New Balance and Miller Lite team up with DDB for Father’s Day 'Shoezie': Agency Brief

To celebrate upcoming Father’s Day, Miller Lite, which calls itself “The father of light beer,” and New Balance, which labels itself as the originator of the “Dad Shoe,” are teaming up to launch the first-ever combination of a shoe and a koozie. The “Shoezie” is a “Shoe for your beer.” according to the tagline for its campaign, and 50 shoezies will be given out as part of a sweepstake, which requires no purchase and begins on Father’s Day, June 20. Those interested can enter the sweepstakes by visiting the Shoezie’s dedicated website. Fashioned from the classic New Balance 624 Trainer, the limited-edition Shoezie aims to help dads and those who appreciate dad fashion enjoy their Miller Lite in comfort and style. The Shoezie is crafted with materials directly from New Balance shoes and is nearly identical to the 624 Trainer, but fitted for your beer. DDB is lead agency on the effort while ICF Next handled PR. To promote the sweepstakes, real-life dads were selected by Miller Lite as models and put into a handful of relatable dad settings. “As a dad myself, I know most dads do certain things, like watch TV standing up, keep the garage clean, sear a perfect steak, wear New Balance 624s, and drink Miller Lite,” Ben Wolan, executive creative director of DDB San Francisco said in a statement. “We didn’t want actors because dads are already so good at doing what they do.” The Shoezie will also show up on social feeds, with a handful of iconic influencer dads, or those known for their love of dad fashion, to promote what they love: comfort, authenticity and beer. Banks? No thanks! Boston-based agency Colossus has completed its first creative campaign for canned wine company Archer Roose. The campaign stars actress, director, writer and producer Elizabeth Banks, who is the brand’s new chief creative officer and recently became a major investor in, and part-owner of, the artisanal canned wine company. The work was released on connected TV as well as social media, and consists of a 60-second and 15-second spot that will run this summer on Roku's OneView ad platform and as paid social media. “We chose Colossus for this partnership because they are a nimble agency committed to accelerating growth for up-and-coming businesses,” Sara Gable, chief marketing officer of Archer Roose said in a statement. Instead of a typical celebrity endorsement, the brand decided to go in a different direction. In the 60-second spot, CEO of Archer Roose Marian Leitner is in her house and has an unwanted guest, Elizabeth Banks, who Leitner just found out owns half the company. “We were tasked with announcing a celebrity partnership in a world that, these days, is fairly celebrity-obsessed,” explains Greg Almeida, founder and ECD at Colossus. “So we thought it would be interesting to tell a story that was the antithesis of the typical narrative: How exasperating it would be if this super-famous person just never left you alone.” Giant Spoon announces two key female C-suite promotions New York and LA-based agency Giant Spoon has promoted Christina DeGuardi as its first president and chief client officer; and Nikita Malhotra as its first chief operating officer, while continuing to hold her chief financial officer position. Based out of New York, DeGuardi has been with Giant Spoon for two and a half years, leading both of the agency’s New York and L.A. offices as managing director. DeGuardi will continue to be involved in client work for some of the agency’s top clients, including HP, Vistaprint and Petco. Prior to joining Giant Spoon, DeGuardi previously led marketing efforts at Crunch Fitness for nearly a decade, and has over 20 years of experience in marketing leadership across a breadth of categories. Malhorta takes on her new role after just over a year with the agency. In partnership with DeGuardi, she will manage the operational structure of the agency, including advising on business health and performance, while also overseeing finance, real estate, technology, business operations and legal functions. Previously, she has held financial roles at BBH, CBX, Deep Focus and Neo@Ogilvy “As an agency, we’re leveling up to become even more competitive in the new way we work,” Trevor Guthrie, co-founder of Giant Spoon said in a statement. “Part of that push is ensuring we have the right infrastructure in place with top talent leading the agency. No two people are better equipped to continue to have a positive impact on our people, our clients and our work.” The announcement comes as Giant Spoon has signed 25 new clients and projects in the past 18 months, and has seen positive revenue growth, with 35% of 2020’s revenue coming from new client work. Publicis Next leader moves on Jose Molina, who led the launch of Publicis Next Mexico, the holding company’s innovation agency focused on the Latin America region and Iberia, is moving on from his role as managing director to a VP role for Latin American crypto exchange company Bitso. In his new role, Molina will lead the company’s creative lab, focused on re-imagining potential product offerings such as a crypto card, while also leading creative for the business globally. “I have only good things to say about Publicis, I have a great relationship with them and am pretty sure I will be collaborating with them in the future,” Molina told Ad Age. “What really interested me from a creative standpoint was the challenge of ‘How do we make crypto a story that everyone can understand.” Bitso, which has a decentralized workforce of 320 employees, processed more than $1.2 billion in international payments—including remittances and payments between companies—during 2020 alone, and surpassed 2 million users according to an article by TechCrunch. Bitso will be focused on expanding its footprint in Latin America. Molina will continue to collaborate with Publicis across projects in Iberia. The upside of ‘Uh Ohs’ Maaco, the North American body shop with more than 400 franchises across the U.S. and Canada has teamed up with its creative agency partner Mythic to launch a national integrated advertising campaign, “The Upside of Uh-Ohs.” The campaign kicks off with a musically driven TV spot, directed by Grammy award-winner Joseph Kahn, that refreshes the iconic brand tagline, “Uh-Oh, better Get Maaco,” and emphasizes Maaco’s reliability no matter what a person’s vehicle goes through. The TV commercial will run in 30- and 15-second formats on national and cable networks, with a long-form version on digital and social channels. The campaign will also incorporate national radio, print, social media and digital advertising. Along with Kahn the agency teamed up with production company Supply & Demand, DuoTone Audio Group and ODD for post-production. Surf’s up Kona Beer is teaming up with its creative agency of record Duncan Channon for it’s first campaign involving celebrity talent, which features 11-time world champion surfer Kelly Slater and its “Bruddahs” spokesmen. The 2021 campaign represents the largest investment in new creative and media spend in the brand’s history—a 66% increase in spend relative to its 2019 national March Madness campaign. The three new TV spots, which are timed around the debut of surfing as a competitive category in the 2021 Summer Games, feature playful banter between Slater and Kona’s bruddahs. The new creative featuring Slater will appear in rotation with three Kona TV spots that launched in April. The campaign will appear in more than 25 designated market areas across broadcast TV, digital, paid social and radio. In tandem with the new creative, the beer brand will be launching a Big Waves for the World program, which will run this summer. Traveling from Washington to Southern California, a noted surfer will surf down the West Coast to bring awareness to, and help promote, the importance of ocean conversation. The surfer will lead ongoing beach cleanups at each surfing spot to showcase the importance of ocean conservation, and a $50,000 donation will be made to Kona’s partner Save the Waves Coalition, whose mission is to protect surf ecosystems across the globe, to further conservation efforts, and keep beaches clean for all to enjoy—aquatic life included. Say bye to acne Deutsch New York’s latest work for Galderma's Differin brand aims to put a comedic spin on a real conversation centered around acne skincare, catered to female millennials. The work features a series of TikTok videos that play on popular TikTok trends, including #RentFree, This or That, and Telling Off, all with a “Zit-twist.” The #RentFree video starts off with a voice-over that says “Show me someone who lives on your face rent-free,” A woman with acne responds with, “Oh, there’s a few. We have Frank, we have Tony, and of course, the unannounced guest who refuses to leave—Carol. Girl, Go.” The creative follows another comedic Differin ad, launched in April, by Deustch that shows people squeezing their pimples, juxtaposed with scenes of volcanoes erupting, geysers exploding, fireworks detonating, champagne corks popping and more. Just briefly The Atlantic’s in-house agency Atlantic 57 is relaunching as Long Dash. The rebrand is a nod to the agency’s journalistic roots and will operate independently from The Atlantic, which is majority-owned by Emerson Collective, allowing Long Dash to scale more rapidly. Seattle-based agency DNA is bringing on Danielle DeVera, to take on the newly created role of director of growth. DeVera is joining the agency from 72andSunny where she was business development lead, helping the agency land accounts like Pinterest, Marriott Bonvoy, Vital Proteins and other leading brands. R/GA is bringing on former Adweek alum Erik Oster for a newly created role as the agency’s associate director of content. He spent the past five years covering agencies for Adweek, most recently as senior editor, and was a contributor to Adweek Blog Network's AgencySpy for three years before joining Adweek full-time. Los Angeles-based agency Omelet has promoted Ricardo Diaz to the newly created role of chief digital officer after serving as the agency’s executive director of digital for over five years. International hair care accessories brand Invisibobble has tapped NYC-based agency Socialfly as its agency of record. Socialfly was tasked with launching the company’s first global social media brand campaign, focused on amplifying invisibobble’s social mission of inclusivity and female empowerment. Media by Mother, the newly launched independent media agency from NYC-based Mother, has hired Paul Furia as the agency's first head of content and creative packaging. Furia joins from within the Mother family where he has facilitated entertainment partnerships within Mother’s NY and LA offices, a responsibility that he will continue to oversee in his new role. Charlotte-based agency Union has promoted Melanie Pearl to the newly created role of VP of agency services. Previously an account director, Pearl has been at Union for six years and will be responsible for maintaining organizational health, clarity, communication and consistency across Union’s day-to-day operations.

New Balance and Miller Lite team up with DDB for Father’s Day 'Shoezie': Agency Brief

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