This week: NFL fans' stinky jerseys, auditions to voice a checkout and an undead boss with advice on the future of work.
This week: NFL fans' stinky jerseys, auditions to voice a checkout and an undead boss with advice on the future of work.
This trailer for NFL Pro Era, the first fully licensed NFL VR game, manages to translate the thrills of immersive gaming with verve, via an artfully edited mix of live-action, game footage and CGI scenes. The stylish film stars Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, who's immersed in the feverish intensity of a game in the middle of his living room.
Could Lego be the therapy we all need as we return to the grind of the workplace? The iconic brick brand continues to cultivate an audience of adults seeking refuge from the stresses of life, this time with a series of after-work events in Lego stores in major cities that encourage over 18s to join group building sessions. The "Lego Lates" series is being promoted in a video that highlights the daily stressors that accompany a day of work, showing adults groggily silencing their alarm clocks, commuting to the office in bumper-to-bumper traffic and fighting with slow workplace Wi-Fi. And who knows, perhaps unwinding with bricks, rather than a cocktail, is a healthier option.
P&G's Tide plays on the idea of NFL fans' lucky jerseys and their refusal to wash them in this fun new campaign that enlists a series of famous players, starting with Las Vegas Raiders wideout Davante Adams, offering tips on laundry. As well as the TV ad, there's a social element asking fans what deal they’d accept to wash their lucky jerseys. It's the latest clever way the brand (known for its Super Bowl stunts) has found to own the conversation around the NFL.
Here's an inspired use of TikTok's "duets" feature from British grocery giant Tesco. It's using the platform to hold auditions for people to be the "voice" of its automated checkouts: that includes mimicking the "beep" sound as items are scanned, as well as lending their voice to classic checkout phrases like "Check the bagging area." The idea is to duet with the (slightly creepy) "face" of the checkout. Videos are already flooding into Tesco’s TikTok channel, where they are being showcased before the ultimate winner is chosen and their voice will be uploaded to checkouts across the U.K.
Comedy in ads is common, but this spot for freelance marketplace Upwork made us laugh more than anything else we've seen recently. In a two-minute musical number directed by Ivan Zacharias, a firm's former boss rises from the grave, zombie-like, to tell employees that the old ways of working (like the 9 to 5 and the office) are "totally dead." Plus, they were "made up" anyway, so why not reinvent them?
While it's a similar insight to that we've seen from other advertisers, such as HP and Globant, the addition of the Undead CEO, complete with removable limbs, and some witty lyrics make this truly memorable, not to mention timely ahead of Halloween. To find out more about the campaign, listen to Ad Age's Marketer's Brief podcast with Upwork CMO Melissa Waters.