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Tommy John Explores The Humorous Truth Behind Women’s “Little Adjustments”

The LA Egotist — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 17:47:18 +0000

Local

Elizabeth Banks Directs First Campaign For New Women’s Line

Tommy John’s comedic marketing tactics — from 2015’s “The Big Adjustment" to more recent work featuring actor/comedian, and Tommy John investor, Kevin Hart – have certainly helped earn favor for its growing men’s underwear business. Now with the debut of its first women’s collection, Tommy John and longtime creative agency of record, Preacher, have yet again brought the humor, enlisting famed actress, Elizabeth Banks, as director, along with production company, Harvest Films, to highlight the many grueling (bunching, riding, rolling) issues women face with their underwear in a campaign titled, “Little Adjustments".

Tommy John’s CMO, Josh Dean notes, "Women's underwear marketing has always been very serious and sexualized, so we wanted to approach the category in a refreshingly fun, relatable and authentically Tommy John way by highlighting the unique problems women face with their underwear."

The campaign seamlessly delivers, keeping in step with Tommy John’s ongoing “No Adjustment Needed” brand platform and coming to life through a :60 anthem spot and a series of shorter films which will run online initially before rolling out to TV later this year accompanied by print and out-of-home executions.

Dean continues, "Women's may be a new division of business for Tommy John, but the strong foundation of our brand remains the same.” ᐧ

Elizabeth Banks spoke out in support of the all too relatable campaign, remarking, “I loved this campaign from the beginning. The underwear issues showcased in each scene is something we, as women, have all had to deal with in some shape or form. I wanted to capture that collective sense of empathy throughout the film while still making each scenario as funny and compelling as possible.”

And capture she did. The ads are already making a big splash online, with YouTube views rapidly climbing well over the million mark.

If the Tommy John and Preacher partnership has proven anything over the past 3 years, it’s that surely no adjustment is needed.

Creative Credits:

Client: Tommy John
Founder: Tom Patterson
Founder: Erin Fujimoto-Patterson
Chief Marketing Officer: Josh Dean
Director of Brand Marketing: Brittany Holt
Senior Art Director: Fawad Khan

Agency: Preacher
Chief Creative Officer: Rob Baird
Chief Executive Officer: Krystle Loyland
Chief Strategy Officer: Seth Gaffney
Art Director: Jimmie Blount
Copywriter: Joe Hartley
Brand Manager: Kristen Meade
Designers: Anna McCaleb & Nate James
Strategy Director Marika Wiggan
Agency Producers: Stacey Higgins (EP) & Rachel Kichler (Producer)
Business Affairs: Miiko Martin

Production Company: Harvest Films

Director: Elizabeth Banks
Executive Producer: Bonnie Goldfarb
Head of Production: Niko Whelan
DP: Tim Suhrstedt
Line Producer: Leslie Owen
Casting: Arlene Schuster-Goss, asg casting

Edit House: Cut+Run
Executive Producer: Bebe Baldwin
Producer: Cecilia Melton
Editor: Joel Miller Assistants: Nick Kondylas
Music: Marmoset Music
Mix: Dusty Albertz, TBD Post
Finish House: Finland Finish
Online Producer: Blaire Woodall
Online Artist: Nick Smith
Colorist: Marshall Plante, Ntropic

Jägermeister Awards Digital Business to Design and Innovation Shop, Firstborn

The LA Egotist — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 21:41:25 +0000

Local

Jägermeister, the #1 selling imported liqueur in the United States and 8th largest premium spirit brand in the world, has selected NY design and innovation company, Firstborn, as its digital agency of record following a competitive review that kicked off in October 2017. The brand is looking to Firstborn to drive awareness, relevance and engagement through digital.

Ogilvy & Mather held digital duties prior. Other partners for the spirits giant include global lead agency, Opperman Weiss, Integer for POS, and Cross Media for media duties.

The decision to bring on a new digital shop follows Jägermeister's launch of a new brand platform— the first major rebrand in its 80-year history — which targets the millennials and focuses on Jägermeister’s “spirited irreverence and product perfection”, as well as its rich German heritage.

On choosing Firstborn, Heather Kozera, VP, Integrated Marketing & Services for Mast-Jägermeister US remarked, "We are a brand that likes to be first—so we were looking for a digital partner that could not only conceive of, but execute, technologically-driven ideas that would push the norm and bring innovative thinking to our marketing.”

This is something Firstborn is certainly no stranger to.

The shop is regarded for its digital work and product innovation for mega brands like PepsiCo, Supercell and S&P Global, as well as notable VR experiences for Mountain Dew, Chevron, Patron and Amazon’s Audible.

The Jägermeister win follows a string of new business for Firstborn, which picked up lead digital roles for Lafayette 148, Tauck and NYU Langone in 2017.

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”

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 Boulder 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.”

Hip Hop Duo Run the Jewels Star in car2go Mini Documentaries from Bakery, SwellShark and Paradigm Talent

The Chicago Egotist — Thu, 16 Nov 2017 17:28:39 +0000

Local

car2go, the inventor and international market leader of free-floating carsharing, rolled out a new series of online mini-documentaries. “Proud to Share,” is a new brand campaign highlighting the diverse stories of car2go members across the U.S. and Canada. Each mini-documentary explores how people are using carsharing to access incredible experiences in their city, grow their small business, and enable great quality of life.

The first of eight “Proud to Share” mini-documentaries puts a spotlight on critically acclaimed hip hop duo Run the Jewels, who cruise around New York City in a compact 2018 Mercedes-Benz GLA car2go. Run the Jewels’ drive through the neighborhoods of New York is also a sneak-peak of the stylish new Mercedes-Benz car2go vehicles car2go plans to make available to its 77,000 New York members before the end of the year.

car2go’s media agency SwellShark worked with Paradigm Talent Agency to identify Run the Jewels as the artists to personify “Proud to Share.” Additional “Proud to Share” mini-documentaries feature artists, musicians, and small business owners.

Shot and produced by Austin-based creative agency Bakery, the new series of short documentary-style videos tell artful stories of how very different people living in New York, Austin, Washington, D.C., Denver, Vancouver and Montreal are using car2go as a “life hack” to travel, grow their small businesses, and live fuller lives.

Here's a Funny Parody Video from AdWeak and Portal A

The New York Egotist — Mon, 13 Nov 2017 03:14:10 +0000

Local

This is funny, but not that funny, because it's too true to be that funny. From: Digital Studio Portal A, with Adweak (@Adweak) the satire Twitter account about the ad industry.

We've Never Seen an Office Party Like This

The New York Egotist — Mon, 13 Nov 2017 03:06:56 +0000

National

It's fun. It's well shot and edited. It does a great job of showing off the product. It's also shockingly inappropriate. Apparently they missed that memo about the new focus on sexual harassment in the workplace.

Via.

This Old Horse

The New York Egotist — Mon, 13 Nov 2017 03:05:34 +0000

National

Quality writing, from The Martin Agency.

Limited Edition Tommy John X Kevin Hart Collection Debuts in Hilarious Campaign from Preacher

The LA Egotist — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 21:16:21 +0000

Local

To introduce the new limited edition Tommy John x Kevin Hart Collection, creative agency, Preacher, has launched a new campaign featuring actor, comedian and Tommy John investor, Kevin Hart, in a series of online videos directed by Hungry Man’s, Amir Farhang. The spots, titled “Stuck”, “Agent” and “Pizza Guy”, showcase Hart in various comedic situations donning underwear from his new collection. The work is being pushed across digital and social, including Hart’s own social channels, and is met with a series of out-of-home ads currently running in New York City’s Herald Square — also home to a new Tommy John holiday pop-up shop.

STUCK

AGENT

PIZZA GUY

Hart, who has appeared in previous campaigns for Tommy John, has been an investor in the company since September 2016. His passion for the brand first sparked in 2013 when he ran out of underwear while on tour. He stepped into a department store and discovered Tommy John. As soon as he felt how soft they were he was hooked, showing his enthusiasm by posting a video of himself dancing in his underwear on Facebook. He approached the brand’s Founder and CEO, Tom Patterson, 3 years later looking to become an investor, and a partnership was formed.

The exclusive Tommy John x Kevin Hart Collection includes a lineup of Hart’s favorite Tommy John underwear, loungewear and socks, each of which were co-designed by Hart and the Tommy John team. The full collection can be viewed here: www.tommyjohn.com/kevin.

Publishing & Media Veteran, Tom Morrissy, Takes President Post at Noble People

The LA Egotist — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 02:42:42 +0000

Local

NY and LA-based Independent media agency, Noble People, known for its creative and transparent approach to media strategy, planning and buying practices, has named media industry veteran, Tom Morrissy, as its first President. He brings over 25 years experience to the shop, whose client roster includes the likes of PayPal, Venmo, Honest Tea, Glossier and the Tribeca Film Festival.

Morrissy made a name for himself in the media business after serving as Publisher of Entertainment Weekly, growing the publication to a premier national consumer magazine and online leader in entertainment industry news. It was during his tenure there that he first formed a working relationship with Noble People co-founders, CEO, Greg March and COO, Lindsay Lustberg, who at the time helped lead the media department at Wieden+Kennedy NY.

Most recently Morrissy ran his own consultancy, Morrissy & Vine, advising C-Level executives at media, tech and entertainment companies on new media innovation and overall growth strategies. He counted Noble People as a client for the past 6 months, before joining full time as president, stating that as an advisor to the shop, he “saw that brands and creative agencies are more frustrated than ever at the disconnect between the creative intent and the subsequent media strategies and executions currently being practiced by many large agency partners,” and he looks forward to bringing Noble People’s unique approach to media to customers that are, “beyond thirsty for refreshing, innovative and impactful media solutions.”

Noble People is counting on Morrissy's full-funnel career expertise to help its clients navigate and leverage linear and digital opportunities that will push their businesses forward.

March explains, "Noble is at an inflection point where our primary areas of focus are scaling our business, maintaining our core values and evolving to remain ahead of the needs of our customers.” He continues, “As President, Tom will help us bring in new business, mentor our employees to listen for and anticipate our clients needs, and advise us on strategic investments and changes that will push our business forward. And given his experience, hopefully he can even help prevent us from screwing things up along the way.”

Augmented Reality App Brings Old New York Crime Scenes to Life

The Chicago Egotist — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 11:52:30 +0000

Local

Gruesome Gotham Teaser from Firstborn on Vimeo.

In the sprit of Halloween, NY-based design and innovation company, Firstborn, has launched the AR app, Gruesome Gotham, which brings to life historic 19th Century New York crime scenes through a location-based AR adventure.

Available free for download in the App Store for iPhone users only, or through the app’s microsite, Gruesome Gotham reveals a map of chilling murders that users can follow to unlock actual crime scenes that took place throughout the downtown streets of New York City. A narrator accompanies users to recount the gory details while a tabloid-style newspaper section of the app provides additional information on each crime – from the famed slaughtering of former Bowery Boys gang leader “Bill the Butcher”, to the shooting of “Jubilee Jim” in the former Grand Central Hotel.

Firstborn is no stranger to tech-driven holiday experiences. Last December they launched interactive VR experience, “Nick”, which invited users to battle evil elves out of Santa’s workshop.

CNN Takes on Our Post-Truth Society

The New York Egotist — Wed, 25 Oct 2017 12:35:47 +0000

National

Simple. Effective. Engaging. CNN takes on all the lies floating around our mass media and social media these days.

Sunny Delight Poised for a Reinvention with Indy Shop Terri & Sandy

The Chicago Egotist — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 20:25:24 +0000

Local

Independent national beverage company, Harvest Hill, has named NYC-based advertising agency, Terri & Sandy, its agency of record for the Sunny Delight (SunnyD) brand. Under the partnership, Terri & Sandy will develop a new strategic and creative platform that repositions the brand’s focus to reach the GenZ market and their parents. An integrated campaign is set to launch in early 2018 and will mark the first time SunnyD has advertised since 2015. Boulder-based Grenadier held advertising duties at that time, but no longer works with the brand. The media business remains with independent agency, Media Storm, following the two-year hiatus.

The decision to bring on Terri & Sandy came after both an agency review for the business, and a longstanding relationship Founders Terri Meyer and Sandy Greenberg have with the Harvest Hill client.

“I had the pleasure of working with Terri Meyer and Sandy Greenberg on iconic brands during my time at Kraft,” Harvest Hill’s President and CEO, John LeBoutillier, remarks. He continues, "Their strong strategic capabilities paired with big, transformative ideas, led us to have great success together. We are excited to team up with them to reinvent SunnyD.”

Independent agency Terri & Sandy is also also home to brands including Avon, Gerber and Freshpet.

AD AGENCY VET & DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER ERIK PROULX LAUNCHES FIGHTING MONK

The Chicago Egotist — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 18:28:25 +0000

National

Erik Proulx, a former agency creative who documented career reinvention in the film “Lemonade” has found his calling in his new production company, co-founded with Ira Brookshas.forming Fighting Monk, a full-service production company based in Austin and New York. The production company has directed and produced work for agencies including VML on behalf of Chevron/Delo and Dell, and Point to Point for Henkel’s Loctite. Fighting Monk has also worked with Yahoo! and startups including Togetherhood.

"Fighting Monk provides this great combo of an experienced director and advertising vet who understands the ins and outs of client/agency dynamics. It’s such a great asset to have when you are in the trenches of a production," Mike Wente, Chief Creative Officer, North America, VML. “As a former creative himself, Erik Proulx is like having another partner during a shoot who is nimble enough to handle on-the-fly requests while keeping an eye on the craft."

Proulx spent much of his year career as a copywriter and eventually a creative director at advertising agencies all over the US, including Arnold, StrawberryFrog, Lowe, Dentsu and VML before becoming a documentary filmmaker. During the recession of 2008, he was laid off from his dream job as an ACD working on the Volvo account at Arnold. He turned to a different kind of storytelling, working with Picture Park and director Marc Colucci to profile 17 laid-off advertising executives as they turned their creativity inward to find new careers in a documentary film called, “Lemonade”.

After a dozen years thinking and writing for brands like Volvo, Fidelity, GMC, and Heineken, with “Lemonade”, Proulx fell in love with making films and went on to direct and co-produce the films “Lemonade: Detroit” (praised by Roger Ebert who called it “gob-stopping”), and the feature documentary ”365 Days: A Year in Happy Valley.”

Evolving from advertising into production took around six years. Over that period, he split his time between freelancing for ad agencies during the day (McGarrah Jesse, Havas, Strawberry Frog and Lewis Communications) while directing films at night. Last year, VML hired Proulx to direct a new campaign for Delo (the diesel engine oil division of Chevron). Working with Aero Films, he directed five spots for the campaign over the following two years, and won 2 Silver Tellys. Based on amount of assignments seeking his style of storytelling, he and his longtime producer Ira Brooks decided to formalize their relationship and formally launch Fighting Monk to make the venture scalable. Moving forward, Fighting Monk plans to work with small stable of directors who can fill specific needs, including Paul Ralla, a veteran DP who is building a comedic director reel.

Fighting Monk has produced a range of projects for a number of verticals and genres. For Delo, they worked with a reality TV stars to show the toughness and durability of their diesel engine lineup of products. For Dell, they highlighted the company’s efforts to support an employee who was also competing in the Olympics. And most recently, they produced a commercial and short film about a 208-ton train that was pulled using nothing but Loctite adhesive. Proulx, based in Austin, and Brooks, based in New York are currently working on a series of short films for a financial client in London and Madrid.

“Since leaving the agency world, I’ve been fortunate enough to concept, write, creative direct, and direct campaigns from beginning to end. As an agency creative it was rare to be able to influence work every single stage of the way. But with Fighting Monk, I feel like I discovered the advertising unicorn,” said Proulx.

Throughout his career, Ira Brooks has worked with HSI, Taxi Films, MJZ, AFI/Filmworks, Uber Content and Aero Film. He was Director of Production Management for Comedy Central and helped them launch their long-form division, including The Daily Show and South Park in the 1990s. Much of his experience also includes facilitating productions for foreign companies, including Thomas Thomas Films, Tomboy Films, HLA, Therapy Films and Quiet Storm. He added, “Erik and I share a love for ‘the making’ of great work, we’ve worked well together over the years and have seen the success of our collaboration, now officially as Fighting Monk.”

About Fighting Monk

Fighting Monk is a full-service commercial, film, and video content production company based in Austin and New York. Our first film production, “Lemonade” was a project by and about those affected by layoffs during the great recession. Since then, we’ve grown to create international, award-winning advertising campaigns, feature films, and social good projects for partners of all sizes. Whether it’s for agencies or brands, non-profits or our own original content, Fighting Monk’s mission is to kick ass and do good through impeccable visual and emotional storytelling.

Timelapse at Sea

The New York Egotist — Tue, 19 Sep 2017 04:25:54 +0000

National

80,000 photos capture life at sea for 30 days. Mesmerizing, and very cool.

Eat the Ice Cream

The New York Egotist — Mon, 11 Sep 2017 12:00:00 +0000

National

Whoa. This may give you nightmares.

Old Spice Just Released a Two-Hour Movie That's Completely Invisible

The New York Egotist — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 03:33:17 +0000

National

Old Spice Invisible Spray has created a two-hour movie that only features movie dialogue and sound effects, with no actual picture. Who's going to tune in for the whole thing? Who knows.

"Imagine that a deodorant brand were brave enough, crazy enough, to run with an idea as irresponsible and foolhardy as financing a full-length invisible movie that you can’t actually see. Now imagine what that would look like. Now stop imagining, because it’s happening. Wait, sorry, keep imagining, because there’s nothing to see."

Game of Thrones: The Frozen Lake VFX

The New York Egotist — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 12:38:47 +0000

National

Epic TV. Can't wait for the season finale.

Deutsch NY Creates 2 Spots for DraftKings: Play & Dr. Aftkings

The New York Egotist — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 12:28:32 +0000

Local

Play:

Dr. Aftkings:

Prince Receives a Posthumous Pantone Color (Hint, It's Purple)

The New York Egotist — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 12:13:20 +0000

National

The Purple One has an official purple. Although, we think it's just a hair too dull to be representing this man...

The Prince Estate, alongside Pantone Color Institute™, the global color authority, announced today the creation of a standardized custom color to represent and honor international icon, Prince. The (naturally) purple hue, represented by his “Love Symbol #2” was inspired by his custom-made Yamaha purple piano, which was originally scheduled to go on tour with the performer before his untimely passing at the age of 57. The color pays tribute to Prince’s indelible mark on music, art, fashion and culture.

Where Do Ideas Come From?

The New York Egotist — Mon, 07 Aug 2017 13:14:08 +0000

National

A short film about the mysteries of inspiration, featuring thoughts on the subject by: David Lynch, Robert Krulwich, Chuck Close, Tracy Clayton & Heben Nigatu, Ray Barbee, Lulu Miller, Susan Orlean and a couple of kids named Mason and Ursula.

Via.

Creativity in Advertising Isn't Dead. It's in Data.

The New York Egotist — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 12:01:33 +0000

Thoughts on agency convergence, data-driven decisions, and the role of creativity in a world-gone-quant.

Originally posted in the St. Louis Egotist.

In March 2017, Barkley, an independent advertising agency in Kansas City, acquired a small human-centered design & management consultancy called XperienceLab. This is the reverse of a trend you may have noticed over recent years, that of giant strategic consultancies like Deloitte and Accenture, and even McKinsey, acquiring various types of creative shops. Usually they get design firms like Fjord, Chaotic Moon, and Lunar, but Deloitte also bought Heat, a San Francisco agency.

More and more, some consultancies have also begun to build their own creative & design teams. Slalom, North Highland, West Monroe, and Boston Consulting Group have all continue to expand their reach in arenas traditionally not their business.

This increased interest in human-centered design beyond the traditional creative realm might seem sudden, but the blending of design and other things goes back a long way. It largely originated as a discipline in the years immediately following WWII in the Army Airforce, which hired cognitive psychologists to design fighter jet cockpits in order to help pilots control planes that were flying radically faster than ever before. If you've heard about Fitt's Law or the Hick-Hyman Law, that's where they came from, and it's why the design of cockpits hasn't changed much in over 50 years.

But, while cognitive psychology was effective for making useful and usable products, it wasn't exactly necessary to sell them. For decades, a limited number of media outlets commanded the attention of billions of eyeballs, and whatever messages (ads) captured attention most effectively and consistently were worth the investment brands behind them made. The media outlets could break up the programming that people actually wanted to view with interruptions because people didn't have another choice. In such an environment, audacious and bombastic advertising was valuable. The quality of the products being sold didn't matter so much as long as the "sizzle" was compelling, and the value of product design was primarily aesthetic--more sizzle. Media budgets far exceeded design budgets because the return was bigger. And because a relatively small number of companies could spend money on media, these same companies also typically had the equivalent influence on distribution. Control over media as well as over physical distribution led to success and domination. Anheuser-Busch brands excelled at this in the 1980s and 1990s. Even after their advertising degenerated into silly MBA-inspired garbage like "superior drinkability" or "grab some buds", a strong distribution network and a consistently solid point-of-sale presence enabled them to stay at or near the top.

Nowadays, there are just too many places for eyeballs to focus for a brand to control their media presence all that effectively. Smarter brands have recognized that customers "own" the brand identity now, and the really smart brands think about every aspect of how they conduct business, internally and externally.

A quick review of the obvious: Businesses succeed because they sell stuff at high profit margins. There are a few exceptions to this, but basically, any growing enterprise contends with the challenge of selling more stuff to customers (front stage interactions) while making operations more efficient (the backstage), and effectively leveraging the bridge between the two--logistics, distribution, dealers, etc.

Creative thinking is valuable throughout this entire process. Understanding what people want and how they behave can and should influence how/what products & services are developed and distributed. That means engagement with the backstage, with the people in operational roles who can make those decisions. That's where consultancies primarily work, and they've (finally) discovered that having a holistic, human-centered approach brings incredible value.

Of course, advertising agencies haven't been totally clueless to this--Don Draper's insights into human behavior on Mad Men were representative of the best thinking at the time, be it from Howard Gossage, Bill Bernbach, or David Ogilvy. And the "Account Planner" role existed to represent the customer starting in the late 1980s. It's just that the focus was always on the "front stage" interactions, the communications sent to potential customers.

There's nothing wrong with that, but advertising & design firms have long had a tendency to... seek to impress their peers first, and then justify that what they deem "great" is objectively worthwhile. The sort of creative work that wins Gold Lions and Pencils does not necessarily provide greater value or provoke valuable actions (purchase, for instance). Yeah, I know, "it's impossible to track that." But really, it's not. Google and Facebook make it obscenely easy, actually. So it's getting harder and harder to justify the expense of much advertising, from both a production and media perspective, and the nature of its content.

Consider that of the ten most valuable companies in the world, maybe two consistently run TV ads that resemble what would have been lauded in awards shows ten years ago. Of the unicorn startups, one ran what ad people would accept as a "good commercial" on the Super Bowl, and another has a terrible logo and embarrassingly awful brand video about bits and atoms.

Nonetheless their valuations and revenues grow, and their reputation as innovators persists. That's mostly because they effectively deliver what people want: Facebook facilitates quick, easy interactions with friends, Google provides quick, easy access to information, Amazon delivers (often for free) any imaginable product quickly, at prices lower than Wal-Mart's. Uber makes it easy to get a ride. All of these companies perform well because they understand what people want, and have made those things supremely accessible.

The hell of being a creative in this space is that for the most part, nobody wants to use or look at what you create. We know people don't want to look at ads, and while "UX/UI" (those two things are not interchangeable, by the way) has skyrocketed in popularity over the past few years, nobody wants to use your website or app or digital product. If it features superb visual design, that might help enhance trust and confidence, but really, people just want to connect to whatever is interesting and useful to them.

Increasingly, there's sort of a formula to this. Big images and quick, to-the-point, highly relevant copy usually wins. Have you noticed that a lot of consumer-facing websites look pretty similar? That competing companies use nearly identical typefaces? And how nearly every startup website follows the same basic structure? It's not an accident. It's what we know generally works. There's no need for a genius creative director to determine what's best, when you can easily test 100 different combinations of visual and headline. And that kick-ass song you wanted for the video? Forget it. Most people watch videos in silence, probably for less than 10 seconds, so make sure you have subtitles that are easily read.

And when people get to that critical landing page or product detail page, does it convert effectively? Can people read the copy? Is it helpful? Can they differentiate between blocks of content? Do they know where to click and does that click deliver on the promise it made? And most importantly, are they confident in their decisions? In other words, can they access what is most important to them?

This probably doesn't sound grandly inspiring, but if you re-frame how you look at it, I think it presents a boatload of opportunities to think differently and generally "be creative."

Because the one consistent thing behind all of the comments above is data. Gathering data, storing it, centralizing it, standardizing it (or effectively using relational database services to parse it in meaningful ways), and making it accessible is hugely important because it can indicate what people are doing and what they want. However, harnessing this data, turning insights from it into knowledge and identifying relevant services and products to build, and building them quickly and distributing them accurately and quickly, requires creativity and ingenuity. It's really popular now to be data-driven, but all the data in the world won't design the best product or create the smartest business model.

This is why the companies closest to gathering and storing data are developing deep and highly capable design teams, as well--IBM, SAP, Microsoft, AWS, SalesForce, DropBox, and Google (among others) gather insane amounts of data, and all employ exceptional designers who 5-10 years ago would have opted for a traditional creative firm. It's worth having people who know how to make complex technology easy to use. To make it "accessible."

Of course selling will always be important, and numerous huge companies depend heavily on direct revenue from selling ad space. There's always a need for creative, elegant communication. And it's not like creativity in advertising is dead, but it is different and to succeed, it must account for what people actually respond to not what seems cooler or more clever.

I find this to be an unusually exciting time to work in a creative discipline. It's not just designers, art directors, and copywriters anymore. Data science, product management, and software development all play growing roles, as well. Hopefully more agencies get onboard with this.

– – –

Brad Gutting is a Sr. UX Designer for Amazon Web Services.

EXILE Editorial Welcomes Top Talent Max Koepke

The LA Egotist — Thu, 27 Jul 2017 19:27:21 +0000

Local

Full service editorial company, EXILE, has brought on Max Koepke as an editor for its New York operation. EXILE launched in New York in June 2016, two years following the 2014 opening of its founding Los Angeles offices. He joins a growing international team of 14 editors including partners Kirk Baxter, Matt Murphy, and Eric Zumbrunnen. Over the past year, EXILE has collectively
cut award-winning work for the likes of: Kenzo, Adidas, Samsung, and Netflix.

Max got his start at Modernista as the in-house editor on Hummer and Cadillac. While there, he cut a U2 video for “Windows in the Sky”, opening the door for an opportunity at editorial company, Lost Planet. Max spent the next 8 years at Lost Planet growing his career as an editor and cutting notable spots including: Nike“Kyrie”, Google Chrome “Jess Time”; Jack Daniels “Legends” and Gatorade“Bibbiddi Bobbidi Bo”.

GoldieBlox #BeLikeHer

The New York Egotist — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 11:09:17 +0000

National

"#BeLikeHer is all about honoring the women and girls who push us all forward. We all have role models in life, now is our chance to shout out a handful who have made us especially proud. Yes, we’re talking about you, Serena Williams, Princess Leia, Simone Biles, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy! We’re also talking about Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan and Taraji Henson, Janelle Monae, and Octavia Spencer!! Of course we’re also talking about our moms, sisters, teachers, aunts, grandmothers and every woman who inspires us every day to be like her!"