The Miraculous Enlightenment of Kenny Riordon

New ad for Virgin Mobile is actually a cool short animated web film done entirely with Crayons. The ad depicts a young man experiencing a "hangover-esque" night fueled by his decision to cut everything from his life that's costing him too much both emotionally and financially, not the least of which is his cell phone carrier.

Credits:
Created by the ad agency: Mekanism, for Virgin Mobile.

Google Introduces Fiber "The Next Chapter Starts Here" Preview Spot

A fantastic new web film created to promote the new Google Fiber, "The Next Chapter of the Internet Starts Here" is a brilliant animated video.

The cars and model installation were built by hand, and filmed at Agua Dolce airport in Santa Clarita, CA. The installation now resides in the Fiber Space in Kansas City, which will be the first U.S city to have the super fast internet service made available too. The song and music is The Cars song "Just What I needed".

Google Fiber starts with Internet speeds 100 times faster than what most Americans have today. In this video, we see the evolution of the Internet represented in three different stages. It started with Dial-Up, grew with Broadband -- and with Google Fiber, the possibilities are endless. KC residents can pre-register now at http://www.google.com/fiber

Credits:
Agency: Venables Bell & Partners
Client: Google
ECD: Paul Venables
ECD: Will McGinness
CD: David Kim
CD: Tom Scharpf
AD: Ezra Paulekas
CW: Kelly Diaz
CW: Rob Calabro
Director: Ben Steiger
Director: Aaron Duffy
Director of Photography: Will Rexer
EP: Sam Penfield
Producer: Leanne Amos
Editing Company: Lost Planet
Editor: Tyler Higgins
Sound Design: 740 Sound Design & Mix
Sound Designer: Eddie Kim
Sound Designer: Rommel Molina
Sound Design Executive Producer: Scott Ganary
Music: Human
Mix: Lime
VFX: Liquid
VFX Producer: Erica Headley

Twinning's Tea "Gets You Back To You"

Simply beautiful advert for Twinnings Tea entitled "Gets You Back To You" features the song Wherever You Will Go, originally done by The Calling's performed by Charlene Soraia.
Credits
Ad Agency: AMV BBDO, London
Executive creative director: Paul Brazier
Copywriter: Diane Leaver
Art director: Simon Rice
Animation produced at Psyop, via Smuggler
Creative director Kylie Matulick
Executive producer Neysa Horsburgh
Producers Mark Knockles, Jenn Dewey, Amanda Miller, Hillary Thomas
Associate producers Minh Ly, Anu Nagaraj
3D lead Kyle Cassidy
Animation lead Dan Vislocky
Compositing leads Danny Koenig, Julie Lenoble, storyboard artists Vinny Dellay, Josh Weisenfeld, storyboard colorist Danelle Davenport, editor Brett Nicolletti, lead designer Paul Kim, additional designers Andrew Park, Georgia Tribuiani, Kenesha Sneed, modeling and texturing team Rie Ito, Ibtisam Ahmed, rigging artist Sean Kealey, pre-vis animators Blake Guest, Dan Vislocky, animators Dan Vislocky, Minor Gaytan, Chris Meek, Jacob Frey, Sashdy Arvelo, Yvain Gnabro, Todd Akita, 3D artists Katie Yoon, David Chontos, David Barosin, Barry Kreigshauer, Hao Cui, Roman Kaelin, Eric Rosenthal, Andreas Berner, rotoscope artist Stephen Holbrook, water and particle effects team Kiel Gnebba, Wayne Hollingworth, Brian Alvarez, cloth effects artist Victor Garza, 3D animation team Song Kim, Dylan Spears, Melvina Wong and Kendra Ryan.
Audio post production: Grand Central and Soundtree, London.
Digital design by: Grand Union.
PR by: Freud Communications.

Kraken Rum Brand Themselves Apart with Myth and Legend

More than just a namesake, Kraken Rum have taken the legend of a mythical sea beast to all facets of their marketing strategies. This includes their antique bottle design, cool label art and now ambitious advertising campaign. The dark spiced rum may be owned by a New Jersey based company called Proximo Spirits, but their effective branding techniques conjure up a much more exotic image. Their tie in with the lore of the beast of the blackset seas works perfectly with the ads stark and stylish look, which is highlighted by the spot's inventive and cool animation.

Mitchum Tells No "Lies" in Their New "Love Thy Pits" Ad Campaign

Creative production company Brand New School and ad agency Mother New york have teamed up to create a featured spot for Mitchum's new "Love Thy Pits" ad campaign. Jonathan Notaro and his colleagues have produced a cool looking :30 second spot titled "Lies" that combines live action with hip animation, resulting in some original and entertaining visuals. With the ad's ironic and off-beat style, Mitchum is sure to appeal to their campaign's targeted young male demographic, possibly even stealing some of the cool away from Axe.

Credits:
Advertising Agency: Mother New York
Creatives: Dave Clark, Christine Gignac, Rob Trostle, Michael Ian Kaye, Bobby Hershfield, Paul Malmstrom
Strategist: Sarah Plaskitt
Agency Producer: Christine DoRego
Production Company: Brand New School
Director: Jonathan Notaro
Director of Photography: Eric Treml
Line Producer: David Wolfson
Production Manager: Stacy Bergstein
Art Director: Justin Fines
Editor: Erik Barnes
Flame: Blake Huber
Designers: Jonathan Notaro, Justin Fines, Stephen Kelleher
CG Lead: Vadim Turchin
3D Animation: Han Ho, Jerry Chow, Ryan Lang, Adam Rosenzweig
2D Animation: Hyesung Park, Robin Greenwood, Andy Mastrocinque, Adam Sacks, Justin Demetrician
Storyboard Artist: Will Rosado
Compositor: Ted Kotsaftis, Bill Dorais
Executive Producer: Devin Brook
Managing Director: Danny Rosenbloom
Post Producer: Toby Sowers
Production Coordinator: Zoe Beyer
Music & Sound Design Company: The Lodge
Creative Directors: Eric Hillebrecht & Colin Thibadeau

The Admiration for Ants in Advertising Continues with Cute New TV Ad

What is it about ants. Except for them appearing at our picnics and in our kitchens, most people actually like them. The admiration for the ant is derived by most people because we are in awe of how they work collectively. No other insect has been depicted with this such positive virtue in film and literature than the ant, and advertising is no exception. In this great animated ad from Belgium, public bus company De Lijn encapsulates the ants sense of community perfectly with a clever TV spot demonstrating their campaigns message of the benefits of traveling in groups.

Credits:
Advertising Agency: Duval Guillaume Brussels, Belgium
Creatives: Niels Sienaert, Tim Schoenmaeckers
Creative directors: Katrien Bottez, Peter Ampe
TV Producers: Charlotte Mathias, Marc Van Buggenhout
Production Company: Creative Conspiracy
Director: Gerrit Bekers
Producer: Emily Rammant

MTV's Inventive Popping Promo Ad "Balloons"

MTV Brazil with ad agency Loducca Sao Paulo have created an ingenious new promo ad campaign titled 'Balloons' for their South American TV market. Similar to flip book animation, the clever ad utilizes a low tech yet inventive animation technique where a traveling spike pops hundreds of balloons along a track. Their actual stick figure animation is not only very inventive but also very entertaining, as the cool story starts off with a simple egg and leads to record contracts and Slash morphing into Eminem.

Credits:
Advertising Agency: Loducca Sao Paulo, Brazil
Creative: Dulcidio Caldeira, Andre Faria, Guga Ketzer
Creative Director: Cassio Moron, Marco Monteiro, Pedro Guerra
General Creative Director: Guga Ketzer
Executive Creative Producer: Sid Fernandes, Ana Luisa Andre
RTV: Karina Vadasz
Production: Paranoid
Director: Duldicio Caldeira
Photography: Alexandre Ermel
Animation/Illustration: Daniel Semanas/Paranoid Lab
Executive Producer: Egisto Betti
Final Art: Sindicato VFX
Sound Track: Hilton Raw

Jack Daniel's "King Bee" Has to Be the Coolest Bee in Advertising History

Jack Daniel's introduces us to their new whiskey brand Tennessee Honey with a great new product launch ad campaign titled 'King Bee'. The legendary whiskey company, along with ad agency Arnold Worldwide have created a great spot that features incredible visuals that combine 3D animation with live action scenes. The results are visually astounding, as we follow the cool bee smashing his way into the new sweet brown nectar.

Credits:
Advertising Agency: Arnold Worldwide, USA
Chief Creative Officer: Pete Favat
Group Creative Director: Wade Devers
Art Directors: Jeremy Boland, Wade Devers, Allie Hughes
Copywriter: Peter Hughes
Agency Producers: Billy Near, Bill Goodell, Ben Ouellette
Group Account Director: Paul Nelson
Account Director: Nate Stewart
Account Manager: Shannon Coletti

Coke Owned Brand Fanta 'Less Serious' Global Campaign is Serious Business

Coke and their fruit flavored brand soft drink Fanta is hedging a lot on their new 190 country Global Campaign they coined 'Less Serious'. The big budget campaign will premiere their new TV spot 'Chase' on the USA's TV markets highest rated show American Idol. In a clear attempt to focus on Fanta's key targets - the American teens and moms, they have created a family friendly animated commercial, as it has proven very successful for Fanta's market share in other parts of the world such as Asia and South America. The spot was created by the talented animation production house Psyop, who are the same people behind Coca-Cola's other successful teen oriented animated ad 'Happiness Factory'.

Citroen C3 Ad 'The Face' Has A Very Familiar One

Now where I have seen this before? And then it hit me like a 'Sledgehammer' - the new French automaker's commercial 'The Face' is very reminiscent of the iconic rock video by Peter Gabriel. The animated spot features a driver singing the cover version of the song 'Hit the Road Jack' while the landscape and settings around him morph using stop-motion animation. Not the most original idea but the ad still works, as most people buying the car model were probably not born when 'Sledgehammer' was even released back in 1986.

Credits:
Worldwide Creative Director:Gilbert Scher
Creative Director:Luca Cinquepalmi
Creative Director:Marco Venturelli
Head of TV:Christopher Thiery
Director:Peter Sluszka
Executive Producer:Michael Feder
Producer:Greg Bedard
Producer:Joel Kretschman
Director of Photography:Zak Mulligan
Animator:Chris Gilligan
Animator:Matt Somma
Animator:Kevin Coyle
Production Designer:Anthony Henderson
Production Designer:Elise Ferguson
Lead Compositor:Arthur Hur
Compositor:Andrew MacFarlane
Compositor:John Harrison
Compositor:Peter Fink
Compositor:Rosie Garschina
Editor:Anita Chao