Last week, Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds declared a cessation to their long-running social media feud and announced they’d be doing ads for each others side-hustles: Reynolds’ Aviation Gin and Jackman’s Laughing Man Coffee.
Since buying into the gin company last year, Reynolds has demonstrated his YouTube advertising prowess in a couple of spots dripping with acerbic humour. This one may not be quite as funny, but if you like the way Reynolds has been building the Aviation Gin brand, you’ll appreciate this one as well.
McDonald’s touts McDelivery with artistic flair
We’re just one month into 2019, and McDonald’s has already produced at least two attention-grabbing pieces of creative for its McDelivery service.
First, it was DDB New Zealand’s “The Day After” ad, which posited McDelivery as the perfect cure for a New Year’s Day hangover.
Now come these delightful ads from TBWA\Paris, part of a new print campaign called “Rain.”
The campaign is built around a series of impressionistic photographs by French photographer Roberto Badin that depict city views through a rain-spattered window. The ads, copy-free except for the word “McDelivery” and the McDonald’s “M,” beautifully convey the appeal of ordering-in on a rainy afternoon. Hurrah for strikingly effective print advertising.
Hulu introduces the Pause Ad
Streaming video service Hulu is introducing a new ad unit called the “Pause Ad,” a static ad that will appear on-screen whenever users pause their content. Hulu describes it as a “non-intrusive, viewer-initiated ad experience that is both delighting to viewers and effective for brands.” Hmmm.
According to Hulu, the Pause Ad is comprised of two key elements: ad creative supported by contextually relevant messaging, accompanied by a background gradient that distinguishes it from content.
The company said extensive research revealed consumers prefer advertising that is “subtle and non-intrusive,” and appreciate it when brands tell their story in an “authentic and integrated” manner. “To stand out and continue engaging their target audiences, brands must rise to the challenge and flex their creative muscles to go beyond the traditional commercial break,” it said.
Hulu is currently beta testing the ad unit with Coca-Cola and Charmin (whose ad acknowledges that viewers might be pausing to take a bathroom break), and plans to roll it out for “select content” within its library in the second quarter.
Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope!
We’ve spent many happy hours watching foreign films at Toronto’s Carlton Cinemas over the years, but those shoebox-sized theatres are nothing compared to the World’s Most Claustrophobic Cinema.
To promote the Nordic premiere of the science-fiction film Aniara, the Göteborg Film Festival invited festival-goers to watch the film alone, while also lying in a coffin-sized box. A two-and-a-half minute video promoting the experience, created by the Swedish agency Stendahls, was able to convey what we imagine to be a fraction of the accompanying dread.
“We want to explore what happens when you watch a film in extreme conditions,” said the film festival. Being reduced to a gibbering, quivering mess is our first thought.
