It's almost Christmas, but don't worry! There's still time to weep openly at commercials, and this "Lily & the Snowman" spot by Zulu Alpha Kilo for Cineplex is just the thing for that. (And since it's also screening in Cineplex theaters, you can cry like a coal miner's widow right out in public.)

In the animated spot, a Frosty-esque snowman makes elaborate shadow puppets for a little girl, who keeps him alive by locking him in a freezer for most of the year. That sounds really weird, but the cuteness kicks in when the girl grows up and remembers her sun-averse friend during a late night at work. That was when the sobbing began in earnest for many viewers, judging by the YouTube comments.



And if the story and visuals don't get you, the music might. The song—a cover of Genesis' "Follow You, Follow Me" by Adaline—is sung at just the pitch for eliciting sad, nostalgic and/or wistful feelings. 

There's been no word about which movies this short will precede, but something tells us Star Wars will be one of them. With all the nerd tears already being shed over the latest movie in that franchise, it would certainly make the most sense. 

CREDITS
Agency: Zulu Alpha Kilo
Client: Cineplex
Chief Creative Officer: Zak Mroueh
Executive Creative Director: Allen Oke
Associate Creative Director: Noel Fenn, Andrew Caie
Art Director: Guilherme Bermejo
Writer: Nick Doerr
Clients: Susan Mandryk, Peter Furnish, Darren Solomon, Maxine Chapman, Laura Mingail
Agency Producer: Tara Handley
Account Team: Mike Sutton, Roy Gruia, Laura Robinson
Strategic Planner: Ebrahim El Kalza
Animation: Hornet Inc.
Directors: Dan & Jason, Hyesung Park
Producer: Desiree Stavracos
Rep: Hesty Reps, Lisa Batke
Audio/Music House: Vapor Music
Audio Director: Joey Serlin, Brendan Quinn
Producer: Kailee Nowosad
Engineer: Julian Rudd
Music Licensing: Heather Gardner
Song: Follow You, Follow Me
Original Artist: Genesis
Writers: Phil Collins, Anthony Banks, Michael Rutherford
Publisher: Imagem Music
By arrangement with Casablanca Media Publishing
Performer (English Version): Adaline
Performer (French Version): Julie Crochetière
Media Agency: PHD Media
Media Agency Planner: John Wearing, Andrew Young, Scott Henderson
Read more at http://adland.tv/commercials/cineplex-lily-snowman-2015-230-usa#O7TmOL6etEdVwYXj.99

Hey, was that Jude Law in CHI & Partners' new "The Life RX" campaign for Lexus Europe?

Indeed it was, though if you blink you might just miss him: The Hollywood A-lister appears only at the opening and close of this minute-long commercial.



Well, that parking attendant sure had all sorts of wild, wondrous adventures tooling around the Italian Riviera in Jude's luxury Lexus RX SUV! That's what happens when you "borrow" a superstar's car for a few hours. And the actor, last spotted pitching Johnnie Walker, didn't even lay down the law afterward. Jude's a cool dude. (Note to self: Avoid valet parking.)

The connection between driving the vehicle and living the high life works pretty well, and the likable ad—shot in splashy style by Smuggler's Adam Berg—never goes too far over the top. Glossy fantasy feels like a smart direction for the nameplate.

Law, who's set to appear in more Lexus spots, grins a lot but never says a word. Here, he proves the old saw about there being "no small parts," adding considerable charm and gravitas to the breezy scenario in little more than a cameo. 

If you'd like to try other lifestyles of the rich and famous on for size, there's also Guy Ritchie's classic soccer ad for Nike, which birthed the first-person POV genre in modern advertising (though porn arguably had first dibs). 

CREDITS
Client: Lexus
Head of Brand, Communications: Spiros Fotinos
Senior Brand Manager: Christopher Taylor
Creative Agency: CHI&Partners
Executive Creative Director: Jonathan Burley
Creative Director: Rob Webster, Alexei Berwitz
Copywriter: James Crosby
Art Director: William Cottam
Agency Planner: Rebecca Munds
Agency Account: Tilly Cooper, Gary Simmons
Agency Producer: Roz Prentice, Bebe Kiffin
Media Agency: ZenithOptimedia
Media Planner: James Wrigley, Nisha
Production Company: Smuggler
Director: Adam Berg
Production Co. Producer: Gustav Geldenhuys
Post-production Company: Moving Picture Company
Audio Post-production: 750 mph
Digital Design Company: Amaze
PR Agency: Freuds

Police brutality is a hot-button issue in our nation right now. But despite the current advertising climate of social good projects, most brands have been silent on the subject. T.I.'s clothing label Akoo has broken that silence with its 11x Human fall collection and an introductory video that asks questions about social justice while promoting the fashion.

Diametrically opposed to traditional collection videos, which often go for nothing more than a mood, and sometimes seem to intentionally court confusion with nonsensical imagery, this is an introduction with a point of view.

"The campaign pushes a sense of social consciousness and responsibility around issues of racial violence, urging a sense of shared humanity as a way of counteracting increased brutality," says director John Merizalde.

Passionately narrated by Michael "Killer Mike" Render, a hip hop artist and activist from Atlanta, it's clear that this video is more than a fashion campaign. It's a call for us all to step up and see each other not as cop and perp, not as black and white, but as human.



I want to be clear that this is not a piece that brands all police as racist. It portrays both black and white cops, and black and white suspects. We see a black cop connecting with his young son and a white cop also connecting with his son. We see one black son of Atlanta robbing another black son of Atlanta, leading to the police chase. And through it all, we see a tableau of Atlanta from the city's famous strip clubs to the iconic windows of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Baptist church.

"Our goal was to be reflective of the violence that we inflict on our own community and not just limit the focus on external factors such as poverty, poor education and the actions of the police," says Sabai Burnett, vp of Marketing at Akoo. "This film is the crescendo of our artistic viewpoint—heavily graphic and unapologetic. 'If not us, who? If not now, when?' "

While such a bold statement is unusual for a fashion brand, it's perfectly in line with T.I.'s politics. The hip-hop artist (real name: Clifford Joseph Harris Jr.) recently urged people to take action about inequality, claiming social media posts will not solve the problems we're experiencing as a nation. So it should come as a shock to no one that T.I. would shoot a statement film like this in his hometown, narrated by Killer Mike—another friend from his hometown—shot by an Atlanta director and using locals from the riders of ATL Bike Life to the dancers at the Blue Flame Lounge.

What's more shocking is how few brands are willing to offer a point of view on the topic. It doesn't matter what community you live in. I, too, am a daughter of Atlanta. Though it's not my hometown, it is the town where I'm raising my children. And that which affects one of us affects all of us, because we are all human.

CREDITS
"Eleven Times Human"
A short film commissioned by Akoo
Directed By John Merizalde
Cinematography by Kristian Zuñiga
Narrated by Michael "Killer Mike" Render
Executive Producers: Tip "T.I." Harris, Jason Geter, Ralph Reynolds, Sabai Burnett and David Kwon Kim
Producers: David Kwon Kim and Brandon Smith
Production Managers: Grey Clawson and Garrett Coyte
First Assistant Camera: Daniel Guadalupe
B-Camera Operator: Erin Murray
Steadicam Operator: Mark Sunderland
Gaffer: Alex Allgood
Key Grip: Austin English
Art Director: Addie Babcock
Hair & Makeup: Desi Davis
Wardrobe Stylist: Kellye Barnes
Production Assistant: Jae Desouza
Production Assistant: Courtney Wallace
Editor: Andrew Litten
Composer: Patrick Canaday
Additional Music: NEVR and Watermark High
Sound Design: Matt Dunaway
Color: David Torcivia
Special Thanks
ATL Bike Life
Blue Flame Lounge
Cascade Family Skating
Columbus Ward and the Rick McDevitt Youth Center
HD Planet Cameras
Jeremy Miller
Kirsten Daniel
Matt Swinsky
Pro 8mm

It's the most wonderful time of the year, except for agency people who've been feeling the annual pressure to come up with something fun for their agency holiday card. How did they do this year? Check out some of the more notable efforts below. 

We'll be updating this post over the coming days. So, email us your card, and if it's any good, we'll try to include it.

 

•Anomaly

If Santa was a woman, could she do the job? A social experiment by Anomaly.

 

•BBDO Toronto

Stress-relieving coloring books for adults are all the rage, but BBDO Toronto went a step further. The agency created a coloring tablecloth featuring a holiday design. "As a bonus, we included washable markers, allowing the tablecloth to be washed and used again," the agency says. "A new holiday tradition, perhaps?"

 

•Cossette Chicago

This agency's holiday video was allegedly "written over a long weekend by a modestly paid group of writers, who holed up at a fishing cabin within spitting distance of the North Pole to fully immerse themselves in the holiday." This is what they came up with.

 

•DDB Chicago

"The Drunk History of DDB."

 

•Havas Chicago

For its #ilovegrandma campaign, Havas Chicago turned its River North lobby into four separate "grandma's kitchens," each representing a different ethnicity: African American, Asian, Caucasian and Latina. The grandmas are friends and family of Havas, and the kitchens are equipped with ovens supplied by Kenmore, a Havas client. The grandmas will be serving up free cookies made from classic family recipes to the public from the Havas lobby at 36 E. Grand from 11am-3pm, Dec. 15-18, 21-22.

 

•J. Walter Thompson

Santa Had Help. This mobile website allows gift givers, receivers or anyone else to meet the elves who made this year's gifts. You scan the barcode on a gift by using the phone's built in camera, and seconds later, one of 150 unique videos plays that corresponds to the specific gift in hand. The videos feature various male and female elves at their workstations in Santa's workshop in the North Pole.

 

•MKG

MKG introduces PRISTINE BALLS! A good call in this snowless December in NYC.

 

•McKinney

McKinney introduces JöLLY, he first wearable that tracks happiness. The JöLLY Tracker is a wearable that monitors just how much you smile. And if you're not smiling enough, it gives you an electric shock to the face. Enjoy!

 

•Northlich

Insecure Christmas trees get the Dove treatment in this "Real Beauty Sketches" spoof.

 

•Ogilvy & Mather New York

Ogilvy is celebrating the season by posing for wonderfully tacky stock holiday photos."The photos feature Ogilvy staff in some of the most clichéd holiday moments we've all had to endure in advertising: from the painful office party to the little girl sitting on Santa's lap," the agency says. The whole series is available for purchase on Getty Images, with proceeds donated to the World Childhood Foundation."

 

•Plan B

Donald Trump actually doesn't want to replace Barack Obama. He wants to replace that useless, lazy slob Santa Claus!

 

•R&R Partners

Dress up a snowman like R&R employees!

 

•Ray Agency

Ever try to catch a turkey? It's not as easy as it looks.

 

•Rethink

Rethink presents The Ornament That Saved Christmas. This festive DIY combines a candy cane, old headphones and a genius hack of a smartphone's headphone jack to make it fun to unplug this holiday season with an accompanying site of animated ornaments.

 

•SapientNitro

SapientNitro came up with "SpeakEmoji," the world's first voice-to-emoji translator. "SpeakEmoji translates grown-up speak into cool emoji messages to help adults engage with their festive little "digital natives." If kids won't come to Christmas, maybe we can take Christmas to the kids."

 

•SheKnows

Dogs and cats recreate holiday movies in this video from SheKnows. Choice spoofs include A Pugmas Story, Love Catually and Frozen Dogs.

 

•Sid Lee

Sid Lee gives you The Christmatizer. The agency created a Chrome plugin that automatically replaces pre-roll ads with various Sid Lee holiday videos, which you can check out below.

 

•SS+K

Check out the agency's Merry Auction, where they're selling off "bespoke human-crafted gifts from everyone in the office." Proceeds go to charity.

 

•Team One

Team One created a 360-degree video that will really mellow you out during this stressful season. "Headphones suggested. Parka optional."

 

•The VIA Agency

VIA filmed a lovely, emotional spot for Preble Street, a homelessness charity in Portland, Maine. It's running on TV and in cinemas.

 

•Vladimir Jones

Check out this agency's Mule Log, yet another Yule Log spoof in a year that's seen several of them from marketers, too.

 

•Will Creative

Will sent a mysterious survey to clients asking them to identify their holiday vice (cookies, wine, eggnog, etc.). But instead of sending them their vice as a gift, the Will employees spared them the temptation by consuming it for them in 130 personalized videos.

 

•Winsper

This Boston agency produced a three-part satire of the agency life themed to the classic story of The Grinch.

 

•Wunderman NY

Greed vs. Good 2015. In partnership with EdgeDNA, Wunderman Chicago and Badass Brooklyn Animal Rescue, Wunderman NY created a socially controlled freezer, where the temperature rose and fell based on the use of two hashtags: #MeltfortheMoney and #FreezeforGood. Inside the freezer was a snowman stuffed with $4,500 cash. That money would either be donated to Badass Brooklyn Animal Rescue or won by one of the greedy #MeltfortheMoney tweeters. (Spoiler: The #FreezeforGood tweeters won.)

One Direction is going on hiatus beginning in March, and they apparently they can't wait.

Because this is Super-Bowl-blackout-level news, just waiting in the wings for an Oreo to own it, KitKat seized the day: Working with J. Walter Thompson, it posted a tweet that uses the 1D news to build on its longtime "Have a break" slogan: 

Enjoy the break & see you soon! @Harry_Styles@Real_Liam_Payne@NiallOfficial@Louis_Tomlinson#HaveABreak#1Dpic.twitter.com/BRlD1pYSyO

— KITKAT (@KITKAT) December 17, 2015

It's an opportunist's wet dream: With help from a retweet by 1D's Liam, the post generated over 60,000 retweets and 80,000 likes in less than 24 hours, not to mention a bevvy of replies from mourning fans, many of whom are begging the brand (and the band, because why not?) to put the customized packages from the tweet into production:

No word on whether Nestlé plans to pull a flagrant Coca-Cola and turn this low-hanging fruit into reality, but one thing's for sure: They hit fans where it hurt, and unlocked a super-social market that's hankering to tide their break from One Direction over with some snap-off chocolate therapy. (Somebody definitely needs to send a pack to Noel Gallagher.)

In other recent efforts to penetrate the zeitgeist, KitKat tried petitioning the Unicode Consortium to create a snapping Kit-Kat emoji. Unlike Taco Bell (but just like Durex), it has so far failed—which is great news from those of us who could use a break from brand creep. 

CREDITS
Client: KitKat
Agency: Team Iconic at J. Walter Thompson Worldwide
Global Creative Director: Marcus Woolcott
Creative Director: Barry Christie
Global Business Director: Stephanos Kilmathianos
Social Media Executive: James Treen
Designer: Melissa Wong
Senior Account Manager: Kat O'Donnell
Planning Director: Orlando Hooper-Greenhill, Joao Caputi

Netflix may have revolutionized how we watch TV, but it's not stopping there.

Working again with Pittsburgh-based agency Deeplocal, the streaming company just released another do-it-yourself invention. This time, it's a pair of socks that detect when you've fallen asleep and pause your program so you don't miss out. 



How do they work? Allow Netflix to explain: 

We've based our sleep detection system on a popular method called actigraphy. An accelerometer detects when you've stopped moving for a prolonged period of time and triggers a signal to your TV that pauses Netflix. When it detects that you've dozed off, an LED light in the cuff of the sock flashes red, warning that the pause signal is about to be sent to your TV. Any motion will stop it from firing.

The accelerometer is very sensitive to little movements, so it's good at detecting when you're just sitting still, raptly watching Netflix, and when you've actually fallen asleep. 

The socks are the perfect solution to a problem no one really talks about. And it would be great not to experience the shame that comes when Netflix asks, "Are you still watching?"

Putting the socks together involves a bit of knitting and electronics assembly. Step-by-step instructions are posted at makeit.netflix.com. Of course, Netflix cheekily suggests that "if knitting isn't your thing, you can always enlist the help of a knitting-savvy friend"—which you shouldn't have much trouble finding, given that yarn is ad land's new catnip—and that "to build the sensor, you'll need an understanding of electronics and microcontroller programming, and be comfortable around a soldering iron." 

More pics below. 

Is there a way to make the bile-spewing Donald Trump a little more, well, palatable? Turn him into a dessert item, perhaps.

Los Angeles-based Pitch Agency isn't actually trying to win anyone over politically, but it did include Trump in its recap of 2015's standout moments and personalities, rendered as carefully crafted riddles atop gourmet sugar cookies. 

See all of the cookies here.

The ad mavens, who work on Burger King, Pepsi, Pinkberry and other clients, drew from significant people, places and events this year to come up with 20 snapshots for these oversized treats, which they started distributing early this month. And many of them come with a little bite.

For example, along with the Tin Man, Dorothy and the Scarecrow, one confection features a character dubbed the Cowardly Dentist (a reference to the profession of Cecil the Lion's killer). Another cookie is trussed up like a cinema marquee for American Sniper, featuring news anchor Brian Williams.

Pitch Agency also included a few mashups, like Sesame Street's Cookie Monster blinged out as Cookie Lyon from Empire, and Caitlyn Jenner on a Wheaties box; as well as twists on notable deaths—Paul Walker's solo-car sendoff from Fast and the Furious 7, and the "Live long and prosper" emoji for Leonard Nimoy.

The agency calls them "the edible equivalent of playing cards" and a way to test your cultural literacy, with some being more arcane than others (to wit: a FIFA World Cup trophy with a "sold" sign on it).

There's a long and not-very-proud tradition of anti-drug advertising that gets ridiculed for missing the mark with young audiences. Australia's New South Wales government just added a classic new entry to that hall of shame with #StonerSloth, a campaign designed to shame teens who get high—but who are finding the ads hilariously delightful instead.

In three short videos, marijuana has turned teens into giant sloths—and the metaphor is made literal, as the kids are actually depicted as giant hairy beasts with long, curved claws. Socially, they're utterly useless. All they can do is moan, since they're so high. And they can't take tests at school, make small talk at parties, or—most comically, if unintentionally so—even pass the salt at dinner.

"You're worse on weed," claims the tagline.

The campaign is so cartoony and weird that teens, rather than learning any lessons from it, are embracing it as one big joke. There are already parody videos, endless Twitter jokes—and even a "Pass the salt" sloth T-shirt for sale.

The New South Wales Department of Premier and Cabinet is standing by the campaign, at least for now. "The 'Stoner Sloth' public awareness campaign has been designed to encourage positive behaviors in young people before bad habits start, and motivate discontinued use of cannabis before they become dependent," a rep said in a statement. "The campaign is designed to appeal to, and be 'shareable' among, teenagers, who are some of the most vulnerable to cannabis use. We know that younger audiences respond more to campaigns highlighting the short-term consequences of their actions."

Well, it certainly is shareable, which is more than you can say for many such campaigns. Of course, that came at the price of becoming a laughingstock. Indeed, even Australia's National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre has disowned the work.

Check out the best of the Twitter reaction below, including a couple of tweets from New South Wales premier Mike Baird. 

Just saw the #StonerSloth ads. Not sure where NSW Gov's ad guys found Chewbaccas siblings, but those videos are... Quite something.

— Mike Baird (@mikebairdMP) December 19, 2015

I've been assured no sloths were harmed in the making of those #StonerSloth ads.

— Mike Baird (@mikebairdMP) December 19, 2015

It's here #stonersloth the t-shirt pic.twitter.com/h9S5zqvQOo

— Eiza (noeL) Berage (@verbaliza) December 20, 2015

The first thing I thought when I saw #stonersloth was 'how high were the people who made this?'

— Lauren Actually (@laureningram) December 19, 2015

How NSW govt feels after #stonerslothpic.twitter.com/1swloD1E0s

— Jon Piccini (@JonPiccini) December 19, 2015

#stonersloth Delilah is dyslexic, Jason needs glasses, and the last bloke is shy with girls.

— Justin Houston (@Justinjh87) December 18, 2015

Not one thing has made me want to blaze up as much as #stonersloth has. Big grinny hugs to the Bairdy one.

— Elliot V. Schoemaker (@evs) December 18, 2015

Steve Harvey and Miss Universe—two people you likely weren't thinking about Sunday afternoon—abruptly became the Internet's top topics Sunday evening.

Harvey spectacularly botched the announcement of the winner, accidentally giving Miss Colombia the crown. Then, at the most awkward moment possible (the new Miss Universe's celebratory wave to the crowd), he whipped the audience into a hooting frenzy with the words "I have to apologize," noting that the real winner was Miss Philippines.

The whole scenario, frankly, felt like a twist from WWE's WrestleMania rather than from a hyperproduced global pageant. 

So was it scripted? A manufactured moment of controversy to push Miss Universe to the top of social trending topic lists? And if so, who would have been in on it?

Even Harvey's first attempt at an apology—a tweet that misspelled both Colombia (as Columbia) and Philippines (as Philippians)—felt like it was taken from a page in some modern PR playbook. A quickly deleted tweet that fanned the flames further? Who could resist?

Admittedly, there are several reasons it's unlikely to be fake, the most prominent being the enduring smear it has likely placed on both the pageant and Harvey's hosting abilities.

But many still seem skeptical (and understandably so).

I mean be honest -- did you even know Miss Universe was on tonight? You get my point. Anyway, carry on.

— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) December 21, 2015

Does anyone else but me think this Miss Universe screw up was staged? When was the last time Miss Universe got this much publicity?

— Marcos (@TheCoster) December 21, 2015

you didn't care about Miss Universe until … * *hoax

— Caro (@socarolinesays) December 21, 2015

No chance the Miss Universe deal is real. No chance. Gotta be staged.

— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) December 21, 2015

After watching the Miss Universe pageant ending, I'm almost 90% sure that was staged...

— Dip Jr. (@D_Tolb) December 21, 2015

.@serial Please find out whether the Miss Universe thing was staged. And whether Don picked up a shift at LensCrafters tonight.

— Karen Howell (@karenehowell) December 21, 2015

90% of me thinks that Miss Universe thing was staged. Because who watches beauty pageants?

— John Mousis (@jmousis) December 21, 2015

So how soon are we going to find out the Miss Universe Steve Harvey mix-up was completely staged to make people talk about Miss Universe?

— Andrew Dyce (@andrewbdyce) December 21, 2015

If staged, the Miss Universe thing is like Andy Kaufman level genius.

— Paul Pfeifer (@pmpfeifer) December 21, 2015

I mean it just seemed fake and staged but there's no way that they would actually do that is there? #MissUniverse

— Hank Allen (@HankAllenWX) December 21, 2015

I'm sorry but that "error" was so staged #MissUniverse

— Nady (@NMarieGonzalez) December 21, 2015

Nostalgic 1990s aesthetics guide this SNL parody ad for hoverboards, which are more like those dorky Segway/unicycle hybrids you see tech guys riding sometimes instead of Marty McFly-style boards. Which is just as well, because they randomly catch fire and explode, and sometimes accelerate to 80 mph with no warning.

In real life, hoverboards use lithium-ion batteries that occasionally malfunction, and the SNL ad takes specific aim at the underlying reason why, before insinuating that hoverboards are made by Korean gangsters.



As usual, SNL overwrites the skit, but the details help out a lot. The costumes are great—I want that "Whee!" shirt more than I'm comfortable with—and the graphics do a good job reinforcing the ad's tone. The one guy yelling "Noice!" while his grandfather burns in the living room is a pretty funny visual.

It's clear they were going for a Happy Fun Ball vibe, and while they didn't get there, this is still better than 85 percent of what they've done since then.

When you book your vacation through Thomas Cook, it'll be so good that you'll be dancing like a madman. That, at least, is the premise of a new ad by Albion London for the U.K. travel agency.

The commercial opens on a quiet hotel pool, before a young hero makes his very loud entrance. Wearing only his swim trunks and a strapped-on shark fin, he grooves his way around the water, pausing only to see if the lifeguard is going to scold him. (After a friendly, totally irresponsible smile, he resumes.)

Thomas Cook credits the soundtrack, which is integral to the ad's success, to one Tam Cooper. The general idea, from the kid's performance to his aesthetic, knacks pretty strongly of Napoleon Dynamite, which is a bit tired.

But the setting, and his age, keep it fresh enough, while the simplicity and focus of the idea is charming enough to make a nice change of pace from the usual travel fare—even if, at a minute long, it could still stand to be a little shorter.



The tagline, "Be Bold," falls flat—it's too broad to offer any clear attachment to the brand or its services. But the general takeaway is clear enough. On the one hand, the ad is playing specifically to families—namely, mothers who want their kids to have fun on vacation. More broadly, it appeals to everyone's inner child. That's wise, because everyone wishes they could cut loose, but Mom knows she's going to end up chasing around Junior around the deck the entire time, anyway.

If this were a Danish travel campaign, though, that'd be just one of many moments she'd be cursing her own mother, for funding that last trip some 10 years ago. 

We've written a lot about cinemagraphs, those mostly still photos that are animated by a small amount of video, producing an image that in some ways is more captivating that either photo or video alone. Now, cinemagraph software company Flixel has produced what it says is the first cinemagraph TV commercial—a Pizza Hut spot that's been airing on truTV's Billy on the Street, featuring comedian Billy Eichner.

The ad shows a couple taking a selfie in Times Square. But while they are still (except for the dude's weirdly undulating dollar bill), everything else is moving around them—at super fast pace. The Pizza Hut branding shows up to the left and right of the couple—in a digital billboards that featuring scrolling text and a static logo that comes and goes.

It's definitely eye-catching, even hypnotic, though way busier than typical cinemagraphs. 



The spot has been playing on truTV for 10 seconds during Billy on the Street as a lead-in to a full Pizza Hut commercial.

The ad was created using a combination of Flixel apps including Persecond for Mac, Cinemagraph Pro for Mac and traditional animation software. Check out the behind-the-scenes footage below. 

Visual synecdoche rules in Droga5's new Android spot, in which fingers dressed up as caricatures stand in for consumers.

There's a hitchhiker finger in a Hawaiian shirt, and a subway commuter with a bright red afro, and a masked Mexican wrestling finger—but they all fit right in using Google's mobile operating system, says the ad.

Titled "Fingerprints"—presumably because everyone has a unique digit—the spot the latest under the brand's "Be together. Not the same" tagline. That's a good thing, or at least, has a better ring to it than "Android. The smartphone platform for people who have fingers."



Overall, the concept is inevitably not as charming as Android's supercut of different animal species playing together to the sounds of Roger Miller's 1973 tune "Oo-De-Lally"—among Adweek's 10 best ads of 2015. It also can't but evoke Steve Oedekerk's absurd Thumbs! series, despite the perhaps more obvious association with generic finger puppets.

Regardless, the cute concept survives on neat little twists like the introduction of an extraterrestrial finger, and a werewolf finger, and a finger with a Carmen Miranda fruit hat.

Those visual gimmicks, strung together this time by a version of Barry Louis Polisar's 1993 children's song "I Need You Like a Donut Needs a Hole," are nice enough. Some YouTube commenters are wondering where the black fingers are—a reasonable question, especially given the ad's emphasis on diversity.

But, perhaps on the bright side, Google clearly didn't mean anything by the omission. Whether you're a French painter finger or a finger with all gold everything, the marketer only really cares that you're not an Apple finger. 

Barton F. Graf 9000 just rolled out a new campaign for the Supercell game Clash of Clans that's got an interesting mix of elements—namely, an unexpected celebrity pairing plus a new focus on real, epic moments from actual Clash of Clans games users have played.

The "True Tales of Clash Achievery" campaign launched today with a spot called "The Legend of the Last Lava Pup." It's narrated, amusingly enough, by Christoph Waltz as a kind of bedtime story to James Corden, who appears to be Waltz's son in this scenario.

In the suspenseful tale of a epic game that one user played, a Lava Pup, the lone survivor of the army, saves an entire clan seconds before the clock runs out. The footage switches from Waltz and Corden in a bedroom to battlefield scenes animated by Psyop. Then, at the very end, gameplay footage shows the preceding story as it happened in the game.



Combining three different perspectives—live action plus cinematic animation plus gameplay animation—is a novel storytelling method for video games. And it's a really nice way of using humor, spectacle and real gamer stories to keep viewers engaged. 

The film went live on YouTube today. TV and social elements launch Dec. 25, as does a microsite where players can submit their own moments of achievery and view the stories being featured. Out-of-home ads launch Dec. 28 in New York, London and San Francisco.

Barton F. Graf, which used Liam Neeson in a Super Bowl ad for Clash of Clans back in February, has been mining Clash community pages, forums and even Reddit to find real stories for the campaign, emphasizing the idea that every Clasher has a story.

CREDITS
Title: "The Legend of the Last Lava Pup"

Client: Supercell
Brand: Clash of Clans

Agency: Barton F. Graf 9000
Founder/Chief Creative Officer: Gerry Graf
CEO: Barney Robinson
Chief Strategy Officer: Laura Janness
Partner/Executive Creative Director: Scott Vitrone
Art Director: Michael Hagos
Copywriter: Sam Dolphin
Producer: Erica Kahr
Head of Integrated Production: Josh Morse
Account Director: Kate Faux
Account Supervisor: Mike Andreozzi
Director of Business Affairs: Jennifer Pannent
Senior Strategy Director: Sean Staley
Junior Brand Strategist: Kirk Luo

Production Company: Anonymous Content
Director: Tim Godsall
Executive Producer: Eric Stern
Line Producer: James Graves

3D/Animation Production Company: Psyop
Director: Fletcher Moules
Animation Lead: Jean-Dominique Fievet
CG Lead: Stephen DeLalla
Executive Producer: Amanda Miller
Producer: Lucy Clark

Editorial: MackCut
Editor: Gavin Cutler
Asst. Editor: Pamela Petruski
Executive Producer: Sasha Hirschfeld

Music Production : Butter Music & Sound
Music CCO: Andrew Sherman
Music EP: Ian Jeffreys
Music Producer: Ryan Faucett

Mix: Lime Studios/Loren Silber

For its holiday campaign this year, Dollar Shave Club takes an approach that recalls adam&eveDDB's Harvey Nichols work, rolling out amusing portraits of people who actually wouldn't be too happy to get a gift subscription to the mail-order shaving-products service.

These include: Grandma, various kids, a biker who probably hasn't shaved in decades, a robot, and perhaps most amusingly, a hairless cat. 

Dollar Shave Club creative director Alec Brownstein tells us that the ads are running across all social media platforms—but you're likeliest to see them on Facebook.

Check out the photos, and GIFs, below.

CREDITS
Client: Dollar Shave Club
Agency: Dollar Shave Club InHouse
Creative Directors: Alec Brownstein and Matt Knapp
Copywriter: Alec Brownstein
Art Director: Matt Knapp
Agency Producer Matt Sausmer
Agency Director: Raechelle Hoki
Project Manager: Christine Melloy
Photographer: Jeff Minton
Producer: Christine Kantner
Production Company: DS Reps

AT&T finds itself in a bit of a bind at the holidays. Yes, it's a mobile-first company, but at this time of year, it can be irritating for families when kids spend all day on their phones.

To address this, the company is pulling all the retail ads for its mobile business off TV and social for Dec. 24 and 25 and airing the spot below exclusively. The spot was created by BBDO, directed by husband and wife duo Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine) and has a nice message about what really matters at the holidays.



Yes, it's a bit reminiscent of Apple's famous "Misunderstood" spot from a couple of years ago—without quite as powerful a payoff. And of course, any messaging like this isn't purely altruistic. (It's an ad, after all.)

But it's a worthy message nonetheless (one that a few different marketers have been pushing this season), and it's nice to see AT&T supporting it. 

Cards Against Humanity recently bought a Picasso. And it's now asking 150,000 people to vote whether to donate it to a museum or laser-cut it into 150,000 pieces.

And I'm one of those people.

Which Picasso? Tete de Faune—a 1962 Linocut print, of which the artist made a series of 50. They haven't said which number print they bought, merely calling it an original (probably because it's more shocking to think of destroying a single original work than one of 50). But they did produce a ransom note in the form of a loving video showing the Picasso already in the laser slicer, awaiting its doom while enjoying classical music.

And who are the 150,000 people? Those of us who subscribed to CAH's Eight Sensible Gifts for Hanukkah—the brand's third (and purportedly last) annual holiday promotion. (The previous two installments, 12 Days of Holiday Bullshit and 10 Days or Whatever of Kwanzaa, had some amazing prizes. For example, I now own a square foot on an island in Maine. But this is the first social experiment they've attempted.) 

Voting starts Dec. 26 and runs through Dec. 31. I have my special code ready and waiting, to place my vote. Will it end up as part of the collection at the Art Institute of Chicago, or will I receive a tiny scrap of a real Picasso to display in my home, framed over the top of the print in my best approximation of where in the jigsaw puzzle my piece came from?

Let me make the art lovers feel better by pointing out that you can't really destroy this artwork. The idea behind it will never be destroyed, and it lives on in countless digital renderings, as well as 49 more prints from the series. 

What we're really asking is not whether should we destroy this artwork, but in what form should it survive? As one piece? Or as 150,000 tiny pieces that will make it go down in history? If Picasso were alive, I bet he'd be putting it on the chopping block himself, except he'd want to slice it up by hand with an antique sword from the Spanish Civil War.

If we give it to an art museum, it will most likely put it behind closed doors, locking it down to artificially drive up our desire to see it, perhaps for years. As the BBC recently noted: "The numbers don't lie. At New York's Museum of Modern Art, 24 of 1,221 works by Pablo Picasso in the institution's permanent collection can currently be seen by visitors."

You can accuse me of disliking art or Picasso, but I think of my vote to slice it up as a vote for liberation and transformation. Sticking it to the industrial art complex, striking a blow for art democracy, and making history at the same time.

I only wish CAH would tell us the number on the print they bought. I hope it's No. 1. 

Here's another entry for the security-cam ad file: In what could perhaps pass for a case study on the power of storytelling, a Las Vegas taco restaurant turned footage of a real late-night burglary into a commercial about a couple of guys who just needed a snack. 

Frijoles & Frecas Grilled Tacos added snarky captions to three minutes of film in which thieves toss rocks at glass doors, tear cash registers out of the wall and scramble around the restaurant. 

"Poor guy just wants a taco," opens the copy, setting the video's dry, mocking tone. It concludes, "We take full responsibility for what our tacos cause people to do," this last punctuated by food porn and a single teardrop. "They are pretty amazing." 



The ineptitude on display is part of what makes this a hit: YouTube commenters seem both thrilled that the criminals are too stupid to realize there's no cash in the drawers, and suddenly very interested in getting tacos of their own.

Still, the work is long and not entirely original; it could have made the same impact in a fraction of the time, as demonstrated by this 15-second ad for Kent's deli from 2013 (though that would-be thief was even more bungling).

But with over 3 million YouTube views in a little over 10 days, Frijoles & Frecas can still claim it made a viral ad for a minimal investment—making this a pretty efficient strategy for a small business. 

Amid the chorus of derision aimed at Australia's "Stoner Sloth" anti-marijuana ads, one group still wholeheartedly believes in the campaign—the agency behind it, Saatchi & Saatchi.

"The videos have truly gone viral," a Saatchi rep tells the Sydney Morning Herald, adding: "The unexpected global media attention is now providing a platform for parents and teenagers all over the world to have 'the conversation' about cannabis in an engaging way."

The rep also implied that adults who are mocking the campaign probably just don't get it.

"The videos we created were designed as part of a preventative campaign specifically for teens; the audience is not for adults or long-term cannabis users," the rep says. "Two different creative approaches were pre-tested by independent researchers among the teenage target audience, which verified the potential efficacy for this campaign."

Meanwhile, media agency UM, which handled media buying, strategy and social media, is interpreting the "strong viewership and engagement" as a success.

"While it's early days, our research shows the majority of negative comments are not from our target audience, which is teenagers," a UM rep says.

Saatchi also revealed that $500,000 was spent on the campaign, and said it generated "significant return on investment and involvement" for the New South Wales government. 

Metalheads worldwide are quoting Nietszche in the wake of Motörhead singer/bassist Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister's death on Monday, but some may not have noticed he was in a Kronenbourg 1664 ad back in 2010. 

1664, a beer brand owned by Heineken, got Motörhead to record an acoustic blues version of "Ace of Spades" for its "Slow the Pace" ad campaign from BBH London, advancing the idea that 1664's complex flavor needs to be savored.



True to form, Lemmy's explanation for why Motörhead went commercial was an honest one. "We got paid a lot of money by a beer company," he told Q magazine. "They asked us to do it and I said yes. How much? None of your business."

That churlish attitude guided Lemmy's extraordinary career and disproportionately long life. In an industry that ages people in dog years, he made it to 70. More than anyone else in the music industry, he lived on the end of a lightning bolt, playing by his own rules and following his own instincts until the end. 

May he rest in peace. He's earned it.