Megan Fox … one of the greatest scientific minds of our time? Seems unlikely, which is the whole joke of the actress's new commercial for Acer laptops. In the spot, by Mother in London, Acer's Aspire 57 helps Fox explore her secret passion for marine biology and facilitate communication between humans and dolphins. Most folks, of course, would expect the uber-babe to do the breast stroke in a thong bikini in the ad's laboratory tank rather than hang out with the nerdy researchers and use her noggin to expand the frontiers of science. At 90 seconds, the so-so setup is stretched too far, and there's little comedy here. Even the "punch line" of a dolphin asking for a hug seems a little soggy. Acer's earlier Kiefer Sutherland spot was more successful because he played against type (he baked cupcakes) while at the same time reinforcing his Jack Bauer tough-guy image (he blew stuff up). Fox's ad was deflating, because I expected an over-the-top payoff with Megan getting her legs torn off by cackling dolphins or using her chatty new pals to conquer the world. Perhaps Acer will fare better with its next celebrity fish-out-of-water story. (Yes, I know they're mammals, brainiacs.)

Via Copyranter.

Slayer fans rejoice! (Or don't.) Your favorite band is now scoring Google commercials.

The tech company shows its fangs this Halloween with the short-and-sweet 30-second spot below for its Chromebook laptop, set to the 1986 song "Raining Blood" by the iconic thrash-metal band. There's really nothing much to the commercial—not that that's a bad thing. The song sets the groove, as big, blocky, multicolored text delivers a series of Halloween-themed copy lines about the low-priced machine. "For little devils," it begins. "For scaring off viruses. For spooky-fast startup." And so on. "For a fun size" is particularly playful, as the type suddenly shrinks to Halloween-candy-bar dimensions.

The spot wraps with a few product shots and the tagline: "For everyone."

Some might balk at the ad's simplicity and low production values. But in some ways, the low-budget approach simply reinforces the product message—just because it's cheap doesn't mean it can't be fun.

Two other spots in the series are somewhat less effective. Another :30, titled "For Goodbye to All That," has essentially the same setup—except it's set to Wagner's "Ride Of The Valkyries" and its copy is more generic, outlining typical laptop headaches from which Chromebook will free you. There's also a :60 anthem, featuring pithy text about who and what the laptop is "for" superimposed over lots of home-movie footage. It's a bit of a shaggy spot, with a soundtrack, "Negative Thinking" by Australian punk band the Death Set, that adds plenty of energy but doesn't quite give the ad the shape it needs.

Are these ads "for everyone"? Maybe not. But the egalitarian theme shines through in all of them. A treat, rather than a trick, for this Halloween.







CREDITS
Client: Google Chromebook
Campaign: "For Everyone"
Agency: Google Creative Lab
Production Company: Greenpoint Pictures
Director: Jacob Lincoln

In the two days since Hurricane Sandy slammed New York City, digital ad agencies in flooded Lower Manhattan and across the East River in Brooklyn haven’t stopped working. With public transportation limited, power outages rampant, cell phone service sketchy and drinking water supplies diminishing, shops are making due by creating remote offices around the city, car-pooling and leaning on email for communications.

“We have set up temporary work areas in various parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn that still have power,” said Dan LaCivita, president of Firstborn, which has lost electricity in its Tribeca offices. In an email to Adweek, he added, “Project teams are meeting in these locations [which are common areas of people's apartment buildings or actual apartments that have power]. 

So while we are not able to physically be in the office due to the outage, we're able to conduct business as usual and stay in touch with all our clients to keep things moving forward.”

AKQA, located in the Manhattan’s SoHo district, has taken similar measures.

“Individual client teams have organized locations where they can gather and work together as well to continue to service clients to the best of our ability,” said Katy Zack, media rep for the digital shop, via email. “Our global offices unaffected by Sandy have been providing extra support to ensure that individuals and our clients are all taken care of. From IT support and travel arrangements and taking on any client work they can help, we've been incredibly lucky to have a strong global network to support those who have been affected by Sandy.”

With two Manhattan offices, Razorfish today is staffed on location at about 20 percent capacity while others work remotely, according to Pete Stein, president of the digital agency's East Region. "Many of our employees lost power and connectivity," he said via email. "And for anyone with kids, schools are closed. Obviously, transportation is a challenge for all, so we are advising that people stay home to take care of their families and avoid a horrific commute. Many of the people in the office are using it to power up, connect and even use the showers, so we'll keep the office open for the rest of the week."

SapientNitro, in the Financial District, has been shut down since Monday morning and doesn’t know when any employees will be back at its New York offices. Teams for the advertising and technology company “that can get power are working remotely,” rep Courtney Kaczak said via email.

Things are starting to look up for Brooklyn-based shops Big Spaceship and Huge, which have employees in their offices today for the first time this week. Big Spaceship CEO Michael Lebowitz, said via email, “We were able to coordinate a car-pooling plan to get approximately 80 percent of our crew to the office, with a number of others working remotely. Those who remain out of commission due to power outages and public transportation service have coverage from across the agency. We've also opened up extra space in our office for clients and other companies who are without power or Internet service.”

Huge managing director Eric Moore said Wednesday via email, “The office is moderately populated today...Many of our employees live in Brooklyn, so commutation has been less of an issue. All of our employees have been working remotely since Monday to the extent that they have been able to. All things considered, we've been working well to mitigate any issues due to the storm and have been coordinating with our clients, a number of whom have also been affected.”

Meanwhile, East Village-based Possible Worldwide has combined traditional tools with the latest technology to keep its New York staffers organized. “We have been able to account for everyone through a mix of old-fashioned phone calls and through our internal social network,” said Jen Lightbody, Possible chief of staff via email, “which has allowed us to provide regular updates to the entire agency around the world.”

Are you better at advertising than a 5th grader? Probably not, judging by this entertaining video from Grip Limited, a Toronto ad agency that celebrated its 10th birthday recently by putting a bunch of 10-year-olds in charge of the place. Those who see advertising—particularly the creative side—as a pretty juvenile pursuit won't be dissuaded by this footage, in which the kids horse around, play games, eat junk food, and oh yeah, whip up some campaigns for actual clients. And the clients actually seem impressed! (OK, perhaps they're either just being nice, or Grip's typical output is underwhelming.) At the end, one precocious kid speaks for a universe of creatives when she says: "It's not hard, but you can get really tired." Time for a nap!

Leading up to Halloween, AT&T and BBDO New York have been running a campaign called "Ghostbombing," in which ghosts, goblins and ghouls engage in a little freaky photobombing to promote the HTC OneX mobile device. Now, with the big day upon us, the telecom has ghostbombed one of its recent TV commercials, "Whiz Bang," by inserting all sorts of spooky creatures into the quick-cut footage. You'll probably need to rewind this one a few times to catch everything. And speaking of BBDO and Halloween, you might also want to check out the agency's fright-night Snickers spot, "Horseless Headsman," which we posted a few weeks back.

This week, Hurricane Sandy and Halloween vied for our attention, brands got into heavy metal, and a famous former NYPD detective wants to make sure you know what you're dealing with in that Subway sandwich. 

Many of the hundreds of TV commercials that air each day are just blips on the radar, having little impact on the psyche of the American consumer, who is constantly bombarded by advertising messages.

These aren't those commercials.

Adweek and AdFreak have brought together the most innovative and well-executed spots of the week, commercials that will make you laugh, smile, cry, think—and maybe buy.

Video Gallery: Top 10 Commercials, Oct. 26-Nov. 2

Switzerland's appeal as a vacation destination is timeless. As proof, the nation's tourism authority springs "Clocks" on the masses. Spillman/Felser/Leo Burnett's film finds Sebi and Paul, a pair of bearded locals introduced earlier in the campaign, on a mission to remove or disable every timepiece in their wintery homeland to facilitate relaxing holidays for stressed-out travelers. Since this is Switzerland, removing clocks to create a calming environment feels logical and unforced. The spot offers ticks, of a sort, but thankfully, not a single ant, unlike last year's spot with weirdo Swiss weather prophet Martin Horat. Yech! Here, there's a cute joke involving a rooster, a creature famed for shattering the peace at a certain time every day. And we're treated to lots of great visuals, like Sebi and Paul lugging a grandfather clock though the snow and depositing it on a horse-drawn cart, that make watching "Clocks" time well spent.

"I think I'll put the pain aside." That's one of several evocative lines in Power Bar's new ads in support of the 2012 ING New York City Marathon—a race, still scheduled for this Sunday, that's become a major point of controversy in a city still reeling from the worst storm it's ever suffered. Night Agency wrote, filmed and edited the spots before the storm, yet the specter of Hurricane Sandy is everywhere. The first spot opens on dark, misty skies, with peals of thunder echoing. And then, almost immediately, there's defiance. "I think I'll go for a run today," says the first of many runners in voiceover. The gritty footage in both spots is as much about the city as the runners—fittingly for such a iconic race. And the Power Bar tagline, which isn't new, takes on an inspirational quality now. "You're stronger than you think," it says. The spots won't change the minds of those opposed to running the race on schedule, but they may well be quietly appreciated by those who see carrying on as a matter of pride. Second spot and credits after the jump.

UPDATE: The marathon has been canceled for Sunday.

CREDITS
Client: Power Bar
Agency: Night Agency
Director/Editor: Ryan Lawrence

Dewar's is trying to convince young drinkers that Scotch whiskey isn't just a drink for your irrationally angry grandfather. It's also a drink for irrationally angry hot English women with Scottish accents! Dewar's got Opperman Weiss to make some ads with English actress Claire Forlani (aka Lauren Hunter from NCIS: Los Angeles). The tagline "Are you ready to take life seriously?" Coming from her, it almost sounds like a threat. I guess they're implying that Dewar's is for serious, grown-ass adult drinkers, which has darker implications. So far they're missing the self-awareness and fun of ads by rivals like Jameson. We'll see if they pick it up in future ads.

"Swimming pools are filled with people. Some you know. Some you don't. And every once in a while you see something that maybe you shouldn't. That’s why swimming pools are a little like Facebook." —Facebook

First, famously, chairs were like Facebook. Now, some other things are like Facebook, according to Facebook's own feed. Swimming pools, Halloween and cakes are like Facebook, according to three photos the company posted to its wall last week. (The pool image has more than half a million likes, and the cakes one close to it.) Yes, it seems Wieden + Kennedy has brought back the "Are like Facebook" theme, even though response to the initial ad was mainly negative, with most observers finding it pretentious and/or silly. A snarky Tumbler even sprang up in its wake informing us that "Disney Stormtroopers," "Cardboard bicycles" and "Prison riots" are like Facebook. The parodies are more amusing—and in the case of the Stormtroopers, rather more truthful—than the real thing. If Facebook were a cool challenger brand, having its ads lampooned might not be so bad, because newbies need the exposure and could roll with the punches. Alas, Facebook, an often-controversial company, needs its ads to smooth things over rather than become a source of fresh scorn. To its credit, Facebook has half-embraced the Tumblr, posting a few of the milder images from it on its Facebook page. Still, W+K better cue up Plan B, because it's easier to laugh at, rather than with, the current campaign. If that persists, the client won't be long for the agency's timeline.

"Birthday cakes are made for people to be together. They give friends a place to gather and celebrate. But too much cake probably isn’t healthy. So birthday cake is a lot like Facebook." —Facebook

"Halloween gives people a chance to be scary or funny or sexy or, sometimes, a little bit of all three. Halloween lets people express themselves. That is why Halloween is like Facebook." —Facebook

Hyundai and its agency, Innocean, are so proud of the Genesis Coupe R-Spec, and so unaware of the concept of a sore winner, that they made four "sympathy card" ads directed at the four cars Hyundai outperformed at recent AMCI track tests. The print ads, with the message "Sorry competition, nothing personal," are running in Automobile Magazine, Car and Driver, Road & Track and Autoweek. Digital versions of the ads, running in iPad magazines, include embedded music. If they really want to be jerks, Diana Trask's "There Has to Be a Loser" would be an excellent song choice. More images below.

Last we checked in with Errol Morris, he was profiling sports fans whose passion for their teams extended into the afterlife. Now, he has embraced another seemingly grim topic with a potential silver lining—young people's apathy when it comes to voting.

For this seven-minute video for young-adult advocacy group OurTime.org—a collaboration with CHI & Partners in New York, Moxie Pictures and The New York Times—Morris fired up his Interrotron and interviewed 50 young people in October about why they plan to vote on Tuesday. It's framed as a tongue-in-cheek look at why so many people their age don't vote—reasons that, in the end, come to seem silly or misguided.

"I've seen a lot of voting videos, and you can't imagine most of them being effective," Morris told the Boston Globe last week. "They usually shame people into voting, or hector or embarrass them into voting." Morris hopes his lighter touch will be more effective.

In a companion op-ed in the Times, Morris writes: "We are proud when Iraqis and Libyans dodge bombs to vote in their first free elections in decades, and then, when it's our chance, we barely exceed their turnout rates. Often, we do worse. Roughly half of us vote, and the other half don't.

"It made me wonder: What's stopping us? Do we have reasons not to vote? How can we hear so much about the election, and not participate? If hope isn't doing it, isn't the fear of the other guy winning enough to brave the roads, the long lines?"

"I'm glad I did it," Morris told the Globe. "You never know if it will have any effect—how do you know?—but I did it in the hopes that it will."



CREDITS
Client: OurTime.org
Agency: CHI & Partners, New York
Director: Errol Morris
Production Company: Moxie Pictures
Media Partner: The New York Times

IDEA Rubber fish tossed on a chef's prep station. A skydiver caught by stagehands. A 2-D dog floating through painted pastoral scenes. Full of wires and props, scenery and costume changes, TD Ameritrade's new ads have their insides showing—which is the point. They talk about life, not just money. And life is messy. "I think a lot of humanity is about being flawed. And that's what these ads were. We never tried to make them perfect," said Matt Ashworth, creative director at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Three new :30s, each shot in a single take, are presented as mini plays, with silent characters whose stories are told in voiceovers (by Matt Damon) and illustrated with a whirl of low-fi chaos around them. TD Ameritrade plays a supporting role, providing financial security so these folks can get on with life. "We tried to take complicated financial stuff, simplify it, and act it out in the lives of real people, almost like how fairy tales and fables work," said Ashworth. What emerges are simple, charming set pieces whose handmade framework imparts a kind of transparency or honesty—crucial in a category built on trust.

COPYWRITING Two spots deal with retirement—one about a couple who "don't know it yet, but they're going to fall in love" and build a life together; and another about a busboy who rises to become chef, investing wisely along the way. A third spot, aimed at traders, stars an adrenaline junkie who needs to trust his bank as much as his parachute maker.



Broadly speaking, the three spots are about family, career and recreation. "We tried not to get down in the weeds but keep it universal," said Ashworth. The copy has a folksy vibe. Each spot wraps with Damon saying financial planning "isn't rocket science. It's just common sense. From TD Ameritrade." A curtain with the brand logo falls, along with a placard offering up to $600 for opening a new account. Stagehands swoop in with two more signs: the phone number and Web address.

ART DIRECTION/FILMING Feature-film director Brad Silberling shot the ads over four or five days on the Universal lot in Los Angeles. "His take on it was perfect," said creative director John Shachter. "Just do things simply, show the wires, show all the mistakes that happen." Because of the intricate blocking, Silberling would rehearse one ad while filming another. "He talked about the ads being like human Rube Goldberg machines," said Ashworth. "And we tried to do all of it practically. It was like filming a play." Ashworth said the clearly patched-together choreography lends a tension that keeps the viewer engaged. "I think you're kind of holding your breath and hoping it goes OK," he said.



TALENT Damon was signed up before the spots were even written. "He's great at storytelling," said Ashworth. "I also think he brings a great intelligence to the work. And he has a strong everyman quality, so you can relate." For the actors, Silberling looked for "silent-film-star faces" that could carry the scenes without dialogue. "We got some really good eyes," said Shachter. "You forget that you can act so much with your eyes."

SOUND The creatives wanted an "innocence" to the music that would enhance the fable-like narratives. In the "Marriage" spot, it's literally so—they used a homemade recording of Ashworth's 9-year-old son playing piano. A whistled version of "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" plays in the trader spot. Sound design helps frame the often-busy action, telling the eye where to look.

MEDIA National broadcast and cable, and online.

THE SPOTS






CREDITS
Client: TD Ameritrade
Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco

Creative Department
Partners: Jeff Goodby, Rich Silverstein
Executive Creative Directors: Rick Condos, Hunter Hindman
Creative Directors: Matt Ashworth, John Shachter

Production Department
Executive Broadcast Producer: Tod Puckett
Broadcast Producer: M.J. Otto

Account Services Department
Account Director: Katie Rafferty
Account Manager: Jenna Lubin
Operations Director: Jeff Chunn
Operations Manager: Julie Whitecotton

Business Affairs
Business Affairs Manager: Judy Ybarra

Outside Vendors
Production Company: Pony Show Entertainment
Director: Brad Silberling
Director of Photography: Philippe Rousselot
Executive Producers: Susan Kirson, Jeffrey Frankel
Line Producer: Fern Martin
Editing House: Spotwelders
Editor: Haines Hall
Producer: Carolina Wallace
Visual Effects House: Kilt Studios
Producer: Mathew McManus

As most New Yorkers head back into the office this week post-Hurricane Sandy, SapientNitro’s 300-plus staffers are still tasked with showing a steely, post-storm resolve, working out of makeshift offices throughout the tri-state area. And Ron Shamah, office vp for the technology/advertising hybrid’s Financial District location, said it will be days before things get back to normal.

“I’m optimistic for late this week,” he said. “Early next week is the latest we’ll get back.”

SapientNitro is located at 40 Fulton Street—only a few blocks from the East River—where it moved 14 months ago. New York’s Financial District was hit hard by flooding from the hurricane, which also knocked out power out across lower Manhattan.

SapientNitro has been booking up conference hotel rooms across Manhattan and Brooklyn for their creatives, strategists and engineers to do client work remotely. Shamah said that advertising trade org the 4As has lent the agency workspace for a handful of SapientNitro teams, while some brand clients have also reached out and offered office space.

“In relatively short order,” he said, “we mobilized our group in a team construct. We [organized] strategists and creatives—that are focused on specific accounts— and placed them as holistic pods. There are six or seven of those pods at different locations.”

Shamah added that the agency's employees are “accustomed to working off-site. We are very often at client sites anyway. So we have kind of doubled down on those arrangements. It’s part of our DNA. Our clients and partners have been terrific.”

Technology has been irreplaceable in SapientNitro’s efforts to work around the hurricane's aftermath. Without the Internet and smart phones, getting work done would have been virtually impossible, Shamah said.

“Fifteen years ago, this week basically turns into a bad version of a vacation week,” he said. “The net effect on productivity and, frankly, revenue and billable hours…Today, it doesn’t greatly effect our overall contributions. It’s night and day from what it would have been.”

Meanwhile, the office vp lives with his wife and 10-month-old child on Staten Island, one of the area’s worst hit locales from the storm.

“We just got back power, so we are in good spirits,” Shamah said on Monday evening, a full seven days after the huge storm slammed the New York area.

Here's a fun trailer for a romantic comedy about two lost souls (bloggers, obviously) who reconnect in an airport … with a twist ending. Spoiler alert: Because love is a lot like hurtling headfirst into a giant stainless steel fridge. Also because there's a strong market for anti-rom-com schadenfreude. Especially when the convincing rom-com setup ends in classic slapstick pratfalls. Also because it made you laugh, now come on, buy at Sears. From mcgarrybowen in Chicago. It's a follow-up to the hugely popular beach commercial from the summer. Full credits after the jump.

CREDITS
Agency: Mcgarrybowen, Chicago
Chief Creative Officer: Ned Crowley
Group Creative Director, Art Director: Kevin Thoem
Group Creative Director, Copywriter: Lee Remias
Director of Production: Lisa Burke Snyder
Executive Producer: Marianne Newton
Production Coordinator: Julia Pepe
Music Producers: Marisa Wasser, Morgan Thoryk, Brandy Ricker

Production Company: Supply & Demand Integrated
Director: Matt Lenski
Founder, Managing Partner: Tim Case
President, Managing Partner: Charles Salice
Executive Producer, Partner: Kira Carstensen
Head of Production: Alexis Kaplan
Line Producer: Rita Le Roux

Client: Sears
Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, Home Appliances: Eddie Combs
Director of Marketing Strategy, Home Appliances: Jason Ward
Vice President, Sears Integrated Marketing: Robert Raible
Creative Director, Sears Integrated Marketing: Joe Michaelson
Executive Producer, Sears Integrated Marketing: Jan Collins

London ad agency Johnny Fearless used an actual alligator in this new ad for Jeremiah Weed Brew, in which the beast plays an ordinary household pet—the kind of arrangement, much like the beverage itself, that's just inexplicable. "Working with an alligator was a challenge," says executive creative director Paul Domenet. "Their default setting is grumpy, and they either do nothing or are terrifying. Even the shoot seemed to fit into the whole 'Can't explain it, just enjoy it' nature of the brand. We came out with a great film and all our limbs." On the one hand, the concept here feels like something of a cop-out—brands should generally have a firmer grasp on what makes them worth buying. (The tagline here: "It's what it is.") On the other hand, alligator on a skateboard. You win this round, Jeremiah Weed. Via Hello You Creatives.

Ever stared out over the horizon of your lunch plate and been spellbound by the glory of your turkey sandwich? No? Well, Hillshire Farm wants to be your first.

The meat seller is out with a pair of new spots from new agency Young & Rubicam in New York that emphasize, according to the agency, the brand's "farmhouse roots." That's a new tack for Hillshire, which last year, to the dismay of fans, shifted away from its rah-rah "Go Meat!" campaign, created by TBWA\Chiat\Day, with a relatively bland spot featuring improv comedian Wendi McLendon-Covey. (That ad, also from TBWA, has since been pulled from YouTube, but you can see it here.)

The first of the Y&R spots plays up the brand's attention to detail in the preparation of its turkey. "The meat is silky and swimming in pan-roasted juices," says the voiceover, as a chef sharpens his knife. It "turns a mere sandwich into something, wait for it … mesmerizing." The second ad, which broke this week, focuses on the brand's process for making its hickory-smoked sausage. "This tree is going to make someone a wonderful meal someday," the spot opens. Mmmm, tree. "It will turn pasta into a rustic feast, or bring inspiration to a quiet stew," the voiceover explains, as the commercial goes on to enumerate the range of other dishes—gumbo, pizza, tacos—its tree helps to make.

Call it mass-produced food porn for the natural enthusiast. Overall, the intimate style of the film work, coupled with arboreal landscapes and emphasis on craft, make a clear appeal to consumers who are increasingly seeking healthier, less processed foods amid a nationwide boom in farmer's markets. As for whether or not the copy is convincing enough to achieve that mission, we'll leave up to you.





CREDITS
Client: Hillshire Farm
Agency: Young & Rubicam, New York

Partners + Napier in Atlanta recently gave its copywriters license to spice up the signs next to its parking spots, warning people not to use them unless they have business with the agency. The signs humorously presume all sorts of excuses and shenanigans on the part of the offenders—they're cheap, they're lousy drunks, they're shopaholics, they're greedy fools who couldn't resist the "aroma of deliciousness" coming from a nearby eatery. One sign even pegs them as lazy jerks who would race handicapped people to the closest spot to the building. "Have you no soul?" it asks. "If you are willing to park here, what else are you capable of? … Now that your car's been towed and you can't get around, you're handicapped. And like a cane upside the head, you're gonna get hit with a fine. This one's for all the grandmas out there." Good to know your agency's up for a little caning when the situation calls for it. They also wrote some fake parking tickets. See those, and more signs, below. Via Ads of the World and Business Insider.

Uptight about making that perfect Martha Stewart Thanksgiving dinner? Relax. Imperfection can be as appetizing as those unsprayed apples and papayas at Whole Foods.

That's the underlying message in the first work for the grocery retailer from Olson in Minneapolis, which picked up the store's Midwestern account (covering seven states, including the metro areas of Chicago, Minneapolis, Des Moines, Iowa, and Detroit) earlier this year. The holiday campaign's whimsical graphics and typography befit Whole Foods's eclectic image. One animated spot focuses on a Thanksgiving shrimp dinner after the host's pup eats the turkey before it could be served. In another, a mistake with a recipe turns dinner into a feast of side dishes. The campaign uses the theme "Come Together," and the end thought of each TV spot is that you don't need to throw a perfect party when you can throw a great one. Experience trumps perfection here, a fitting commercial subtext for one of the country's destination venues for organic food.

The handcrafted approach, which carries through print, digital and Facebook efforts, helps distract from the "Whole Paycheck" jokes dogging the upscale retailer. While that's certainly critical in the current recession, it's also a more suitable attitude in connecting with a new generation of affluent consumers who wear eco-responsibility as a badge of status. The pitch is true to the brand's positioning around authenticity and provenance: Shiny, Photoshopped produce wouldn't work for an organic brand, and this campaign carries nice details throughout the work, like the imperfections in the paper used as a backdrop.







CREDITS
Client: Whole Foods Market
Agency: Olson, Minneapolis
Head of Broadcast: Joel Dodson
Agency Producer: Henni Iwarsson
Creative Director: Jeff Berg
Executive Creative Director: Mike Fetrow
Chief Creative Officer: Dennis Ryan
Copywriter: Monique Thomas
Art Director: Jesse Mitchell

Production Company: Brand New School, Los Angeles
Art Director: Kris Wong
Executive Producer: Jason Cohon
Producer: Madison Brigode
Associate Producer: Jessica Knowles

Specs
Who Standing: creative partner David Schwarz (left), creative director Jodi Terwilliger. Sitting: creative partner Erik Karasyk (left), head of production Ryan McGrath
What Design company
Where Brooklyn offices

Hush not only heightened the competition on the court at this year’s U.S. Open, it gave Ogilvy & Mather client IBM a competitive edge in showing what it can do with predictive analytics technology and data. Using a 15-foot screen, the design shop created an interactive experience using seven years of grand-slam data to help analyze real-time strategies that players needed to defeat their opponents. It was also a lot of fun: Tennis fans could virtually whack tennis balls, see a geo-tagged Twitter feed that responded to tweets at the Open, check the arrival of the No. 7 train, or order a Spicy Tuna Roll from the food court.