Sportengland.org| This Girl Can

The award-winning ‘This Girl Can’ campaign, which first launched in January 2015, set out to encourage more women to play sports, challenging the common perceptions of women that they constantly need to conform to the unrealistic standards set by the media.

The nationwide campaign was born from the discovery that the numbers of men playing regular sport far outweighed that of women by every measure (two million fewer 14 to 40 year olds in total), despite the fact that “75% of women would like to do more.”

With insights revealing that “millions of women and girls are afraid to exercise because of fear of judgement”, Sport England saw an opportunity “to get women and girls moving, regardless of shape, size and ability”, by telling the real stories of women who play sport, in direct opposition to the idealised and stylised images of women we usually see.

Achieving national success, the campaign’s flagship film was viewed by over 13 million people, and resulted in almost 150,000 women becoming regularly active in England since its launch.

“The figures on participation are crystal clear”, says Sport England CEO Jennie Price.“There is a significant gender gap, with two million more men than women exercising or playing sport regularly.”

“I believe we can tackle this gap, because our research shows that 75% of women would like to do more.”

We’re the Superhumans| Channel 4

http://wearethesuperhumans.com/

This inspiring campaign, launched by Channel 4’s in-house creative agency, 4Creative, to advertise the 2016 Rio Paralympics, is an ideal example of marketing that works, developed from a deep understanding of their audience.

In the lead up to the event, having conducted extensive research into athlete perceptions and audience attitudes, the marketing team launched a campaign called ‘Freaks of Nature’, challenging the perceptions of disability in sport, soon to evolve into the follow-up campaign entitled ‘Meet the Superhumans’.

Veering away from convention, the campaign portrayed Paralympians in a new light, as fearless ‘superhumans’ as opposed to people to pity.

Dramatically changing the way their audience viewed disabled athletes, 64% of viewers stated that the Channel 4 coverage had had a favourable impact on their perceptions of people with disabilities, with 82% agreeing that disabled athletes were as talented as their able-bodied counterparts.

Winning a number of national and international awards, the campaign quickly became the second most shared Olympics-related ad of all time on social media.

“One of the main challenges we faced was overcoming the indifference people felt towards the Paralympics”, says 4Creative Business Director, Olivia Browne. “One of the key ingredients to the idea’s success was the single-minded belief that the Paralympics did not have to be second best to the Olympics and could have its own voice, swagger and attitude.”

Agency: 4creative
Client: Channel 4
Award: Black & Yellow Pencil / Film Advertising Crafts / Direction for Film Advertising, 2013

Channel 4's live broadcast of the opening ceremony on the night of August 29 2012 was watched by 11.8 million TV viewers - its largest audience in ten years. The campaign also successfully raised awareness and understanding of disability in sport and helped the London 2012 Paralympics become the first Paralympic Games to sell out.

When Channel 4 became official broadcaster of the Paralympics, just 14% of the population said they were looking forward to the event. By the time the event closed, 64%* of the population agreed that the Paralympics were as good as the Olympics - a figure that rose to 79% among those who had watched Channel 4's Paralympics coverage. Meanwhile, 69%* of viewers said it was the first time they had made the effort to watch the Paralympics.

Other findings underlined this attitudinal shift. By the games' end, 65%* of viewers felt Channel 4's coverage had had a favourable impact on their perceptions of people with disabilities. 82%* agreed that disabled athletes were as talented as able-bodied - 91% among those who had watched the coverage. 68% felt the coverage had had a favourable impact on their perceptions of disabled people in sport.

Meanwhile 'Meet the Superhumans' was widely-praised for its creativity and impact winning many national and international awards including a D&AD Black Pencil, four D&AD Yellow Pencils and a Nomination at D&AD Awards 2013.


Channel 4 set out to make its coverage of the London 2012 Paralympic Games the biggest event in Channel 4's history and, by doing so, take Paralympic sport to another level. The end result was a powerful and striking campaign at the heart of which sat a 90-second TV ad, 'Meet the Superhumans'.

This film presented a number of Paralympians in 'do or die' training mode with reference to background stories and a climax depicting the intensity of elite sport competition set to a rousing musical soundtrack. Showing Paralympians as powerful warriors rather than people to pity was a striking break with convention.

'Meet the Superhumans' was Channel 4's biggest marketing push in 30 years. The campaign's scale plus its attitude, energy and production values helped create an unprecedented atmosphere of anticipation and excitement in the build up to the games.

The broadcaster's live broadcast of the opening ceremony was watched by 11.8 million TV viewers - its largest audience in ten years. The campaign also successfully raised awareness and understanding of disability in sport and helped the London 2012 Paralympics become the first Paralympic Games to sell out.
The Story


"Working with a broadcaster like Channel 4 was an opportunity for the Paralympics' organisers to take Paralympic sport to a whole new level," says Channel 4 Chief Marketing & Communications Officer Dan Brooke.

Channel 4 has a public service remit set by parliament which requires it to be innovative, distinctive, represent alternative views and bring minority voices centre stage. As a result, its winning bid for the Paralympic broadcast rights was underpinned by a number of important commitments.

For example, it committed to significantly increasing broadcast coverage - it eventually broadcast 500 hours, 400% more than the BBC's Paralympic coverage from Beijing in 2008. It also pledged to make the games more accessible to a wider audience; ensure at least 50% of the event's TV presenters were disabled; and explain disabled sports in new and more engaging ways.

"We knew from the outset editorial and advertising would need to work hand-in-hand if we were to achieve our goal of representing the event and its athletes as elite and world class with unique ability beyond their disability," Head of Marketing James Walker adds. "The challenge was: how?"
The Strategy


An internal, cross-departmental team was assembled spanning marketing, editorial and Channel 4's in-house creative agency / production company 4Creative which develops and produces creative campaigns for Channel 4 programming. "As both the marketing team and 4Creative report to me, the relationship is more equal partners than client and agency," Brooke explains.

Research into athletes' perceptions and audience attitudes was commissioned to help inform from the outset the overall vision and tone for both Channel 4's Paralympic editorial coverage and marketing. On-going attitudinal tracking was also put in place to gauge shifts over time and help feed into the early stages of creative development.

In August 2010, two years before London 2012, Channel 4 broadcast a documentary called 'Inside Incredible Athletes' - its first Paralympic-themed programming. This was supported by a marketing campaigned called 'Freaks of Nature' designed to challenge perceptions of disability in sport and encourage viewers to question their own prejudices.

"The intention was to change people's attitudes and to do that we needed to take them on a journey," Walker says. "'Freaks of Nature' was intended to challenge by turning the meaning of the phrase on its head. The idea was that if great athletes are considered exceptional and different, why not apply the same standard to Paralympians?"

The concept and the attitude it encapsulated provided an important part of the foundation for the campaign that would become 'Meet the Superhumans.'


In late 2011, work began in earnest on the London 2012 Paralympic Games launch marketing campaign at the heart of which would be a TV commercial. "The commercial was always going to be the centrepiece because TV is the strongest medium," Walker says. "And TV is the best medium to sell TV."

4Creative's starting point was the idea that Paralympic athletes are 'superhuman' - an evolution from the 'Freaks of Nature' campaign. "The line is the idea - I can't separate the two," explains Tom Tagholm, Channel 4's former Network Creative Director, who conceived and directed the 'Meet the Superhumans' campaign. "I'll normally try to write a visual idea and end in a line that sums up the thought in a strong way. It's what happened here."

What was needed was a creative execution that would make people both watch and think again about what they were watching - to wonder at who would win, rather than wonder that a disabled athlete can compete at all.


Tagholm's idea was for a film depicting the pain and joy involved in the intense preparation for and participation in elite, world-class competition with reference to some of the Paralympians' back stories - an explosion, a car crash, a mum in hospital. Its success would depend on conveying the emotional intensity, energy and attitude of the athletes themselves.

A decision was made to shoot live sports footage at Paralympian test events and storyboard iconic shots which selected athletes would then be asked to recreate.

"One of the main challenges we faced was overcoming the indifference people felt towards the Paralmypics. One of the key ingredients to the idea's success was the single-minded belief that the Paralympics did not have to be second best to the Olympics and could have its own voice, swagger and attitude," says 4Creative Business Director Olivia Browne.

"We absolutely embraced the athletes: their stance, the ways they've adapted to their sport, the ways they use their bodies. We sought to capture their 'take us as we are' spirit in a way that hadn't been done before - to celebrate the ability beyond their disability."

Led by producers Gwilym Gwillim and Rory Fry, the 4Creative production team spent 16 days shooting Paralympians all over the country but only for limited periods of time due to their intense training regimes. At all times the emphasis was on the need to find camera angles that were new and felt special. "On some occasions up to ten cameras were used - a mixture of formats including Phantom, Alexa and Canon 5D," Browne adds. "We even invented rigs that didn't exist to get right to the heart of the action."


Striking the right balance in the created scenes between footage that was both natural and shot from the heart of the action was also a challenge. Meanwhile, the back story scenes were storyboarded then shot as a "flashback moment" that would appear only briefly to provide an emotional jolt in the middle of the film.

"I didn't know these scenes would come in the middle of the ad until I got a little way into the edit," Tagholm says. "It just seemed the right place to not dwell on or over-dramatise these moments, but ensure they are felt in a vivid way."

The importance of attitude and emotional intensity made 4Creative editor Tim Hardy's role critical. Pace was essential - each shot had to be high energy, with nothing slow or moody. It was about being unapologetic with every aspect of the production - including the choice of music. Which is why when early on in the edit Hardy suggested Public Enemy's 'Harder Than You Think' all involved agreed the fit was perfect.

"I wrote 'Meet the Superhumans' to a hip hop track and this is where we looked first," Tagholm explains. "'Harder Than You Think' has the energy and the swagger and happens to work lyrically so it's got a few things going for it."

What did the Judges Have to say about Meet the Superhumans?

Watch our D&AD Black Pencil Judging film to find out.


Throughout the campaign's development, Channel 4 was in regular and close contact with Olympic organiser LOCOG, the Paralympic authorities and local sports governing bodies as well as its own sponsorship partners: Sainsbury and BT. "The big discussion with our external partners was about the unconventional way we proposed promoting the sport," Brooke explains. "But we were confident in our approach and the knowledge that we had won the broadcast rights because of (not despite) our commitment to handling them in a Channel 4 way."

Another challenge was when to launch 'Meet the Superhumans' to maximise its potential impact, Walker adds: "The question was whether to start it before, during or after the Olympics. Before seemed the right option allowing us both more time to build reach and to show clearly that the Paralympics can be the equal of the Olympics."

So 'Meet the Superhumans' was mass-launched simultaneously across 78 TV channels on Tuesday July 17 2012 at 9pm to reach at least 50% of the UK TV audience in one fell swoop. The film was supported by a series of posters continuing the 'Superhumans' theme and a stunt - 'Thanks for the warm up' - in which Channel 4 used Twitter and outdoor media in the final days of the Olympics to thank that event for preparing the audience for the Paralympics.

Looking back, Brooke believes Channel 4 creative culture played a central role in the campaign's success. "Our remit to be innovative and distinctive is so deeply engrained when I turn down ideas it's more likely to be because they are too conservative," he says.

"Some might question whether a cross-departmental committee is the best way of developing creative ideas. But it works for us because more people in a room allows more stress testing and sharpening of ideas, not less. 'Meet the Superhumans' typifies the importance of being bold while staying true to your core brand values and demonstrates the value of taking a creative risk."

Tagholm agrees: "The thinking was to go big and never be apologetic. You can't do this in an organisation if people are scared."

Credit:

Channel 4 is proud to present the 3-minute trailer for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Signed & Subtitled and Audio Described versions are available in the playlist. Download the track at http://wearethesuperhumans.com from Sat 16th July, with all profits going to the British Paralympic Association. Writers: Strouse/Adams Publisher: Warner/Chappell Music Publishing Ltd Hannah Cockcroft – ParalympicsGB Wheelchair Racer 00:32 Mel Nicholls – ParalympicsGB Wheelchair Racer 00:34 Joren Teeuwen - Netherlands Paralympics High Jumper 00:37 Matt Stutzman – USParalympics Archer 00:49 ParalympicsGB Wheelchair Rugby Team 1:00 & 2:24 Iaroslav Semenenko – Ukrainian Paralympic Swimmer – 1:26 Richard Whitehead – ParalympicsGB Athlete 1:27 & 2:09 ParalympicsGB Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Team 1:32 Piers Gilliver and Dimitri Coutya - ParalympicsGB Fencers 1.35 & 2:11 Ellie Simmonds – ParalympicsGB Swimmer 1:54 Libby Clegg – ParalympicsGB Sprinter 1:55 Sam Ruddock – ParalympicsGB Shot Put 1:56 Jody Cundy – Paralympics GB Cyclist 1:57 David Weir – ParalympicsGB Wheelchair Racer 1:57 Will Bayley and Kim Daybell – ParalympicsGB Table Tennis 2:07 Jessica Jane Applegate – ParalympicsGB Swimmer 2:10 Ali Jawad – ParalympicsGB Powerlifter 2:11 Natalie Blake – ParalmypicsGB Powerlifter 2:11 Micky Yule – ParalympicsGB Powerlifter 2:12 Chris Skelley and Jack Hodgson – ParalympicsGB Judokas 2.30

Year in Search|Google

Another powerful example of a brand using data to drive creativity is Google’s ‘Year in Search’ campaign. Much like Spotify’s data-fueled creative effort, the stars of the search giant’s annual campaign were its users.

Google creatively put insights into action, exploring the emotional story at the heart of every search term that dominated 2016.

Honing in on everything that made that year particularly memorable, including its most shocking news stories from Brexit and Trump’s election to Syria and the Orlando shooting, Google managed to turn the widespread perception of 2016 as a year of disproportionate lows on its head to spread a message of hope, ending with the words: “Love is out there. Search on.”

Aptly highlighting how Google is not just a search engine for the world at large, but a source of learning where people turn for answers, the campaign was a clever play on emotions that once again proved its dominant influence over the online world.

“From Powerball numbers to Olympic champions, whether making dessert or becoming a mannequin, this year affected us all in different ways.” says Ben Gomes, VP Search.

“Through all the highs and lows, people came to Search to learn more and understand.”

Ref:

• https://www.google.com/intl/en-GB/trends/2016records/
• https://trends.google.com/trends/yis/2016/GLOBAL/
• http://google.com/2016 | #YearInSearch

C R E D I T S: Brexit - Ruptly Trump & Hillary Supporters - Associated Press (AP) US Election map: ABC BLM Protesters - AP Dallas PD Vigil - Ruptly Dallas PD memorial - ITN News Source Orlando PD - Steven Fernandez Aleppo Wall - Russia Insider Omran Daqneesh - AP Refugees welcome - Shay Murphy Justin Trudeau at pride - Canadian Press Hillary Clinton @ DNC - CNN Doaa Elghobashy @ Olympics - AP Simone Biles performance - USA Gymnastics Prince with guitar - Richard E. Aaaron Special thanks to www.alicenter.org/ Ali with mic - AP Bowie with Lighting Bolt - Duffy Archive & Bowie Archive Aziz Ansari w/ Lighting - Photo by Crackerfarm/Under The Table Additional Lighting Makeup shot - Dade Freeman Bear and Deer - JukinMedia Secret Life of Pets available on Google Play Zianna Speaks to City Council - CNN Refugees at Sea - Vice News Border embrace - ITN/Reuters Dallas Protest - Dallas Morning News

#ProjectLiteracy |Pearson

Pearson: Project Literacy

Project Literacy, the global campaign led by Pearson and FCB Inferno, has received international praise for its inspiring message and efforts to tackle the pressing issue of illiteracy.

Based on the discovery that illiteracy impacts over 750 million people worldwide, or one in ten people alive today, Pearson set out to raise awareness that this crisis contributes to a large portion of the world’s biggest problems.

Driving the message that words have the power to end illiteracy, the campaign included a 90-minute film with a particularly harrowing narrative and a social media campaign that onboarded a whole host of influencers.

In less than a week, #ProjectLiteracy reached over 10 million people on Facebook, while the film has now earned more than 12.8 million views, with Project Literacy being asked to join the UNESCO Global Alliance for Literacy. Emilie Colker, Vice President of Brand and Social Impact at Pearson, founding partner of Project Literacy says:

“This campaign has brought a largely invisible issue to the attention of millions.”

About Pearson 

We’re here to keep the whole world learning In a fast-changing world, education is the key to success. For many people, learning is the route to a job to support their family or the skills to help them make progress in their career. For others, it’s simply a lifelong passion for discovery. For every learner, at every stage of their life, education is the path to opportunity and fulfillment. Our world-class tools, content, products, and services are designed to help people adapt to our changing world, navigate its challenges and opportunities, and ultimately make progress in their lives. Because where learning flourishes, so do people.
We want to improve access and outcomes in education for learners around the world. We do this by combining expert content and assessment, powered by our services and technology. We’re proud to be a trusted partner to schools, colleges, and students. 

• Content and platforms such as MyLab, Revel, Bug Club, enVisionMATH, and SuccessMaker, plus leading author brands such as Campbell, Hubbard, Ciccarelli, and Martin-Gay 
• Assessments such as GCSEs, A levels, BTECs, WISC-V, PTE Academic, and school assessments using TestNav 
• Services such as Pearson VUE, Pearson Institute of Higher Education, Connections, and English Language centers, e.g., Wizard and Wall Street English

Penny the Pirate| OPSM

The first children’s story that’s also an eye test

Another powerful campaign consistently noted for its originality, Penny the Pirate has won 35 major international and national awards and was named the world’s best marketing campaign of 2016 in the annual Warc rankings.

Based on the discovery that “one in six kids have a vision problem and for many it’s undetected”, research uncovered by Saatchi & Saatchi revealed the reasons behind this statistic amounted to children’s’ fear of optometrists or the fact that many live in remote areas, far from reach.

To tackle this issue, the idea for Penny the Pirate was born, leading to the world’s first medical tool that tests children’s eye health as you read to them. Made available for free as a book and interactive app, this innovative campaign not only helped to address the growing issue at its core, but successfully positioned OPSM as a global brand committed to eye health.

On track to providing 300,000 children with an eye test, Penny has reportedly led to a huge increase in children’s’ eyewear sales.

Melinda Spencer, VP of Marketing for OPSM says: “We passionately wanted to create a useful tool that helps time poor parents to screen their children’s vision from the comfort of their own home, either through the book or through the app in a fun way and are overjoyed that it has been recognised internationally.”

Saatchi &Saatchi commented:

One in six kids have a vision problem and for many it’s undetected. This is because children don’t like coming into scary optometrists, or they live in remote areas, far from reach. As a brand that’s committed to eye health across Australia and New Zealand, eyecare provider OPSM needed to address this growing issue.

We took the eye test to children by creating Penny the Pirate, available for free as a book and interactive app, it’s the first medical tool to test children’s eye health as you a read a story to them. There wasn’t a standard eye screening tool for children, so we had to start from scratch.

We collaborated with illustrator/author Kevin Waldron, and the Department of Vision Sciences at Melbourne University, to identify three critical tests that would detect the most common vision problems for children, and then integrated them into a story. This resulted in a Therapeutic Goods Administration approved screening tool in the form of an interactive storybook. When books were finished with, parents could share their copy via a “Pass It On” program.

OneSight, a not-for-profit organization, is also using Penny to reach children across remote regions of Australia, helping them test more eyes than ever, because it’s more efficient, accurate and engaging than previous methods.

Penny is on track to give 300,000 children an eye test, which has already seen a huge increase in kids eyewear sales since launch. The app has also reached number one Health & Fitness App in the App Store

Thanks 2016, It’s been weird.|Spotify

Spotify: Thanks 2016, It’s been weird.

Spotify’s largest ever campaign push which launched in November 2016 and spread across 14 markets worldwide is a perfect example of how data can drive creativity in marketing.

Led by its in-house creative team, this innovative, global campaign was 100% fueled by insights.

Relying on data based on their users’ behaviors, the Spotify team used the information they collected to speak directly to their consumers in the most personalized way possible, creatively using listener habits to reflect popular culture.

Successfully placing a humorous spin on the ‘weird’ highlights of the previous year, the campaign proved the power that lies in creative marketing based on audience insights alone.

“There has been some debate about whether big data is muting creativity in marketing, but we have turned that on its head,” says Spotify’s chief marketing officer, Seth Farbman.

“For us, data inspires and gives an insight into the emotion that people are expressing.”

Streaming service Spotify has become the first big brand to mark the passing of 2016, a full five weeks before the calendar changes, by launching ‘Thanks 2016, It’s been Weird’ across 14 territories - its biggest global campaign to date.

The data-driven outdoor campaign will seek to draw a line under the year which gave us Brexit, Trump and a string of celebrity deaths from David Bowie to Alan Rickman by publishing localised facts and figures on billboards.

In the UK for instance, a poster reads “Dear 3,749 people who streamed ‘It's The End Of The World As We Know It’ the day of the Brexit Vote. Hang in There”. Across the pond meanwhile a similar execution displays: “Dear person who made a playlist called: 'One Night Stand With Jeb Bush Like He's a Bond Girl in a European Casino.' We have so many questions.”

Developed by Spotify’s own in-house creative team based in New York, the campaign brings insight from its regional teams to bear to generate localized copy.

Launched in the UK, US, France and Denmark yesterday (28 November) the campaign will now roll out to a further ten markets including Australia, Brazil, Germany and Sweden. Over the run up to Christmas the campaign will extend to include emails to customers on their own Spotify usage as well as digital and social ads.

#LikeAGirl | Always

Always: Like A Girl

Consistently labeled one of the most influential examples of great marketing from the past decade, the inspiring #LikeAGirl campaign for Always kicked off in 2013 with the help of Leo Burnett Chicago and Holler.

Faced with the challenging task of making a feminine-hygiene brand popular in the eyes of its young female audience, the realization that the brand had lost relevance with 16 to 24 year-olds urged them to try something different.

Based on their research, the team found that over half of girls quit sports at puberty as a result of a crisis in confidence.

Using these insights, Always set out to appeal to its younger audience, harnessing social media to reverse the widespread perception of the term ‘like a girl’ in an empowering way, embarking on an “epic battle to stop the drop in confidence girls experience at puberty”, encouraging them to ‘Keep Playing #LikeAGirl.’ Judy John, Chief Executive Officer/Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett Canada says:

“We set out to champion the girls who were the future of the brand,”

In 2014, Always launched a new leg of its epic battle to make sure that girls everywhere keep their confidence through puberty and beyond by tackling the societal limitations that stand in their way. Since then, #LikeAGirl has gone from a simple phrase to a powerful and empowering movement.

Using #LikeAGirl as an insult is a hard knock against any adolescent girl. And since the rest of puberty's really no picnic either, it's easy to see what a huge impact it can have on a girl's self-confidence. Always wanted to show that doing things #LikeAGirl is amazing!

Do we limit girls and tell them what they should or shouldn’t be? Do we box them into expected roles? Well, Always asked, and the answer was shocking: 72% of girls do feel society limits them. Always’ mission is to empower girls everywhere by encouraging them to smash limitations and be Unstoppable #LikeAGirl.

Playing princess, getting their nails done, dancing in bunny ears – is this a true representation of all the things that girls do? 

That’s the question Always asked a few years ago when taking a critical look at how girls were portrayed in emojis.

A picture is worth a thousand words and Always wanted to empower girls to show that they can do anything.

7 out of 10 girls feel they don’t belong in sports. And as they’re pressured to conform to societal expectations, it’s no wonder that at puberty girls’ confidence plummets and half quit sports. Yet sports are exactly what help girls stay confident! Always wants to keep them playing #LikeAGirl and is inviting everybody to join in to rewrite the rules.

 

At puberty, 50% of girls feel paralyzed by the fear of failure, with a majority of girls feeling that societal pressure to be perfect drives this fear of failure.

This leads to girls avoiding trying new things because they’re too afraid to fail. But the truth is, failing is a good thing!

It helps us learn, grow and ultimately build confidence. Let’s keep her going #LikeAGirl!

For once, Don’t Do It | Nike

The latest Nike advertisement is a play on the company's slogan, "Just Do It," while also addressing racism.

The ad, titled, "For once, Don't Do It," contains several powerful messages throughout the one-minute spot:

• Don't pretend there's not a problem in America
• Don't turn your back on racism.
• Don't accept innocent lives being taken in front of us.
• Don't make any more excuses.
• Don't think this doesn't affect you.
• Don't sit back and be silent.
• Don't think you can't be part of the change.
• Let's all be part of the change.

The ad, created by Wieden + Kennedy Portland, is a series of simple yet powerful statements set on a black background: 

“Nike has a long history of standing against bigotry, hatred and inequality in all forms,” said a Nike spokesperson. “We hope that by sharing this film we can serve as a catalyst to inspire action against a deep issue in our society and encourage people to help shape a better future.”

The spot illustrated Nike’s commitment to social issues and highlighted one of the brand’s most visible athletes in that space.

Nike|Never Too Far Down

Nike's back with another uplifting ad designed to give us the courage to get through the pandemic. This 90-second narration from LeBron James reminds us how sports are the ultimate beacon for hope. No matter how far you might be down, like say three games to one or behind 28-3 in the Super Bowl, there's always hope.

The 90-second spot, “Never Too Far Down,” was created by Wieden + Kennedy Portland. Humanity’s comeback story, featuring world-class athletes, is what one would expect from a Nike ad. Narrated by LeBron James, the film features elite Nike athletes, including Serena Willams, Naomi Osaka, Tiger Woods, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rafael Nadal, Megan Rapinoe and others.

The three-act structure in the minute and a half spot vacillates from struggle and pain, to finding a way through, to, ultimately, triumph. It’s a hopeful, inspiring message that we’re all hoping to experience before too long.

In classic Nike and W+K fashion, the simplicity of impactful imagery, sound (in this case, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ excellent version of David Bowie’s Life on Mars?) and words make a significant impact. The latter is particularly impressive, with obvious metaphors to the current crisis.

CREDITS:

Client: Nike
Campaign: Never Too Far Down

W+K Portland
Executive Creative Directors: Eric Baldwin, Jason Bagley
Creative Directors: Alberto Ponte, Ryan O’Rourke
Art Director: Lee Jenninigs
Copywriter: Kevin Steele
Head of Production: Matt Hunnicutt
Executive Producers: Jake Grand, Krystle Mortimore
Producer: Emily Knight
Associate Producer: Shani Storey
Group Brand Director: Andre Gustavo
Brand Director: Kate Rutkowski
Brand Manager: Steve Smith
Group Strategy Director: Paula Bloodworth
Global Group Media Director: Daniel Sheniak
US Group Media Director: Reme DeBisschop
Associate Media Director: Emily Dalton
Media Supervisor: Graham Wallace
Sr. Business Affairs Managers: Laura Caldwell, Adam Caviezel
Integrated Traffic Managers: Sabrina Reddy, Billy Mucha
Sr. Creative Operations Manager: David Ramirez
Studio Manager: Michael Frediani
Retoucher: Amy Ellars
Designers: Nick Humbel, Mitch Wilson

Production Company
Production Company: Park Pictures
Director: Lance Acord
Executive Producer: Jackie Kelman Bisbee
EP / Producer: Caroline Kousidonis
Production Manager: Joe Faulstich

Editorial
Company: Spot Welders
Editor: Robert Duffy
Assistant Editor: JC Nunez
Assistant Editor: Fatos Marishta
Managing Partner: David Glean
Executive Producer: Carolina Padilla

VFX
VFX Company: Shipping + Handling
Creative Director, Lead VFX: Casey Price
Creative Director, VFX: Jerry Spivack
VFX: James Buongiorno, Johannes Gamble, Evelyn Lee, Rachel Moorer
Managing Partner: David Glean
VFX Executive Producer: Scott Friske, Dustin LaForce

Color
Color Company: A52
Colorist: Daniel De Vue
Color Executive Producer: Thatcher Peterson
Color Producer: Jenny Bright

Mix
Mix Company: Joint Editorial
Audio Mixer: Natalie Huizenga
Executive Producer: Leslie Carthy

Music Supervision
Company: Walker
Senior Executive Producer: Sara Matarazzo
Executive Producer: Stephanie Pigott
Producer: Danielle Soury

Music
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross “Life on Mars?” by David Bowie

The Real Heroes Project| LifeBridge Health

Since the global pandemic began, brands continue to determine the best way forward on messaging. The tone of advertising covers a fairly wide range. There’s unity, as exhibited by “The Real Heroes Project.” There are explanations of business shifts to aid society. And, of course, plenty of ads offer endless and deserved thanks to essential workers, from delivery services to retailers and, most crucially, healthcare professionals.
Most of the latter’s messaging has revolved around narratives, explaining how much the public appreciates the hard work of doctors, nurses, and technicians in hospitals around the world. But one ad, from LifeBridge Health of Maryland, captures every possible emotion with a simple, yet stunningly powerful approach.
Created by StrawberryFrog, the 60-second short was shot inside one of the health system’s hospitals in Baltimore with the agency’s partner and ecd, Tyler DeAngelo, and National Geographic photographer, anthropologist and Pulitzer Center grantee Joshua Cogan.
Real caregivers were asked to step inside a Care Booth at the end of their shifts. As each person sheds their masks and protective gear, the raw, overwhelming exhaustion is evident. The powerful vulnerability underscores the monumental task facing hospital staff. The spot, airing in Maryland, honors their sacrifice through restraint and a wise decision to not get in the way of the moments by using only supers and music.

“We wanted to represent the sacrifice, courage and determination of front-line healthcare workers in this moment—in their most raw and stark form. It’s this realness which both honors their work and makes the spot so distinctive,” said Brian Deffaa, CMO of LifeBridge Health.

“The production was much more emotional than I expected,” added DeAngelo. “Watching these healthcare workers in real time, right off their shift, shed their protective gear moved me in a way I hadn’t anticipated. Even though I knew what the message was about, I don’t think I fully understood how important it was until I saw these vulnerable people who only moments earlier had been fighting for other people’s lives.”

CREDITS:

LifeBridge Health
Chief Marketing Officer: Brian Deffaa
Director, Marketing Communications and Execution: Jill Bloom

StrawberryFrog
Founder and Chairman: Scott Goodson
Executive Creative Director / Partner: Tyler DeAngelo
Senior Copywriter: Benjamin Wallin
Writer: Jennie Hayes
Creative Director: Mike Cicale
Producer: Venessa Merrin
Head of Business Partnerships: Shana Bellot
Senior Account Director: Chris Belmore
Account Executive: Emily Nelson
Senior Project Manager: Mark Nikaj

Photography/Video
Photographer: Joshua Cogan
Videographer: Shane Alcock

Union Editorial
Film Editor: Tim Thornton-Allan
Color Mix: Stephen Picano
Senior Producer: Susan Motamed
Assistant Editor: Jean Taylor
Assistant Editor: Chris Walker

Barking Owl
Sound Mix: Dan Florsdorf

Pepsi's Coffee-Infused Soda| Pepsi Café

Choosing the right afternoon pick-me-up can be hard. You can pour a cup of coffee, or opt for soft drinks or one of the many brands of so-called energy drinks that have popped up in the past couple decades. If you're indecisive, or just looking to try something new, Pepsi's coffee-infused soda may be what you've been waiting for.


The Pepsi Café line comes in two flavors—Original and Vanilla—and gets its coffee flavor from arabica bean extract. It's not meant to taste like coffee fully, but rather a mashup of coffee and Pepsi, meaning it's, yes, a carbonated beverage intended to be served cold. (Considering that Starbucks admits over half of its sales are cold beverages, it's sure to pique the interest of some cold brew fans.) As for a caffeine kick, Pepsi Café sports about twice the amount you'd find in a 12-ounce can or bottle of regular soda (which is 37.6 mg), and with a typical eight-ounce cup of coffee coming in at 95 mg, the new product land somewhere in between.

So how does it taste? I was invited to try both flavors in advance of the announcement and found the product certainly delivered on the coffee-meets-cola concept. Coffee is very present on the nose (probably helped by the carbonation bubbles popping up in the glass). The Original flavor has a pleasant coffee aftertaste, more so than the Vanilla which came off as a more complex cream soda (or Pepsi Vanilla, perhaps). If you're used to taking milk in your coffee, this probably isn't a drink that requires you to port that practice over—the sweetness and caramel notes of the cola round out the palate so it's a pleasant reminder of coffee but not akin to drinking black cold brew.
It's an intriguing combination that will be interesting to see in the hands of American consumers who have thus far kept their coffees and colas separate, which may be why Pepsi is rolling it out in April of 2020 for a limited time (which I'm told is about eight weeks).

This isn't Pepsi's first foray in coffee-related colas, either. You may or may not remember a product launched in 1996 called Pepsi Kona, or another in the early 2000s called Pepsiccino. Pepsi's team said that having some prior experience in the category as well following the evolution of consumer tastes has positioned Pepsi Café to meet the market for energy-boosting beverages where it's currently at.

However, Pepsi will have some competition in the name-brand energy cola category soon as earlier this year Coca-Cola announced Coca-Cola Energy would be making its stateside debut in 2020 as well, and it also has a coffee cola in some international markets.
But Pepsi has more than a few innovations up its sleeve. Around the Super Bowl this past January, the brand debuted Pepsi Nitro, the first cola to use nitrogen gas (commonly found in dark beers and cold brew) for "carbonation," creating a cola with the same cascading bubbles seen most famously in Guinness. And just last month, Pepsi released another new creation: Pepsi Rosé. The non-alcoholic pink drink was released in wine bottles around BravoCon with the help of Lisa Vanderpump. While no plans have been announced for a wider release, Pepsi says it's not off the table.

With Pepsi Café and PBR's hard coffee, it sounds like you'll soon have both your afternoon and evening coffee needs covered.