Oh, how I've longed to get away from it all and live in the woods, wild and free, with some guy in a bear suit as my only companion. The scruffy protagonist of Deutsch LA's new "Mountain Man" spot for Dr Pepper Ten is living that dream in a parody of macho '70s beer commercials that's as goofy as all outdoors. Our hero grows out his beard (itchy, most likely); eats bark off trees (not so tasty, one assumes); calls out for a hawk to fetch him an icy-cold can of the "manliest low-calorie soda in the history of mankind" (no eye-pecking—maybe next time); and gets taxied around by Mr. Bear paddling a canoe (all that fur must be hot as hell). Note to self: Order a bear suit. It commands respect, and I could stand to sweat off a few pounds. A few shorter executions plus credits after the jump.

CREDITS
Client: Dr Pepper Snapple Group
Brand: Dr Pepper Ten

Client:
Chief Marketing Officer: Jim Trebilcock
Director of Marketing: Leslie Vesper
Brand Manager: Angela Snellings
Associate Brand Manager: Erica Hollington
Director of Creative: Shaun Nichols
Advertising Manager: Sharon Leath

Deutsch Creative Credits:
Chief Creative Officer: Mark Hunter
Group Creative Director: Brett Craig
Integrated Creative Director: Xavier Teo
Associate Creative Director, Art Director: Erick Mangali
Associate Creative Director, Copywriter: Ryan Lehr
Copywriter: Trey Tyler
Art Director: Jacob Abernathy
Director of Integrated Production: Vic Palumbo
Director of Content Production: Victoria Guenier
Executive Producer: Lisa K. Johnson
Producer (Post): Matthew Magsaysay

Production Company:
Imperial Woodpecker
Director: Stacy Wall
Executive Producer, Managing Partner: Doug Halbert
Producer: Jeff Shupe
Director of Photography: Corey Walter
First Assistant Director: Miles Johnstone

Editorial:
Cut and Run
Editor: Frank Efron
Assistant Editor: Jeff Carter
Managing Director: Michelle Burke
Executive Producer:  Carr Schilling
Senior Producer: Christie Price

Visual Effects:
The Mill
Executive Producer: Sue Troyan
Producer: Jess Ambrose
Color Producer: LaRue Anderson
Shoot Supervisor: Tara Demarco
Colorist: Shane Reed
2-D Lead Artist: Tara Demarco
3-D Lead Artist: John Leonti
2-D Artist: Dag Ivarsoy
3-D Artists: Ryan Reeb, Brian Yu
Matte Painting: Lyndall Spagnoletti

Music:
Massive Music
Creative Director: Tim Adams
Executive Producer: Scott Cymbala
Composer: Tim Adams
Producer: Jessica Entner

Sound Design:
Massive Music
Sound Designer: Dean Hovey

Audio Post:
Lime Studios
Mixer: Mark Meyuhas
Assistant Mixer: Matt Miller
Executive Producer: Jessica Locke

Additional Deutsch Credits:
Chief Executive Officer: Michael Sheldon
Group Account Director: David Dreyer
Account Director: Helen Murray
Account Supervisor: Andrew Dubois
Account Executive: Kate DeMallie
Chief Strategic Officer: Jeffrey Blish
Group Planning Director: Aileen Russell
Director of Integrated Business Affairs: Abilino Guillermo
Senior Business Affairs Manager: Ken Rongey
Broadcast Traffic Manager: Gus Meija

A new startup called Rememberum, which gives people tools to create online memorials to their loved ones, has unveiled a promotional example for Steve Jobs—a site most notable for being wonderfully designed in the style of the original Mac OS interface. One of the developers, David Kelley, explains:

One of the primary goals of the design was to simulate the original Macintosh OS interface as closely as possible—this meant pixelated (pixel-perfect) graphics as well as some of the original functionality of the Macintosh, such as keyboard folder navigation and double-clicking. We separated key points in his life into groups of folders and individual files. The folders have keyboard navigation and it is possible to hold down CTRL to select multiple files to open. Each file opens as a 'textpad' file and can be moved and cascaded like any window. This, coupled with the keyboard navigation and small retro animations, helped to provide a more genuine experience of the original Macintosh computer.

Pretty nifty. Via Creative Review.

Be it never so humble. Facebook is ratcheting up its ubiquitous presence in people's daily lives with its "Home" software for Android devices that more or less turns handsets into Facebook Phones. With Home engaged, the social network becomes the dominant presence on your device, with Facebook messages, updates and big, bright, smiley friend images right upfront, along with the ability to chat while using other apps. A 60-second video from the company's in-house creative department predictably plays the connection card with footage of smiley folks interacting via Facebook Home and lovin' it. The approach is similar to Wieden + Kennedy's mostly maligned commercials for the brand, portraying Facebook as a benign, beneficent presence, minus W+K's metaphorical malarky about chairs and swimming pools. The clip reminds me, somewhat, of the feel-good phone-company ads of yore—Reach out and touch someone, etc.—though Facebook's vanilla flavoring is thicker, and the spot manages to be both grandiose and bland at the same time. Still, the work accomplishes its mission of explaining in simple terms what Home is and why consumers might want to use it. Of course, there's more than UX evolution going on here. Home's economic end game, as Ovum chief telecoms analyst Jan Dawson points out, is almost certainly "to track more of a user's behavior on devices and present more opportunities to serve up advertising." And the phone "takeover" aspect is Orwellian; even the spot oozes conformity. Still, millions of consumers won't care. They'll be pleased they can go Home again—and if Facebook has its way, they may never leave.

Ad agency Sukle in Denver made this "Need Someone" spot promoting the Wyoming Department of Health's counseling services for people who want to quit smoking—hopefully before they go into full-on Harvey Dent mode like the guy in the ad. His professional side is more flattering, I think. The spot also links to Quitnet, the official website for the WDH's program. Judging by their online forums, that guy's problem is not unique to him. Two more new spots after the jump.

Facebook just posted the new ad below, from Wieden + Kennedy, on its own site—it will also air Saturday evening during the Final Four on CBS. The social network has had trouble connecting with consumers through its ads before—the "Chairs" spot was roundly and notoriously mocked. This new spot, for the Facebook Home software, which essentially turns Android phones into Facebook phones, has its own issues. It shows an airplane traveler using Home to flip through photographs, each of which comes to life in front of him—sunbathing friends appear in the overhead compartment; his nephew shows up in the aisle with a face full of cake; the drag queen Shangela Laquifa Wadley pops out of the flight attendant's service cart. There's a lot going on. (Oddly, the traveler also ignores a request to turn off his phone; apparently he can't miss a single status update.) Directed by MJZ's Fredrik Bond, the spot is big and cartoony—and surreal, too, which seems to have completely flummoxed the commenters on the Facebook page where it's posted. (The level of negative reaction there is quite remarkable.) It's sometimes hard to know why Facebook, whose image problems usually stem from it seeming too big and too invasive, doesn't try to capture small, human moments rather than cosmic or circus-like ones. Maybe next time. Credits below.

CREDITS
Client: Facebook
Project: Facebook Home
Spot: "Airplane"

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.
Creative Directors: Stuart Harkness / Chris Groom / Dan Hon
Copywriter: Dan Kroeger
Art Director: Johan Arlig
Producer: Endy Hedman
Account Team: John Rowe / Leah Bone / Anya Esmaili
Executive Creative Directors: Mark Fitzloff / Susan Hoffman / Joe Staples
Head of Production: Ben Grylewicz

PRODUCTION
Production Company: MJZ
Director: Fredrik Bond
Executive Producer: Kate Leahy
Line Producer: Line Postmyr
Director of Photography: Roman Vas’yanov

EDITORIAL
Editorial Company: Joint
Editor: Tommy Harden
Post Producer: Yamaris Leon
Post Executive Producer: Patty Brebner

VFX
VFX Company: The Mill
Shoot Supervisor/Project Leads: Chris Knight (2D), Dave Lawson (3D)
Producer: Christina Thompson
Executive Producer: Sue Troyan
3D Artists
Lead: David Lawson
Matte Painting: Tom Price
Modelling: Milton Ramirez / Blake Sullivan / Timothy Hanson
Texturers: Edwin Fong
Tracking:  Martin Rivera
Rigging and Animation: Jacob Bergman
Animation: Blake Guest
2D Artists: Nick Tayler, Narbeh Mardirossian, Peter Cvijanovic, Trent Shumway
Titles/Graphics: W+ K Motion / Albert Yih

MUSIC + SOUND DESIGN
Music+Sound Company: Walker
Composer: Jumbo
Sound Designer: Barking Owl / Michael Anastasi
Producer: Sara Matarazzo

MIX
Mix Company: Eleven
Mixer: Jeff Payne
Producer: Caroline O’Sullivan

Few brands have mastered the marketing non sequitur quite as well as Old Spice, which just rolled out two new, fascinatingly bizarre ads for its Fiji Bar Soap. Parodying similar spots from the 1980s, the ads quickly take a surrealist turn. In the 15-second version, the singing narrator struggles to keep up with the ad's transition from shower to basketball-watermelon to soap. The 30-second execution follows a handsome doctor being stalked by his shower, even during surgery. A third spot will debut this summer. As always, Wieden + Kennedy manages to barrel past the line of absurdity while still somehow managing to keep the product front and center. Weirdness weirdness weirdness … buy soap.

Ever wondered what God is doing right at this moment? Thanks to social media and the lovely infographics over at god-was-here.com, you can spy on His Omniscience and see exactly where he's helping out. The website aggregates tweets of people thanking God for various things in real-time analysis of where in the country God is, how many people God has surprised, and whether God is doing more than Jesus. A group of Chicago creatives created the site. Enjoy the beautiful design while you keep tabs on His Holiness. If you're a believer, take solace in the fact that the U.S. is clearly still full of God-fearing people! And if you're not, laugh at the fact that so many people attribute minute acts for which they are responsible to a fictional deity!

First, Wieden + Kennedy physicist and copywriter David Neevel broke the laws of God and man by using weird science to separate Oreo cookies from their creamy filling. Now, he's changed his tune, literally, by designing a convoluted contraption that turns a guitar—in his case, a bitchin' Flying V—into a computer keyboard. As he strums and plucks, the notes are translated into signals that the PC reads as keystrokes, and words appear on screen. Some commenters take Dave to task for going about things the hard way. Opines Chris Shaw in the comments section of the YouTube video: "Wouldn't it have been easier to write a few lines of code that would convert MIDI notes to keystrokes? Then you wouldn't need the arduino and all the external hardware just a MIDI interface." Gosh, Chris, wouldn't it have been easier to STFU? Well, at least you know what Arduino is, which is more than I can say for myself. (I'm guessing it's the pick. It's the pick, right?)

Michael Bolton follows up his Optimum campaign with a cameo in the Starburst ad below, part of a new campaign from DDB Chicago that offers theories on why the candy is so "Unexplainably juicy." In "Orchard," it's because Bolton serenades trees whose fruit then becomes extra luscious, obviously. Another spot says it has something to do with Keyboard Cat and dragon tears. The spots were directed by Andy McLeod of Rattling Stick. More executions and credits below.

CREDITS
Client: Starburst
Agency: DDB Chicago
Chief Creative Officer: Ewan Paterson
Creative Director: Chuck Rachford
Associate Creative Director, Art Director: Alex Zamiar
Associate Creative Director, Copywriter: Jonathan Richman
Executive Producer: Will St. Clair
Producer: Matt Green
Senior Account Director: Kate Christiansen
Production Company: Rattling Stick
Director: Andy McLeod

Residents of Cincinnati, Phoenix, Sacramento and San Antonio have probably seen billboards asking them to vote for adding either Barack Obama or George W. Bush to Mount Rushmore. I'm sure those billboards have prompted many questions, most of them variations on "What the hell for?" As it turns out, the answer is "No reason." The billboards were the idea of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, which admitted that the campaign was a bogus project designed to "measure consumer response." (The actual billboards sent people to RushmoreVote.com.) After the four-week campaign, more than 70 percent of respondents said Mount Rushmore should remain unchanged. Big shock there. So, not only were the billboards fake, they didn't really accomplish much that couldn't have been done quicker and cheaper. As for Mount Rushmore, they should put Grover Cleveland up there twice, just because.

Carl's Jr.'s notorious Memphis BBQ Burger commercial, which features two half-dressed women fighting over pulled pork on a cheeseburger—aka, "barbecue's best pair"—recently arrived in New Zealand. It was promptly banned there, however, for running afoul of two of the country's advertising rules—prohibiting the use of sex appeal in an exploitative and degrading manner, and the use of sex to sell an unrelated product. (Are there any Carl's Jr. ads that New Zealand doesn't ban?) In response to this particular censure, Carl's Jr. decided to describe the TV spot in a radio ad—which, left to the listener's imagination, is perhaps as suggestive as the TV spot. (Special Group did the radio work; 72andSunny did the TV.) It's not a bad use of radio, which is sometimes said to be the most visual medium. Of course, the radio spots will probably be banned soon, too. Via The Ethical Adman.

Activision needed some high-impact firepower to tout its downloadable Black Ops 2: Uprising content, which is set for release next week on Xbox 360. Two riotous "replacers" answered the Call of Duty. Veteran movie tough guy Peter Stormare reprises his role as a nattily attired, ludicrously intense dude who substitutes for average Joes in their daily lives so they'll have more time to play the massively popular game. Stormare, just as insanely on edge as he was in his January debut, is joined by equally well-dressed, righteously kick-ass sidekick J.B. Smoove, aka actor-comedian Jerry Brooks.

The pitchmen wring every drop of humor from absurd "replacement" situations in this new three-minute clip from 72andSunny. They're both tightly wound, yet handle pressure differently. Stormare speaks softly and with great deliberation; it seems like his face might crack open from the tension building up inside. His barely repressed murderousness bubbles up as he tells a slow-choosing customer to "Pick a Sammmich" when he and Smoove substitute for counter help at an oddly named fast-food joint. (Note how he threateningly brandishes a knife, just as McDonald's crew members do in real life if you don't order fast enough.)

Smoove, conversely, lets it all hang out, and his loud, rapid-fire bursts of dialogue ricochet through the pair's adventures. Replacing an attorney, he delivers his closing argument: "Is my client guilty? Probably. Who cares?" When Stormare chides him from the defense table ("You're doing it wrong"), Smoove explodes, "I'm doin' it the way I'm gonna do it, OK? Let me do this, OK? … I'm in my zone right now! Did he do it? I DON'T KNOW!" He's also great as a happy-happy, hyperactive fill-in TV weatherman, emoting to the max as he warns, "There's a 45 percent chance of swamp ass today, New Orleans. Be careful out there!"

Sure, it's basically just a sendup of the familiar buddy-cop/action-flick formula—there's even a "Bad Cop, Bad Cop" bit where both actors smash every prop in an interrogation room. But these two elevate the material, which is superior to start with, to a stratospheric level. They share a rare chemistry, the kind attained by John Hodgman and Justin Long in Apple's "Get a Mac" campaign, or James Garner and Mariette Hartley in Polaroid commercials of yore—for those of a certain age who, like myself, have to bump up the point size to read these advertising reviews. Stormare, Smoove—what are you waiting for? Guys, for the love of God, replace me!

People who unironically think of their dogs as children are probably a) not well and b) overjoyed about DirecTV's announcement that it will be carrying DogTV, a $6 per month premium channel whose programming comforts animals while their owners are at work. It sounds (and is) ridiculous, but DogTV takes its mission seriously. Not only dooes it show programs that alternately stimulate and relax dogs, but the colors and audio in its broadcasts are adjusted for canines as well. My advice is to save money and just leave the TV on the Food Network all day. Dogs sleep most of the time anyway, and any dog who lives with the kind of credulous yuppie dork who would subscribe to a dog TV channel is used to hearing Alton Brown's voice by now. Photo via.

Are you addicted to the Big Mac, or can you stop anytime you want? Whatever your emotional issues with the burger, McDonald's is distancing itself from the mental-health parody ad above, which appeared on Boston's mass transit this month. (The 800 number on the ad is a McDonald's corporate line.) In a statement to Time magazine, Nicole DiNoia, a McDonald's rep for the Boston area, says the ad was "not approved by McDonald's" and that "we asked that it be taken down immediately." She adds: "We have an approval process in place with our marketing and advertising agencies to ensure that all advertising content is consistent with our brand values. Regrettably, in this incident, that process was not followed. We sincerely apologize for this error." Sounds like maybe a local agency rolled out the work without proper approval? We left a message with DiNoia—hopefully she can clarify. The ad was part of a series—another showed two corporate drones high-fiving just thinking about a Quarter Pounder with Cheese. Mental health is a particularly touchy subject for marketers, as last year's 7-Eleven fiasco reminded us. Photo via.

UPDATE: Arnold in Boston created the ad. McDonald's sent us the following statement, which is attributed to Arnold president Pam Hamlin: "Arnold apologizes for its mistake to McDonald's and to anyone who was offended by the ad. McDonald's did not approve the ad, and its release was our unintended error. We've addressed the issue and have improved our approval process to ensure this does not happen in the future."

We've been in love with taxonomies ever since the agency-name infographic a few months ago. Here's one that's truly stunning to behold—Pop Chart Lab's new Chart of Collegiate Sports Teams. For sale (at $30 a pop) as a 2- by 3-foot poster, the chart claims to offer "a taxonomic breakdown of every collegiate sports team in the United States. From Division I to Division III, from Banana Slugs to Little Giants, there are over 1100 schools charted in six square feet of higher learning." (My beloved Bears of Washington University in St. Louis are represented. Shout if your school's team isn't represented.) There sure are a crapload of Eagles and Tigers and Bulldogs, oh my. But the real gems are found in offshoots like Professions -> Resource Extraction and Self-Referential -> Abstractions. Best place to examine this masterpiece in more detail is on the Pop Chart Lab site itself.

Via Co.Design.

Nick Entwistle and James Clancy, a creative team at McCann in Manchester, England, are reaching out to those who are creatively inclined and have at least a minute to spare. Calling themselves The Bank of Creativity, they've launched One Minute Briefs, an initiative in which they issue creative briefs and ask for ideas developed in 60 seconds of less—believing that forces people to go with their gut and avoid overthinking. (Hey, that's 1,140 times faster than the World's Fastest Agency does it!) They're hoping to get actual clients to use the service—and will pay the creatives for the ideas in that case, and more if an idea is produced. One idea proposed by One Minute participant Richard Edwards is the first to be turned into a real ad (see below). It's for accounting firm Redfin, which works for agencies—hence the Mad Men-inspired visuals and the headline, Add Men, which riffs on how the firm crunches numbers. Frankly, I first read it as ADD—attention deficit disorder—which I suppose is apt as well. This kind of creative process certainly seems well suited to those who'd rather not concentrate for long.

Leon Sandcastle isn't real, but that doesn't mean he's not going places. In fact, the imaginary Hall of Fame cornerback, played by Deion Sanders in Grey New York's amusing Super Bowl spot for the NFL Network, just signed an endorsement deal with Under Armour. There's even real photos from the fake signing. (Although of course, you hardly have to be a real person to have real marketing value.)

"A talent like Leon doesn't come around very often," says Matt Mirchin, senior vice president of global brand and sports marketing at Under Armour. "Leon is the type of athlete we can't pass up because he plays the game with the experience of someone twice his age, and his trademark Afro and moustache look great on a graphic T-shirt."

"There is a ton of buzz on Sandcastle," adds NFL Network's Mike Mayock.

What does Sandcastle himself say? "I, for one, know my partnership with Under Armour is a match as good as peanut butter and jelly. The only company in the entire world who could keep up with Leon on and off the field is Under Armour. We're both ready for the Prime-Time, baby."

All this is leading up to the 2013 NFL Draft, to be broadcast on the NFL Network on April 25. Sandcastle is expected to be the No. 1 overall pick at the draft, according to NFL insiders who should not be believed. But in all seriousness, Sarah M. Swanson, vice president of marketing for NFL Network, says: "Leon's deal with Under Armour is the latest extension of the positive buzz and viral nature of this ad campaign … it's been a tremendous vehicle across all platforms for our partners to engage with the millions of NFL fans following the Combine and Draft on NFL Network."

Over in Australia, Kit Kat decided to commemorate its limited-edition white-chocolate Kit Kats by taking the last 50 and getting illustrator Mike Watt to melt them down and create 50 original illustrations from them. After crushing and melting the things, he painted the resulting goo on canvas and used a knife to scrape away the sections he didn't want, leaving behind a white-chocolate relief. They're really quite beautiful. Kit Kats never look that good crushed and melted in the bottom of my purse. The illustrator characterizes the project as preserving a piece of the brand's history. I dunno if I'd go that far. Eventually that brittle layer of chocolate on each canvas is going to break apart. View all the posters in this Facebook gallery.

Isaiah Mustafa seems perfectly content simply being the Man Your Man Could Smell Like—or drink beer like, or do another manly activity like. And who can blame him? This new two-minute spot for an Israeli brewer lets Isaiah be Isaiah, giving him amusingly elaborate lines to deliver, even if they're a poor man's version of Wieden copy. Isaiah has done this kind of thing before, and he'll do it again. Which brand will give him a real challenge and cast him as a pathetic weakling, or a doofus dad?

South African design agency Mark recently mocked up some Underpantones—underwear that come in various Pantone colors. They're intended for both men and women, and each pack is helpfully labeled with the color's swatch number. Some are hailing Underpantones as wonderful social commentary, in that they call attention to justhowoverexposured the Pantone brand is becoming—sort of like the Helvetica font, post-documentary. On the other hand (or cheek), making a Pantone product isn't a terribly effective way to thumb one's nose at all those charlatans making Pantone products. I do want to see someone in a pair of Pantoneloons next, though. More images below. Via PSFK.