We All Love a Cameo Ad.

Here's work that bounces by Sid Lee for Adidas' "All In" campaign. The famous faces and choice of music do a lot of the heavy lifting, but the production's focus on the strength, grace, sense of connectedness and power that animates the active female is what makes it electric.

I actually want to get out of my seat and go get streamlined to a soundtrack. Possibly in a hoodie. Although that probably won't actually happen until I get another back roll (nothing, in the end, is more motivating).

Want more? Visit the Adidas Women Facebook page. (Thanks to Adidas France CM Brice Mazenod for the linky-loo.)

Ad via Le Publigeekaire.

It's Okay to Go Left Field...

...if you can tie things nicely back to the brand.



We all have a kid inside who's thirsty for stories, who's waiting to fall in love with a moment, and who wants to laugh. This walks a nice line between modern self-deprecating humour and taste. See? It's like the difference between a good comedian and a bad one: you can be ostentatious and provocative if you're hitting those deeper chords, but if you're crass just to be crass, you're shooting blanks.

We Need More Stuff Like This.

Someone recently asked me if I am optimistic about the future of humanity. Despite dire statistics and the (anecdotal?) knowledge that people care more about maintaining quality of life than about big-context global sustainability*, I still feel that people work best at gunpoint. The worst may not yet have arrived, but neither has the best, and we have to traverse the former for the latter. That is just how we are. (Hopefully the wake-up call isn't full-on apocalypse, though.)

For as much waste and destruction we're capable of producing, we are just as equipped for producing miracles. There are some who say we are fascinated by our trajectory toward imminent tragedy. This isn't the case, and every little thing we do -- connecting with the world, self-organising for human rights, cooperative farming, purchasing locally, correcting wrongs, even advertising with greater care for both the long-term sustainability of the brand and our children -- makes a ripple in the sea of our collective destinies.



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*There are currently as many people alive on Earth today as the total number of human deaths since the beginning of organised civilization: 6.8 billion. Is that not ostentatious?

Bubblegum Love: All Candy, No Nutrients

Here's some pretty work by director David Lobser for production company Blacklist and MTV World Design Studio Milan (CD: Roberto Bagatti). One commenter, pointing out the jarringly obvious, has already observed, "inverted hearts look like ballsacks." The butterfly stomach explosion doesn't help matters either.

But it's still pretty work. I am vaguely reminded of Frito Lay's 2009 campaign, "Made for Each Other," except this wee :20 piece is less substantial. (Substance was never the strong suit of MTV ads, though; their stuff leans more toward short, ambient and otherwise without core.)

Your call as to where the actual bubblegum is.

Audi + Bose: A Match Made in Minimalism

Today Bertrand over at VOTW bombed me with a bunch of ads I haven't seen, kindly catching me up after a short vacation. This was my favourite. For Audi's "A Big Idea: Condensed" campaign, BBH London expresses the power of the A1's integrated Bose speakers using imagery that pops hard and a cinematic voiceover. Both brands were served nicely. They didn't even need the full 30 seconds; 11 did the job fine.

Pack it small but pack a punch. Masterful work in a genre where little changes and little art is left.

Can't wait to watch and hoard campaign variations; it's healthy candy for the eyes. One last pretty pretty for the road:

AdVerve: Spirit of 76

Play the show now.

Not just because it’s episode 76, but we were supposed to record over the Great American holiday that was the Fourth. Instead, work took over and we’re actually closer to celebrating Bastille Day as Bill and I kick it live and uncensored, French style.

So what’s new in this one? We actually cover a Wrap Of Cannes and my trip there on behalf of Yahoo! But wait, there’s more: Official French grammar watchdogs - yes they have them - why The Dude wears a bathrobe and why no guy outside of a Big LeBowski convention ever should. You will not believe the places we go. Or maybe you will. Listen you some.

Linky-loompas:

- Paris Syndrome strikes Japanese
- Yahoo Scene's Cannes Coverage

(Image.)