The Monthly Roundup: February 2016

Bringing you our selection of the biggest and baddest adland breaking news from the past month.

Because… Leo finally won an Oscar (and we have lots of great work to talk about).

This month at a glance:
Feb started with a bang in the form of the Super Bowl. We cover some of the best spots from the ad breaks which include a town made of Ryan Reynolds clones, the Bud Party election, Willem Dafoe as Marilyn Monroe, Toyota’s longest chase and Hulk vs Ant Man for Coca Cola. We also look at this year’s royal instalment for Mother’s Day from Bodyshop, Team USA’s inspiring spot to motivate us to keep fit and the controversial rebrands from Uber and The Premier League.

Super Bowl 2016
One of the biggest marketing spends aside from Christmas is of course the Super Bowl. With ad space worth a whopping $5 million for a 30-second slot, creative is expected to be worthwhile and bloody brilliant. As always there were a few curve balls (that were definitely not worth the money), here’s our favourites:

Want to go to Ryanville?
With his movie Deadpool having just been released, Ryan Reynolds has been a popular topic of media conversation, so why not use this to promote a car in the Super Bowl? Well Hyundai just did.

In the cheeky spot, we see two women driving into a town where they encounter Reynolds in several scenarios proving to be such a distraction that the driver nearly runs into another man (well another Ryan). Luckily the car’s auto emergency brake feature kicks in and Ryan and his dog escape unharmed. THANK GOD! This is a brilliant ad (no bias from us here) and a humorous way of showing the car’s clever features. Now if someone could just point us in the direction of Ryanville we would be thankful.

Cast your Votes for The Bud Light Party
In the first spot from Wieden+Kennedy since taking over from BBDO last summer, the new Bud Light ad gives us a political parody starring Amy Schumer and Seth Rogen. Jumping on the election hype, the campaign aims to show the brand is inclusive and fun.

“Obviously the most talked about thing for the year will be the election, and that’s how we came up with the whole campaign I.D. of ‘The Bud Light Party,'” said Bud Light VP Alexander Lambrecht. “Now, we want to be very, very clear that we are not a political party. We absolutely have no intention to be. We are creating ‘The Bud Light Party as a brand platform.” The thinking, explained Lambrecht, is that, “despite the fact that there are so many things people disagree upon, we believe and we know that there are so many things that people agree upon and Bud Light is one of those. Beer is one of those.”

This campaign also introduces a new look and feel along with new tagline for the brand: “Raise one to right now.” While Rogen and Schumer star in this spot for “The Bud Light Party”, other celebs will join them throughout the year.

Hangry?
The latest spot in the ‘Hungry?’ series features Willem Dafoe in a role very different to the villains he is known for. The 60 year-old is the latest celeb to make fun of himself in the ad created for the Super Bowl. In the 30 second spot, Dafoe plays the hungry side of Marilyn Monroe in the famous skirt scene from the 1955 film “The Seven Year Itch”. As his skirt blows in the wind a grumpy Willem is assured “Sweetheart don’t look at me like that, it’s going to be amazing!” by the director, before taking a bite out of a snickers and being transformed into Monroe.

“I have to admit playing a Hollywood bombshell is a new challenge for me,” Dafoe said in a statement (via AdWeek). “But as a huge fan of Marilyn Monroe, I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to take a walk in her shoes and famous white dress.”

Dafoe follows a string of actors such as Joan Collins and Mr Bean in the “You’re not you when you’re hungry” ads.

A Clever Chase
Toyota took the opportunity to launch their comical new Prius campaign entitled “The Longest Chase” during the Super Bowl, highlighting the reinvention of the World’s Best Selling Hybrid. Boasting advanced technology and a suite of safety features, the ad sees four crooks choose the Prius as their getaway vehicle, but as they drive away discover that it’s much more than just a comfortable ride.

The ad plays up to the many product attributes on offer without one singular hard sell. It’s brilliant writing and acting make the full 90 second spot completely worthwhile. Hats off to Saatchi & Saatchi on this one!

Hulk vs Ant Man
Coca Cola is renowned for creating ingenious spots for the Super Bowl, and this ad didn’t let us down. In partnership with Marvel, we see two super heroes: The Incredible Hulk and Ant-Man, fight it out over a can of Coca-Cola Mini. Ant Man is initially caught stealing the last can from the fridge in Dr. Bruce Banner’s lab, which understandably makes him a little angry, turning him into Hulk to pursue Ant Man through the city. The final scene shows both heroes enjoying the prize, finishing with the strap line “Sometimes you just want a little Coca-Cola”. The ad features six “Easter Eggs” which led onto a virtual hunt where hints were released daily over social media, encouraging fans to re-watch the ad to be in with a chance of grabbing one of the 30,000 limited-edition Marvel-themed six-packs. Another great campaign created by acclaimed agency Wieden+Kennedy.

Treat mum like a Queen… again
The Bodyshop and Mr President have released a follow up to last year’s Mother’s Day spot this time showing the royal family spoiling the Queen with roses. No, Prince Charles and Camilla are not joining the acting world, the ad simply features some outstanding look-a-likes to achieve a convincing home video style creative. Another year and another brilliantly royal take on Mother’s Day from the beauty brand!

Rule yourself
We’ve mentioned before how much we love fitspo ads and the new Under Armour campaign is no different. Featuring the Team USA women’s gymnastics team and Memphis Depay, the ad is enough to get you motivated to own your workout. Droga5 New York created the spots, which propagate the joy of missing out (a twist on the fear of missing out) by showing the athletes training in pursuit of success for the nation. Clever, motivating, fascinating to watch and awesome music… we love this!

And finally… here’s a few rebrands to talk about
February seemed to be the month of change with a few rebrands that shook up the design world creating enough controversy to make the head of design at Uber leave (come on, it’s not that bad)!! Tell us what you think about the following facelifts from these popular companies:

Uber
Read about the rebrand here.

Premier League
See the new branding here.

Another month done. Over and out.

If you think we’ve missed anything world-changing that should be covered, let us know and we’ll put it in the next round-up! Email: hello@toworkorplay.com

————

Want the latest posts, offers and exclusive tickets straight to your inbox? Subscribe to our newsletter and never miss out again.

Images © YouTube, Uber and DesignStudio микрозаймы онлайн займ в пушкинезайм без процентов красноярскзайм в обнинске