NAMI’s powerful Santa soliloquy
The National Alliance on Mental Illness and Wieden + Kennedy released a powerful, provocative depiction of Santa Claus on Tuesday—not as a jolly old elf, but as a man wracked with guilt about the mental health of children.
The big idea here is that Santa has—after 1,000 years—realized that the overly simplistic “naughty or nice” categorization of his magical list totally ignores the much more complex lives of the young children dismissed as “naughty.”
According to NAMI, 50% of mental health conditions begin by age 14, and in one shot, Santa delivers a riveting two-and-a-half minute monologue that dissects the problem, asking why children are called naughty when they may have underlying mental and emotional challenges. “Did I condemn every kid that already felt like a misfit toy?” he asks. The ad concludes with the tagline “Look for signs, not labels,” and directs viewers to the NAMI site to learn more about the signs.
Coca Cola brings back CMO
Coca Cola has named a new chief marketing officer, two years after eliminating the position and appointing Francisco Crespo chief growth officer. It’s become trendy in the last few years for businesses to eliminate the CMO position as a statement about marketing existing across an organization rather than residing in one department.
“We’re about a customer- and brand-driven business strategy, not a customer- and brand-driven marketing strategy,” Birchbox chief customer officer Amanda Tolleson, recently told The Wall Street Journal when it was responding on the trend.
As CGO, Crespo oversaw integrated global marketing, corporate strategy and customer and commercial operations. The CMO title has been ressurected and given to Manolo Arroyo who will also remain president of Coca Cola’s Asia Pacific Group. Arroyo will manage creative, category, marketing operations, design and knowledge and insights, reporting to CEO James Quincey, while strategy has separated from the marketing role.
Iggy Pop is now voicing beach vacation ads
“Lust for Life,” Iggy Pop’s ode to drugs, liquor and, um, “flesh machines,” was once declared the worst ad song ever (seriously, did Royal Caribbean marketers even listen to the song beyond the title?). However, the punk icon is a much better fit with the U.K. beach holiday company On the Beach.
Yep, the man who once sang “Your pretty face is going to hell” provides the deadpan narration for the new “Everything’s better on the beach” campaign from London’s Uncommon Creative Studio.
Each spot opens on a person blissfully lying on a beach, with Pop informing viewers this is the worst week of their life before proceeding to tell the outlandish stories of what happened in the lead-up to their holiday.
The stories range from a woman discovering that her best friend has been sleeping with her parents—and live-streaming their antics on a website called SurbanCowboys.com—to another woman who is arrested for poisoning 37 people with a cake she made for a bake sale to benefit a “donkey charity.”
Super Bowl dominates YouTube most watched list (non-Canadian edition)
Yesterday we told you about the most popular ads viewed by Canadians on YouTube. The global home for video viewing also released its top ads in the U.S., with Super Bowl creative occupying six of the top 10 spots.
The top position went to Amazon for its humorous depiction of failed Alexa ideas, which included Harrison Ford being tormented by his dog’s ability to order food from Alexa, Forest Whitaker trying to listen to a podcast from his Alexa-enabled toothbrush, and Broad City stars Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson being ejected from a hot tub. Second spot was a Hyundai ad for the NFL championship game starring Jason Bateman in a very Jason Bateman-esque performance.
