As the professional game wrestles with a series of ugly incidents and allegations of racial abuse, start-up agency Johnny Fearless has launched a timely social campaign to get youth and grass roots players to make a stand against racism in football.

2SOX1GOAL is a grass roots movement built around a simple but symbolic act – wearing one white sock and one black sock to show that colour doesn’t count in football. Johnny Fearless has put the social media channels in place, and unveiled its own online video, to capture the momentum and outrage that real football fans and players feel toward the racist incidents that have marred the professional game.

The two-and-a-half minute film ‘2SOX1GOAL – Love Football, Lose Racism’ launches on the 2SOX1GOAL YouTube Channel this week and, in parallel with the Facebook page acts as a call to action to youth and Sunday League teams to join in and post their own videos.

The stylish black and white film opens with the text “Racism still exists in football. If the adults can’t sort it out…” before cutting to slow motion footage of youth football and the white sock, black sock idea in action, all set to the hymn ‘Abide With Me’. In the final frames, the film flicks in to colour and we see a muddied black and white sock together on the pitch with the endline “Love Football. Lose Racism”.

Paul Domenet, Founding Partner at Johnny Fearless, says: “2SOX1GOAL is designed so that anyone can show that colour doesn’t count in football. A kid in the park or a Sunday League wannabe can be a running, jumping, heading, shooting symbol of integration in football – one white sock, one black sock, that’s all it takes.”

Credits:
Title: 2SOX1GOAL – Love Football, Lose Racism
Creative: Johnny Fearless
Directed and Produced by Joint Effort Studios
Additional Production by Smoke & Mirrors

Cheryl Cole and L’Oréal Paris return to UK screens this week in a new advertisement to support the launch of new L’Oréal Paris False Lash Telescopic mascara.

The TV, press and digital campaign, created by McCann London, highlights the lengthening, false lash-effect of the mascara with the line ‘Off The Scale’. The 30-second TV spot, directed by Joe Roman through Knucklehead, sees Cheryl invite viewers to “play on a whole new scale”. She blows a pair of false eyelashes from her hand as she showcases the intense lengthening effect of Telescopic on her natural lashes.

The print campaign, for magazines and national press, is shot by Rankin. A ‘behind the scenes’ film of the making of the TV spot has been created for social media.

L’Oréal Paris False Lash Telescopic mascara features micro stretch fibre technology with 1.2mm micro fibres which link and bind each eye lash. The formula creates a ladder effect by building length and volume beyond the lash tips. Lashes appear elongated, similar to lash extensions. An innovative new thick, flat brush separates each lash, which after just one stroke reveals a clump-free full lash fringe, for a false lash effect
 

London: McCann London is behind a realistic new horror film trailer that turns out not to promote the latest British slash flick but The AA’s Home Emergency Response service.

Using the idea that ‘it’s a real nightmare when your boiler breaks down’, the ad uses all the tropes of a promo for a horror movie, introducing the demonic Jack Frost, who nips at your window, puts a shiver down your spine and freezes your kids. It asks: “Who will stop Jack Frost?”

The full reveal of the three-and-a-half-minute ad, however, reassures viewers that they can relax because all can be fixed by the helpful AA engineer.
The ad aims to raise awareness of The AA’s boiler care cover (Home Emergency Response). It breaks online on January 11 in a 90-second trailer with no AA branding, which will run for a week, before the full film appears on January 18, hosted at StopJackFrost.com. Viewers will then be redirected to The AA’s website where for each policy sold the AA has pledged to donate £20 to Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity.

“We’re always looking for innovative ways to get the message across about the services and products we offer, “ said Michael Cutbill AA’s Marketing Director. “The idea of creating a spoof film trailer linked to one of the major winter issues  – freezing temperatures and broken boilers – fitted well with our Home Emergency Response service and appealed to our sense of humour. We hope our customers enjoy it too and see the funny side, but to underline the seriousness of the issue, we’re donating £20 to the charity Shelter for every policy sold from the online video.”

Creative Directors at McCann London Matt Crabtree and Si Hepton, said: “The AA was willing to take a risk in letting us create this ad that isn’t heavy on branding but does really bring to life the feeling of relief knowing your boiler breaking down isn’t the end of the world. It’s great working with a client that likes to push boundaries in advertising like this.”

Credits :

Creative Agency McCann London
Creative Directors Matt Crabtree and Si Hepton
Account Director Sam Lewis
Agency Producer Paula Mackersey/Danielle Connelly
Director/ Production Co  Matthias Hoene, Partizan
Producer Jenny Beckett

The Israel Anti-Drug Authority (IADA) launched a Facebook campaign, ‘Drugs Set Your Timeline’ on 4th January 2012 to increase awareness in young adults (18-24) of the damages of prolonged drug use. In the first social campaign to harness Facebook Timeline as a medium, the IADA reached out to young adults in their own territory and clearly demonstrated the differences between a life with drugs and one without.

McCann Digital Israel created a fictional user, Adam Barak, and used a ‘split page’ timeline, modelled on the updated Facebook layout, displaying Adam’s life under the influence of drugs in one column (A year with) and the same Adam drug-free in the other column (A year without).

On his Facebook feed we see that drug-using Adam has a computer surrounded by drug paraphernalia, is chucked out by his girlfriend, sits dejectedly on the street, and stares hopelessly at his ravaged face in a cracked mirror. In stark contrast drug-free Adam posts a photo of a clean computer desk complete with desktop photo of a girl kissing his cheek and a post-it saying ‘I Love You’. He can be seen taking a trip to the cinema with a friend, checking out his clean-cut look and buttoning up a smart suit in the mirror, and finally looking relaxed and happy in bed while his girlfriend, reflected in a mirror, takes the picture. This last shot contrasts directly with addict   Adam sleeping rough alone on the street.

Each post is dated and each photo in one column has a direct temporal equivalent in the other, allowing the viewer to retrace Adam’s choices at each moment and assess the route to his happiness or demise.

‘Drugs Set Your Timeline’ was spearheaded by creative director Nir Refuah and used the face of Daniel Barak, the copywriter on the project, as Adam. Photography was by Gooli Cohen.

The campaign knowingly breached Facebook’s rules and regulations on fake profiles, particularly those constructed for brands, and was taken down after eight days.

Eldad Weinberger, MD McCann Israel: "Being the first campaign to use facebook's timeline in a creative way led the campaign to be highly viral with worldwide media coverage and over a million "like" hits in less than one week."

Credits
Creative Director          Nir Refuah
Art Director                    Nir Hersztadt
Copywriter                     Daniel Barak
Account Director          Shibolet Alkobi
Agency Producer         Inbal Fanan
Photographer               Gooli Cohen
 

i, Britain’s fastest growing newspaper, is launching its second phase TV ad campaign in January as the brand further strengthens its position within the newspaper market.
 
Building on i’s popular TV ad campaign in 2011, which featured Dom Joly and Jemima Khan, the second phase of advertising activity will break on 9th January 2012.
 
Following its hugely successful launch in October 2010, the ground-breaking title now commands a circulation of over 210,000 per day. Evgeny Lebedev, Chair of Independent Print Ltd, has continued to put considerable investment behind i and the new advertising campaign is the latest initiative to continue to grow the readership of thepaper.
 
The 30-second ad will feature the much-loved comedian Ronni Ancona, The Independent and i columnist & comedian Mark Steel. A number of target readers extolling the virtues and benefits of i will also feature as well as an i reader selected via a competition in paper. The ad is aimed at i’s demographic of ABC1 readers and encapsulates the concise, quality journalism & value for money that thepaper has become renowned for. 
 
Created by McCann London and directed by Howard Greenhalgh.  Howard is best known for his work directing iconic pop videos, with artists including Iron Maiden, The Pet Shop Boys, Sugababes, George Michael and Elton John.
 
Aired in two formats of 20” and 30” commercials, the activity will run throughout January and February across all main channels (Channel 4, ITV, Five, Sky & ITV2). The ad will feature during weekday breakfast TV, peak time midweek programming and on Sundays.
 
Stefano Hatfield,Editor of i, said: ‘The new TV ad campaign reflects i’s unique position of offering readers a quality daily in a concise format, for just 20p.  We look forward to continuing to meet the needs of those who are rushed for time but demand the highest quality, editorial content.’
 
Andrew Mullins, Managing Director of Independent Print Ltd, said: ‘We wanted to continue the momentum we achieved with the i’s TV ad campaign in 2011. The new campaign now starts to leverage some of theIndependent's more renowned and especially relevant attributes of trust andmodernity as well as building on i’s unique values of conciseness and value for money. We hope it will continue to grow the number of people buying Independent content in print form.’
 
 
 

Property website FindaProperty.com has launched a bold new £5 million advertising campaign aimed at cementing its reputation as the most memorable and helpful property website in the UK.

The campaign premiered on January 8, 2012 during ITV’s Dancing on Ice and brings humour and excitement to the search for a new home, featuring a number of characters who rap about their search for a property while using FindaProperty.com.

It’s the first time a property website has taken such a bold and unique approach to an advertising campaign.

The campaign stars RADA-trained actor Ross Green who plays nine different characters across three separate TV ads. The first advertisement stars expectant parents living in a cramped flat; the second ad, to be launched on February 5, stars a grandmother on a mobility scooter; and the third advertisement, to premiere later in the year, stars a burger-flipping father of four.

The television adverts were filmed in December over four days on location at a North London home. It took 25 hours worth of hair and makeup to transform Green into nine separate characters.

Sheraz Dar, marketing director of the Digital Property Group, the DMGT-owned company behind the FindaProperty.com brand, says:

“In a market where the TV ads focus on rational messaging, we are proud of the fact that FindaProperty.com is able to communicate the brand’s benefits in a fun and engaging way.

“With all the property websites expected back on TV in January we feel that doing something different will make us stand out and homebuyers take notice. So rather than re-running our 2011 ads, or creating something similar, we’ve gone for something completely unique.

“January is traditionally a peak time for online home searchers and our new campaign will remind them we’re here to help them find their new home in 2012.

“We’re proud of the fact this is a humorous, unusual and attention-grabbing campaign and we hope the stories of our rapping characters will show just how helpful FindaProperty.com can be for home hunters – whatever their age, gender or life stage.”

FindaProperty.com will unveil further elements of the campaign in the coming weeks including a competition to win fantastic prizes and test your rapping skills.

As social media marketers become more and more accountable for the return on investment of their programs, some are also starting to see the long-term results of campaigns that work.

Beginning in summer 2010, BzzAgent, the social media marketing arm of dunnhumby, began studying the immediate and lingering results of several social media marketing campaigns involving consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands and brand advocates.

There was an immediate boost to advocates’ likelihood to recommend a product after being exposed to a campaign, with rates rising from 39% before exposure to 61% directly after. While the effect of the campaign diminished somewhat over time, 55% of brand advocates studied were still significantly more likely to recommend a product one year after their initial exposure.

When brand advocates studied were asked about their own purchase intent, the results were even more dramatic. Before the campaign, a similar number said they would purchase as would recommend the brand: 38%. Immediately after the campaign, the number shot up more than 30 percentage points and remained at 69% for three months. After a year, purchase intent was still elevated as high as 61%.

While this hardly means every campaign will be so successful, it should give social media marketers hope that long-term study of their results can show that social network campaigns are effective at improving branding metrics that matter to the bottom line.

London : ART & GRAFT, the creative animation and live-action studio, has brought the excitement and neon lights of a Las Vegas casino to life in two new ads for William Hill Casino, the online casino.
 
The studio was commissioned by advertising agency Beattie McGuinness Bungay to direct and produce two 30-second HD ads, which appear on television screens later this month.
 
The first ad, ‘Vegas’, positions William Hill Casino as the fun and playful casino, with Art & Graft creating a contemporary typographical take on the neon landscape synonymous with Las Vegas.
 
In ‘Live’, the live action and animation are combined to show how William Hill Casino is an incredibly slick and sexy casino – with a real croupier ready to deal the playing cards – as good as being at the real thing.
 
Mike Moloney at ART & GRAFT, said: “Beattie McGuinness Bungay were very clear from the outset that we should create a modern view of the famous Vegas strip and, through use of bespoke typography and contemporary design, we’re all really pleased with the final results.”
 
The ads run on national television in the UK, starting 8th December, as well as online.

Office Concierge, the 5-star reception management service, has unveiled its first advertising campaign as it sets out on a mission to rid London of rancorous receptionists and surly security guards.

‘Our place is to be your face’, created by Green Cave People, uses a striking visual metaphor to take Office Concierge’s message, that there is an alternative and far more helpful face to office receptions, straight to business owners and decision-makers.

The campaign shows the faces of attractive receptionists morphed into landmark London buildings in a combination of stunning photography and expert retouching and compositing. The ads carry the headline ‘The face of London’s leading businesses’.

Clifford Baker, Director and Co-Founder of Office Concierge, says: “We are a young, fast-growing business that offers an innovative service to its clients. So it made sense to work with an advertising agency that is the same. We and Green Cave People are like-minded in our pursuit of quality and creativity. They have come up with a campaign idea that will take our business to a whole new level.”

‘Our place is to be your face’ will run across press, taxis and the Office Concierge website (www.officeconcierge.co.uk), also being redesigned by Green Cave People.

Malcolm Green at Green Cave People says: “We are proud and delighted to be working with Office Concierge. They are an energetic, entrepreneurial company with a world-class product and we look forward to helping them grow their future business. It’s refreshing when a client briefs an agency to produce creative work that stands out from the crowd and we are more than happy to rise to the challenge.”

Credits :
Creative Directors: Malcolm Green, Keith Terry
Art Director: Keith Terry
Designer: Mark Bennett
Copywriter: Malcolm Green
Photographer: Tim Swallow
Account Director: Luke Kenny
Retouchers: First Base
Typographer: Johnny Richards
Web Production: John Henry