Handbuilt by Robots – Collett Dickenson Pearce for Fiat Strada (1979)

main8390

“A visual feast. For the audience in 1979 this was as close to sci-fi as you could get. It was like watching two minutes of the Star Wars movie – no one had seen anything like it before. The ad also makes it seem like lots of care has gone into building the cars.”

One evening in 1979, television viewers who hadn’t gone to the loo in the middle of News at Ten saw something very unusual, a commercial break completely taken up by one ad. It was a two-minute triumph showing a car being put together in a factory, and not a dirty blue overall in sight. The original idea for an ad to promote the new italian car was to use smoke coming out of the Vatican as a sign that a new car had been born. But at the drawing board, writer Paul Weiland remembered an item he had seen on the tv show Tomorrow’s World about the Fiat factory in Italy where cars were put together by robots. He tracked the footage down and decided it could form the basis of the new Fiat campaign. “In Europe the car was called the Ritmo, so I thought… what kind of music can I put with this?” recalls Weiland. “My knowledge of classical music was zilch but I remembered something called Figaro and thought: Figaro sounds like Ritmo! I put this music to it and everyone thought it was great…” If that part was easy, the filming of the commercial turned out to be a nightmare.

Ironically, when the production team led by the director Hugh Hudson arrived at the Fiat factory in Turin to shoot the film they had to run a gauntlet of pickets and burning tyres lit by workers protesting about robots taking their jobs. “When we arrived there, there was a strike, and we got locked in to the factory” recalls director Hugh Hudson. “We were locked in nobody operating, just someone to press the button. All the workers were out but we were in making the film…” “The commercial was quite expensive at that time, around 300.000 pounds” add Paul Weiland, “but they probably lost about seven million in production, because every two seconds we were having to stop the machines!”

Strada-press-advert

The finished ad had no voice over and ended on a simple caption “Handbuilt by Robots”. Many ad makers believe its intelligent combination of music and camerawork make it one of the best TV commercials ever shown in UK.

Advertising Agency: Collett Dickenson Pearce
Copywriter: Paul Weiland
Art Director: Dave Horry
Director: Hugh Hudson
Production company: Hudson Films

 


Saatchi & Saatchi Berlin/Days of Hope – Homeless People Forecast Weather on TV in Europe

news_Ger_Days_of_Hope732x366

Saatchi & Saatchi has launched a new campaign to raise the profile of increasing homelessness in major cities across Europe.

Called ‘Days of Hope’, the idea originates from Saatchi & Saatchi Berlin and focuses on the impact the cold January weather has on the many homeless people in Europe. Real people living on the streets are invited to a TV studio to present the weather in place of the regular weather-readers.  When presenting the weather, the homeless person will allow the audience to take a closer look at their daily lives and make a request for donations to the charity.

The Saatchi & Saatchi Network collaborated to make this happen across many countries. The office in each participating country partnered with a charity that helps those living on the streets and persuaded a TV station to take part in the campaign.

Already launched in Romania and Russia, the campaign is being rolled out for Diakonie Frankfurt across Germany within the next few weeks. Switzerland will launch this week with Poland anticipated too. In Romania, the charity Samusocial is supported by Prima TV, in Russia, Spravedlivaya Pomosch is supported by TV Rain, in Serbia, Shelter is supported by TV Pvra, in Switzerland, SPS (Sozialwerke Pfarrer Sieber) is supported by TV Züri, in Poland, PCK (Polski Czerwony Krzyż) is supported by TVP INFO.

Oliver Kapusta, ECD of Saatchi & Saatchi Berlin, and creator of the idea said: “This idea is an excellent example of the power of creativity and of how the Saatchi & Saatchi family take an idea and makes it big across all borders.  Originally created as a radio spot in Germany, ‘Days of Hope’ now takes place during primetime in potentially 5 countries.  Who else is capable of this?”

John Pallant, Saatchi & Saatchi Regional Creative Director EMEA said: “This is a very simple, but surprising idea, which we are expecting to get a lot of attention, stimulate conversations around this important issue, and most important of all, increase donations.”


Microsoft Xbox/Halo3 – The Believe Campaign

 “A hero is more than a person, a hero is a belief. A belief that, against impossible odds, the world can be saved—and that the world is still worth saving. Heroes inspire that belief in us. They renew our faith and give us that most precious of all gifts—hope. The world  needs heroes. That’s why, when a true hero arrives, the world will honor him.— Xbox.com introduction of “Believe”.

In a bid to reach new audience for Halo franchise for the release of Halo 3, a futuristic human versus aliens science fiction videogame, McCann and T.A.G. in San Francisco came up with this complex integrated campaign that utilizes both film and online advertising. They created a large diorama that documented a historic battle, which was filmed for tv and cinema spots. An interactive flythrough tour of the diorama was then also placed online. It was all intended to present Halo as a story with real emotion. “Our objective was to use every medium we could to communicate the simple idea that Master Chief (the hero of the game) is a true hero to all humankind” says John Patroulis, creative Director at T.A.G.

“The goal was to make this the biggest title lunch in Xbox history” Patroulis continues. “And we went about it by executing a global campaign that used absolutely no game footage, starred either plastic figures or old men in its films, used classic music as its soundtrack, and almost never showed Master Chief”

“The ability to really move people is limited in a 30- or even 60-second TV spot, but the chance of something that’s more interactive or longer format…that’s the same feeling you get as after you’ve gone through a story or an experience and that’s what moves people... – Taylor Smith, Global Communications Director, Xbox

Halo 3 became the fastest pre-selling game in history and made 170 million in sales on its first day, the biggest launch in entertainment history.

Halo 3 – Believe

Halo3 Short Film 1 – Enemy Weapon

Halo3 Short Film 2 – Museum

Halo3 Short Film 3 – Hunted

Halo3  Short Film 4 – Gravesite

Halo3 Documentary – The John 117 Monument


BBC – Attenborough’s Wonderful World

One year ago, following the final episode of the Attenborough-narrated cold-climes series Frozen Planet, the BBC aired a two-minute trailer subtly celebrating the 60-odd years that the iconic TV personality has spent working on non-fiction programming for the network. Visually, the spot, from ad agency RKCR/Y&R, doesn’t deviate far from the staple shots of most natural science shows. Brightly colored birds, time lapses of blooming flowers, panoramas of majestic terrain, and pensive baboons all make their obligatory appearances. How can you not love this? It’s surprising and clever, yet also dignified. The only words in it are from the song ” What a Wonderful World” written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss, and of course made famous by Louie Armstrong. This works so well because Attenborough speaks the lyrics—pleasant platitudes that we’ve almost stopped noticing, as the song has become audio wallpaper—in his signature cadence of wonder and delight. This renews our appreciation both of the song, and the power of Attenborough’s delivery. And of course, it’s all done to support stunning footage of nature, nicely edited with subtle sound effects to match the pictures. More than the sum of its parts. “It’s a wonderful world, watch it with us,” reads the BBC trailer’s tagline. Fantastic.

Advertising Agency: RKCR/Y&R, UK
Executive Creative Director: Mark Roalfe
Creatives: Ted Heath, Paul Angus


Songvertising – 32 best commercials with singing people

1 – YEO VALLEY ORGANIC – Boyband

In a follow-up to last year’s rapping farmers ad, Yeo Valley launched a tv spot during the first ad break of The X Factor live show. The one-off, two-minute music video features a farming-inspired boy band called The Churned, singing a ballad entitled Forever. The ad was shot on location in Blagdon, in the heart of rural Somerset. The launch tied in with a Facebook karaoke competition, where users could sing along to the Yeo Valley track. The winner appeared in a 30-second version of the ad, which ran during the X Factor final on 11 December.

Advertising Agency: BBH London
Year: 2012
Shortlist

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

2 – CARLTON DRAUGHT – Big Ad

An epic send-up of big budget ads, featuring a cast of thousands. Song lyrics: “It’s a big ad / very big ad/ it’s a big ad we’re in./ It’s a big ad/ my God it’s big/ can’t believe how big it is/ it’s a big ad for Carlton Draught / It’s just so freaking huge! / It’s a big ad/ expensive ad! / This ad better sell some bloooooody beer!!!

Advertising Agency: George Patterson Y&R, Melbourne
Year: 2006
Gold Lion

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

3 – PUMA – Hardchorus

We open on a small group of hardcore soccer fans, also known as hooligans, standing in a classic British pub. Suddenly, one of them starts singing the first words of “Truly, Madly, Deeply” by Savage Garden. Another hooligan joins in, and as the camera pulls out, we see that the whole pub is packed with hooligans. They all sing together with the power of an entire stadium of fans during a soccer game, turning the cheesy love song into something big, beautiful and romantic. After the last chorus, a super appears: “It’s match day. It’s Valentine’s Day. Let your better half know how you feel. Dedicate and send this song at pumahardchorus.com”. Followed by Puma’s “Love = football” next to the Puma logo.

Advertising Agency: Droga5
Year: 2010
Gold Lion for the Campaign

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

4 – NORTE BEER – It’s Good to Have Friends

Beer means friendship, and this campaings presents in funny way the different kind of friends we all have.

Advertising Agency: Del Campo/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi, Buenos Aires
Year: 2009
Silver Lion for the Campaign

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

5 – T-MOBILE – Welcome Back

On October 27th 2010, thousands of unsuspecting passengers arriving at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 were given a welcome home to remember. People were greeted by a 300 strong choir and vocal orchestra singing a medley of songs, completely a cappella, to welcome them back into the country.

Advertising Agency: Saatchi & Satchi,  London
Year: 2011
Silver Lion

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

6 – COCA-COLA – Hilltop

Advertising Agency: McCann Erikson
Year: 1971

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

7 – HEINEKEN – Singer

A blues singer can’t sing the blues – his life is too contented. A sip of lager soon changes that. Heineken refreshes his blueness.

Advertising Agency: Lowe Haward- Spink,  UK
Year: 1992
Gold Lion

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

8 – HONDA – Impossible Dream

A man travels on an incredible journey using some of Honda’s landmark products whilst miming to the Andy Williams song ‘The Impossible Dream’. His journey comes to an abrupt end when he leaps off a giant waterfall in a Honda Powerboat into the mist below. Surely, this is the end of his dream? However as Andy Williams reaches the crescendo of the song, our hero returns in a Honda Hot Air Balloon to finish off the song in style. Garrison Keillor – the voice of Honda – sums it all up with ‘I couldn’t have put it better myself’.

Advertising Agency: Wieden + Kennedy,  London
Year: 2006
Gold Lion

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

9 – COCA-COLA – Choir

Here’s Coca-Cola celebrating along with Santo its 125th year, and once again, we are guilty of naivety. We believe that, even today, the world is not far from the world that we dream of. In fact we are so naïve about thinking this way, that we decided to carry out an investigation to evaluate just how justified our reasons to believe in a better world were. We are proud to present to you “Choir”, created by Santo for Coca-Cola Latin America and their new communications platform: “REASONS TO BELIEVE IN A BETTER WORLD”.

Advertising Agency: Santo, Buenos Aires
Year: 2011
Silver Lion

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

10 – T-MOBILE – Singalong

When T-Mobile invited the British public to be part of their next event, people turned up to Trafalgar Square, not knowing what they were letting themselves in for. Thousands of microphones were handed out as it was revealed they’d all be singing karaoke together. After a number of songs, and with a surprise guest appearance from Pink, the event culminated with everyone singing the timeless classic, ‘Hey Jude’

Advertising Agency: Saatchi & Satchi,  London
Year: 2010
Shortlist

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

 11 – NIKE FREE RUN – I Would Run to You

Love makes people do crazy things. Like run across the country. See how strong running reunites a long distance couple.

Advertising Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland
Year: 2012
Bronze Lion

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

 12 – NIKE – Pretty

As Maria Sharapova marches to her tennis match, she passes people who sing I Feel Pretty. She slams a ball cross to court, putting an end to the singing.

Advertising Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland
Year: 2007
Gold Lion

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

13 – BASF – Dear John

The ad, set in army camp, features a soldier receiving a letter which goes to the tune of “Dear John”, the country song written by Lewis Talley, Fuzzy Owen and Billy Barton and made popular by Jean Shepard during the Korean war. As the song finishes the sergeant adapts the classic line from Humphrey Bogart, “Play it again John”.

Advertising Agency: Colenso BBDO, NZ
Year: 1982
Gold Lion

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

14 – REXONA – Sensitive Armpits

A tough lumberjack is chopping down a tree. As he rearranges his cap, we notice at the same time he does that his underarm begins to song a sweet song. The corny melody is really annoying him. At this point, we see different cliché images of rough and tough men all undergoing the same situation. Finally, one of them applies the New Rexona Men Sensitive and succeeds in shutting up the underarm voice. A male voice in off says: New Rexona Men Sensitive. Even the most insensitive guy can have sensitive underarms.

Advertising Agency: Ponce Buenos Aires
Year: 2011
Silver Lion

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

 15 – STARBUCKS – Glen

Glen jumpstarts his day by drinking a Starbucks DoubleShot. As he opens the can, Survivor appears in his apartment. They follow Glen through his full morning routine, singing a personalized version of “Eye of the Tiger.”

Advertising Agency: Fallon, New York
Year: 2004
Shortlist

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

16 – GOOGLE – Demo Slam: Realtime Karaoke

Google is more than just a search bar. However, most of us don’t use, let alone, are aware of its many features. We needed to find a way to share all this free technology with the world. To educate everyone about all of Google’s innovations; we decided to change the way people learnt about it. We got precisely the people who didn’t use this free tech, to explain to the others why they should. Because, only they would be able to explain it in a way that would be fun to watch, and understood by all. By bringing in just a little bit of courage, creativity and fun; each of them pushed the role of technology in our lives and inspired the rest to use it in ways never imagined before.
Transforming something few were aware of to something the whole world cared about; we were able to re-define the role of technology in everyone’s life. From celebrities, scientists, soccer moms, teens to even sports personalities; everyone came forward to find new ways in which technology could make their world a little better.

Advertising Agency: Johannes Leonardo, NY
Year: 2011
Gold Lion for the Campaign

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

17 – DISCOVERY CHANNEL – I Love the World

We developed a new brand idea for Discovery Channel: Discovery is the
World’s Biggest Fan of the World. We wanted to celebrate all that is epic, beautiful, inspiring, fun and just plain crazy in the world. Fellow fans—from spacewalking Astronauts to Alaskan fishermen to Zulu warriors to Stephen Hawking to Discovery hosts like Mike Rowe and Bear Grylls—sing along to an old campfire song re-written to express how each of them loves the world. In other words, to tell people why Discovery Channel thinks “The World is Just Awesome.”

Advertising Agency: 72ndSunny, USA
Year: 2008
Shortlist

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

18 – MATCH.COM – Piano

This is a film for the online dating service, Match.com, which features a couple finding each other as they examine musical instruments. He strums a guitar and she plays a keyboard. Together they make beautiful music, and it’s clearly the start of something special.

Advertising Agency: Mother, London
Year: 2010
Gold Lion

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

 19 – WILKINSON – Mow the Lawn

Girls in a front yard sing about mowing the lawn in order to promote Wilkinson/Schick Quattro razors for women.

Advertising Agency: JWT, New York
Year: 2009

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

20 – AMERICAN LEGACY FOUNDATION/TRUTH – Singing Cowboy

We saddled up a horse, found a modern day cowboy that happened to have a hole in his neck due to a tobacco-related laryngectomy, and sent him to Manhattan to sing.

Advertising Agency: Arnold/Crispin Porter + Bogusky, USA
Year: 2007
Bronze Lion

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

21 – ARNET BROABAND – Numa Numa

The ad shows some of the funny stuff you can find on the Internet.

Advertising Agency: Santo, Buenos Aires
Year: 2007
Shortlist

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

22 – EVIAN – Voices

A man in a lift, a jogger, a secretary by the photocopier, a man in his car, an elderly lady…in all these scenes from everyday life, we see people singing with their childish voices.

Advertising Agency: BETC Euro RSCG, Paris
Year: 2003
Shortlist

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

 23 – NIKE WOMEN – Surgery

A group of women run away from a plastic surgery clinic dancing a choreography to a reggaetón tune.

Advertising Agency: Madre, Buenos Aires
Year: 2007
Bronze Lion

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

 24 – DIESEL – Anthem

Sing-a -ong Diesel Island national anthem. Why is your country fucked up?

Advertising Agency: Santo, Buenos Aires
Year: 2011
Silver Lion for the Campaign

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

 25 – PROCTER & GAMBLE – You’ll Never Walk Alone

This 60-second commercial shows a lifetime of moms by their children’s sides doing the daily, sometimes mundane, things that help their children grow up to be Olympians. All the while, they sing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Carousel. The ad builds from a child’s birth and culminates with the Olympics and a proud mom seeing all her hard work pay off. We then cut to a card that says, “Thank you, Mom,” followed by a series of product brand images that ends on the P&G logo with the voice-over, “P&G. Proud sponsor of Moms.”

Advertising Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland
Year: 2010
Bronze Lion for the Campaign

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

26 – BURGER KING – Americas Favorite/More Mayo/More Cheese

Introducing the Whopperettes.

The Whopperettes return with a story about extra cheese.

The Whopperettes return with a story about mayo.

Advertising Agency: Crispin Porter + Bogusky
Year: 2006
Silver Lion for the Campaign

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

 27 – CADBURY DAIRY MILK – Night Runner

Fallon and Cadbury keep Great Britain pumped for the Olympics with a new spot that re-creates “The Final Countdown” — but adds multiple voices singing from the towers and buildings while a runner makes his way, presumably, to the Olympic Gold. An accompanying interactive feature encourages Britons to upload videos of them singing similarly inspirational songs to help team GB to victory.

Advertising Agency: Fallon London
Year: 2012

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

28 – LOTTO LOTTERY – Ballroom Blitz

A taxi driver refuses to let passengers into his cab. Instead, he walks over to the queue and starts to sing for them. The man who joins in is chosen as the lucky passenger.

Advertising Agency: New Deal DDB, Norway
Year: 2001
Bronze Lion

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

29 – CADBURY DAIRY MILK – Simply the Best

Part of Cadbury’s “Keep Team GB Pumped” campaign for London 2012 Olympics, swimmer Rebecca Adlington is serenaded by royal guards, dinner ladies and butchers with Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best.”

Advertising Agency: Hypernaked, London
Year: 2012

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

30 – AMP ENERGY DRINK – Walk of no Shame

AMP wanted to introduce three new products with specific energy functions, designed to help our target, people who live their lives to the fullest. We also needed to increase brand awareness and embed ourselves into their daily life. We wanted to be the most relevant, unlike our hyper-masculine energy competitors. “Walk of No Shame” was an ode to the infamous walk that young people take “the night after” going out. With the look and sound of a mini-musical, AMP showed how one can take a “walk of no shame” as it gets you back on your feet.

Advertising Agency: BBDO New York
Year: 2009
Shortlist

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

31 – LABATT BLUE BEER – Big Song

A young man tries to make up to his girlfriend by singing her a song around a campfire – “Out of the Blue”, and it turns into a huge sing-a-long.

Advertising Agency: Ammirati Puris, Canada
Year: 2001

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

32 – PEPSI – Pepsi Generation

Advertising Agency: BBDO, USA
Year: 1984


Coke Zero – Make It Possible Project

 “I view every single member of our community as a marketing director for the Coke Zero brand,” 
Jonathan Mildenhall, VP of Global Advertising Strategy and Creative Excellence at Coca-Cola

Coke Zero is out to create an international dance craze–and remake its marketing process– via the Make It Possible Project,  a campaign that came together organically over the course of several months with input from Coke fans around the world.

Eschewing the traditional advertising model, the brand instead used its Makeitpossibleproject.com storytelling platform to experiment with content creation relying on public participation: “Consumers can see through these marketing platforms, so why not genuinely bring them into the process so they’re part of the marketing community?” says Jonathan Mildenhall, VP of Global Advertising Strategy and Creative Excellence at Coca-Cola, stressing, “I view every single [member] of our community as a marketing director for the Coke Zero brand.”

This worldwide network of marketing directors got to work late last summer on a campaign orchestrated by Coke agency Ogilvy Paris. The project kicked off when director Jon M. Chu, creator of The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers web series, went online at Coke Zero’s behest to announce that the soft drink was on the lookout for a hot new original dance (Mildenhall was actually inspired to make dance the central theme of the project after a chance meeting with Chu at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last year).

Choreographers and dancers of all experience levels were invited to upload videos to MakeItPossibleProject.com showing off their best moves, and as the submissions came in from around the world, Chu as well as members of The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers provided encouragement through video messages. Meanwhile, the Make It Possible Project community liked, shared, and debated the merits of the dances. In the end, it was the Toe Tappy, a side-to-side toe-tapping dance created by American street dancer Joey “Knucklehead” Turman that won Coke Zero’s interest.

Convinced that the Toe Tappy had the potential to catch on, Coke Zero then initiated a casting call, reaching out to its online community in search of a performer who could bring the dance to life as the star of a global ad campaign. Again, anyone could apply. “At every stage of the creative development process, we were helping members of our target audience realize their ‘what’s possible,’” Mildenhall says, noting that a group of finalists from the community were flown to Los Angeles, where they were photographed for an out-of-home campaign–think everything from posters to in-store displays–and provided with behind-the-scenes video to share through their social networks.

Keemo, an actor and dancer from France, ultimately became the face of the campaign, winning the lead role in “A Step from Zero,” a web film that broke today on Coke Zero’s YouTube channel Directed by Nima Nourizadeh out of production company Partizan in Buenos Aires (Coke also worked with Stink Digital for interactive components and Opus 88 on out of home) and featuring a track titled “I’m All In” by up-and-coming rapper Metis, the film casts Keemo playing a young man whose family doesn’t support his ambition of becoming a professional dancer. He eventually wins their approval after he creates a dance–the Toe Tappy–that spreads all over the world thanks to the Internet. (The web film was also cut into 60- and 30-second commercials.)

The narrative is loosely based on Knucklehead’s personal story, which is shared in more detail on the Make It Possible Project site through a short documentary-style film. It provides a raw portrait of a young man who survives a rough childhood and makes his way to a better life through dance. Knucklehead, who, incidentally, competed on MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew with Street Kingdom, is also featured on the site in a series of videos that show him traveling the world, from Japan to New Zealand, teaching people the Toe Tappy, and he also got people buzzing about his dance via social media.

The young influencers who make up the Make It Possible Project community have shown great interest in the aforementioned content. In fact, according to data culled from the site, visitors spent an average of six minutes on MakeItPossibleProject.com during the content creation portion of the campaign, with peaks running as high as nine minutes.

Given the success of the endeavor in terms of engagement, Coke Zero is now looking to take consumers on additional creative journeys via the Make It Possible Project, giving them an opportunity to pursue their own passions and play a role in shaping and sharing the marketing messages aimed at them. “You can rest assured that the next tale of possibility will have a ringleader like Jon Chu, we’ll activate the community, we’ll source authenticity from a community of believers as we go through the process, and hopefully, we’ll realize the dreams of several people,” Mildenhall says.

The approach confirms Coca-Cola’s commitment to its content 2020 manifesto which outlined a long-term, company-wide marketing plan that is less reliant on traditional advertising and more invested in generating content that can flow through any medium while reinforcing the company’s business objectives.

“For Coke Zero, I never want to go back to a traditional hidden creative development process,” Mildenhall says. “I always want to engage with the community in helping us find the talent and find the stories and find the creative elements. It’s just so much more rewarding.”

Behind the Scene

Advertising Agency: Ogilvy Paris
Year: 2012


Saatchi & Saatchi Italy for World Down Syndrome Day – The Coordown Project

People with Down Syndrome can be part of society and actively contribute to its development. The Coordown organization campaigns for the integration of people with Down Syndrome in society and, in particular, the work enviroment. On the 21st of March, on World Down Syndrome Day, we promoted this in an exceptional way.

“We are very proud to participate in this project. We were struck by the innovative style of this project, communicating the importance and the normality of diversity through the tool that permeates our daily lives and that captures our attention in every moment of the day: advertising. We are proud to contribute to the dissemination of this message, which contains the values central to the Toyota philosophy which always put the person first, clients on one side and the employees on the other side, as a vital resource. People with their talent and passion, variety and diversity that make our company a great company.”  – Lorenzo Matthias – Public Relations General Manager at Toyota Motor Italy.

On that day, alternative versions of the commercials of some of the most well known national and international brands (Illy Coffee, Averna Liqueur, Cartasi Credit card, Toyota, Pampers) were broadcast on tv. During filming, we had shot alternative scenes in which the original actor was substituted by an actor with Down Syndrome. These alternative versions appeared 334 times that day.

The same happened with print campaigns (by Enel,  Carrefour, Toyota)  scheduled on the main national Italian newspapers.
And in the same vein, on the 21st of March, people with Down Syndrome appeared in some of the most famous Italian television programmes, replacing the usual stars.

The operation attracted the attention of all the national media, including tv, newspapers, magazines, radios, social media and blogs and, on the following days it opened a debate all around the country.

We generated the equivalent of nearly 5 ½ Million euros worth of coverage and we reached around 18 million people, a third of the italian population. And, most important of all, in the week following the communication event, enquiries to CoorDown from companies interested in integrating people with Downs Syndrome into their organizations went up 600%.

“We are proud of taking part in such an innovative communication event, because we firmly believe in it – declared Sergio Silvestre, CoorDown National Coordinator. We are thankful to Saatchi & Saatchi and to all the other partners for the precious help and the sensitiveness they showed. Regarding the theme of inclusion, unfortunately there is still a lot to do, especially in workplaces and schools, starting from people’s prejudices. The winning idea is sending normality as a message. People with Down syndrome have the right to express their capability and to have the same opportunity as anybody else. But too often they are considered different and incapable of having an independent lifestyle. This campaign is an exceptional example, and we hope it will be the example to follow, every day.”

Advertising Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, Italy
Executive Creative Director: Agostino Toscana
Creative Directors: Agostino Toscana, Alessandro Orlandi, Luca Lorenzini, Luca Pannese
Art Director: Luca Pannese
Copywriter: Luca Lorenzini
Supporting Creative Team: Antonio Gigliotti, Micaela Trani, Nico Marchesi, Riccardo Catagnano, Davide Vismara, Sonia Cosentino, Anselmo Tumpic, Elena Cicala, Fabio D’alessandro, Manuel Musilli, Antonio Di Battista, Tommaso Zago, Eliana Frosali, Antonio Tardio, Daniele Barone, Emanuele Quadri, Giulio Frittaion, Marco Dispenza, Massimo Paternoster, Alberta Schiatti, Raffaele Bellezza
Production Company: Akita, Made, Mercurio, Catsound, Sing Sing, Networks, Castadiva Pictures, Myavalon, Band, Top Digital, Disc 2 Disc, Flippermusic
Directors: Luca Maroni, Bosi e Sironi, Nadia De Paoli, Xavier Mairesse, Jose Pratt, Leone Pompucci,
Photographers: Davide Bodini, Mecanique Generale, Matteo Cremonini, Platinum, Boudwjin Smit, Lorenzo Scolari,
Post Production: Balalò, Rebelicon, Matteo Tranchellini
Year: 2012

“We are proud of taking part in such an innovative communication event, because we firmly believe in it – declared Sergio Silvestre, CoorDown National Coordinator. We are thankful to Saatchi & Saatchi and to all the other partners for the precious help and the sensitiveness they showed. Regarding the theme of inclusion, unfortunately there is still a lot to do, especially in workplaces and schools, starting from people’s prejudices. The winning idea is sending normality as a message. People with Down syndrome have the right to express their capability and to have the same opportunity as anybody else. But too often they are considered different and incapable of having an independent lifestyle. This campaign is an exceptional example, and we hope it will be the example to follow, every day.”

Studio Brussel – Black Boy Wanting Water



Brussels, Belgium-based Mortierbrigade’s out-of-the-box pro-bono creative, “Black Boy Wanting Water,” won a Titanium Lion at the Cannes International Advertising Festival this year, as well as Lions in the Direct and Media competitions. A member of the Film jury, he spent much of his time reviewing commercials, but as the week progressed and his agency’s work was honored in one competition after another, his anticipation built. The excitement culminated at the end of the week, when the work walked away with the Titanium Lion.

“We never expected to win that,” says Mortier, a 40-year-old writer who co-founded the agency three years ago. “It was unbelievable.” 

The agency started working on the campaign last October, when it was asked by client Studio Brussels, a radio station, to come up with a campaign for its yearly “Music for Life” fundraiser. The “Music for Life” event, benefiting the Red Cross and its water programs, aimed to raise awareness about the problem of limited drinking water in Africa. “We were looking for another way to approach this problem, not to just make an advertisement,” says Mortier. “We wanted to find a much more direct way of confronting people with this problem.”
Instead of creating a spot asking for help, the agency had a young black boy, Gaetan, run into live broadcast studios to grab the glass of water usually unnoticed in front of newscasters or show hosts, drink it, then run off again. “We thought by having this boy [take] it we could say it’s maybe not so normal to have a glass of water, and make it clear it’s not in reach for millions of other people,” says Mortier.

To keep the reactions as real as possible, the agency informed only the the shows’ producers in advance, keeping the on-air talent in the dark. “They didn’t know this was going to happen,” says Mortier. He adds that it “wasn’t so easy” keeping the project quiet, but the station owner, government-owned VRT, gave the agency access to the live broadcasts of five prime-time shows, including political, sports and entertainment programming.

The five- to 10-second interruptions, which took place for three days over a weekend in December, were filmed and later broadcast as a commercial that explained who was behind the events and why. Mortier admits the agency wasn’t sure how well the idea would work. “It was live, so we only had one shot,” he says. “We had to cast a little boy who wasn’t afraid to interrupt live television recordings. Not easy. But Gaetan did it with a lot of flair.”

The work stirred the curiosity of the Belgian public, and by the time Monday morning rolled around the media was buzzing about the TV oddity. The radio station soon explained it was behind the stunt, as did the TV programs, and the PSA ran for a few weeks after the fundraiser. “It gave us the opportunity to tell this story one more time,” says Mortier.

Paul Woolmington, co-founder of Naked Communications in New York and a member of the Cannes Titanium jury this year, says the panel was impressed with the simplicity and inventiveness of the program. “I love the idea that something so taken for granted and universal could be hijacked in such a provocative and relevant way,” he says. “The idea and execution is so simple and brilliant, but finding the right person with vision and authority to make it happen is very difficult. Anyone tried to get through to Rupert recently?”

The effort raised 3.3 million euros, with 1 million euros donated by the Belgian government. For a country of 10 million people, it’s an impressive figure, notes Mortier, particularly since the initiative was broadcast only in Belgium’s Flanders region, the Flemish part of the country.

(from Adweek)

Advertising Agency: Mortierbrigade, Brussels
Creative Director: Joost Berends, Philippe DeCeuster, Jens Mortier
Creative: Dieter Vanhoof, Tim Driesen, Joeri Van den Broeck
Production Company: Caviar, Brussels
 Year: 2008


UHU – The Stickiest Ad in the World

Insights, Strategy & the Idea
To convey the product advantages “fast” and “strong” of UHU one-second adhesive in such a way that they would ‘stick’ in the target group’s minds.
Basically everyone knows, and uses, UHU.
Compared to our competitors, we are faster and stronger. That is where the idea comes from.
It showed the product features both clear and unseen.

Creative Execution
The ‘stickiest’ UHU ad ever. We took over a complete commercial break. In the first UHU ad, a man hangs his coat on a hook that he stuck onto the wall just a second before. In the following three ads from other companies, the coat remains unmoved, in the centre of the picture. In the final UHU ad, a young woman hangs her bag on the hook. Payoff: Super-strong. And super-fast. UHU one-second adhesive.

Results and Effectiveness
Click-through rates from the website during the time the campaign was on air rose by 14%. In additon to that, numerous comments were posted on blogs as moderators of the sequence, interrupted by advertising, focussed on the ad.

Advertising Agency: Serviceplan, Munich

Executive Creative Director: Matthias Harbeck
Chief Executive Creative Director: Alex Schill
Creative Directors: Matthias Harbeck, Oliver Palmer
Copywriter: Oliver Palmer
Art Director: Therese Stüssel
Production Company: Neverest, Munich
Film Director: Helmut Huber


Conect Pay TV – The village where nothing ever happens

Shackleton in Spain in 2008 demonstrated the power advertising on Pay TV channels with a campaign promoting tourism in Miravete, the village where nothing ever happens (El pueblo en el que nunca pasa nada). The campaign was developed for El Consejo Especialista en Canales Temáticos, CONECT (Specialised Council of Thematic Channels).To test the efficiency of Pay TV the agency had to choose a product that was unknown and had never been advertised on television. The campaign would need to be launched only on Pay TV, with a clear call to action related to the product and its web site. They needed to set up variables that could be measured before, during and after the campaign: knowledge, awareness, site traffic and sales. At the end of the project Pay TV would be accredited for the experiement’s success in a public way.

The campaign won seven Lions at Cannes International Advertising Festival 2009: 2 Direct Gold (Use of Media Direct Response Broadcast: TV, Radio & Infomercials, Product & Service Publications & Media), 2 Direct Silver (Use of Media Direct Response Digital: e-commerce, online advertising & brand awareness, and Best Integrated Campaign Led by Direct Marketing), 2 Promo Silver (Best Integrated Campaign led by Sales Promotion, Publications and Media) and 1 Promo Bronze (Best use of TV in a Promotional Program).




Objective of the direct campaign
Pay TV Thematic channels have spent 20 years running advertising campaigns talking about its advertising efficiency. On 2008, they were looking for a different reaction. It was time to stop talking about efficiency and we decided to demonstrate it unequivocally through a real exercise involving four steps:
1) Choose an unknown and never-advertised-on-TV product.
2) Launch an advertising campaign only on Pay TV, with a clear call to action to the product and its website.
3) Measure variables (knowledge, awareness, traffic, sales) before, during and after.
4) Accredit Pay TV for the experiment’s efficiency and announce it to the market.

Creative solution
The chosen product was Miravete de la Sierra: A tiny village with amiable people, on Sierra de Lastra, Maestrazgo County, Province of Teruel. Its 12 inhabitants became the stars in a real tourism campaign as if it were a much bigger and important city. Few weeks later, Miravete became a media and tourist phenomenon, attracting plenty of tourists and journalists.
Since Pay TV was the only media channel involved, its role was direct and unquestionable. Subsequently, the “Miravete Case Study” was elaborated and detailed results were presented to media and advertisers in order to communicate the efficiency of Pay TV. We headed for a challenge: Create a different, unexpected tourism campaign.  Amidst tourism campaigns that bear a huge offer of activities, we chose to invite people to do nothing:
HERE NOTHING EVER HAPPENS. HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN SINCE NOTHING HAPPENS TO YOU? Come to MIRAVETE.

Four TV Spots starred by its 12 inhabitants invited the viewers to the village.
86 year old Cristobel Sanguesa provides the narrative. “There are no cars or traffic lights here, the only work is going to buy bread, check the kitchen garden and the hens”.
We’re introduced to the 12 inhabitants one by one. In reality there are usually 47 people staying in the village over the winter, with many more arriving in the summer.
A game of cards and a coffee in the local tavern
Two men in the village retrieve a rock from the local stream.

The site included a 3D virtual tour through the the village led by its eldest inhabitant Cristobal. An online reservation office allowed visitors to book a room in the “Priest’s House” or in the rural hostel. Participants were invited to take part in the village’s most common activity, goat milking. Replicas of the 12 inhabitants were made available for sale, along with free ringtones, screensavers and campaign materials. A donations facility allowed donations to buy tiles to restore the church’s roof.



Results
– Amidst the crisis, the thematic channels increased their advertising market share a 5.05% (value) and maintained its volume (seconds) against a decline of a 7,5% of general TV Stations. (Infoadex/Sofres);
– 517,000 web visits;
– Estimated Publicity: 574.540€;
– Awareness: 498% increase, before 390.840, after 1.568.700 (IMOP);
– Recall: 56% (CIMEC);
– 10 times more visits than turismosevilla.org, Bilbao.net (Nielsen Netratings);
– 650 links and references (YouTube, Facebook) (Infometrics);
– The two village bed and breakfast booked solid for four months.

Advertising Agency: Shackleton
Executive Creative Director: Juan Silva
Copywriter: Juan Silva/Carlos Janini
Art Director: Carlos Alvarez