The Chevrolet Malibu is the Folgers Crystals of automobiles—people think it's amazing partly because they don't know what it is—in this latest "Real People, Not Actors" spot from Commonwealth/McCann. 

With cameras rolling, Chevy stripped the branding off the vehicle and invited regular people to explore it. The first three people who pipe up in the spot wonder aloud if it's a Lexus, an Acura or a BMW. Later, they peg the price of the car at between $50,000 and $80,000.

Don't they feel foolish when they learn it's a Malibu, and it starts at $22,500?



The "Real People, Not Actors" campaign has been really well done, from the focus-group ads we covered last year to the three entertaining Silverado spots that launched last week. The genius is that the ads seem to authentically capture honest reactions, uniformly positive, about Chevy—though of course there's plenty that's been edited out.

Chevy credits the campaign with helping the nameplate to increase retail sales every month since March 2015. "We now have a great opportunity with the all-new Malibu, Cruze and the rest of the Chevrolet lineup to continue to evolve our storytelling and move from shifting to reinforcing perceptions about the products and the brand," says Paul Edwards, U.S. vice president of Chevrolet Marketing.

"Unbranded" is the first ad for the 2016 Malibu. It debuts Friday night in theaters—a 45-second version will run immediately after the lights have dimmed and before the previews begin—which Chevy claims is a "first-to-market use of advertising."

Check out the three recent Silverado spots here: 

CREDITS
Client: Chevrolet
Spot: "Unbranded"
Agency: Commonwealth//McCann
Creative Chairman: Linus Karlsson
Chief Creative Officer, North America: Gary Pascoe, Andreas Dahlqvist
Executive Creative Director-Copywriter: Duffy Patten
Executive Creative Director- Art Director: Bob Guisgand
Associate Creative Director- Art Director : Gary Wise
Associate Creative Director-Copywriter: Scott Lenfestey
Executive Producer: Kelly Balagna
Senior Producer: Chris Ott
Account Director: Jacqueline Redmond
Director/MAKE: Zach Merck
Executive Producer/MAKE Founder: Dana Locatell
Supervising Producer/MAKE Partner: Tim Mack
Executive Producer/Final Cut: Eric McCasline
Editor/Final Cut: Adam Rudd
Editor/Final Cut: Richard Learoyd
Editor/Final Cut: Chris Amos

The combined disposable income of LGBTQ Americans is $884 billion annually. And BVW Jewelers of Reno, Nev., wants a taste.

Its most recent ad shows two women kissing on the Crystal Peak Toll Bridge after one of them proposes. Breaking somewhat from more recent LGBTQ-targeted advertising (covering everything from marriage to travel), the ad is set to rock music. And one of the actresses, Gina Tarantino, has trendy art school hair.

Expect to see it during local airings of The Ellen DeGeneres Show and at the Sparks IMAX and Century Summit Theater—though in the latter's case, only for movies rated PG-13 or higher, because the beginning includes a flash of Tarantino's underwear.  



The ad itself looks great, with clean visuals and spectacular wardrobe/makeup choices, but the music clashes with everything else in a way that's tough to reconcile. The tempo and volume work only at the start; once the proposal happens, it's jarring. We understand the choice, but that doesn't mean it works.

Otherwise, it's pretty classic in the sense that it wouldn't stick out at all if Tarantino were a man. That's kind of the point here, but it didn't escape University of Nevada, Reno professor Sheila Peuchaud, who observes that it still plays to stereotypes of gay relationships, and features two attractive white women.

Still, she also acknowledges that this is by design: "If you're going out on a limb, you're going out on one limb at a time."

"Hunger keeps inventing new problems" is the first part of the tagline for Snickers Crisper, a new product extension from the Mars brand. But it's probably more accurate to say that BBDO keeps inventing problems which it then attributes to hunger, and which then get solved with Snickers products.

With this new Crisper campaign, the agency hopes to extend that so-far winning formula and build on the stellar year it had on the main Snickers brand in 2015.

The "You're Not You When You're Hungry" ads for the flagship brand have skillfully and comically played off issues of identity—which often translate wonderfully into visual punch lines. This new work, by contrast, mostly has fun with words rather than visuals.

The hyperbolic hunger scenarios in two new ads include a classroom setting and a job interview, where the famished folks act like complete knuckleheads. To describe what ails them, the ads blame combinations of hunger symptoms—the guys are "Confoolish" and "Dimpatient," respectively. (In this way, the new ads are linked most directly to the recent product packaging that replaced the word Snickers with hunger symptoms.)

Frankly, the results are fine, but not as rich as the always entertaining "You're Not You" work. The two TV spots are part of a campaign that broke Sunday on the Golden Globe Awards. 

"Snickers is all about satisfying hunger, and we're excited to do that in a new and delicious way with Snickers Crisper," Allison Miazga-Bedrick, director of the Snickers brand, said in a statement. "Crisper delivers a new snacking option with a combination of textures [including crisped rice], so it only made sense to highlight combinations of hilarious hunger symptoms in our supporting campaign as well."

Fair enough, but the wordplay feels a bit like old news. Meanwhile, we'll have to wait and see what's in store for the main Snickers brand. With the energy BBDO brought to it last year, it wouldn't be surprising to see another strong year ahead.

CREDITS
Client: Snickers
Titles: "Figure Drawing," "Internship"

Agency: BBDO New York
Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide: David Lubars
Chief Creative Officer, New York: Greg Hahn
Executive Creative Directors: Peter Kain, Gianfranco Arena
Creative Directors: Matt Herr, Justin Bilicki
Executive Producer: Amy Wertheimer
Music Producer: Melissa Chester
Business Manager: Paul Cisco

Account Director: Josh Steinman
Account Managers: Tani Corbacho, Nick Robbins
Account Executive: Jocelyn Choi

Production Company: Smith and Jones
Executive Producer, Line Producer: Philippa Smith
Director: Ulf Johansson
Director of Photography: Andrzej Sekula
Producer, Director, Woodshop: Trevor Shephard

Editorial Company: No6
Executive Producer: Cornia Dennison
Producer: Malia Rose
Editors: Jason MacDonald, Ryan Bukowski

Telecine Company: Company 3
Telecine Artist: Tim Masick
Producer: Rochelle Brown

Conform, Finish Companies: No7. MPC
Conform Artists: Ed @ No7; Marcus @ MPC
Producer: Bindy St. Leger

Visual Effects Company: MPC
 
Sound Design Company: Brian Emmerich
Mix, Record Company: Sound Lounge
Engineer: Tom Jucarone

In China, this PepsiCo video about an actor who portrays a "Monkey King" is an absolute beast, racking up, by some accounts, more than 20 million views in two weeks across various versions and platforms.

Created by independent shop Civilization Shanghai as part of Pepsi's "Bring Happiness Home" campaign, the six-minute mini-epic is all about legends—the kind that stretch back for centuries and, more significantly, those produced and shared over several generations by modern media. The video ties in with the Chinese Year of the Monkey, which officially begins Feb. 8.

The actor in question, Zhang Jinlai, was born into a theatrical family. His father, grandfather and great granddad won fame for portraying magical monkeys on tour and in stage and film performances of a traditional tale known as "The Monkey King" or "Journey to the West," which dates back to the 16th century.

One of Zhang's older brothers had prepared to follow in their footsteps, but succumbed to leukemia, so Zhang took on the role. He appeared in a 1986 TV version of the story that apparently aired for decades in China, fusing into the nation's popular culture as indelibly as Star Trek or Star Wars in the West.



Civilization's Andrew Lok, who directed the film, explains the concept in a blog post:

"2016 is the Year of the Monkey. So there will no doubt be a bevy of marketing campaigns showcasing the Monkey King or 'Journey to the West.' How can PepsiCo's 'Bring Happiness Home' celebrate the Monkey King, this mythological simian symbol of irreverence and fun (personality traits rarely found in the heroes of traditional Chinese literature), in a very PepsiCo manner? Believe it or not, it was easy. Because the core values of Pepsi-Cola, youth and irreverence, are the very qualities the Monkey King naturally embodies."

Lok cultivates a leisurely pace, but the narrative never drags or outstays its welcome. Propelled by straightforward storytelling and a pleasingly meta sensibility, it fuses a classic fable of freedom and magic with pop-culture icons—the '80s TV show and its most famous cast member—that themselves have become, for contemporary viewers, the stuff of legend.

Consider: Millions of Chinese across a broad age spectrum fondly recall Zhang's performance. They can remember exactly where they were when the program was broadcast, just like Western consumers of a certain vintage will never forget the theater where they saw first saw Star Wars, or who they watched the movie with. The Monkey King series with Zhang became an important part of people's personal history, a powerful symbol of their youth and cultural identity.

The brand film taps into such potent nostalgia with a story that also touches on timeless themes like family loyalty and duty to one's profession—ideas that really resonate in China.

To its credit, Pepsi shakes the tree gently, with the product absent until the end. This allows the brand to share in the cultural experience, generating abundant interest and good will.

CREDITS
Client: PepsiCo
Agency: Civilization Shanghai
Creative Directors: Alex Xie, Stephen Zou, Miya Wang
Copywriter: Miya Wang
Art Directors: Stephen Zou, Andrew Lok
Agency Producer: Guo-Jun Yu
Client Management: Grace Dong, Abby Yu
Production Company: NUTS Film
Film Director: Andrew Lok
Assistant Film Director: Ling-Song Yu
Cinematographer: Ke-Nan Qi
Post Production: NUTS Film
Editors: Didi Xu, Yin-Jian Lu, Shao-Hua Huang
Producer: Didi Xu
Colorist: Ying-Jie Zhang
Music & Sound Design: Allen Zhang
Client: Danielle Jin, Shine Wei, Lia Pan, Yumiko Wang

If you like absurd cartoon supervillains, here's a campaign for you.

Mobile game maker Supercell and New York agency Barton F. Graf 9000 are hyping strategy game Boom Beach with a series of ads featuring Dr. T, a smack-talking mad scientist who could be a character straight out of a Pixar movie. And in a nice twist, all the offline ads point to a development that's happening this Friday in the game itself. 

In Boom Beach, players battle against each other and computer-controlled opponents to collect resources. Gaming website IGN describes it as a modern version of smash fantasy title Clash of Clans, which is also published by Helsinki-based Supercell and advertised by New York-based Barton F. Graf. 

Dr. T is already a fixture in the game, but throughout the campaign he's been teasing an upcoming super weapon he plans to use on players. Come Friday, they will be forced to reckon with the new threat—suspected to be a giant crab, thanks to the detective work of one impatient fan.

Check out the intro ad here:

 
In another commercial, we get a look at Dr. T's existing arsenal, which includes a turtle wielding a crowbar.

 
In another, it becomes even clearer that Dr. T isn't the brightest of villains when he throws sand at the camera lens, an ineffectual twist on the old grit-in-the-eyes sneak attack.

 
A bevvy of other ads—including Dr. T's song—appear on the Boom Beach YouTube account.

The campaign launched on Christmas Day and included air time on ESPN during the NBA's Wizards-Cavaliers game. In one print execution, Dr. T does admit a weakness … for blackberry licorice. But the most absurd, and therefore arguably best, piece—featured at the top of this post—is of Dr. T lying on his side in a classic Playboy pose, with just the word "Hi." 



Whatever the outcome of the attack, hopefully Christoph Waltz will narrate the battle in a post-mortem ad, as he did for its sister game Clash of Clans. After all, not many people can actually make retellings of gameplay entertaining.

CREDITS
Client: Supercell
Brand: Boom Beach

Agency: Barton F. Graf
Chief Creative Officer: Gerry Graf
CEO: Barney Robinson
Chief Strategy Officer: Laura Janness
Executive Creative Director: Ian Reichenthal
Creative Directors: Matty Smith and Joey Ianno
Copywriter / Art Director: Owen Weeks, Chris Sheldon, Chase Kimball
Head of Integrated Production: Josh Morse
Producer: Cameron Farrell
Account Director: Kate Faux
Account Supervisor: Kimmy Cunningham
Strategy Director: Sean Staley
Brand Strategist: Kirk Luo
Print Producer: Wayne Treptow
Project Manager & Print Producer: Daniela Contreras
Lead Designer: Matt Egan
Junior Designer: April McMullan
Head of Business Affairs: Jennifer Pennant

Animation Production: HouseSpecial
CD / Director: Kirk Kelley
President / EP: Lourri Hammack
Producer: Karly Richter
Art Director: Alan Cook
Editor: Cam Williams
Flame Artist: Rex Carter
Technical Director: Patrick Van Pelt
Animation Lead: Greg Kyle
VFX Lead: Karl Richter
Lighting Lead: Matt Reslier
Compositing Lead: John Corbett

Audio: Heard City
Audio Engineer: Evan Mangiamele

Sound Design: Trinitite
Sound Designer: Brian Emrich

Music: Butter Music + Sound
Composer: Andrew Sherman
Producer: Ryan Faucett
EP: Ian Jeffreys

Print Production: Box Graphics
Box Co-Founder and Head of Production: Suk Choi

I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night. He's gotta be strong, and he's gotta be fast, and he's gotta be fresh from the fight ...

Oh, and he'd better not be drunk off his ass!

"Holding Out for a Hero," Bonnie Tyler's raucous '80s rock ballad, powers a new spot that launches Heinken's global "Moderate Drinkers Wanted" campaign. 

In the minute-long ad from Publicis Italy and MJZ director Nicolai Fuglsig, millennial women belt out the tune in clubs, on city streets and in subway cars as they search the night for a sober—or at least not utterly wasted—Mr. Right. 



The work, which breaks in 30 worldwide markets this week, stems from a study of 5,000 premium-beer drinkers between 21 and 35 years old. That research found responsible drinking carries cool cachet with the millennial crowd; two years ago, Heineken explored responsibility in a more general way in its "Drink Less, Dance More" campaign.

"Responsibility is becoming an active and attractive choice for a motivated generation who want to stay in control," says Nuno Teles, CMO of Heineken USA. "Drinking responsibly enables millennials to shape their own reputation and to make the best of every opportunity that comes their way." 

Of course, grown men should act responsibly simply because it's the right thing to do, not because women tell them to. At any rate, there will be way more puke-free seats on the subway for us all to enjoy if both sexes show some self-control when they brave the beery bedlam of a night on the town.

CREDITS
Client: Heineken
Agency: Publicis Italy
Production Company: MJZ
Director: Nicolai Fuglsig

Dean Winters is into year seven of his gig as Allstate's "Mayhem" character, but this time—for the first time—he's playing a real-life person whose dangerous ineptitude could have ended really, really badly.

During the Allstate Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day, the insurance company (via ad agency Leo Burnett) issued a call for real-life DIY disasters. It then posted a bunch of them online and invited people to vote for their favorite—promising to turn the winner's story into a new 30-second commercial.

That spot aired Monday night during the College Football National Championship Game.

Check it out here:



Yes, Caleb Gauff is the winner of the Mayhem DIY campaign, having earned 33.5 percent of the online votes. In the winning ad, the Mayhem character humorously re-enacts Caleb and his father's spectacular DIY fail.

Voters were entered into a sweepstakes, with one winner getting a $25,000 Lowe's gift card. 

CREDITS
Client: Allstate
Agency: Leo Burnett Chicago
Ad or Campaign: Mayhem DIY
Executive Creative Director: Charley Wickman
Creative Directors: Mikal Pittman, Britt Nolan
Associate Creative Directors: Pete Lefebvre, Mike Costello
Art Director: Derek Heinze
Group Executive Producer: Veronica Puc
Producer: Leah Karabenick
Account Directors: Dave Macey, Jon Linton
Director Sweepstakes, Games and Contests: Amanda McKinney

Production Company: Anonymous Content
Director: Tim Godsall
Editorial: Arcade Edit

Promotion Company: PrizeLogic

Squarespace goes full aspirational in its first campaign from Anomaly, telling anyone consumed by a passion but wondering if they should commit to it: "You should."

That tagline is featured in a new 60-second manifesto and a handful of print ads. The new brand campaign encourages those with an idea to act on it—to do the thing they really care about, to share their passion with the world, on Squarespace of course.

The design-centric website maker's :60, directed by Radical's Derek Cianfrance, is as beautifully made as usual, with the camera moving slowly in on a figure skater, musician, artist and others practicing their craft. This cleverly builds a sense of anticipation for something about to happen. That something, of course, is meant to be the Squarespace customer finally following his or her dream.



The integrated campaign spans TV, out-of-home, print and digital.

"'You Should' is a provocation to the millions of people out there who sit on their ideas and don't know where to express them," says Mike Byrne, founding partner and global CCO of Anomaly. "Squarespace is an ideal platform for not just giving your ideas life but being able to celebrate them in their truest and most beautiful form. It's essentially the ultimate creative tool and platform for expressing them. In this work, we wanted to pinpoint the creative moment before self-doubt dissuades most of us from making our ideas a reality.​ Welcome to your stage."

"Much of our marketing is about connecting with creators that share our values," says Squarespace founder and CEO Anthony Casalena. "2016 will be a big year for us, and we're excited to launch our new campaign that will inspire others to follow their passions and create something beautiful on Squarespace."

The campaign broke on the Golden Globes and will continue on the Super Bowl. The creators featured in the campaign include the following:

• Music - Lazer Cake
• Food/Small Biz - Van Leeuwen Ice Cream
• Interior Design/Small Biz - Liza Laserow
• Art/Design - Craig Ward
• Design/Small Biz - Carlos Naude
• Wedding - Jackie & LP
• Athlete - Kevin Shum
• Music - Steph Barker
• Fashion - Chelsea Bravo
• Food - North Brooklyn Farms
• Photography - Alex Strohl

Check out the print work here: 

CREDITS

Client: Squarespace
Founder and CEO: Anthony Casalena
CCO: David Lee
Director of Brand Marketing: Amory Wooden
Art Director: Andre do Amaral

Agency: Anomaly

Print:
Photographer: Dustin Aksland
Cinemagraphs: Josh Rothstein
Production Company: Fill in the Blank

Film:
Production Company: Radical Media
Director: Derek Cianfrance
Director of Photography: Sean Bobbitt
Executive Producer: Frank Scherma
Executive Producer: Greg Carlesimo
Head of Production: Frank Dituri
Producer: Cody Ryder
1st Asst. Director: Dave Backus
Wardrobe Stylist: Choo Choo Kim
Hair/Makeup: Michelle Beck
Production Designer: Jade Healey

Editorial/VFX/End Titles: Arcade
Editor: Jeff Feruzzo
Assistant Editor: Sam Barden
Producer: Gavin Carroll
Animator Scott Pallo
Flame Artist Tristian Wake
Flame Assistant Mark Popham
Executive Producer: Sila Soyer

If you hear voices beckoning you to take a luxury cruise—or you feel an indescribable urge to whisper "Polo" into your coffee cup—Celebrity Cruises might be calling to you.

Venables Bell & Partners' first ad for the brand peddles the ship trips with an unusual globe-spanning game of Marco Polo: Crew members yell the "Marco" call, while confused potential customers—miles away, living their busy city lives—deliver the response, "Polo," without fully seeming to understand why.



It's not a terrible way to suggest adventure awaits, even if the actual product is a floating hotel. But the ad could just as easily be selling anti-psychosis medication—although if you start hallucinating, we don't suggest committing to a lengthy stay confined at sea with a couple thousand booze-guzzling humans. See a doctor instead. 

Celebrity is billing its services as modern luxury, promising savings of up to $2,150—which makes a viewer wonder how much the trip could possibly cost to begin with. (A quick search shows a seven-night cruise to Bermuda, leaving from Cape Liberty, N.J., starts at about $709. By comparison, a similar nine-night cruise to Bermuda leaving from Baltimore on Royal Caribbean—which owns Celebrity—starts from about $846.) 

Meanwhile, print ads—shown below—promise fine wine, chocolate and grass (the kind that grows in lawns, that is, in case you care for a game of bocce ball, or a picnic). The visuals make use of the X that echoes the one in Celebrity's logo.

Overall, it's way mellower than the pumped-up, colorful montages Mullen launched this past fall to lure millennials to Royal Caribbean. A more reserved, soothing approach may be appropriate, since Celebrity owns the dubious reputation of an outsized number of on-board stomach illnesses. But it also needn't worry—the threat of barfing your brains out is actually fairly low, statistically speaking, and was, according to estimates last year, not enough to stop the overall industry from growing in 2015.

CREDITS

—TV
Client: Celebrity Cruises
Spot: "Marco Polo"
Agency: Venables Bell & Partners
Founder, Chairman: Paul Venables
Partner, Executive Creative Director: Will McGinness
Creative Director: Erich Pfeifer
Senior Art Director: Rich North
Senior Copywriter: Ryan Hoercher
Director of Integrated Production: Craig Allen
Executive Producer: Mandi Holdorf
Agency Producer: Ryan Wilson
Director of Art Production: Jacqueline Fodor
Executive Strategy Director: Lucy Farey-Jones
Senior Brand Strategist: Mike Riley
Motion Designers: Victor Bivol, Zac Wollons
Production Company: Humble
Directors: Samuel and Gunnar
Director of Photography: Carlos Veron
Executive Producer: Mark Kovaks
Editing Company: Exile
Editor: Elliot Graham
Sound Design: 740 Sound
Sound Designers: Scott Ganary, Jeff Martin
Music: South
Mix: Lime
Visual Effects: The Mill
Visual Effects Producer: Antonio Hardy
Graphic Effects: Lumberyard
Graphic Effects Artists: Victor Bivol, Zac Wollons
Business Lead: Colleen McGee
Account Supervisor: Krista Muir
Account Manager: Ariel Rosen
Assistant Account Manager: Francesca Robertson
Project Managers: Talya Fisher, Leah Murphy
Director of Business Affairs: Susan Conklin
Proofreader: Michael Rosenthal
Studio Manager: Jennifer Trull
Studio: Will Larsen, Natalie Cowan

—Print/ Outdoor
Client: Celebrity Cruises
Agency: Venables Bell & Partners
Executive Creative Directors: Paul Venables, Will McGinness
Creative Director: Erich Pfeifer
Senior Art Director: Rich North
Senior Copywriter: Ryan Hoercher
Design Director: Cris Logan
Designer: Blake Johnston
Studio Manager: Jennifer Trull
Studio: Will Larsen, Natalie Cowan
Director of Integrated Production: Craig Allen
Production House: Pacific Digital Image
Director of Art Production: Jacqueline Fodor
Print Producers: Michelle Wells, Shelly Amin
Art Buyers: Shelly Amin, Renee Hodges
Photographer: Maren Caruso
Senior Brand Strategist: Mike Riley
Business Lead: Colleen McGee
Account Supervisor: Krista Muir
Account Manager: Ariel Rosen
Assistant Account Manager: Francesca Robertson
Senior Project Manager: Talya Fisher
Project Manager: Leah Murphy
Director of Business Affairs: Susan Conklin
Proofreader: Michael Rosenthal

—Digital
Client: Celebrity Cruises
Agency: Venables Bell & Partners
Executive Creative Directors: Paul Venables, Will McGinness
Creative Director: Erich Pfeifer
Senior Art Director: Rich North
Senior Copywriter: Ryan Hoercher
Senior Brand Strategist: Mike Riley
Director of Integrated Production: Craig Allen
Director of Art Production: Jacqueline Fodor
Design Director: Cris Logan
Designers: Blake Johnston, Nicola Broderick
Studio Manager: Jennifer Trull
Studio: Will Larsen, Natalie Cowan
Digital Development: StangaOne
Producer: Adela Chung
Business Lead: Colleen McGee
Account Supervisor: Krista Muir
Account Manager: Ariel Rosen
Assistant Account Manager: Francesca Robertson
Senior Project Manager: Talya Fisher
Project Manager: Leah Murphy
Director of Business Affairs: Susan Conklin
Proofreader: Michael Rosenthal

Let's imagine a world without engineers. What does that look and feel like?

It's upon this thought experiment that BBDO New York embarks in "Be an Engineer," an effort by Exxon Mobil to motivate young people to ... well, use your engineering prowess to complete this sentence.

Five spots so far imagine how we'd work around various staples of leisure, transport and safety if an engineer hadn't been around to give life to what's missing. Meant to capture the fluttering attentions of a tween in the first few seconds, each follows a dead-simple formula: Familiar scenario. Something's off about it. What's off about it? Punch line. 

The most straightforward example is "Helmet," starring a boy preparing, with some trepidation, to try a new skateboarding ramp. Why so nervous, kid? Then his mother pops her head out of the house and shouts, "Put his melon on if he's going off that ramp!" You can imagine what happens next, almost as if you've seen the ad before.

 
Another example that likely came out of the "first ideas" pile is this scenario between a car buyer and a dealer. Hey, what's the horsepower on that model?

Drat, we've already said too much.

 
The work gets more interesting when it explores how we'd replace the leisure conveniences that so effortlessly fill our time, as with these two staring at not much at all:

 
Or this one of a runner, who substitutes a Fitbit—and Facebook—for a boy with big lungs: 

 
The best spot features carrier pigeons and some deliciously underhanded copy, delivered in perfect deadpan: "You seriously need to upgrade your pigeons."

 
What we've got here is classic, passable fodder: A first-brainstorm kind of idea that takes a low-hanging premise and carries it to an improbable extreme, the excuse being that that's what makes it funny! Dry, matter-of-fact style and restrained punch-line music, brought to you by PULL, holds it all together. 

The real question is whether it actually motivates kids to pursue a future in engineering, and that's where the weakness of its foundations really show. The punch lines are neither deeply imaginative nor all that funny; once you've seen and understood one, you can live without seeing the rest. Or worse, seeing the others, even for the first time, might feel like irritating repetition.

What's disappointing is the work's failure to capture the real pleasures of engineering: the sense of discovery—the spark!—you feel when you've conceived of something that solves an everyday problem, and the consequent pleasure in imagining how it would look, feel and function in a world full of people who somehow manage to be both habit-driven and utterly unpredictable in their end uses.

Because the quality that truly defines a nascent engineer is exactly the opposite of the assumption that "Be an Engineer" makes about kids: It's curiosity, not boredom. 

CREDITS
Client: Exxon Mobil
Project: "Be an Engineer"

Agency: BBDO, New York
Creative Group Heads: Greg Ketchum, Tom Godici
Producer: Brad Powell
Creative Directors: Mark Girand, Paul Laffy
Copywriter: Ryan Lawrence
Art Director: James Kuczynski
BBDO Music Producer: Rani Vaz
Account Persons: Jill Kramer, David Ritter, John Chleborad

Production Company: Radical Media, New York
Director: Steve Miller
Director of Photography: Eric Schultz

Music: PULL, New York
Composer: Mitch Davis
Executive Producer: Scott Brittingham

Editorial: Friendshop!, New York
Editor: Tim Wilson

Online: Co3, New York
Colorist: Tom Poole

Audio Post: Heard City, New York
Engineer: Eric Warzecha

A new spot for the Volvo V40 R-Design by Grey London focuses on the details, with a more soft-spoken tone than the usual false confidence we've come to expect from car ads.

The visuals focus on the car's features, like diamond-cut alloy wheels, adaptive digital display and illuminated gearshift, while the narrator, Swedish conductor Marie Rosenmir, goes on about details and how important they are to a finished product. We also get shots of her driving over a bridge and through what looks like the set from a Walter Hill film.

The tone and pace are refreshing, and the interplay between the vehicle's interior and predictable car-in-motion footage really works. But unless you know who she is, Rosenmir's narrative doesn't add much beyond exposition we don't really need and a sense of who Volvo is targeting with this model.

In fact, she's a bit like the voiceover from Blade Runner, which explains why we were reminded of Walter Hill. 

"It's the combination of many different factors—some of which you are conscious of, but many of which you aren't—which make driving a car unique or pleasurable," says Andy Lockley, creative director at Grey London.

"The V40 boasts lots of lovely, intricate design details, which in isolation may not seem particularly significant but when combined create an incredibly satisfying overall experience. We likened this to a really moving piece of music performed by an orchestra—each small component playing an important part in the overall piece. In this respect, the role of a conductor and of an automotive designer aren't that different," says Lockley.

The ad was shot on location in and around Gothenburg, Sweden, the home of Volvo. It's Grey London's second spot with a female driver in a traditionally male dominated category—following 2014's "The Swell" for the XC60, starring a female night surfer.

"The 'Life Is in the Details' campaign continues to leverage our Swedish provenance and design philosophy which is proving so successful for our business and brand in the U.K.," says Georgina Williams, head of marketing for Volvo Car U.K. "In the TV execution this is delivered via the musings of Marie Rosenmir's craft. Set against the Swedish landscape and crafted design features of the V40, the complete piece aims to establish the V40 R-Design as a car for the discerning eye."

CREDITS
Client: Volvo
Creative Agency: Grey, London
Chief Creative Officer: Nils Leonard
Creative Director: Andy Lockley
Copywriter: Erik Uvhagen
Art Director: Johan Leandersson
Strategic Design Director: Wiktor Skoog
Business Director: Cristyn Bevan
Account Director: Tim Rogowski
Account Manager: Alex Nixon
Account Executive: Dominic Kolodziejski
Producers: Amy Cracknell, Mandy Saunders, Elaine Coyle
Directors: Leila and Damien de Blinkk
Production Company: Wanda Productions
Producer: Jane Lloyd
Director of Photography: Jakob Ire
Editor: Ben Campbell @ Cut and Run
Colorist: Jean Clement @ MPC
Sound: Jack Sedgewick @ Wave
Composer: Tom Player
CGI, Flame: Jamie Russell @ Gramercy Park Studios

Hill Holliday channels West Side Story in this inventive ad for LG that broke on the Golden Globes—staging an impressively choreographed street fight between two rival clothing gangs, the delicates and the regulars.

There are no humans inside the clothes. Instead, pants, dresses, shirts, blouses and jackets grapple furiously in an alley, with kicks! punches! ducks! and spins! (I think that little white number with the sash has been putting in extra time at the dojo.)

A voiceover explains: "Since the beginning, delicates and regulars have never gotten along. But now, with the new LG TwinWash, they can live peacefully separate, but washed at the same time," because the unit has dual compartments.



"The TwinWash is a very big launch for LG, so the spot needed to feel equally as big," Hill Holliday group creative director Kevin Daley tells AdFreak. "We also wanted a story that could resonate globally. While it may feel very different from the rest of the category, at the heart of the spot is a simple product demonstration, and for that reason the client was able to really get behind it."

Disembodied clothing is something of an advertising sub-genre, and permutations of the basic idea have graced everything from Gap commercials to gun-violence PSAs.

For LG, the creative team—including MJZ director Carl Erik Rinsch and effects wizards at Digital Domain—added the stylized fight element, drawing inspiration from Hollywood imagery.

"We thought about quite a few film references: Rumble Fish, West Side Story and even Michael Jackson's 'Bad' video," Daley says. "We wanted to create a fight that was a mix of street brawl, martial arts and dance. Think Crouching Tiger meets Rumble Fish with a touch of ballet mixed in."

The frenetic action was crafted over four months, initially using motion-capture footage of dancers and martial artists. The alley was a 3-D scan of an actual New York City location recreated by computer animation. "There were many stages in the process where we were asking our client to take a leap of faith and trust us," says Daley. (Judging from the final product, we suppose those LG honchos were more than just empty suits looking to stick with the predictable.)

In addition to the minute-long spot, LG took the show on the road a few weeks back, with performances in Times Square staged by Broadway choreographer Joshua Bergass and Jim Henson Workshop puppeteer Michael Schupbach. These live epic battles between delicates and regulars featured a troupe of dancers and 16-foot-tall puppets. Oh, and a 20-foot-high TwinWash machine was on hand, naturally.

CREDITS

Client: LG
Vice President of Marketing, LG Electronics U.S.: David VanderWaal
Director, Brand Marketing & Communications, LG Electronics U.S.: Angela Smith
Agency: Hill Holliday
Chief Creative Officer: Lance Jensen
Group Creative Director: Kevin Daley
Creative Director: Rick McHugh
Agency Executive Producer: Paul Shannon
Agency Assistant Producer: Jill Wyman
Account Team: Kerry Benson, Scott Adler, Jacqueline Doherty
Planner: Baysie Wightman
Production Company: MJZ
Executive Producer: Kate Leahy
Producer: Nathaniel Greene
Director: Carl Erik Rinsch
Cinematographer: Cory Geryak
Line Producer: Nathaniel Greene
Steadicam Operator: Ross Coscia
Digital Production Company: Home VFX with Digital Domain, Alt VFX, + Framestore LA
Digital Effects Supervisor: Eric Barba
Edit House: Stitch Editorial
Editor: Dan Swietlik
Music/Sound Design House: SOUTH Music & Sound Design
Music Producer: Ann Haugen
Post Production: Home VFX with Digital Domain, Alt VFX, + Framestore LA
Executive Post Producer: Nathaniel Greene
Post Producer: Elizabeth Knovick
VFX Company: Home VFX
Product CG Company: Alt VFX

For years, the Axe brand was pretty one-dimensional. It appealed to bros with comical, hyperbolic ads about how Axe would turn them into chick magnets. In the past few years, that cartoony single-mindedness has given way, here and there, to richer messaging that downplayed the bro aspect (most notably in BBH's "Susan Glenn" and last year's Axe Hair campaign).

Now, Axe takes another very big step toward more grown-up advertising thanks to 72andSunny in Amsterdam, which has crafted a new campaign for Axe grooming products, called "Find Your Magic." And it's all about shedding traditional notions of masculinity and embracing one's individual sense of how to be a man.

The result? An excellent first 60-second anthem that features one man in high heels, another in a wheelchair—and a general sense of giddy liberation from the brand's quite cringe-worthy baggage of yore (no matter how much of it was self-aware).



"Masculinity today is going through seismic changes. More than ever, guys are rejecting rigid male stereotypes," says Matthew McCarthy, senior director of Axe and men's grooming at Unilever. "We've been part of guys' lives for decades, and Axe champions real guys and the unique traits that make them attractive to the world around them."

Except the only trait that really made them attractive, in the brand's earlier philosophy, was use of the product. The new spot actually cycles through lots of individuals, and individual traits, and manages to bury the one-size-fits-all approach entirely.

The "Find Your Magic" line has a bit of a head-in-the-clouds feeling that doesn't quite match the brand's move toward a more grounded (if still energetic) messaging about manhood. But the campaign's heart is definitely in the right place. Masculinity is changing, and quickly—the brand clearly knew its days of stereotyping were numbered.

"Axe has always been at the forefront of culture," says 72andSunny Amsterdam executive creative director Carlo Cavallone. "With 'Find Your Magic,' we're out to liberate guys from pressure and bullshit, and empower them to be the most attractive men they can be—themselves."

CREDITS
Client: Axe
Agency: 72andSunny, Amsterdam
Director: François Rousselet, Division

If politicians alone controlled the flow of information to the public, war would be tantamount to entertainment, argues a gripping new PSA.

A new 80-second video from Paris agency BETC for nonprofit Reporters Without Borders deftly contrasts state propaganda with on-the-ground war-zone imagery to make the case for one of the organization's key missions: Assisting and protecting the journalists who report on conflicts around the world. 

It opens with a cheerful declaration from one TV commentator. "And now it's time, folks, to have a parade!" he cries, punctuating his enthusiasm with a punch in the air—a surreal frame-up for the jarring montage that follows.



Obscene spectacles of military power—marching battalions, convoys of truck-mounted missiles, rows of jet fighters—roll across the screen, celebrating nations of various stripes while leaders beam from their vantage points.

World history buffs could easily turn this into a game of Name That Despot: Faces include North Korea's Kim Jong Il, Russia's Vladimir Putin, Saudi Arabia's King Salman and, for Americans in the audience, President George W. Bush in the context of his infamous "Mission Accomplished" banner from 2003, early in the Iraq War.

Other representations include troops from Great Britain, France, China and more. 

These grandiose displays of force suddenly give way to shots capturing actual atrocities—mass graves, wounded children, heartbreaking scars and soldiers bogged down in muck and misery. "Without independent reporters, war would just be a nice show," reads copy across the screen. "Support those that risk their lives to bring us the truth."

The ad concludes with a shot of photographers plastering themselves onto the ground in the middle of a war zone.

The call for donations makes a simple and effective argument for how brutality gets sanitized and glorified by governments, often spearheaded by officials far removed from the danger and damage they facilitate. It's equally important to point out that the number of war correspondents is dwindling as the job gets even more dangerous and traumatic.

But the emotional power of the spot comes from a place so obvious it almost goes without saying: The failure to bring violence to light makes it more likely to persist, unchecked, to the detriment of humanity. 

It's impossible to imagine a free society, and a free world, without a free press. And as long as one exists, people can at least choose to ignore genocide ... rather than just pleading ignorance.

CREDITS
Client: Reporters Sans Frontières
Client Management: Christophe Deloire, Perrine Daubas, Caroline Pastorelli, Thibaut Bruttin
Agency: BETC
Agency Management: Catherine Emprin, Guillaume Espinet, Jeremy Taffin
Creative Directors: Stéphane Xiberras, Jean-Michel Alirol, Dominique Marchand
Art Director: Jean-Michel Alirol
Assistant Art Director: Pierre Orizet
Copywriter: Dominique Marchand
Traffic: Alexandra Chini
TV Producer: David Brakha
Production Company: Stink
Producer: Gregory Panteix
Director: Owen Trevor
Sound: Brendan Woithe @ Klang
Flame Artist: FASA @ ETC
Monteur: Ryan Boucher @MSE

Without a doubt, Indeed.com is the best site on the planet for finding a job, especially if you're an aging '80s rocker in need of a gig: The company will be all too happy to put you in one of its commercials. 

Last year, Loverboy frontman Mike Reno second-guessed the lyrics of the band's hit "Working for the Weekend" in an amusing Indeed ad by Sleek Machine. This time around, the Boston agency transforms former Runaways singer/guitarist and solo star Lita Ford into a schoolteacher for the thrashing spot below: 



Whoa, is anyone else hot for teacher right now? (Because of her slammin' solo, obviously—which she performed live and sans postproduction edits on a no-frills guitar, chosen because it resembles the gear you'd typically find in a school music program.) 

Ford's spot is part of Indeed's new "Celebrations" campaign, which also features treadmill dancer Marcus Dorsey and professional BMX rider Bo Wade. In each spot, the subjects start out "disguised" as average workers, until their superior talents are revealed as they celebrate their blissful new employment. 

Because working all day is always a cause for celebration, right?



Actually, the cute campaign seeks to address the negative thinking that pervades the job-site category, Sleek Machine chief creative officer Tim Cawley tells AdFreak.

"While advertising for many other sites focuses on browbeaten workers who need to 'escape' their Orwellian jobs and grumpy bosses, Indeed focuses instead on all the bright, talented people out there looking for their next opportunity," he says. "They embrace the job seeker as someone who's looking to make a promising career even more promising ... thus, 'Celebrations.' " 



Fair enough, though it seems a bit odd that Ford—not a huge name these days, though still a draw owing to the nostalgia factor—isn't identified on screen. "I'd guess most folks won't even know it's her," Cawley concedes. "But the upside to using her is that there is a little PR/earned media angle, too." 

Naturally, Cawley hopes Ford's commercial follows Reno's up the charts. That earlier spot "was one of the most shared and liked videos Indeed has ever put in their social feed," he says. "People are massively interested in seeing their '80s rock heroes in a new context."

While Indeed has no specific plans for more such ads, "We've always dreamed of working with Skid Row or Ratt," says Cawley. "And Jon Bon Jovi is free to email us anytime." 

CREDITS
Client: Indeed
Agency: Sleek Machine
CCO: Tim Cawley
Senior Integrated Producer: Ben Ouellette
Senior Copywriter: Jeff Marois
Senior Art Director: Jessica Ruggieri
Music: Skyrmish ("Bike Technician" and "Physiologist")
Talent: Lita Ford, Bo Wade, Marcus Dorsey
Director: David Tindale
Production Company: Big Nest Creative
Editor: Nick Agri

Past winners of the prestigious D&AD Pencils freaked the hell out this week when they suddenly discovered their precious ornaments of self-worth had gone missing.

Some 75 Pencils from nearly 30 agencies—from Rio to Melbourne, from San Francisco to Cape Town—suffered disappeared on Monday. Among the victims: Jeff Goodby of Goodby Silverstein & Partners and Paul Brazier of AMV BBDO.

Many of them voiced their confusion and grief on Twitter.

How is it that 5,000 desk tchotchkes made the move to our new office but not our @dandad pencils. WTF #hadonejobpic.twitter.com/tQBwQuA6Xh

— R/GA (@RGA) January 12, 2016

Umm. Someone's nicked my D&AD president's pencil. It's quite distinctive. Anyone seen it?#dandad#missingpencilpic.twitter.com/6IW3vtDhY2

— Paul Brazier (@therealbraze) January 12, 2016

Who has stolen Feargal Ballance's @dandad pencil. WTF. @fergiebeepic.twitter.com/xCxRqeFlPR

— adam&eveDDB (@aandeddb) January 13, 2016

Mystery at Partizan, ABJ looks confused over the disappearance of his @dandad pencil. pic.twitter.com/1MdwIwoECo

— Partizan (@wearepartizan) January 13, 2016

Mysteriously empty shelf where ours used to sit too #dandadpic.twitter.com/5Bi5zx6FiC

— RKCR/Y&R (@RKCR_YR) January 13, 2016

#BreakingNews: Thief at large! @saatchilondon missing @dandad pencils. #pencilpoliceonthecase#dandadpencil

— Saatchi London (@saatchilondon) January 14, 2016

Has anyone seen our @dandad pencils? #mysterypic.twitter.com/Xi7y9Tx8f4

— Wave Studios (@WaveStudios) January 12, 2016

Well, relax. It was all just a coordinated heist by London agency Lucky Generals. The Pencils were returned on Thursday, with a note explaining that the stunt was meant to dramatize the precious nature of the awards.

"This experiment was based on the simple truth that, sometimes, we only realize the true value of things when they've been taken from us," said Lucky Generals creative founder Danny Brooke-Taylor.

Added Tim Lindsay, CEO of D&AD: "We loved the chutzpah of the Lucky Generals idea. It was a cheeky and good-humored way of reminding people that, when it comes to awards, nothing matters more than a D&AD Pencil. Thanks to everyone who took part, wittingly or unwittingly." 

The sequel to Zoolander is probably going to be terrible, but—let us finish—the marketing for it is actually pretty cool and inventive. 

Zoolander No. 2 continues the adventures and foibles of inexplicably famous male models Zoolander and Hansel (played by Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson). The film's marketing blitz began with the two actors walking in Valentino's fall 2015 show, and the most recent ad, created by Testa and Partners and described as a "mini-movie," debuted during the Golden Globes and features Zoolander as the new face of Fiat: 

 
Five print ads and a trailerette further bleed the lines between our world and Zoolander's, mixing the fictional models with actual ones. The video is probably the best, presenting clips from the upcoming movie recut to make an obtuse celebrity fragrance ad parody ... in this case for a perfume called No. 2 (you saw that coming, didn't you?):

 
It's a welcome break from the repetitive nature of modern movie trailers, most of which have the exact same pacing, beats and structure. A campaign produced in character is refreshing and serious work to pull off—if not entirely original—and Zoolander lends itself to an unconventional approach.

Because while I personally never want to see these characters in a movie again, I'd happily watch them interrupt real-world functions to annoy people I don't like.

Check out the print ads below.

When it comes to automotive advertising, sometimes it pays to toss out the driver's manual, ignore the rules of the road and veer off in an unexpected direction.

Take Nissan, which scored a coup this week with "Shoulders of Giants," a surprising 90-second spot from TBWA\Chiat\Day that's generated considerable buzz in the industry and among consumers.

Launched during Monday's college football championship game, the ad savvily introduces the Titan XD pickup while paying homage to Nissan's competitors. 



"We have all had a giant," a child's voiceover begins, "someone who stood tall, who showed us how to be what we could become and how to get there." Dramatic footage of hero types—firefighters, football stars, astronauts—follows, intercut with scenes of youngsters running, climbing, exploring or just lying under the stars, dreaming. 

We catch glimpses of various pickups, all of the vintage variety—none of them Nissans—as the narration sums up: "To those who have gone before us—Chevy, Ford, Dodge—thank you. We see the way forward." At the end, the Titan XD appears, proud inheritor of an automotive legacy that spans several generations and nameplates.

The approach seems counterintuitive, but the strategy allows Nissan to take the high road, respectfully acknowledging its antecedents while laying claim to the future.

"This was about grabbing people's attention to claim our seat at the table," Jeremy Tucker, vice president of marketing communications and media at Nissan North America, tells Adweek. "It's a fact that our competitors are the category and responsible for driving industry and truck culture. With this fact, we aimed to give respect to get respect to start the conversation." 

That conversation has been especially animated. Nissan reports 4.2 million total impressions and nearly 4 million combined views across Facebook and YouTube, with sentiment on the latter running about 96 percent positive. 

Even some world-weary industry observers are impressed. "The spot is bold, different and clearly gets its message across: 'We have arrived,' " says Paul Eisenstein, editor and publisher of TheDetroitBureau.com.

George Peterson, president of AutoPacific, adds, "The ad goes counter to almost all automotive advertising ever done. Brave—and very cool."

Unorthodox maneuvers, meticulously planned and executed with care, can help canny brands pull away from the pack.

CREDITS
Client: Nissan
Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day

Pizza Hut embraces absurd wordplay in a new campaign from Ogilvy & Mather London—and it's not a bad deal. 

A series of 10-second spots and a 30-second wrap-up (below) pitch viewers on the fast-food chain's "Big Deal" promotion by sizing it up against a series of scenarios that might seem impressive, but actually pale in comparison. 



An invisible woman in a bathrobe and towel head-wrap, a magnetic man covered in spoons, and a charred woman (who's been struck by lightning) all open their doors to register surprise at the incredible value of Pizza Hut's delivery.

The most clever—and the funniest by far—features a puppet who's ditched his ventriloquist. "And I thought going solo was a big deal!" he quips.

While puns are usually ill-advised for advertising, these work well enough—probably because they're so short, and manage to make something of the little time they have, even with a hard sell baked in under the cheesy jokes. "Such a big deal, nothing else seems like a big deal," proclaims the voiceover. 

This is Ogilvy London's second campaign for Pizza Hut, following last year's similarly ridiculous "Classic Crust" ad, where a man tricks his friend's girlfriend into sharing her pizza by wearing the world's worst disguise. 

It goes without saying that the ads are still pretty dumb, but that's the point. The over-the-top, incredulous tone for a deal-themed selling point does feel a little like some of Barton F. Graf's work for Little Caesars, though. 

Regardless, as long as Pizza Hut U.K. isn't peddling branded hoodies with idiotic phrases like "Pizza Is Bae" plastered across them, it's coming out ahead.

CREDITS
Pizza Hut Delivery: "Big Deal"
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, London
Brand: Pizza Hut Delivery
Client: Adrienne Berkes, Chief Marketing Officer, Yum!
Copywriter: Will Marsden
Art Director: Jordan Down
Chief Creative Officer: Gerry Human
Creative Partner: Sam Cartmell
Planner: Matt Box
Planning Partner: Gen Kobayashi
Business Partner: Laurence Sassoon
Account Director: Jawad Ashraf 
Director: Michael Clowater
Production Company: Smuggler Films
Producer: Adam Smith
Agency Producer: Thea Slevin
Post Production: The Mill
Media Agency: Starcom
Exposure: TV, Radio, Online
 

This was the last piece of work Droga5 Australia brought to life before shutting house. And however you might feel about the agency, it's a tribute to what it could have been, and to the idea that well-harnessed crowdsourcing can bear quite edible fruit. 

Maybe don't eat that flower, though. 

For the launch of Tiger White in Malaysia, Tiger Beer partnered with the star-crossed agency and production house The Sweet Shop to produce the first-ever film to be conceptualized and produced using beer coasters, with their boozy sketchers serving as the film's crew. 

In October and November, thousands of coasters were distributed across popular Malaysian bars, where would-be directors or stylists could scribble ideas while sloshed. Entries also appeared on TigerCoasterFilm.com, where you could follow the project's birth from scrawl to shooting.

And it wasn't just ideas that were crowdsourced; the entire film crew was, too. Winning ideators were assigned roles including director, scripwriters, actors, stylists, assistants and runners for the final production, taking cues from Baltasar Kormákur, best known for directing Everest.

"I've had to scale mountains and even swim in the North Atlantic Ocean for my other movies, but this is my first time to recruit people to make a film from beer coasters," Kormákur says.

The result, "Coaster," is a 14-minute thriller with enough gripping tropes to give Dan Brown tremors of jealousy: the old gangster made good, a sacrificial lamb, suspicious bodyguards and a charming, rags-to-riches talent bent toward one goal—revenge. The use of white in the film is often symbolic, notably appearing on a dead chick and a dress (no immediate relation). But the real "tiger white" in this story is a flower, hiding its venom behind a diminutive, fragile exterior. 

And, of course, there's the chef. Watch it below. 



There's nothing original in the story—it's work by committee, after all—but the watch goes down easy, is beautifully produced and comparable to pretty good Netflix fodder.

The film debuted in December in Kuala Lumpur, a month after Tiger White's launch in the country. Use of Tiger White in the final production is sparing: It appears in the kitchen, as handy proppage in a flashback and, naturally, in a painstakingly poured glass drunk by Gangster Dad on his birthday. And as far as Tiger Beer is concerned, it was a satisfying manifestation of the brand message. 

"We are delighted to unveil what is possibly the most revolutionary platform ever used to produce a film," says Tiger Beer global brand director Mie-Leng Wong. "We drafted regular bar hoppers and transformed them overnight into filmmakers, with white beer coasters serving as mini-screenplays, storyboards and entry forms." 

The chosen director, Cho We Jun, was a banker when he submitted his application, and has since quit his day job. "Not long ago I was working in a bank, following a path I didn't want to take," he says, adding that he'd made a few films before, but not at this scale. "We come from all walks of life—bankers, engineers, flight attendants—but we all stepped out of our comfort zones and produced something that we are all extremely proud of." 

"Our teams have spent considerable time in production across Asia, working on Tiger Beer," added David Nobay, then creative chairman of Droga5 Australia. "One thing really came through to us: Just how much creativity is alive and kicking on the streets, from Ho Chi Min to Hong Kong and Singapore. From fashion to technology, the region feels even more on fire right now. We were keen to put all that urgency and spontaneity to work across a single creative platform and we're really pleased how quickly Malaysia grabbed the baton."

While a few lucky bar hoppers drink to that, we'll pour one out for an agency that saved all its potency for the very end. 

CREDITS
Client: Heineken Asia Pacific/Tiger Beer
Product: Tiger White
Agency: Droga5, Sydney
Creative Chairman: David Nobay
Creative Director: Andy Fergusson
Copywriter: Gavin Chimes
Art Director: Leslie Sharpe    
Senior Business Director: Richard Sweetman
Head of Content: Holly Alexander                                    

Production Company: The Sweet Shop
Director: Cho We Jun           
Executive Producers: Wilf Sweetland, Daniel Ho
Director of Photography: Tan Teck Zee               
Art Director: Lee Tze Loong
Editor: Pan c/o VHQ Post
Postproduction: VHQ Malaysia
Sound Design, Remix: Add Audio Malaysia