This holiday, McCann Helsinki is seeking to make copywriters and creatives everywhere hate them with the fire of a thousand slightly burnt gingerbread men. They're offering free, tailor-made slogans in a two-hour turnaround time with their Lean Mean Slogan Machine, backed by a photo of a shirtless guy in a cowboy hat (Liquid Plumr, your ideas are leaking—PUN!). Visit the site, type in your business name, and within two hours you'll have your own slogan.

Some taglines from their gallery:
• Mayer/McCann Erickson: "But ma! Mayer came in last! Why can he always sit in the front?"
• Google: "Don't just doodle."
• Anitotes: "For anyone without a bag."
• FP7/CAI: "Kind of like AC/DC, only advertising."
• Leo Burnett: "Porn to be wild."
• Starbucks: "Covering up mermaid boobs does not make us a sellout."

OK, so maybe the slogans aren't billboard worthy, but it's a fun idea nonetheless. Jyrki Poutanen, one of the creative directors at McCann Helsinki, spoke with AdFreak about the campaign:

What's the story behind the Lean Mean Slogan Machine?
We wanted to give our clients, affiliates and fans something for Christmas. Something that we think we're good at and that they'd hopefully enjoy. Something that would show excessive commitment to plain silliness. And it does, you know—we've been responding to the requests almost 24/7. Especially when the requests started pouring in from your continent; your day is our night. During the first 48 hours we had written about 300 slogans. And there's only three of us writing.

Do you have hate mail coming in? As a copywriter, I'm working on my draft to you now.
Not yet. You'll be the first then. Sure, mail it in, we'll stamp it with a fitting slogan, and you'll have your hate mail back in two hours. :)

Shouldn't you guys look for new jobs if it only takes you two hours to write a slogan?
We've always been good, or at least enjoying, verbal acrobatics. So yes, there may be a better future for us in professional athletics—gymnastics, that is. And if you're referring to the slogan machine mocking the copy profession, luckily there's so much more to our work nowadays than just taglines. And naturally the really, really great ones, the ones to live with us for decades, take a bit more than two hours to create. But I'm also a big believer in spontaneous stupidness that just might become some greater universal stupidness just because it wasn't so analyzed, chopped to pieces through and through.

What's your favorite slogan ever?
Hmmm. Tough one. I remember really liking Honda's "The Power of Dreams" when it first came out. Having said that, it really doesn't portray my typical favorite slogan. I usually like them 40 percent rebellious, 40 percent stupid and 30 percent clever. Yeah, I know, the math's not right, but I may have proven a point there? But I can't think of any of that sort right at the moment. So maybe my favorites really aren't that good, then. Oh, there was this slogan once for PeakPerformance (I think) ... "Boredom Comes to Those Who Wait," which really stuck to my mind.

Santa needs a new slogan. Any ideas?
A rebel with a claus.

Fifteen months and 71 million YouTube views after its storied premiere, McCann Melbourne's "Dumb Ways to Die" train-safety campaign is back with this cute, grotesque little spot for Valentine's Day. Turns out the greedy little blue blob who sold both his kidneys on the Internet now has easy access to other vital organs through the stitched-up wounds. Despite his best intentions, death, naturally, ensues. "Be safe around Valentine's Day ... and trains," says the on-screen copy.

This is just the second new "Dumb Ways" video released since the staggeringly successful original—following a 15-second promo made for the Melbourne International Film Festival last July. For those who have to sing it loud, though, there is also the official karaoke version of the original.

Via Osocio.

If 2014's battle cry for women is "Love who you are" (see all the "real women" campaigns out there), then weight-loss brands need to tread lightly in their marketing. Weight Watchers has done that in a body-positive way with its new spot from McCann New York featuring Jessica Simpson.

The opening lines are a hit. "This body made two amazing little human beings. I love this body and what it's capable of, no matter what size," she says.

Simpson looks stunning (in an LBD, of course), healthy and happy as she goes on to say: "My life, like my body, is a work in progress." Diet plans, of course, aren't really about loving who you are. Still, big ups to Weight Watchers for creating an ad that's relatable and inspiring without putting anyone down or making any claims about how women should or shouldn't look.

How does the world's oldest tequila maker introduce a brand-spanking-new website? By keeping one foot firmly in the past.

McCann New York has launched a new site for Jose Cuervo that's actually five sites in one. In addition to its new site for 2014, the brand also imagines what the brand website would have looked like in 1795, 1880, 1945 and 1974.

"Fully actualizing the concept in an authentic way required researching the language and design tropes of each chosen year, and then presenting what we needed to say about Cuervo through those stylistic realities," the agency says.

It's a fun idea, and 1945 and 1974 are both particularly groovy. The only downside, in fact, is that the 2014 version feels visually staid by comparison.

Screen shots and credits below.

1795 website:

1880 website:

1945 website:

1974 website:

2014 website:

CREDITS
Client: Cuervo, Proximo Spirits
Client: Elwyn Gladstone
Agency: McCann, New York

Chief Creative Officers: Tom Murphy, Sean Bryan
Group Creative Director: Mat Bisher
Design Director: Brad Blondes
Senior Art Director: Elinor Beltrone
Copywriter: Sarah Lloyd
Designer: Ledi Lalaj

Production
Chief Production Officer: Nathy Aviram
Executive Integrated Producer: Catherine Eve Patterson
Senior Integrated Producers: Geoff Guinta, Jill Toloza
Associate Producer: Lauren Bauder

Production Company: Transistor Studios
Executive Creative Director: Aaron Baumle
Executive Producer: Damon Meena
Head of Production: Jesse Kurnit
Creative Director: Jamie Rockaway
Art Director: Geoff Keough
Developer: Brian Hersey
Designers: Ryan Weibust, Diana Park, Mauricio Leon, Edgardo Moreno, Tesia Jurkiewicz, Chris Murray and Carolyn Frisch

Raise your brushes and rollers to toast Lithuania's McCann Vilnius, which recently packaged France's famed Beaujolais Nouveau in limited-edition paint cans for a fun self-promotion.

McCann says it wanted to show clients "that we are constantly reinventing ourselves and looking for a fresh perspective."

The creative concept began with a discussion about how the annually anticipated Beaujolais stains drinkers' teeth and lips purple. So the paint cans include a color chart showing how much you'll need to drink to achieve a specific hue.  

For the promo, bags filled with wine were placed inside the tins, so there's no fear of a metallic taste. If you're in Lithuania, pick up a few when you head out to paint the town red!

Via Design Taxi.

The ad campaign for the 2014 Cannes Lions festival amusingly celebrates creativity by spoofing the utter lack of it.

In five ads produced by McCann London, well-known ad execs—from Amir Kassaei and Cindy Gallop to Benjamin Palmer and Ted Royer—pose for comically clichéd stock photos. "You'll come back as pumped as a stock photo model," says the headline on each execution.

The ads are even styled like stock photos, with faux watermarks and keyword and credit info. The five executions were "shot in generic office spaces in New York and London with models dressed in bland office attire befitting the stock image style," says McCann.

Max Oppenheim shot the images. "It was a challenge to find just the right visual language to pull off this series," he said. "I was very careful to select neutral locations, styling and wardrobe to capture the generic world of stock. And it helped massively that all the 'models' understood how great the idea was and threw themselves into their performances. They were pumped!"

See all five ads below.

Jose Cuervo literally bottles up its history in this campaign from McCann New York.

The effort, which includes a TV spot and smartphone app, centers on intricate dioramas from animation studio Laika House. Finely detailed models capturing key Cuervo moments are placed inside tequila bottles.

We're treated to the volcanic eruption that led to the growth of agave used in making tequila; the battle that precipitated Mexican independence (France lost, no surprise there); the brand keeping Americans hammered during Prohibition; the birth of the margarita; and a beach volleyball tournament, included because Cuervo is a pro-series sponsor.

These miniatures are lovingly crafted and provide a novel respite from the usual high-tech commercial effects. Note the facial expressions—Jose looks forceful and assured—and the rich textures of the sea and soil.

When users of the brand's mobile app hover their phones over a bottle of Cuervo Tradicional, a 3-D diorama of the bar where Cuervo helped invent the margarita appears. And after a few shots, who knows what else you'll start seeing?

Here's an amusing bit of mischief. Coca-Cola brought together fans on both sides of one of Italian soccer's fiercest rivalries by making them give each other sodas.

"Fair Play Machines," a campaign from McCann in Milan, Italy, shows the brand placing a pair of its signature high-tech, manipulative vending machines at opposite ends of San Siro Stadium in Milan while club teams Inter Milan and A.C. Milan were facing off there. Fans of each team could hit a button to serve a Coke to an opposing fan at the other machine—effectively forcing opponents to do something nice for one another.

The clip is full of the happy vibes to be expected from Coke ads, and a nice nod to good sportsmanship—in a league where its opposite has been disturbingly true lately.

It's also reminiscent of the brand's "Small World Machines" campaign from last year, which tried to ameliorate the India-Pakistan conflict with a similar set of interconnected machines—though softening a sports feud is maybe a less pretentious bit of peacemaking for a sugar water company.

Credits below.



CREDITS
Client: Coca-Cola
CSE Marketing Director: Roel Annega
CSE My Coke Director: Andreas Johler
EUG IMC Director: Guido Rosales
CSE IMC Director: Claudia Navarro
CSE Content Excellence Managers: Francesco Cibò, Camilla Zanaria
Agency: McCann Worldgroup Milan
Global Creative Director: Miguel Bemfica,
Creative Directors: Gastón Guetmonovitch, Miguel Usandivaras
Art Director: Cristina Caballero
Copywriter: Curro Piqueras
Graphic Designer: Marina Tercelán
Account Manager: Sanziana Fanica
Account Director: Andrei Kaigorodov
Agency Producer: Massimo Busato
Production Company: Filmmaster Productions
Director: Edoardo Lugari
Executive Producer: Karim Bartoletti
Producer: Elena Marabelli
Editor: Francesco Cusanno, Toboga
Music: Alberto Cimarrusti, Bronze Radio Return

Sometimes the best thing a brand can do is lean into the conversation that's already going on around it. And that's exactly what Lucky Charms, a brand that some people have always seen as a little queer, is doing, in part to support LGBT Pride Month.

With its new #LuckyToBe campaign, the General Mills cereal is encouraging people to share what makes them unique via social media platforms. And it's made Glaad—an organization that works for LGBT equality—well, for lack of a better word, happy.

Check out the campaign video from McCann New York below.

CANNES, France—McCann Melbourne, which won a record five Grand Prix last year for "Dumb Ways to Die," won the 2014 Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix here on Monday for a different train campaign: its "Guilt Trips" effort to get young people in Australian cities to visit their parents in the country.

The client, V/Line, had a tough challenge: to draw young people away from their routines, away from their digital devices and on to trains to see relatives hundreds of miles away. "We recognized there is no force more powerful than a mother's guilt," says the agency.

The case study below shows the various tactics used by the campaign, which boosted ticket sale by 15 percent with no discounts at all.



"If we were teaching at Harvard or the London School of Economics, this would be a case that you could teach to a class and show them how to take an insight, drive it to an idea, bring it to execution, use all the media at your disposal and actually creative a business case that drives business and creates profit for a company," said David Sable, global CEO of Y&R and president of the Creative Effectiveness jury.

The jury also awarded six Creative Effectiveness Lions, two of which went to Ogilvy & Mather offices. (Unlike most other categories at Cannes, this one does not award golds, silvers and bronzes.) The other Lion winners were:

• Wieden + Kennedy London - Lurpak "Weave Your Magic"
• Ogilvy & Mather Brazil - Dove "Real Beauty Sketches"
• Ogilvy & Mather London - Expedia "Travel Yourself Interesting"
• Publicis London - Depaul Box Company "Don't Raise Money, Make Money"
• Havas Worldwide Sydney and One Green Bean Sydney - Virgin Mobile Australia "How Brad Pitt's Bro' Helped Virgin Mobile Punch Above Its Weight"
• DDB Sydney - McDonald's "Australia Day"

The Creative Effectiveness Lions recognize creative campaigns shortlisted or awarded in previous years that show a measurable and proven impact on a client's business. "Guilt Trips" won three Lions last year at Cannes.

See more work from the "Guilt Trips" campaign below.

CANNES, France—Coca-Cola added to its impressive legacy of hauling in Cannes Lions by snagging the Media Grand Prix here tonight for a Peruvian campaign from McCann Lima centered on getting people to smile in their ID cards.

Research showed Peru was one of the unhappiest nations in the region, so Coke flew in to change all that. Peruvians must send in their own photos for ID cards, so Coke set up free photo booths around the country that would only take your picture if you smiled. It also partnered with photography stores to give out free Cokes for every smiley photo taken. Happy IDs even served as reward cards and got your discounts.



An integrated campaign including billboards, TV spots and online ads supported the idea by encouraging people to show their happiness. Havas Lima was McCann's media-agency partner on the campaign.

This is McCann's second Grand Prix of the 2014 festival. The agency's Melbourne office won the Grand Prix for Creative Effectiveness on Monday for V/Line's "Guilt Trips" campaign. (McCann Melbourne famously won five Grand Prix last year for "Dumb Ways to Die.")

Among U.S. entrants, Cramer-Krasselt led the way by picking up a gold Lion and a silver Lion for its "Luna Corona" campaign. That work consisted of a fun billboard in New York City which—on certain nights of the month, from a certain angle—makes the waxing crescent moon look like a slice of lime resting in a Corona bottle.



Meanwhile, Samsung's famous Oscars selfie stunt with Ellen DeGeneres earned a silver Lion for 72andSunny.

Here is the full list of U.S. winners.

• Cramer-Krasselt Chicago - Corona Extra's Luna Corona - Media Agency Partner: Delta Media Miami -gold Lion and silver Lion

• 72andSunny Los Angeles - Samsung's Oscars Selfie - Media Agency Partner: Starcom Mediavest Group New York - silver Lion
• Starcom Mediavest Group New York/Droga5 New York - Newcastle Brown Ale's If We Made It - silver Lion and bronze Lion
• Fallon Minneapolis/IFC New York - IFC Presents The Spoils of Babylon - silver Lion

• Starcom Mediavest Group Chicago/Leo Burnett Chicago - #Esurancesave30 - bronze Lion
• Leo Burnett Chicago - McDonald's Literacy Store - bronze Lion
• BBDO New York - Bud Light's Whatever Happens - Media Agency Partner: Starcom New York - bronze Lion
• Starcom Mediavest Group Chicago/Hill Holliday Boston - Bank of America's The First Aids-Free Generation - bronze Lion

Don't you just love an epic dildo battle? Well, yeah, as long as it's not your kid waving them around the front yard.

This new ad from McCann New York is all about dildos. But it's not all about dildos. Check it out, and then read my take below (where there are obviously spoilers).



Watch the spot first. Spoilers below...

Why this PSA is genius: If we make a sweeping generalization about the sort of conservative people who generally defend their Second Amendment rights, we would suggest they may also be sexually conservative. Showing some boys playing with vibrators might not be all that shocking to a liberal. Heck, it was an Ikea campaign. But to people who don't normally think kids playing with guns is a big deal (trust me, I know these people), seeing kids play with vibrators might be shocking and memorable.

Why this PSA is necessary: It's National Safety Month. According to Everytown for Gun Safety, two children per week were killed in 2013 in unintentional shootings, and two-thirds of those tragedies were due to unsecured guns children found in a home. That means two-thirds of those tragedies were entirely preventable. Or as Evoleve—the advertiser in the PSA above—puts it, "It's the right to bear arms. Not the right to be a dumbass."

"Are there any unsecured guns in your home?" is a hard thing to ask another parent before you drop your kid off. But as this ad shows, it's necessary. Since I live in Georgia, the state with the most school shootings since Newtown, where we just passed a sweeping new open carry law that allows more guns in more places, I know I'll be asking it of any parent I leave my child with.

Those who are weirded out by epic dildo battles might also want to ask if there are unsecured sex toys.

Daniel Bennett, the managing director of AnalogFolk in New York, is joining the N.Y. office of McCann Erickson as chief digital officer.

While the title is new at the Interpublic Group agency, other executives have played a similar role in the past, including executive creative director Natalie Lam, who left in June to run the creative department of Publicis Groupe's Razorfish in New York. 

Bennett comes to McCann after helping to open and run the N.Y. office of AnalogFolk, the first U.S. office for the London-based digital agency. Before that, also in New York, he was digital strategy director at JWT and director of digital accounts at TBWA\Chiat\Day.

"With the new clients we have won and in broadening our engagements with existing clients, Dan is a critical addition to our management," said New York president Chris Macdonald. "He will work with account teams across the agency to develop digital platforms, be they in mobile, Web or physical digital elements.”

Recent McCann wins include Ashley Furniture, Cigna, Reckitt Benckiser brands Mucinex and Delsym and Microsoft.

The Barbarian Group in New York has added a chief financial officer and a head of account management, two new positions for the digital shop.

Alex White is the CFO while Sherri Chambers is head of account management. Both report to CEO Sophie Kelly, who took the reins last fall from co-founder Benjamin Palmer. 

"The combination of Alex's sharp financial acumen and Sherri's proven track record in client relations will complement the agency's executive team as we strengthen our focus on business development," said Kelly, in a statement. The new hires stem from business growth, according to a spokeswoman who declined to elaborate. 

White, who joined July 1, leads financial and strategic planning, managing and negotiating client contracts and implementing a new financial infrastructure. Chambers started today and will oversee the management of all accounts, with the aim expanding existing relationships.

Sherri Chambers (Photo: Barbarian Group)

The Barbarian Group employs 125 staffers, mostly in its New York office, and works with clients like Bloomberg, Cinder and Pepsi. 

White joins after having founded his own consultancy, Rawcliffe, last June where he advised U.K.-based digital startups. Before that, he worked as a consultant CFO for Loveurope. He also previously served as CFO for Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R, Grey Global Group in the U.K. and McCann Erickson in London. 

As for Chambers, she most recently served as a global business director at JWT in New York. After landing a Google Enterprise assignment, JWT needed to ramp up its business side and reached within 72andSunny for Chambers where she worked as a group brand director. She also has worked at Strawberryfrog and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. 

McCann has won back creative duties for brand Coke in China, taking over from Leo Burnett, which picked up the business and key executives from the Interpublic agency in 2007, according to Campaign Asia-Pacific.

Not affected by the switch are Burnett's Publicis Groupe corporate siblings BBH and Saatchi, which handle Coca-Cola brands Sprite and Minute Maid, respectively, as well as WPP’s Ogilvy, with oversight of Fanta, sources told Campaign.

McCann declined comment, referring calls to Coca-Cola. Reps at the marketer and at Leo Burnett could not immediately be reached.

Amid declining soda sales in developed markets like the U.S., soda makers like Coca-Cola have been increasing ad spending in emerging economies like China. While the company does not break out China sales separately, the Asia-Pacific region is now its second-biggest market by revenue, accounting for 13 percent of overall sales in 2013. Since re-entering China in 1979, Coca-Cola has invested more than $5 billion in the local market and established 43 plants.

In 2007, when Coca-Cola moved the Coke account to Burnett Shanghai, the company set up a new unit with its agencies called Red Lounge. The initiative also included Coke execs to oversee brand marketing as well as the company's efforts for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, of which Coca-Cola was a global sponsor. As part of that effort, McCann Shanghai continued to work on a project basis for Coke.

McCann Worldgroup works for Coke in more than 50 global markets in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region. The company has created dedicated units like Atlanta-based FitzCo//McCann, a combination of ad agency Fitzgerald+Co. and McCann, and another in Spain known as The Cyranos McCann.
 

When was the last time you saw an ad for a TV provider and thought to yourself, "Wow, this is enjoyable," rather than, "Oh my God, I hate you, stop trying to take all my money, and by the way I'm shocked that your service is actually working long enough for me to see this ad"?

Never? Well, then you've never seen this spot from McCann and MRM for Verizon FiOS starring the delightful Craig Robinson.

Robinson, who also stars in the new Dodge Dart ads, is one of those actors who's virtually impossible not to like, assuming you're not a sociopath. (Regardless of how over The Office you were by Season 9, Darryl Philbin was never not endearing.) He's also an excellent song stylist, as evidenced by his roles in films like This Is the End (even Rihanna was taken by his original ballad, "Take Yo Panties Off") and the classic Hot Tub Time Machine (in which he manages to make the Black Eyed Peas' "Let's Get It Started" considerably less terrible).

So, what better way for Verizon to promote its FiOS Quantum TV service than to have Robinson sing about it in a mock infomercial for a CD compilation?



In songs like "Record Your Heart Out" and "I Save Every Show About Hoarders," Robinson drops not-so-subtle hints about his DVR capacity (200 hours) and the number of Hoarders episodes he has saved (167 and counting). Even without audio previews, the titles of other tunes like "Girl, I'm 'Bout to Binge With You" and "Damn, Fishing Gets All Dangerous" speak for themselves. In Robinson's smooth voice, that is. Which you will never, ever, ever want to stop listening to.

Verizon, incidentally, doesn't even really even need much of a reputation boost compared with its industry competitors. Seriously, just ask any Verizon customer (yours truly included) how they feel about the company, and you're likely to find a level of enthusiasm generally reserved for puppies or Jennifer Lawrence—although much of that goodwill probably comes by virtue of Verizon simply not being Comcast or Time Warner.

Still, if you're going to run a legitimately funny ad campaign, it's undeniably a plus to know your customers aren't throwing blunt objects at the screen instead of laughing along.

CREDITS
Client: Verizon FiOS

Agency: McCann, MRM
Global Creative Chairman: Rob Reilly
Chief Creative Officers: Sean Bryan, Tom Murphy
Group Creative Director, Copy: Jesse Potack
Group Creative Director, Art: Benjamin Vendramin
Creative Director: Doug D’Arrigo
Associate Creative Director, Copy: Justin Feinstein
Associate Creative Director, Art: Dai Tran
Senior Art Director: Bill Chamberlin
Copy: Nick Morgan
Senior Integrated Producer: Meredith Rizzardi
Executive Producer: Alice Mintzer
Producer: Shelley Giera

Production:
Director: Randy Krallman
Production Company: Smuggler
Editor: Miky Wolf
Editing Company: Big Sky
Mix Studio: Sonic Union
Sound Mixer: Paul Weiss

Music by JSM Music
Post/GFX: Charlex

Group Account Director: Michael Goldstein
Account Directors: Nicole Witover, Jennifer Prieto
Management Supervisor: Brynn Todesco

Stéphane Xiberras, president, photographed on the banks of the Seine by Emmanuel Fradin.

BETC
Paris
While this agency’s logo pays homage to the bee colony it tends atop its roof terrace—which happens to be some of the finest real estate in Paris, boasting a 360-degree view—the insect imagery also gives a nod to the creative chaos inside the shop that has brought such sweet results. “We like the idea of a hive with its hustle and bustle,” explains Stéphane Xiberras, president and executive creative director. “When you watch bees work, you have the impression it’s pure mayhem, but there’s a logic to it. With us, it’s exactly the same thing.” Launched 20 years ago as an offshoot of Euro RSCG, now Havas, BETC’s work became the stuff of global fascination. In 2009, Evian’s “Roller Babies” became the most downloaded commercial in the world. Last year, “The Bear,” a spot for Canal+, received more awards than any other commercial (including a Clio Award, which like Adweek is owned by affiliates of Guggenheim partners), while Evian’s “Baby & Me” was the year’s most viewed online campaign. After expanding to London and São Paulo, BETC now has the states in its sights, with plans to open a New York outpost next year.

Erik Sollenberg, CEO, and Anna Qvennerstedt, creative chairman, photographed in the archipelago of Gothenburg by Morten Koldby.

Forsman & Bodenfors
Gothenburg
In 1986, four guys started an ad agency in this Swedish industrial port, an unlikely location seeing as the country’s ad industry is centered in Stockholm. Since then, F&B has not only become Scandinavia’s best-known agency but has also developed a global reputation after winning 85 Cannes Lions, including its recent sweep for Volvo Trucks’ “Epic Split” starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. F&B was also named Independent Agency of the Year at this year’s festival. This, in addition to the shop last year taking home a total of four Clio Awards (three Silver and one Bronze). “Our initial objective was to challenge the establishment and try to compete with the best agencies in Stockholm,” says F&B’s CEO Erik Sollenberg. “That underdog mentality has been an important ingredient in our success. We’re still David against Goliath, since we now identify ourselves as a small independent agency from close to the North Pole that competes with the best agencies in the world.” In that battle, F&B, which has a second office in Stockholm, counts 120 staffers—a relatively modest head count considering its profile and awards, including four Clios, but also one that enables it to send as many creatives as possible to Cannes every year, not only senior management.

(L. to r.) Mark Taylor, Gary Tranter and Matt Cullen, ecds/co-founders; and Nick Marrett, CEO/co-founder, photographed at the Marina Bay Sands by Darren Soh.

Arcade
Singapore
Founded in 2010 by four former executives at large agency networks, this Singapore shop set out to create a smaller, more nimble, free-flowing business model that has since expanded to Shanghai, Tokyo and Jakarta. “We wanted to remove departmentalization by media and put the focus firmly back on storytelling and sparking lively conversation,” says CEO and founding partner Nick Marrett. “This fosters a new breed of creative mind, one that is media-agnostic and thinks across all channels, even invents new ones.” Despite its entrepreneurial underpinnings, Arcade shares the global ambitions of its Asian clients, creating work that travels not just through the region but also around the globe. Arcade launched Unilever’s Clear shampoo in North America; created the first Android concept store in the world in Indonesia, which has become the blueprint for a global retail rollout; and introduced beauty brand Motions in South Africa. It all caught the attention of Publicis Worldwide, which acquired a stake in August. 

Fred & Farid 
Shanghai

Grégoire Chalopin (l.) and Feng Huang, creative directors,
photographed near the agency’s offices by Chad Ingraham.

Founded in Paris, this agency is now considered one of the hottest shops in mainland China, capturing the possibilities and lightning speed of business there. The digital agency, located in an old opium warehouse on the Bund, communicates 24/7/365 with Parisian staffers through a wall of giant screens, with details on all projects shared among all employees across the six-hour time difference.

“Beijing decided that despite the size of the country, China would be on one time zone,” notes co-founder Fred Raillard. “That creates a mass phenomenon that is incredible. Movements on social media are incomparable to any other. Hot topics engage everyone in China at the same time.” (Fred & Farid Group has won more than 300 international awards, including a Clio Award for Film Technique in 2013 for its work on "Back to Water.") Three years ago, Raillard went to China with a creative director colleague from Paris, Feng Haung, who wanted to return to his native Shanghai. Raillard planned to stay long enough to open a small office. But four days later, all that changed when he decided to relocate permanently. “I fell in love,” he says. “China is five years ahead of the Western world regarding digital and social media, so it influences our digital practice in the West. It makes us reinvent our approach to business.”

(L. to r.) Abhijit Avasthi and Rajiv Rao, national creative directors; Piyush Pandey, executive chairman/creative director, South Asia; Madhukar Sabnavis, vice chairman/country head, planning; and Kunal Jeswani, chief digital officer, photographed at the Gateway of India by Vishal Kullarwar.

Ogilvy & Mather, India
Mumbai
India always had a special place in David Ogilvy’s imagination. In fact, his agency was the first multinational to enter the country, with origins going back 86 years. Now working with both local and global clients like Vodafone, Unilever and IBM, Ogilvy, based in Mumbai, is not only the country’s largest agency but also its most award-winning, having been recognized with the highest honors of the Advertising Club of India for the last 16 years, in addition to accolades picked up at Cannes, the Effies, The One Show and a 2012 Lifetime Achievement Clio Award. But Piyush Pandey, executive chairman, creative director, stresses that diversity of creative expression trumps industry acclaim. “Our philosophy is to create communication that first delights people on the streets of India. If that work happens to delight international award juries, it’s a bonus,” says Pandey, noting that most staffers in the agency speak three languages: English, Hindi and one of the country’s 22 other official languages. “We try to create an environment where creativity is welcomed from across functions and disciplines,” he adds. Case in point: Last year’s Google ad “Reunion,” centered around the partition of India, which triggered a strong response in India and Pakistan and went viral even before its TV debut.

Sergio Gordilho (l.), co-president/CCO, and Marcio Santoro, co-president/CEO, photographed on the roof of the agency’s offices by Jonne Roriz.

Africa
São Paulo
São Paulo shop Africa was one of the big local ad players behind this year’s World Cup in Brazil, creating the games’ official logo and producing work for clients like Itaú Bank, Brahma beer, Budweiser and Vivo telecom. But while the 12-year-old agency enjoys a high profile in Brazil and has on several occasions been selected as one of the country’s most admired companies by national media, it doesn’t have the global reputation it might have earned by now. One reason is Africa’s early avoidance of awards shows. When it bent that rule in 2007 and finally entered work in Cannes’ Cyber competition, it became the second most-awarded agency in the category. The Grupo ABC shop also has an office in Rio de Janeiro, specializing in content and entertainment, as well as an outpost in New York, where it works on behalf of Brazilian brands that aspire to go global. Founded by former executives of Omnicom’s DM9DDB, the shop maintains a strong point of view about its business model. “We like to say we are kind of the Relais & Châteaux of advertising—we handle fewer clients, with exclusive offices and dedicated teams,” says CEO Marcio Santoro. “My partners and I are deeply involved in each client’s business, with direct participation throughout the process.” 

McCann
Melbourne

(L. to r.) Adrian Mills, managing director; Pat Baron, ecd; and
Ben Lilley, chairman/CEO, photographed on Hosier Lane by
Lynton Crabb.

The first signs of a turnaround at McCann came not by way of its towering New York headquarters but from this Australian bayside outpost. In 2012, McCann Melbourne’s “Dumb Ways to Die,” a rail-safety campaign, quickly went viral, generating in its first two weeks more than 700 media impressions and $50 million worth of free global mentions, all for an animated public service effort that cost a fraction of a standard TV ad to produce. The previously under-the-radar office became, in 2013, the industry’s most-awarded agency, taking home a record five Cannes Lions Grand Prix and bringing some much-needed attention to a global network undergoing its own reinvention. The shop also won four Clio Awards -- three Gold and one Silver, as well as was the top ranked Australian agency -- in 2013.  The office’s success follows the acquisition of indie shop Smart three years ago, which added some of the country’s best talent to the McCann ranks. “The creative focus since 2011 has been on solving clients’ problems first and creating work that not only makes brands famous but has a lasting impact on pop culture around the world,” says Pat Baron, ecd.

(L. to r.) James Murphy, CEO; David Golding, chief strategy officer; Ben Tollett and Emer Stamp, ecds; and Ben Priest, founding partner/ ecd, photographed on Waterloo Bridge by Jude Edginton.

Adam & Eve DDB
London
Though in business for just two years, the merged shop won Agency of the Year honors at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity thanks to work like Harvey Nichols’ “Sorry, I Spent It on Myself” holiday campaign, which swept this June’s Lions. After Omnicom’s acquisition of hot indie Adam & Eve, management took over DDB London, reviving the network office. A crop of new business quickly followed, including Virgin Atlantic’s global creative, Sony’s consumer electronics in Europe, and the global launch of Haig Club, a new Scotch from Diageo and David Beckham. The agency also earned attention for work like “End Marmite Neglect” for the savory spread and John Lewis’ “The Hare & The Bear.” And last year, the shop took home a Silver Clio Award for Film Technique in the Direction category for "The Journey," for retailer John Lewis. “The key to bringing together two successful creative cultures was to be unambiguous about what success looked like, leveraging the creative energy and hunger of a startup through the power of a major network agency,” says James Murphy, CEO of Adam & Eve DDB. “Two years ago, we wouldn’t have dared to expect the results to be so positive so quickly.”

Grape/Hungry Boys
Moscow

(L. to r.) Vladimir Garev, creative director, Grape; Vladilen
Sitnikov, CEO, Hungry Boys; Alexei Nikolaev, head of
production, Hungry Boys; Andrey Anischenko, CEO, Grape,
photographed outside St. Basil’s Cathedral by Stanislav
Solntsev.

One of the first digital agencies in Russia, launched in 2002, Grape has over the last three years been ranked as one of the country’s top interactive shops. It has made its name working on behalf of clients like Unilever, PepsiCo, Johnson & Johnson and Mondelez, all marketers looking for long-term agency relationships and the kind of full-service digital creative, planning and media offerings provided as part of WPP’s global interactive unit Possible. Two years ago, Hungry Boys was formed as a Grape creative boutique collaborating with Grape while also generating its own work. Drawing marketers seeking riskier, experimental work, Hungry Boys has already gotten attention for its campaigns for L’Oréal, Yum Brands and Heineken. “We both deliver a similar set of services and back up every idea with real-world insights to create work that makes a difference and a measurable impact,” says Grape CEO Andrey Anischenko. “Each of us has grown its own unique culture and both provide high value creative services, but each has a separate creative point of view that appeals to different clients.”

(L. to r.) Tony Njuguna, creative head, Scanad; Sandeep
Madan, managing director, Scanad; and Bharat Thakrar, CEO,
Scangroup, photographed on the roof of the agency’s offices
by Barbara Minishi.

Scangroup
Nairobi
WPP unit Scangroup is Africa’s largest marketing services group and an industry powerhouse on the continent, ringing up more than $45 million in revenue last year. (In 2006, it became the first marketing communications company to be listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.) Through international partnerships, Scangroup has become a pioneer in African digital, mobile and Internet marketing. “This offers immense growth opportunities in Africa with the key benefits of creating and increasing diverse job opportunities that capture the imagination of the African youth, who are increasingly being looked upon to be the main drivers of the continent’s economies,” says CEO Bharat Thakrar. While the shop counts WPP brands in its operating portfolio, Scanad is its agency flagship, doing business across six sub-Saharan countries for clients including Coca-Cola, Diageo, Unilever and Kenya Airways. Scanad has been named Agency of the Year by the Marketing Society of Kenya over the last two years and has been recognized for mobile work for clients such as Diageo and Vodafone.

Nestlé's Fitness cereal brand, which last year brought us the tweeting bra, has upped the ante with the hidden-camera bra. Watch below as a woman walks around London capturing footage of men and women furtively (they think) checking out her boobs.

It's a fun little social experiment—and one, predictably, that has caused a bit of a flamewar in the YouTube comments. But it turns out the point of the video isn't really to comment on objectification at all. Nice work by McCann Paris.



Also, check out the behind-the-scenes video here:



CREDITS
Client: Nestlé Fitness
Agency: McCann, Paris
Creative Director: Sarah Clift
Art Directors: Kate Pozzi, Sarah Clift, Caroline Gozier
Copywriter: Kate Pozzi
TV Producers: Sasha Mantel, Arnaud Lemens
Social Strategist: Mariam Asmar
Account: Cédric Vanhoutte, Cynthia Decant, Laurie Chappel, Leslie Adam, Julie Colombani
Production Companies: Outsider; The Corner Shop
Director: Ellen Kuras
Producer: Mel Nwanguma
Director of Photography: Ellen Kuras
First Assistant Director: Julian Higgs
Costume Designer: Lydia Kovacs
Editing: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: Ted Guard
Postproduction: MPC
Music: Human

Who knew IHOP was so hip? The pancake chain has found its voice on Twitter, and it sounds an awful lot like a teenage hip-hop fan. That's why most adults might not have any idea what the food company is saying in its messages, but the kids do.

So, this week, IHOP sent a tweet that really got us wondering, who is behind this account?

Pancakes on fleek.

— IHOP (@IHOP) Oct. 21, 2014

"Pancakes on fleek," @IHOP tweeted, which means "these pancakes are on point." When your food "on fleek," your tweets get more love. Wendy's used the word first in a tweet, so it's catching on, but the question is does it resonate with the intended audience or alienate it? Some commenters are put off by food chains talking in a way that might not be genuine. Still, the level of engagement does speak for itself. (See retweets and favorites below.)

Taco Bell on fleek.

— Taco Bell (@TacoBell) Oct. 18, 2014

Kirk Thompson and Darrin Kellaris are the digital marketing experts at IHOP, and they work with MRM/McCann, IHOP's digital agency, which handles the Twitter account. They both said the restaurant's Twitter voice is authentic and it's working.

"Twitter for us skews younger so it's important to talk the talk when it comes to that fan base," Kellaris said.

Indeed, IHOP is connecting. "Pancakes on fleek" got more than 20,000 retweets and was picked up by people like Funkmaster Flex.

Burger King is another fast-food company trying to talk the Twitter talk. This recent tweet captures a certain youthful syntax, for sure.

These Chicken Strips tho. pic.twitter.com/cpAlpLjg9n

— Burger King (@BurgerKing) Oct. 19, 2014

IHOP's twitter tone is not a random strategy but rather something Thompson and Kellaris work out with MRM in advance. Both men, over 40, aren't quite the target audience.

In the last 60 days, IHOP has grown its Twitter following 18 percent, Thompson said.

"There has been a refinement of our Twitter voice," Thomspon said. "We've gotten more specific, more targeted about how we speak."

While the "fleek" tweet performed well, IHOP had another winning message earlier this month with a play on lyrics from Missy Elliott's song "Work It." The hip-hop star was even among the people that retweeted that one.

Is it worth it, let me work it. I put my fork down, flip it and reverse it. pic.twitter.com/5IoqsqoqUA

— IHOP (@IHOP) Oct. 8, 2014

Here's a look at IHOP's Twitter on fleek:

RT if IHOP is bae.

— IHOP (@IHOP) Oct. 14, 2014

I like the way you pancake. No diggity.

— IHOP (@IHOP) Oct. 13, 2014

This is how we do. pic.twitter.com/339mEHSzJH

— IHOP (@IHOP) Oct. 13, 2014

Pancakes, you look good, won't you back that stack up.

— IHOP (@IHOP) Oct. 7, 2014

⊂_ヽ 　 ＼＼ Λ＿Λ 　　 ＼(　ˇωˇ) 　　 /　⌒ 　　/ へ＼ 　 / 　/　＼＼ (　ノ　　 ヽ_つ 　 /　/ GOT DEM PANCAKES 　(　(ヽ 　|　|、 \ 　| 丿 ＼ 　| |　　) / ノ )　　Lﾉ

— IHOP (@IHOP) Oct. 6, 2014

pancakes be slayin' lately

— IHOP (@IHOP) Sept. 27, 2014

Boom, clap, the sound of my heart. The pancakes go on and on and on…

— IHOP (@IHOP) Sept. 25, 2014

"we gotchu" - pancakes

— IHOP (@IHOP) Sept. 23, 2014

'Cause IHOP gonna pancake, cake, cake, cake, cake. And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.

— IHOP (@IHOP) Sept. 19, 2014

Dat stack tho pic.twitter.com/unH423t0CM

— IHOP (@IHOP) Sept. 14, 2014

Pancakes. Errybody got time fo' dat.

— IHOP (@IHOP) Sept. 14, 2014

Waffullicious definition make them boys go loco.

— IHOP (@IHOP) Sept. 13, 2014

Because you know we're all about that buttermilk. 'Bout that buttermilk. pic.twitter.com/13Nh26lJU2

— IHOP (@IHOP) Sept. 10, 2014

Whoop, there it is. pic.twitter.com/o68vKbKkgJ

— IHOP (@IHOP) Aug. 22, 2014

Fat stacks. pic.twitter.com/6PGFc20FE4

— IHOP (@IHOP) Aug. 14, 2014

Stop, don't talk to me. Your pancakes tryna be like these. Like oh, totally. pic.twitter.com/x60U38x30r

— IHOP (@IHOP) Aug. 6, 2014

We fell in love with pancakes like syrup pours: slowly and then all at once.

— IHOP (@IHOP) Aug. 3, 2014

Who let the pancakes out?

— IHOP (@IHOP) Aug. 2, 2014

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because pancakes happened.

— IHOP (@IHOP) July 28, 2014

Surround yourself with pancakes.

— IHOP (@IHOP) July 19, 2014

You are loved by pancakes.

— IHOP (@IHOP) July 19, 2014

Pancakes or you're basic.

— IHOP (@IHOP) June 22, 2014

"Dumb Ways to Die," the famed Australian train-safety campaign from 2012, has done a couple of encores for special occasions. First it did a Valentine's Day ad. And now it's done a little choose-your-own-adventure Halloween special.

Should you trick or treat the little monsters who come to your door on Friday? Well, both approaches have their risks, it seems—for candy giver and candy seeker alike. "Be safe around Halloween ... and trains," says the copy.

Agency: McCann Melbourne.