Lil Dicky, the rapper, wants you to wrap your dick.

The YouTube star, whose raunchy comedy helped catapult him to chart-topping fame, anchors "The Big Talk," a new four-minute Trojan ad from agency Colangelo urging condom use.

In a bit that seems like a cross between Woody Allen and Seth Rogen, Dicky—nee David Burd—waxes neurotic about a friend who had unprotected sex in a bar bathroom.

It's a solid fit, thanks to Burd's past subject matter and teen audience. His first hit was "Ex-Boyfriend," a hand-wringing rap that includes a lengthy verse about being boggled by the size of a girlfriend's former lover's own member.



He's also no stranger to advertising. Dicky happens to be an alum of San Francisco agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners. He also recently licensed a song to Old Navy for this ad.

In the Trojan spot, there's no shortage of homage to the brand. It's not just a PSA. But Burd's deadpan wit defuses a serious topic—protection against STDs—while driving home the importance of the point, even as it plays on fear and stigma to move product.

In fact, his wry kicker might best sum up the light, self-deprecating tone of the whole piece: "It's so cool to be the guy who's the face of a condom." 

Much has been made of the quarter-life crisis. And for millennials, an unforgiving job market, impersonal hook-up culture and the pressure to be Instagram-perfect don't help.

But few have captured the current mood of twentysomethings as insightfully—and amusingly—as Samantha Jayne, a freelance art director for MullenLowe in Los Angeles. 

The 25-year-old has created four pitch-perfect videos about young adulting to promote her new book, Quarter Life Poetry, due out April 5 from Grand Central Publishing. The book is based on Jayne's popular Instagram account of the same name, which she started last year with a four-line poem and illustration about whipping up frappes as an MFA grad. 

She quickly racked up 72,000 followers and a book deal with quatrains about the humorous and heartbreaking facts of millennial life, ranging from Tinder dates and random roommates to unpaid internships and office malaise. 

Instead of making a standard book trailer, Jayne partnered with director Arturo Perez, a finalist in the 2015 New Directors' Showcase at Cannes, to create a handful of short films that could just as well be promos for a new Netflix dramedy.

An ad worker and actress, Jayne wrote the scripts, acted in the spots and got permission from MullenLowe to film in the office over one weekend. The result is a darkly comic look at a young employee's life in and out of an ad agency—although the setting is purposefully vague so anyone with an office job can relate.

In "Mortality," Jayne spirals into an existential black hole during the office's Pizza Day. Then, she dutifully documents the spread for social media with a caption that hardly matches how she feels. "There are so many perks in ad agencies," Jayne tells Adweek. "Then there's always that little crisis—this is what I rushed to work for?" 



"It's definitely due to my advertising background that they came out like [advertising] spots," she says. "I do think of things through an art director's lens. I love funny commercials—there's always that bit of truth there. As opposed to a book trailer that's really straightforward, I thought we could make a pretty colorful narrative out of these." 

Perez was already familiar with Quarter Life Poetry when Jayne approached him. He edited the scripts to amplify the feeling behind each funny moment. 

"What I really love about all her poems and illustrations is that they hit a truth. I know people like to say they're Dr. Seuss-y, but they only work because they're honest about a struggle we all have faced or are facing. That's what really attracted me," says Perez, 32, a finalist for HBO's Project Greenlight. "I think the best commercials in the world are the ones that do that." 

"Mom Talk," the most lighthearted and visually ambitious of the four spots, shows Jayne calling her mom—from the office, the bathroom, the kitchen—with questions like what is a W9 and when is Thanksgiving, only to insist in the final frame that she's an adult.



Each video is about a minute long and ends with the words "Who are we kidding?"—a punch line that calls out the tension between the generation's fantasy and reality.

That tension is at the heart of the whole project.

"I started Quarter Life Poetry as a way to connect with other people in their 20s about how I was actually feeling," Jayne says. "You go on Instagram and see all these shining, happy photos of friends. And there's a disconnect there, because then you get drinks with them and find out how they're really feeling. 

"Our generation has two completely different identities: There's our real self, and the one we curate online," she adds. 



A New Jersey native, Jayne graduated with an ad design degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology and worked her share of internships before becoming an art director at KBS in New York and Swirl in San Francisco. Last year, she struck a part-time deal with MullenLowe that allowed her to focus on side projects. (Now, she's freelancing as those projects heat up.)

"They've always known I was an actress out here as well, and was working on the book," she says. "I asked to film at the office, and they were like, 'Absolutely!' Which is great. Mullen was so excited and supportive to do it." 

Two of the spots were filmed at friends' apartments, including "Morning After," in which a lover makes an offer the protagonist can't refuse. 



"All of these spots, I'm pretty sad to admit, are 100 percent autobiographical, except for the humor, because none of this was funny when it was actually happening," Jayne says. "I really hope people take away that they're not alone. I know these struggles are completely privileged struggles, and pretty much what you go through when you're becoming an adult, and you make mistakes all the time." 

She sees the character as a slightly younger version of herself and hopes the project will resonate with people in the trenches of their own quadrascentennial crises.

"I'm still navigating my 20s, and still awkward and weird, but not as emotionally distraught as I was in my early 20s," she adds. "Like, I know what a W9 is, finally."

CREDITS
Directed by: Arturo Perez Jr.
Written by: Samantha Jayne
Director of Photography: Ricardo Diaz
Production Designer: Jill Bencsits & Dominic Guidote
Costume Designer/Stylist: Sarah Kinsumba
Hair & Makeup: Kait Matlock
Edited by: Arturo Perez Jr.

Samantha: Samantha Jayne
Frightened Neighbor: Odell Mack

1st AD: Will Lamborn
2nd AD: Angela Chen
1st AC: Logan Turner
Gaffer: Eli Just
Key Grip: Jonathan Schrader
Sound: Brandon Pert
Swing: Theo Hippolite
PA: Sharon Lee

Music By Temp Love
Sound Designer & Mixer: Christian Hanlon
Animation: Kimo Sanborn
Graphics & Illustration: Samantha Jayne
Colorist: Paul Yacono
Conform: Chris Riley
Color Producer: Jenny Bright
Head Of Color Production: Kim Christensen

The war for equality advances in fits and starts. And for those who aren't in the line of fire, it's easy to assume the work is done with a few high-profile protests and major court rulings. But that isn't really true. Many of the battles that have yet to be won are insidious and hard to see. 

That's the subject of "The Obstacle Course." Created by TBWA Paris for Inter-LGBT, the ad starts out like a common nightmare: You're a kid back at school, and everyone is staring at you in the long, leisurely silence before inevitable attack.

You get up and run, and time flies by—but the onslaught never stops. 

Among other enemies, you'll find yourself on the ground surrounded by boys at camp, the subject of cruel inside jokes during a game of Spin the Bottle, the reason for your mother's tears, and the recipient of many knowing—or downright reproachful—stares.

Along the way, you will be kicked, muddied and generally forced to survive on your own.



"Until society progresses, we will keep moving forward," the ad concludes, even as, exhausted, our protagonist continues to run.

The ad is distressing in part because it never loses its sense of dreamy surreality. Anyone who's ever been excluded or marginalized will find something to identify with—and once inside, the tight contours of a life spent navigating social spaces not intended for the "different" become both tangible and oppressive. 

"The Obstacle Course" was directed by Ben Briand of Moonwalk Films, and comes just in time to draw awareness, and hopefully support, for the France's Pride Marches, which take place in June.

CREDITS
Client: Inter-LGBT
Agency: TBWA\Paris
Advertiser managers: Aurore Foursy and Jérôme Beaugé, chairpeople, Amandine Miguel and Clémence Zamora-Cruz, spokespeople
Project initiative: Sylvie Fondacci and Nicolas Rividi
Agency managers: Anne Vincent, Laure Lagarde, Isabelle Dray, Christophe Moiroud
Executive Creative directors: Benjamin Marchal and Faustin Claverie
Creative director: Marianne Fonferrier
Artistic director: Sébastien Skrzypczak
Copywriter : Stéphane Kaczorowski
CEO \Else : Maxime Boiron
TV Producer: Évelyne Lebervet
Production: Moonwalk Films
Director: Ben Briand
Producer: Alexis Bensa
Production coordinator: Angelina Coisne
Executive producer: Stéphane Floch
Location manager: Julien Lebourg
Editing: Night Shift – Philippe Joubert
Sound: \ELSE
Head of Sound and music : Olivier Lefebvre
Music artistic director: Philippe Mineur
Sound producer and director: Fabrice Pouvreau
Sound designers: Fabrice Pouvreau, Anaïs Khout
Original music by: Jean-Pierre Taïeb
Released by: Cutting Edge

Those little red dots over your apps, a subtle vibration, that ringtone from last summer. Our phones are the most attention-craving objects we own, and our brains are hard-wired to leap to attention for every beckon they shoot our way. 

This is most annoying while driving, especially for passengers. So, with help from Clemenger BBDO—the geniuses who gave us the masterfully emo "Mistakes" PSA from 2014—the New Zealand Transport Authority has launched "Hello." 

Featuring a longing-infused cover of the Lionel Ritchie classic, the spot provides a windshield-facing view of a series of drivers and passengers. Between them, the driver's phone makes its little siren's call ... and just before he or she reaches reflexively downward to check it, the passenger slyly slides a hand, palm up, over the phone—resulting in an unexpected and slightly creepy hand-hold. 

The gag is devilishly good. Any kind of unexpected physical contact is always a bit weird, but contact that's implicitly also intimate adds extra lulz. Some passengers get more into it than others; the last guy, who closes his eyes and really feels it, is the best example.

It also nicely drives home the tagline: "Put me first. Drive phone free."



"We're never without our phones; it's the first thing we look at when we wake up in the morning, and the last thing we look at before we go to sleep," says creative director Emily Beautrais of Clemenger BBDO. "We live in a time where the majority of young people say they 'can't function' without their phones. Asking them to put it down at any time is a big ask."

And while the ask might make us feel uncomfortable, it's one of those instances where politesse should be overruled by your desire to stay alive.

"Research suggests driver distraction is likely to be a factor in 20-30 percent of crashes. However, the majority of young people still admit to using their phone for unnecessary tasks when they're behind the wheel," says Adrian Stephenson, adviser for NZTA Senior Education. "While lots of overseas campaigns still use shock tactics, we realized we needed to take a different approach with young people if we had any hope of getting their attention." 

Research also shows that passengers do feel uncomfortable when drivers use the phone. " 'Hello' makes that discomfort visible without a heavy, judgmental tone," Beautrais adds.

We're feeling it. Our only critique is small: It could be said that the agency subtly amped up the creepiness by playing on feelings of homophobia or physical desirability. It probably wasn't intentional—this is more about the awkwardness of finding a warm open hand where your phone should be—but it's worth noting, because tolerance for low-hanging comedic fruit has worn thin (and rightfully so). And frankly, it's more a good problem than a bad one to be in a cultural position where we have to update our sight gags because people want to be kinder.

"Hello" launched in New Zealand on Sunday online and across social networks. There will also be radio support; we're eager to see (or hear) how they manage that.

CREDITS
Client: New Zealand Transport Authority
Agency: Clemenger BBDO
Executive Creative Director: Brigid Alkema
Creative Director: Emily Beautrais
Creatives: Steve Hansen, Emily Beautrais
Agency Producer: Marty Gray, Jen Gasson
Agency Sound Creative: Mike Gwyther
Group Account Director: Linda Major
Account Director: Bethany Omeri
Account Manager: Matt Barnes
Principal Scientist (NZTA): Paul Graham
Principal Advisor (NZTA): Rachel Prince
Senior Education Advisor (NZTA): Adrian Stephenson
Managing Partner: Matt McNeil (OMD)
Senior Account Manager: Katy Baker (OMD)
Account Manager: Georgia McNaught (OMD)
Director: Ric Cantor
Executive Producer: Matt Noonan
Producer: Stu Giles
DOP: Crighton Bone
Editor: Luke Haigh
Sound Design: Paul Stent
Music Arrangement: Jim Hall, Franklin Rd
Vocals: Age Pryor

Some agencies are scared of the future. Happy Medium can't wait to get there already.

The Des Moines, Iowa, shop is celebrating its fifth birthday this year, but wasn't satisfied with that. Instead, the agency is fast-forwarding 45 more years and imagining what things will look like on its 50th birthday. That meant doing a whole futuristic photo shoot and video, as well as a BuzzFeed-style quiz about what tomorrow might bring.

However else the agency business might evolve between now and 2061, it looks like office attire and makeup will soon be quite a lot more colorful. (Sorry, plain-T-shirt-wearing creatives—you'll have to spice things up a bit.)

Here's the photo of agency founder and CEO Katie Patterson:



"With our fifth anniversary on the horizon, I began to think about how far Happy Medium has come and what the future will look like based on the achievements thus far," Patterson tells AdFreak. "We have grown from an agency of one, focusing on media buying, to today spanning across digital, creative, design, social media, public relations, advertising, UX and SEO, as well as creating our own products. I knew I wanted to celebrate that growth in a big way, and as we as a company reflected back, it was only natural to look to what's ahead, and our Fast Forward campaign was born."



Patterson worked with the agency's leadership team and creative director on the concept. "Each team member was allowed to pick their own look entirely, from clothing and accessories to hair and makeup, with help and input from a stylist who developed an inspiration board," she says. "As a group of creatives, it was fun to see the variances across each employee and how the individual personalities shined, even looking ahead to the unknown."

Check out more photos below, and start thinking about how your agency can prepare for 2061. Those 45 years will go by in a flash.

 
Account Coordinator Andrew Rubenbauer

 
Account Coordinator Jill Patterson

 
Account Director Kristen Walker

 
Art Director Doug Choi

 
Communications Director Alison Monaghan

 
Creative Director Nick Renkoski

 
Executive Assistant Sydney Pickett

 
Media Coordinator Nicki Mittelbrun

 
Media Director Julie Welch

 
Office Manager Lauren Reuland

 
Senior Product Engineer Kodie Grantham

 
Social Media Strategist Grace Wenzel

 
Social Media Strategist Tabitha Jamerson

 
Visual Designer Sarah Fisch

 
The agency team 

"A" is for AIDS. "B" is for bloodshed. "C" is for child brides.

A new ad imagines the alphabet as a set of abbreviations for all the awful consequences of not being able to read. Then it sets the whole thing to a singsong melody, with cartoonish little sculptures illustrating largely macabre subjects. 

The spot promotes Project Literacy, a global initiative spearheaded by publisher Pearson, and clocks in at a jarringly twee two minutes—with a plucked ukulele accompanying sweetly sung lyrics like "I hate to see those babies die." (Because "I" is for infant mortality.) 

"K," meanwhile, is for Kalashnikov. Naturally, a little boy wields the rifle. There's some overlap in the profiles of the victims; certain types of violence and inequality particularly target women and children. 



The video recalls, first and foremost, the Edward Gorey picturebook The Gashlycrumb Tinies, which taught the alphabet, letter by letter, through the depiction of the deaths of children. The new spot's trinity of nursery music, dark subject matter and simple illustrations also can't but evoke "Dumb Ways to Die," the viral train safety PSA for Metro Trains Melbourne from McCann Melbourne that swept Cannes Lions in 2013.

But there's little humor in this video, titled "The Alphabet of Illteracy" and created by agency FCB Inferno, with help from artist Wilfrid Wood. The jokes are limited to depressing sight gags, like an overweight pink man chomping on a donut and sinking his end of a seesaw while a skinny black child starves and dangles in the air on the other end ("M" is for malnutrition).

In fact, you'll find a plethora of upsetting details, sometimes particularly clever in their conception: For "Radicalization," a snake slithers its way into the ear of a young man. 

Overall, it nets out as a powerful piece of work, even if risks seeming goofy—especially on repeat viewings. But the content is so horrifying that it seems more likely to engender discomfort among the audience—though at nearly 3 million YouTube views, it's drawing plenty of praise from commenters.

Whether it's likely to spur action, and how much literacy can actually do to cure the many societal ills listed here, are different questions. But it certainly makes its point memorable ... even if it might ruin the alphabet for anyone exposed to it.

The branded April Fools' pranks are coming later this week, but Jurys Inn Hotel Group swears this one isn't a joke—well, not an April Fools' joke, anyway. 

Hate getting out of bed? Now you can take your duvet with you, and wallow in its marshmallowy comfort all day, thanks to Jurys Inn's duvet "suit," dubbed the "Suvet." 

The U.K. hotel chain says it made the Suvet for the move to daylight saving time on March 27. The stylish, inviting garmet is being billed as the solution for Britons who don't want to get out of bed after the country springs forward. 



Jurys Inn surveyed some 2,500 Brits and discovered 56 percent already face a daily struggle to get out of bed. The top three reasons were lack of sleep (42 percent), temperature outside of the duvet (40 percent) and fear of the working day ahead (31 percent).

What's more, 28 percent claimed the sheer comfort of bed makes it impossible to get up in the morning, so what else was left to do but to figure how to take the bed with you? 

Alongside agency Citizen Relations and Wendy Benstead, costume designer to the stars, Jurys Inn whipped up the two suits you see here. With extra-wide shoulders to ensure personal space, a snood-like collar that functions as a pillow, and slim fit pants, the Suvet is ideal for helping the 43 percent of Brits who said they nap on public transport, and the 22 percent who actually own up to snoozing at work.



"We pride ourselves on giving guests a great night sleep using dream-inducing bedding, so we thought this would be a fun way to give consumers the chance to take the comfort of our beds literally anywhere they go," says Jurys Inn marketing chief Suzanne Cannon. "If there is enough interest in this prototype, we will definitely consider putting a limited-edition run into production. After all, who doesn't like the thought of a duvet day, every day?"

Do you hear that? If you want a production run of the Suvet, you'd better start forwarding! (And just imagine all the fashion options when they start making covers for them.)

More delightfully weird photos below.

BBH has hired Shannon McGlothin as an executive creative director in its New York office. In the new role, McGlothin will help run the global Vaseline business along with fellow ecd Gerard Caputo while reporting to chief creative officer Ari Weiss.

"Shannon and I crossed paths at Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, and ever since, I've been a huge fan of his work and Shannon as a person," Weiss said. "His incredible eye is only surpassed by his big thinking. ... Great creatives do great work wherever they go, and Shannon has done just that."

McGlothin joins the Publicis shop from Los Angeles' Omelet, where he worked as a group creative and ecd contributing to such campaigns as Pokemon's Super Bowl 50 spot and a series of ads promoting Ubisoft's blockbuster video game Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Seige.

"Omelet enjoyed having Shannon at the agency and is thankful for the contributions he made during his time here," an Omelet spokesperson told Adweek. "We wish him well in all of his future endeavors."

Over his more than 15-year agency career, McGlothin has held senior creative roles at a succession of major agencies including Wieden + Kennedy, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Deutsch and Leo Burnett, which hired him to lead its now-shuttered Los Angeles office. His work has been recognized by the Cannes Lions, D&AD, The One Show and The Clios.

McGlothin said he's "excited" to join BBH, noting its "desire to make great work, break conventions and drive popular culture."

The news follows the January promotion of Pelle Sjoenell, who had been ecd at BBH Los Angeles, to global chief creative officer as the West Coast office moved to take the "global creative reins" of the organization. BBH New York also recently promoted Lucas Bongioanni, Philip Sicklinger and Alex Booker to the creative director position and hired creative director Colin Kim from Sid Lee New York.

BBH is a "historically independent" agency which was fully taken over by Publicis Groupe in 2012 after founders Nigel Bogle and John Hegarty sold their shares.

Some advertisers have grown increasingly inventive with print media in recent years.

Motorola, you may recall, created a button that let readers change the color of cellphones shown on the printed page, while the CW embedded a live Twitter feed in a magazine ad to hype its shows. And in 2014, a Nivea print campaign, harnessing solar energy to recharge mobile phones, won Adweek's Project Isaac Gravity Award honoring the year's coolest concept in media, marketing and technology.

Now, Porsche roars into the mix with what it's calling "the world's first interactive hologram print ad" (though, of course, there have been similar efforts).

Working with ad agency Cramer-Krasselt, the automaker is running a special spread in about 50,000 copies of Fast Company's April issue for a select group of affluent subscribers. One of those pages includes a small acetate prism, along with directions for assembly. 

Placing the prism atop a tablet computer—while it runs a video from 911hologram.com—brings shimmering 3-D footage of the latest Porsche 911 to life:

Pretty cool! Perhaps not "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi" cool, but impressive nonetheless. 

More than 150,000 prisms have been created, including 100,000 glass versions that will be distributed mainly via direct mail. 

"At the core of the brand is fascination. That's what every Porsche created was designed to inspire," Marshall Ross, C-K's chief creative officer, tells Adweek. "This [hologram ad] was designed to create the same thing. We want the audience to leave with a feeling of intrigue and curiosity."

Ross says the client loved the idea of touting Porsche innovation through an innovative ad format. Plus, the media coverage should increase the bang for the buck.

"We try to build share-value somewhere into every campaign," he says. "Porsche is outspent by pretty much all its competition. So work that gets shared—by fans, by loyalists and, yes, by the media—is invaluable to us, and an important measure of our success." 

Of course, putting together the project was no easy task.

"Traditional video images won't work to create the hologram effect in the prism projection," Ross says. "So there was an incredible amount of trial and error involved in just producing the video."

The prism's size and angles were rigorously tested and tweaked over several months to ensure the best viewing experience. "We maximized the size of the prism within the constraints of the publication's page size and affixed it to the insert so it was secure yet easily removable without tearing," Ross says.

C-K collaborated closely with Fast Company's printer, Quad Graphics, "sending numerous prototypes to test binding so there were no [unwanted] surprises in the finished piece."

The hologram has barely hit the road, but C-K and Porsche are already revving up an encore that will take the form of an LED-powered ad that will appear in May issues of Inc. magazine. "The LED will provide specific details about the car's new technology," Ross says. "So this is another example of 'walking the walk,' using technology to tell a technology story."

For the upcoming spread, "There'll be four touch buttons on the page," he says. "And each will illuminate a transparency, allowing the reader to see below the metal [of the car] to the new advancements." 

With both its hologram and LED ads, Porsche seeks to break down the "wall between print's normal passivity and people's desire to interact," Ross says, adding new dimension and value to a tried-and-true medium.

CREDITS
Client: Porsche
Product: 911
Project: Hologram print and video
Agency: Cramer-Krasselt, Chicago
Chief Creative Officer: Marshall Ross
Group Creative Directors: Ned Brown, Bill Dow
Creative Director: Rick Standley
Senior Art Director: Brian Steinseifer
Art Director: John McKenzie
Copywriter: John Doessel
Executive Producer: Scott McBurnie
Print Production: Sharon Potter, Rene Camadeca
Group Account Director: Chris Hanley
Strategic Planning: Sarah Stahurski, Cara MacLean
Account Management: Julie Richardson, Christina Clark

Production House: Bent Image Lab                 
Executive Producer: Derrick Huang
Producer: Paul Diener       
Director: Chase Massingill              
Sound Designer: Drew Skinner                   
3-D Lead: Mike Senften                 
Design, Animation: Toros Kose                        
Compositing, Animation: Jeff Billon                           
Additional 3-D, Animation: Krysztof Pianko 
Printer: Printing Arts    

Let's get refined, sugar!

PepsiCo introduces Mtn Dew Black Label, a dark-berry beverage (with herbal bitters, no less), in a campaign from VaynerMedia that revolves around several "Gentlemen of the Jacket" who class up their respective acts. 

Professional skateboarder Theo Beasley gets things rolling in the centerpiece video below, appearing with two other millennial dudes—a mixologist and a gamer (both portrayed by actors). While enjoying some product, all three don magical jackets that make everything around them seem a bit more … sophisticated. 



The gamer steals it with that James Brown jacket move. Now that's some class action!

The creative team strove to tell "a broader, connected story," even though the leads are never on screen at the same time, Sadira Furlow, Mountain Dew's marketing director, tells AdFreak. "The transitions from scene to scene consisted of one long continuous take to ensure each of the three environments were tied together seamlessly. The set was built to adhere to this flow," she says. 

Fifteen-second versions of the gamer and skateboard portions of the ad will run as hyper-targeted pre-rolls, while the full-length clip is being promoted across Mountain Dew's social platforms.

"One of the funniest things to film was the skateboard with the can on it," Furlow says. "Believe it or not, it is incredibly difficult to get a can to sit on a mini-throne on a skateboard and move up and down a ramped surface at full speed. We even had a skateboard/can handler responsible for pulling it along." 

It's a great-looking ad. And as with most Mountain Dew campaigns, it's well attuned to its youthful bro-centric audience.

Still, there's some disconnect here. Why employ a jacket at all? The idea is never really explained or explored. Also, why would rebel types like skateboarders and gamers care about acting all sophisticated anyway? 

Ah well, any concept is bound to seem sha-aaa-ky when you're slammin' back sixes of uber-caffeinated soda. (And don't forget those herbal bitters!)

CREDITS
Client: Mountain Dew
Agency: VaynerMedia
Chief Creative Officer: Steve Babcock
Vice President, Group Creative Director: David Rosenberg
Creative Director: Anthony Coleman
Associate Creative Director: Angelo Pournaras
Art Directors: Cindy Choi, Heather Han
Senior Copywriters: Joshua Rosenblat, Nick Maciag
Designers: Raymond Croft, Christian Powell
Senior Vice President, Account Strategy: Dennis Ossipov-Grodsky
Group Director: Roger Ramirez
Account Director: Sara Giles
Account Manager: Neelam Rana
Vice President, Delivery and Production: Aaron Behr
Associate Director, Delivery and Production: Kristen Fleming
Project Managers: Dominic Hackley, Meredith Feir

Production Company: Vayner Productions
Creative Director: Jason Beauregard
Director of Photography: Erik Dettle
Post Production Supervisor: Andrew Hart
Post Production Coordinator: Glo Gambino
Editor: Sean Henderson
Animators: Alexander Smith, Sydney Daugherty
Producer: John Hollingsworth

Mix Company: Nutmeg
Music by "The Emergence" TE Music Group 

It turns out there are advantages to being an alligator, like dodging the check when eating out with friends because your arms are just too short to reach it. 

That's the premise of the latest gag in Geico's charmingly ridiculous "It's What You Do" campaign. In the 30-second ad, a talking reptile in human clothing does a poor job of pretending to want to pick up the tab—and inevitably failing—after going for Chinese with some coworkers. (They seem used to it.)

It's far from Geico's first bout with a talking animal. The menagerie includes Caleb the camel and Maxwell the pig, not to mention the gecko himself.

And while this new addition doesn't have the same catchphrase potential of his camel colleague, or the infuriatingly unforgettable squeal of his pig counterpart, it really is kind of brilliant, because it's true to nature: Alligators are absurd in their proportions ... and of course they'd be shifty mooks with a weakness for crispy duck. 



Other spots in "It's What You Do" include a mom who always calls her son at the worst possible time to vent about his dad; the band Europe singing "Final Countdown" to a microwave; and a pair of golf announcers whispering, even as a player gets devoured by a kraken—no more directly related to car insurance than alligators or geckos, but great for underlining Geico's value in entertaining and memorable ways. 

Maybe, in the alligator's next appearance, he can pump iron with the Geico bros ... assuming his puny little arms can handle that. 

CREDITS
Client: Geico

Vice President, Marketing: Ted Ward
Director, Marketing Media Advertising: Bill Brower
Sr. Mgr., Broadcast, Outdoor, Print & Sports Marketing: Melissa Halicy
Marketing Supervisor: Mike Grant
Marketing Buyer: Tom Perlozzo:
Marketing Buyer: Brighid Griffin
Marketing Coordinator: Julia Nass

Agency: The Martin Agency
Chief Creative Officer: Joe Alexander
Group Creative Director:  : Wade Alger
Group Creative Director: Steve Bassett
Creative Director: Sean Riley
Senior Copywriter: Ken Marcus:
Executive Producer: Brett Alexander
Senior Broadcast Producer: Heather Tanton
Junior Broadcast Producer: Sara Montgomery
Group Account Director: Brad Higdon
Account Supervisor: Josh Lybarger
Account Executive:  : Allison Hensley
Account Coordinator: Allie Waller
Business Affairs Supervisor: Suzanne Wieringo
Financial Account Supervisor: Monica Cox
Senior Production Business Manager: Amy Trenz
Senior Project Manager: Karen McEwen

Production Company: Hungry Man
Director: Wayne McClammy
Managing Partner/Executive Producer: Kevin Byrne
Executive Producer/Head of Sales: Dan Duffy
Executive Producer: Mino Jarjoura
Executive Producer: Nancy Hacohen
Producer: Dave Bernstein
Production Supervisor: Shelly Silverman

Editorial Company: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: Christjan Jordan
Assistant Editor: Pieter Viljoen
Executive Producer: Angela Dorian
Producer: Helena Lee

Telecine: Moving Picture Company
Colorist: Ricky Gausis

Animation/VFX: Moving Picture Company
Executive Producer: Elexis Stearn
Senior Producer: Juliet Tierney
Production Coordinator:  : Valentina Cokonis
Line Producer: Goutham Hampankatta
Flame Lead: Mark Holden
Nuke Artist: Janice Tso
Nuke Artist: Jim Spratling
VFX Supervisor/Head of 3D: Jason Schugardt
Lead Lighter: Tim Kafka
Render/Look Dev: Jessica Groom
DMP: Partha Modal
3D Supervisor: Nishanth Shrinivasa

Original Music and Sound Design: Q Department

Audio Post Company: Rainmaker Studios
Engineer/Mixer: Jeff McManus

The Lapiz agency's "Doppelgänger Tourists" campaign shames workaholics Mike and Ann into taking vacations ... by introducing them to their dopplegängers, who have been living it up in Mexico.

Oh, yeah: The campaign is promoting vacations. In Mexico. 

After establishing that both sets of Mikes and Anns find themselves attractive, the dopplegängers show the originals footage from their Mexico vacations, heavy on swimming and Mayan ruins, and effectively poke their FOMO glands with sharpened sticks.

Once the original Mike and Ann feel bad enough about their life choices, their duplicates sweeten the pot, prompting many emotions.



The concept of this ad could have been super creepy (and still kind of is), but the tone and color palette they used is really disarming. One has to wonder what else those dopplegängers have been up to, though, and whether or not they filmed it. And are they really dopplegängers at this point, or have they moved on to parallel/mirror universe selves?

See, this is why we stopped reading comic books. This is all way too confusing.

CREDITS
Client: Mexico Tourism Board
Agency: Lapiz
Campaign: Live It To Believe It
Name of ad: Doppelgänger Tourists
Creative Director: Lizette Morazzani
Creative Director: Carlos "Ia" Murad
Associate Creative Director: Flavio Pina
Creative: Fabio Seidl
Creative Resources: Julie Ptasinski
Account Director: Ernesto Adduci
Account Supervisor: Pablo Sabouret
Senior Account Executive: Maria Bonet
Executive Producer: Aldo Gagliardi
Producer: Bobby Gruenberg
Producer: Juale Chavez
Planning Director: Felipe Cabrera
Planner: Isabella Villalobos
Production Company: Farm League
Director: Britton Caillouette
VFX/SPX: Filmworkers
Editorial: Beast
Editor: Dean Gonzalez
Music Company: Future Perfect

Comedians Jordan Peele and Chelsea Peretti are planning their wedding, and it's not going well. Luckily, they're using Booking.com, so it's easy to make changes. 

The duo—engaged in real life—star in new ads for the accommodations website, fictionalizing their struggle to find accommodations for their special day. Created by Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Ore., and directed by Randy Krallman, the campaign launches Sunday, with two spots airing during the iHeartRadio Music Awards and the American Country Music Awards. 

In "Destination Wedding," Peele (of Key and Peele) and Peretti (of Brooklyn Nine Nine) consider tying the knot in a yurt, only to find themselves discouraged by a unwelcome guest who has a talent for puffing its chest aggressively. 



In the second commercial, "Beach Booty," the pair scramble to get in shape for their bathing suits—until the bride-to-be gives up on whatever form of aerobic torture they're attempting, and the voiceover suggests a free change to an Alaskan resort instead.



Six more ads are slated to launch throughout the spring and summer, following the couple's celebrity friends as they try getting to the wedding in the first place. 

It's a fun and simple approach—it's entertaining enough to be memorable, but also distinguishes itself from the millennial wanderlust themes currently dominating marketing from other travel advertisers, like Hotwire and Travelocity.

Expedia, for its part, has been building VR experiences to help sick children realize their dreams; Hotels.com, a more direct competitor, is running a moron across the country in hopes of making him president; while Airbnb is inviting people to sleep in shark tanks.

In Booking.com's case, a wedding is an upbeat, relatable topic (and the existence of the tabloid industry proves celebrity couples have broad appeal). So the basic strategy seems to make sense, even if Booking has previously argued that travel itself is a special occasion: Every accommodation has the potential to change a guest's life forever.

Regardless, one thing is clear—that owl is the real winner.

CREDITS
Client: Booking.com
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Director: Randy Krallman

Growing up, we can't remember ever having seen an ad for Radio Flyer. (Turns out there's a reason for that.) But imagine what a modern one would be like, nourished both by nostalgia and Super Bowl beer commercials.

Think back to what Radio Flyer represented when you were so small it could be anything, then scale up. 

To fête its first-ever National Little Red Wagon Day, which took place Wednesday, FCB Chicago lifts Radio Flyer back into our stream of consciousness with a cute little spot that manages to embody what those wagons meant to us ... while taking the piss out of grown-up pissing contests. 

"Radio Flyer Super Race Car" kicks off with two guys in a suburban driveway gawking over a spankin' Dodge Viper, the kind whose positively lickable lollipop-red hood draws radar-wielding cops like a magnetic field. 

"Cool car," one guys begins. "How fast does it go?"

"Six hundred miles per hour," replies his buddy with the certainty of somebody who relishes the question. 

Maybe you twitched a little. Or maybe you didn't, because The Fast and the Furious has given you a warped idea of how cars work. In any case, dude seems impressed.

"Whoa," he says. "Well, I have a car that goes six thousand miles per hour."

It's perhaps at this moment that you may notice the car owner—rightfully incredulous—is sipping from a juice box. Watch the rest of the ad below:



Wednesday marked the 100th anniversary of the iconic Radio Flyer wagon, which sparked the idea for a special day. The video may not represent much right now, but it sets the tone for how FCB imagines the "holiday" unrolling in years to come, rekindling the imagination that a little red toy inspired when it was capable of being everything we wanted at the time, from a car to a spaceship to a yacht. (Do kids want yachts? Sometimes it's hard to distinguish legit childhood memories from stuff Hermès put there.)

The work was created as a stand-alone project, but could eventually yield a more formal agency of record relationship (though they aren't there yet, an FCB spokeswoman hastens to emphasize). If this little toe-dip into the public awareness catches on, you can probably expect to see splashier promotions for National Little Red Wagon Day next year.

In the meantime, maybe give that spaceship a good polish.

CREDITS
Client: Radio Flyer
Agency: FCB
Chief Creative Officer: Todd Tilford
Creative Directors: Myra Mazzei, Todd Durston, Tom Flanigan
Production, Postproduction Company: Lord + Thomas
Director: Ben Flaherty
Executive Producer: Katie Roach
Production Service Company: We Are Famous
Executive Producer: Joshua Greenberg
Senior Producer: Celena Mossell
Editor: Ilsa Misamore
Sound: Jason Ryan
Management Director: Kiska Howell
Account Executive: Darian Weaver

Honey Maid's "This Is Wholesome" campaign enters its third year today at a cultural crossroads.

On the one hand, the Mondelēz brand's message of diversity and inclusivity is right in step with American culture—following milestones like the national legalization of same-sex marriage. On the other hand, the bitter tone of Election 2016 has revealed the stark divisions, and cultural and racial resentments, clearly still at play in the U.S. 

Honey Maid's latest "Wholesome" advertising from Droga5, which you can see first on Adweek.com, balances those forces by embracing a new word as a central theme—acceptance. And it goes beyond looking at the changing face of the nuclear family to address broader political themes, with one spot that shows neighbors from different cultures putting aside their fears and becoming friends. 

That spot, "Neighbors," seems crafted explicitly in response to immigration issues that have made headlines in the presidential race over the past year. "I didn't know anything about her culture. Only what I saw in the news," one neighbor says in voiceover—while looking out through her home's blinds at her new neighbor. 

See the rest of the spot here:



Adweek asked Katrina Plummer, equity brand manager for Honey Maid, whether the ad is meant to be taken in part as a commentary on the current political climate.

"We are watching society change over time, because we think it is important to be reflective of today's world, and to be inclusive of a cross-section of those unique families that make up the American society," Plummer replied. "Honey Maid is acknowledging the changing family dynamic among our consumers and are excited about the opportunity for 'This Is Wholesome' to feature and celebrate real diverse families."

Three more spots address the idea of acceptance in different ways, including an adoption story, one father accepting his gay son and son-in-law, and another father who comes home from war as a double amputee. In each spot, the family members are seen putting peanut butter and heart-shaped strawberry slices on graham crackers.

Plummer said the new commercials evolve Honey Maid's message of wholesomeness by focusing more directly on this idea of acceptance.

The campaign "has always shared the stories of diverse, wholesome American families," she said. "This latest chapter for Honey Maid is going one step further to celebrate their stories of acceptance and show how acceptance can foster love and friendship within families and among neighbors. We tell four different stories of acceptance featuring five families—a traditional Hispanic father who found joy and love in accepting his gay son and son-in-law, a disabled veteran and wife that have come to accept their new post-war reality, a young boy who has accepted his adopted brother, and two neighboring families who have grown to realize they have more similarities than differences."

In the press release accompanying the campaign, Honey Maid acknowledges the split nature of American culture, which is advancing in some ways but still stuck in patterns of hate.

"Acceptance isn't always a reality," the brand says. "The negative headlines you read on the Internet often reflect the animosity, bigotry and intolerance that society grapples with today. In fact, a recent Pew Research Center survey found that nearly three-quarters of American adults who use the Internet have witnessed online harassment. But what if you could experience it as a place that was more accepting of different ideas, beliefs and lifestyles?"

To that end, the new campaign also features an interesting online component. Honey Maid is introducing a "Wholesome Button"—a browser app that "allows users to experience the internet through the lens of acceptance and positivity." Clicking on the button changes images and headlines on any web page to "content celebrating love, heartwarming family connections and acceptance."

For example, this is the wholesome-ized version of today's New York Times homepage:



"This tool truly allows users to view the Internet through the lens of acceptance and positivity, something that is part of our brand DNA," said Plummer. "By giving people the opportunity to connect with our campaign and share a reimagined world, we hope to bring wholesome families closer together, invite people to think about acceptance in their own lives and even start a dialogue with someone within their own family or community that they have struggled to accept."

CREDITS
Client: Mondelēz International; Honey Maid
Campaign: "This Is Wholesome"
Title: "Little Brother," "Neighbor," "Husband," "Mis Hijos"

Agency: Droga5
Creative Chairman: David Droga
Chief Creative Officer: Ted Royer
Executive Creative Director: Kevin Brady
Creative Directors: Devon Hong, Tara Lawall
Copywriter: German Rivera Hudders
Art Director: J.J. Kraft
Junior Art Director: Andrew Chin
Junior Copywriter: Sam Bauer
Chief Creation Officer: Sally-Ann Dale
Head of Broadcast Production: Ben Davies
Senior Broadcast Producer: Jennifer Chen
Global Chief Strategy Officer: Jonny Bauer
Strategy Directors: Katie Coane, Sam Matthews
Senior Strategist: Milla McPhee
Senior Communications Strategist: Taylor Hines
Social Communications Strategist: Whitney Brodribb
Group Account Director: Kelsey Robertson
Account Directors: Caitlin Chandler, Amanda Chandler
Account Manager: Jasmine McDavid
Associate Account Manager: Amy Rosenberg
Project Manager: Monique Lavie

Client: Mondelez International; Honey Maid
Vice President, Biscuits Equity: Jason Levine
Equity Brand Manager: Katrina Plummer
Senior Associate Brand Manager, Media and Content Associate: Emmett Schalle

Production Company: Public Record
Director: Galen Summer
Director of Photography: Zak Mulligan
Executive Producer: Jeremy Yaches
Producer: Elizabeth MacKenzie

Editing: Cosmo Street
Editor: Mark Potter
Assistant Editor: Eduardo Wong
Executive Producer: Maura Woodward
Producer: Luiza Naritomi

Postproduction: Switch
Executive Producer: Diana Dayrit
Flame Artist: Jon Magel

Color Grade: RCO
Colorist: Seth Ricart
Executive Producer: Marcus Lansdell

Music: Q Department

Sound: Sonic Union
Mixer: Rob McIver

Wholesome Button: Weber Shandwick
Executive Creative Director: Jim Paul
Creative Director: Jeff Immel
Associate Creative Director: Emma Arnold
Copywriter: Mikinzie Stuart
Junior Copywriter: Lucy Butka
Art Director: Irek Jania
Creative Technologists: Kevin Kilduff, Kedar Deshpande
Production Company: Driftlab
Account Executive, Vice President: Lauren Danis
Account Vice President: Caroline Lainio
Account Director: Andrea Clift

For years, Dillan Barmache couldn't speak. Then he got an iPad.

The 16-year-old, who has autism and is non-verbal, stars in a powerful new advertising campaign from Apple, launched in observance of World Autism Acceptance Day on Saturday.

After spending his whole life struggling to communicate, Barmache learned to express himself with the help of his tablet—typing his thoughts and feelings, then letting the computer speak them for him.

The approach was so effective that, two years ago, he was able to deliver a graduation speech at his middle school, a moment featured in one of two ads.



Titled "Dillan's Voice," the two-minute commercial from TBWA\Media Arts Lab focuses on Barmache's experience, in his own words:

All my life I wanted so badly to connect with people But they couldn't understand because I had no way to communicate.

I get to experience the world in a very unique way. I could see the wind, hear the flowers. I can see incredible emotions flowing from those I love.

So many people can't understand that I have a mind. All they can see is a person who is not in control. But now you can hear me. The iPad helps me to see not only my words but to hold onto my thoughts.

Having a voice has changed everything in my life. No more isolation. I can finally speak with the people that love me. I can say what I think and let them know I love them too.

It's a beautifully written voiceover, delivered over footage of Barmache living his life—doing pull-ups, going for a run, walking through a hallway at school.

A second, longer video, titled "Dillan's Path," offers more context on the severity of his disability, featuring interviews with his mother, and with his therapist, who characterizes him as "that kid that those of us in the field would describe as the most challenged."



It's simultaneously heartbreaking and uplifting, as they discuss point blank the ways in which they know people misperceive him, and the ways in which—broadly speaking—Apple's technology has facilitated his ability to overcome such obstacles.

That's a persuasive argument, even if it's one that could seem exploitative. Indeed, the prominence of the product does at moments come across as a touch direct. But so much time is devoted to telling Barmache's story, and advocating acceptance, that the real point is clear—anyone who can't appreciate what he brings to the table is missing out. 

Once upon a time, Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam created a fairy-tale campaign for Mondelēz's Milka chocolate brand.

Set in the idyllic, magical Alpine hamlet of "Lilaberg," the ads consolidate Milka's candy and biscuit categories under the theme "Tenderness is inside."

A pair of commercials feature impressive visuals and fanciful story lines. The spots almost resemble children's books come to life—or Pixar interpretations of fables for kids. Fanciful details abound, including cats on every rooftop and a purple cow (Lila, the brand mascot, after whom Lilaberg is named).

In the clip below, set at the town's colorful carnival celebration, "The Strongman" proves he's really just a big softie—tender-hearted, you might say—bonding with a young fan whose confidence needs boosting:



Finish your candy bar, Junior, and you'll grow up big and strong like Gustavus!

"We wanted to create a timeless Alpine world, a self-contained microcosm of interesting characters and places," Daniel Schaefer, W+K creative director, tells AdFreak. "We wanted to create a world that feels truthful and relatable to people. Some people have asked us if Lilaberg actually exists. It doesn't. That's exactly the feeling that we wanted to create."

There's some nice continuity between "The Strongman" and the second ad, "The Biscuit Jar." Here, a young girl who briefly appears in the first commercial takes the starring role:



Watch out, those whimsical ceramic cake canisters will murder us all! (Unless they're full, in which case they'll probably just take a nap.)

"The biggest challenge was to find a place that could bring our vision of a timeless sun-drenched Alpine village to life," Schaefer says. "Not an easy feat when you have to shoot in October and the Alps are wet, dark and grim. So, ironically, due to our shoot window, we had to go all around the world to New Zealand to find our typical Alpine scenery."

Hobby Film director Vesa Manninen does a fine job of bringing Milka's fantasy world to life in the campaign, now breaking in Central and Eastern Europe as the first phase of a global multimedia rollout.

Overall, the approach is charming and relatable, if perhaps a bit sugary for some viewers.

The team went out of its way to include Lila, "a so-called Simmental cow, a very special breed from Switzerland, so naturally quite hard to find in New Zealand," Schaefer says. "Fortunately, we were able to find Willow on a remote farm around Christchurch—a bit of a diva but a total superstar."

And they lived happily ever after!

CREDITS
Client: Milka
Vice President, Marketing Communication and Brand Equity, Global Chocolate Category Team: Phillip Chapman
Global Milka Equity Director: Karine Chik
Milka Europe Marketing Director: Celine Berg (chocolate only)
Milka Europe Equity Manager: Martha Miralles (chocolate only)
Milka Europe Brand Activation Manager: Charlotte de Laleu (chocolate only)
Milka Europe Marketing Director: Ira Shandaryvska (biscuits only)
Milka Europe Treat Biscuits Base and Equity Marketing Lead: Charles-Henri Cassala (biscuits only)
Milka Europe Chocobakery Base and Equity Manager: Caroline Baume (biscuits only)

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam
Executive Creative Directors: Mark Bernath, Eric Quennoy
Creative Directors: Szymon Rose, Daniel Schaefer
Art Director: Jordi Luna
Copywriter: Scott Smith
Head of Broadcast Production: Joe Togneri
Executive Producer: Tony Stearns
Head of Planning: Martin Weigel
Group Account Director: Clare Pickens
Account Director: Eleanor Thodey
Account Managers: Elianne Vermeulen (TV), Yulia Prokhorova (Print)
Studio Artist: Noa Redero
Project Manager: Janna Harrington
Business Affairs: Emilie Douque

Production Company: Hobby Film
Director: Vesa Manninen
Director of Photography: Franz Lustig
Executive Producer: Tom Rickard
Producers: Anna Bergström, Frederic Rinnan

Editing Company: Work Editorial
Editors: Mark Edinoff, Rachael Spann

Audio Post: Wave London
Sound Designer, Mixer: Aaron Reynolds

Music Artist: Phil Kay
Music Company: Woodwork Music

Postproduction: MPC
Lead 2-D Artists: Bill McNamara, Toya Dreschler
Lead 3-D Artist: Tim Van Hussen
Colorist: Jean-Clement Soret
Producer: Sophie Hogg

Print Production
Photographer: Marcus Gaab

Sonic is preparing a delightful on-site campaign for Coachella later this month, where it will sell completely square shakes that were designed for Instagram and will be available for purchase (and instant delivery at the music festival) through Instagram.

The campaign promotes Sonic's Creamery shakes, introduced last month, which feature more premium flavors and ingredients (like bourbon, Madagascar vanilla bean, wildberry and lavender). To promote the premium products, Sonic agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners suggested creating a premium, highly designed Instagram campaign—and rolling out a new product made specifically for, and sold through, the photo platform.

GS&P enlisted chef Christine Flynn—aka, @chefjacqueslamerde on Instagram—to take the Creamery shakes, deconstruct them and put them back together in adorable square shapes. The result—fun, poppy, foodie-style images and videos leading up to a one-day, geotargeted, personalized delivery of the shakes at Coachella on April 16.

Here's what the shakes look like: 



"We wanted to be the first brand, and especially the first food brand, to have a product that was designed for Instagram, offer it exclusively for sale on Instragram, and then deliver that product within minutes of your order on Instagram," Sonic's president and chief marketing officer, Todd Smith, tells AdFreak exclusively. "We're using the platform to really drive the quality story [of these shakes] in a different way." 

"I just thought it was a really neat idea to create a product for the platform," adds GS&P executive creative director Margaret Johnson. "Everything about this product is square—the cup, the straw, even the cherry on top. I thought that was visually super interesting, and it taps into something we all do anyway. We all take pictures of our food and post it. It seemed like a fun extension of pop culture that's already happening." 

Flynn was the perfect partner on the project, Smith says.

"She is just a hyper creative mind," he says. "She is someone who pokes fun at fine dining by styling and photographing more approachable foods in super sophisticated ways. When we approached her with this idea, she said, 'Oh that's so cool, that's exactly what I do.' "

On April 16, attendees at Coachella will see Sonic ads on Instagram, featuring the shakes along with a "Shop Now" button. Using a geo-fence overlaid on the festival, the brand will be able to find the people who order and deliver the shakes directly to them. The purchase price? You just have to take a photo of the shake and post it to your own Instagram.

"Coachella's a cool place for it," says Johnson. "It's full of young people, for one thing. And it's in the middle of the desert, so what better place to order up an ice-cold, yummy shake?"

Smith said the campaign should help sales of the Creamery shakes, but that's not the primary purpose. As it did with its one-day limited-time offer on Snapchat previously, it's most trying to build its brand among young people by growing its social audience.

"We're looking at adding Instagram followers and building a community," Smith says. "We want to push our brand into spaces where it hasn't necessarily been before." 

More images below. 

Lawyers representing JWT's chief communications officer, who is suing her agency over claims of discrimination, today filed a court document arguing that video footage of former CEO Gustavo Martinez joking about rape should be allowed into evidence.

The document also accuses the company of "encouraging" Martinez's behavior by downplaying the significance of his off-color comments.

The video in question reportedly shows Martinez speaking at a 2015 corporate gathering and joking that he was afraid of being raped "but not in a nice way" at the event's Miami hotel. In a document aimed at keeping the video out of court, the agency's legal team said Martinez made those comments "to ease the tension" regarding an "unruly and disorderly" party held at the hotel the night before.

When plaintiff Erin Johnson filed her lawsuit last month, Martinez initially said there was "absolutely no truth to these outlandish allegations" and promised to prove his innocence in court. He later resigned after JWT parent company WPP hired an outside firm to investigate Johnson's claims.

In the new documents, Johnson's legal team at Vladeck, Raskin & Clark argues that WPP's legal response regarding Martinez's rape comment amounts to a defense of Martinez: "Defendants' dismissive description of the 'context' of Martinez's joke about being raped, 'but not in a nice way' is confirmation that defendants not only are condoning Martinez's behavior, but indeed are encouraging it."

Regarding JWT executives' claims that they "appreciated" Martinez's efforts to make light of the situation, the plaintiff's memorandum states, "This after-the-fact attempt to cover up unlawful conduct is a blatant rewrite of history and is obviously pretextual."

Earlier this month, lawyers for WPP argued the DVD of Martinez's comments should not be allowed into evidence because it contains "confidential" information regarding JWT's global management strategy. They wrote that its release could "cause significant damage" to the agency's ability to remain competitive by revealing trade secrets to its competitors.

In today's filing, Vladeck, Raskin & Clark argued that the video should be admitted due to both "the public's role in monitoring the courts" and "the public interest in discrimination at a major employer."

"The Video confirms and is integral to the Amended Complaint's allegations of bias including Martinez's repeated comments about raping JWT employees," the memorandum reads.

The document is harshly critical of the agency's arguments, stating that lawyers for JWT and parent company WPP have "conjure[d] up a privacy interest" to minimize the fallout from Johnson's suit. It points out that hotel staff were free to enter the meeting, and the DVD only shows "fleeting glimpses of attendees."

WPP and JWT's lawyers expressed a desire to protect agency executives from reporters asking questions about the case. Today's filing reads, "The absurd contention that media executives somehow deserve protection against a few calls or emails from the press does not come close to meeting defendants' heavy burden to justify sealing of the video."

Most of the legal arguments so far have centered on the Miami gathering, which is just one of the incidents alleged in Johnson's suit. Last week, Martinez moved to retain a law firm separate from the one representing JWT and WPP—indicating the case could continue even if the primary parties involved reach a settlement.

WPP representatives declined to comment on the latest developments in the case.

In general, there's a trend in advertising toward more straight talk when it comes to treatment of potentially embarrassing conditions. And now, adult incontinence category leader Depend is making a big push into more authentic messaging with short- and long-form content starring real people who've battled bladder leakage.

The Kimberly-Clark brand has created, for the first time, broadcast spots that feature the personal stories of real men and women. The campaign, created by Organic, introduces the new, improved Depend Fit-Flex Underwear.

See the broadcast spots here:

"Our consumers really need to see themselves in the stories we're telling as a brand, rather than coming from a brand point of view and having Depend tell people how to manage their bladder leakage," Jennifer Nobui, Depend senior brand manager, tells Adweek. "Men and women really respond well when they see that others have gone before them, and have been able to live the same lives they were living before bladder leakage. When they see that people just like them can do that, they're inspired to take the same steps."

Here are the long-form videos:

Documentarian Cynthia Wade, who won an Oscar for the 2007 short doc Freeheld, directed the new spots. (She also directed this eight-minute brand film for Dove back in 2014.

"I have spent much of my career telling stories of ordinary people who, despite living authentic and meaningful lives, are often held back by something that is causing them to experience fear or embarrassment," Wade said. "I love ripping away the shame and telling a story where someone can be fully honest with the world. This is an extraordinary moment of courage."

The campaign also includes print and online ads. In addition, Depend has partnered with motivational speaker and life coach Susie Moore.

"Confidence is key to living a fulfilling lifestyle, but many men and women with bladder leakage hide away in shame," Moore said in a statement. "I couldn't be more proud to partner with the Depend brand for this program to help people with bladder leakage realize this common issue doesn't have to hold them back and encourage them to, as I like to say, 'live an unconditional, regret-free life' with products like Depend Fit-Flex Underwear."

The campaign also includes an online influencer content series; product sampling and retail support; and multiyear, multimillion-dollar charitable partnerships with United Way Worldwide and The Simon Foundation for Continence. 

Check out the print work here: