I admit I was fooled. Sort of.

When I saw Thor Björnsson (aka, the Mountain That Rides, aka the Strongest Man on Earth) selling his new sparkling water called HeavyBubbles in the spot below—released on April Fools' Day—I thought it was a prank by HBO.

I expected they might actually start releasing limited-edition dumbbell water bottles.



But it turns out the whole high-production value prank was created by SodaStream, which released an extended video (below) explaining the connection later in the day. It also came with a new SodaStream tagline: "F**k plastic bottles."

I think part of the reason it fooled me is that it's not an entirely implausible concept. Water is heavy, and we cart an increasing amount of it home from the store. In fact, Pepsi Light tested (though didn't release) tested its own dumbbell bottle recently.

It also helps that Björnsson is legitimately charming when he's not gouging out eyes on Game of Thrones. The hilarious spot features the Icelandic superman hawking his product to an adorable admirer, wavering between his homicidal onscreen persona and his pleasantly chipper off-screen self.



Some April Fools' pranks are elevated higher than a quick Photoshop of a nasty Cheez Whiz flavored milkshake. Some are actually clever, playful advertisements in disguise that hit on a product benefit, but with an absurd enough premise that there's only one day they could be released without mucking up the entire brand ethos. This was one such ad.

SodaStream's everyday slogan, by the way, is "Set the bubbles free," voiced by a woman who sounds like she just spent the whole afternoon lounging around a million-dollar pool.

But it wouldn't be amiss for SodaStream to keep Björnsson around for another few spots. There's something about the world's strongest man being into sparkling water that delights and surprises, especially when he is also fond of smashing through walls—including the fourth one. 

Submitted for your approval, "We're Being Watched," a Twilight Zone-ish slice of sci-fi paranoia from RPA, promoting the 17th annual Newport Beach Film Festival.

With dazzling visuals and sharp direction by Jogger, the short film packs a trippy punch as it explores the increasingly voyeuristic nature of our always-on multiscreen world.

There's an awful lot going on in less than two minutes of running time, and the action kicks off with a late-night hookup at an isolated house. As a young couple get hot and heavy, X-Files-type music builds in the background, and the camera pans across the room to reveal a child's huge, wide-eyed face—about the size of a door—calmly observing every move.

Then things really start getting weird. Check out the clip here:



That giant finger nails it at the end! (Please, no cracks about heavy-handed metaphors.)

While its themes aren't exactly new (Twilight Zone and various speculative fiction outlets have told similar tales), "We're Being Watched" does more than riff on classic motifs. This isn't one of those kids-watch-their-dolls-act-out-stories-in-a-dollhouse scenario. Here, the entire cast is on equal footing—each an observer and a subject in his or her own right. And RPA takes the premise to its logical conclusion by bringing the characters together in a maze of amusingly existential overkill from which there's no escape.

In other words: We're all watching each other at all times!

"At its core, the idea seems fairly straightforward," RPA copywriter Joshua Hepburn tells AdFreak. "We're watching a film where people are watching each other in a little house. Then, you watch it a few times, and various layers present themselves. Who does the house belong to? Are they in the same space? It becomes apparent you have no idea who is doing the actual watching."

The complex shoot took place from 6 a.m. until 2 a.m. the following morning, and posed many challenges for the creative team.

"We had to get crafty in order to get everything we needed for post—like sticking GoPros on every ceiling to create the 'micro people,' providing reference for every move," says RPA creative director Scott McDonald. "It was more or less an editor's nightmare—and an effects artist's omniscient dream."

Hepburn recalls that the absurdist finale, with the bathtub man apparently poking himself in the head with his own finger, "was a bit of a process. Earlier in the day, we used this giant foam creation made out of an inflatable pool toy to physically poke his head and make a splash." When that visual proved too silly, the crew had to improvise. "The actor created his own reaction" sans finger, Hepburn says. Later, "a real finger was shot against a green screen at several angles and comped in to create the effect."

RPA's print ads for the festival, running from April 21-28, hyper-focus on the "watching" theme by presenting what appears to be a human iris. If you look closely, however, it turns out to be something else entirely. (Click the image to enlarge.) 

In crafting the campaign, RPA kept its thoughtful, artsy target audience in sight at all times.

"The film festival audience actually thinks about what it is taking in," and that goes for NBFF advertising as well as the work screened at the event, McDonald says. "[Festival] promos might seem a little eccentric compared to others, but truthfully, NBFF is like any other smart brand, trying to appeal to their best customers." (RPA has produced some gems for the client, including the gruesome "Mandible" horror sendup from 2013, and the following year's unsettling but campy "Bedtime Story.")

This latest work, however, ups the intellectual ante. Perfectly suited to promoting a film festival, the campaign also excels as a pure content play, challenging folks to question their daily experience and, perhaps, see things in a different way.

"Ultimately, we want the viewer to create their own meaning," Hepburn says. "That's part of the fun—the ambiguity, knowing people will get something different from the story."

CREDITS
Client: Newport Beach Film Festival
Director of Marketing and Public Relations: Todd Quartararo
Campaign: "We're Being Watched"

Agency: RPA
EVP/CCO: Joe Baratelli
SVP/GCD: Pat Mendelson
VP, CD/AD: Scott McDonald
CW: Joshua Hepburn
SVP, Chief Production Officer: Gary Paticoff
VP/Executive Producer: Selena Pizarro
Senior Producer: Kay Lynn Dutcher

Music Track: "A Serial Universe"
Composer and Sound Design Credit: Peter Lauridsen

Production: Jogger
Director: Jogger
Creative Director: David Parker
DP: Alice Gu
Executive Producer: Rich Rama
Producer: Geno Imbriale

Editorial Company: Cut+Run
Editor: Lucas Eskin
EP: Amburr Farls
Senior Producer: Remy Foxx
Assistant Editor:  Lauren Brown

VFX: Jogger
VFX Producer: Nancy Hwang/Ben Sposato
VFX Production Coordinator: Erica Cruz
Flame Artist: Shauna Prescott
Flame Artist: Gavin Camp
Flame Artist: Cole Schreiber

Color Services: The Mill
Senior Colorist: Damien van der Cruyssen

Title Design & Animation: Laundry!
Creative Director: PJ Richardson
Executive Producer: Lindsay Bodanza

Audio: Lime Studios
Audio Engineer: Matt Miller

Key Art/Program Ad Photography: Karel Polt, Asher Hung, Candela Rebot

Last summer, Omnicom's BBDO scored a significant healthcare win by picking up lead creative duties for insurance provider Humana just a month after the client—which had been the world's fourth largest health insurance company—agreed to be acquired by Aetna for $37 billion. Analysts expect that deal to close later this year. 

"Start With Healthy," BBDO New York's first campaign for Humana, debuted Tuesday night. The TV spots demonstrate why the account is so important: The company that most effectively simplifies healthcare options for older Americans will be a big winner in the market moving forward. 

The first ad, "Birthday," tells the story of a man who gets exactly what he wants for his 67th—but only because he's been taking care of his health. 



The campaign marks an attempt by Humana to position itself as more than just a wellness company by demonstrating how it can directly improve the daily lives of its customers—via slice-of-life vignettes appealing to its core demographic of middle-aged and older Americans. 

"What sets this work apart is the focus on what better health through Humana enables our health plan members to accomplish," Mark Mathis, director of corporate communications, tells Adweek. "Humana understands that people, especially the boomer generation, want to grow, not fade, stay relevant, useful and influential." 

The next spot "Carnival" illustrates the challenges faced by a woman making the most of her golden years by traveling cross-country to spend time with her grandchildren (and trying to keep up with their ferris wheel hijinks).



As Mathis puts it, " 'Start with Healthy' reminds people what having health really means—the ability to take fuller advantage of the opportunities life brings you. The takeaway from these messages is that great things are ahead of you when your health is ready for them." 

He positions the campaign as part of a larger effort to raise awareness of the Humana brand and portray the company as a sort of life partner rather than a faceless bureaucratic behemoth. 

BBDO's work will include social, mobile, digital, broadcast, event, print and direct marketing efforts, with additional collateral rolling out throughout 2016. 

CREDITS
Client: Humana
Agency: BBDO New York

Here's an interesting campaign from Swedish agency Akestam Holst that turned commercial radio in Syria into a personal media channel for refugees looking to contact their moms back home on Mother's Day.

The client, Refugee Phones, provides donated smartphones to refugees. But often, the phone connections back in Syria are poor, and many Syrians don't even have phones—so refugees have trouble calling their families.

For Mother's Day in Syria on March 21, Akestam Holst worked out a hack by recording Mother's Day greetings from refugees and then repackaging and running them as "radio ads" in Syria on a station popular with mothers—where, hopefully, the moms heard them.

Some 150 spots were broadcast in all. Check out the case study below.



CREDITS
Client: Refugee Phones
Agency: Akestam Holst
Radio Production: Flickorna Larsson

Shea Moisture is using its first TV commercial, created by its new agency, Droga5, to generate awareness about segregation in the beauty aisle.

With #BreakTheWalls, the brand looking to "highlight the divisive constructs of beauty and move towards the inclusive shopping experience that all women deserve," according to the company's release. 

"There's an aisle called 'Beauty' that does not include all people. It's something that women have been conditioned to accept as fact, but it's no longer acceptable," Emmie Nostitz, senior art director, Droga5, said in a statement. "Shea Moisture is breaking down the walls that separate the 'Beauty Aisle' and the 'Ethnic Section' simply by putting their product in the 'Beauty Aisle.' "

Check out the spot here: 



In addition to the 60-second short film, there is a 30-second spot, a behind-the-scenes video (see below) as well as digital and social elements.

"I have often said over the last 20 years that the beauty aisle is the last place in America where segregation is still legal," said Richelieu Dennis, founder and CEO of Shea Moisture's parent company, Sundial Brands. "Separating 'Beauty' from 'Ethnic' has only served to further perpetuate narrow standards of what is considered beautiful in our industry and our society—which is why we began leading the efforts to break down those walls." 

The campaign has already received plenty of praise online:

That Shea Moisture ad put a very ignored part of the black female existence into the perfect short film. Man. #BREAKTHEWALLS

— Mrs. Sams (@MrsSamsIAm) April 5, 2016

LOVE everything about this new Shea Moisture #BREAKTHEWALLS campaign! https://t.co/1hA9MKgayZ

— TexturedTalk™ (@TexturedTalk) April 5, 2016

We're finally on the Beauty Aisle ! Whoop, Whoop #THANKYOU@SheaMoisture ! #BREAKTHEWALLS

— Erika A. Cooks (@Thehair_geek) April 5, 2016

Dennis added: "This movement is about so much more than selling shampoo, or lotion, or cosmetics.  We're advancing a mission and vision to change the social dialogue about how we're looking at beauty as a society and how those archaic structures and views are debilitating to the establishment of new and more inclusive ways of viewing beauty." 



CREDITS
Client: Sundial; SheaMoisture
Campaign: Break the Walls

Agency: Droga5 NY
Creative Chairman: David Droga
Chief Creative Officer: Ted Royer
Executive Creative Director: Kevin Brady
Senior Copywriter: Erica Pressly
Senior Art Director: Emmie Nostitz
Copywriter: Mariana Oliveira
Junior Art Director: Sonja Johnson:
Chief Creation Officer: Sally-Ann Dale
Head of Broadcast Production: Ben Davies
Broadcast Producer: Bill Berg
Associate Broadcast Producer: Jenna Allchin
Associate Broadcast Producer: Stephanie Hill
Jr. Production Business Manager: Grant Thompson
Global Chief Strategy Officer: Jonny Bauer
Group Strategy Director: Harry Roman
Strategy Director: Katy Alonzo
Junior Strategist: Tulani Foy
Senior Communications Strategist: Taylor Hines
Data Strategist: Abiola Adeniyi
Group Account Director: Julia Albu
Account Manager: Jasmine McDavid
Project Manager: Andrea Verenes

Client: Sundial: SheaMoisture
Chief Experience Officer: Richelieu Dennis
Chief Innovation Officer: Richelyna Hall
Chief Community Officer: Emmett Dennis
Senior VP, Communications: Latraviette Smith
VP, Brand Strategy: Christine Kiehm
Senior Director, Media & Social: Kimberly Konstant
Senior Director, Communications: Melissa Miller
Partner, Bain Capital: Matt Freeman
Consultant: Steve Chan

Production Company: Stun Spots
Director: Nick Enriquez
DOP: Chris Saul
Executive Producer: Jared Christensen:
Producer: Peter Sestina

Editorial: Wildchild
Editor: Josiah Spencer
Assistant Editor: Theresa Rodriguez:
Behind the Scenes Editor: Tyrone Rhabb
Managing Director: Scott Spanjich
Producer: Andrew Cravotta

Postproduction: Wildchild
Managing Director: Scott Spanjich
Producer: Andrew Cravotta
Flame Artist: Peter Oliver
After Effects Artist: Brett Ryans

Composer: Ben Balcom

Sound: Sonic Union
Mixer: David Papa

After 20 years with Saatchi & Saatchi, Pablo Del Campo will leave the network and his current role as worldwide creative director. Del Campo will be replaced by Kate Stanners, the current chief creative officer at Saatchi & Saatchi London, who will also continue to serve in that role. The changes take effect immediately.

During his time with Saatchi & Saatchi, Del Campo launched Buenos Aires-based Del Campo Saatchi & Saatchi, which created work for clients including Coca-Cola and Sony Playstation. Del Campo took over the global role, which had been vacant for six years, in 2014.

"It has been an enormous privilege for me to have developed so many 'ideas bigger than ads' in a space as inspiring as Saatchi & Saatchi, hand in hand with the most prestigious industry leaders and creative teams," Del Campo said in a statement. "The decision to leave this 20-year-old adventure has not been easy but the outcome surpassed by far my expectations."

Stanners has been in her current role at Saatchi & Saatchi London since 2014. She joined the network in 2005 as an executive creative director. She's worked on a number of big campaigns for the agency including the hilarious "Pooface" campaign for Pampers, which captures slow-motion shots of babies in the act, and HomeAway's recent campaign mocking Airbnb. Stanners has won 33 Lions for work she's done at Saatchi.

"I've lived, breathed and loved Saatchi & Saatchi for the last 11 years, so the opportunity to take leadership of the creative performance of this great network and drive it to even more success is an exciting and very personal honor," Stanners said.

When advertisers buy TV spots, they think about eyeballs—how many, what ages, etc. It's how things are done. However, new research shows that the content that surrounds ads cannot be ignored.

Programs featuring content that's not appropriate for families can lead to negative associations for brands and, ultimately, less effective advertising. On the other hand, ads in TV-G/TV-PG shows have greatly enhanced ad performance and positive brand associations. That was one of the biggest takeaways from an important new study from Nielsen commissioned by UP TV and Scripps. Here are the most important findings for advertisers:

Homepage illustration by Eric Nyffeler, Infographic by Jessica Sarro

In 2012, VisitSweden launched a unique tourism campaign online. It handed off the country's official Twitter handle, @Sweden, to ordinary Swedes—and let them post more or less whatever they liked. Very quickly there were problems with provocative posts, but the country—convinced that transparency had more upsides than downsides—stuck with the "Curators of Sweden" program, and it continues today. (It was also widely celebrated in the ad industry, winning the Cyber Grand Prix at Cannes in 2012 for agency Volontaire.)

Now, a similar campaign aims to translate that same kind of experience to the telephone.

Sweden just became the first country in the world with its very own telephone number. "The Swedish Number," which you can call at +46 771 793 336, connects callers from around the world with random Swedes who have signed up to be de facto ambassadors—but who've received no training whatsoever, and have been given no instructions about what to say (or perhaps more to the point, what not to say).

The campaign was dreamed up by Ingo Stockholm, a WPP agency, for the Swedish Tourist Association—a different group than VisitSweden. The point is to offer a completely unfiltered view of Swedish life—regardless of the obvious risks of doing so. (The campaign also marks the 250th anniversary of the abolishment of censorship in Sweden.) 

"In troubled times, many countries try to limit communication between people, but we want to do just the opposite," Magnus Ling, general secretary and CEO of the Swedish Tourist Association, said in a statement. "We are making Sweden the first country in the world with its own phone number and giving our fellow Swedes the opportunity to answer the calls, express themselves and share their views, whatever they might be."

The point, Ling added, is "to show the real Sweden—a unique country worth visiting with the right of public access, sustainable tourism and a rich cultural heritage. With 'The Swedish Number,' our goal is to create more pride and knowledge about Sweden, both nationally and internationally."

Here is a short video about the program: 



Swedes can sign up online to take part in the campaign. A switchboard supports incoming calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The switchboard then randomly chooses one of the Swedish ambassadors to take each call. 

Naturally, we had to try it. Here's what happened when we called early Thursday:

[Rings]
Sweden: Hello?

Tim Nudd: Hi, is this Sweden?
It is Sweden, indeed.

Hi, this is America calling.
Hey. Great! Where are you calling from in the States?

I'm in New York City at the moment.
Nice.

Yeah. Where are you?
I'm in Stockholm, the capital.

Oh, nice. Well, I just wanted to call and see how this whole thing works.
OK. Yeah, me too. I just signed up online to receive these calls. Is this the first time you've called?

It is the first time. How many calls have you gotten?
I signed up yesterday, and I got three calls. And then I turned it off for a while. Then I turned it back on about an hour ago, and you're the first to call since then. 

I see, OK.
How did you find out about it?

Well, I actually write for a marketing magazine, and the ad agency that came up with this idea sent me an email. So, I thought I'd try it.
Ah, OK. Which ad agency is that? 

They're called Ingo. They're in Stockholm, also.
OK, I see. That's cool.

So, how did the three phone calls go yesterday?
So, there was one from Turkey from a woman who didn't speak too much English. So, that was a fairly brief conversation. It was cut off. I don't know whether she hung up, or what happened. Then there was a guy from Britain. An engineer from Britain. And we had a long chat for about 10 minutes. He just asked about what life is like in Sweden, etc. And the third caller just hung up. So, I think there are a lot of people, like you, they just call to see if this actually works. So, for full disclosure, I should let you know that I'm a reporter for the Associated Press, the news agency. And I'm writing a story about this. I just signed up for the service to see how it works, and how many calls I would receive. Just to really understand how they set it up. 

[Laughs] Right, OK. So, this is supposed to be a tourism campaign, and we have one journalist calling another journalist.
[Laughs] Yeah, I'm not sure that's what they intended! Which magazine do you work for?

I'm with Adweek.
OK. Cool.

Yeah, I'm writing a story this morning about this whole thing.
[Laughs] Oh, you are. That's hilarious.

So, did you get any training on what you're supposed to say?
No. And I mean, that's why I signed up. That's what I wanted to find out, right? And there's absolutely no vetting. I signed up online. All I had to do was enter my phone number. I had to download an app, enter my phone number. I got some kind of activation code as a text message to my phone. I had to enter that, and that was it. Nobody asked me any questions. I got no instructions what to say. I actually asked them about that, too. "How do you know that people won't, you know, be saying things that you won't necessarily endorse as the official tourism agency for Sweden?" And they're like, "That's the point! We don't want to control the message! We're celebrating our press freedoms, etc."

They did a similar thing on Twitter.
Yes, they have the official Twitter account, that's right.

They let ordinary Swedes take over the Twitter account, and it got a little crazy, I understand.
Yeah, some of them have been a bit provocative. 

I guess I should ask a question about what it's like to live in Sweden. So, what's it like to live in Sweden?
[Laughs] It's mostly good. It's a very pleasant place to live. Quality of life is high. It's a fairly safe and wealthy place, compared to many other countries. It's very cold, though. It's like living in … probably not quite as cold as Alaska, but one of the states bordering Canada. And the winters are dark. So, the cold and darkness, that's the big minus of living here. But otherwise it's great. I used to live in New York. Fifteen years ago now. 

So, when's the best time to visit Sweden? In the summertime?
Yeah, definitely in the summertime. I would say, June or July. The only thing about July is, all Swedes go on vacation. So, if you come to Stockholm in July, the city is almost empty except for tourists. You can hardly find any Swedes on the street. And that is because it's the warmest month, and that's when you can expect the best weather. 

Awesome, well, I'll try to get there eventually.
Yeah, you should! 

How funny to run into you like this.
Yeah, that was fun. If you come to Sweden, look me up! 

Note: Our Swedish friend turned out to be Karl Ritter, bureau chief of the AP in Stockholm. You can follow him on Twitter here.

Kevin Spacey is an accomplished thespian whose talents extend to the possibly related realm of staring contests. In a fun (though tenuously branded) E*Trade campaign from R/GA, the House of Cards star challenges you to a staring contest—which lasts through three separate ads running in successive pods on Hulu's new drama The Path, starring Aaron Paul.

Check out the three ads below. It would have been nice if at least one of them ran longer than 15 seconds, which barely registers on the scale of proper staring-contest scoring. But then, that didn't fit the media buy—or maybe Spacey just isn't as good as he says he is (his painfully watery eyes aren't encouraging in that regard).
 

CREDITS

Client: E*Trade
Kyle Okimoto: Head of Marketing
Rich Muhlstock: COO Marketing,  SVP Branding & Acquisition
Wylie Kain: VP, Head of Branding
Evan Katz: Senior Marketing Manager

Agency: R/GA, New York
Nick Law: Global CCO
Taras Wayner: SVP, ECD
Michael Lowenstern: VP, Digital Advertising
Lee Margolis: Executive Creative Director
Steve Giraldi & Peter Unger: Assoc Creative Directors
Andrea Messer & Jason Burke: Sr. Art Dir. & Copywriter
Kat Friis: Group Director, Film Production
Brian Schierman: Sr. Film Producer
Michael Stoopack: Managing Director
Julie DeAngelis: Account Director
James Hogan: Account Supervisor
Emily Chen: Campaign Producer
Stephen Bernstein: Director, Business Affairs
Maureen Doyle: Business Affairs
Mairead Murray, Coordinator, Business Affairs
Dylan Viner: Group Strategy Director
Amy McEwan: Strategist

Production: Radical Media, New York
Steve Miller: Director
Frank Scherma & Gregg Carlesimo: Executive Producers
Frank Dituri: HOP
Matt O'Shea: Line Producer

Editorial: Cutting Room, NY
Merritt Duff: Editor
Megan Katuran: Assist Editor
Melissa Lubin: Exec Producer

Post: Light of Day, NY
Colin Stackpole: Executive Producer
Pete DeAndrea: Flame Artist

Audio: Sonic Union, NY
Michael Marinelli: Audio Engineer
Justine Cortale: Sr. Producer

Shot on Location at Newark Symphony Hall, Newark, New Jersey

Do you even know what's happening in the world today? Me neither, because I've been watching the Rogue One trailer on repeat pretty much since I woke up.

Officially called Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, this prequel/spinoff hits theaters this December. Like many fans, I've been withholding my excitement until I could get a sense of whether this was just going to feel like cash-grab filler before Episode VIII debuts in 2017.

Well, the good news is, if it's cash-grab filler, it looks like some Grade A cash-grab filler. In fact, it looks amazing. Check out the first trailer:



Clearly this will be the story of the team that brought the Rebel Alliance the secret plans for the Death Star, including its womp rat-sized exhaust port. 

More important, it's chock full of new, iconic characters: Felicity Jones as the rule-flouting Jyn Erso, martial arts badass Donnie Yen as some kind of interstellar samurai, Forest Whitaker as as Forest Whitaker in a bulky suit! And there's a whole new set of bad guys in capes and dark helmets! Even I'm not sure why I'm using so many exclamation points! 

Rogue One is directed by Gareth Edwards, who helmed the brilliant 2010 indie film Monsters and the not-so-brilliant 2014 reboot of Godzilla. So, his track record is mixed, but in this case he seems to have something truly special on his hands. 

A single shining moment can inspire a lifetime of greatness. That, at least, is the driving idea behind Nike's new soccer ad, "Spark Brilliance," from Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam.

In it, French player Blaise Matuidi flashes back through his rise to stardom, starting as a young boy witnessing former pro Jay-Jay Okocha land a perfect volley into the back of the net while playing for Paris St. Germain, where Matuidi is now a midfielder.

That sports-idol-spawned montage may sound a little like another Nike ad from elsewhere in the W+K universe. Last year, "Ripple" featured Rory McIlroy training his way through the years to play along Tiger Woods, after seeing and admiring the elder golfer as a child—created by the agency's Portland office.

This spot, if equally heartfelt in its own way, is less somber and more upbeat. In fact, it's almost carnivalesque, with the titular, metaphorical spark visualized as a literal meteoric explosion in a galaxy that's contained inside young Matuidi's eyeball, and the grownup version of him taking on proportions of celebrity well beyond his skills in the game.

He's not just a soccer star—he's a fashion icon and cultural force, whose victory-dance moves on the pitch serve as a source of inspiration for the likes of popular French hip-hop artist Niska.



Overall, it's a fun ad, glued together by an especially on-point choice of background music, Earth, Wind & Fire's "Shining Star." It's not only a perfect lyrical fit for the concept, but has the kind of irresistibly charming groove that in and of itself suggests everything is going to turn out well in the end.

Also, its indomitably happy sound, when coupled with the modern imagery of the spot, doesn't even seem dated, and plays an outsized role in carrying a message—and tagline ("Fais Briller Le Jeu" in French)—that flirts with the kind of enthusiastic naïveté that can be tough to swallow.

To its credit, the ad doesn't shy away from the doses of drilling and running that were also essential to Matuidi's success—the kind of hard work with which McIlroy is also intimately familiar. But the whole ad is infused with the love for play that's at the heart of much of Nike's marketing.

The 90-second spot's true moment of brilliance, though, comes at the end—itself a new beginning—when the camera cuts to another future soccer star, glimmering as he watches Matuidi celebrate a goal.

CREDITS
Client: Nike
Ed Collin: Senior Brand Communication Director, Nike EMEA
Nick Kettelhake: Brand Communications Director, Nike WE
Jean-Luc Bragard: Brand Communications Manager, Nike WE

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam
Executive Creative Director: Eric Quennoy, Mark Bernath
Creative Director: Craig Williams, David Smith
Art Director: Sébastien Partika
Copywriter: Edouard Olhagaray
Head of Broadcast Production: Joe Togneri
Broadcast Producer: Elissa Singstock
Planner: Stéphane Missier
Communications Planner: Josh Chang
Digital Strategist: Greg White
Group Account Director: Kathryn Addo
Account Director: Tim Ryan
Account Manager: Jorge Fesser
Project Manager: Loes Poot
Business Affairs: Kacey Kelley

Production Company: Division Films
Director: Fleur+Manu
Director of Photography: Steve Annis
Producer: Jules de Chateleux
Executive Producer: Jules de Chateleux

Editing Company: Whitehouse Post London
Editor: Russell Icke

Audio Post: Wave Studios Amsterdam/ Grand Central Recording Studios London
Sound Designer/Mixer: Alex Nicholls Lee/ Raja Sehgal

Music:
Title: "Shining Star" (Sebastian Remix)
Original Artist / Remix Artist: Earth, Wind & Fire (Remixed by Sebastian)
Publishing & Master Recording: Sony/ATV & Sony Music Entertainment
Remix : Ed Banger Records

Postproduction: Glassworks Amsterdam
Flame: Morten Vinther (Head of 2d) Kyle Obley (VFX Sup/ Flame)
3D: Rudiger Kaltenhauser
Telecine: Daniel de Vue
Producer: Anya Kruzmetra, Christian Downes

Partner Agencies:
Media Agency: Mindshare Paris
Digital Agency: RGA London

Love him or hate him, Kobe Bryant is a legend.

In China, they mostly love him—he's made a concerted effort, with Nike, to reach out to his Chinese fans over the past decade. And the Chinese have responded with adulation all but unmatched for American sports stars.

Now, with Bryant's last game fast approaching, Nike and Wieden + Kennedy Shanghai have created a stirring 60-second tribute commercial. And it's all about that love—which Bryant says might actually be a bit misguided.

"Kobe has an intimate relationship with the Chinese ballers, so he knows exactly how to teach and motivate them," says Terence Leong, creative director of W+K Shanghai. "Together with Nike China and Kobe, our team crafted the script and made sure the film was just as provocative as the man himself. It was an intense and uncompromising process because Kobe was just as demanding on the creative team as he was on the Lakers."

W+K creative director Azsa West adds: "[Kobe] chose to focus on becoming a legend rather than being a hero. When it comes to winning, Kobe is willing to push himself to risk everything. Because standing back and doing nothing, that's real failure. This philosophy is very Nike 'Just do it,' and Kobe is the perfect person to deliver this spirit of Nike."

CREDITS
Client: Nike
Campaign: "Kobe Last Season"
Spot: "Don't Love Me, Hate Me"
Launch Date: 7 April 2016

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy Shanghai
Executive Creative Director: Yang Yeo
Creative Directors: Terence Leong, Azsa West
Copywriters: Nick Finney, Wei Liu
Senior Art Director: Shaun Sundholm
Senior Designers: Patrick Rockwell, Will Dai
Integrated Production Director: Angie Wong
Assistant Producers: Yuan Fang, Jiji Hu
Offline Editor: Hiro Ikematsu
Business Director: Dino Xu
Associate Account Director: Jim Zhou
Account Executive: Shawn Kai
Senior Planner: Paula Bloodworth
Digital Strategist: Bill Tang
Project Manager: Nicole Bee
Business Affairs: Jessica Deng, Kathy Zhan

Production Companies: Elastic TV; Lunar Films
Director: Biff Butler
Line Producer: Kelly Christensen
Director of Photography: Rachel Morrison
Executive Producer (Elastic): Belinda Blacklock
Managing Director (Elastic): Jennifer Sofio Hall
Executive Producer (Lunar): Ken Yap
Post Producer (Lunar): Jeff Tannebring

Editing: Rock Paper Scissors
Editors: Biff Butler, Alyssa Oh
Post Producer: Christopher Noviello
Executive Producers: Angela Dorian, Linda Carlson

Postproduction: a52
2-D Visual Effects Artists: Michael Vaglienty, Adam Flynn
Smoke Artist: Chris Riley
Conform: Gabe Sanchez
Rotoscope Artists: Tiffany German, Cathy Shaw, Robert Shaw
Colorist: Paul Yacono
Design: Pete Sickbert-Bennett
2-D, 3-D Animation: David Do, Steven Do, Claudia De Leon, Sam Cividanis
Senior Color Producer: Jenny Bright
Producer: Drew Rissman
Head of Production: Kim Christensen
Deputy Head of Production: Carol Salek
Executive Producer: Patrick Nugent

Original Music, Sound Design, Mix: Lime Studios
Original Music: Andy Huckvale
Mixer: Zac Fisher
Assistant Mixer: Kevin McAlpine
Executive Producer: Susie Boyajan

A billboard for a gym in England has upset passersby with its scientifically unprovable claim that when aliens invade our planet, "they'll take the fat ones first." 

Even in this comic context, fat-shaming people into joining a gym is a crappy tactic to use—one that is disappointing but not surprising. And of course, the gym, Fit4Less, has refused to take the billboard down. 

What's curious, though, is that this isn't the first gym to post a fat-shaming alien billboard!

Indeed, in 1999, a gym in San Francisco used the same tactic in a billboard from Grey. At the time, the health club, 24 Hour Fitness, also refused to take down the ad, saying it wasn't meant to be offensive and that "we all know how hard it is to lose weight. Sometimes humor helps make things easier, and can even be motivational." 

Adweek covered that ruckus, and spoke at the time to Alan Randolph, creative director at Grey, who said: "We certainly didn't mean to offend anyone. I mean, I'm no physical specimen either."

Here's the earlier billboard:



Fit4Less is making the same argument that 24 Hour Fitness did. "If we are going to reach more people as a sector, then we need to stop taking ourselves so seriously and realize that if we want to attract normal people, then we need to be willing to poke fun at ourselves. Our messaging is designed to do exactly that." argues Jan Spaticchia, CEO of Fit4Less parent company Energie Group. 

So, here we are, two decades later, with basically the same tactic and the same reaction.

But let's unpack this for a second: Sure, yeah, aliens probably exist, and maybe they'll come to Earth. I can suspend my disbelief. But you cannot tell me that you know aliens will want to eat humans and that the humans they will want to eat the most will be whatever these gyms define as fat.

Nope. I draw the line there. 

Top photo courtesy @natharvey77 on Twitter.

Want to know the cost of a royal wedding feast in 15th century Italy or a sex slave in ancient Rome? To promote The Girlfriend Experience, a new Starz show about the world of high-end escorts, WSJ Custom Studios, the Wall Street Journal's in-house content marketing agency, created a content piece exploring the economics of prostitution, dating and marriage throughout history.

The piece, Business of the Heart, is an in-depth feature story with video clips of the show throughout and an interactive timeline on the historical price of love and lust, including the costs of: a bridal gift in Mesopotamia in 200 BC versus a sex slave in Rome in 27 BC, a marriage license versus a prostitute in 1800s England, and a date versus a subscription to porn in New York in 2015. The piece launched on the Wall Street Journal's website on Monday and will run in print on Friday alongside an ad for the show, which premieres on Sunday and is based on the 2009 Steven Soderbergh movie of the same name.

"We wanted to create a unique campaign for The Girlfriend Experience that not only sold the show in a traditional way, but also sparked conversation—perhaps even debate—about the world depicted in the series," said Alison Hoffman, evp of marketing for Starz. "Our goal is to generate conversation around a topic most people will consider underground, or even taboo. It's a way to spark interest and conversation around the themes of the series and ultimately to get people buzzing about the show itself."

WSJ Custom Studios linked the premise of The Girlfriend Experience to economics to appeal to the newspaper's business-focused audience, said Fara Warner, global director of WSJ Custom Studios. "Starz came to us to open up the show to an audience that otherwise wouldn't pay attention to it. Most relationships are based on an economic contract, and the timeline shows that we've been engaged in the economics of relationships going back to the days of geishas, or dowries. The hope is that our audience says, 'Wow, I didn't think about that' and now they're going to watch the show."

WSJ Custom Studios' other entertainment-focused sponsored content projects include Cocainenomics, a deep dive into the history of cocaine trafficking and the Medellin Cartel for Netflix's drug drama Narcos, and Gaming the American Dream, an explainer on hedge funds for Showtime's hedge fund drama Billions. All three pieces include interactive graphics alongside clips from the shows. The brands that WSJ Custom Studios partners with typically measure the success of these campaigns by the amount of time readers spend on the pages, hence the need for interactive elements like the timeline for The Girlfriend Experience and an interactive quiz in the Cocainenomics piece, along with heavily-researched long form articles.

"We believe an audience is much more likely to be engaged in a show if they understand the background behind it. People who enjoy medical dramas want to know what really happens when someone gets rushed to the ER," said Trevor Fellows, global head of advertising at the Wall Street Journal. "For Billions, for instance, we thought if people understood what a hedge fund really did, that the show would be that much more alive and compelling."

The Wall Street Journal's increased editorial entertainment content—like its weekly Arena section, which includes TV and film reviews—has helped WSJ Custom Studios land more content partnerships with entertainment properties, according to Fellows.

The native ad landscape, and what resonates with audiences, has changed since WSJ Custom Studios launched in 2014, he added. "A few years ago, we were in the Wild West age of native advertising, where one of the chief criteria of success was making it look as much like surrounding editorial as it possibly could. Thank goodness the world has moved on. Brands now know that they need to be proud that this is their content, and it needs to be differentiated from surrounding content, but needs to be of similar quality so the audience wants to engage with it. We've done a lot more work with videography, and spent more time on graphics. We've upped the social aspect of the content we've built. Our storytelling keeps getting better, too."

Over the last year, WSJ Custom Studios has focused more on quality over quantity, Warner said. "We're moving away from many pieces of content run out over a series of weeks or months and instead having an experience that takes longer to explore."
 

Roughly one month after announcing a consolidation plan that reorganized its media agencies into four global brands, Publicis Groupe has announced a number of appointments to the newly organized U.S. leadership team of Publicis Media.

Kathy Ring will take over as CEO at Starcom USA. Following the restructuring plan announced in March, the Starcom Mediavest group name was dissolved, and the two groups, Starcom and Mediavest, were broken up. Starcom is now a stand-alone agency, while Mediavest joined forces with the Spark team. Ring takes over the chief executive role from Lisa Donohue, who is now the global brand president for Starcom.

Publicis also announced two additional high-level appointments: Sean Reardon, the current CEO of lesser-known digital shop Moxie, will be CEO at Zenith USA, and Jason Whiting will serve as CEO at MRY. Reardon has nearly 20 years of experience at agencies including Zenith Media, Goodby Silverstein & Partners and AKQA. He will continue in his current role at Moxie in addition to succeeding Lou Rossi at Zenith. Rossi is now the chief investment officer for Publicis Media in the U.S. Whiting, who joins Publicis from Huge where he was the global managing director, takes over at MRY for Matt Britton, who will now serve as chairman of the agency.

Ring, Reardon and Whiting will report to Publicis Media CEO Tim Jones.

"This strong roster of leaders will drive new levels of scale, business transformation and client value," Jones said in a statement. "I look forward to working closely with these leaders as we deliver upon the promise of our organization—a modern approach to gain efficiency and introduce structures for greater collaboration and effectiveness."

It's still unclear how the restructuring and new appointments will affect other Publics Groupe teams and whether layoffs are still in the works. Earlier in the year, before the consolidation plan was announced on the media side, Starcom Mediavest announced it would be laying off 80 employees. And agencies under Publicis Groupe's creative arm, Publicis Communications, have already felt the impact of the network's overall U.S. reorganization plans. Leo Burnett Chicago just announced layoffs, which it said will help the agency with streamline its operations and "operate more efficiently."

What do you look like as you get increasingly buzzed from alcohol? Many of Marcos Alberti's friends now have photographic evidence.

"There is a saying about wine that I really like and it's something like this: 'The first glass of wine is all about the food, the second glass is about love and the third glass is about mayhem,' " the Brazilian photographer tells AdFreak. "I really wanted to see it for myself if that affirmation was, in fact, true."

Alberti started inviting friends to his studio and photographing them before having any wine—and then after one, two and three glasses. The results are, let's say, amusing.

"The first picture is taken right away when our guest has just arrived at the studio in order to capture the stress and the fatigue after working all day long, and from also facing rush hour traffic to get here," Alberti says. "Only then can fun time and my project begin. At the end of every glass of wine, a snapshot. Nothing fancy—a face and a wall, three times."

Check out loads of the pics from the series below. 

To celebrate its customers' love of hiking and exploring the outdoors, REI launched Every Trail Connects, a series of three six- to eight-minute videos that tell emotional stories from three of America's hiking trails.

The first video, which launched in January, features Errol "The Rocket" Jones, a 65-year-old long-distance runner who trains on the Bay Area Ridge Trail outside of San Francisco.
 

The second, launched in February, features Paul Stiffler, known as Ponytail Paul, who serves as a "trail angel," providing food and supplies for hikers at one of the most remote portions of the Appalachian Trail in Maine. He discusses how exploring the woods and becoming a trail angel helped him overcome his own struggles with depression and an abusive childhood.

The third video, launched in March, follows ultra-long-distance bike racer Lael Wilcox on her attempt to bike through 800 miles of desert on the Arizona Trail, a route that only four other women have completed. 

"The most interesting thing about the trails is the stories: the personalities, the people who shape them and bring life to them. We wanted a narrative-based campaign that tells the stories of people who live their lives around the outdoors," said Ben Steele, chief creative officer at REI.

The videos highlighted their subjects' love of the outdoors, said Eric Levin, svp and executive creative director at Mediavest | Spark, which produced the campaign. "REI isn't about extreme sports or getting outside and doing crazy stuff, instead, it's about how being outside brings something out of you. We looked for people who embodied that spirit."

Rather than creating quick-hit content, REI decided it needed long form video to fully tell these stories. "It was almost a foregone conclusion that we needed a longer form of storytelling to actually do justice to it," Levin said. "REI also felt long form video would set themselves apart when it came to bringing something to life for the brand."

Steele agreed. "If you have good content and compelling stories, and you're focusing on people's passion, then people will be willing to invest a little more time because it's a story that takes them somewhere," he said.

The videos also are running on Outside Magazine's website, along with profiles of Stiffler and Wilcox, and on Backpacker Magazine's website. So far, the videos have struck a chord with REI's fans, Steele said. "There are people who recognize themselves in these videos, or say they aspire to make their lives more like Paul's, or Lael's. We saw tremendous engagement in terms of online conversation. People are sharing how those trails have impacted their lives. We had lots of comments and shares, and tons of people on social media said, 'I met Paul on the trail; he was amazing.'"

CREDITS

REI:
Ben Steele, Chief Creative Officer, SVP
Craig Rowley, VP, Marketing
Pardis Ghorbani, DVP, Creative Operations
Mike Henderson, Creative Director
Danielle Zaklan, Project Manager
Doug Thielen, Manager, Advertising and Local Marketing
Paolo Mottola, Manager, Content Marketing
Sam Horn, Program Manager, Product Marketing & Integration
Amy Ball, Program Manager, Advertising
Ashlee Langholz, Program Manager, Content Marketing

Mediavest | Spark
Content:
Eric Levin, SVP/ Executive Creative Director
Anthony Agbaere, Content Supervisor
Strategy:
Kathy Dillon, EVP
Chris Mittman, VP
Jan Vitturi-Lochra, AMD
Ellie Carroll, AMD
Michael Barutt, Supervisor
Agata Sciupider, Associate
ADM:
Katie Watson, Associate Director
Dylan Rossi, Supervisor

Production Company: Talweg Creative
Directors: Ryan Heffernan / Grayson Schaffer
Directors of Photography: Kahlil Hudson, Grayson Schaffer
Editor: Kahlil Hudson
Producers: Anna Callaghan/ Gillian Brassill

Outside Magazine:
Janet McKevitt, Associate Publisher
Sam Moulton, Content Marketing Director
 

Volvo's new XC90 T8 hybrid is more than just a potential getaway car. It's a twin-engine thief that steals power from other vehicles.

At least, that's how the seven-seat SUV is portrayed in this inventive "Highway Robbery" stunt crafted by Grey New York. Over the course of a two-day shoot on a busy roadway in Southern California, the team employed a tricked-out peristaltic pump and "road-mat" to harness the momentum of passing traffic and generate electricity for charging the XC90 T8.

Check out the stunt here:



"It takes a very integrated team to pull something like this off," Andreas Dahlqvist, Grey New York's chief creative officer, tells AdFreak. "It's more like an inventor's workshop process than your regular campaign development."

After the idea was approved, "it took around four months to find the perfect location and fully develop the technology," he says. "We evaluated and tested a bunch of existing technologies that would allow us to capture the power from the road, but none of them really suited our purposes."

Most of those early attempts required cars to slow down drastically before their energy could be captured—and that simply wasn't going to happen on a busy West Coast highway.

"We ended up developing our own proprietary hydraulic system from scratch, and it proved to be incredibly efficient at generating electric power," Dahlqvist says. "We were kind of blown away that this type of system had never been developed for commercial use before, given how well it worked."

Grey also used a small billboard to flash real-time lines of copy at cars as they passed and unknowingly provided the XC90 T8 with power. Some were brand-specific—such as, "Thanks for the extra miles, Jeep"—while others simply proclaimed, "You've just been robbed." (Wonder what motorists made of that one.)

The unusual campaign serves notice that "Volvo is focused on innovation," says Dahlqvist. "We wanted this launch to also represent that, not only talk about it," and hopefully spark social sharing and consumer conversations.

At this point, Grey and Volvo are building quite a rap sheet. Previously, they "hijacked" rivals' commercials on the 2015 Super Bowl, inviting fans to tweet using the hashtag #VolvoContest whenever another carmaker's ad ran during the game. That campaign, which gave folks the chance to win a new Volvo for family or friends, snared the Grand Prix in Direct at last year's Cannes Lions festival.

Hey, if vehicles can be our best friends and our safety nets, why not our partners in crime, too?

CREDITS
Client: Volvo
Spot Title: Highway Robbery
Agency: Grey New York
Chief Creative Officer: Andreas Dahlqvist
Executive Creative Director: Matt O'Rourke
Group Creative Directors: João Coutinho, Marco Pupo
ACD/Art Director: Rodrigo Burdman
CD/Copywriter: Natalie Rose
Copywriter: Jason Goldshteyn
Agency Producer: Stephen Samelko
Agency Music Producer: Ben Dorenfeld
Production Company: 1stAveMachine
Director: Bob Partington, Jordan Fein, Hunter Baker
DP: Hunter Baker
Post Production: 1stAveMachine
Editor: Colin Laughlin
Sound Mix: Gramercy Post

Sources speculate that a blind RFP making the rounds is an outreach from General Motors on behalf of its Buick and GMC brands, which are currently handled by Leo Burnett and Digitas.

Last year, Buick spent $227 million in measured media, according to Kantar Media, while GMC invested $269 million.

In 2007, Leo Burnett won the Buick and GMC accounts without a review after GM shifted the Buick business from McCann Erickson and GMC from what was then Lowe. A year ago, Burnett lost GM's line of Silverado pick-up trucks to Chevy agency Commonwealth//McCann, leaving Buick and GMC as the agency's remaining GM mainstay accounts. 

In recent years, Burnett has focused on updating Buick's perception of having a geriatric customer base by using self-deprecating ads that poke fun at that positioning. Buick marketing execs have publicly been supportive of that approach and of Burnett's work.

This year, Buick is launching its Cascada midsize convertible and working on new ads for its Envision midsize crossover and a redesigned LaCrosse sedan, both of which go on sale this summer, with Buick's new Encore model coming out this fall. For GMC, recent ads have focused on the brand's attention to detail and upmarket appeal thanks to its Danali model.

A GM spokesperson said about the RFPs: "We have nothing to share. Leo Burnett and Digitas remain our agencies of record. We don't comment on rumors and speculation or on the particulars of our agency projects." In addition, Dave Beals, president at industry consultants JLB which is said to be handling the search, also declined comment.

In first-quarter sales results released last week, GM trumpeted the performance of GMC as having its best March retail sales month since 2005, with sales rising 13 percent, while Buick experienced its best first-quarter since 2004, with sales up 9 percent.

Omnicom has decided it's time to disrupt healthcare marketing. Today the holding company announced the launch of TBWA\WorldHealth, combining the offices of agencies LLNS and Corbett to create a global network.

Sharon Callahan, a longtime veteran of Omnicom's healthcare division, will be CEO of the new unit while retaining her title as chief client officer of the larger Omnicom Health Group. Robin Shapiro, formerly president of Corbett, will serve as group president of the network's North American division under Callahan.

"Both [LLNS and Corbett] are going away," Callahan told Adweek. "We are, as of now, one agency with nine locations around the world ... united by our belief in the methods of disruption and finding new space for brands to live."

The announcement comes as healthcare accounts for an ever larger share of the global economy and begins to make its way into the marketing plans of seemingly unrelated brands. Callahan said, "Even brands approaching [Omnicom] about pitches were finding healthcare in everything—our largest client, Apple, has the Apple Watch, while Nissan has developed self-driving cars which will be amazing for handicapped people. We call it 'the healthification of everything.'"

Omnicom Health Group CEO Ed Wise added, "Healthcare is transforming before our eyes, and it's ripe for an agency that has a confident point of view about how to communicate around 21st century healthcare."

The new network will offer Omnicom clients increased scale and more resources by adding offices in Chicago, San Francisco and Irvine, Calif., to compliment its existing locations in London, Paris, Istanbul, Mexico City and Hamburg.

"[The healthcare industry] has been doing things in a very old-fashioned way, and we feel it's time to shake it up," said Callahan. "For example, we're already starting to experiment with responding in real time versus the long cycles that our pharma clients typically have."

Callahan believes global healthcare clients will find success in messaging that relates to consumers on a more personal level. "If you look at healthcare advertising directed at consumers, it's all people strolling in a park with a dog or looking lovingly at each other," she said, "and you can't tell one brand from another. We need to talk about it in a much more human way." As an example of the kind of work to expect from Omnicom moving forward, Callahan cited BBDO's recent work for health insurance giant Humana.

Most former LLNS and Corbett clients will see no immediate changes in the services they receive from their agencies, but Callahan told Adweek to expect more moves on the healthcare front.