Blogbook

A Jeep ad for Veteran’s Day features Old Faithful, WWII-era vehicle that was retired and awarded a Purple Heart designation. Via Adweek:

The spot, which aired on Jeep’s social media channels this morning, pays tribute to “Old Faithful,” a WWII-era vehicle that was retired and awarded a Purple Heart designation after leading the United States Marine Corps through two beach landings and a shelling by the Japanese military during the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1943.

The Purple Heart honor was largely symbolic as only veterans themselves can receive medals, but “Old Faithful” went on tours and appeared in exhibitions following the end of the war.

From a July 1944 edition of The Marine Corps Chevron: “The jeep was retired … after having traveled more than 11,000 miles of jungle terrain as a command car. During its 18 months’ service ‘Old Faithful’ served four Marine generals as well as carrying every ranking Marine officer and visiting official on the two battle-torn islands.”

The original vehicle was supposed to be displayed indefinitely in the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Va.; unfortunately, it has been lost to history. Jeep’s parent company FIAT Chrysler added GSD&M to its roster in May after a creative review for the Dodge brand. FIAT often allows its agency partners to pitch project-based work, and GSD&M created this campaign to coincide with both Veterans Day and the company’s 75th anniversary.

A trio of friendly Texan lawyers have decided to sing a ditty about pot, legalisation, and hefty fines, particularly regarding cooking stuff with it. Via TIME:

Waco, Texas lawyers Will Hutson and Chris Harris want to help out their fellow Texans with some friendly advice when it comes to getting high—legally. In a beautifully harmonized music video posted to YouTube, the two lawyers (and associate Dan Stokes) share a pleasant ditty about the perils of baking with pot.

“Makin’ pot brownies is a big mistake / If you live in Texas while you bake,” they explain in lilting tones as Harris strums his guitar. (Props help to illustrate the lesson.) Apparently, stringent Texas narcotics laws make it so that most marijuana-related activity, if caught, is considered a felony. And for people choosing to consume their cannabis as an edible—like baking it into brownies, for instance—the consequences can be major, as the total weight of the whole brownie is taken into account, not just the (most likely minimal) amount of marijuana baked into it. As they note: “It’s legally the same as cocaine / That’s insane.”

“If you make a whole tray, you’ll be put away for life / You’ll be punished just like you murdered your wife,” they warn, a bit hyperbolically.

According to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, under Texas law, possession of more than 4 oz. of marijuana is a felony punished by up to two years in prison. More than five pounds can cost you up to ten years. The organization also reports that once you hit a full ton, however, you’re up for a potential life sentence. (Luckily, you’re probably not baking a casual 2,000-lb. brownie.)

Things get strange for a chicken in this great short film by director Leonid Shmelkov, titled “Ohen’ Odinokiy Petuh”. We suspect that its popular English title is a mistranslation, but via Short of the week:

Despite the somewhat unwanted imagery its, I suspect slightly mistranslated, title might put in your mind, Leonid Shmelkov’s Very Lonely Cock (originally titled Ohen’ Odinokiy Petuh) is actually a family-friendly film following the abstract adventures of one man’s perplexed poultry.

Essentially the tale of what happens to a farmer’s chicken (or cock according to the title – but lets not get into egg-laying semantics) when its routine is unexpectedly interrupted, Shmelkov’s film really excels in the unanticipated direction it takes. Unleashing a series of bizarre scenarios for his feathered protagonist to face beak-on, Very Lonely Cock is lough-out-loud fun and damn stylish to boot.

Having pleased film festival audiences worldwide, from Brazil to Holland, Shmelkov’s film was released online towards the end of October 2016 and has been slowing collecting views ever since. Unfortunately, there’s not much information available on the film online (googling its title served up some very mixed results), to find out more you can either check out Shmelkov’s website below or try you luck with the search engines…but be careful what you search for!

Nintendo give this person a job — this gorgeous fanmade short ad is Pokemon Advertising at its finest — combining nostalgia, the history of the game and sentimentality. Yes, it’s a strange world now where fans made ads for big A-list commercial games… director John Wikstrom’s work is in no way unusual in the scheme of things: fans have made trailers for things they love for ages. Via Polygon:

Remember the good old days, back in the late ’90s, when the only things that mattered were Lunchables, the new issue of Nintendo Power and beating Pokémon Red? As much as we hate to admit it, those days are long gone. A fan-made ad for the upcoming Pokémon Sun and Moon, however, plays off this nostalgia to create something moving and wonderful.

An emotional “kid at heart” theme comes through in this short video, created on spec by a team of very talented, grown-up Pokémon fans.

“This is an independently produced spec based on the Pokémon franchise, created with nothing but love,” director John Wikstrom wrote of the video. “A lot of love. Please support the official releases.”

Young Pokémon trainers have evolved into much older ones, who may not have the same metabolisms or amount of free time for Pokémon card battles and endless cans of Surge. Their love for the games, though, remains as strong as ever.

We wouldn’t be surprised to see Nintendo go in a similar direction with its marketing campaign for Sun and Moon, which launch next month. In fact, the company produced a similar trailer of its own to announce the games in February. Sun and Moon were revealed as part of Pokémon’s big 20th birthday celebrations, making their debuts at the end of a heartwarming anniversary clip.

As votes are being counted, here’s a look back at some of the good, the bad and the weird in US Presidential Election advertising & design. Disclaimer: here at Starship, we’re not fond of Trump to say the least.

Unsurprisingly, Hillary Clinton has again run a highly organised, well-funded campaign, this time engaging heavyweights like Droga5 for some ads and Pentagram/Michael Bierut for her branding. Wikileaks (amusingly) revealed some of the background process that went into her branding here. Above, “Roar”, is her final campaign ad for the year.

Like the Obamas, Trump, Hillary and Tim Kaine have done their rounds of social media / talk shows in an attempt to reach younger votes, including this (hill)arious segment on Between Two Ferns:

“She told her team she wanted to do it, and that she really liked the one with President Obama, so that kind of made the process really easy,” says comedian Scott Aukerman, who directs and executive produces the series. “We didn’t have to go through the hoops we sometimes have to go through in order to even get Hollywood people to do it.” – Politico

… and Tim Kaine’s less successful attempt at learning millennialspeek:

The GOP haven’t been a stranger to odd attempts at advertising, notably Rubio’s “Morning in America”-inspired ad that accidentally used Canadian footage:

We’ll close out with our favourite political cartoon from this election season. Good luck, guys.

Droga5 has created a darkly amusing ad for Rustlers, a flame-grilled, microwavable hamburger brand called “80 years of torment”. Via Adweek:

“Initially we had a number of different approaches to film,” David Kolbusz, chief creative officer of Droga5 London, tells Adweek. “But we kept returning to one script which was a piss-take of that overly sentimental, well-worn ad construct where you follow a character’s journey from adolescence to old age, shot through rose-tinted glasses, and soundtracked to tinkling piano music. We thought it would be funny if you took a character on the same journey through time, but just kicked the shit out of him at every step along the way.”

Somesuch director Steve Rogers helped bring the ad to life.

“As we dug into it with Steve, it moved pretty far from the original vision and kind of became its own thing. Less pastiche,” Kolbusz says. “We fell in love with this repeated, metronomic abuse perpetrated on our hero. It became a lot cuttier than we’d originally intended. More vignettes. And we’d actually shot the ad with the intention of aping the look of the film from each different era. But in the end it felt better to keep all of the past in black and white—like a horrible memory—only introducing color in the glorious present.”

The product is typically consumed by young men but bought by their parents. So, the ads had to appeal to both. “We tried to create work that had a bit of spikiness to it and would appeal to our younger audience, but in a way that wouldn’t alienate the ones doing the shopping,” says Kolbusz. “Poking fun at the hardship our target’s parents and grandparents had to endure seemed like a nice way in.”

Burberry’s Christmas ad, the life of its founder Thomas Burberry, is a short film that plays like a cinematic experience, starring Domnhall Gleeson. Via Adweek:

As the Guardian reports, actor Domhnall Gleeson (who played General Hux in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Billy Weasley in the Harry Potter films) stars as Burberry. Sienna Miller (of American Sniper and The Girl) supports as his wife.

Lily James (of Cinderella and, aptly, Downton Abbey) plays a fictional pilot based on the real-life Betty Kirby-Green, who in 1937 flew alongside A.E. Clouston on a record-breaking trip from England to Cape Town and back, wearing Burberry clothing in a plane sponsored by the company. (James’ character manages to get embroiled in a love triangle with Mr. and Mrs. Burberry, because this wouldn’t be much of a soap opera otherwise.)

Dominic West (of The Wire and The Affair) plays Ernest Shackleton, the legendary explorer, who traversed the Antarctic also while dressed in Burberry. World War I also features heavily in the film. Burberry outfitted some half a million soldiers during the war with trench coats, the light and water-resistant outerwear named for the Western Front’s infamous death pits.
Documentary filmmaker Asif Kapadia directed the ad. The production values are gorgeous—table stakes for a luxury marketer—and the company is smart to draw on its history, which lends some real significance to the narrative (and polishes the brand’s sheen), even as the story tries to cram in every conceivable trope in its rush to lionize its namesake.

Documentarian Sean Dunne is back with another short film, American Juggalo 2, exploring another bigger than life character in the subculture. Via Short of the week:

Returning to the sub-culture that served him well (his original film clocked up over 2m views on Vimeo) back in 2011 with his original American Juggalo short, Dunne’s latest film offers an insight into the life of wheelchair bound Insane Clown Posse fan Alexander Perkins a.k.a “Less Legs”.

Where his first short seemed intent on capturing the mindset of a whole bunch of Juggalos and Juggalettes, this latest exploration into the world of ICP fans is a much more personal affair. Describing himself as “just some ninja…just somebody from nowhere trying to have fun”, Perkins is a larger-than-life character, but you’d expect nothing less in a Sean Dunne film.

As always with Dunne’s filmmaking, his attitude shines through in his work. He has never seemed interested in making films to get a foothold in the industry, attract the attention of studio execs or win fancy awards and it’s this refreshing approach that always feels so beneficial to his work.

He tells stories he wants to tell, stories he wants to be heard and stories that truly make you consider your place in this world. From prescription painkiller addiction to the attendees of Trump Rally, these aren’t exactly cheery subjects, yet Dunne’s films never look to depress or deflate his audience, instead (as his Twitter bio suggests) his film are about “all love, always”.

A powerful new ad campaign by the Canadian Down Syndrome Society seeks to educate people googling for answers. Via Adweek:

Titled “Down Syndrome Answers,” the series covers everything from physical and intellectual development to the cause of the condition and life expectancy of those who have it.

Overall, the clips proceed to explain—and illustrate—how people with Down syndrome can ride bicycles, read, play sports, hold down a job, cook, drive and do much more—even if those things might, in some cases, take longer to learn.

The nonprofit Canadian Down Syndrome Society created the ads with agency FCB Canada largely to help parents who are seeking information after learning their unborn child has been diagnosed with the genetic anomaly. Naturally, the clips will pop up whenever someone Googles those questions.

Even for viewers who aren’t expecting a child with Down syndrome—or in the terrible position of weighing whether or not to continue a pregnancy on account of it—the videos are more than worth the few minutes it takes to browse through them. They offer a simple, humanizing and often heartwarming window into a population that’s largely underrepresented in mass media, and often misunderstood. […]

“The majority of prospective parents know very little about Down syndrome,” says Kirk Crowther, national executive director at the Canadian Down Syndrome Society. “Doctors do their best, and there are lots of websites offering the medical perspective, but they typically use very clinical terms that don’t capture the emotional and human side of the Down syndrome story. We wanted to change that with ‘Down Syndrome Answers.’ “

Some of the other videos:

More here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AifbhAR–0

BACARDÍ x Kenzo Digital made a haunted house for Halloween, because why not. Via Adweek:

Staged inside a party at Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York, the haunted house installation was constructed in just three days and drew roughly 400 attendees including famous faces like Emily Ratajkowski, Alicia Keys and Baz Luhrmann.

The labyrinth-like experience was meant to be unlike a traditional haunted house, according to Kenzo Digital, the artist, director and founder of the immersive storytelling agency of the same name. It was also a way to create content for the brand.

“I’ve always wanted to do my own rendition of a haunted house and use some of the technologies from my past projects to essentially integrate them to create extreme tension and suspense from technology—but completely outside of the language or the tropes of a regular haunted house,” Digital said. “There’s no axe-man or blood or anything like that. I wanted to make something that was more along the lines of a Black Mirror or Suspiria.”

While just 400 people saw the effort in real life, the brand and agency considered how it would translate into the film above.

“I always think of experiences really as content,” said Digital. “What is the content or filmic interpretation that transmits energy, the vibe gives an idea of what happened, how grand the scale was.”