Does McDonald's put horsemeat in its burgers? What about pink slime? Would you feed McDonald's food to your kids?

So many questions. But now, taking its cues from a well-received transparency campaign from McDonald's Canada, the chain is responding to whatever hate its American critics want to throw at it. And it's hired former MythBusters host Grant Imahara to be your third-party, completely unbiased, totally trustworthy, quasi-celebrity McMyth investigator.



Imahara's first three videos have already dropped, where he visits a Cargill plant and answers the following: Is McDonald's beef real (and are there eyelids in there)? Why are the patties frozen (when fresh should theoretically be much tastier)? Why are the burgers so cheap (you get what you pay for, right)?

It's everything you'd expect from a hard-reboot, Domino's-style brand turnaround. What I most admire is that they're letting the comment feed on YouTube be just as brutal as it wants to be. And man, is it brutal. It's hard to tell the legit processed-food concerns from the horsemeat crazies.

Though honestly, that's good for Micky D's. The more they can discredit the really nutty folks by letting them be themselves—and there are some excellent conspiracy theorists blowing up the feed—the less McDonald's itself actually needs to say.

That said, I'm probably not going to bite the bullet like Imahara and munch a Big Mac anytime soon. But those sodium acid pyrophosphate fries, man. Who can resist those fries?

Photo: Elizabeth Lippman

 Specs
Name Pamela Drucker Mann
Age 39
New gig Vp and publisher of Food Innovation Group: Bon Appétit and Epicurious
Old gig Vp and publisher of Bon Appétit

Less than a year ago, Epicurious started undergoing a revamp from a recipe site to a food, lifestyle and travel site. This past summer, after you and Bon Appétit editor in chief Adam Rapoport added oversight of Epicurious, you reversed course. Why?
We already have Bon Appétit for food and culture. With Epicurious, we want to create a utility for people who are looking for recipes. So maybe that kind of [lifestyle] content would make sense in the context of finding recipes, but we don’t need to do a travel feature. That’s not what people are coming to Epicurious for.

So what’s the new Epicurious going to look like?
We want it to be the ultimate food resource. If you Google any recipe, you’ll get a gazillion results, but who really knows what’s good? Consumers are looking for help in making their choices. They don’t want 1,000 different options; they want four. Ultimately, we’re going to serve that up to them in the way they want it. We’re also going to build new partnerships. There are so many brands that we could be working with that would love the traffic kickback. And we’ll be building in more natural extensions between Epicurious and Bon Appétit. For instance, if we were doing a story on 10 of our favorite oyster recipes, maybe one of those recipes would come from a chef we’ve done a feature on in Bon Appétit, so we can drive the consumer to read more about them.

You promoted Epicurious’ director of product, Eric Gillin, to executive director of the site. Why have someone from the product side oversee editorial, too?
Eric is a really smart guy. He understands the tech world better than anyone. He understands product. He understands programmatic. He’s the best of both [editorial and tech]—he understands the voice we want for Epicurious but also understands product in a digital environment, which is one of the challenges for other digital sites when you have someone with a traditional magazine background who doesn’t get that world.

Will there be any e-commerce component to the new Epicurious?
Definitely e-commerce is a huge part of the Condé Nast objective. It’s not part of the unveil in January, but it’s in the future.

Just a few weeks ago, you rebranded the combined business sides of Epicurious and Bon Appétit as the Food Innovation Group. What was the thinking behind that?
One of the things that big ad networks have had over magazine websites is the scale play. Now, with an audience of 70 million consumers [at Epicurious and Bon Appétit], we’ll be able to go to our advertisers and tell them that if you want scale, we can play there. If you want brand equity, we can play there. If your objective is digital-only, we can play there. If you want print, we can play there. If you want video, we can play there because we have Condé Nast Entertainment. The brands that have equity and are also able to dimensionalize themselves are the brands that are doing better in the marketplace.

How has your role changed as head of the Food Innovation Group as opposed to overseeing both Bon Appétit and Epicurious separately?
It’s changed a lot in the sense that I feel like we’re building more of a digital-based business. You feel a different responsibility when you have this much scale. Also, I’m a lot busier.

If you're the type of jet-setter who flies a seaplane to a Scottish estate so you can put on a tuxedo and have a drink with a handful of your posh friends, David Beckham would like you to buy some of his new whisky.

The recently retired soccer icon stars in this glitzy launch ad for Haig Club, a single grain scotch that Beckham produced with liquor giant Diageo and American Idol creator Simon Fuller. Filmmaker Guy Ritchie, a friend of Beckham's—who directed him in this H&M ad last year—directed this one, too (and makes a cameo as the fisherman under the bridge).



It's worth watching mostly for the gorgeous scenery (shot in the Scottish Highlands, at locations like Glen Affric). The people are pretty, too. Alt-J's "Left-Hand Free" serves as the soundtrack. The storyline is thin, leaving you free to focus on the lush trappings—not unlike a fashion or perfume ad. That's all the more appropriate, given that the bottle looks like it should hold something you splash on your person, not pour down your gullet.

Regardless, you should also be ready to drink it at the Great Wall, Easter Island, the Egyptian pyramids and Antarctica, among other places. In other words, get your travel budget in order—and don't forget to bring your point-and-shoot camera, because everyone still uses those.

In recent years, BBH London has focused on family relationships and offbeat stories in its KFC ads, with the product almost as a side dish and strong storytelling as the main course.

That trend continues in "Fans," a new 90-second spot in which we meet two young boys in Scotland who root for opposing soccer teams. (OK, football teams.) One is a fan of Stirling Albion. The other likes Dunfermline. It's a conflict on par with Scottish succession.

On this particular Saturday, the teams are playing each other, and the kids head to the game—one accompanied by his dad, the other by his mom. It can only end one way, with surprising emotional ramifications for both children.



The commercial is expertly shot by Full Monty director Peter Cattaneo. It has a documentary/indie-film vibe, owing to location filming and the fact that the two boys were "street cast" from local football academies.

The central conflict is the kind of silly yet semi-serious problem lots of parents can relate to. And the twist ending doesn't feel like too much of a stretch. (Indeed, BBH often handles such tricky reveals quite skillfully.)

On the downside, a couple of wee lads are going to have tummy aches tonight.

CREDITS
Client: KFC
Marketing Director: Meghan Farren
Marketing Manager: Jeff Singer
Senior Brand Manager: Maria Dogin
Agency: BBH, London
Creative Director: Hamish Pinnell
Strategist: John Jones
Strategy Director: Debra Ladd
Business Lead: Sian Cook
Team Manager:  Helen Campbell-Borton
Team Director: Leo Sloley
Producer: Jodie Sibson
Assistant Producer: David Lynch
Production Company: Academy Films
Director: Peter Cattaneo
Producer: Juliette Harris
Director of Photography: Florian Hoffmeister
Postproduction: The Mill
Editing: Nik Hindson, The Assembly Rooms
Sound: Dan Beckwith, Factory

If you haven't figured out your Halloween costume, don't fret!

Morton Salt is incentivizing you to dress up as the Morton Salt Girl. Why waste hours trying to come up with an original idea when you have the chance to win a thousand smackeroos? And you don't even have to be young and female. In fact, you can be not-so-young and male!

Read more about the sweepstakes at MortonCostumeContest.com.

The Morton Salt Girl certainly is iconic. She began her reign (sorry) in 1914 with some print ads from N.W. Ayer & Company in Good Housekeeping with the tagline, "When it rains it pours." Initially, the slogan was a hat-tip to Morton Salt's major product innovation at the time: The salt still flowed freely in damp weather.

She has gotten a few makeovers over the years, but she's still kicking around 100 years later. Though wouldn't it be awesome to see the girl—she's supposed to be 8 years old—aged to 100 (or 108) on a few of the centennial celebration bottles? 

Social Media Profile (as of 10/21/14)
Facebook Likes: 179,456
Twitter Followers: 1,066
Instagram Followers: 216
Pinterest Followers: 69 

 

She models her hairstyles after the look of the day. Which style would you say is more “in” right now? A OR B #mortonsaltgirl100

A photo posted by Morton Salt (@mortonsalt) on Sep 9, 2014 at 12:15pm PDT

The brand has boosted its presence on various social media platforms this year for the centennial celebration. But it still doesn't post all that often. 

Recent Advertising 

As part of this year's celebrations, the brand wanted to show consumers how many different ways their lives are impacted by Morton Salt and the Morton Salt Girl. It's a cute and informative message (there are more ways than you'd think). But the tagline, "She's still the one," might be a little too romantic if you think about it.  

Fast Facts

• Founded in Chicago in 1848, when that city's population was just 20,000, the company is more than 160 years old. 
• In 1886, Joy Morton renamed the company, which had been called Richmond & Company, Agents for Onondaga Salt, to Joy Morton & Company. It wasn't until 1910 that it became the Morton Salt Company. 
• In 1911, the company added magnesium carbonate to its salt. At the time, that's what allowed the salt to flow freely. Now the company uses calcium silicate to achieve the same thing.

How do you say, “Finger lickin’ good” in Burmese? It may not translate literally, but KFC is hoping its secret fried chicken recipe will bring in customers when it opens shop in Myanmar, one of the last frontiers in Southeast Asia for U.S. brands.

KFC parent company Yum Brands plans to open its first Burmese franchise next year. In fact, very few global brands have a presence in Burma, or Myanmar as it's known, because it is just now emerging from years of military rulers and international sanctions.

KFC’s move into Myanmar is part of its push into 118 countries that produced $13 billion in global sales last year. The BBC reported there are 14,000 KFC restaurants in emerging markets that include India, China and most recently Bolivia. 

It’s a big world out there, and Yum Brands, which also owns Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, opens five restaurants a day.

So, in what other out-of-the-way places have U.S. fast-food brands established a foothold?

• Pizza Hut planted a flag in the International Space Station with a historic delivery.
• There’s a Taco Bell in Bangalore, India.
• TGI Friday's, Jakarta is a thing.
• Wendy’s opened a shop in Roppongi, Tokyo (with lobster and caviar burgers, no less).
• Dunkin’ Donuts has an outpost in Denpasar, Bali.
• Arby’s is in the Arab world, including in Turkey and Qatar.
• Subway serves Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
• McDonald’s serves Big Macs near the Palace of Versailles in France; below the Museum of Communism in Prague; in the middle of the Negev desert in Israel; outside Windsor Castle in the U.K.; and inside a decommissioned DC-3 in New Zealand.

Halloween is like Christmas for candy brands, and Snickers usually swoops in, batlike, with some fun and spooky advertising (most notably, perhaps, BBDO's truly odd "Grocery Store Lady" spot from 2010).

And this year, it's a Spanish-language Snickers spot that's giving people chills.

Everything about the ad is great—the premise, the visual effects, the guy at the end bellowing about his TV show. A real treat from LatinWorks.

We've been gawking at him since he first stepped onto the pitch 22 years ago. Not much has changed since. The footballer turned international star has commanded our attention with his athletic performances as well as his looks. And that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon.

Since the decline of his career (which would ultimately lead to his retirement) the global star has been working commercialization, full press. Throughout his career Beckham has teamed up with Pepsi, Samsung, Adidas and Burger King. Who can forget those H&M ads? Most recently, the icon has hooked up with his pal Guy Ritchie (who also directed H&M) for the launch of the Haig Club Whisky campaign, a glitzy ad with gorgeous scenery.

In honor of his latest spot we've supercut some of his most memorable ads. Enjoy!

Video edited by Mac Smullen

The industry is rapidly changing, but one thing remains the same: Literally the only thing that gets agency people to fill out their timesheets consistently is free beer.

The latest example comes from Minneapolis, where Colle+McVoy has built a wondrous machine called the TapServer—a "multi-keg beer deployment system" that uses RFID and custom-written software to verify whether you've stopped being a lazy git, finished your timesheets and earned your free pint. (According to the agency, the technology used includes "several Arduinos, a Node-based server, solenoids and a Raspberry Pi." For all we know, so could the beer.)

Check out more pics below. And yes, similar things have been done before, including the beer fridge at JWT agency Casa in Brazil that unlocks only when timesheets are done.

The mad scientists at Oreo are laughing maniacally as they cook up adorable little monsters—called "nomsters"—in a tiny, spooky little lab for Halloween.

Beginning today, fans of the Mondelez cookie brand will get to see a new nomster created each day in short videos set in the 1800s-style Oreo Laboratorium. Fans will be asked to "Name the Nomster," and the best names will be made into custom digital content posted by Oreo later each day.

The content is appropriately bite-size (the first video is just 11 seconds long), which of course is perfect for Facebook and Instagram.

The 32-by-64-inch set, featuring more than 100 different props—many of them handmade—was created by designer Lori Nix, whose work in miniature we last saw in this gorgeous short film for Bamboo Sushi. Oreo also partnered with Castelli Models to craft more than 40 stages of models for the stop-motion videos.

Check out the first nomster above, and contribute a name on Oreo's Facebook page. (Suggestions so far include Dunkfluffula, Count Candy Corneo, Vamporeo and Capn Fluffy Butt.) We've also got some exclusive behind-the-scenes photos below.

Last year for Halloween, Oreo paid homage to popular Halloween horror movies through Vine recreations.

CREDITS
Client: Oreo
Senior Associate Brand Manager: Kerri McCarthy

Agency: 360i
Creative Directors: Aaron Mosher, David Yankelewitz
Art Director: Kelsie Kaufman
Copywriter: Frank Bertino
Executive Producer: Phil Pessaro
Producer: Ethan Brooks
Account Director: Josh Lenze
Senior Strategist: Mike Jacobson
Account Manager: Megan Falcone
Community Manager: Katya Kotylar
Community Supervisor: Namrata Patel

Production Company: Dream Machine Creative
Director: Andrew Wonder, Lainey Dubinsky
Producer: Alon Simcha
Executive Producer: Dylan Steinberg
Director of Photography: Fletcher Wolfe

Visual Effects: Konrad & Paul
Visual Effects Supervisor: John Christon

Sound: Silver Sound
Sound Designers: Robin Shore, Cory Choy, Luke Allen, Bryan Osborne, Ted Robinson

Set Design: Lori Nix, Kathleen Gerber, Nix & Gerber Studio
Character Fabrication: Dan Castelli, Castelli Models

There's a grand tradition of marketers building fancy vending machines, but it's not every day you see one that doubles as a piano.

For the Alfa Jazz Fest in L'viv, Ukraine, this past June, mineral water brand Borjomi and its agency, Banda, set up a publicity stunt inviting passersby to play a sideways keyboard in exchange for free product.

The new video below shows some people eking out melodies and others banging out full-blown performances while crowds gather and cheer. It has some of the dubious over-enthusiasm of heavily edited case study videos—people get really, really excited, and jump up and down—despite (or maybe because of) how awkward it must have been to hit the right notes while craning over.

Then again, a piano-playing machine made of razors is probably still weirder.

You thought Coca-Cola was getting personal when it rolled out 250 bottle labels featuring people's first names. Well, Diet Coke just went and individualized 2 million bottle designs.

Coca-Coca Israel created the campaign, with help from Gefen Team, Q Digital and HP Indigo. (In fact, it was Indigo, which was founded in Israel, that helped Coke solve the enormous production challenges around the "Share a Coke" campaign when it first rolled out in Australia in 2011.) For the Diet Coke project—which echoes a similar stunt by Absolut in 2012—a special algorithm led to a unique design technique that allowed millions of designs to be completely auto-generated.

The resulting product conveys to "Diet Coke lovers that they are extraordinary by creating unique one-of-a-kind extraordinary bottles," said Alon Zamir, vp of marketing for Coca-Cola Israel. (Dr Pepper, whose whole campaign is built around being one of a kind, is going to be pissed about this.)

The concept nicely extended to the ad campaign, which featured hundreds of uniquely designed billboards, as well as point-of-sale stunts that sold T-shirts and other merchandise featuring your specific bottle design.

The genius of "Share a Coke," of course, was how personalized it felt, rather than how personalized it actually was. (Your first name actually isn't very unique at all—and if it is, it sure wasn't on a Coke bottle.) Still, the Diet Coke idea is triumph, too—the designs look fantastic, on top of it all—even if it won't generate the same level of buzz.

Check out more images below, along with a case study video showing the process.

Via PSFK.

You remember Vytautas Mineral Water. The Lithuanian water brand was the subject of the single craziest commercial of 2012—a spec ad from director Tadas Vidmantas that the client ended up loving and tacitly endorsing. (It ended up hiring Vidmantas to do ads in a similar lunatic style.)

Well, now Vidmantas is back with a Halloween spot for Vytautas. And it's completely sick and twisted. Check it out below, and watch out for flying nurse buttons. (And yes, this is a real ad, not spec—a tamer version has even been cut for Lithuanian television.)

Credits are also below, and after that, the classic "It's Earth's Juice" ad from 2012.



CREDITS
Client: Vytautas Mineral Water
Agency: Superior
Director: Tadas Vidmantas
Producer: Asta Liukaityte

More sweet. Less scary. That's the promotional campaign, not the ingredient list.

The perennial Easter favorite Peeps continue to try to become a year-round candy with these "peepified" illustrations for Halloween. The simple, colorful drawings are part of an ongoing campaign dubbed "Every Day Is a Holiday," launched earlier this year to introduce Peeps Minis, diminutive flavored versions of the original chicks. (They're less than half the size of the flagship product, and come in bags, not the traditional cellophane-front flat boxes).

The airy sugar dumplings, made by confectioner Just Born, haul in an estimated 70 percent of their business at Easter and only a fraction on other holidays like Christmas and Valentine's Day. There are ghost and pumpkin Peeps on shelves now, but they've never moved as briskly as springtime's puffy chicks and bunnies.



The campaign for Peeps Minis, from New York ad agency The Terri & Sandi Solution, has included digital images on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, with Peeps-centric drawings for obscure holidays like Mutt's Day, Make Someone Laugh Day and National Singing Telegram Day. Fifteen-second TV ads celebrate National Take Your Pants for a Walk Day, Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day and other "holidays." (Go ahead, Google them).

And about those ingredients: mainly sugar, corn syrup and gelatin. Boo!

Petco had a whole Halloween contest around dressing up pets this month, but you don't have to be a pet brand to get in on that action. Droga5 did this cute ad for Chobani, featuring pooches in their Halloween costumes—while enjoying the treat that is Chobani yogurt.

Check out the video below. Happy Halloween!

Specs
Who Executive creative director Craig Mikes (l.) and president Bryan Christian
What Full-service agency
Where Austin, Texas

Some of Proof Advertising's most creative work takes place at Proof Annex, its bar running through Austin's main drag on 6th Street that is also home to the agency's headquarters (which is technically on 7th Street). Bearing the motto "Nothing watered down," Proof handles clients including Subway, Hyatt Resorts and the San Antonio Convention & Visitors Bureau, representing $100 million in traditional media spending in addition to creative, account and digital services. While its work with Subway Canada prompted the opening of the Proof+Grey office earlier this year—a partnership with Toronto's Grey Canada—the 4-year-old shop's roots remain tied to Texas. "Austin's definitely got the credibility [in advertising] these days—it's basically our best calling card for recruitment," noted ecd Craig Mikes. That, and its own bar, which not many agencies can claim.

If you thought there was no way to top a Paris Hilton-Hannah Ferguson slow-motion car-washing, sex-eating burger-palooza, you'd be wrong, Carl's Jr. want to tell bros.

Supermodels and celebutantes don't have the market cornered, after all, on using their scantily clad bums, stripper moves and garden hoses to hawk fast food. Along comes Aqua Teen Hunger Force's Carl Brutananadilewski, a husky, hirsute late-night star, to show everybody how it's done.

Just don't eat that burger before you see the new commercial, airing online and during Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, where Aqua Teen Hunger Force anchors the block and Carl regularly heckles his neighbors Meatwad, Master Shake and Frylock.

Though lacking in the bronzed beauty and sex appeal of the burger joint's former brand ambassadors—Padma Lakshmi, Heidi Klum and Kate Upton among them—Carl "brings a certain willingness to the role and a unique interpretation of fresh baked buns," said Steve Lemley, svp of field marketing and media at Carl's Jr. and sister chain Hardee's.



The animated character is willing to wear a physique-inappropriate banana hammock, in other words, and writhe around on a Dodge Spyder while chomping a burger and slapping his ass.

The spot, written and produced by Aqua Teen Hunger Force creators with assists from 72andSunny and Initiative, promotes the chain's bread, baked fresh in stores, which makes its buns "denser and a little sweeter" than competitors' products, according to the press release.

Make that connection between the food and Carl's lumpy posterior at your own risk.

Hungry yet?

Welp, it's basically Christmas now, but we've got one more Halloween ad to share with you. Yeah, it's November now, but this gem is still as fresh as that stash of Twix bars you stole from your child. 

PepsiMAX, no stranger to scaring the crap out of people with ad pranks, delivered what might be the coolest use of tech for nefarious purposes this Halloween. Watch below to see how the brand really freaked out unsuspecting moviegoers at a London cinema. 

And try to imagine not soiling yourself.

Agency: AMV BBDO.

It's an accepted truism that the food in fast-food ads looks nothing like the food in real life. But can it be made to look that way? Is it possible to transform a regular McDonald's burger into food-porn perfection using only a couple of iPads and an iPhone?

That's the challenge the guys at DigitalRev TV set for themselves. And they do a pretty decent job of replicating actual McDonald's product shots. Though you wouldn't want to run extreme close-ups of their creation, like they do in France.

Check out the process below, and skip to 3:00, where the action really starts.

Via Design Taxi.

Is the time ripe for a sitcom starring a bunch of grapes?

The VIA Agency's new campaign for Welch's mimics/spoofs the prime-time sitcom format to deliver the message that grape juice has heart health benefits, just like wine. These aren't animated pieces of fruit or actors in purple costumes. They're real Concord grapes, just hangin' on the vine, making with the breezy, brand-centric banter.

According to VIA, the "Just Hangin' " idea "opens up huge possibilities for the development of episodic video content across our digital and social channels, and allows the brand to react and produce content quickly to maintain relevance with current events. We are essentially giving each grape a personality and a voice."



Lead grapes Tina, Phil and Merlot (he's French) are appealing, and the theme song's pretty fresh. Given the sorry state of network TV, these grapes just might get picked up. Hopefully the fickle public won't sour on the concept.

This first spot breaks nationwide later this week. Welch's and VIA will continue the development of the grape characters in TV and digital into next year. Welch's previous ads featured food historian and Food Network star Alton Brown.