The Atlanta Egotist RSS Feed

Indie Agencies Call Out the Best Automotive and Finance Super Bowl Ads

The LA Egotist — Thu, 08 Feb 2018 19:37:40 +0000

National

The Egotist asked Indie Agencies from across the US to break down the best Super Bowl ads by category. Our final installment covers the Automotive and Financial Services categories. Thank you to the agency strategists and creatives who did their homework during Super Bowl parties and reported back to us. To read more about what moved our critics in the CPG category, check out our first story in this series. Our second installment included Beer, QSR and Food and Beverage Super Bowl ads.

Jeep Wins the Automotive Category

Alec Beckett, Creative Director, Nail Communications, Providence, Rhode Island thought the Super Bowl’s car ads were all over the map:
“From the over-the-top macho Mercedes drag race to the schmaltzy “buy a Hyundai unless you want children to get cancer.” Dodge couldn’t decide whether they wanted to be wacky, rock ‘n roll with their Viking spot (clearly an awkward edit after they didn’t make the Super Bowl) or earnest and deep with the questionable use of MLK to sell pickup trucks.

Toyota also seemed to be randomly throwing darts trying to hit the right tone. They went hard for the heartstrings with the odds-of-winning-a-medal Paralympic spot. Then socially-conscious comedy with the rabbi, priest, imam and monk (Toyota brags of being an Olympic sponsor but has the group going to some generic football game?)
Two auto brands did movie tie-ins. Lexus with Black Panther was a generic 2+2=3 partnership. While Jeep did it better with their Jeff Goldblum turning the tables on the T-rex Jurassic Park homage.

Though not a homerun—and perhaps a bit too “inside baseball”—the best car ad of the night for me was the Jeep “Here’s your manifesto.” spot. When your product can do amazing things, maybe the best answer is to show it doing amazing things.”

Andy Grayson, Director of Strategy for Richmond-based creative agency, Arts& Letters Creative Co. was also a fan of Jeep’s Super Bowl spot.

“Jeep really stood out in the automotive category this year by doing what more companies should do: stay true to your brand. While other car companies in the Super Bowl used a lot of borrowed interest this year, Jeep, for the most part, brilliantly predicted other carmakers would do just that and ran spots that skewered the lofty car ads we’re so used to seeing. Jeep played it straight, owning their brand’s off-road identity. Arnold’s quiet “Anti-Manifesto” spot was sharp in its simplicity and was pretty much 180-degrees awa from Ram’s “Built to Serve” that borrowed Dr. Martin Luther King to try and make a statement yet ended up falling flat and setting Twitter ablaze – not in a good way.”

David Mathathia, Chief Strategy Officer, Fitzgerald & Co, Atlanta said that the auto brands chose Meaning Over Metal to make a statement during the Super Bowl.

“From diversity and inclusion, to equality, to defying odds, to tackling childhood illness and even (questionable) use of a civil rights icon, the OEMs were about letting us know what they stand for and less about what they sell. It’s not unusual to use this platform to (re) establish a brands’ meaning in the hearts and minds of a hundred million people but these were some weighty issues. It was an interesting move given the instability of the world around us but continues a trend of heartwarming over heart pounding in the auto category.

And while some of these messages connected, I can’t help but wonder when it’s time to get back to cars being cars? That Stinger ripping around the track from Kia sure looked hot and the Jeep Anti-Manifesto (which was a manifesto) simply celebrated what makes a Jeep, a Jeep. Both made me want to drive.

There’s a way to mix belief, spectacle and product that’s right for the Super Bowl…it’s been done brilliantly before, and hopefully more in the future.”

Financial Services: Still working at age 85: Funny or Not So Funny?

Craig Mikes, Principle & Executive Creative Director at Austin-based, Proof Advertising:

“The financial category has always been thought provoking, albeit a bit stuffy. They’d run the types of spots you’d see at televised golf events – giant firms providing advice in return for fees to the wealthy who could afford them. But this year the category is promoting more app-like technologies aimed at a do-it-yourself audience than the financial planners of the past.

E-Trade’s “This is Getting Old” spot paints a dire scenario warning us in the funniest way possible that the trends shows we may not have enough money to retire and play Mah-Jongg. Instead, we best start thinking about our next career or use their product to start magically investing our money.

But the standout in the overall category was “Translator.” from Rocket Mortgage. Keegan-Michael Key revisits the translation bit he performed with President Obama, sans the anger, this go around. In this execution, he is opting to de-jargon everyone from pretentious hairdressers to dating profiles and finally the mortgage process from the aforementioned stuffy, giant firms. The unraveling of unnecessary complex financial verbiage brings to life a very simple strategy that showcases their product’s ease-of-use benefits with a light, helpful tone. No monsters under your bed scare tactics.”

Ed Cotton, Chief Strategy Officer for Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners and Chair of the 4A’s Strategy Council:

“Instead of its usual babies and animals, E-Trade took on the big issue of retirement, or rather the increasing impossibility of it. A smart strategy and a ripe cultural observation, but the execution left something to be desired. It was one of those where it makes sense on paper, but it’s hard to show 85-year-olds struggling in the workplace and especially hard to make it funny.

TD Ameritrade brought an iconic, and perhaps some would say ironic, celebrity into the picture in the form of the ageless Lionel Ritchie who touted long service hours without ever naming the title of his most famous song.

A final word for Mass Mutual, who tried very hard to pull at some purpose-driven heartstrings, a good notion, but it failed to explain how the brand stands for the purpose”

Rightpoint Expands Design Leadership Team, Builds Future of User-Centered Design

The Chicago Egotist — Thu, 08 Feb 2018 13:27:53 +0000

Local

Group photo (pictured clockwise from top left): Antonio Garcia, Sandy Lipscomb, Rey Nungaray, Stacey Doyle and Tom Quish.

Rightpoint, an independent customer experience agency with technology at its core, is designing the agency of the future today with the expansion of its national, user-centered design and strategy team. The agency announced the appointment of five distinguished design industry leaders, reinforcing Rightpoint’s design-tech focus, helping the team create and define the digital agency of the future. The additions bolster Rightpoint’s creative presence in Chicago, Detroit, and Atlanta, and also expand the South and West regions with strategic hires in Los Angeles and Dallas.

Rightpoint’s expanded design and strategy team help position it as a customer experience agency with robust, user-centered design disciplines and capabilities in mobile, IoT, AR/VR and artificial intelligence. In addition, the new hires, which include industry veterans from some of the world’s largest digital agencies, solidify Rightpoint as a destination for creative talent:

New to the Chicago office are:

Stacey Doyle, who is joining as Content Director. With more than 26 years of experience spanning traditional advertising, UX and content strategy, her experience includes over a decade at SapientRazorfish and more recently consulting for independent agencies and not-for-profits. Doyle is focused on operationalizing content design at scale and helping Rightpoint clients develop and shape their content for digital experiences.

Antonio Garcia, Group Experience Director, is also based in Chicago. Garcia advances Rightpoint’s cross-disciplinary approach to the methodology and practice of UX, research and visual design. Prior to joining Rightpoint’s design leadership, he helped launch Northern Lab, Northern Trust’s internal innovation accelerator. Before that he led gravitytank’s interaction design discipline and social innovation practice. García is also VP of Diversity & Inclusion for AIGA Chicago.

Rey Nungaray, Group Experience Director, will also be based in Chicago. Nungaray joins from Critical Mass New York, where he was the North American creative lead on the Citibank account. He brings 18 years of deep multi-industry expertise rooted in design, culture and technology for clients including Samsung, Coca-cola, GE, Mastercard and Verizon. Nungaray will focus on driving user-centered brand innovation for Rightpoint’s key strategic accounts.

Sandy Lipscomb, Experience Director, will be based in Detroit (the agency’s highest growth market). A 20-year industry veteran, Lipscomb has helped clients such as Chrysler Brands, Hilton, Smuckers, Kimberly Clark, VW, Ford and Johnson Controls come to life digitally. Lipscomb brings deep knowledge of human/digital interaction combined with expertise in design, strategy, and usability.

And joining the agency in Atlanta is Chetan Bagga, Group Experience Director. Bagga leads the design and experience strategy across multiple channels including mobile, social, web and physical. He joins Rightpoint following four years as Regional Creative Director at SapientRazorfish, where he led multi-disciplinary teams through end-to-end customer experience design and strategy engagements. Prior to that, he spent eight years creating cutting edge media experiences at IBM Interactive and led the IBM Sports user experience practice.

In addition to the five newest members of Rightpoint’s creative team, Rightpoint veteran, Tom Quish has recently been promoted to Senior Group Creative Director and National Practice Lead. Based in Chicago, Quish will continue to build out the rapidly-growing Design team, help to evolve Rightpoint’s creative capabilities, and partner with clients to deliver innovative business solutions and impactful customer experiences.

“We are thrilled to be elevating the breadth and reach of our user-centered design capabilities with the addition of some of the digital design industry’s finest professionals to our national design and strategy team,” said Anamika Lasser, SVP Design & Strategy. “At Rightpoint, we’re collectively focused on our people to build our clients’ digital futures today. We take tremendous pride in bringing on talented people who not only have deep tech and design expertise, but also have the curiosity, commitment and energy to foster our culture of innovation. With their impressive backgrounds and demonstrated excellence, these individuals are no exception.”

In November, Rightpoint announced the acquisition of mobile innovation and emerging technologies firm, Raizlabs, bringing together the best customer experience talent and further enforcing Rightpoint’s focus on the future of tech and design.

Indie Agencies on the Beer, QSR and Food and Beverage Super Bowl Ads: What Worked and Could’ve Worked Better

The LA Egotist — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 18:55:35 +0000

National

Tide Wins the Beer Wars

Alec Beckett, Creative Director at Nail Communications in Providence, RI noted that with no hard selling or product features and benefits to flog (in theory) beer advertising has the highest entertainment potential. He felt that this year was a big disappointment for the beer category:
“Our crowd was excited to see the Bud Light battle, but was disappointed that the first spot was not new. Then the Bud Knight fell a little flat. (But an aside here: how did that blatant, heavy-handed attempt to make “Dilly Dilly” a catch phrase work so freakin’ well?)
Michelob Ultra seemed to whiff badly with the “Chris Pratt gets cast as an extra” spot. But managed to redeem themselves later with “Chris Pratt actually being an extra.”

I was not a fan of Stella Artois and Matt Damon trying to blackmail us into buying their beer to give people clean water.
But to me it was pretty clear who did the best beer ad of the night: Tide. Their Clydesdale teaser was just one of the glorious series of faux spots featuring people with clean clothes.”
Andy Dutlinger Creative Director at LRXD in Denver liked the cause-related messages from the beer category.

“The big-beer-with-a-heart sentiment from Budweiser (who used production facilities to get clean water to disaster victims this year) and Stella Artois (who is selling chalices to bring clean water to people in the developing world) made me feel good about the companies. But that’s not enough to ever make their products my first choice.”

Was Wendy’s Tweet More Effective Than Their Ronald Beat Down?

Craig Mikes, Principle & Executive Creative Director at Austin-based, Proof Advertising said he has meddled in the Fast Food category and found this year’s offering disappointing.
“McDonald’s, perhaps seeing what Wendy’s was up to in their leaked spots, snuck a Big Mac spot in pregame airtime. It did nothing to pull Wendy off of the Ronald beat down. Simple, clean, voiceless spots -- a formula that seem to be what’s next in the category of me-too wannabes --continued the fresh-not-frozen stance as they riddled away at the Arches for their frozen patties. It made what Martha did to Jack seem tame.
We’ve heard this fresh claim from Wendy’s before, but it seemed to sting more this time around even without the guy in the freezer footage. Burger King and other major QSR players were all too happy to sit this fight out knowing Wendy’s twitter account was lurking on the dark web ready to pounce with some pithy back up.”

LRXD’s Dutlinger added, “Wendy’s had something to say to McDonald’s (who flash freezes their meat), but they did it in the least fresh way possible. I did like Wendy’s tweet at McDonald’s when the broadcast blacked out, insinuating that McD’s was to blame for freezing viewers’ televisions. And it didn’t cost $5 million.”

The Best Food and Beverage Spots (aside from Doritos and Mountain Dew mentioned in CPG recap yesterday)
Jerry Gennaria, Chief Operating Officer and SVP, The Brighton Agency in St. Louis said that any brand manager fighting for space and attention in a crowded freezer aisle can tell you, it’s hard to stand out (especially at the Super Bowl).
“‘Snow Date’ and ‘Dad Time’ positioned the brand as perfect for special occasions, no matter how small or unexpected. Branding and positioning is as important as awareness and Marie Callender has staked their claim for the little moments that mean so much. We can almost smell the comfort food from here.”

Andy Dutlinger CD at LRXD had more to say about the Food and Beverage ads in the Big Game:

“Kraft’s “live” ad that asked viewers to hashtag photos of how they family and perhaps have those shots star in the ad was a good concept, but the execution severely fell down. How good can pictures of people on their couch in sweat pants ever be?”

“Pepsi and Coke are both trying to convince people there’s a soda out there for them. But people are way too smart — and looking too deeply at what’s in their food these days — to have a big-budget, we-are-the-world Super Bowl ad blow it past them. “

Who Knew This Super Bowl Would be the Year for Laundry Detergents? Indie Agencies Weigh in on the Best CPGs of the Big Game

The LA Egotist — Tue, 06 Feb 2018 20:39:28 +0000

National

The Egotist asked indie agencies across the US to work during the Super Bowl and pick the best Super Bowl ads by category. Here’s the first in the series of what agencies from Austin to Boston and St. Louis to San Francisco had to say about the CPG ads that worked in this year’s Super Bowl.

Andy Grayson, Director of Strategy for Richmond-based creative agency, Arts& Letters Creative Co. summed it up best with the question, “Who knew it would be the year of laundry detergents?”

“Persil had an entertaining ad that used the Super Bowl stage to create awareness for their brand that is still very new to the US audience. And then there was Tide, who used the Super Bowl moment brilliantly – on many levels. Their strategy “that every ad could be a Tide ad” not only lampooned the entire marketing rodeo of the Super Bowl, but did so in a way that wasn’t too much of an inside joke for just the ad industry – the rest of America seemed to enjoy it, too.

Beyond that, Tide’s co-opting of other Procter & Gamble brands was incredibly smart, and Tide’s move to buy short format ads and own every quarter of the game is a strategy that I’m sure has other marketers asking “Why didn’t we do that?””

Will Bright, Group Creative Director, O’Keefe, Reinhard and Paul also thought the media strategy was an important aspect of the “It’s a Tide Ad” being a favorite in the game, “As a creative, when I think of the Super Bowl, I think of work like this. A smart insight married with killer execution and production and paid off over the course of the game and online. It’s a dream come true. I’m sure there was a lot of pain getting it to this place, but from the outside it looks effortless. They ran spots in every quarter and continually hammered home the idea: If it’s clean, its Tide. They were self-aware and silly and fun and borrowed interest from other worlds in just the right way. I loved the line, “Does this make every Super Bowl ad a Tide ad?” It’s so simple and easy to follow—for me there’s nothing not to like.”

Ed Cotton, Chief Strategy Officer for Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners and Chair of the 4A’s Strategy Council felt that at a time when CPG brands are reported to be under some pressure, some brand leaders created some of the best spots in the game.”

“That was the case for Dorito’s who threw Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage right into the world of hip-hop culture with a rap challenge. It wasn’t just super-compelling for the sake of it, they made sure the fiery attributes of the product came across.

The other brand to play around with culture was Tide, who took the culture of advertising, inserting itself into familiar Super bowl ad tropes and as a brilliant piece of parody; into its own Old Spice ad. Maybe this was advertising for advertising lovers and those in the industry and lacked the cultural punch of Dorito’s to make it the "best CPG in show."

Deb Maltzman and Angela Denise, Creative Directors, Terri & Sandy described the feeling of watching the Super Bowl as advertising creatives, feel bad bringing down the room during a Super Bowl party by giving their real opinion of the work.

“And now we’re an even tougher audience. Because we watch the spots 1,000 times before the game, genuine laughter during the game is even harder (poor us). So now, when you LOL while watching an ad during the actual game, it’s definitely worth mentioning. This was the case with the celebrity-filled spot for Doritos/Mountain Dew. Was it Morgan Freeman’s and Peter Dinklage’s amazing lip synching? Was it the Easter eggs? Busta Rhymes on a wall? Or just the impeccable execution of it all?

All of the above. But the best part about it was the fact that it happened to escape our feeds pre-game, and we got to see it for the first time on the television—just like we used to. “

Alyssa Toro, Partner and Chief Creative Officer of Connelly Partners, Boston and home of the New England Patriots managed to get through the stressful game and admit that what Monday Morning quarterbacks don’t always realize: humor is hard. It’s really hard. And on a stage like the Super Bowl, it’s about as risky as going to a live comedian. If the joke misses the mark even a little, it gets cringe-y really fast.

“The one spot that stood out for me (if you were to take out the brilliantly executed Alexa spot) was Febreze #bleepdontstink. I have to hand it to the agency writer, especially, for creating a dialogue which was so simple and real that it took an expression of #bleepdontstink and made it current and unique. Perfect cast. Flawless delivery in a storytelling style. And an impressive seamless tie to a social campaign throughout. This was an enviable idea that made creating a funny mockumentary look easy. Which we all know is definitely not.”

Now Hiring: Graphic Designer - Terrain Collective Inc.

ego_maniac — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 21:00:11 +0000

Local

Terrain Collective Inc. is hiring a Graphic Designer. Please Note: You must become a member to see jobs posted within the last three days.

Now Hiring: Director of Social Media Strategy - The Johnson Group

ego_maniac — Sun, 31 Jul 2016 21:40:54 +0000

Local

The Johnson Group is hiring an Director of Social Media Strategy. Please Note: You must become a member to see jobs posted within the last three days.

What I Learned in 2015 by Ned Lampert, Creative Director at space150

The LA Egotist — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 22:17:40 +0000

Local

In addition to bringing emerging technology to clients, space150 has a team that runs experiments internally. I’m lucky enough to be part of that team. As of late 2015 it seemed like everyone (space150 and myself included) had a growing appetite for 360º video. So we bought a much-sought-after 360º rig and began brainstorming.

“Land, Sea, and Air in motion” was our first concept and an opportunity to test in different environments. It took some hustling, but in 48hrs we secured a professional skateboard (Land), a sailboat (Sea, duh), and a helicopter (Air, also duh). The sunset on the Santa Monica Bay was the obvious “Sea” footage, so we started there.

“Sea’s pretty rough and we gotta be back in an hour” was the first thing our captain said. “You can’t mount that camera to the bow, only the deck” was the second. We reluctantly mounted the rig to the deck, clambered into the cabin, and immediately hit 20ft swells after exiting the marina. Over the next ten minutes I almost barfed, twice.

With our feet firmly on land, we reviewed the footage. The rough sea and direct sunlight left the footage shaky and blown-out, respectively. And, with the camera mounted so low, half of the frame was of the deck. Frankly, it sucked.

Since then, we’ve learned a lot, and our quality is getting better project after project.

Similar to other technology we pilot, 360º video is in its early days. What I learned from this and a litany of other bleeding-edge technologies in 2015 is:
*everything is manual, nothing is guaranteed, find insight in failure, and always bring Dramamine.*

Happy Holidays from FCB! Create Your Own Snowflake With Snowlab.

The LA Egotist — Thu, 24 Dec 2015 19:44:05 +0000

National

This holiday season, let it snow with your own unique snowflake. The more snowflakes created, the more FCB gives to Water.org.

http://www.fcb.com/snowlab/

Water.org is an international nonprofit organization transforming millions of lives through access to safe water and sanitation.

#Job Alert: Agency Producer Needed @plntprpgnda

Wed, 11 Nov 2015 15:10:00 +0000

National

Happy Hump Day, Minneapolis! Yikes. We can't believe we just used Hump Day in a sentence. This is the Internet. It's forever. But we digress.

Are you usually thinking three steps ahead of the rest? Does your plan A have a B and C? Do you have a knack to make ideas become reality? Can you help many opinions agree on a common goal? If so, check out what Planet Propaganda has in store for you:

http://www.themplsegotist.com/jobs/full-time/planet-propaganda/agency-pr...

P.S. We love Planet Propaganda super hard.

Heat hires Strategy Director Molly Cabe.

The San Francisco Egotist — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 17:23:12 +0000

Local

Heat has announced the new hire of Strategy Director Molly Cabe. Molly will be lending her keen and penetrating strategic mind to help clients like Bank of the West and Hotwire.

“We already have a lot of Aarons so we’re thrilled to welcome Molly to Heat. She is thoughtful and enthusiastic, and her experience is a great addition to the agency,” says Justin Cox, director of strategy.

Congrats on the new hire.

Now Hiring: ACD - Copywriter - Mortar Agency

ego_maniac — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 01:53:27 +0000

Local

Mortar Agency is hiring an ACD - Copywriter. Please Note: You must become a member to see jobs posted within the last three days.

New 3D Mobile Ads

The Atlanta Egotist — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 12:31:08 +0000

National

Check out Adweek's article on a new trend amongst mobile advertising. The below example isn't exactly an ad in the same way that paid advertising is... this is just on Jameson's instagram page... but you get the idea. Pretty cool, and definitely different. Look for other brands to be employing similar tactics in the months to come.

It's all about family on #NationalSiblingDay. Tag your brother or sister and send them a toast.

A video posted by Jameson Whiskey (@jameson_us) on Apr 10, 2015 at 1:22pm PDT

Spectracide Does Informative... Funny.

The Atlanta Egotist — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 12:28:46 +0000

National

Most grass companies take the high road and just do an informative piece about saving your lawn from "pesky" weeds in the spring. Spectracide may be the first to actually do something funny and memorable. The spot teeters on the funny/over done scale throughout the meat of the spot, but brings it home with the extendable gun section. I give it 2 thumbs up and a "well done" to Spectracide.

Atlanta based Arby's "Has the Meats!"

The Atlanta Egotist — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 12:22:35 +0000

Local

Let me start off by saying I love this spot. So simple, laced with a bit of sarcasm and realism, so good. And props to Ving Rhames for having just as good a voice as Morgan and James.

And then this one. As i understand it they goofed up when they didn't feature a pepsi glass in the first spot so they made an entire spot dedicated to pepsi. Again, so simple, so good. Though I don't much care for pepsi.

Arby's Youtube Page

Now Hiring: Lead Designer & Designers - Red Square Agency

ego_maniac — Fri, 20 Mar 2015 02:16:19 +0000

Local

Red Square Agency is hiring: Lead Designer & Designers. Please Note: You must become a member to see jobs posted within the last three days.

Huffy Learn to Ride a Bike

The Atlanta Egotist — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 20:18:36 +0000

Local

Really great spot. Saw this last night at the Addy Awards. Great work by Brunner.

Moe's Southwest Grill Dearly Departed Social Post

The Atlanta Egotist — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 15:26:30 +0000

Local

Post by Moe’s Southwest Grill.

Dog tricks Win!

The Atlanta Egotist — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 13:14:33 +0000

National

First off this is a funny spot... especially when it pans back to the first dog who appears to be really grooving on the music being played. Secondly, however what exactly is the spot saying? That he won and therefore gets to eat a mars bar? But he brought it with him. Was he just waiting to eat it until he had clearly beat someone in something? I don't yet get the premise. Maybe there will be more from this campaign to clear up the more foggy aspects of the concept.

50 Shades of Legos

The Atlanta Egotist — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 13:07:53 +0000

National

Nothing like making a very serious movie somewhat comedic. Hats off to the animators.

Now Hiring: Assistant Account Manager - Venables, Bell and Partners

ego_maniac — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 03:22:59 +0000

Local

Venables, Bell and Partners is hiring a Assistant Account Manager. Please Note: You must become a member to see jobs posted within the last three days.

Dearly Departed Album Art by Moe's Southwest Grill

The Atlanta Egotist — Wed, 24 Dec 2014 13:09:42 +0000

Local

Click on the photo above to see the Facebook post.

Moe's Southwest Grill has started a campaign of creating album cover designs for Dearly Departed artists. They are posted as a kind of contest. 10 commentors that guess the who the artist they're depicting is correctly get a limited edition printed version of the poster mailed to them.

Kmart - Super Excited Shoppers

The Atlanta Egotist — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 19:19:43 +0000

National

Credit goes to FCB Chicago

Puddles Sings for Breensmith

The Atlanta Egotist — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 13:57:11 +0000

Local

In a new campaign by breensmith, Puddles (of Puddles Pity Party) sings to America to “Keep on the corporate side of life” to the tune of “Keep on the Sunny Side.”

With funny and depressing one-liners about a miserable corporate and “cubicle” life, Puddles sings about “popping a pharmaceutical and eating lunch in your cubicle,” and how, “When they give you birthday cake, it seems a little fake.”

The campaign and spot are for Kabbage, which provides fast and easy online loans for small businesses.

My favorite line from the song is "you'll be poppin' pharmaceuticals, and eaten' lunch in your cubicles."

www.breensmith.com/

Build-A-Bear selects JWT

The Atlanta Egotist — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 13:51:52 +0000

Local

Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc., an interactive make-your-own stuffed animal retail-entertainment experience, has appointed J. Walter Thompson (JWT) as its lead strategic and creative partner. Effective immediately, the agency’s Atlanta office will lead strategy and creative in North America and the United Kingdom.

JWT will look to expand the Build-A-Bear retail portfolio and brand reach, integrating creative structure across all touch points of Build-A-Bear’s business, retail and corporate communications channels.

“JWT Atlanta has a proven track record of creating innovative and engaging experiences between brands and consumers,” said Gina Collins, Chief Marketing Officer, Build-A-Bear. “We believe that JWT is the right creative and strategic partner to help us elevate our brand as we look to expand our reach in the coming year.”

"Build-A-Bear has established great brand equity in the U.S. and abroad,” said Kevin Keith, Director of Planning at JWT Atlanta. “Through our partnership, we hope to amplify this momentum and loyalty by creating new and innovative ways for brand enthusiasts to experience the wonder of Build-A-Bear.”

JWT will work closely with the Build-A-Bear team and their agency partners to develop a scalable marketing plan for 2015, developing new brand goals and a unified, newly established brand mission.
Read more at http://www.theatlantaegotist.com/node/301/submission/712#zChDb0F9V2UX71S...

Norm Grey in the One Club's Creative Hall of Fame

The Atlanta Egotist — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 13:49:07 +0000

Local

Congrats Norm. Well deserved.