Adidas - The Spark

Really like the atmosphere, the production on this new campaign from 180 Amsterdam... however, I think their strategy is wrong.

To me... the Spark... the mystery of what Zidane is up to is a really nice opener for a dark, moody story filled with suspense. Yet supposedly a year out from the big climax of the campaign in the World Cup, they're already ruined the ending and stuffed the opening episode so full of product that there's nothing left to tell.

It is a beautifully produced spot... and I'm sure the target audience will think it's cool... but it could've been a lot cooler.

Trailer


Full TVC

McDonalds - No fry left behind (DDB Chicago)

I think working on the McDonalds account must be quite a challenge. I would imagine that every brief that comes in will have a pretty hard retail message at its heart... i.e. Big Mac sales are down, what can we do about it? or... how can we get people eating more junk food, even though everyone's new years resolution has been to give it up? (evil!) The client will always be pushing for the product shot... the product shot... that's what'll get people going. They agency will constantly be saying... but people know what a chip looks like... that'll be boring!!! This ad manages to keep the product at the heart, but in a really imaginative way.

You could liken it to the 'inside the Coke machine' / Happiness factory ad done a few months back i.e. cool hidden worlds where strange creatures obsess about the product, but this still feels pretty fresh in a slightly stale category to me.

McDonalds - No fry left behind


CocaCola - The Happiness Factory

New Coke Gremlins Ad

I really like this new Coke ad from Mother in London.

The questions I want to know are:
1) Have Coke and / or Mother been smart enough to negotiate a cut of the publishing rights to the song? With Calvin Harris being pretty hip right now and all the TV airtime this ad will get, the song is bound to chart pretty high.
2) What kind of experiential activity have they got lined up for the festivals around the summer to link in with this ad? I'm sure you could have a lot of fun with the gremlins...

Augmented reality stuff

I'm really loving all the augmented reality stuff at the moment.

The latest Star Trek DVD one and the Topps baseball card one are the most interesting ones that I've seen in the commercial sphere. My question would be to what extent this is a novelty thing or something that will be here to stay.

Obviously the technology is funky, but does the set-up cost of doing this kind of stuff pay back the consumer enough to warrant it?

Star Trek


Topps Trading Cards