IDEA: Shooting a commercial is hard enough. But shooting one entirely underwater? Are you crazy?

Brazilian agency F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi decided it was doable, and would be a great way to advertise Skol's new Beats Senses beer. The idea was simple: The Beats Senses bottle has a deep blue color, and so a party scene underwater would be the perfect way to advertise it.

But the production of the 60-second spot was, of course, anything but simple. From the set design to the lighting to the camerawork and talent, the creatives knew they were in over their heads—and they required some ingenious techniques to bring the concept to life.

COPYWRITING: There isn't much to the script. More of a short music video than a plot-driven ad, it opens with pulsating house music, as sound waves from an audio speaker ripple through deep blue water.

It turns out we're at a dance party—except everyone is submerged. "The first time I read the script and understood they wanted to do an underwater party, I thought, 'Wow,' " said director Jonathan Gurvit. "This is a unique opportunity to create a magical space with a unique environment that makes you want to be there. Yes, a party is a party, but what if we add some characters and details so visually amazing that makes it hard to forget?"



As the spot progresses, we see a guy passing out beers by floating them to friends. Everyone is dancing, not at all weighed down by the water around them. There are a few particularly eye-catching moments—one woman in roller skates is "walking" a shark on a leash (we later see a jellyfish floating around); another man is busting moves in a bizarre suit festooned with lights.

At the end, a man and woman float above the crowd, come together and kiss. There is no dialogue or voiceover. On-screen text at the end reads, "New Skol Beats Senses. Blue on the outside. Mysterious inside."

ART DIRECTION/FILMING: The agency shot inside a special diving pool in the Ibirapuera district of São Paulo, building a structure 15 feet down that anchored the sets. The director used a regular camera with a special case to shoot underwater, along with some waterproof LED lights, and some disco lights that needed their own cases.

Divers with oxygen tanks were always positioned just outside the frame, ready to assist the actors. "We had many people submerged at the same time, very deep, and everyone with weight on their bodies so they could move and dance without naturally going up to the surface," said Gurvit. He communicated on set by using something familiar to synchronized swimming teams—an aquatic speaker.



TALENT: Casting was one of the most important jobs, and the sessions were themselves held underwater. "I met a lot of young guys with a unique talent to hold their breath underwater," Gurvit said. "I searched for all kinds of people. Normal people. Divers. Swimmers. Synchronized swimming girls. People who would be five meters underwater with their face relaxed, just happy, having fun and without hesitating." They also had to look like the target market—young party types.

SOUND: The music is the Tropkillaz track "Baby Baby." "I thought it had good power and a crescendo that could work out well to generate a music video clip rather than a beer spot," said Gurvit.

MEDIA: The spot is airing nationwide in Brazil on both broadcast and cable television. The campaign will also include digital media and promotions around the idea of unveiling the mysteries of the night.

THE SPOT:

CREDITS
Client: Ambev (Skol Beats Senses)
Agency: F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi
Spot: "Underwater"
Executive Creative Director: Fabio Fernandes, Eduardo Lima
Creative Director: Theo Rocha
Creatives: Theo Rocha, Rodrigo Visconti, Pedro Hefs
Agency Producers: Victor Alloza, Renato Chabuh, Gisele Campos, Maira Massullo, Rafael Paes
Account Supervisor:s Marcello Penna, Ricardo Forli, Rafael Cappelli, Marcela Paiva, Bárbara Gomes
Media: Fábio Freitas, André Cais, Bruno Storace, Ricardo Barros, Vivian Simões, Thalles Reis
Planners: José Porto, Guilherme Pasculli, Victor Marx, Felipe Santini, Livia Pinheiro
Production House: PBA Cinema/Produtora Associados
Director: Jonathan Gurvit
Executive Producer: Mayra Gama
Production Designer: Muriel Rañi
Cinematographer: André Faccioli
Executive Producer: Mayra Gama
Producer: Luiz Armesto
Editor: Rami D'Aguiar
Finalizador: André Baltrusaitis
Postproduction: Clan VFX
Sound House: Tesis
Sound Design/Arrangement: Leandro Beraldo, Silvio Piesco
Voiceover: Carolina Manica
Music: Tropkillaz "Baby Baby"

There's literally nothing better than pizza. So, it stands to reason pizza brands shouldn't really need to advertise. But if you're a brand trying to rise to the upper crust of pie purveyors, you might as well go super weird. 

Totino's just teamed up with Tim & Eric (aka, Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim) and released "Pizza Freaks Unite," which is arguably the weirdest ad for pizza since Pizza Hut Japan's "Pizza Cats."

If you're not familiar with Tim & Eric, the duo first entered the comedy universe on Adult Swim, and have since been responsible for Old Spice's Terry Crews spots and most recently GE's loony-toon Jeff Goldblum ad.

The super odd, lo-fi psychedelic gems from Totino's—and agency Zeus Jones—feature Tim & Eric dancing around with their friends to an infectious jingle: "Totino's, Totino's, how did you know? Totino's, Totino's—everybody's talkin' 'bout Totino's, Totino's Hot Pizza Rolls! Burritos, burritos ..." It's actually amazing how good the song is despite the awkward and clumsy production and bad-on-purpose, Sid-and-Marty-Kroftt-on-even-more-acid aesthetic.

So, without further ado, here's easily the strangest thing you'll see today, and below it, a 30-second cut. "Fun harder," indeed.

CREDITS
Client: Totino's
Agency: Zeus Jones

Newcastle has tapped Wil Wheaton as its latest anti-advertising star, enlisting the actor and Internet folk hero for a couple of amusing online videos introducing a new Scotch Ale.

Wheaton does an amusing job of delivering the pitch under duress, as the Asylum production is self-consciously faux-low-budget. He's also a well-known home-brew geek, and mixes some knowledge in with the humor.

"Newcastle Scotch Ale is a well-balanced, malt-forward brew with a delightful velvety finish," he says in the press statement. "Basically, Newcastle and Caledonian made a kick-ass beer that does not suck."



The Scotch Ale is the first in a series of what Newcastle is calling "collaboration edition" beers made in partnership with some of Europe's finest and oldest breweries. This first partnership is with its Edinburgh-based sister brewery Caledonian.

"One of our dreams is to get rid of the 'intimidation' factor that prevents so many people from foregoing boring 'yellow beer' and enjoying more interesting brews," says Brett Steen, brand manager for Newcastle Brown Ale. "Wil is an inviting and knowledgeable guy, and we're stoked that he's taking this herculean effort of humor and wisdom onto himself so we don't have to."

While many U.S. companies avoid expansion into politically unstable locations, one American chain is flourishing in some of the world's most turbulent countries. Fatburger, a Los Angeles-based food franchise, has opened restaurants in 32 countries since 2007.

The chain once struggled financially amidst domestic competition. But now, it's valued at $125 million and has grown to 200 international locations, including Iraq, where a second store is in the works, Tunisia and Libya. CEO Andy Wiederhorn said he's planning 350 additional shops around the globe.

"Consumers all over the world love American brands, especially burgers, shakes and fries," Wiederhorn told Businessweek. "I knew there was a huge opportunity for us overseas."

Fatburger is a rarity among American companies; Businessweek noted that fewer than 1 percent expand beyond their shores. With 70 percent of the world's purchasing power based outside of the U.S., Wiederhorn has seized an opportunity.

However, expanding internationally can be, quite literally, dangerous territory, said Larry Harding, an expert at the global expansion consulting firm Radius, in an interview with Businessweek. He added that consulting firms help navigate "political, integrity and security risks in complex and hostile environments." 

Wiederhorn said he's mindful of the danger: "We are always concerned about the security of our employees. So if there is tremendous violence or risk, we won't open there."

Sean "Diddy" Combs has always been a hip-hop marketing pioneer, extending his brand into fashion in the late '90s and top-shelf liquors in recent years. Since 2009, he's helped Diageo's Ciroc vodka go from 40,000 cases sold annually to 2 million. And now other musical artists such as Jay-Z and Nicki Minaj want a piece of the action. So Combs this year has upped the ante, expanding his relationship with Diageo to a DeLeón Tequila deal and overseeing a "Step Into the Circle" rebrand for Ciroc, with TV, digital and out of home going live this week.

The music mogul spoke with Adweek about what we should expect from the campaign.

What’s at the heart of the rebrand?
You are in a circle of friends, you are in a circle of people that you trust, unplugging, cherishing those times. I wanted to remind people of those times and what’s important about that inner circle. 

How does the message differ from the last initiative, "Luck Be a Lady"?
It's more down-to- earth, it's more true to reality, and it's millennial-driven. It's aspirational, celebratory and inclusive for that generation. It was a good, strategic move and easy to make—because you feel emotion with this spot. It's a simple statement from "me" to "we."

Are there co-stars like the prior spot when you had Aaron Paul, Michael K. Williams and Chrissy Teigen?
You'll see some of my friends that I roll with, [record producer] Jermaine Dupri, who I grew up with, and [rapper] French Montana. The other people are not people that you'd know, but they are my friends. It's about reality.

How big of a role does your musical vision play in the campaign?
It goes down to the edits, to what everyone is wearing, to every detail. I am totally involved and very specific about it.

Hip-hop artists have aligned with spirit brands in recent years. Why is it a good marketing match? 
The people at Ciroc and I didn't look at ourselves as, you know, "We are combining hip-hop with a liquor brand." So I don't really know how to answer that question [outside] that when I came to Ciroc, I came from the hip-hop community. I think people try to simply put it in a box like that. But that's not what happened. I don't care if you are into rock 'n' roll or dance music or are the biggest act in the world. A regular celebrity cannot get you to that—to what we've done. A person with a great idea or a team with a great idea gets you to 2 million cases.

Is it different operating with Diageo compared to working on the brands you've created?
I am actually used to dealing with these big public companies. It's like a family, and that’s the way it's been with Diageo. But it's give-and-take. You learn, and you teach. At the end of the day, you hold hands, and it's about the bottom line. Every campaign, we get closer to finding our true voice. [Ciroc] is like a really talented protégé. We are very good at what we do, but everyday we get better.

Your part with Ciroc seems bigger than spokesman—you appear to be more of a brand leader. What strengths do you bring to that role that other people cannot?
I don't compare myself to anybody. I am that blend of art and commerce. So I pay attention to the business needs, the sensitivities of my partners and how to manage budgets, how to market a great product. But at the same time, I know how to use marketing and entertainment. I enjoy that creative process because it lets me go into that artistic side, not the celebrity side, that's in me.

Don't come looking for free Wi-Fi. This Apple Store doesn't have it.

That's because it sells real apples—the nontechnological kind.

London's Borough Market, one of the oldest markets in the U.K., is marking its 1,000th anniversary this year. (Yes, it's been around for a millennium.) As part of the celebrations, it treated shoppers to a delightful concept—creating a "Real Apple Store" for the weekend that was a clever copy of Apple's iconic retail establishments.

Actual apples were displayed on lucite pedestals just like an iPhone or iPad would be, but instead of technical specs, the signs showed each apple's unique flavor notes and history.

Take a look below at some more photos of this great little shop. It remains unclear whether the apples themselves were marked up to 500 percent of their actual value.

Via Design Taxi.

Virool today is rolling out two free tools, dubbed ChannelWatch and VideoSpy, for digital video marketers that help them analyze how brands fare against one another. Since YouTube is a rather crowded space to track, the ability to use complimentary campaign performance features could be attractive to players trying to break into the video business as well as market researchers.

But for right now, what's more interesting is getting a peek into Coke and Pepsi's head-to-head battle, and Virool has given Adweek data that shows how the beverage war is playing out on YouTube. Alex Debelov, CEO of the San Francisco-based tech company, which has worked on each brand in recent years but currently has no strings attached, explained that the two sodas employ different strategies.

"Coca-Cola uploads every single video from every single country into one channel," he said. "Whereas Pepsi has built different regional YouTube channels for different countries."

The graphic below, among other things, shows how Pepsi has accrued roughly twice as many subscribers as Coke. But Coke's engagement rate more than doubles Pepsi's average for the measurement category. The video volume difference between the two powerhouses is also intriguing.

Check out the stats Virool supplied below.

And your massive brand Twitter fail of the day goes to … Dave & Buster's!

To advertise its Taco Tuesday, the restaurant chain made a joke that pretty clearly went over the line, prompting incredulity from its Twitter followers. "I hate tacos, said no Juan ever," the tweet read.

Obviously, this isn't the first time a brand has tweeted out something outrageous—in this case, racist. But the question remains: How does this kind of stuff make it into the actual world?

As of 1:40 p.m. ET, the tweet is still live—40 minutes after it was posted. Apology surely coming soon.

UPDATE: The tweet was deleted at around 1:41 p.m. ET.

UPDATE: And here's the apology, posted at 2:35 p.m. ET:

We sincerely apologize for the tweet that went out today our intention was never to offend anyone please accept our apology

— Dave & Buster's (@DaveandBusters) November 18, 2014

See some of the reaction to the tweet below.

Is the Frito Bandito your social media intern? RT @DaveandBusters: "I hate tacos" said no Juan ever #TacoTuesday#DaveandBusters

— Merry WarOnXmas (@MaryHartmanx2) November 18, 2014

@DaveandBusters@QueenOfShebaN Dave and Busters 'come for the crappy food and games. Stay for the blatant racism!'

— Kloipy (@Kloipy) November 18, 2014

This. Is. Racist. RT: @DaveandBusters: "I hate tacos" said no Juan ever #TacoTuesday#DaveandBusters

— clarke (@radicalhearts) November 18, 2014

@DaveandBusters what the fuck

— Nick Liam Holmes (@therealnickliam) November 18, 2014

Delete Your Account @DaveandBusters

— jaromir blogr (@andymoney69) November 18, 2014

.@DaveandBusters time to log off

— Rich Gobblerts (@rich_roberts) November 18, 2014

Delete your twitter. RT @DaveandBusters: "I hate tacos" said no Juan ever #TacoTuesday

— Michele Catalano (@inthefade) November 18, 2014

Lmao who thought this was acceptable??? RT @DaveandBusters: "I hate tacos" said no Juan ever #TacoTuesday#DaveandBusters

— Brown, Mike (@SquidP) November 18, 2014

Now THAT is just a bad tweet for a company. RT @DaveandBusters: "I hate tacos" said no Juan ever #TacoTuesday#DaveandBusters

— Jacob Rosen (@WFNYJacob) November 18, 2014

“@DaveandBusters: "I hate tacos" said no Juan ever #TacoTuesday#DaveandBusters” wow yall just said fuvk it Huh

— AfroSamurai (@NaijaNupe_) November 18, 2014

lmfaooooo who's losing their job today? “@DaveandBusters: "I hate tacos" said no Juan ever #TacoTuesday#DaveandBusters”

— Teni Belcher (@CrazyNerdyCool) November 18, 2014

Someone at @DaveandBusters is about to be in trouble. pic.twitter.com/MiRipdDf9t

— Michael Lo Sauro (@michaellosauro) November 18, 2014

Just deactivate now and save yourselves RT @DaveandBusters: ""I hate tacos" said no Juan ever #TacoTuesday#DaveandBusters”

— Andre (@andredoesthings) November 18, 2014

As the American food industry continues to debate what a "natural" ingredient really is, General Mills Inc. agreed to drop the term from boxes of Nature Valley granola bars and other foods.

Consumers and advocacy groups filed four lawsuits against General Mills in 2012, claiming Nature Valley's "100 percent natural" products actually contain highly processed, genetically modified ingredients. The list includes high-fructose corn syrup, high-maltose corn syrup, dextrose monohydrate, maltodextrin and others that don’t seem likely to have been picked from the bounty of Nature Valley itself.

General Mills agreed to a settlement, which stipulates that the phrase "100 percent natural" can't be used to describe food that contains certain processed ingredients, The Wall Street Journal reported. New packaging now reads: "made with 100 percent natural oats." 

With dozens of other companies embroiled in similar lawsuits, the push for transparency in the food industry is illuminating marketing buzzwords that could mislead consumers. PepsiCo's Naked Juice settled a similar lawsuit for $9 million after claiming the juices were "all natural" and "100 percent juice." Skinnygirl Margarita, Goldfish, and Campbell's Soup also faced lawsuits over similar claims.

And Kellogg, a competitor of General Mills, took heat for slapping the word "natural" on less-than-natural products. Interestingly, the trend seems to grow out of buyouts in which large companies snap up small, organic snack producers to target health-conscious consumers.

The official drink of the Washington Redskins… and Dave & Buster's?

College Humor created this fake ad a little while back for Diet Racism—the drink that has all the sweet ignorance of regular racism but with none of the guilt or self-awareness. It's the drink of choice for people who don't realize that the phrase "I'm not racist, but …" doesn't magically make whatever comes after it less racist.



It's actually been quite a year for discussions of racism involving brands. Maybe this fake commercial could be a good hiring tool for potential brand or social media managers. If they laugh, maybe they'll be a little less likely to go full-on racist in a tweet.

If they tell you the Irish really were persecuted too, well, there's a red flag.

Technically speaking, the best ad of 2014 didn’t exist. Just ask Anna Kendrick.

Last January, millions of viewers watched the Academy Award nominee deliver a two-minute, profanity-laden rant that took Newcastle Brown Ale to task for offering her a role in a Super Bowl commercial—and then flaking out and not making it.

The brewer never actually intended to create one. With a media budget for the whole year equal to about half the $4 million price tag for 30 seconds of airtime on the broadcast, it wasn't even an option.

Instead, Newcastle made something better.

Kendrick’s buzzy, self-deprecating monologue was just a single piece of the brand's sweeping "If We Made It" campaign—Adweek's pick for the No. 1 ad campaign of 2014—which crashed the biggest advertising showcase of the year with refreshingly honest and hilarious online content.

Ambitious and clever, "If We Made It" imagined just that—if the brewer had made a Super Bowl ad, how incredibly epic and stupidly awesome it would have been. The campaign featured more than a dozen video clips—melodramatic teasers, insane storyboards, baffled focus groups, cheeky takedowns of real Super Bowl ads from other brands—as well as bonus bits like an advertorial-skewering, fall-on-its-sword sponsored post on Gawker.

And it all tied together by openly playing on the fact that the brand couldn't actually afford a Super Bowl ad.

• See Adweek's full list of the 10 best ads of 2014 here.

The brewer punched well above its weight with the campaign, upstaging the far richer, more legitimate sponsors at the annual football-marketing bonanza. And it did so simply by, to borrow a Britishism, taking the piss out of the industry—with an undeniable swagger that earned a place in some 600 media stories around America’s breathless collective dash toward Super Bowl Sunday. 

“The whole concept and the meta wormhole that it went down was just too beautiful not to do,” says Quinn Kilbury, who, as Newcastle’s brand director at the time, oversaw the effort.“It just felt very clear—‘How could people not talk about this?’ As long as the creative was somewhat reasonable—because the idea is so different and unique and completely contrary to everything else that happens in the Super Bowl.”

By “everything else,” Kilbury—who joined Newcastle parent Heineken USA in August 2013 from key Super Bowl sponsor Pepsi—means the kinds of over-the-top productions necessary to justify the broadcast’s seven-figure media ante. “Advertisers treat the Super Bowl as a summer blockbuster that’s a $150 million movie, yet these are brands on a 30-second commercial,” he says.

From left, former Newcastle brand director (now Heineken senior brand director) Quinn Kilbury, with Droga5 staffers Kevin Brady, Ted Royer, Scott Bell, Neil Heymann, Dan Kenneally, Dan Neumann, Ryan Raab and Nick Maschmeyer. Photo: Michael Clinard. Prop styling: Yasmin Reshamwala. 

Newcastle’s direct “No Bollocks” message has been delightfully mocking the marketing industry and media-saturated culture since 2012. But “If We Made It,” the campaign’s heightened form, was born last November after Kilbury tasked agency Droga5 with making Newcastle the most talked about brand in the Super Bowl—without actually being in the Super Bowl.

“It was kind of like the perfect brief in a way, because it was really simple and clear, and also completely terrifying,” recalls Scott Bell, the group creative director overseeing the campaign. The agency came back with three concepts, but the rich potential of hyping a phantom ad like it was real made obvious the winner. 

“There was already a framework in place, you could immediately see how the whole campaign was going to play out,” says Bell. “By talking about the spot we weren’t going to make, we used all the same channels that anybody would who was making a spot. As soon as you said the idea, it sparked 20 other ideas that would fit right into this world.”

Largely by design, and partly by luck, Kendrick’s contribution proved the campaign’s centerpiece—the most broadly resonant, and arguably the funniest, racking up some 5 million of the campaign’s 10 million video views across 15 pieces of content.

Initially, Kendrick was just one name among a whole list of candidates that included guys’ guys and beer-commercial-hot women—which Kendrick amusingly admits in her video she is not.

But after digging into Kendrick’s online credentials, including a Twitter feed packed with wry one-liners, Kilbury and the team realized she was the perfect fit for the campaign’s most expensive component.

Because Heineken USA was at the time operating sans chief marketing officer, Kilbury had to get the green light for the irreverent endorsement deal directly from the division’s CEO, Dolf van den Brink. Naturally, Kendrick’s performance took an even saltier turn once the cameras were actually rolling.

“She let a few f-bombs out, she was swearing a bit, and she’s like, ‘Oh, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have done that, I just got caught up.’ We were like, ‘No, go for it.’ It was almost like it opened her up more to be able to talk that way,” says Kilbury.

Van den Brink didn’t see her colorful additions—funny, but not Branding 101—until he reviewed the final cut. “It took a really big leap of faith on his part, to be like, ‘All right, you’re telling my brand to suck it, and we’re paying for this,’” says Kilbury. “You could tell he had this puzzled look on his face. But to his credit, he said yes to everything.”

That kind of spontaneity was key to the bootstrapped campaign’s success. Newcastle lucked into a second celebrity behind-the-scenes interview with Super Bowl champion Keyshawn Johnson, thanks to a previous relationship with Heineken.

While his appearance, like Kendrick’s, was scripted, he didn’t actually see the storyboard sketch of himself holding wads of cash in a voiceover booth—a scene from the hypothetical ad—until he tried to explain it to viewers during filming, according to Droga5’s Bell. “His reactions are pretty honest there. He genuinely is confused and doesn’t really understand what we’re doing,” says Bell.

Likewise, the videos of wide-eyed consumer focus groups trying to parse storyboards packed with over-the-top advertising tropes were also real. The creatives, observing unseen, had a hard time containing themselves. “We were behind the mirror, and there were a couple times we were laughing so hard the focus groups could hear us,” says Bell. “We were afraid we were giving away the joke a little bit.”

The campaign’s humor wasn’t just inside jokes for ad people, though—consumers are savvier than ever about marketing, especially around the Super Bowl.

“The ‘No Bollocks’ campaign is a perfect insight into the modern millennial dude, right?” says Kilbury, whom Heineken promoted this October to senior brand director on the company’s flagship brand. “That’s ‘Don’t bullshit me. I can see through you, I’m smarter than you, so don’t you try to trick me.’

“That plays out big time in the digital world—it’s where it should be. The millennial space is the digital world, and Gen X space is like the TV, broadcast, old-school advertising world,” says Kilbury.

In a break with years past, Newcastle didn’t buy any television time in 2014 (The Johnson spot did run on ESPN the day before the Super Bowl, a bonus to a digital deal the brand cut with the sports network).

Newcastle rolled out the campaign in the weeks running up to Super Bowl—timing that media agency MediaVest helped identify as the brand’s best chance to ambush the general frenzy around the game. Public relations agency Fast Horse helped execute the earned media strategy.

When Super Bowl marketers began releasing their own Big Game ads, Newcastle and Droga5 took the gag even further by creating storyboard parodies offering advice on how to amplify already absurd premises—like Chobani’s yogurt-crazy, grocery-ransacking bear and GoDaddy’s spray-tan-crazy mob of bodybuilders.

“The filter was basically don’t make fun of the brand, make fun of the process, make fun of ourselves” says Kilbury. “It was more of a comment at that point on all of the real-time marketing.”

In the end, the clutter around the Super Bowl itself made it impossible to break through during the event itself, says Kilbury. But more importantly, the overall effort generated some 1 billion media impressions, a milestone he says puts Newcastle on par with the kind of advertisers who pony up for Big Game airtime. “That’s what the big Super Bowl advertisers do,” says Kilbury. “If you hit a billion you’re happy—like at Pepsi, it means you did your job.”

And the campaign’s success is all the more impressive given the relatively low stakes.

“Part of the discussion internally that made it easier for everybody was ‘The worst case scenario here is nobody sees it,’” says Kilbury. “That’s not a huge risk. It’s a much bigger risk if you bought a $4 million spot and everybody hates it.”

McVitie's Victoria, the British biscuits brand, has been using puppies, kittens, tarsiers and owls in ads over the past year. Now, Grey London expands the baby-animal menagerie dramatically for McVitie's first Christmas ad in 30 years.

The 60-second ad shows a family's understandable surprise when Dad opens a box of McVitie's biscuits and a bunch of adorable animals crawl out of the pack. The interlopers include an Alaskan Malamute puppy, a micro piglet, a Persian kitten, a baby rabbit, a duckling, a ginger kitten, a Pug puppy, a baby hedgehog, a baby reindeer and a tiny narwhal hiding in the punch bowl.

Turns out they're talented animals, too, as they join together to sing a Christmassy rendition of the '80s hit "Only You" by Yaz (or Yazoo, as they were known in the U.K.).



The spot breaks Thursday night on British TV. As in past ads, the baby animals are meant to reflect the cuddly, snuggly feeling you get when you open a box of McVitie's.

"We're delighted to introduce the latest additions to our McVitie's Sweeet family, and hope that it brings chocolatey cheer to biscuit-loving households across the U.K. for the festive season," says marketing director Sarah Heynen.

CREDITS
Cient: McVitie's
Marketing Director, United Biscuits: Sarah Heynen
Creative Agency: Grey London
Creative Director, Copywriter, Art Director: Hollie Newton
Account Team: Nicola Wardell, Kate Ilott
Agency Producer: Thea Evely
Assistant Agency Producer: Jen Gillen
Creative Producer: Lucy Dunn
Planner: Daniel Sherrard
Media Agency: MEC
Media Planner: Nicola Tracey
Production Company: Smuggler
Director: Randy Krallman
Editor: Mark Edinoff, Work
Production Company Producer: Gustav Geldenhuys
Designer: Chris Chapman
Director of Photography: Jean Noel Mustonen
Postproduction: Framestore
Soundtrack Composer: Vince Clarke
Audio Postproduction: Wave

So, you're a werewolf, and it's your night to howl. Your drink of choice would be … a Bloody Mary? A piña colada at Trader Vic's? A Coors Light, aka the Silver Bullet? Nah, too risky.

Actually, a martini made with Three Olives Vodka should hit the spot, according to the stylishly offbeat "Werewolves of London" campaign from The VIA Agency.

The wolf's-night-out narrative unfolds across several short clips, and there's a three-minute music video of popular YouTube chanteuse Masha Shirin performing the 1978 Warren Zevon classic—all bathed in cool nocturnal hues and directed with great sophistication by Anthony Mandler (who also directed VIA's work for 1800 Tequila starring Ray Liotta).

The story's simple. A lycanthropic lothario—you know the type: a real alpha male, pretending to be something he's not (in this case, human)—prowls chic London bars looking for … well, a bite, I suppose. When our lupine ladies' man finally does take someone home, there's a subtle sort-of twist … but the evening's denouement isn't actually revealed.



The dapper dude's dual identity is well handled. We catch quick flashes of his fangs and wild facial hair—in mirrors, or just his mind's eye—that clue us in to his true nature. And his eyes have a tendency to glow. (Too much vodka will have that effect. Tomorrow, he'll be reaching for the hair of the dog.)

Masha's slinky, subdued rendition—half spoken, half sung—helps create a sultry/spooky atmosphere, though I miss the familiar "Aaahoo!" howling from Zevon's original.

Greg Smith, CCO at VIA, says the work is designed to take "the typical Three Olives Vodka drinker to the extreme, creating a protagonist whose polished exterior belies the beast within."

Of course, we can't take that notion, or the campaign's story line, too literally. If we did, it would mean our classy canine cruiser plans to ply unsuspecting women with vodka and then tear them limb from limb. (That's what werewolves do. Along with shedding all over the sofa.) Even seeing the wolf as a metaphor, the ads come a little close to objectifying women as prey.

Either way, there's an un-P.C. tension that, for better or worse, should help Three Olives stand out among more typically watered-down, night-on-the-town spirits advertising.

CREDITS
Client: Three Olives Vodka/Proximo Spirits
SVP of Marketing: Elwyn Gladstone
Brand Director James Bruton

Agency: The VIA Agency, Portland, Maine
Chief Creative Officer: Greg Smith
Executive Producer: Mary Hanifin
Creative Director: Ken Matsubara
Creative Director: Ian Dunn
ACD, Art Director: David Grindon
Sr. Writer: Kristen Kriisa
Group Strategy Director: Jason Wright
Brand Planner: Lyndsey Fox
Producer: Dustin Levine

Production Co.: Believe Media
Director: Anthony Mandler
EP/Production Co.: Liz Silver
Director of Photography: Dave Devlin

Post Production Co.: PS 260
Editor: JJ Lask
Asst. Editor: Matt Posey
Sr. Post Producer: Laura Patterson
EP/Post Production: Zarina Mak

Color: Company 3
Colorist: Tom Poole

VFX: eightvfx
VFX Artist: Yannick LeBlanc

Music: Jared Gutstadt and Jingle Punks

VP/Music Supervisor: Jesse Korwin
Dir. of Licensing: Shota Ike
Vocalist: Masha
Werewolf of London: James Lee Taylor

Like it or not, you can't escape holiday cheer everywhere you go. Maybe you've already taken care of your shopping, too. But have you ever heard Christmas music coming from the very machines responsible for draining your bank account in the name of joy?

Holiday shoppers at German supermarket Edeka have. In the stunt below, checkout clerks are seen scanning items so their registers beep and chirp just the right notes to play "Jingle Bells"—complete with a beatboxing percussion soloist. 

The video, titled "Kassensymphonie" ("Checkout Symphony"), was done by Jung von Matt and has already amassed over 11 million views on YouTube. It's not the only viral hit for this client/agency combo, who also did the incredibly weird "Supergeil" video earlier this year.



CREDITS
Client: Edeka
Creative Agency: Jung von Matt/Alster
Executive Creative Director: Jens Pfau
Managing Director: Peter Ströh
Creative Director: Robert Herter
Copywriter: Anna Lichnog, Kyra Nenz
Art Director: Thimon Machatzke
Accounting: Patrick Hammer, Florian Laufenberg
Production: Markenfilm Crossing GmbH
Director: Kai Sehr
Camera: Björn Knechtle
Marketing EDEKA: Claas Meineke, Anja Tirtey, Julia Hisserich

The best Skittles advertising has always been about anatomical oddities. The examples are endless: the sheepboys, the guy with the living beard, the man whose touch turns everything to Skittles, the angry piñata man.

Now, BBDO Toronto and director Conor Byrne take the theme to its logical conclusion with this amusing short mockumentary about a man who—thanks to a run-in with a rainbow—is completely made of Skittles.

Byrne won a Cannes Lions Young Director Award this year for his great short film Foureyes, and he gets the tone just right here, with the actors registering the perfect balance of awkwardness and mock awe. The spot nicely tracks the traditional arc of overcoming adversity—in absurd fashion. As the hero says at the end: "I am a man made of Skittles, and there is nothing wrong with that."



CREDITS
Client: Skittles
Spot: "Struck by a Rainbow"
Agency: BBDO, Toronto
Executive Creative Director: Carlos Moreno
Associate Creative Directors: Chris Booth, Joel Pylypiw
Producer: Aimee DeParolis
Director: Conor Byrne
Production Company: The Corner Store Films
Executive Producer: Susi Patterson
Producer: Tyler Byrne
Director of Photograph: Robert Scarborough
Editing Company: Saints Editorial Toronto
Editor: Griff Henderson
Assistant Editor: Sara Windrim
Audio: Greyson Matthews, Toronto
Postproduction: The Vanity, Toronto
Transfer: Alter Ego, Toronto
Casting Director: Michael Stevenson

Eating better and losing weight are consistently among the top New Year's resolutions for a reason—in a society awash in the temptations of food, drink and streaming video, they've become ambitious goals.

But of course many who make resolutions each year don't end up fulfilling them. Research from the University of Scranton Journal of Clinical Psychology recently found that only about 8 percent of resolutions actually succeed. In spite of those ominous odds, men and women alike continue to promise themselves better health and fitness, more savings and a better outlook as the calendar ticks down to a fresh start.

Whether young or old, male or female, we’re all resolving to do the same things. And first among them is losing weight.

In a survey created exclusively for Adweek, Men's Health asked nearly 5,000 men aged 18-34 about the desire to shed some pounds and their related health habits. As we all prepare to turn over a new leaf, here’s a look at the major concerns for the males among us.

Infographic: Carlos Monteiro

Tragic deaths generally aren't good for business, with the notable exception of Veuve Clicquot. It was 1805, and Francois Clicquot, the owner of a failing vineyard in Reims, France, was felled by typhoid. His wife, Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, had hailed from a wealthy family and easily could have shuttered the business. Instead, she invested her own inheritance in it and took over. She was 27.

Photo: Nick Ferrari

Champagne was not yet widely popular in France, but the widow Clicquot shrewdly courted the palate of Tsar Nicholas I and opened up Russia as a market. She invented a device called a riddling table to remove dead yeast from the bottles, an improvement that gave the world sparkling clear Champagne and is used to this day. All the while, she added land to her vineyards, slowly and steadily building Clicquot into the leading house in Champagne. By the time of her death in 1866, Clicquot’s Champagne was an international brand. “The world is in perpetual motion, and we must invent the things of tomorrow,” she wrote. “One must go before others, be determined and exacting, and let your intelligence direct your life.”

Could a present-day brand ask for a better founding story? Hardly.

Today, Veuve Clicquot (which literally means “the widow Clicquot”) produces 10 million bottles a year and is the second most popular Champagne in the world after Moët. “Veuve Clicquot looks the part, has character and is high up there in perceptions, but what’s fascinating is the widow Clicquot’s story,” said longtime spirits business consultant Arthur Shapiro, who blogs at BoozeBusiness.com.“She took over, invented the Méthode Champenoise and changed the business. It’s a fantastic story.”

Indeed so—and nobody knows it better than parent LVMH. Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin has been dead for 166 years, but Clicquot’s marketing department has kept her on the job.

One of the distinguishing traits of the widow Clicquot’s achievements was that she conducted all of the house’s business affairs by writing letters. This legend inspired two colorful marketing campaigns this year: the Clicquot Mail Truck (a panel van that traveled the East Coast, offering samples of Champagne) and a competition to design a mailbox-shaped package for Champagne bottles. Veuve Clicquot is also in its 42nd year of handing out its Business Woman Award, given to women who “share the same qualities as Madame Clicquot.”

Strangely, many of those who pay $70 per bottle don’t know the famous lady behind the brand even though she goes home with every purchase: Her picture is on the wire cork cage and her signature still graces the label.

One of the great ads of the past decade was the 2009 Johnnie Walker spot, filmed in a single take, with the brilliant Robert Carlyle telling the brand's history while strolling in the Scottish Highlands. Now, the whiskey brand and BBH have crafted another captivating single-take spot—a year-end meditation that looks forward, rather than backward, by showing a man walking through his dreamlike vision of 2015.

Conceptually strong, it was also intriguing executed—it was filmed like a stage play, but on a moving set, which allows the hero to walk through the scenery of his future while the camera essentially stays in place.

"New Year's Eve is a cultural moment we could leverage both strategically and creatively," said Gerard Caputo, group creative director at BBH New York. "It felt like a great opportunity to remind people that we should actually be looking ahead and celebrate the things to come."



COPYWRITING: The voiceover copy came first. "The first step of a new year," says a male voice. "We'll all take one. But where will a step take you? How high could you climb? And how far? A step can be a difficult thing. It requires courage and spirit. But if you follow it, imagine the places you'll go. The new year begins with the next step. How far will it take you?"

The hero is seen first at a 2014 New Year's Eve party. The lights suddenly go down, and he begins walking to the right (as the rolling sets roll left). He strolls down a street with neon signs in Chinese; enters a mens' wear store; exits an airplane; walks across a conference-room table during a meeting; and eventually leaps through darkness to a 2015 New Year's Eve party.

"Each scene was written to symbolize key moments we all hope to experience as we look forward to a new year," said BBH copywriter Mikio Bradley. "All of us want to experience new cultures, travel, make career moves, take more risks."

The camera pans up to the sky, where fireworks pop. "Here's to 2015," says on-screen text. "How will you #KeepWalking in 2015?"



ART DIRECTION/FILMING: Christopher Barrett and Luke Taylor, who direct together as Us, filmed in Romania on a set that took three weeks to build. "The timing had to be absolutely perfect," said Caputo. "They had a 40-meter set moving down an 80-meter track, with an 8-meter treadmill running through the middle of it."

They did some 50 takes in three days. "It really didn't start to come together until the final takes," said Bradley. "[The directors] have learned that patience is key, and with each take the film builds. So we had faith they would get it."

"It was our intention to make it look like a stage play," added BBH art director Klara Lindberg. "We wanted people to feel like they could be watching the story unfold live."

TALENT: The actor's name, coincidentally, is Oliver Walker. "Given the amount of takes we would need, it required great acting ability as well as the physicality to do it over and over," said Lindberg. "After the first day, we realized how lucky we were to find him."

SOUND: The soundtrack, by Human, is quietly inspiring and builds to a crescendo. "It really helps convey the emotional power of what we were going for," said Bradley. "The sound design is there to accent the scenes and help communicate where he is on his journey. We wanted the ending to feel upbeat and celebratory."

MEDIA: The spot rolled out online Dec. 4. It will air on TV from Dec. 22 through early January.

THE SPOT:

BEHIND THE SCENES:

CREDITS
Client: Johnnie Walker
President, Diageo North America: Peter McDonough
Senior Vice President, Marketing: Alex R. Tomlin
Brand Director, Scotch: Brian Radics
Senior Brand Manager: Jason Fournier
Senior Manager, Consumer Planning: Alina Koyfman
Associate Brand Manager: Milly Shome
Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty
Chief Creative Officer: John Patroulis
Group Creative Director: Gerard Caputo
Creative - Copywriter: Mikio Bradley
Creative – Art Direction: Klara Lindberg
Head of Integrated Production & Technology: Carey Head
Head of Content Production: Kate Morrison
Senior Content Producer: Abbie Noon
Associate Producer: AJ Gutierrez
Head of Account Management: Armando Turco
Account Director: Miles Burton
Account Manager: Heather Livengood
Strategy Director: Mark Aronson
Head of Business Affairs: Sean McGee
Business Affairs: Shaunda Slade
Production: Academy/Reset
Director: Us
Managing Partner/EP: Dave Morrison
Executive Producer: Jeff McDougal
Head of Production: Amanda Clune
Producer: Medb Riordan
Director of Photography: Alex Barber
Production Designer: David Lee
Editorial: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: Ted Guard
Assistant Editor: JK Carrington
Executive Producer: Eve Kornblum
Producer: Jenny Greenfield
Telecine/ Post Production: The Mill
Colorist: Fergus McCall
Producer: Alex Fitzgerald
Flame Artist: Richard Lyons
Original Music: Human
Composers: Human
Executive Producer: Kit Winter
Audio Mixing: Sound Lounge
Mixer: Tom Jucarone/ Rob D.
Producer: Mike Guillo

Laphroaig, a singular single-malt Scotch known for its potent and polarizing flavor, has spent the better part of the year soliciting tasters' opinions.

Now, it's taken several of the more colorful responses from its "Opinions Welcome" campaign and set them to music in the form of Christmas carols, performed by a Scottish choir.

In the first clip from the Laphroaig Whisky Christmas Choir, we get to hear the group's melodious interpretation of lines like, "Take a first aid kid and pour the contents in a bucket of sea water/Wait 10 years, filter it and drink it" to the tune of "The 12 Days of Christmas."

In the second clip, debuting today exclusively on Adweek, the messages are a bit more positive, assuming you like "liquid pastrami" and "witchcraft."

Here's the behind-the-scenes footage, which will help you appreciate the sheer level of wind the choir was having to deal with:

The brand also just posted the newest installment in its series of videos capturing real reactions from those new to Laphroaig:

CREDITS
Agency: White Label, U.K. 
Creative Director: Greg Saunders
Account Director: Chris Cassell
Location Manager: Saorla Magee
Production: The Wagon
Director: Sariel Hesseltine

Science recently confirmed what we previously had only suspected—that alcohol, in the right amount, does tend to produce the most creative thinking. Professor Jennifer Wiley and her team at the University of Illinois at Chicago pegged the ideal blood alcohol content for creativity at 0.075 percent. That level is known as the creative peak, and may well be the ideal state for problem solving, inventing and general "out of the box" thinking.

Using that data, Crispin Porter + Bogusky's Copenhagen office has come up with the perfect beer for creatives—an IPA called The Problem Solver.

There's nothing too special about the beer itself. Instead, it's the label that will help you reach the magical 0.075 percent mark—it shows you how of the much of the bottle you need to drink to get there, based on your weight (see below).

It's a fun idea—though absurd to think creatives will stop drinking after half a bottle.

CP+B says The Problem Solver is currently served during after-hours workshops at the agency, at a local Copenhagen beer store and at a new initiative called "The Problem Solvers," in which community and charity groups are invited to the agency to brainstorm ideas over a beer.