Agency Spy

Omnicom can’t stop. Won’t stop. The latest news is that the company has teamed up with a newly created NBC Universal production unit to create programs around sponsors’ products. It’s like Honeyshed, but with air of pretension. This is straight up selling. Forget the cool kids, let’s make some money!

NBC Universal Digital Studio will work with a division of Omnicom Group Digital to create web specific shows that allows advertisers to get in early and have some say in how their products will be featured. For an example, there’s the Rosario Dawson (so hot) project titled Gemini Division, which comes with sponsors Intel, Microsoft, UPS and Acura TSX. Dawson is not only the star, but a producer. The Hollywood Reporter is saying, naturally, the web version is really just a test to see if the program can fly in prime time.

Omnicom Media Group Digital chief executive Matt Spiegel said that this new method of creating shows is:

“a unique way of giving brands a seat at the table with writers and producers in developing episodic programming that ties directly to brand needs.”

Bravo to NBC for figuring out to be more flexible with content generation, as well as delivery methods, but um… doesn’t that sound awful? The part where CMOs are getting in on the creative level? Oh. Oh. So, bad. You deal with these guys all the time. Good idea machines? Not so much. Wishy washy, knock-kneed, consumer fearing blowhards? Hell, yes.

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JWT is responsible for the new print ads associated with the launch of David Beckham’s new fragrance line called (guffaw) “Instinct After Dark.” Cliche alert! Cliche alert! This is the prototype, the maxim of a men’s fragrance ad. You have the brand wattage and bod of Beckham at your disposal and you phone this kind of stuff in? Shameless.

This is a limited edition line for Coty that is separate and distinct from that of Posh and Beck’s “Intimately Beckham” scent. Those ads are even harder to look at and not nearly as funny or inventive as Posh’s Marc Jacobs piece. JWT is not responsible for these latter two ads. Just the snoozer over there to the left.

British Airways is launching a new premium trans-Atlantic airline subsidiary called OpenSkies - a take on the “Open Skies” treaty, which just swung into effect. Here’s a funny side note: the service was code named “Project Lauren” by the company before the new regulations took effect. Not sure why.

Anyway, the airline will now offer direct service between Paris and New York, and will later add destinations throughout continental Europe. After a review, the account will be handled by Taxi, New York and Horizon Media. BBH was also up for the account, as well as Publicis and Nitro according to AdAge.

Today, British Airways also just banned Naomi Campbell from their planes for throwing a shit fit at Heathrow. Bitch actually lugied on someone! Bravo to British Airways!

Patrick Dempsey has signed up with iconic cosmetic company Avon to be the spokewhore for a new line of man’s fragrances that he will also help create. Dempsey’s wife, celebrity makeup artist Jillian Dempsey, has worked with the company since July 2006 as their Global Creative Color Director, so maybe she hooked her man up with the gig?

McDreamy, as many ladies call him, make some sense for his sex appeal, but we’re wondering… isn’t it the ladies who love him? Do dudes love McDreamy, too? And wait… do dudes really think of Avon as the go to place for their fragrance? I’m not a dude, so I’d welcome some comments, yeah?

Ashton Kutcher, is to be the new face for Nikon’s COOLPIX Style series cameras. The campaign will debut nationally on March 25th with a television commercial, which precedes the print advertisements and an interactive online component. The television campaign spots, directed by Brian Buckley, have Kutcher’s COOLPIX camera being discretely taken and passed around by numerous adoring fans who take several pictures with it before slipping it back into Ashton’s pocket.

McCann Erickson is Nikon’s agency of record. You know, we liked McCann’s campaign for Picturetown U.S.A., where the agency gave away high end, point and shoot cameras to a small town. The resulting ads and microsite were beautiful. Nice work. The problem with Picturetown? You didn’t get much more than the picture and this is where McCann failed their client. It didn’t breathe beyond it’s flat frame. Yes, you could send a photo to a friend. Yawn.

Why couldn’t you:

- Purchase a print of one of the photos with the proceeds going to this small town’s fire department or the individual who took the photo? The first is a “do-good” angle, the second is an empowerment of consumer creativity. Overall, it would be a way for consumers to understand what Nikon had really done and own a piece of it: the brand captured moments of Americana and real life and beautifully, too.

- The photos could have been posted in other small towns tied to semacodes and created a nationwide hide and seek of sorts.

- The concept could have gotten amateur photographers in San Diego and those in Deluth of their towns and sent them to Nikon. Consumers would have to list what Nikon camera you used and some other details about the photograph much like the Lomographic Society. This would of created a consumer generated American art show.

- At the least, they could of repeated the project from US town to US town or from age bracket (1st graders) to age group (octogenarians).

- Oh! And why can’t you buy the camera straight from the website? For fuck’s sake!

We could go on. Swear. We love this concept. It had goodness, passion, locality, etc. but it had no life beyond it’s second of media attention, when it could have lived forever. That’s the real shame of it. McCann didn’t go that extra mile.

Riddle us this: Why do so many campaigns stop short of being a larger movement, digging its fingers into the community and taking advantage of the legs that are beneath it? We don’t understand.

Eva Mendes is the new face of CK underwear for the launch of their new campaign, “Seductive Comfort.” She will also be featured in a new Calvin Klein fragrance campaign that also launches in the fall. Don’t recognize the face? Eva has been in “Training Day,” and “Hitch,“ as well as, last year’s favorite crash and burn film, “We Own the Night.“ Don’t matter none. The lady is super hot.

Bob Mazzoli, Chief Creative Officer of Calvin Klein Underwear said:

“Seductive Comfort is our new collection of bras which offer the unique combination of the Calvin Klein aesthetic with a new level of fit, support, and superior comfort. Eva’s universal appeal will enable us to communicate this new launch to our worldwide audience.”

Do you remember when Madonna was the shit? She was such a rock star that she even got away with making the film, “Who’s That Girl?” We even dug her comeback as a disco dancing queen and her recent attempt to be a director. Madge is back. This time, she’s using advertising to drive sales for her latest album.

Her new album is titled “HARD CANDY” and its associated first single “4 Minutes” will debut through a new Sunsilk commercial. The spot will trace Madonna’s ever-evolving look throughout the years as a means to inspire girls to play around with their current styles. This whole part of the brand’s “Life Can’t Wait” campaign created by DeGrippes Gobe in Paris. The original Super Bowl ad is above and features Marilyn Monroe and Shakira, too.

David Rubin, director of U.S. Hair Care Operations, Unilever said:

“Madonna continues to be such an inspiration for young girls by continuously reinventing her looks, and we expect the new commercial will also encourage girls to evolve by changing their looks and making their hair and lives happen in a variety of exciting ways.”

That’s the message David? Girls should evolve their hair looks? That’s going to make them happy? You are going to use Madonna to encourage girls to fuck with their hair? Ugh!!!! When you’re fifteen, playing around with your hair is often limited to in a pony tail or not. Young girls aren’t screwing with their hair that much because they are under the watchful eye of mom who holds the purse strings and the authority. The girls that are really messing with their hair are dying it purple to mark themselves and their individuality. Sunsilk ain’t on the top of these ladies priority list. Try Manic Panic.

Meanwhile, Madonna? You’re pitching to young girls and you’re using Madonna? Rhianna or someone more age appropriate was busy, hunh? Why didn’t you stick with Shakira, whose star is fading just a tad, but is still a better choice. This whole campaign is way more appropriate for a woman that is a little older who like, actually remembers when Madonna had short hair and has the spending power and desire (work, dating, etc.) to mess with their hair quite a bit.

You know what - WHATEVER. Madonna’s going to debut her single. It will lead to a some illegal downloading and that’ll be that. This is just another example of how boring and out of touch advertising to women (of any age) can really be.

Jenna Jameson and Bettie Page for PETA.

If you recall, in July, Louis Vuitton a campaign around the idea of iconic luggage featuring Mikhail Gorbachev, Andre Agassi and Catherine Deneuve. It was high brow. Sophisticated and a bit dry save for Mikhail, which was a beautifully crafted and subversive print ad. Then, a few weeks ago, they aired their first ever broadcast spot. Now, Keith Richards is the new face of Louis Vuitton.

What’s going on here? The spread of luxury, naturally. Luxury is getting redefined this year and it needs to. Take a look at Berlin Cameron’s version for Belvedere Vodka, which we liked, by the way. Meanwhile, the concern about the recession effecting luxury good sales is rampant since Tiffany’s posted lower than stellar results recently. Louis Vuitton has so far weathered the storm with strong sales in Japan and a price increase in the U.S., but y’know… this is the beginning of the recession. We got a long way to go.

A Louis Vuitton exec told the Washington Post that:

“Keith Richards is timeless and ageless. He’s lived his life on the edge, but he’s not a sleazebag. He’s lean and mean and he’s still current.”

What he meant to say is that Keith is a bad boy. He’s not sophisticated. He’s rock royalty. Richards is rich, but also out of bounds, on the edge. The word staid does not apple. The Baby Boomers who are sitting on some cash, who may start traveling more as their kids age out and their retirement looms ever closer, remember his wild ways during their own youth. Got it. This is their new idea of luxury. It’s got a slight tweak and they’re being proactive against the recession. Who is their CMO? Nice work.

Ps. Be proud of us. We resisted making a leather face joke. It was so hard.

We talked about that new campaign for I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter featuring fallen star, Gary Coleman remember? Anyway, they’ve added funny man Dustin Diamond (aka Screech) who sadly, has fallen on very, very hard times, to their “Now You Know Better” challenge. See the press release here. The child stars get cash, but what does the not-butter company get other than a bruised brand? What planner decided that this was the way to go - trotting out broken celebs? Really. Awful.