Brilliant song, shame about the ad.

Probably my favorite song of the year from one of my favorite bands. "Paradise Circus: Gui Boratto Remix" by Massive Attack for the 2011 Lincoln MKX.

I know what you're thinking. Massive Attack! How could you? Well calm down music lovers and read this. The boys from Bristol have donated all the proceeds to cleaning up the Gulf.

Ad song of the now.

I don't really care for the commercial, indeed the entire campaign doesn't do the game justice. But let's give the creatives credit for picking a kick-ass song. "Home" by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros.

Good stuff. And another fine example where music can turn the ordinary into something far more engaging.

Ad song of the now.

There's a Cadillac CTS-V commercial that's been in circulation for a while now. Nothing inspired, unless you like gratuitous shots of a car. But the piece of music behind it sure is tasty.



The song is called "Lovesick" by Lindstrom & Christabelle. Not sure if this is the official video, but it's all I could find on YouTube.

And please do check out their whole album, "Real Life is No Cool", especially the Giorgio Moroder inspired track "Let's Practice". I don't think they're talking about mahjong.

Song of the now.

My current favorite song in a TV commercial is a special mix of "Get your boots on" by U2, featuring the Soweto Gospel Choir. It's featured in a spot for ESPN's World Cup campaign. A long version is not available for purchase right now, but judging by the reaction in cyberspace it soon should be.

The entire campaign features U2 songs mixed with the Soweto Gospel Choir. The music is the only engaging part of an otherwise uninspiring campaign.

The "Make it Happen" Challenge.

Time to "Make it Happen", the crowd-sourcing challenge to see if my big ideas can come to fruition thanks to the rich community of creatives, writers, artists, designers, inventors, scientists, architects, pharmacologists, techies, provocateurs, ethicists, military contractors, etc.

MIH Brief 009

OBJECTIVE:

Plot a new career path for the soon to be ex-FreeCreditReport Band.

Check this out for more background, but to surmise, the financially inept, "love to hate" band in the FreeCreditReport.com ads have been dropped. The financial company is looking for a new band to sing a whole new initiative for them.

It's a sudden end to to an incredulous gig for the Montreal native "musicians". It all started three years ago and since then they've created images and sounds that will surely haunt us for the rest of our lives. Who can forget their "Pirates of Pity" jam. The "Roller coaster" sing along left a whole audience ready to hurl along with them. And the "Twits in Tights" routine at the Renaissance Fair...well it really doesn't need any more explanation.

F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote "There are no second acts in American lives". How can we prove him dead wrong (we've got the dead part down) by creating a golden future for the FreeCreditReport Band.

THOUGHT STARTERS:

  -  Let's get the obvious thought out of the way first. Is there any merit to creating a Facebook campaign to persuade FreeCreditReport.com to reinstate the band. (This may be a really tough sell given that FCR will be incorporating social media to find their new band.)
  -  What about other potential advertising gigs? What other appropriate brands could they sing for? Monster.com seems like an ideal partner. Theladders.com may be out of their range though.
  -  Or perhaps they could become the "House band" for a financial related TV show. For example, "The Suze Orman Show" on CNBC.
  -  Reinvention usually starts with a new band name, and new image. What names could break through the clutter and capture the public's imagination? Here are a few possible examples: The Broken Legs; Pre-Approved; Are you kidding me; The Furry Parts; Born Out Of Wedlock.
  -  Perhaps the band needs to start playing real gigs to build up an audience base. How do we can get them onto the wedding, bar mitzvah and advertising industry party circuit?
  -  "American Idol" has a vacancy at the judging position. The band would seem to be ideal candidates, especially given that the producers of the show have lately been employing judges with no real music talent (Ellen Degeneres).

   -  The aforementioned Ellen Degeneres has just started her own record label. Her first signing is some kid with a youtube hit, proving she is a music executive with no taste levels whatsoever. Surely it couldn't be that hard to get the band to be her second signing. 
  -  One hit wonders end up on VH1. Could we create a reality series featuring the band as they try to get signed up by a major label. Maybe even Ellen's.
  -  Perhaps if one of the members was to suddenly "expire", we may be able to create some sympathy for the band which could result in the break they need. It could even lead to a social media campaign to find the ideal replacement.
  -  Could we possibly interest major producers to get behind the band? What could intrigue Snoop Dog to want to collaborate with them, other than bribing him with marijuana?
  -  If their music career doesn't pan out where else can they apply their talent or lack thereof? Could they take their "financial experience" as credit spokesmen to the airwaves as experts on Fox Business Channel. They should fit right in.

MANDATORIES:

  -  The band MUST at all times disparage FreeCreditReport.com
  -  The band can never write their own material.
  -  The old lady that appears with them in their ads must always be included in their entourage.
  -  The band must submit to regular credit score testing.

Good luck and make it happen, people!

Planet of the Apes reprise.

This caught my eye. One, because it's a lovely piece of branded-entertainment with a neat, topical twist on "Planet of the Apes". The monkey returns home rather than humans. The planet is still fucked though.

And two, because I've been trying to push a branded web series reprising "Planet of the Apes" for a while now. Mine is for Coke, but more about that later in "Dead Ideaville". For now enjoy the music video and the message.

Kudos to Leo Burnett/Sydney and musician Ben Lee.


(Sharing credit to jawbone.tv)

"Up There".

If you live in New York or Los Angeles you're probably familiar with the hand-painted billboard. Part art, part selling stuff it hangs above the urban landscape as a sweet reminder to a bygone era while still try to sell stuff.

Stella Artois has created this truly wonderful branded piece (12 minutes, every moment worth it, like the beer actually) that celebrates this dying art. We are introduced to some of the painters, part dare-devils, part artists who share with us their experiences over the years and their passion for this wall painting tradition.

And it documents, here's the branded part, just how painstaking this process is as artists create fifty-foot ads for Stella. It took them three weeks to paint the ads. It's quite a contrast to the heady world most of us live in, where things usually get accomplished at the speed of a click. Sometimes amazing things come to those who take their time. Oh wait I'm mixing my beer messages.

Here's a quick taste.



Lots of kudos to go around. Stella Artois, Mother, Mekanism, director Malcolm Murry and The Album Leaf for creating the perfect soundtrack. "Into the Blue Again" is unquestionably one of my favorite albums of all time.

And of course special kudos to the painters themselves. For more of their work over the years, check this out.


(Sharing credit to psfk)

The Johnny Cash Project.

If you're a Johnny Cash fan or just a creative type with a little time on their hands then you should love this very cool project. It invites users to help build a music video for Cash's last ever studio recording, "Ain't no grave" (sunshine was already taken).

It's not just an exercise in crowd-sourcing of course, it's much bigger than that. It's all about celebrating the man, the myth, the legend and his music or at least his last recording. But the use of user-generated content is incorporated in a wonderfully non-intrusive and selfless way. The creators of the project quite rightly refer to it as a "communal work".

And the real beauty is that this idea could only really work for a handful of artists. The Miley Cyrus project won't be coming to a website any time soon.

Kudos to director Chris Milk, Aaron Koblin and Radical Media amongst others.

Song of the now.

My current favorite song in a tv commercial is "How do you like me now?" by The Heavy with a bit of a nod to James Brown. It's featured in a spot for Kia Sorento that involves three stuffed toys dreaming of a wild life. Coincidentally, I on occasion have fantasies about being a stuffed toy. Here's the video.

Still one of the best ever....

From the campaign that inspired me to get into advertising. Thank you, BBH. Or should that be fuck you, BBH. And always a treat to hear the great Johnny Cash.