"My Beautiful Woman" is a series of three short ad films totaling 20 minutes of running time. And while that might sound like an eternity on YouTube, in this case it's definitely worth it. The stories—narrated in Thai, subtitled in slightly broken English—are beautiful, emotional and likely to move sentimental types to tears.
Brand Genius honors the year's most creative, innovative and successful brand marketers. ADWEEK Brand Geniuses span a diverse array of categories including fashion, entertainment, retail and technology and are recognized at an annual awards gala in New York City. 2013 honorees included: Russell Simmons as Brand Visionary, Tim Ellis of Activision, Fernando Machado of Dove and Lauren Hobart of Dick's Sporting Goods. In 2014 ADWEEK Brand Genius will salute its 25th year of award honors.
2014 will mark HOT LIST's 34th year. Since 2011, The HOT LIST has recognized the best, brightest and hottest in media and advertising across print, digital and television. Categories (57 in total) span from Hottest Magazine, Digital Brand and Television Show of the Year, to Hottest Publisher, Digital Creative and TV Producer among many others. ADWEEK's first Media Visionary was awarded last year to Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO of Clear Channel Communications, who accepted alongside the Hot List and Reader's Choice winners, at the inaugural gala.
It might seem strange that PepsiMAX based its second "Test Drive" prank video with Jeff Gordon around doubts some people had about the first one. But it turned out to be a creatively fruitful approach. First, it was a way to draft off the success of the earlier megahit. It also gave the second video a strong narrative. (Gordon, again in disguise, takes one of the big doubters—Travis Okulski of auto blog Jalopnik—on a very real, hair-raising ride of his own.) And finally, in many ways it used Gordon's pride as an accelerator.
Nestlé is down to two agency finalists to handle creative responsibilities for its Purina Beneful dog food, sources said. The brand has been at Fallon, which did not defend. Spending for Beneful through the third quarter of 2013 was $40.7 million, according to Kantar Media. Beneful is the last of the Purina brands at the Publicis Groupe agency, which has worked on the company’s dog food for more than 25 years. Fallon most recently had also handled Purina Dog Chow, which quietly moved to corporate sibling Leo Burnett, per sources.
In this food-themed roundup, we talk to Starbucks' CMO via Instagram, look at the evolution of Snickers tagline and discuss Food & Wine's launch of a new brand for the food-obsessed youth.
In its first work for Hotels.com since adding the business last October, Crispin Porter + Bogusky goes the self-consciously wacky route by introducing Captain Obvious. As his name suggests, the new spokesman says lots of self-evident stuff to make the point that Hotels.com is the obvious choice for booking rooms.
The House Worldwide has announced its second piece of new business this month with the addition of Lenovo. The tech manufacturer said The House's network of communications partners will handle creative responsibilities in its Europe, Middle East and Africa region. On Feb.
PepsiMAX had an enormous viral hit last year with its "Test Drive" video, in which Jeff Gordon, in disguise, took a car salesman for the most terrifying ride of his life. With more than 40 million views, the spot was an unquestioned success. The only problem? A vocal minority complained that the stunt had been faked. Travis Okulski of auto blog Jalopnik was among the loudest critics.
Coca-Cola loves smart, bossy vending machines. It loves them so much, it helped turn them into an entire marketing category. This year, the brand brought back its Valentine's Day edition, further escalating the arms race to develop manipulative beverage dispensers. Actually a virtual vending machine projected on a wall, this iteration would only appear for couples, helping single people feel even worse about being alone.
