BBDO Moscow takes the "You're Not You When You're Hungry" campaign for Snickers into meta territory with these three print ads, in which the Snickers bar isn't itself—it's packaging to look like Mars, Bounty and Twix bars.

The concept is a little off, seemingly implying that Snickers itself is hungry for a Snickers—though it's not too far removed from the brand's recent real-world packaging stunt, in which hunger symptoms replace the brand name on the wrapper.

Mars, Bounty and Twix were probably fine with this. They're all Mars Inc. brands, after all. 

Via Ads of the World.

CREDITS
Client: Mars/Snickers
Agency: BBDO, Moscow, Russia
Creative Director: Alexey Starodubov
Art Director: Dmitry Vtulkin
Copywriter: Dmitry Semenov

The saccharine Apple Watch dreamworld lives on.

To show how the high-tech timepiece can make each day more perfect, the marketer just released eight new 15-second ads. Celebrities star in four of them, with Chloë Sevigny returning for her second appearance in the series. Alice Cooper, Nick Jonas and Jon Batiste join her this time, each demonstrating the upside of having a miniature supercomputer on your wrist. 

Fitness is a recurring theme, taking up half of the spots. The best might be Cooper's, a quirky slice of life in which he swings futilely at golf balls (he's a golf enthusiast in real life)—but in the end settles for burning some calories, as measured by his watch.



If you're more like Nick Jonas, you might find yourself running around and panting while perpetually trying to catch up with your older brother Joe. Thankfully, you now have data to quantify that state of being constantly behind, which started the minute you were born. 



Two spots feature less famous actors working out. In one, a woman runs up an endless white staircase, racing against her friend in a visual setting that risks coming across as an uncomfortably apt, if melodramatic, metaphor for life. 



In another, a woman presses through a grueling rowing workout, with some positive reinforcement from the robot attached to her arm. 



The other ads extend that playful tone to a broader set of scenarios. Sevigny loses her phone in a scattered pile of fashionable clothes (exactly where she left off in her last Apple Watch ad, down to the same dress she's wearing). Luckily, the watch enables her to trigger a beep from the missing device. 



Meanwhile, Batiste fields text messages from Quincy Jones, telling him to dress down for an event. He obliges—by switching to a pink rubber watch band (and keeping the suit). 



If you're more of the smug superior type, you might enjoy the zen experienced by a woman who hoists her umbrella up at just the right moment, smiling while the clueless, ill-prepared suckers around her scatter in the rain. 



Lastly, a more socially adept woman uses her watch to coordinate a surprise party for her friend, switching the lights off in her purple living room with a tap of her wrist. 



Like the earlier ads in the campaign—which featured celebrities like Leon Bridges and RZA—these are deft, beautiful little pieces of persuasion. Apple masterfully blends utility and fashion; more so with this product than most, it illustrates how it can make your life easier (and prettier). 

What's worrisome is that the ads' atomized, almost isolationist aesthetic, which felt disconcerting at first, now seems totally normal—even appealing. What is the endgame, if not a sleek minimalist lifestyle wrapped in the soft glow of a frictionless existence? 

The answer: Do what you want with who you want, when you want, and avoid the rest. 

En route to annihilating humanity, would robots take time out for a bathroom break? Apparently they would, if this amusing slice of high-tech potty humor from DDB Chicago, touting Kohler's Veil Intelligent Toilet, can be believed. 

At a futuristic housewarming party, humans and bots mingle ... until the bots make like C3-Pee-O and head for the loo (for some urgent downloads, no doubt). The machines snap selfies with the cybernetic crapper, basking in the glow of its cobalt-blue LED nightlight. 

"The spot taps into the human truth that when at a party, people tend to congregate in the kitchen," Jean Batthany, executive creative director at DDB, tells AdFreak. "In this case, all guests robotic are drawn to the bathroom—where the real action is. There's also a layer of 'robot truth' in the shared social anxiety of trying to fit in and the relief in finding a kindred high-tech spirit."

The spot was directed in slick cinematic style by MJZ's Dante Ariola, Most of the automatons were represented by foam cutouts during the shoot for blocking, and brought to life in postproduction by effects house Jamm Visual. The humanoid couple was portrayed by flesh-and-blood actors, and the CG team matched their movements with bot-body imagery later on. (Wait until the the robot union hears about this!) 

"We are talking to the new sophisticate," Batthany says. "They are early adopters of technology and use design as a mode of self-expression. In a world where Siri and other lifelike technology is becoming more integrated into our daily lives, these bots help us tell a story of the very near future with a toilet as the star." 

In case you were wondering, Veil's functionality includes full or light flush settings, self-cleaning and automatic deodorizing systems, a heated seat with adjustable temperatures, and hands-free opening and closing of the seat and cover. 

About the only thing it doesn't do is sing "Bicycle Built for Two" (yet). But if the thing ever asks, "Just what do you think you are doing, Dave?"—it's time to get off the pot.

CREDITS
Client: Kohler

Agency: DDB Chicago
Chief Creative Officer: John Maxham
Executive Creative Director: Jean Batthany
Group Creative Director: Nathan Monteith
Creative Director (Art): Kurt Riemersma
Creative Director (Copy): Matt Ben Zeev
Chief Production Officer: Diane Jackson
Executive Producer: Debora den Iseger
Executive Art Producer: Suzanne Koller
Senior Print Producer: Carla Nieto
Senior Business Director: Jenn Nolden
Account Executive: Kate Karens
Account Manager: Kirby Summers
Production Manager: Scott Terry

Production Company: MJZ
President: David Zander
Senior Executive Producer: Eriks Krumins
Director: Dante Ariola
Line Producer: Natalie Hill
DP: Phillipe Le Sourd
Production Designer: Christopher Glass

Editorial: No6TV
Editor: Amanda Perry
Assistant editor: Danny Fogarty
Senior Producer: Kendra Desai

VFX: Jamm Visual
VFX Supervisor/Lead CG Lighter: Andy Boyd
VFX Supervisor/Lead Compositor: Jake Montgomery
Lead CG FX Artist: Zachary DiMaria
Flame Artist: Pat Munoz
Flame Artist: David Hernandez
Nuke Artist: Kenneth Brown
CG Artist: Nha Ca Chau
CG Artist: Huisoo Lee
CG Modeling: Aaron Hamman
CG Modeling: Joel Durham
Executive Producer: Asher Edwards
Producer: Ashley Greyson

Color: Company 3
Colorist: Stefan Sonnenfeld
Executive Producer: Rhubie Jovanov

Music House: PullPullPull
Composer: Mitch Davis
Executive Producer: Scott Brittingham

Audio Post: The Studio, Chicago
Sound engineer(s): Nicholas Papaleo

Sound assistant: Bobby Lord

Audio Post Producer: Stacey Simcik

Print Post production: Gianini
CGI Artist: Tim McMahon
CGI Artist: Sebastian Szyszka
CGI Artist: Jeffrey Gilles
Director: Scott Giannini
Executive Producer: Kevin O'Connell

Photography:
Photographer: Michael Huijbregtse (Kohler Co.)
Retoucher: Tom Waterloo (The studio, DDB Chicago) 

Normally you smoke weed and then have an uncontrollable urge to eat pizza. But mobile app Push for Pizza suggests you do it the other way around—and has the perfect invention to make it happen.

The app recently collaborated with the Nikolas Gregory design studio to create a very special pizza box, one section of which peels away and folds into a smokeable pipe. The cardboard forms the sides of the pipe, and the little plastic piece that keeps the box top from crushing the pizza becomes the bowl—though it isn't plastic here but temperature-resistant white ceramic.

"It is common to crave food when one gets high. It is also typical practice to order a quick pizza to satisfy this craving. We are aware of these trends and decided to combine these two interests in a actual product," says Push For Pizza co-founder Cyrus Summerlin.



"The pizza is in hand before the munchies set in, leading to a more relaxed and enjoyable experience without the interminable delay of its delivery or the pain of gnawing hunger," he adds. "And the pipe comes at no additional cost. Its materials are 100 percent recyclable."

Is it durable? "The pipe should last a long time," Summerlin says, who says the pipe has been fully tested. "Unless you are very careless with the flame, it will not burn."

At this point, only the prototype has been made, though Push for Pizza says it might do a limited run depending on how well it is received. If it does move into mass production, it will likely use a a temperature-resistant vegetable-based recyclable plastic instead of the ceramic. 

Y&R New Zealand's celebrated McWhopper campaign took home the highest honor, the Grandy, at the 52nd annual International Andy Awards on Tuesday night. And Y&R staffers from around the globe celebrated in a fun (if not very healthy) way—by making their own handmade McWhoppers, as seen in the cute video below.

It's rare and refreshing to see this kind of network camaraderie, particularly around awards, where offices far from the winning one might not ordinarily feel much of a connection.



For the McWhopper stunt, which happened last August, Burger King reached out to McDonald's and suggested they partner up and actually make a McWhopper for Peace Day. McDonald's politely declined, which meant it was never officially made—outside of the rudimentary efforts of amateurs (including, at the time, AdFreak's own official fast-food tester David Griner).

Y&R had a brilliant showing at the Andys. In addition to the Grandy for McWhopper, the network won the Richard T. O'Reilly Award for Outstanding Public Service for its "Melanoma Likes Me" work, created by GPY&R Brisbane in Australia.

"We are simply ecstatic," Tony Granger, global chief creative officer of Y&R, said in a statement. "We are so proud of winning the two top awards. Both ideas are terrific proof that brave clients get the work they deserve." 

Via AgencySpy.

Ikea's image is built on being approachable, well-designed and unbearably twee, all of which certainly apply to the chainless bicycle it is now producing. 

The Swedish home-goods brand made a bike before, but it was an electric model that wasn't widely available. This new bike, known as the Sladda, uses a cogged drive belt instead of a chain, and promises to be light and low-maintenance.

It also has a "clip-on" design for baskets and tow carts—an image we just cannot take seriously, though we are trying. It just feels like one of those things that's going to look dorky and try-hard until modern life becomes totally unsustainable and we all have to live with it. 

What's more frustrating is that a company that boasts about affordable products wants to sell sustainability to the public for $800 per bike. That's still cheaper than a car, and it won a Red Dot and all, but that price tag sticks in our craw. 

See the full bike below. Click to enlarge.

 

Here's a great bit of packaging design work from Jones Knowles Ritchie—pizza delivery boxes for Domino's that recreate the brand's logo across two boxes.

The design shop explains:

Over the years, Domino's packaging had been overloaded with generic messaging that had little impact on consumers, and the brand mark had become relegated to a small endorsement on pack. Our task was to make Domino's the definitive article once more by redesigning its delivery boxes in the U.K.

We wanted to celebrate Domino's distinctive and unique brand character by making it bold, simple and charismatic. We started by removing all the generic category communication from the boxes, focusing only on what Domino's owned: its once iconic red and blue domino logo.

Knowing that 96 percent of all Domino's pizzas are sold in pairs, we decided to make the brand's logo pivotal to the design with one red box, one blue box. The result was bold, brave and simple packaging design. An open invitation for sharing and play.

Now, they just need to Velcro the sides and put all different numbers on the top—and you could play a giant game of Domino's out on the lawn.

Via The Dieline.

To demonstrate the photographic precision and power of its Xperia Z5 smartphone camera, Sony Mobile has created an Instagram image that you can actually zoom in on.

Obviously, Instagram doesn't offer a zoom feature—to the frustration of many a lurking Instagrammer. But French agency Rosbeef made do with what was available.

When you click on this first image—a Where's Waldo-caliber clusterfuck of weird things happening around an otherwise innocuous Parisian Haussmann building—a tag appears. When you click on the tag, you're driven to another account, where the first image has been broken down into a cluster of separate photos. (The copy explains the concept, and also gives you the chance to win two tickets to the Champions League semi-finals.) 

The first click gets you here, and this is where you can start making interesting choices:



You can zoom up to five times (hence the Z5) before you're sent back to square one. For research purposes, we clicked on the T-Rex, which ultimately led us to a tiny penguin in a window, chillin' alongside a diminutive King Kong: 



But don't take out word for it; play with it on your own.

There are a few strategic plusses to this approach: It's an imaginative use of social mechanics and totally native to the platform. Over 100 Instagram accounts were created to give this bad-boy life. And when you start digging into the nitty-gritty details, you end up spending a lot of time with the ad itself, which nicely expresses the tactile sensation of a 5x zoom (though it's confusing to see figures like X3, X4 and X5, which appear as you progress, when the product is actually called Z5).

As for that whole Champions League thing: From April 4 to 18, users can poke around for a secret code hidden within the experience. As mentioned, if you win, you score two tickets to the semifinals, for which Sony Mobile is an official partner.

The video below shows the campaign in action. 



CREDITS

Advertiser: Sony Mobile France
Alexandra De Chazeaux, Head Of Brand Marketing
Agency: Rosbeef!
Agency Managers: Victoria Schnell, Antoine David, Frans Mccabe
Head Of Creatives: Frans Mccabe
Head Of Strategy: Antoine David
Art Supervisor: Melody Hary
Da: Paul Viollet
Digital & Social Media: Xavier Delelis-Fanien, Michael Gayet, Marc Minart, Eva Charpentier, Pierre-Edouard Vidal, Pauline Pecorini
Media Agency: Mediacom

If you needed a reminder of the deadly hubris that can be fueled by marketing, technology and industrial one-upsmanship, there's a flurry of century-old tweets you might want to check out.

A Twitter account called Real Time History is currently documenting the last hours of the RMS Titanic, which struck an iceberg 104 years ago today and sank early the next morning. More than 1,500 passengers and crew members died in the disaster.

Famously billed as "unsinkable," the Titanic was born from White Star Line's desire to surpass rival ships like the (equally ill-fated) Lusitania in both size and luxury. 

We all know the story in broad strokes—or at least in terms of how it affected the fictional romance between artistic drifter Jack Dawson and egalitarian socialite Rose DeWitt Bukater. But the details of the events, including the extent of warnings the ship's crew received, are likely still unknown to most of us.

The Real Time History feed shifts between the perspectives of the recklessly bold captain, the troubled chief officer, the strata of passengers dining in varying levels of luxury, and the ominous indications of trouble from other ships at sea.

Here's a quick recap of some of the events as we near the hour of collision:

#Captain Titanic has just left Southampton, for her maiden voyage. 1912

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 10, 2016

#Titanic''A near miss before we even set sail, I hope that isn't a bad omen'' #captainpic.twitter.com/y958hferC7

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 10, 2016

#Firstclass''The stair case looks grand. Such a wonderful piece of perfection''#titanicpic.twitter.com/UMNn0V56TK

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 10, 2016

#Officer''The final passengers are making their way on board. We shall be leaving France, for Ireland soon'' pic.twitter.com/km9kEve2jh

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 10, 2016

#titanic *The ship has pulled up her anchor for the last time. She is now leaving Queenstown. Nothing but open ocean ahead of us*

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 11, 2016

#Titanic#CaptainSmith''Everything seems to be in working order. But, I am a bit concerned about the shortage of lifeboats''

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 11, 2016

#Titanic#Crewmember''No need sir. We will not be needing them. We will be arriving in New York Safely.''

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 11, 2016

#Titanic#CaptainSmith''Let us hope so young man. I am going to my cabin, to have some dinner. Before things get busy''

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 11, 2016

#Titanic Those in First Class will be dining here pic.twitter.com/G6LYVvqtg4

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 11, 2016

#Titanic#CaptainSmith Captain Smith has order full steam ahead. Titanic is picking up pace. And crashing into the waves with a force

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 11, 2016

#Titanic#ChiefOfficer"I have a queer feeling about this ship"

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 11, 2016

#Titanic#ChiefOfficer"I regret coming on this ship as a last minute decision. I still don't like this ship"

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 11, 2016

#Titanic#Crew member to other #Crew member ''I don't know why we are speeding so much. We received 6 ice warnings yesterday''

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 12, 2016

#Titanic *Reply* ''Really?''

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 12, 2016

#Titanic''Yes. Six ships reported to us that they were going through heavy ice''

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 12, 2016

#Titanic Third Crew Member ''We had another heavy ice warning, while you two were off shift''

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 12, 2016

#Titanic#CaptainSmith''Nothing is greater than an open sea'' pic.twitter.com/4gXfnVHCH4

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 12, 2016

#Titanic#ChiefOfficer to #Captain''We have two more warnings of heavy ice from other ships. Are you sure we should keep this speed up?''

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 12, 2016

#Titanic *Captain Smith looks at the water* ''I see no reason why not. There is no ice about here.''

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 12, 2016

The forth nightfall has just fallen on Titanic. It is the last calm night she will ever see.

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 13, 2016

#Titanic#CaptainSmith''I will be going for a quick drink. And then retreating to bed. Goodnight Mr Murdoch. She's yours for the night''

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 13, 2016

#Titanic#CrewMember'I'm not sure we should have cancelled that lifeboat drill an hour ago sir...'

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 14, 2016

#Titanic#Crewmember'...perhaps we should take these iceberg warnings more seriously, and slow Titanic down Captain?'

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 14, 2016

#Titanic#CaptainSmith''We are going to be fine young man. The icebergs aren't a threat to us. And, we are reaching a new speed today'

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 14, 2016

#Titanic#Crew We have reached a top speed of 22.5 knots

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 14, 2016

#Titanic#FirstClassPassanger''We are certainly going faster tonight. I hope this does not disturb our dinner''

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 14, 2016

#Titanic Message from the SS California overheard warning about icebergs

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 14, 2016

#Titanic Captain Smith is not made aware of this iceberg warning. He is dinning at the la carte restaurant

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 14, 2016

#Titanic The temperature has now dropped to freezing. We are now in a very cold atmosphere

— Real Time History (@events_bl) April 14, 2016

Hat tip to Scott Monty on Facebook.

Brand Twitter fails are few and far between these days, which is either good or bad, depending on your schadenfreude levels. But here's a bizarre and baffling one from Australia, where KFC somehow thought it would be a good idea to pixelate what's clearly meant to look like a sexual image to sell "Hot & Spicy" chicken.

The tweet, from KFC Australia, lasted only about an hour before being deleted, and the chicken chain quickly issued an apology. Check out the image below, as shared by one snarky Twitter user:

KFC, if you are experiencing "hot and spicy" sensations in your genitals, I recommend you speak to a doctor pic.twitter.com/iGaYDdXTI0

— mat whitehead (@matwhi) April 14, 2016

Wait, is KFC introducing jerk chicken? Was that the joke?

— barry (@barrysaunders) April 15, 2016

"This was a genuine tweet to launch KFC's new Hot & Spicy chicken products next week. It was not intended to offend and we've removed the image," the chain said in a statement sent to media outlets.

The brand also apologized on Twitter with this note: 

We are very sorry for our earlier tweet on H&S - we didn't mean to offend and removed it when we realised we'd made an error in judgment.

— KFC Australia (@KFCAustralia) April 15, 2016

Milana Vayntrub, the actress who plays AT&T's endearing spokeswoman Lily, just directed her first commercial work for Cracker Barrel Macaroni & Cheese. 

The comic new spots, which Vayntrub directed through Crispin Porter + Bogusky and production company Hungry Man, highlight the product's use of Cracker Barrel's cheddar cheese. You see, apparently Cracker Barrel's cheddar is so special that it's been an award-winning cheese for 60 years. And of course, if you're eating macaroni and cheese that uses award-winning cheddar, that renders all other awards and award ceremonies lackluster. At least, that's how the brand's new spokesman, Trophy Man, puts it. 

"Since the 'Award Worth Winning' campaign for Cracker Barrel Macaroni & Cheese was a character-driven campaign, we thought Milana was an interesting choice to bring him to life, since she herself stars in character-driven campaign that's funny and successful," said Adam Chasnow, CP+B executive creative director.

Adweek caught up with Vayntrub to chat about her commercial directing debut, the status of her work with Syrian refugees (she released a video, "Can't Do Nothing," earlier this year, which documented her experience in Greece), and of course, macaroni and cheese.  

Adweek: Why did you want to direct these spots? 
Milana Vayntrub: Commercial directing felt like a very natural transition from my comedy, sketch, music video directing experience. Also, working with Hungry Man for over two years now [Hank Perlman of Hungry Man has directed most of AT&T's Lily spots], there's definitely a lot of collaboration in that commercial creating process. Those two worlds coming together felt like directing commercials now was the right next step. When the opportunity came from Hungry Man to direct for them, I was beyond honored and super eager to take on that task. 

What was your thinking going into the project? What did you want to convey? 
Cool question, cool question [laughs]. I think that my skill is in comedy creation, and I wanted to highlight that this is a premium macaroni and cheese product while also making something funny and lovable about a guy who loves macaroni and cheese more than anything, so much so that any other award is unworthy of attention. One of the things we talked about with the agency pretty early on is that there's something almost Seinfeld-ian about pointing out the ridiculousness of other awards, so that's kind of the way we approached this spot. My goal going in was always to highlight how premium this product was and make it as funny as possible. 

Are you interested in doing more commercial directing?
God, I hope so. I really hope so. It was so much fun. I genuinely felt so in my element, and I had a really great time. I loved the creative collaboration with the agency and the client and the actors, the producer, the DP, our whole crew was absolutely stellar. I had an absolute blast, and it fulfilled all my creative juices for creation and development and sales design. I hope to get the opportunity to do it many more times. 

You're traditionally on the other side of the camera. Is there a difference in the way you work with an agency when you're the star of an ad versus the director of an ad?  
It's very different. In the creative process, as an actor you have very limited communication with the agency until you shoot. You don't really see them until the day of production. As a director, you're involved creatively much earlier and developing the ad as a team. 

Do you prefer one or the other? 
To be honest, I love directing so much and acting has ... It's hard to answer because I've been acting almost my entire life and I've been directing only for the past few years. My directing opportunities have been awesome, and my acting opportunities, some have been great and some have not. The AT&T commercials are the most fun acting opportunity that anyone could ask for. That being said, directing exercises a part of my brain that is really fun that I don't get to try out as an actor. 

Will we be seeing more AT&T ads with you?
You should expect to see more of those soon. 

The last time we spoke with you, we heard about your documentary to "Can't Do Nothing." Is there anything new on that front? 

The organization that's come from that documentary, it's called Can't Do Nothing, and that lives on Can'tDoNothing.org and it's been massively successful considering it's come from a little 13-minute YouTube video. 

But the effects that it's had on the organizations that we support has been really amazing. We've been able to fund classrooms in refugee camps in Jordan, we've been able to supply over 150 children with eyeglasses, we've been able to erect first-aid centers in Lesbos and be able to supply emergency medical vehicles. That's been really tremendous. 

I have plans to go back there this summer and shoot a little update video about where the people who have contributed their time, their money or their voice, where those efforts have gone to. 

The Netflix series Love came out shortly after that documentary. How was that? 
Every opportunity I've had to work and act with incredibly talented directors, like Dean Holland was on Love, and the writers and creators of that show, Judd Apatow, Paul Rust and Leslie Arfin, have been incredible learning experiences that have informed my creative process. All of the directors that I've learned with have been valuable teachers in moving forward as a director.

Did you guys eat that macaroni and cheese on the set?
I did [laughs]. I took a little bit to go. It was great. I feel really honored to work with this agency because they are the macaroni masters, and I feel lucky to be a part of their continuation of their working relationship with Hungry Man. 

CREDITS
Client: Cracker Barrel (Kraft Heinz Company)
Agency: CP+B
Chief Creative Officer: Ralph Watson
Executive Creative Director: Adam Chasnow
Associate Creative Director, Art Director: Stephanie Kohnen
Associate Creative Director, Writer: Mona Hasan
Director Of Content Production: Kate Hildebrant
Sr. Integrated Producer, Video: Annie Turlay
Production Company & City: Hungry Man, LA
Director: Milana Vayntrub
Director Of Photography: Kai Saul
Line Producer (Production Co): Joshua Goldstein
Executive Producer (Production Co): Nancy Hacohen and Dan Duffy
Editorial Company & City: The Now Corporation, NY
Editor: Owen Plotkin
Assistant Editor: Matt Corliss
Editorial Executive Producer: Nancy Finn
Post Production Company & City: Method Studios, LA
Lead Flame Artist: Wensen Ho
Flame Support: Cecile Tecson
Flame Assist: Justin Monnier
Executive Producer: Robert Owens
Sr. Post Producer: Cara Lehr
Mix Company & City: Lime Studios, LA
Audio Mixer: Matt Miller
Audio Assist: Peter Lapinski
Executive Producer: Susie Boyajan
Music Company & City: JSM Music, NY
Composers: David Wolfert/Joel Simon
Executive Producer: Joel Simon
Producer: Norm Felker
Telecine Company & City: CO3, LA
Sr. Colorist: Stefan Sonnenfeld
Executive Producer (Telecine): Rhubie Jovanov
Producer (Telecine): Adam Van Wagoner
Vp/Account Director: Evan Russack
Account Director: Kelly Olech
Content Manager: Laurie Tewksbury
Group Director, Strategy: Kaylin Goldstein
Strategist: Fabiana Brown
Jr. Strategist: Katie Sherman
Sr. Business Affairs Manager: Lisa Gillies
Jr. Traffic Manager: Katie Hare

By and large, road safety ads are not a sunny category. Still, this new seatbelt PSA from South Africa manages to be impressively and powerfully dark. 

Created by the government of the country's Western Cape province, with help from Y&R, it stars a young couple who make eyes with each other at a party, and spend the rest of the night trying (and failing) to find a place to neck without being interrupted. 

By the time they pile into a car with their friends—and the young man opts not to buckle up—it's beyond clear that this particular romance will be short-lived. But even if viewers see disaster coming, "The First Kiss" delivers on a scale that's nothing short of surprising. 



The exceptional use of "One More Night" by Michael J. Langley makes the whole thing feel almost like a music video. All the parts are in the right places—even when they're a little off-kilter. The ethereal piano sounds, the sweet and vulnerable vocals, still raw despite being heavily processed, and the lyrical content, nearly perfect for the concept, all combine to simultaneously invite emotional investment in the characters while reinforcing the perception that trouble is brewing. 

That tension builds, even as the percussion and strings orchestrate an oddly counterintuitive sense of hopefulness, continuing right through the bass drop ... and even past the moment when everything begins to go horribly wrong. 

In other words, the song makes it easy to find yourself rooting for the couple, then praying that someone is going to make it out of the crash in one piece—despite the fact that, in the back of your mind, a not-so-quiet voice is reminding you that the kid is a total dumbass for not strapping himself in.

Sadly, the hero's apparent desire to look carefree has horrific consequences (even if that is a hackneyed trope). His flailing, ping-ponging body succeeds in killing him and everyone else in the car—including his newfound love interest. And while this might feel tiresome and moralizing to teens and twenty-somethings, the outcome nonetheless brings a devastating, often overlooked message into sharp relief. 

Passengers who neglect to wear seat belts aren't just putting themselves at risk. They endanger the people they care about. Underscoring this point is the brisk, matter-of-fact way in which the cop on the scene describes who's to blame for the body count. 

The ad comes close to collapsing under the weight of its own sense of poetry, notably at the titular moment when the couple's lips finally meet—as he hurtles through space, surrounded by broken glass, full force into her face. But the audio's sudden cut from soulful crooning to wet, bone-crunching thuds is so viscerally gruesome that the clip's flirtations with melodrama quickly dissipate into nausea and sadness. 

This is how to make an ad that plays on love, joy, anger, shame and sorrow all at the same time, while also delivering a clear takeaway. Less-polished takes on this execution have already appeared (shown below), and were themselves strong enough to lift seat belt use in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Y&R says the success of those ads inspired the new version, according to socially conscious ad blog Osocio. 

A second, less serious piece of advice is also hidden in the PSA: If you hang out with the kinds of people who won't give you an extra five minutes to make out with the cutie you just met before giving you a ride, you should probably find some new friends. 

You'll still have to buckle up, though. 

CREDITS

Client: Safely Home, Western Cape Department of Transport
Agency: Y&R
Agency Producer: Justin Fraser
ECD: Graham Lang
Creative Director: Nkanyezi Masango
Creative Director: Gareth Cohen

Production Company: Egg Films
Director: Jason Fialkov
Director of Photography: Willie Nel
Producer: Martina Schieder
Executive Producer: Kerry Hosford
Art Director: William Boyes

Postproduction: Upstairs Ludus
Editing: Upstairs Ludus
Editor: Shaun Broude

If you're looking for iconic brand ambassadors for your adventure-themed liquor campaign, you could do a lot worse than the Piccards, the father and son who accomplished incredible—and incredibly parallel—exploring feats in the middle of the last century.

In 1931, Auguste Piccard became the first man to reach the stratosphere, touching the edge of space in a pressurized capsule and balloon. Thirty years later, his son Jacques—in a remarkably complementary expedition in which he honored his father yet did precisely the opposite—became the first man to reach the deepest part of Earth's ocean floor.

For Droga5, they were the perfect subject for Hennessy's ongoing "Wild Rabbit" campaign, which has featured great, daring, record-breaking characters from history since 2012.

And so the agency crafted the gorgeous 90-second spot below, telling the father and son's stories as one—in a clever bit of grand yet personal storytelling.



Creative directors Alexander Nowak and Felix Richter have worked on "Wild Rabbit" ads from the beginning. Here, they've managed to craft the campaign's most breathtaking visuals yet. In particular, the transition between the two stories is transfixing in the way it disorients the viewer—what at first seems to be Auguste breaking through some barrier in space turns out to be Jacques beginning his plunge into the oceanic depths. 

The spot was directed by Daniel Wolfe. He brought in photography specialist Chris Parks, who has produced mind-bending visual effects for movies like Tree of Life and Gravity. The effect is a remarkable cinematic look worthy of the spot's inspiring subject matter.

The :90 uses on-screen text at the end to explain what you've just seen. That's followed by a product shot and the line "What's Your Wild Rabbit?" (The Wild Rabbit, in the context of the campaign, represents any deeply held passion that the cognac brand's target consumer is chasing.) The spot wraps with the tagline, "Never stop. Never settle. Since 1765."

A :60 and a :30, meanwhile, feature voiceover narration by Nas, who says he felt a personal connection to the material.

"The part of the Piccard story that resonated strongly with me is the generational bond," he said in a statement. "My father traveled the world driven by his music and passion. That relentless chase and will to achieve that's at the heart of Hennessy's campaign has also helped shape my musical path. It's in my blood."

"For the past five years, Droga5 has strived to help the Hennessy brand continue to chase its own Wild Rabbit," said the agency's global chief strategy officer, Jonny Bauer. "In the spirit of The Piccards, the brand refuses to be satisfied and continues to reach for new heights."

Giles Woodyer, senior vice president of Hennessy U.S., added: "The Piccards boast a rich family history of pioneering spirit, a narrative that parallels our own storied legacy and the constant pursuit to create the perfect cognac, year after year. It's this spirit of chasing one's Wild Rabbit that really resonates with people, and we're excited to continue the campaign's momentum by sharing the inspiring journey of these extraordinary men."

CREDITS
Client: Hennessy V.S
Campaign: Wild Rabbit
Title: The Piccards
Launch Date: 4/16/16

Agency: Droga5 NY
Creative Chairman: David Droga
Chief Creative Officer: Ted Royer
Creative Director: Alexander Nowak
Creative Director: Felix Richter
Copywriter: Phil Hadad
Art Director: Marybeth Ledesma:
Chief Creation Officer: Sally-Ann Dale
Head of Broadcast Production: Ben Davies
Executive Broadcast Producer: David Cardinali
Associate Broadcast Producer: Sam Marx
Global Chief Strategy Officer: Jonny Bauer
Strategy Director: Elaine Purcell
Senior Strategist: Danielle Travers
Senior Strategist: Zack Cohn
Senior Communications Strategist: Delphine McKinley
Executive Group Director:: Steven Panariello
Account Director: Patrick Rowley
Account Supervisor:: Kendra Schaaf
Account Manager: Andrew DeMatos
Associate Account Manager: Rebecca Warren
Project Manager: Dean Farella

Client: Moet Hennessy
CMO & EVP of Brands, USA: Rodney Williams
SVP, Hennessy, USA: Giles Woodyer
SVP, Strategic Marketing, USA: William Paretti
Brand Director: , USA: Allison Varone
International Marketing &: Thomas Moradpour
Communications Director:
Brand Director: Amanda Hawk

Production Company: Anonymous | Somesuch
Director: Daniel Wolfe
Anonymous, Managing Director, Exec Producer: Eric Stern
Anonymous, Executive Producer: SueEllen Claire
Anonymous, Head of Production: Kerry Haynie
Somesuch, Founding Partner: Tim Nash
Somesuch, Founding Partner: Sally Campbell
Director of Photography: Tom Townend
Somesuch, Producer: Lee Groombridge

Special Photography: Chris Parks

Editorial: Cosmo Street | Trim
Editor: Tom Lindsay:
Assistant Editor: Julie Walsh
Assistant Editor: Magda Plugowska
Assistant Editor: Elise Butt
Cosmo Street, Executive Producer: Maura Woodward
Cosmo Street, Producer: Anne Lai

Post Production: The Mill
Senior Exec Producer / Head of Production: Sean Costello
Senior Producer: Nirad 'Bugs' Russell
Shoot Supervisor: Jasper Kidd
Shoot Supervisor: Eric Pascarelli
Creative Director, 2D Lead, Joint Head of Prod.: Gavin Wellsman
Creative Director, 3D Lead: Jasper Kidd
2D: Andre Vidal
2D: Ben Kwok
2D: Heather Kennedy
3D Team: Jimmy Gass
3D Team: Laurent Giaume
3D Team: Katie Schiffer
3D Team: Justin Diamond
3D Team: Eshan Parizi
3D Team: Joji Tsuruga
3D Team: Paul Liaw
3D Team: Greg Gangemi
3D Team: Edward Hassan
Matte Painting: Cedric Menard
Design: Sally Reynolds

Music Company: Woodwork Music
Composer: Phil Kay

Sound Design: Q Department
CD, Sound Designer: Drazen Bosnjak
Sound Designer: Jean Baptiste
Sound Designer: Saint Pol
Executive Producer: Zack Rice
Producer: Guin Frehling

Sound Mixing: Sound Lounge
Partner, Engineer: Tom Jucarrone
Engineer: Rob Sayers

Every automaker says it uses the best materials. But how do you really know unless you try them? And by try, we mean eat.

Ford Motor Co. in Israel wanted to demonstrate the quality of the Ford Kuga's glass, steering wheel, seats, etc. So, it got Canadian illusionist Eric Leclerc—who is also apparently omnivore who'll eat anything, edible or not—to consume parts of the Kuga and report back.

It's all captured in the exceedingly odd video below, in which the sounds of Leclerc chewing on glass might well put your nerves on edge. 



This is one of those stunts that's so divorced from reality—and so lacking in the very usefulness it claims to be offering—that it's tempting to just dismiss it. But the agency says the real goal here is just to get consumers familiar with the vehicle, which suffers from lack of awareness. And so, a silly stunt like this is probably a fine way to go.

Ford says Leclerc found the car "absolutely scrumptious," though we guarantee is wasn't as tasty as this famous Skoda Fabia.

CREDITS
Client: Ford Motor Co.
Agency: BBR Saatchi & Saatchi
C.E.O: Yossi Lubaton
Executive Creative Director: Jonathan Lang
VP-Creative Director: Eran Nir
Copywriter: Oded Nadir, Idan Levy
Art-Director: Tal Leshetz- Abugov, Ori Hasson
VP-Group Account Head: Ben Muskal
Account Supervisor: Alon Goldman
Account Executive: Ori Ben-Dror, Chen Halpern, Gil Gershon
Chief Strategy Officer: Shai Nissenboim
Strategic Planning: Lora Goichman
Head Of Production & Content: Dorit Gvili
Producer: Alon Shmoelof
Creative Coordinator: Eva Hasson
Digital Creative Director: Maayan Dar
Social & Digital Director: Idan Kligerman
Social Media Editor: Aviv Melamed
Studio Digital: Tomer Gilat, Yaron Keinan, Michael Shely
ZenithOptimedia: Limor Dahan, Mor Berman, Chen Drori, Eyal Katzaf, Saar Simis
Director: Yoram Ever-Hadani
Production: Mialma
Client: Delek-Motors LTD
Marketing Communications Manager: Yogev Weiss
Head Of Digital Marketing: Matan Arad
Training Manager: Gal arbel

"No, this isn't a fucking mirage; and yes, it starts at a buck a month."

You might bristle at such language, but it's business as usual for Dollar Beard Club's mane man, Chris Stoikos. The 27-year-old entrepreneur, who's lobbed F-bombs in ads before, delivers that line from atop a camel in the company's latest wild and wooly ad.

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According to various surveys, men outnumber women in China by tens of millions more than three decades after the Communist Party instituted its infamous "one-child policy" following the 1976 death of Mao Zedong. 

That's because, at least in part, parents have tended to want a male child, which created a phenomenon called "gender-selective abortion" in which a would-be mother would terminate her pregnancy as soon as the baby was determined to be female. 

To protest the ongoing practice (which is technically illegal though still occurs), the Hong Kong and Shanghai offices of Grey Group collaborated on a project called "First Photo Last Photo," which refers to the fact that an unborn girl's ultrasound image which reveals gender can often be her last photo. 

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France is tired of America getting access to the coolest things first. So now it's drawing the line at Game of Thrones.

To promote French cable provider Canal+ airing the Game of Thrones Season 6 premiere at the exact same moment it debuts in America on HBO (that's 3 a.m. on April 25 for those en France), agency BETC created a clever outdoor campaign. 

Each illustrated ad shows something Americans got to enjoy long before the French could, from blue jeans to skateboards. In the second panel of each ad, we see one of the iconic logos from Game of Thrones' most notable houses and the good news that both nations will be revisited by these clashing clans simultaneously. 

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Hipsters and Orthodox Jews have more in common than one might think, according to a campaign from FCB Toronto promoting that city's upcoming Jewish Film Festival. 

The aforementioned gala is now a Canadian institution entering its 24th year. But one doesn't need to be kosher to enjoy the collection of short films, documentaries, animated works and full-length movies screened during the competition. 

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One of the funniest ad campaigns of 2015—Australia's "The Boys" campaign for Bonds underwear, starring a pair of chatty testicles—returns in a big way for 2016 with a seven-story-high weather billboard in downtown Melbourne in which the lads react in real time to cold, warmth and wind.

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The college acceptance letter, that iconic feel-good document that every university-bound student cherishes, gets a disturbing makeover in a campaign from Goodby Silverstein & Partners and production company Prettybird that broke Saturday with a print ad in the Harvard Crimson.

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