If you own a television and take an interest in big-time sports, chances are you’re intimately familiar with the Geico brand. From October 2010 to September 2011, the insurance provider invested $158.1 million advertising in televised sports, making it the sixth biggest spender in the space. And yet despite the magnitude of Geico’s TV budget, none of its spots was produced in high-def.

Even a casual viewer will recognize that something’s just a bit off with Geico’s parade of Cockney geckos, aggrieved troglodytes and squealing pigs. For one thing, when the ads run in native HD programming, they’re letterboxed, bracketed by a pair of vertical bars. For another, the picture quality isn’t as sharp as the surrounding HD content.

Now, by no means is Geico alone in its adherence to the lesser standard-definition format. Marketers of all stripes continue to balk at producing hi-def spots; so much so that the digital media-services company DG estimates that only 16 percent of all television advertising is aired in HD.

Unfortunately, the HD blind spot could be costing advertisers a fortune in squandered impressions—as much as $8.2 billion per year, according to a new study from DG and the research firm Kantar Media.

After studying return path data culled from some 100,000 DirecTV households, DG and Kantar discovered that viewers are much more likely to stick with an HD spot than an ad shot in vanilla SD. All told, retention for HD spots was 18 percent higher than for standard-def spots, and that lift jumped as high as 28 percent when the ad in question was slotted in the “A” position of the commercial pod.

In the critical prime-time daypart, HD ads delivered a 12 percent lift over their standard-def counterparts.

The format issue appears to be especially relevant in the beverage and QSR categories, as HD spots for both delivered a 33 percent lift. And there’s a correlation between stickiness and impact; per DG and Kantar’s reckoning, QSR brands that produce their ads in SD risk leaving $895 million in impressions on the table.

“It comes down to wasted value,” said Mike Caprio, senior vp, DG. “You’re spending millions of dollars on media, millions on creative, hundreds of thousands on production, and then at the point where the customer will see all that work and all that investment…you’re essentially turning them away.”

It’s not as if viewers aren’t aware of the discrepancy. Nearly 50 percent of people surveyed said they could easily discern the difference between HD and standard content.

At present, nearly three-quarters (74 percent) of U.S. TV households have at least one HDTV set—up from just 28 percent in 2008. Approximately 82 percent of the programming on broadcast TV is offered in hi-def, while 70 percent of national cable offerings are available in the format.

“The advertising business hasn’t been as progressive as it should be in addressing the issue,” Caprio said. “There has to be a cultural shift, and this [study] is a major step. For the first time we have a quantitative analysis of the true value of what is gained and lost.”

Even so, it may take some time to get the most stubborn hardliners onboard with HD. “One major movie studio absolutely refuses to acknowledge that HD sells more tickets at the box office,” Caprio said. “It’s almost shocking to hear that from someone in that industry.”

BofA Briefs Finalists in Global Review

Andrew McMains — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:50:19 +0000

Bank of America executives today briefed the finalists in the bank’s global creative review, which pits traditional ad agencies against a digital shop and a holding company team.

The briefing took place at BofA’s headquarters in Charlotte, N.C. The contenders will now prepare for final presentations, which are slated for late April. Globally, the bank spends about $2 billion annually on advertising, which makes BofA one of the biggest reviews of the year.

In addition to roster shops BBDO, Hill Holliday and Digitas, the contenders include The Richards Group and a team from WPP Group, Adweek has learned. WPP’s team is said to include executives from more than a half-dozen agencies, including those that already work for BofA, such as Brand Union.

BofA, like a lot of banks, is rethinking its marketing strategy in the wake of the 2008 housing market collapse and subsequent government bailouts.

Since 2007, BofA’s ads have borne the tagline, “Bank of Opportunity.” Before that, when the bank’s marketing was handled by more than a dozen units of Interpublic Group, the tag was, “Higher standards.”

In a document that BofA distributed to participating agencies earlier in the review, the bank said it was looking for a new positioning, a strategic framework, a launch plan and creative work. The document also outlined the main criteria that BofA executives will use to assess the pitches, including which ideas will best generate attention or disruption around the bank’s brand and which will enable BofA to communicate to its internal audiences.

The review committee includes a dozen or so marketing and corporate executives, including global strategy and marketing officer Anne Finucane and CEO Brian Moynihan. BofA could not immediately be reached.

Big Players, Big Ideas: Gerry Graf

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:18:58 +0000

Big Players, Big Ideas: Gerry Graf

Sir Paul McCartney Loves His New Wife…and JBL Equipment

Tim Nudd — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:09:59 +0000

Two of this week's big themes—love and music—come together in this Doner commercial for JBL starring none other than Sir Paul McCartney. The former Beatle recently married again and wrote a song called "My Valentine" for his new wife. The song is featured in the JBL spot, which will break Sunday during the Grammy Awards, two days before Valentine's Day. "JBL is synonymous with great sound and has consistently met the standards for my music," McCartney says. "I've used JBL's professional equipment throughout my career as a recording artist and touring musician. I want my fans to 'hear the truth,' and that's what JBL delivers." So, is that Nancy Shevell lying in bed in the spot? We're guessing no. A print and online campaign for JBL will follow. JBL will also be a sponsor of McCartney's upcoming summer tour. "My Valentine" is the first single from Sir Paul's new album, Kisses on the Bottom, which was released this week.

Clothing Brand Helps You Love the One You're Not With

David Griner — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:58:37 +0000

If your idea of a great Valentine's Day gift is passionate sex with someone other than the person you're actually dating, then Moosejaw Mountaineering has got your back. The quirky clothing retailer has created a permission slip (link goes to a PDF) that asks your loved one to officially endorse your fling with someone else. The form, offered up today to Facebook fans, begins with a description of how nature's notoriously promiscuous bonobo apes use sex to alleviate social conflict. "With that beautiful spirit in mind," the form says, "I'd like to ask you something." Applicants can request permission to "snuggle," "French," or "fully do it" with a person "you know that I've always loved." It's quite a touching gesture, one that harkens back to the brand's previous attempt at relationship support: "The Moosejaw Breakup Service." They also created an X-ray specs app that helps you view Moosejaw catalog models in their underwear. Obviously, Moosejaw's marketing research has found there's intrinsic value in keeping its customers unattached and oversexed.

Ad of the Day: Barbie

Emma Bazilian — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:30:10 +0000

What happens when you play with Barbie?

Option one: You get strange looks from the other people on the subway. Option two: Your child is mildly entertained for approximately 7-10 minutes. Option three: You are suddenly whisked away to a magical world where everything is pink and shiny and full of exciting adventures just waiting to be had!

According to the most literal interpretation of Mattel's latest ad campaign, "See What Happens When You Play with Barbie," it's that third possibility—the appearance of the "Barbie Dream Closet," to be exact—that materializes when you spend quality time with the world's most famous anatomical impossibility. OK, so maybe we're not supposed to assume that playing with Barbie will actually send us to a girlish fantasyland. But frankly, I have no doubt that my 5-year-old self would have been inclined to believe that by forcing my parents to buy me that doll, my closet would have indeed opened a portal into an alternate universe. And I would have been disappointed. Cue the tantrum. (For Fashion Week this week, Mattel has actually built "a larger-than-life installation of Barbie's ultimate Dream Closet, complete with 24-foot tall, jewel encrusted doors leading into a two-story, 9,000 square-foot set with multiple dressing vignettes." So, I guess you could take your kid there.)

Personal frustrations aside, these 30 seconds of bedazzled bliss—from Minneapolis agency Peterson Milla Hooks—do an excellent job of awakening the girly-girl within. That's not too surprising, considering the spot's director is Floria Sigismondi, the force behind videos for life-sized dolls like Katy Perry. Other than encouraging young girls to demand trips to Toys R Us, the spot also promotes a new Barbie website, BarbieWow.com, a "virtual dream closet" of sorts where you can purchase a full line of human-sized Barbie apparel.

No word yet on whether those will be available in adult sizes as well, though I've heard the Barbie cropped denim jacket is already the must-have item of 2012.

CREDITS
Client: Mattel
Brand: Barbie
Agency: Peterson Milla Hooks, Minneapolis
Director: Floria Sigismondi
Photographer: Franck Malthiery